Daily Record Reporter Melody Simmons was on WBAL Radio Monday morning talking about Part 1 of the five-part series running this week on the massive East Baltimore redevelopment, called “Too Big To Fail? Betting A Billion on East Baltimore.”

Simmons and Joan Jacobson spent five months investigating the project, known as “America’s new model for urban development.” They found that the project is lagging far behind its timetable in their work conducting the first comprehensive public examination of its finances, leadership and accountability.

Click the link below to hear Melody talk about the first day’s installment as well as give a preview of what you can expect to see the rest of the week.

If the Flash audio player above does not work, click below to listen to the mp3

Melody Simmons on WBAL Radio (mp3)

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Three creditors of troubled developer Doracon teamed up this week in an effort to liquidate by filing an involuntary bankruptcy petition.

Concrete company Paul J. Rach Inc., of Middle River; Powell’s Trucking Company Inc., of Baltimore and excavation company Potts & Callahan Inc., also of Baltimore, filed the involuntary bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday.

It is uncommon and might seem counter-intuitive for creditors to try and force their debtor into a Chapter 7, or liquidation bankruptcy. But, according to FindLaw.com, there are times where it can be advantageous:

“Creditors have several reasons for bringing an involuntary bankruptcy claim against a debtor or group of debtors, such as forcing the addressing of all creditors’ claims at once. Another reason these petitions are brought is to prevent the debtor from liquidating assets prior to an anticipated bankruptcy filing.”

According to court documents, Potts & Callahan is owed the most and listed a claim of $108,532 against Doracon. Paul J. Rach listed debts owed at $34,325 while Powell’s Trucking listed a $73,351 claim.

This is the latest blow against the once prominent developer. In August, The Daily Record reported that Doarcon, owned by Ronald H. Lipscomb, had stopped working in Maryland and moved its headquarters to D.C.

Lipscomb, the former boyfriend of former Mayor Sheila Dixon who was listed as a star witness in her corruption trial last year, moved just as he and the company were being targeted in multiple lawsuits for unpaid construction bills that total more than $1 million.

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I’ve been anticipating this day for more than a decade, but I guess I’ll have to wait one more week.

Today was (finally) the day MTA unveiled its CharmCard, an electronic fare payment system for public transit. As a veteran user (and big fan) of D.C.’s SmarTrip card, I hoped to be one of the first to tout the joys of cash-free transit rides in Baltimore.

But when I hopped on the Number 11 bus today, as I do only on Tuesday mornings, the fare box was covered in orange canvas with bold, black letters, saying “NOT IN USE.” What a disappointment.

A call to MTA spokesman Terry Owens led to a brief discussion with the woman who answered the phone in the MTA communications department. Read the rest of this entry »

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Yesterday I wrote about Money Magazine’s list of its best small cities to live. Eden Prairie, Minn., edged out Ellicott City/Columbia for first place thanks to attributes like “gently rolling hills,” “plenty of outer beauty” and other idyllic, Midwestern traits of the type long chronicled by writers like Garrison Keillor.

But consider:

1. The magazine says one of the headlining reasons the Minnesota town wins is because it has “a dynamite economy.”  But then it turns around and says not only does Ellicott City/Columbia have a jobless rate “just as enviable as Eden Prairie’s,” but it is an “economic powerhouse.”  I’m not sure how dynamite compares quantitatively with a powerhouse, but by Money Magazine’s standards, the difference is apparently a measly .1 percent.  Come on.  Negligible at best.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Quick eats. Presto fare. Rapid cuisine.

These fancy terms basically all mean the same thing: fast food.

But people don’t seem to really like that one. I bet many would choose an item labeled with any of the three listed above before they’d consume fast food. I would.

As a result, fast-food companies have been desperately trying to bring healthy items to their menus.

We all know the good foods we’re supposed to look for: fresh, homemade, organic.

But this year, other trend words are making their way into our mouths and stomachs, according to Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. Inc., a Brooklyn-based international restaurant consulting firm.

These include comfort, safety, local, artisan and hand-made. With a post-recession era looming, people are focusing inward, the says: “Their concerns are personal, emotional and ethical.”

Pizza has shown us consumers are gobbling this trend up. Papa Murphy’s, the take-and-bake pizza chain which I wrote about Monday, is opening its first franchise in Maryland today.

Papa’s understands that often the healthiest option is creating a meal and eating it at home. But sometimes there isn’t enough time to prepare a healthy and tasty meal. So, Papa Murphy’s makes its pizzas fresh in the store, which are then baked in the comfort of your home.

In my opinion, Papa’s represents these 2010 fast-food branding trends to a tee.

A recent Technomic’s consumer trends survey found that “fast food” is now morphing into “food fast,” to move away from the former’s stigma. Food fast is served quickly but with a greater emphasis on quality, flavor and ambiance.

Technomic, a food industry consulting and research firm, also points out that pizza chains are trying to differentiate themselves by using innovative, all-natural and specialty ingredients.

DiGiorno’s, a well-known frozen pizza brand, and its competitors are facing stiffer competition from restaurants with take-and-bake, the Nation’s Restaurant News recently reported.

It all makes me want to invite over some dinner guests. They’ll arrive and the scrumptious aroma of fine meats, cheeses and perfectly-spiced sauce will linger in the air. I’ll tell them the homemade pizza is almost done.

Rapid cuisine has never sounded better. The only hitch is, there’s a good chance I’ll burn it.

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The first blog I ever wrote for The Daily Record, in August 2007, was about the first time in more than 26 years that I bought a new car from a non-family member.

So this weekend, my wife and I ventured into the used car arena.

One word: Oy.

The salesman at the first place we stopped was a complete dope. After telling him what we wanted to spend ($10,000), we admired a 2006 VW Jetta. The prices weren’t posted on the cars (which bugged me), so the salesdope had to run to get his price sheet. The Jetta was $15,000. I told him I was skeptical that he could get to $10,000, but he assured me he would check with his manager.

At the salesdope’s insistence — and against my better judgment — we test drove the car before he got the real price. And finally, about an hour later, he came back with the real price: more than $13,000. We walked out.

At the next dealership, things actually went well, up until the end. We found a Kia Spectra that we liked, that fit our budget (a little bit more than $10,000, but not 30 percent more). We struck a deal.

Then came the paperwork. And the paperwork showed a $750 “reconditioning charge.”

I didn’t think I had “sucker” stamped on my forehead.

I told the salesman I was very close to walking out. That we had a deal. He trotted out the, “well, I gave you the Internet price when you walked in, and we’re not making any money on the deal” line. (Does anyone actually believe that line?)

I told him I didn’t care. That he gave me a price, and that’s the price I would pay.

He offered to cut the reconditioning fee in half. I offered to walk out the door.

The reconditioning fee disappeared.

No names of dealerships here (although I thought long and hard about it). Not even any locations or brand names.

So is this typical? Am I just discovering what everyone who doesn’t have a relative in the car business already knows?

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Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is banking on an energy tax hike to help compensate for a $168 million decrease in income tax revenues, part of a much larger $1 billion budget gap.

Leggett wants to double the energy taxes, a plan that would cost some of the area’s larger businesses — think coveted biotechnology firms — hundreds of thousands of dollars more a year. (The move is not unprecedented in trying budget times. Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also wants to increase energy taxes, but her proposal would cost residential customers an additional 60 cents a month).

The way it sits now, Montgomery’s energy tax falls mostly on the shoulders of businesses, which pay about 2.65 percent more than residential customers. Business customers pay 1.3843 cents per kilowatt of electricity and 11.9214 cents per therm of heating fuel a year, compared to residential customers, who pay a little more than half a cent per kilowatt of electricity and a little less than half a cent per therm of heating fuel.

Leggett had initially planned on seeking a 40 percent energy tax increase, and then bumped it up to 63.7 percent before deciding to ask the County Council to approve doubling the tax. Residents, businesses and the county’s largest power distributor, Pepco, testified against the requested 63.7 percent increase in a hearing last week.

Under that plan, the average residential customer would see an increase in energy tax payments to $161, up from $99 a year; businesses would on average pay $4,157 a year, compared to the $2,618 they pay now. If Leggett gets to double rates, residents would pay $198 a year and businesses would pay $5,236.

According to Maryland Politics Watch, Pepco representative Charles Washington testified applying the 63.7 percent rate hike to the bills of some customers:

As demonstrated below using actual randomly selected commercial accounts, this increase will have a real impact on County businesses. One restaurant in Silver Spring will see an increase of over $3,000 a year. A hotel in Bethesda will see a tax increase of approximately $41,000 a year. The County’s successful Biotech companies will see increases of hundreds of thousands of dollars of year, with at least one projected to see an increase of over half a million dollars.

Under Leggett’s plan, the county would bring in about $192 million in fiscal 2011 from the energy tax to businesses, a lot more than the $88.6 million Washington said Pepco collects in distribution rates from Montgomery County businesses each year.

The rate is far from set. Now Council President Nancy Floreen is saying that the council could tinker with the formula, spreading more cost from businesses to residents.

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Medicaid, the country’s safety-net insurer for low-income families and individuals, is on the verge of a massive expansion, taking on coverage of millions more Americans under federal health care reform.

Expansion of the program from 70 million people to 86 million people is expected to cost billions of dollars. States, which are already struggling with delicately balanced budgets, are bracing for impact.

But a new report from UnitedHealth Group is identifying ways the federal and state governments can reduce the costs of health care reform — mostly from Medicaid efficiencies.

United says that with an estimated 274,000 new Medicaid enrollments in Maryland, it will cost the federal government $5.5 billion and the state $520 million from 2014 to 2019.

But by modernizing Medicaid, the potential savings to Maryland are huge. Tweaking the system could save Maryland $2.9 billion and the federal government $3.2 billion from 2011 to 2019, according to United. In total, making the proposed changes could save the nation $366.1 billion.

So, how does United recommend we get these savings? Here are some of their ideas:

• greater use of coordinated care techniques to improve access to high-quality care for low-income Americans
• greater use of managed care to support people with long-term care needs
• upgrading of Medicaid’s administrative and transactional processes

Some states are already proving that these approaches work. Check out the report for a lot more details and some barriers to making these plans functional.

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On the surface, companies with coal-fired power plants and organizations that protect ecologically important land and water don’t seem like an obvious love connection.

So it could have caught me off guard when I saw that Constellation Energy Group is donating $1 to The Nature Conservancy every time a post on its EcoStar Grants program gets re-tweeted — up to $5,000 worth.

But over the last few years Constellation has upped its eco-friendliness, lighting up the courts at the U.S. Open with wind power,  winning awards for its solar installation at Patriot Place (retail/dining area across from Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play) and its energy conservation program at a New England college. Not to mention its plans for solar and wind projects in Maryland and the recent upgrade to its Brandon Shores plant.

The EcoStar grants of up to $5,000 are for projects being completed near areas where Constellation does business, and according to the Nature Conservancy, it has helped to preserve more than 160,000 acres of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Instead of being surprised, I hit the re-tweet button. What can I say? I like spending other people’s money, especially when it’s for a good cause.

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