Harford County Executive James M. Harkins spoke recently at The Sun with Richard C. Gross, editor of the Opinion
Commentary page, about his county's problems and what may be ahead for the region.
What is the No. 1 problem facing Harford County today?
Overall, it's the quality of life and maintaining it. And when you say that, it follows that things like growth, education and public safety are A, B and C. But they're probably the biggest challenges -- to make sure our schools stay the best they can be, that our open spaces are preserved as best we can [preserve them] and that we have a good quality of life.
What do you want this year from the state legislature?
School construction, aid to the schools -- the formulas that are already existing. We are a growth county, so we have a number of new students each year, but we also have some projects to revitalize some of our old schools. In particular, the project for the Aberdeen High School will be a major issue that we'll have in front of the General Assembly this year. To get that funded will be a good year for us.
Several [transportation] projects, as well as some transit projects, that we are participating in in the greater Baltimore area with some of the other jurisdictions. But transportation is very, very critical to us -- road projects.
You talk about regional cooperation in growth and transportation, including Baltimore, to help in the development of Harford County. Has it worked? Can you get more regional cooperation?
Definitely we can. Use the example of the port of Baltimore, dredging the port of Baltimore. Harford County is very dependent upon the port of Baltimore for much of our economy. Roll-off freight, containerized freight and the like, has a nexus between Harford County [and Baltimore], so the regional approach of supporting dredging is important.
Crime doesn't know a boundary when a burglar comes into the county and burglarizes a home or does some other kind of serious crime. There's many examples of mutual problems that we have, but there's also a lot of exclusive problems that we have. Overall, we are seeing this group of county executives and the mayor of Baltimore ... trying to work together on some of the common problems that we have that plague us all. We are seeing some successes from that.
You are trying to redevelop the area around U.S. 40 and to try to bring high-tech industry there. What are you offering to attract industry?
We have the jewel of Aberdeen Proving Ground, which is our largest employer in the county. We have the technology that's been taking place for many years behind the fence on Aberdeen Proving Ground.
We're simply trying to broker that technology in front of the fence and the common good that it brings to our county and our region by developing the technology industries -- such as automotive excellence, which already exists at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
For the first time, Aberdeen Proving Ground has opened an office on its post to help broker that technology advancement outside of the installation. So it is an exciting time and one that will bear fruit.
