Arundel Mills

About 250 people attended a public hearing Thursday night in Annapolis to express their opposition to - or support for - a proposed slots casino at Arundel Mills mall. County residents and businesspeople crammed into the County Council's chambers for the meeting, which the council held to hear public testimony on a zoning bill that would allow electronic slots in a county that does not permit them. While many residents of communities surrounding Arundel Mills have been outspoken in their opposition to the casino, many others spoke up at the meeting to show their support for the project, which could bring in $30 million in tax revenue for the county and $447 million for the state.

The new Arundel Mills - Maryland's biggest shopping mall - proved a lure too big for its parking space yesterday, prompting state police to close the Ridge Road exits from Route 100 to keep motorists away from the Hanover attraction on its second day of operation. Alisha DeFalco, a marketing specialist acting as spokeswoman for Arundel Mills, said the crowd was larger than that which attended the mall's opening on Friday and that workers were paving a 22-acre lot to add to its 6,500 spaces.

Traffic ran smoothly yesterday at the newly opened Arundel Mills mall, as the company added parking spaces and directed shoppers to the complex's other entrances. Mills Corp. officials said traffic congestion occurred Saturday because shoppers were unfamiliar with parking areas around the state's largest mall, located in Hanover. Many shoppers entered the complex by the first entrance off Bass Pro Drive, causing traffic to overflow onto nearby Ridge Road and Route 100, said Gene Condon, vice president and general manager of Arundel Mills.

A few travel odds and ends this week: * New hotels Hilton has opened two hotels under one roof near Arundel Mills. The 11-story, 250-room hotel complex, a first of its kind, combines a Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites in the same building, but with separate entrances and floors. The hotels are at 7491 New Ridge Road in Hanover. Call 410-878-7200 (Hilton Garden Inn) or 410-878-7201 (Homewood Suites). Also at Arundel Mills, Starwood in May will open Aloft, a boutique-style hotel that aims to be more affordable - while still being more stylish - than most.

It was real-life drama and not a movie, but something about it reminded me of a scene from The Godfather: The developer David Cordish shows up in the middle of the Maryland slot machine thing like Michael Corleone flying out to Vegas to make Moe Greene an offer he can't refuse. Mr. Cordish arrives in this recessionary winter with a billion-dollar casino plan for Arundel Mills - a mall, not a racetrack - and he meets the state's deadline to put up $28.5 million for nearly 5,000 slot machines, and he does it with a big smile, saying to the people of Maryland and their elected leaders: "I got the best deal on the table, and I'm ready to go."

TRAFFIC CAME to a halt on roads leading into Arundel Mills mall last weekend. The megamall's opening was a headache for commuters, neighbors and anxious shoppers. State police were forced to close a highway interchange because of backups on Route 100. The 6,500 parking spaces were not enough. All this before the official start of the holiday shopping season. Imagine how much worse traffic will get if the traffic and parking puzzle is not solved -- and soon. The Arlington, Va.-based Mills Corp.

Mills Corp. officials know to the second how little time is left until the opening of their Arundel Mills megamall. They're reminded every day that the minutes are speeding by until the 1.6- million-square-foot structure opens its doors and until an estimated 100,000 shoppers get a first look at the project responsible for transforming 380 rural acres west of Baltimore-Washington International Airport into a retail complex expected to attract more than...

A major national gambling company is exploring a bid to operate a slot machine casino at Laurel Park, officials said this week, as uncertainty mounts over a contentious proposal to erect a mega-casino at Arundel Mills mall. "We have been having some early discussion" with potential partners, said D. Eric Schippers, a spokesman for Penn National Gaming Inc. of Wyomissing, Pa., near Reading. He said the company's interest was fueled by reports that the Anne Arundel County Council was deadlocked on a zoning bill needed for the mall-side casino and entertainment resort proposed by Baltimore-based The Cordish Cos. Penn National owns West Virginia's Charles Town Races and Slots.

Maryland Live! Casino announced Tuesday that gambling industry veteran Robert J. Norton has been named president and general manager of the slots parlor under construction at Arundel Mills mall. Previously, Norton was an executive at MTR Gaming Group, which owns casino and racetrack facilities in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Norton also spent 12 years in various management positions with Isle of Capri casinos. Baltimore developer Cordish Cos. is developing the 4,750-machine casino in Anne Arundel County.

Union protest organizers agreed yesterday not to picket the Arundel Mills construction site while a judge decides whether to restrict protests. Circuit Judge Robert H. Heller Jr. is expected to rule on the case today. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 101 officials agreed to temporarily stop picketing the construction site Thursday after an Anne Arundel County Police officer was injured by a rock thrown by protesters. Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., the mall's main contractor, is asking for a permanent restraining order to limit protests at the site.