Baltimore And Maryland

Black history museum would enhance BaltimoreI want to add my voice to the growing list of Marylanders who are thrilled that our state and city are going forward with plans to open another cornerstone museum of local and American history, the proposed Maryland African-American history museum. To be located on "museum row" at Pratt and President streets -- perhaps adjacent to a revitalized City Life Museums complex -- this museum would help anchor a heritage district that could better acquaint us with our divergent but intertwined American histories.

WHEN two Maryland colleges refused to admit Lillie Carroll Jackson's two oldest daughters because of their race, she packed them off to schools in New York and Pennsylvania.For her it was just another in a series of slights and insults she had to endure as an African-American living under Jim Crow segregation rules. But she didn't take her plight sitting down: Instead, the former school teacher organized black Baltimoreans to protest everything from Eastern Shore lynchings to the discriminatory practices of local retailers.

When Baltimore plays host to the world's most powerful real estate executives this week, the goal will be to translate that visit into 20 deals, 2,000 new jobs and $150 million in capital investment within three years for the state of Maryland.The idea is that while showing a good time to 1,700 members of the International Development Research Council -- a professional association of corporate real estate executives -- the message that Baltimore and Maryland are good places to do business will stick.

THE TURNAROUND David Cordish has produced at the Power Plant is quite astonishing. Less than a year after he was given control of the failed Inner Harbor amusement complex, Mr. Cordish has it fully leased with entertainment uses never before seen in this town.The latest tenant signed is the ESPN Grill, a prototype sports eatery the cable operator and Walt Disney Co. will unveil next spring and hope to duplicate throughout the nation.It may not be evident yet, but the whole character of the Inner Harbor tourism district is changing.

Baltimore's leading business group is touting the economic benefits of bringing casino gambling to Maryland, but has stopped short of endorsing such a move.The Greater Baltimore Committee released a study yesterday suggesting that 10 casinos in Maryland -- including five in the Baltimore area -- would generate $435 million in tax revenues and create more than 12,000 new jobs statewide."There is strong evidence it would have a major economic impact," said GBC Chairman Frank P. Bramble, chief executive of First Maryland Bancorp.

Here's something for conspiracy theorizers to consider:The mayor of Baltimore and the governor of Maryland are going to Sweden next week. They're traveling the same day, Aug. 6, and going to the same city, Stockholm. They're even taking the same plane.They say it's just a coincidence.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is checking out the Water Festival, an extravaganza of musical performances, fireworks, water sports and teen-agers with hair dyed in rainbow colors. He wants to see if a similar event could be staged at the Inner Harbor, possibly by expanding Baltimore's Artscape festival.

For 30 years, Emanuel Chambers served financiers, attorneys, businessmen and physicians as a "gentleman's gentleman" at the Baltimore and Maryland clubs. But it was his philanthropy that preserved his place in the city's history.Chambers, a bachelor who invested wisely and lived frugally on his salary and tips, had become one of Baltimore's wealthiest blacks at the time of his death in 1945, with a portfolio of stocks, bonds and property valued at more than $154,000.He had established the Emanuel Chambers Foundation two years earlier, and his will stipulated that his money be used to "advance and promote the physical, mental, moral and social condition of the inhabitants of Baltimore regardless of race, color, or creed."

IT WOULD BE great to create 12,000 jobs in Baltimore and Maryland -- and add $400 million to state and city treasuries. But at what cost? That is the crucial question the Greater Baltimore ++ Committee failed to answer in its recent report on casino gambling.Two years ago, the Tydings Commission studied this same issue in depth. It was handed divergent reports showing casinos could generate as many as 20,000 jobs or lead to the loss of as many as 12,000 jobs at restaurants, bars and race tracks.

Middleton Evans will sign copies of his picture books, including "Baltimore" and "Maryland's Great Outdoors," from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Eddie's of Roland Park North Charles Street Market, 6213 N. Charles St. In yesterday's Live section, an incorrect address was given.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 12/19/97

WITH format change mourned as a loss2 I can only wonder whether Jesus would rejoice.Stanley L. RodbellColumbiaConrail acquisition will be good for city, stateTransportation has consistently been one of Maryland's greatest economic development strengths, playing a pivotal role our state's ability to attract and retain businesses and to nurture business growth.Site location and economic development experts widely acknowledge the overall high quality of Maryland's transportation infrastructure -- highway system, port, airport and public transportation -- and the state's commitment to maintaining it.These are all public resources over which Marylanders, through their state government, maintain a substantial degree of strategic control.

Two recent travel guides highlight not only places we wish to visit, but the very places where we live: Baltimore and Maryland. Here's our take on the books: 'Moon Handbooks: Baltimore' Avalon, $17.95: Baltimore often is called an underrated city. As the former Colonial trading port continues to evolve, it has begun attracting more visitors. Local author Geoff Brown nicely describes it as a Southern city in character but a Northern city in geography. "It's a town of society teas and horse races," he writes, "raucous street festivals and experimental music, and oddball characters and living legends."

WASHINGTON - The federal government is slicing more than $2.5 million from homeland security grants to Baltimore and Maryland this year - a deeper cut than state officials were told to expect. While increases to some of the largest U.S. cities and states meant total funding nationwide went up, most jurisdictions saw similar declines, according to figures released yesterday by the Department of Homeland Security. The money will be used to improve capabilities for a chemical or nuclear "event," standardize training and equipment among various agencies and jurisdictions, and test the preparedness of the city and state.

The experience of Africian-Americans are a rich vein in the history of Baltimore and Maryland, from slavery to the struggle for freedom in the 19th century to the battle for economic and social equality in the 20th century. From Baltimore to the Eastern Shore, people and places remeind us of the variety of the roles blacks have played in the social, political and cultural life of our state. Since Baltimore's founding in the early 1700s, the large black population has been making contributions to its growth and development both physically and spiritually.

Fifty years ago this week, an old-time Baltimore machine politician who hated freeway driving rose on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and moved to accept a compromise with the Senate on what he called "the greatest governmental construction program in the history of the world." "Through the provisions of this bill, the American people will ride safely upon many thousands of miles of broad, straight, trouble-free roads, four to eight lines wide, criss-crossing America from coast to coast and border to border," said Maryland Rep. George H. Fallon.

Raoul Middleman, one of Baltimore's great artists, teachers and raconteurs, calls himself an "impatientist" with the brush, and if you've ever experienced the glory of his presence - when Middleman paints or talks about his paintings - you quickly get what he means. John Dorsey, the former Sun art critic, once described the impatientist style as "a combination of energy, quickness of mind and the urgent need for self-expression." I think the impatientist spirit has a lot to do with fear of death and the desire to make your time in this life meaningful - for yourself and as many others as possible, as soon as possible.

That day in London a few weeks ago was depressing, cold and wet. I was to meet up with an old friend, who suggested that we run indoors to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. And there, hanging on the wall of this marvelous museum, there was no escaping the touch of Baltimore. The museum was packed with visitors, many of whom sought out an exhibition of paintings titled Americans in Paris. My eye soon caught a compelling painting of a Victorian woman stylishly dressed in jet black, seated on a slipcovered chair.

After days of rumors and speculation that raised fears that Baltimore might lose yet another corporate headquarters, local business and political leaders seized on what they saw as the positive news in yesterday's announcement that a Florida power company would buy Constellation Energy Group Inc. Billing it as a modified merger of equals, the companies said FPL Group Inc. had agreed to pay about $11 billion for Constellation, the parent of Baltimore Gas...

A front-page story in this newspaper last week heralded the U.S. Census Bureau's latest ranking of states by wealth, once again pointing to Maryland's relative riches. As measured by 2003 median household income, Maryland is the nation's third-richest state, behind Connecticut and New Jersey. And as in earlier surveys, Howard and Montgomery counties were among the most well-off places in the nation, ranking eighth and 11th, respectively. Such accolades are a natural consequence of the large concentrations of highly educated Marylanders and their relatively high employment rate, thanks in no small part to the state's long-standing good fortune to be right next door to the nation's capital.

Four Mids are Rhodes scholars Four students at the Naval Academy were among 32 American students selected as Rhodes scholars, the most chosen in one year in the service academy's history and more than any other college in the nation this year. In addition, two graduates of the same high school in Montgomery County who attend Duke University were selected. MTBE found in Baltimore County wells Mandatory testing of groundwater at Maryland service stations has led to the discovery of a significant level of MTBE, a gasoline additive, in residential wells in northern Baltimore County.

Institute to help China fight AIDS Already a force in the fight against AIDS in Africa, the Institute of Human Virology is expanding its reach to Asia. The organization, part of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, signed an agreement at a conference in Baltimore to help China control its emerging AIDS epidemic. Orioles release pitcher Ponson The Orioles placed pitcher Sidney Ponson on unconditional release waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract, ending a relationship that began in 1993.