Baltimore Development Corp

Brenda McKenzie, who heads the economic development division of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, has been chosen to lead the Baltimore Development Corp. “I'm bullish on Baltimore,” McKenzie said after she was introduced Monday afternoon by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake at City Hall. McKenzie said that as the president and CEO of the city's quasi-public economic development arm, she would encourage transparency and that she plans to have an open door and open phone line.

The City Council is poised to vote Monday on a bill that would require businesses receiving large city contracts or major financial support to hire 51 percent of new workers from Baltimore - or face sanctions. "We have the highest unemployment rate in the state," said City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, the bill's lead sponsor. "If a business wants to take our money, at least hire us. As they begin to enrich themselves, enrich the citizens as well. " But the city's law department is challenging the legislation - calling it unconstitutional - and some businesses are objecting to what they believe is a burdensome requirement.

Until last month, M.J. "Jay" Brodie was the only person to hold the title of president of the Baltimore Development Corp. since it was organized in the mid-1990s into its current form, with a largely private-sector board of directors. What the city's nonprofit, economic development agency became during his time at the helm allowed for some of Baltimore's most admired economic progress in recent years, including the construction of Harbor East and the public offering of stock by Millennial Media Inc., the mobile advertising company that got its legs with help from a technology incubator founded during Brodie's tenure.

I applaud The Sun for its recent editorial on income inequality ("Labor reawakens," April 27). The increasing income inequality in this country affects the ability of families to survive, much less thrive, on what they earn from minimum wage jobs. The editorial highlighted a labor strike by Chicago low-wage workers and their "Fight for 15" rally. Yet the fact that Baltimore workers are organizing around "fair development" was mentioned in only one sentence. I wonder why The Sun did not find it important to cover the local "reawakening" here by reporting on the Fair Development Rally and March held April 20th.

JAY BRODIE WAS Baltimore's housing commissioner in the 1970s at a time when urban homesteading and other innovations created a feeling of optimism about the city's future. His return to local government as president of the Baltimore Development Corp. shows Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is serious about correcting some of the past deficiencies of his administration.To further enhance BDC's credibility as a professional organization, Mayor Schmoke authorized the termination of Shapiro and Olander as the agency's chief counsel.

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels told the Baltimore Development Corp. board Thursday that the academic powerhouse has a moral obligation to "share our bounty" with the city. Daniels said that he sees Hopkins students, faculty and staff as privileged and that each has a responsibility to help revitalize Baltimore by addressing homelessness, preparing children for good jobs, ending violence and reversing significant health problems. "You can't sequester our institutions from the community," Daniels told the development board at its monthly meeting.

WITH development activity heating up east of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, civic leaders plan to hire an urban design expert to help coordinate it all.The Baltimore Development Corp. sought bids this year from urban experts who would like to be consultants for the design study, set to begin this spring.The study area is bounded by the Inner Harbor on the south; Frederick Street on the west; East Baltimore Street on the north; and Central Avenue on the east. Attractions include the old city fish market; the Brokerage at 34 Market Place; the new city police headquarters annex; Museum Row and the Inner Harbor East Metro stop.

Return the phone calls, M. Jay Brodie admonishes his people. Get the little stuff right. Push the sanitation department to install sidewalk trash cans for the litter-bound merchant. Help the guy who needs a zoning change."Of such great things is economic development made," says Brodie, the president of Baltimore Development Corp. since January. "I'm not being facetious."He's really not.BDC, the city's economic development agency, was bashed in the past for getting the little stuff wrong -- for ignoring messages, losing paperwork and failing to help its main customers, Baltimore's businesses.

M.J. "Jay" Brodie, who has headed Baltimore's economic development agency under four mayors and helped shepherd projects such as the Harbor East redevelopment, said Thursday he plans to retire. The Baltimore native and former city housing commissioner is credited with overseeing initiatives to create thousands of jobs and to attract and keep hundreds of businesses in the city during his 16 years as president of the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's quasi-public economic development arm. Brodie, viewed as highly influential in city development, also has drawn criticism from residents and business owners who have complained about being pushed out by urban renewal and about the secrecy under which they say his agency has operated.

Four of Baltimore's 10 Main Streets initiatives would be eliminated under proposed budget cuts to the city's economic development arm. Officials from the quasi-public Baltimore Development Corp., which works to create and retain jobs and redevelop commercial property in the city, outlined a scaled-back version of the agency's activities for Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake at a budget hearing Tuesday. The Main Streets program, which is based on a plan developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, makes grants to small businesses for facade and streetscape improvements as a way of attracting more business and foot traffic to certain areas of the city.

The Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development agency, is looking for an outside consultant to provide an analysis of the city's "economic development landscape," according to a request for applications issued Tuesday. The consultant is being asked to assess the city's "existing economic conditions, obstacles, opportunities for expansion, and strengths," as well as identify "priorities and options to move the City's economy forward" and figure out a way "to track the success of new initiatives in terms of job growth, investment, and economic impact," according to the request for proposals.

Charles Kelley stands in Baltimore's historic Lexington Market, chowing down on a Faidley's overstuffed crab cake sandwich. It doesn't bother the 37-year-old North Carolina man that the market doesn't have gourmet coffee, wine or cheese shops. He's OK with the faded signs and the dirty floor. As jumbo lump crab meat spills out of his sandwich, Kelley is in a state of bliss. "I've had crab cake sandwiches all over," he says, "and this is the best. " While devotees such as Kelley, who come from long distances for the renowned seafood at the 231-year-old market, are content with their surroundings, city officials are hoping to attract a broader audience.

The board of the Baltimore Development Corp. is recommending the city approve a developer's request for $107 million in tax increment financing to pay for roads, utilities and parks for the $1 billion mixed-use Harbor Point development on the waterfront between Harbor East and Fells Point. The board of the BDC, the city's development agency, voted Thursday to send a recommendation to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for consideration. The financing, a way to fund construction of public infrastructure for new development, also requires City Council approval.

Until last month, M.J. "Jay" Brodie was the only person to hold the title of president of the Baltimore Development Corp. since it was organized in the mid-1990s into its current form, with a largely private-sector board of directors. What the city's nonprofit, economic development agency became during his time at the helm allowed for some of Baltimore's most admired economic progress in recent years, including the construction of Harbor East and the public offering of stock by Millennial Media Inc., the mobile advertising company that got its legs with help from a technology incubator founded during Brodie's tenure.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the Baltimore Development Corp. have selected the Maryland Film Festival's proposal for the renovation of the historic Parkway Theatre at 3 W. North Ave., according to an official who spoke Thursday morning at the BDC's monthly board meeting. The city hopes to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with the Film Festival shortly, said Darrell Doan, a BDC staffer who manages the corporation's real estate transactions. The Film Festival is partnering with the Maryland Institute College of Art and Johns Hopkins University on their proposal for the Parkway.

Brenda McKenzie, who heads the economic development division of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, has been chosen to lead the Baltimore Development Corp. “I'm bullish on Baltimore,” McKenzie said after she was introduced Monday afternoon by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake at City Hall. McKenzie said that as the president and CEO of the city's quasi-public economic development arm, she would encourage transparency and that she plans to have an open door and open phone line.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor already enjoys a reputation as an urban success story, but many of the country's leading designers are eager to help make it even better. Fourteen teams have expressed interest in formulating a new master plan for the Inner Harbor, after the Baltimore Development Corp. issued a formal request this fall. The bidders range from local firms such as RTKL Associates and Design Collective to nationally prominent designers such as Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Cooper Robertson and Partners - two firms that have been hired to redesign the former site of the World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan.

The   Baltimore Development Corp. 's board considered two proposals for the restoration of the historic Parkway Theatre at their monthly meeting Thursday morning. The BDC, the city's economic development arm, received three proposals to redevelop the theater at 3 W. North Ave., and adjacent buildings at 1 W. North Ave. and 1820 N.   Charles St. , in response the agency's request in December for ideas to restore the long-vacant venue to a working cultural space. It was the second time that the BDC has requested proposals for the theater.

After 16 years at the helm of the Baltimore Development Corp., the city's influential, quasi-public economic development arm, M.J. "Jay" Brodie will work his last day at the agency on Friday. "What I've told everybody is … that I'm taking a period of refreshment," Brodie said Thursday morning after a meeting of the city's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel. He said he planned to take at least a month off before committing to new endeavors. Brodie, 75, started at the BDC in 1996 under then-Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke.