Baltimore Washington Corridor

Sometimes a monopoly just isn't enough.For years, Comcast Corp. has been the sole provider of cable TV service in a broad suburban swath that includes parts of Harford, Howard and Baltimore counties. It's been a nice gig -- cable has come to rank not so very far below electricity and water as a basic household service, and Comcast is where 300,000 households in the three counties go for their fix.But this is the late 1990s, the age of the ever-expanding, gotta-have-it-all communications behemoth.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber is sponsoring Membership 101, Thursday, May 9 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at 312 Marshall Ave., Suite 104, in Laurel. The event is for business professionals in the Baltimore/Washington Corridor. The session offers the opportunity to learn how to get the most out of your membership, effective networking techniques; and new (free and/or inexpensive) ways to promote your business. If special accommodations are required, please call the BWCC office two weeks prior to event at 301-725-4000.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber is sponsoring Membership 101, Thursday, May 9 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at 312 Marshall Ave., Suite 104, in Laurel. The event is for business professionals in the Baltimore/Washington Corridor. The session offers the opportunity to learn how to get the most out of your membership, effective networking techniques; and new (free and/or inexpensive) ways to promote your business. If special accommodations are required, please call the BWCC office two weeks prior to event at 301-725-4000.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber is offering its annual Regional Business Showcase and Tasting on Wednesday, April 10 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Suddath Relocation Systems, 1710 Crossroads Drive, Odenton. Vendor Happy Hour is from 4 to 5 p.m. The networking event, which reaches 500 local business professionals, has more than 65 exhibitors, networking, food and beverage samplings and special guests. Cost is $25 each or $20 each for five or more people. Tickets include two drink coupons.

Move over condo, BMW and designer wear. The hottest new status symbol for upwardly mobile singles living in the Baltimore-Washington suburbs these days may simply be a Significant Other. Or a klatch of friends. Or at least a periodic date with a potential mate.As more singles flock to suburbs to live near their jobs in such "edge cities" as Columbia, Gaithersburg and Hunt Valley -- raising their presence to 40 percent of all adults in some areas -- they're encountering a jarring drawback: suburbia's relative isolation.

After years of explosive growth, office park development in the Baltimore-Washington corridor is stagnant as developers and real estate brokers await a break in the current economic slump that will put this stretch of land back in business."

Colliers International, headquartered in Columbia, named Vincent M. Brocato vice president. Brocato joins the commercial real estate firm with more than 23 years of experience in tenant and landlord representation in Baltimore. Before joining Colliers International, Brocato, of Timonium, worked in commercial real estate in Baltimore and the Baltimore-Washington corridor. He has represented clients including Mercy Health System, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, The Weinberg Foundation, Alter Communications and Baltimore Healthcare Access among others.

Congress will be asked to consider constructing a magnetic-levitation passenger train in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. A project to demonstrate the 300-mph train would cost at least $600 million.The Evening Sun wants to know whether you think federal tax dollars should be spent on a high-speed train and whether you would be willing to ride it.To register your opinion, call SUNDIAL at 783-1800 (or 268-7736 in Anne Arundel County). After you hear the greeting, you'll be asked to punch in a four-digit code on your touch-tone phone.

ToadNet Inc. a privately owned Internet service provider located in Severna Park, has acquired Radicus Internet LLC, a Baltimore-based Internet service provider. The acquisition of Radicus Internet, which provides access and related services to business and residential customers in the mid-Atlantic region, further expands ToadNet's reach into the mid-Atlantic market. Radicus Internet's more than 1,300 business and residential customers gain access to ToadNet's full range of Internet services provided through its regional network.

A California health care executive yesterday was tapped to head a joint venture between Helix Health and Medlantic Healthcare Group.George H. Schmitt, 56, was named president and chief executive officer of BWHealth, the joint venture produced by the companies' alliance last year, and charged with developing their health care business in the lucrative Baltimore- Washington corridor.Schmitt will "work across the two systems to create a coalition of effort in cost cutting," said James A. Oakey, president and chief executive officer of Baltimore-based Helix.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber will hold its 65th annual meeting Thursday, April 26 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hotel at the Arundel Preserve, 7795 Arundel Mills Road, in Hanover. Freeman Hrabowski III, president of he University of Maryland Baltimore County, will give the keynote address, titled "America's Economic Future at the Crossroads: Education, Innovation and Learning. " Registration and networking begins at 11:15 a.m. Registration is $65 for members pre-paid; $100 for non-members pre-paid; and $125 at the door for all. To register online, go to bwcc.org/events . For more information, contact the BWCC at bwcc@bwcc.org .

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber will hold its Women in Business breakfast Friday, Feb. 10 from 9:15 to 11:30 a.m. at Homewood Suites by Hilton, 8320 Benson Drive, in Columbia. Topic is fitness and the workplace. Cost is $25 prepaid members, $45 members not prepaid and non-members. Register online, http://www.baltwashchamber.org/eventsdetail.aspx?EventID=926. A 48-hour notice is required on all cancellations, 301-725-4000.

The Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber and the BWCC Foundation are holding a holiday mixer Thursday, Dec. 1 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Great Room at Savage Mill, 8600 Foundry St., in Savage. Cost is $45 for members prepaid and $65 for non-members and all at the door. Invite your employees and clients to attend. Use this event as an office holiday party. Net proceeds are used to support scholarships for area high school students to attend college. Register, http://www.bwcc.org/BWCC_Data/getEventDetails?

"Fueling Your Finances for Contracts" is the topic of the Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber's GOVCON Government Procurement information session, Wednesday, Nov. 30 from 7:45 to 10:30 a.m. at Overhills Mansion, 916 S. Rolling Road, in Catonsville. Panelists include: Randy Croxton, senior vice president, Meridian Management Group, Inc., Maryland Small Business Development Financing Authority; Stan Arnold, Commerical Relationships Manager, Sandy Spring Bank vice president; and Richard Lewis, president and CEO of Financial Engineering Counselors Ltd. Cost is $25 for prepaid members; $45 for members not prepaid and non-members.

ADVERTORIAL CONTENT When comparing Baltimore andWashington, D.C., people often focus on the differences - in favorite sports teams, favorite foods and even brands of beer. This has created a regional rivalry that often leads area residents to commit to being either a “Baltimore person” or “D.C. person.” However, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. In fact, you can be a Baltimore person and a D.C. person, enjoying the best of both cities from a neighborhood that's the exact midway point between downtown Baltimore and downtownWashington, D.C. - Bozzuto at Maple Lawn.

Colliers International, headquartered in Columbia, named Vincent M. Brocato vice president. Brocato joins the commercial real estate firm with more than 23 years of experience in tenant and landlord representation in Baltimore. Before joining Colliers International, Brocato, of Timonium, worked in commercial real estate in Baltimore and the Baltimore-Washington corridor. He has represented clients including Mercy Health System, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, The Weinberg Foundation, Alter Communications and Baltimore Healthcare Access among others.

ADVERTORIAL CONTENT When comparing Baltimore andWashington, D.C., people often focus on the differences - in favorite sports teams, favorite foods and even brands of beer. This has created a regional rivalry that often leads area residents to commit to being either a “Baltimore person” or “D.C. person.” However, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. In fact, you can be a Baltimore person and a D.C. person, enjoying the best of both cities from a neighborhood that's the exact midway point between downtown Baltimore and downtownWashington, D.C. - Bozzuto at Maple Lawn.

An artsy centerpiece for a business park in the heart of the Baltimore-Washington corridor was officially unveiled yesterday - hours after wind gusts whipped the covering off the 30-foot-high sculpture. Named "Trinity," the three-piece stainless-steel work by New York artist Hans Van de Bovenkamp stands in a courtyard of three buildings in the National Business Park, off Route 32 at the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. "We view it as sort of raising the bar over other office buildings," said Randall M. Griffin, president and chief operating officer of Corporate Office Properties Trust, developer of the complex.