Bdc

A former Baltimore Development Corp. official charged with extortion took payments from the head of a growing advertising agency and an East Baltimore property developer, court records show. Terry P. Dean, 46, once a senior development officer with the BDC, was indicted last week on charges of extortion and accepting illegal gratuities for allegedly soliciting and taking $5,000 from two Baltimore businessmen. Records in U.S. District Court in Baltimore identify the men as Bruce Iannatuono, owner of Chesapeake Advertising, which is building a new printing facility in the 900 block of East Fayette St., and Thomas Brooks of 6100 Seaforth LLC, a property developer at the Holabird Business Park in East Baltimore.

Shucks, as a legal case it was a no-brainer, lawyer John C. Murphy said when I congratulated him on prying open the Baltimore Development Corp. to public view. And he's right. BDC is financed by government, controlled by government and instrumental in executing one of government's most fearsome powers: taking private property from one party and giving it to another. Of course, the people of Baltimore and Maryland should be able to scrutinize its machinations. It's amazing that BDC could block the sunshine so long - from its birth in 1991 until last week, when Murphy's west-side-business-owner clients won a critical case before Maryland's highest court.

Looking to boost Baltimore's image as a center for international commerce, the Baltimore Development Corp. has hired its first director of foreign trade zones operations.Suzanne B. Reil, 46, has 18 years' experience in creation and management of foreign trade zones, which allow businesses and individuals to import and store goods without paying customs duties and taxes.Reil's primary responsibility is to market Baltimore's current zone at the Point Breeze Business Center near the port to new businesses, as well as to establish up to four others, said M. J. "Jay" Brodie, the BDC president.

In a decision that could have broad implications for the public's right to inspect the workings of government, Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday that the agency overseeing Baltimore's economic development must open its meetings and its paperwork for public review. Writing that the Baltimore Development Corp. has previously been able "to cloak the business of the citizens of the city of Baltimore behind the veil of a supposedly private corporation," the Court of Appeals dismissed city arguments that the agency's closed-door meetings are legal and crucial to the agency's work.

In a case that could expand how far citizens may tread into the backroom world of city development deals, a Maryland appeals court has ruled that Baltimore's economic development agency must open its books - and its doors - to the public. The Baltimore Development Corp., which for years has made key decisions about city development projects in private, must be treated as a public entity and conform with the state's Open Meetings and Public Information acts, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland ruled.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is considering naming the former chairman of Meridian Healthcare Inc. and the University of Maryland Medical System to lead a revamped board of the city's much-maligned economic development agency.Although Roger C. Lipitz's appointment to chair the Baltimore Development Corp. is far from certain, such a move likely would spark a complete overhaul of the agency that has suffered scathing criticism for its lack of responsiveness and inability to retain key city businesses.

The Baltimore Development Corporation, the city's quasi-public development arm, over the past year and a half awarded six contracts totaling $2.3 million to demolish buildings without publicly advertising the work, documents have revealed. Each of the six contracts was worth more than $25,000, the amount that is supposed to trigger public notice when work is requested by city agencies. Instead, the BDC asked companies for their prices, and, in the case of two contracts - including one for $1.5 million - did not award the work to the firm offering the lowest price.

Frustrated by the Baltimore Development Corp.'s handling of real estate deals affecting their neighborhoods, west-side shopkeepers and Little Italy residents urged the General Assembly yesterday to adopt legislation that would open the quasi-public city agency's meetings. M. J. "Jay" Brodie, the nonprofit development agency's president, however, warned members of the Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee that Baltimore's efforts to attract jobs and investment could be hindered if the BDC is forced to give the public access to its deliberations and documents.

As the new chairman of the Baltimore Development Corp., Arnold Williams says he'll take on the traditional duties of retaining and recruiting businesses to the city. The accountant and business leader said he also wants to take his voluntary position a few steps further, pushing for development beyond the city's waterfront, encouraging churches to build in neglected neighborhoods and increasing the number of minority businesses. "We want to make certain we promote business retention as well as business recruitment," Williams said.

A high-ranking Baltimore economic development official is going to work for Ronald H. Lipscomb, one of the city's prominent contractors and developers - a move one government watchdog group said raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Sharon R. Grinnell, chief operating officer of the city's Baltimore Development Corp., will join Lipscomb's staff Feb. 1. Her job will be "to manage, oversee and represent his interests in all of his real estate activities," she wrote in her Oct. 31 resignation letter.