Economic Development

Due to a problem in typesetting, there was a garbled line in the Friday editorial "Brady for Maryland's Economy." The line should have read that a top priority for James T. Brady's economic-development team is persuading Dr. Robert C. Gallo "to locate a world-class virology laboratory at the University of Maryland instead of Virginia."The Sun regrets the error.Gov. Parris N. Glendening picked wisely in selecting Baltimore business executive James T. Brady as his top economic development aide yesterday.

One of the biggest knocks against Maryland in its drive for more jobs is its lack of a unified economic-development strategy. Cooperation among counties is minimal; coordination between the state and the counties is modest; regional agreement on a game-plan is lacking and, worst of all, the business community is deeply divided on how to proceed.Into this chaos comes the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, which is trying to craft what it calls "A Strategy for Maryland's Economic Growth." It amounts to a wish-list of steps to propel this state into a pro-business mode.

Awards Susana SaCouto, Leslye E. Orloff and Patricia Chiriboga-Roby were honored for their work in the advancement of women's legal rights by the Women's Law Center of Maryland. Joseph M. Oddis, president of Harbor Hospital, was presented with the CEO Quality Improvement Leadership Award by the Maryland Healthcare Education Institute in conjunction with the Maryland Hospital Association and the Delmarva Foundation. The Health Facilities Association of Maryland honored several professionals and advocates in long-term health care.

Money manager Legg Mason Inc. said yesterday that it will leave its Light Street skyscraper for Baltimore's Harbor East when its lease expires in 2009 - a major boost for the accelerating expansion of downtown beyond the boundaries of the old central business district. Legg expects to move nearly all of its roughly 1,000 Baltimore-area employees to a mixed-use complex that H&S Properties Development Corp. will build in the fast-developing Harbor East, a once-industrial area transformed in recent years into a cluster of upscale hotels, residences, offices and retail.

The Carroll County Manufacturing Consortium held its first organizational meeting last month at Carroll Community College. Members discussed apprenticeship training, regional wage data overview, work force recruitment and retention, the Governor's Workforce Investment Board's skill standards project and collaborative marketing. Twelve companies attended the gathering: IntelliTech Inc., Evapco Inc., Shelter Systems Limited, Universal Forest Products Inc., GT Brothers Inc., Maple Grove Machining, General Dynamics Robotics Systems Inc., Black and Decker Inc., MasterWorks Machining Inc., Western Industrial Machining Inc., Fairlawn Tool and Die Company Inc., and Flowserve Pump Division.

The state's new economic development chief has seen the haves and have-nots of Maryland, having worked in that capacity in both Allegany and Montgomery counties. That's why David W. Edgerley is the right person for the job, say state officials and business leaders. "He's a true economic development professional," said Donald C. Fry, president of the Greater Baltimore Committee, which represents regional business and civic leaders. Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Edgerley's appointment as secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development yesterday in Annapolis.

Aris Melissaratos, who led the state's Department of Business and Economic Development for the Ehrlich administration, said yesterday that he is stepping down even though some business leaders had urged Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley's incoming administration to retain him. "It was a phenomenal four years, and I think we accomplished all we set out to accomplish," Melissaratos, 63, said. His last day will be today, he said. "I was willing to stay, but the new administration didn't indicate strong enough interest.

The Johns Hopkins University has hired the state's former economic development chief, Aris Melissaratos, to oversee the university's flagging commercialization efforts and to recruit major corporate tenants into its budding research parks, officials said yesterday. Melissaratos, a popular secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development under Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., will start tomorrow in the new position: special adviser to the president for enterprise development.

In a decision likely to force Baltimore to rethink its economic development strategy, Maryland's highest court ruled yesterday that the city cannot continue using eminent domain to "run roughshod over the owners of private property." The state Court of Appeals, in a blunt opinion that harshly criticized the city's favored property seizure technique, found Baltimore had no good reason to take a Charles North bar called The Magnet last year with a sped-up version of eminent domain called "quick take."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who grew up in Little Italy, said, "The Mitchell family was revered in my home." With the death of Parren J. Mitchell, the first African-American elected to Congress from Maryland, Pelosi said, "Baltimore has lost one of its favorite sons." Mitchell, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died Monday at age 85 of complications from pneumonia. The Mitchell family will receive visitors from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the St. James Parish Center, 1020 W. Lafayette Ave., where photos and memorabilia from Mitchell's life and career will be on display.

A Swedish bioenergy company will open its U.S. headquarters in Annapolis, two months after Gov. Martin O'Malley met with the company during an economic development mission to that country, state economic development officials announced Thursday. Swebo Bioenergy International, which develops equipment for heating and electricity production using waste fuels, plans to open a Maryland office in the fall and hire three people to begin operations here, said Mattias Lindgren, a Swebo managing director who will head U.S. operations.

First-quarter home prices fall 19.1 percent to '02 levels NEW YORK: - National home prices are at levels not seen since the end of 2002. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index reported home prices tumbled by 19.1 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter last year, the largest drop in its 21-year history. Home prices have fallen 32.2 percent since peaking in the second quarter of 2006. - Associated Press Brownfields assessment grants awarded to city The Baltimore Development Corp.

The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades is relocating its international headquarters to Hanover in Anne Arundel County and bringing with it nearly 300 jobs, union officials said Wednesday. The union will build a 60,000-square-foot headquarters building on an 11-acre site where it opened a training campus in 2006. It will also construct a 36-unit residence hall where instructors for its training programs can stay while in town. About 175 employees will move from the union's current headquarters near the White House in Washington.

Biopharmaceutical company Shire plans to close its Owings Mills plant in phases over three years and lay off 260 workers as it discontinues in-house manufacturing of drugs to treat attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorders and gastrointestinal diseases, a company spokesman said Thursday. Shire plans to outsource the work at the plant, with medications to be made instead in North Carolina by a contract manufacturer. Shire decided to close the plant as it moves away from in-house manufacturing, said Matt Cabrey, the spokesman.

Economic development advocates and preservationists are backing a plan to offer up to $100 million in state tax credits over five years to developers who rehabilitate historic buildings, saying the financial benefits will outweigh the cost to the state. The proposal by Gov. Martin O'Malley, to be considered by legislative committees in Annapolis this week, would extend and revamp the state's existing historic tax credit program. Advocates say the proposal would reverse changes to the program made in 2003, which discouraged developers from applying because it was unclear how much money was available for a project.

At a time of financial crisis, Gov. Martin O'Malley has chosen as the state's new economic development chief a thirtysomething Baltimorean whose private-sector experience includes a failed dot-com, two companies based out of his mother's home and a year at a consulting firm. O'Malley's choice of Christian S. Johansson to lead the state Department of Business and Economic Development might seem risky for a Cabinet post recently held by men decades his senior with far more experience in business and government.

As many as 150 jobs are expected to be created in Maryland in the next few years by foreign companies that set up operations in the state within the past year, state officials said yesterday. Thirteen companies from Israel, Russia and countries in Europe and Asia have opened Maryland offices in the past 10 months, compared with just two new foreign companies that the state helped to attract in 2007, officials said. Gov. Martin O'Malley and economic development officials said stepped-up outreach efforts are paying off. Companies in bioscience, energy, technology, defense and aerospace industries have opened in Howard, Harford, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Montgomery, Prince George's and Charles counties.

E. Baltimore developer Shannon to step down East Baltimore Development Inc., the private nonprofit group heading a large urban renewal project just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital, said its president and chief executive, John T. "Jack" Shannon Jr., will step down April 30. Shannon has led the group since its creation in 2003. EBDI is transforming more than 100 acres of the Middle East neighborhood into a biotechnology park, housing, shops and offices. EBDI, in a partnership with developer Forest City Enterprises, has completed a biotech building and two apartment buildings and has embarked on a housing rehab project.

2 Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to announce today the appointment of Christian Johansson, a Harvard University-educated entrepreneur who has run a Baltimore-based business and government alliance, as the state secretary of business and economic development. Johansson, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would replace David W. Edgerley, who resigned in December to pursue a career in the private sector or education. O'Malley has sought to reorganize the Department of Business and Economic Development, a process that emphasized efforts for the biotechnology industry and international trade and consolidated some functions.

Hard times also add to abuse of children As David Kohn's article "Hard times mean more abuse" (Dec. 14) suggested, the stress of economic downturns can be played out in more conflict between domestic partners. The stability of a marriage and a family functioning are often thrown into crisis as a result of a loss of job, income or even a foreclosure. But the article did not address the related issue of child abuse. Children are often the targets of the frustration and stress of the parents.