Proposals

By now the pattern is familiar. President Bush comes before Congress all earnest and full of sweet talk about working together. But by morning, his promises often prove empty or disappear. With Mr. Bush's presidency at a political and popular ebb - and the opposition party running Congress for the first time during his tenure - a more truly conciliatory approach would seem obligatory for a leader in search of a positive legacy. Yet the president - despite some gracious words for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her late father, Baltimore Mayor and Rep. Thomas J. D'Alesandro Jr. - made clear last night he doesn't see it that way. He missed two prime opportunities for shared progress on domestic issues with his showcased initiatives on health care and energy.

Plans for a prominent site on the eastern edge of downtown, in the heart of the city's entertainment district, have substantively shrunk since they were announced two years ago, according to Baltimore's economic development agency. Developer David Cordish intends to build only half as much as he formerly envisioned on land once home to a helium balloon ride that closed after a harrowing incident in 2004. Cordish had promised Baltimore Development Corp. that at the foot of a 250-unit high-rise of condominiums and apartments, he would build a Lucky Strike Lanes, an upscale bowling "lounge" - part of a network with 16 locations nationwide including Washington.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said yesterday that he won't block a proposed referendum on legalizing slot machines, putting the measure closer to approval in the General Assembly than it has been in years. Miller, though the legislature's biggest slots proponent, has opposed a referendum on the issue, preferring a straight up-or-down vote in the General Assembly. House Speaker Michael E. Busch, a slots opponent, has long advocated letting the voters decide, a position endorsed by Gov. Martin O'Malley last month.

Innovative plans by Baltimore County and state officials to offer bonuses to experienced teachers to work in poorly performing schools face county teacher union opposition -- and skepticism from education experts who question whether the extra money will be more than a short-term solution.The proposals -- among the first of their kind in the country -- are an attempt to take advantage of recent studies that have shown that veteran, qualified teachers are one of the most important factors in improving student achievement.

The Memorial Stadium land game is now in the fourth quarter, and at stake is how North Baltimore's prized piece of real estate will look in the next century -- with or without the storied ballpark's architecture.An 11-member review panel convenes tonight in a closed-door meeting at city planning offices to compare three dramatically different development proposals: a retirement community, a research and technology park and upper-income housing/retail use.The goal, city Planning Director Charles C. Graves III said, is to "figure out a recommendation" to forward to Housing and Community Development Director Daniel P. Henson III, who will have the final say on the matter.

City officials are considering three proposals that would replace a Fells Point parking lot with a bed-and-breakfast, an office building or retail shops.Baltimore Development Corp., the city's economic development agency, said yesterday that it received two unsolicited proposals in April to develop the city-owned site at South Caroline and Lancaster streets, about a block north of the harbor, then, abiding by city policy, issued a request for additional plans.One plan envisions offices and retail shops with a 425-space parking garage and 30 private garages that could be leased by area residents.

THE MOVE OF Anne Arundel Medical Center from downtown Annapolis to a commercial area on the outskirts will have an immense impact the core of the state capital: The 5-acre parcel is the largest to become available in the Annapolis Historic District in decades.The surrounding community feared that the hospital would be replaced with offices, bringing more traffic to the area and dormancy after dark.Medical center officials ought to be commended for heeding the wishes of neighbors as they whittled the list of candidates vying to develop the site.

Portions of Baltimore's dormant City Life Museums property could be reopened as a museum, an urban inn and conference center, a school for youths with learning disabilities, law offices and a beer garden, depending on which ideas the city accepts.City housing officials said yesterday that they received four proposals in response to their request for bids from groups that want to own or lease six properties that were part of the Baltimore City Life Museums, a collection of city-owned attractions that closed in June 1997 because of financial problems.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate duel over regulating health care got off to an emotional start last night as Republicans blocked a series of Democratic efforts to broaden coverage for managed-care patients.With only a handful of Republican defections, the Senate rejected proposals to give women greater access to gynecological care and to guarantee overnight hospital stays after a mastectomy.Proposals to expand the definition of emergency room care and to require insurance companies to pay for treatments that doctors determine are medically necessary were also rejected.

WASHINGTON -- Struggling to regain credibility in the twilight of his presidency, Bill Clinton has proposed new tax breaks for long-term health care and the first real increase in defense spending since the Cold War, and will unveil an education initiative and a crime-control program this week.But Republicans and Democrats agree that a political atmosphere poisoned by the second presidential impeachment in history could doom the enactment of any new policy proposals, no matter how inexpensive or popular they are."

After plans fell through for new restaurants, shops and apartments along Pigtown's main commercial district, city development officials are seeking new proposals for a dilapidated block of Washington Boulevard. The Baltimore Development Corp. said Monday that it has reissued a request for proposals for five contiguous properties in the neighborhood southwest of downtown, also known as Washington Village. The BDC hopes to attract proposals for the 900 block of Washington Boulevard that could include a restaurant, coffee shop, small grocer, bookstore, bakery, video store, pharmacy, florist, ice cream shop, hardware store or art gallery.

Two groups have submitted proposals to redevelop Baltimore's historic Parkway Theatre at 3-5 W. North Ave. and two adjoining properties at 1 W. North Ave. and 1820 N. Charles St. in the Station North arts and entertainment district. The teams are headed by Teddy Kim, a Washington-based businessman, with Brown Craig Turner as the architect, and Maryland developer Samuel Polakoff, with Ziger/Snead and Cho Benn Holback + Associates as architects. Kim is related to Tony Cheng, a Washington-based restaurateur who controls numerous properties near the intersection of Charles Street and North Avenue.

Baltimore officials have put off selecting a developer for a downtown sports and entertainment venue but say they remain committed to the project, a replacement for the aging 1st Mariner Arena that could cost at least $300 million. "It is a complicated and large project in any time, but in this trying economic situation, there is no reason to rush," M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., said Tuesday. "It would seem arbitrary, not meaningful, to pick a team in light of the current financial markets."

As part of an effort to revitalize the 100-acre arts and entertainment district north of Pennsylvania Station, the city of Baltimore is seeking a developer to renovate the historic Parkway Theatre and two adjoining properties as a venue for "cabaret, film, live music and live performance." The Baltimore Development Corp. has set noon Aug. 7 as the deadline for proposals from groups interested in recycling the dormant theater at 3 W. North Ave., as well as buildings at 1 W. North Ave. and 1820 N. Charles St. An entrepreneur, Charles Dodson, began renovating the theater several years ago but never completed the project.

Hospitals, insurers unveil price plans As consumers and employers struggle with soaring health costs, hospitals and insurers unveiled sharply contrasting proposals for hospital price increases Wednesday before the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission. Hospitals proposed an average increase of 3.84 percent for the year beginning July 1 while insurers want 0.8 percent. There is always a gap between the two sides' proposals, "but rarely one of this magnitude," said Robert Murray, the commission's executive director.

The Senator Theatre, which shut its doors Sunday and faces foreclosure next month, would continue operating as a movie theater and arts venue, but not as a first-run movie house, under a plan outlined by owner Tom Kiefaber on the theater's Web site. The "Reorganization and Transitional Operations Plan" calls for the theater to continue operating as Kiefaber seeks a private investor or a nonprofit group willing to purchase the theater and keep it running. Under either scenario, Kiefaber would no longer own and operate the theater that has been in his family for seven decades.

Mutual-fund executives have proposed rule changes to make money-market funds safer while heading off tougher regulations proposed by advisers to the Obama administration. The proposals include plans to introduce liquidity requirements, shorten maturity limits and require more disclosure of fund holdings, according to the summary of a report to be released today by Investment Company Institute. The board of the Washington-based trade association approved the plan yesterday. A committee headed by Vanguard Group Chairman John J. Brennan had studied money funds for more than a year, when the $62.5 billion Reserve Primary Fund collapsed in September, setting off an industrywide run by investors.

Six companies proposed yesterday to build Maryland slots parlors with a total of 10,550 gambling machines - far short of the 15,000 maximum slot machines allowed under a constitutional amendment adopted last year. When bids for slots licenses were unsealed in Annapolis, only one of the five authorized locations, Anne Arundel County, received more than one bid. The four other sites, in Baltimore City and Allegany, Cecil and Worcester counties, have one applicant each, said Donald C. Fry, head of a commission that will choose winning proposals.

The proposals for a new Baltimore arena envision a sporting and entertainment venue unlike any in the city: a seven-screen movie theater, a rooftop park, a 1,000-seat concert hall, hotels and, of course, an 18,500-seat sports arena in combination with some or all of the above. But what's missing is any reasonable idea of who's going to pay to build a $300 million-plus complex in this economy, and without that element, the arena proposals remain little more than grand dreams of a re-imagined civic center.

Four development teams will compete to build a sports and entertainment venue to replace Baltimore's aging 1st Mariner Arena, with their proposals envisioning added twists such as a seven-screen movie theater, a hotel, concert hall, offices or street-level shops, city officials said yesterday. The proposals unveiled yesterday were submitted in response to an August request for bids. State and city leaders want to tear down the 46-year-old arena and replace it with a larger, 18,500-seat venue that could draw big concerts and acts, and potentially attract a professional basketball or hockey team.