Public Infrastructure

Declaring that Maryland's coastal areas are increasingly at risk from a rising sea level, Gov. Martin O'Malley has ordered state agencies to weigh the growing risks of flooding in deciding where and how to construct state buildings. "Billions of dollars of investments in public infrastructure will be threatened if the state of Maryland fails to prepare adequately for climate change," he said in Friday's executive order, which calls for avoiding low-lying sites and elevating new or reconstructed state buildings to avert flooding.

In addition to Max Obuszewski's prescient observation of what has become President Barack Obama's war, this perpetual war with no borders has gotten the support of much of the media and Congress ( "Has President Obama undergone a chance of heart?" Oct. 3). What began as a promise by President Obama not to engage in conflict with U.S. advisers has evolved to a debate over "boots on the ground," or, in other words, active combat. How many will be maimed and killed during this mission?

The epic power outages have laid bare one of the fatal flaws of the state's growth policies for the Baltimore-Washington region: Our public infrastructure and services are inadequate to meet the demands of today's residents and workers. We need to make today's Baltimore-Washington region more livable before we can even begin to think about a future megalopolis that would be more congested and more demanding of infrastructure and services than the one we already have. Anthony J. Di Giacomo

Last summer, we sang the praises of Maryland Rep. John K. Delaney's proposal to create a $750 billion fund to rebuild and expand America's neglected public infrastructure. Turns out the freshman Democrat's measure continues to build on its bipartisan support - now with a companion bill introduced in the U.S. Senate. What makes the 6 t h District Democrat's Partnership to Build America Act so appealing is that it hits two birds with one stone. The fund would be financed by borrowing money privately - allowing private companies to repatriate foreign profits by purchasing $50 billion in 50-year bonds that will pay for the badly-needed road, transit, water, sewer, energy and other projects.

Harbor Point, 27 acres of mostly vacant land on the Inner Harbor, is poised for one of the most significant developments in Baltimore's history. After losing 300,000 residents and many businesses during the past 40 years, Baltimore needs to grow its corporate and middle class populations to become more financially stable. Harbor Point alone won't do that, but it can move Baltimore in that direction. Debate has surrounded Harbor Point's proposed use of tax increment financing (TIF)

By voting to limit developers to recording 50 lots a year per subdivision, the Carroll County Planning Commission has come down on the side of controlling residential growth. While there is no magic in this figure, it halves the number of houses that developers currently can build in each of their subdivisions in a year.It is clear that other types of growth controls, such as building moratoriums and limits on permits, create more inequities thanthis arbitrary limit. Building moratoriums may freeze construction in large areas of the county but have no effect in other areas.

HAMPSTEAD'S TOWN government is on the verge of enacting legislation that will rein in residential development until adequate public infrastructure is in place. It is a clear-minded response to the development free-for-all of the past decade that has burdened the eastern Carroll County town's roads, water and sewer systems and public schools.Two ordinances are key to Hampstead's program to manage growth. Under Ordinance 269, the town's planning and zoning commission could not grant subdivision approval if any of the public services -- roads, schools, emergency services, recreation and utilities -- are deemed inadequate.

The following editorial appeared in another edition of The Sun recently:Carroll County* By voting to limit developers to recording 50 lots a year per subdivision, the Carroll County Planning Commission has come down on the side of controlling residential growth. While there is no magic in this figure, it halves the number of houses that developers currently can build in each of their subdivisions in a year.It is clear that other types of growth controls, such as building moratoriums and limits on permits, create more inequities than this arbitrary limit.

Paris -- The presidential primaries in the United States, like the election campaign just finished in Britain, have posed an important debate on the role of the state in the economy. For the past 15 years monetarist and supply-side market economic doctrine has dominated economic policy-making in the United States and Britain.If the two countries move now to a more interventionist approach, and increase public infrastructure investment, this can have an important international effect. The other major West European governments and Japan already practice a degree of state economic intervention condemned by Reaganite and Thatcherite theorists and politicians.

A few weeks back in this space, we noted it would be good for Harford County to be allowed to join every other state and county in the republic in levying a room tax on people who travel here to stay overnight in a motel or bed and breakfast inn. It is, after all, a tax we who live in Harford County pay every time we stay overnight in another county. Last week, the county's tourism lobby made it clear, once again, it supports such a tax. The tourism lobby sees such a tax as a way to pay for promoting the county as a tourist destination.

A group of downtown property owners and managers announced its opposition to the Harbor Point tax increment financing plan Tuesday, a day before the City Council's taxation committee is set to hold another meeting on the legislation. "You can't develop in a vacuum," said David E. Johnson, president of Stratford Realty Management. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's administration's argument for $107 million in city assistance for developer Michael S. Beatty's Harbor Point development does not take into account the damage that could come to downtown if a new office park is built on the peninsula between Harbor East and Fells Point, he said.

There is widespread agreement that the U.S. can become more competitive in the global marketplace if it lowers its corporate tax rate. There's also a consensus that the nation needs to spend more money on its vital infrastructure. So one might assume that a proposal to accomplish both — and one that would create thousands of jobs without adding to the deficit — would be greeted with a roar of approval. Hah, where have you been? The latest "grand bargain" President Barack Obama announced in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Tuesday drew immediate opposition from Republicans.

Harbor Point, 27 acres of mostly vacant land on the Inner Harbor, is poised for one of the most significant developments in Baltimore's history. After losing 300,000 residents and many businesses during the past 40 years, Baltimore needs to grow its corporate and middle class populations to become more financially stable. Harbor Point alone won't do that, but it can move Baltimore in that direction. Debate has surrounded Harbor Point's proposed use of tax increment financing (TIF)

Two projects in rather close proximity to each other are getting a lot of attention from the people who live near where they're proposed. While both have the potential to result in similar kinds of traffic problems, one is in keeping with laws already on the books, while the other will require a change in the law before it can be built. Specifically, plans to build an apartment complex of 285 units on 17.7 acres near the historic Mt. Soma farm at the southern end of the Bel Air Bypass are within what zoning allows on the land in question.

Saturday's Maryland Voices page laid out a clear example of Baltimore governmental failure and the typical attempt to talk it under the table ("Laying blame," May 11). The Baltimore City Detention Center issue has made the city the laughingstock of the country. Del. Pat McDonough lays it out on the table clearly. It's time for action. Cut the head off of the snake and get rid of corrections chief Gary Maynard, who's has been in a deep sleep for six years, ignoring the incredibly dire circumstances of the public infrastructure which he has been appointed to manage.

A vote by the Baltimore County Council on Monday will bar new development at Green Spring Station in Lutherville for the near future. Developers cannot build near intersections graded "F" under the county's "basic services maps," which identify deficiencies in public infrastructure throughout the county. The council approved the maps Monday. The intersection of West Joppa and Falls roads near Green Spring Station — which has shops, restaurants and offices — had been labeled failing for about a decade, and the planning board recommended "F" again this year.

In addition to Max Obuszewski's prescient observation of what has become President Barack Obama's war, this perpetual war with no borders has gotten the support of much of the media and Congress ( "Has President Obama undergone a chance of heart?" Oct. 3). What began as a promise by President Obama not to engage in conflict with U.S. advisers has evolved to a debate over "boots on the ground," or, in other words, active combat. How many will be maimed and killed during this mission?

Saturday's Maryland Voices page laid out a clear example of Baltimore governmental failure and the typical attempt to talk it under the table ("Laying blame," May 11). The Baltimore City Detention Center issue has made the city the laughingstock of the country. Del. Pat McDonough lays it out on the table clearly. It's time for action. Cut the head off of the snake and get rid of corrections chief Gary Maynard, who's has been in a deep sleep for six years, ignoring the incredibly dire circumstances of the public infrastructure which he has been appointed to manage.

Declaring that Maryland's coastal areas are increasingly at risk from a rising sea level, Gov. Martin O'Malley has ordered state agencies to weigh the growing risks of flooding in deciding where and how to construct state buildings. "Billions of dollars of investments in public infrastructure will be threatened if the state of Maryland fails to prepare adequately for climate change," he said in Friday's executive order, which calls for avoiding low-lying sites and elevating new or reconstructed state buildings to avert flooding.

There's an old joke about two hikers in the woods encountering an angry bear. When one turns to run, the other warns that he's not fast enough to outrun their ferocious adversary. "I only have to outrun you," the quicker-thinking hiker responds. And so it is with the candidacy of Mitt Romney, whose acceptance speech Thursday at the Republican National Convention may not have been the touchdown the pundits claimed he needed but was surely what his handlers wanted, playing up both the candidate's strength (management experience)