Small Business

For Maryland businesses, the seemingly never-ending political season and the cloud of economic uncertainty that accompanied it were supposed to have subsided at election's end. However, just as we thought we had put the campaign season behind us, impending dangers to Maryland's economy have emerged in the form of the so-called "fiscal cliff. " The cuts to defense and non-defense discretionary spending that comprise half of the fiscal cliff (or sequestration process) would have a devastating and disproportionate effect on Maryland.

If you make it though Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, you have Green Monday to look forward to. That's what Sotto Sopra is calling its Nov. 26 dining promotion, where customers will be able to convert expired dining coupons or gift certificates into 30 percent savings. Only one expired certificate is needed per table to qualify for the 30 percent discount, which applies to dinner tabs of $100 or more. Here's the thing - they don't even have to be expired Sotto Sopra gift certificates or coupons.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is launching a micro-loan fund for small businesses in Baltimore, to help them hire and stabilize their businesses. The effort, called BaltimoreMICRO, will enable small businesses with under $1 million in annual revenue to apply for loans ranging from $5,000 to $30,000. Retailers, service providers and contractors based in Baltimore are eligible. The program appears to be targeting small businesses, including stores and restaurants, in city neighborhoods.

As the owner of a flower shop in Aberdeen, I am very concerned with new legislation currently being considered in Congress: the "Marketplace Fairness Act" and the "Marketplace Equity Act," which will add sales tax to Internet sales. This will disproportionately impact small businesses like mine - creating a significant administrative and financial burden that will make it necessary for me to pass on additional costs to my customers. In today's economy, it is irresponsible to place additional burdens on small businesses, which are the engine of our economy.

An audit of Maryland's video lottery terminal program has found that the state has not yet implemented a way to direct proceeds to the state's small business community, as directed by a 2008 law. The Board of Public Works has accumulated the funds, which now total $2.6 million, for several years. The report Thursday from the Office of Legislative Audits found that, while the funds in the account for small and minority- and women-owned businesses have been properly collected and accounted for, the Board of Public Works has not disbursed any as capital investments or loans.

Adrian W. Rich, a retired Baltimore businessman and volunteer, died Aug. 29 of heart failure at Roland Park Place. The longtime Lutherville resident was 98. Adrian Warwick Rich was born in Graham, Va., which is now Bluefield, Va. He was a 1932 graduate of St. James School near Hagerstown, where he excelled in track and was Maryland State Scholastic champion that year. "Competing against Jesse Owens was a highlight of his life," said a daughter, Elizabeth Folberth of Bronxville, N.Y. He was a 1937 graduate of the Naval Academy, and during World War II, commanded a submarine chaser in the Pacific and later a destroyer escort in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic.

I wasn't fortunate enough to know Patrick "Scunny" McCusker, but I was saddened by his untimely passing ("Canton fondly remembers McCusker," Aug. 26). After reading the article about him in The Sun, I was struck by the irony that he was about the same age as Barack Obama. Mr. McCusker created more jobs and did more for the welfare of our city and state than any government programs. And yes, he did it by himself, as did many other hard-working small business people. Mr. McCusker's philanthropic efforts were the result of a generous nature.

Now that M.J. "Jay" Brodiehas officially ended his service as head of the Baltimore Development Corporation, it's time to focus on his yet to be named successor and the economic development challenges he or she will face. This century has led off with a major recession and cutbacks in most government programs. We need to focus on the needs of our most distressed neighborhoods as we move forward, using approaches that make the best use of limited resources. According to the list of requirements the city has laid out for the new BDC head, the new director will be expected not only know about real estate development and the many tools the agency now has in place but must also be able to "plan, direct, coordinate and administer a comprehensive economic development plan with city agencies and partners.

Last Thursday's Wall Street Journal editorial "Why Not Paul Ryan?" made the case for his selection as the Republican vice-presidential nominee in this statement: "Romney can win a big election over big issues. He'll lose a small one. " After Mr. Ryan's serious proposal to restructure Medicare -- which virtually everyone knows must be reformed -- the response from Democrats was an unserious TV ad, which showed a Ryan look-alike pushing an old woman in a wheelchair over a cliff. If Messrs.

Robert L. Wallace, CEO of Baltimore-based Bithgroup Technologies, has spent more than two decades building a minority-owned business into a multimillion-dollar success and writing and lecturing about entrepreneurship. The Cherry Hill-born mechanical engineer recently was tapped to head a new, 25-member advisory council created by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to help improve the city's minority- and women-owned business enterprise program. Wallace, who attended city public schools and earned an MBA from Dartmouth College, worked for DuPont and IBM in Baltimore in the 1980s before starting his company, which is now located in Mount Vernon.