Showing posts with label Bus Econ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bus Econ. Show all posts

Friday, February 10, 2017

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has reservations about raising the minimum wage – by Luke Broadwater Feb. 8, 2017


Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has reservations about raising the minimum wage – by Luke Broadwater Feb. 8, 2017

Pugh says $15 minimum wage could force her Baltimore small business to close more often – by Luke Broadwater Feb. 8, 2017 http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/politics/bs-md-ci-pugh-minimum-wage-20170208-story.html

Mayor Catherine Pugh on Wednesday expressed strong reservations about a bill mandating Baltimore businesses pay a $15 minimum wage by 2022.

Pugh, a small business owner, said the bill being considered by the City Council could cause her consignment shop to close an extra day per week.

"People can't afford to pay these kind of wages," Pugh said of the council's proposal. "What would I do as a small business? Close my store another day. Just can't afford it."

Pugh and her business partners, including Baltimore Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, own 2 Chic Boutique in Pigtown, a consignment shop that sells designer clothes.

She urged the City Council to fully consider the bill's ramifications on jobs in Baltimore. During her campaign, Pugh told a local union she would sign a $15 minimum wage bill. She did not say Wednesday that she would veto the bill, but urged caution.


+++++++++++++++
Baltimore Sun Carroll Eagle: 
Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:
Baltimore Sun - Carroll County Times - The Carroll Eagle: www.explorecarroll.com: http://www.explorecarroll.com/search/?s=Dayhoff&action=GO

Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com

My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/


See also - Kevin Earl Dayhoff Art www.kevindayhoff.com: Travel, art, artists, authors, books, newspapers, media, writers and writing, journalists and journalism, reporters and reporting, music, culture, opera... Ad maiorem Dei gloriam inque hominum salutem. “Deadline U.S.A.” 1952. Ed Hutcheson: “That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!” - See more at: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/#sthash.4HNLwtfd.dpuf
+++++++++++++++

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Carroll Gardens was once an important part of the history of the business of agriculture in Carroll County

March 1994 Carroll Gardens perennial mail-order catalogue

Carroll Gardens 444 East Main Street, Westminster, Carroll County Maryland 21157

Labels and keywords: plants, horticulture, perennials, mail-order catalogue, Carroll County, Westminster, Maryland, agriculture, history


I recently came across a box of old plant catalogues, invoices and papers from the years I made a living as a nursery stock farmer, 1974 to 1999. I raised perennials, shrubs and trees. To further make ends meet, I also did landscape design and contracting and property management. It kept me very busy for 25 years. I’ve now been retired from farming for over fifteen years and I still miss it.

I worked for Pasquale Donofrio at Carroll Gardens in the late 1960s. I loved working there.

I also enjoyed working with Alan Summers beginning in 1984, when he purchased the business. It was great to take my landscape design customers there to pick out plants. Mr. Summers was a wealth of knowledge and worked tirelessly to make Carroll Gardens weather the changes in the market and the economy.

The plant mail-order business that Carroll Gardens did so well, was a natural outgrowth of the mercantilist economy that made Carroll County Maryland an agricultural and economic powerhouse for over a hundred years after the American Civil War in the early 1860s.

The unfinished goods were brought to Westminster and Carroll County and exchanged for finished goods. This resulted in accumulated capital that was leveraged into public infrastructure, factories plant and equipment, manufacturing, agri-business and a great quality of life for Carroll County citizens.

The mail-order plant business was a great economic model that we see today repeated in the internet – on an even more global scale. Carroll Gardens did it well.

I retired as a nursery stock farmer– perennial grower in 1994. Changes in the business compressed profit margins and the increases in doing business and difficulties in the regulatory climate, especially in Maryland, simply made it too difficult to continue. Or at least, I was certainly not smart enough to adapt.

Carroll Gardens was once an important part of the history of the business of agriculture in Carroll County - that will no doubt fade into history and it makes me sad...


Economy blights a beloved garden center

Debt, poor sales forcing owner to close Carroll Gardens at end of this month

By Susan Reimer Baltimore Sun reporter

June 2, 2009

Carroll Gardens, a quaint and slightly ragged cinder-block garden center at the end of a dirt road in Westminster, is closing at the end of this month after having been a resource for gardeners since the 1930s.

Alan Summers, who has owned Carroll Gardens since 1984 and hosted a garden talk show on WCBM-AM for nearly as long, announced his decision Saturday on the show, stunning customers and disappointing longtime employees who had hoped against hope for a reprieve….

No hyperlink to this story is readily available…

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Carroll Gardens to Suspend Business

Effective June 30th, 2009, Carroll Gardens will suspend accepting orders for shipment. Our store in Westminster is also scheduled to close on that date. The Saturday morning call-in radio show, which we have provided for the last 20 years, will continue for the foreseeable future. (The Garden Club; WCBM-680AM; 7-8 a.m. Saturday Morning)

To satisfy our creditors, we must raise cash. Our loss is your gain! All products and plants on CarrollGardens.com and in the store are being sold at 25% off, subject to availability and first come first served. If you have gift certificates or credits, please use them now. Your credit card will not be charged until your order is shipped and there can be no backorders.

If Carroll Gardens can resolve its financial problems, we will resume business. We have the potential of an investor which may allow Carroll Gardens to continue. There is one last thing that we are requesting of you. If Carroll Gardens returns, I would like it to be better than it is now. Please send me a brief email describing what Carroll Gardens means to you and what you will miss without Carroll Gardens. (Please send emails to info@carrollgardens.com.)

Carroll Gardens was founded more than 75 years ago as a mail-order company. Through these years, it has been our pleasure to serve you and we truly regret having to suspend business.

Alan L. Summers

President
+++++++++++++++
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Westminster business owner encourages shoppers to stay local - baltimoresun.com

Westminster business owner encourages shoppers to stay local - baltimoresun.com:

'via Blog this'

Westminster Bus Birdie’s, Restaurants Birdie's, People Joseph Sherri Hosfeld, Bus Econ, Westminster businesses, Westminster Econ Dev, Westminster Downtown promotion, 20121010 Birdies Westminster Downtown Poster, 

 Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/ “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Annual Report of Maryland’s Rural Development Council for FY 2000


The FORVM's Year in Review for FY 2000

The Annual Report of Maryland’s Rural Development Council


At the start of this new century, the Maryland economy, like the national economy, is running full throttle. Maryland's agriculture industry has produced a bumper crop of corn and soybeans, and the state's historically downtrodden urban and rural regions are experiencing a positive up-tick in the traditional indicators of success. Unemployment rates are down. Consumer confidence is up.

Still, several counties in Western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore have unemployment rates significantly above the statewide average. Poor access to quality health care, the continuing loss of viable farm and forestland, a crumbling infrastructure, and the low availability of suitable housing and reliable transportation remain serious challenges for Marylanders to solve.

The FORVM for Rural Maryland identifies important issues facing rural communities and brings together diverse groups of people and policy-makers to work toward improving the quality of life in Rural Maryland. At the close of Fiscal Year 2000, thanks to the efforts of many of our partners, the FORVM is better positioned then ever to help rural communities achieve a better tomorrow. Here are some highlights of the year just concluded.

Eastern Shore Economic Development

At the request of The Eastern Shore General Assembly Delegation, Governor Parris Glendening appointed the Eastern Shore Economic Development Task Force late last year. More than 100 people from across the Eastern Shore met over several months to study and craft short- and long-term solutions to many challenging economic problems.

Eight subcommittees of the task force, composed of members from each of the nine Eastern Shore counties, submitted individual and regional issues, concerns, and recommendations which the steering committee outlined by economic area. The task force's final report forms the basis of a comprehensive, long-range regional economic development strategy, both for individual counties and the Eastern Shore as a whole.

To preserve the integrity of the Eastern Shore, the Task Force agreed that the following six recommendations require immediate attention.

1)       Create water and wastewater treatment systems as identified in individual county master plans to handle current and future needs.

2)       Establish funding mechanisms, organize producer cooperatives, and promote production and marketing alternatives to enhance the sustainability of the agriculture and seafood industries. Use the statewide study currently underway to examine the impact of agriculture and poultry on Eastern Shore economy

3)       Implement a high-speed fiber-optic network on the Eastern Shore to meet current and future needs.

4)       Promote the development of an integrated regional public transportation system for the entire Eastern Shore and Delmarva area that includes securing long-term funding (at least five years) from the Maryland Mass Transit Administration and the Federal government.

5)       Support local Workforce Investment Boards efforts to aid in motivating and training residents seeking to participate in the labor force.

6)       Create two permanent regional planning organizations, charged with planning for and taking the required steps in achieving the desired business, economic, and community outcomes for the regions, including the timely implementation of the recommendations of the Eastern Shore Economic Development Task Force.

The Task Force and the Eastern Shore Delegation has asked the FORVM, in the role of a neutral facilitator, to help implement this last recommendation by working collaboratively with local officials to establish these regional councils. The FORVM will be working diligently toward that end in coming months.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/104250445/The-Annual-Report-of-Maryland%E2%80%99s-Rural-Development-Council-for-FY-2000
+++++++++

Maryland, agriculture, eastern shore, Delmarva, General Assembly, technology, 
*****

+++++++++++++++
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++

Monday, July 16, 2012

Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: New Engines of Growth The #art and culture of economic development part 2


Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: The #art and culture of economic development part 2


Kevin E. Dayhoff July 12, 2012

Last Monday, after studying the report, New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture, and Design, prepared by the National Governors Association, I found myself lost in thought about the role of the arts as an economic engine.

Later that day I met with a travel writer, Leonard M. Adkins of Richmond, VA, at the cooperative art gallery, Off Track Art, of which I am a founding member.

For three-years, the 10 artists in the cooperative have made a conscious effort to act as an arts and culture incubator for Carroll County as well as to promote the sale of our art.

Mr. Adkins, an outdoor and travel writer, photographer, and “The Habitual Hiker,” is touring Maryland through August 8 to update his book “Explorer’s Guide Maryland.” He visited Carroll County in 2001 when he first wrote the book and has been back several other times for updates.

It was exciting to talk with Mr. Adkins about the role of tourism, arts, and culture in Maryland. He has also written about theAppalachian Trail and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

As fate would have it, my wife and I spent last Saturday bicycling from Brunswick to Harpers Ferry and back, where we had dinner at “Beans in the Belfry” on West Potomac Street near the offices of our good friends, Mayor Carroll Jones and City Administrator Richard Weldon at Brunswick City Hall.

Located in a 100-year-old restored historic church, Beans in the Belfry is an excellent example of an artistic approach to adaptive re-use, and arts and culture as an economic driver and jobs creator.

The National Governor Association’s “New Engines of Growth” report is a must-read for anyone involved in the development of public policy that affects the arts and economic development.

The National Governors Association website elaborates: “Globalization and the changing economy have affected individual states differently, but all are searching for ways to support high-growth industries, accelerate innovation, foster entrepreneurial activity, address unemployment, build human capital and revive distressed areas… http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5223


+++++++++++++++++++++++

See also:

Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: National Governors Association New Engines of Growth http://tinyurl.com/825mo9r

Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: The #art and culture of economic development part 1 http://tinyurl.com/825mo9r




The National Governors Association recently released a new report on the role that community arts, culture, and design play in job creation and economic growth.

The remarkably creative and thoughtful report, New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture, and Design, was prepared by the group’s Center for Best Practices, in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

The 52-page report itself is an eye-catching and well-designed piece of artwork in its layout and design.

However, even more amazing is that, page-by-page, the report presents a compelling and persuasive case for encouraging community arts and cultural programs, businesses, shops and industry to create economy and jobs – in a manner surprisingly devoid of mind-numbing public policy wonk-speak.

The executive summary of the report states, in part … http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5218


+++++++++

See also:



By Kevin Dayhoff

July 11, 2012

One of my passions for July, besides thoroughly enjoying the heat, is the Tour de France. This year, June 30 was one of my greatest days of summer…

That was the day that the 99th Tour de France began with the “prologue” event. What follows, until July 22, is a tour of France’s picturesque agriculturally dominated countryside, in 20 stages that will cover 3,497 kilometres.

By the time a cyclist finishes the Tour de France, he will have burned a total of 118,000 calories or the “equivalent to 26 Mars Bars per day,” according to the BBC.

The Tour de France has a little something for everyone – history, drama, intrigue, science, a mini geography tutorial of Europe, and all of the fanfare and spectacle of what is arguably, one of the most difficult sporting challenges in the world today...

And besides, so much of the humble – and insane – beginnings of the Tour de France were started by journalists and a newspaper.

The humble beginnings of the bicycle race were as a newspaper publicity event, brainstormed by Henri Desgrange in 1902, to promote the sports newspaper “l'Auto.”

According to the history section of the Le Tour de France website, “The line between insanity and genius is said to be a fine one, and in early 20thcentury France, anyone envisaging a near-2,500-km-long cycle race across the country would have been widely viewed as unhinged.

“But that didn’t stop Géo Lefèvre, a journalist with L’Auto magazine at the time, from proceeding with his inspired plan. His editor, Henri Desgrange, was bold enough to believe in the idea and to throw his backing behind the Tour de France. And so it was that, on 1 July 1903, sixty pioneers set out on their bicycles from Montgeron. After six mammoth stages (Nantes - Paris, 471 km!), only 21 “routiers,” led by Maurice Garin, arrived at the end of this first epic.”

Although the eyes of the world are on the Tour de France every July, did you know that there were several celebrated bicycle races, in the central-Maryland area, a number of years before the first Tour de France in 1903?

According to an American Sentinel newspaper article published on October 20, 1895: “The most remarkable cycling event … was a century run, undertaken by over three hundred riders, from Baltimore, on Sunday last.

“Mishaps reduced the number, by the time the cavalcade started, to two hundred and ninety-nine, among whom were several ladies.  The run was to Frederick and return.

“Two hundred and forty-six of the starters continued in the run to the finish and made the 100 miles… Messrs. George M. Parke and John H. Cunningham, of the Cycling Ramblers of Westminster, were in the run and completed the century.”

At the Corbit’s Charge encampment on Sunday, June 24, I was inspired by several conversations with local historians Tom LeGore and Ron Kuehne, known well for his historic interpretation of Westminster Mayor Michael Baughman; to revisit our local history at Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Washington DC, and Gettysburg.

All are comfortable family-friendly day trips for those of us who live in Carroll County. Well, by car that is…

So, in honor of the Tour de France, on Saturday, July my wife and I spent bicycling through history from Brunswick to Harpers Ferry and back on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath.

We had dinner at “Beans in the Belfry” on West Potomac Street, in Brunswick, near the offices of my good friends, Mayor Carroll Jones and City Administrator Richard Weldon at the Brunswick City Hall.

Located in a 100 year-old restored historic church, Beans in the Belfry is an excellent of an artistic approach to adaptive re-use, and arts and culture as an economic driver and jobs creator.

We loved the ambiance and atmosphere of Beans in the Belfry. Our food was wonderful and the service friendly and welcoming.

Next week - Saturday, July 14, 2012, we’ll try the Northern Central Railroad Trail, in Gunpowder Falls State Park in Baltimore County.


More than 100 years ago, "bicycle riders and racers, were filled with excitement over an event to take place at the Pleasure Park, a newly built horseracing track with grandstand one mile north of Westminster on the road to Littlestown."

That property is now known as Carroll County Regional Airport.

Thanks to research for the Historical Society of Carroll County by historian Mary Ann Ashcraft, we know that on June 25, 1898, the now-defunct American Sentinel wrote that "Thursday, the 30th day of June, will be the greatest day among cyclists in Carroll County that has ever occurred in its history.


One of my passions for July, besides thoroughly enjoying the heat, is the Tour de France. This year, June 30 was one of my greatest days of summer.
That was the day that the 99th Tour de France began with the "prologue" event. What follows, until July 22, is a tour of France's picturesque and agriculturally dominated countryside, in 20 stages that will cover 3,497 kilometers…http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/carroll/news/community/ph-ce-eagle-archive-0715-20120711,0,1917523.story
+++++++++++++++
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: National Governors Association New Engines of Growth http://tinyurl.com/825mo9r


Kevin Dayhoff The Tentacle: The #art and culture of economic development part 1 http://tinyurl.com/825mo9r



Kevin E. Dayhoff Art Econ Benefits of Art,

The National Governors Association recently released a new report on the role that community arts, culture, and design play in job creation and economic growth.

The remarkably creative and thoughtful report, New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture, and Design, was prepared by the group’s Center for Best Practices, in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

The 52-page report itself is an eye-catching and well-designed piece of artwork in its layout and design.

However, even more amazing is that, page-by-page, the report presents a compelling and persuasive case for encouraging community arts and cultural programs, businesses, shops and industry to create economy and jobs – in a manner surprisingly devoid of mind-numbing public policy wonk-speak.

The executive summary of the report states, in part … http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5218
*****

+++++++++++++++
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Eagle Archive: Budget and the economy were worries in 1837 ... and still are

Eagle Archive: Budget and the economy were worries in 1837 ... and still are

by Kevin Dayhoff


This is the time of the year when many citizens turn their attention to the budget processes of Carroll County government and its eight municipalities. No matter where you live in Carroll County, money matters.

Statewide, Gov. Martin O'Malley has announced that on Monday, May 14, the General Assembly will get together for a couple of days to raise taxes and enact more laws, rules and regulations. (For more on this read, "Delegation says county stands to lose $1 million in special session," on ExploreCarroll.com.)... http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/carroll/opinion-talk/ph-ce-eagle-archive-0513-20120509,0,1799107.story



*****

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Eagle Archive: Shopping for a silver anniversary present for TownMall

Eagle Archive: Shopping for a silver anniversary present for TownMall





It was Wednesday, March 4, 1987, at 12:45 p.m. that Cranberry Mall — now known as TownMall of Westminster, on Route 140 at Center Street — held its much-anticipated grand opening.

"Cranberry Mall was a long time in coming to Carroll County," recalled a story in the Baltimore Sun in 2000. "A sign planted in farmland flanking Route 140 had boasted that a shopping center was coming soon, but for 15 years nothing happened."

Then it was in 1985 that a New York-based developer bought the land and broke ground for the shopping center, according to newspaper accounts.

Construction continued in earnest in 1986 on the $36 million, 428,392-retail square foot facility. The March 4, 1987, edition of the Gettysburg Times reported that the mall created "close to 1,000 jobs ... (and) generated $9 million in local contracts. Projected tax revenues include $2.6 million in sales taxes, $1.6 million in income taxes and $543,000 in property taxes." … http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/carroll/opinion-talk/ph-ce-eagle-archive-0311-20120307,0,6391220.story




 Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/
Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ (http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/ “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

Saturday, March 24, 2012

TownMall of Westminster celebrates its 25th birthday By Kevin Dayhoff March 11, 2012


On Friday afternoon, March 2, 2012, local community leaders, led by Bob Mathers of WTTR got together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the TownMall of Westminster.

Westminster Mayor Kevin Utz and police chief Jeff Spaulding joined Carroll County Commissioners Robin Frazier, Dave Roush, and Haven Shoemaker for the celebration.

Also participating in the event was Julianna M. Albowicz, a representative of U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski, Carroll County Chamber of Commerce President Mike McMullin and the TownMall General Manager Robyn Clark.

Older folks in the greater Carroll community can still remember the excitement when, on Wednesday, March 4, 1987 at 12:45 p.m. the Cranberry Mall, now known as the TownMall of Westminster located on Route 140 at Center Street in Westminster, held a long awaited – and much-anticipated grand opening.

On March 4, 2000, Baltimore Sun writer Jennifer McMenamin reported, “Cranberry Mall was a long time in coming to Carroll County -- a sign planted in farmland flanking Route 140 had boasted that a shopping center was coming soon, but for 15 years nothing happened.

“When a New York-based developer bought the land in 1985 and broke ground for the shopping center, local economic development officials heralded it as a regional attraction that would bring 1,000 jobs and generate $2.6 million a year in sales taxes.”

According to Commissioner Shoemaker, 12,000 tons of steel from South Carolina, 65,000 sq. ft. of marble tile from Italy for the floors, and 50 miles of electrical cable, were used in the $36 million spent on the construction and development of the mall.

On behalf of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Shoemaker read a county proclamation and shared a few personal observations; including the point that the TownMall also serves as a social gathering place for older folks and not just teenagers…

The mall has seen many changes since it opened as the first and to this day, the only fully enclosed shopping facility in Carroll County.

It was also that year that Carroll County celebrated its 150th anniversary with a schedule of festivities that lasted throughout the year and included a visit by Roy Rodgers on May 30.

In hindsight, as I can best remember, the opening of the regional mercantile center was not necessarily part of the Carroll County birthday festivities that year, although it should have because it actually fits well in the history of county.

In the second-half of the 1700s, especially after the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, Carroll County and the Westminster area quickly gained importance in the central-Maryland and mid-Atlantic area as a regional mercantile center – in particular for pioneers headed west to the then-frontier of western-Pennsylvania, Ohio and beyond.

According to numerous history accounts, including the March 4, 1987 edition of the Gettysburg Times, the grand opening celebration continued until Saturday, March 7 and included entertainment and guest appearances by local community leaders and elected officials.

In 1987 the mall was the first and - twenty-five years later – the only fully enclosed regional shopping center in Carroll County.

Construction had begun in earnest in 1986 on the $36 million, 428,392-retail square foot facility located on Center Street at the intersection of Routes 27 and 140, in the northern end of Westminster. It was reported at the time that it was the sixth mall built in Maryland by the New York-based Shopco Group.

The Gettysburg Times reported that in 1987 the mall created “close to 1,000 jobs … and … generated $9 million in local contracts. Projected tax revenues include $2.6 million in sales taxes, $1.6 million in income taxes and $543,000 in property taxes.”

In March 1987, the mall was built to accommodate 89 stores. At the time of the grand opening, 35 stores were open for business, “with about 60 percent of the space (in the mall) currently leased… including two of the three anchor stores, Caldor and Leggett,” according to the Gettysburg Times.

The third anchor was to have been Hutzler’s department store, which had leased space before the mall opened, but then, unfortunately, it went bankrupt.

However, the space that had been set aside for Hutzler’s was quickly snapped-up by Sears that opened shortly after the opening.

Five-years later, Kerry O’Rourke reported for the Baltimore Sun on March 15, 1992, “Cranberry Mall celebrates its fifth anniversary this month with 94 percent of its space leased and retail sales on the rise. Sales at the shopping mall increased 3 percent from 1990 to 1991, a year when other Baltimore-area centers saw a decline, an industry spokesman said.

“The opening of Montgomery Ward & Co. -- the mall's fourth anchor store -- in November 1990 was a boost for the center... About 2,500 people visit Cranberry Mall on a typical day… The 525,000-square-foot center employs 500 to 600 people… Cranberry Mall is owned by Shearson Shopco Malls Limited Partnership, based in New York. The owners paid $444,759 in property taxes for 1991-1992, county records show… Mall receipts -- excluding sales at the anchors -- were about $30 million last year…”

However the decade of the 1990s were not kind to regional malls and the TownMall was not spared from the vagaries of a changing marketplace. It was important that the mall change with the times.

When I took office as a Westminster councilmember in May 1999, vacancies at the TownMall, according to old mall file documents, had climbed to 25 percent in 1999 after Caldor closed in the 1998-1999 time period. Two years later, in 2001, Montgomery Ward also closed adding to a feeling of ‘emptiness’ at the mall…

A March 19, 2003 article in the Baltimore Sun reported, “The mall has lost major tenants such as Montgomery Ward, Caldor and CVS Pharmacy within the past five years. It lost more than $20 million in value when Cranberry Properties MM Corp. purchased the 525,000- square-foot mall at Route 140 and Route 27 in April 2000 from Shopco Regional Malls for $33.5 million. Shopco (Shearson Shopco Malls Limited Partnership,) had bought the mall in 1988 for $53.8 million.

In the late summer of 2001, the city of Westminster was approached by mall’s representatives to discuss revitalizing the shopping facility. Part of the proposed revitalization required certain zoning changes.

The city of Westminster responded quickly. On November 27, 2001, the management company for the mall thanked the city “for unanimously approving text amendments (for the) TownMall of Westminster’s zoning regulations. Indeed, it is rare for a local government to respond in such a swift manner, which demonstrates the City’s collective vision for revitalizing (the) TownMall. As you know, these text amendments are vital to securing prospective tenants…”

The next spring, on May 9, 2002, it was announced that Boscov’s would take over the area vacated by Montgomery Wards. A May 10, 2002 Baltimore Sun article reported, “The Pennsylvania-based department store will tear down the existing structure and start from scratch, adding a second floor -- and the mall's first escalator -- to become the mall's premier retailer at 178,545 square feet… while creating at least 400 jobs. The mall has 54 tenants besides Boscov's…”

In comparison, the Sun noted, “Sears stands at 70,060 square feet and Belk (Leggett’s) at 65,282 square feet.” The March 19, 2003 Sun article noted that at 178,545 square feet, size of the new Boscov’s store is - almost a third of the mall.

The grand opening for Boscov’s was held on April 6, 2003.

In recent years, as the economy has faltered and retail marketing has been challenged, the worldwide management firm of Jones Lang LaSalle has been called upon to lead the TownMall into the next twenty-five years.

Adapting to constant change has been a persistent marketing necessity in recent years as consumer expectations have changed as quickly as market conditions and the weather.

At celebration ceremonies last Friday, Robyn J. Clark, the mall’s longstanding general manager observed, “Over the years, TownMall has gone through some changes.”

Now that was an understatement. Yet as a testimony to the approach of Ms. Clark, the mall’s leadership and management team, and Jones Lang LaSalle, “The mall currently has 85 merchants and 20 of them were here back in 1987… Zales, American Greetings, Belk, Boardwalk Fries, Claire’s, Deb Shop, Foot Locker, FYE, Gordon’s, Hair Cuttery, Littman’s, Payless Shoes, Piercing Pagoda, Radio Shack, Regal Cinema, Ritz Camera, Sterling Optical, Subway,  Things Remembered & Villa Pizza…”

In recent years, according to the mall’s website, “A 2006 interior and exterior renovation included a new inside color scheme, new mall entrances and in 2007 new pylon and exterior signage and in 2010 the addition of Dick's Sporting Goods.

“Anchored by a two-story Boscov's, Belk, and Sears, TownMall is also complemented by Regal Cinemas, a renovated food area and Dick's Sporting Goods.

“Key retailers at TownMall of Westminster include PacSun, Bath & Body Works, rue21, Christopher and Banks, New York & Company, F.Y.E., Journeys and The Children's Place.”

Today, the TownMall employs over 500 workers – in addition to providing a place for older senior citizens like Commissioner Shoemaker, to have a place to mall-walk, no matter what the weather is like outside.

When he is not hanging-out at the mall with Commissioner Shoemaker and listening to Led Zeppelin, Ozzie Osbourne, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, and Carrie Underwood on his iPod, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at kevindayhoff@gmail.com.

Kevin Dayhoff also spoke at the March 2, 2012 event. In full disclosure, Dayhoff served on several Carroll County development, agriculture and environmental committees during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, when the TownMall was being developed – and as a Westminster Common Council member from 1999 – 2001 and the mayor of Westminster from 2001-2005.

+++++++++++++++
I’m a newspaper reporter. I’m pushy, inconsiderate and I do not respect boundaries.
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
+++++++++++++++