Subsidizing the Low Road: Economic ... - Good Jobs First

2. The State of Economic Development TodayMany of Baltimore's economic development projects are still clustered aroundthe waterfront and the downtown area. Current initiatives include furtherdevelopment of tourism in the Inner Harbor, apartments in the West Side, and atechnology cluster in the "Digital Harbor.” The city has budgeted more than $150million to support economic development in 2002.Tourism. Tourism continues to be at the forefront of Baltimore's economicdevelopment strategy. Over the past decade, and with assistance from the state, thecity has continued to finance big-ticket tourist attractions along the waterfront. Thisyear the city has budgeted more than $40 million to build, promote, and operatetourist attractions. 38Inner Harbor East. In addition to creating more tourist attractions, the city continues tosubsidize office, retail, and hotel development in the Inner Harbor. The focus now ison the east side of the Harbor. The area, which has been described as "one of the besttracts of undeveloped urban waterfront on the East Coast,” is eligible for both federalempowerment zone and Maryland enterprise zone benefits 39 (see Chapter 3 for adescription of how these programs work.)Recently completed projects in Inner Harbor East include two Marriott hotels,the headquarters of Sylvan Learning Systems and a Fresh Fields gourmet grocery store.The city has offered tax abatements to the Waterfront Marriott and Lockwood Place, amixed-use project. The city has budgeted $21 million this year to build a parking lotfor Sylvan Ventures, a division of Sylvan Learning Systems. 40West Side Revitalization. The city has repeatedly attempted to redevelop the West Side,a neighborhood situated between the Inner Harbor, the central business district andthe University of Maryland's Baltimore campus. In the 1970s, the Market CenterDevelopment Corporation tried to redevelop the area to retain some of the largedepartment stores along Howard Street. Now, the focus is on transforming the areainto a residential neighborhood for university students, professors and young urbanprofessionals.The most recent iteration of the West Side Revitalization Plan was initiated bythe Weinberg Foundation, a non-profit organization that inherited significant amountsof property in the neighborhood from the late developer Harry Weinberg. (During hislifetime, Weinberg repeatedly blocked the city's redevelopment plans by refusing toinvest in his properties or cooperate in the redevelopment efforts.) In 1998, theFoundation, along with Orioles' owner Peter Angelos, the University of Maryland, andthe BDC, drew up an aggressive action plan to redevelop the West Side. At the top of9