That's horrible Bmorepanic. Has anyone asked a news program to look into it?

I don't know. Everybody else is more connected - so I informed the others in our neighborhood who in turn will call others in other neighborhoods. I wrote the newspaper, the mayor and director of transportation and am trying to get everyone I know to do the same.

I don't understand how one guy can derail thousands of man hours from hundreds of people. I have even met the guy - he's bright and a little boring. He seems to be offended because he missed the conceptual planning and believe me, there was multiple forms of advertising and the transportation department sent representatives to all of the neighborhoods multiple times.

Just my whineys, because I am stunned.

If you had funding and a committed contractor with a 1 July start date, does that mean there was a signed contract? If so, you might want also want to have someone look into how much it is going to cost to cancel the contract. Cancelling this close to the start date can be expensive.

I hope you can get it resolved.

DeeDee

Time to call the TV stations. Publicicty, especially when it's critical of a power grab, can do wonders for your project.

Can someone take this guy aside and talk to him?

Firstly, thanks for the suggestions and tia to anyone else who has some.

I do not feel capable of contacting TV people - I don't even own one - but this morning went to "info-gossip central", a bookstore-cafe in the area and put it out there. The proprietor knows a lot of local people. Odds are somebody will call the tv stations before the end of the day.

Little bit more information gleaned from the same visit. The guy who is getting the project cancelled wants to run for city council and take the place of the current council person. The current council person is a relative of the mayor who was appointed to the position when another relative who ably held the position died. Rather like a soap opera, isn't it? It's capped by the fact of the mayor is currently running for govenor.

The current council person is ok, but not great. The current council person represents this area but feels the money should be spent in another section of the city and has said this in the past in public forums. This area has not had any development or "planning" for over thirty years and this project is important to the small/medium retailers who are located on this street and is key to attracting/retaining more.

One last bubble in the soap opera, the mayor lives in the area affected by the change.

bmorepanic, you don't need to know anybody at the TV stations, you just need to email them with an idea for a story. This needs to made public. Maybe Mayor O'Malley doesn't even know about it.

I know they just did some traffic calming on Walker Avenue, off Loch Raven Blvd, but I'm not sure if it's the city or the county part of that road.

WJZ see the bottom right of page

WBAL follow their link to contact them

WMAR fill out the form (link under under the picture)

Good luck.

bmore, DH and I have been trying to guess what neighborhood you're talking about and who the influential "connected guy" is. Was it one of the candidates in the 2004 election? (I'd like to know so I can vote AGAINST him next time!) I'm thinking it's the Lauraville/Harford Road area; is that right? If so, then your councilman is Bobby Curran, the brother of the mayor's FIL. But who's the influential guy (a developer?) who was able to cancel the project? Seems like the mayor and his family would support improvement in their own neighborhood. Could this guy have stymied the project without having the mayor on his side? Very strange...

Sue

Sue,

Dude was a council member in 2004. And president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors? And on the board of live baltimore.

Spot on about Bobby. Bobby lives in Original Northwood not here. He also doesn't want changes at the Lake Montebello Rec area after the dredging because it would interfer with his route home after church on Sunday. He believes that the police cost too much - but only in our district. He is supporting the position of the connected dude. That was the basis of his show at the final contract approval hearing and trying to get it stopped.

jill