May 27, 2009

summer school: downtown 101


This is the time of year when businesses take on interns or summer associates. We want to help these seasonal hires make the most of their time working downtown and, hopefully, convince them to come back and live / work here when they finish school.

So, we've started a kind of orientation event that includes a reception, a quick presentation, and plenty of resources to find things to do, ways to get around, places to live, and how to network with their peers.

The Economic Alliance and Collegetown Network are our partners this year and will help with the presentations. We did it last year and everyone had a good time.

If your company has a team of interns, or if you're a starving grad student working for slave wages, come by and check this out. Not only will you pick up useful information, it's also possible to eat enough hors d'oeuvres that you can skip dinner that night.

Visit GoDowntownBaltimore for details and to register.


-mike evitts

afternoon baseball


co-worker, Faith, and a friend

There are plenty of good reasons to work downtown but, hands down, my favorite is the businessman's special ... aka, weekday afternoon baseball games.

The O's could get their first sweep of the season when they play the Blue Jays at 1:35. But whether they win or lose is almost beside the point. For a lot of people, these games are about heading to the ballpark when they'd otherwise be at the office. It's the summer equivalent of a snow day.

When everyone takes off for a game, especially a big one like opening day, I bet the only business getting done downtown is in the stands.

So, don't tell my boss, but I'm about to head to Faidley's for a crabcake on my way to Camden Yards. Odds are, I'll bump into him there anyway.

-mike evitts

May 15, 2009

no rust belt here

the American Can Co. (image from the Can Co. website, thecanco.com)



Some things stubbornly refuse to go away. Like ailanthus "trees." Or this.

Similarly, there are lingering perceptions about Baltimore, some good (affordable, city of neighborhoods), some trite (funky charm), some harmful (full of crime), and some outdated - that we're a blue collar town, for example.

My relatives worked at American Can and Sparrows Point back when both places provided steady jobs with good pay and benefits. These were old economy jobs that were mostly lost a long time ago, but their ghosts haunt our public image.

More often than not, Baltimore is still thought of, and talked about, as an old industrial city. A blue-collar town. Part of the rust belt. More akin to Cleavland or Pittsburgh than our tawny neighbor 30 miles down the Baltimore/Washington Parkway.

The reality may surprise you.


We just released our annual 2008/2009
State of Downtown Report where, among other data, we track how Downtown compares to other cities across the country. With 40,000 residents within a one-mile radius of the Inner Harbor, we're 7th for population density, ahead of places like Boston, San Diego, Denver, Washington, Atlanta, and Portland.

There are 113,000 jobs in that same area which puts us 16th in the country, ahead of places like Dallas, Miami, and Phoenix.

And we rank 8th for the number of households here that make at least $75,000.

One of our biggest industry concentrations is in life sciences and biotechnology - areas where we expect tremendous job and investment growth over the next several decades. We're also strong in finance, insurance, and real estate jobs - which are holding their own, even in the current down economy.

It's telling that the American Can Company, where my grandfather worked, now houses a technology incubator, along with the kinds of high-end retail, coffee shops, and wine bars that have become signifiers of new economy success.

Looking at Downtown's economic data, you can't help but lose the long-held perception that Baltimore is still a shadow of its former industrial self. True Baltimore is still working class, but these days that refers to entrepreneurialism not steel.

-Mike Evitts






May 6, 2009

monthly design conversations

Tonight is the latest in an ongoing series of conversations about design in Baltimore. They're held the first Wednesday of the month at the excellent Wind Up Space (12 W. North Avenue).

The conversations are curated but open discussions that include presentations by architects, graphic designers, urban planners, and other Big Thinkers. And, each month the program is centered around a specific theme. The events are free and start around 6:30 p.m.

-Mike Evitts

word about Baltimore travels

When you've got a captive audience you don't always need to be captivating. Such is the case with in-flight magazines offered gratis by several major airlines.

They're designed as advertising vehicles for the different markets served by the carrier and, by definition, their goal is to appeal to as wide a cross section of people as possible.

I often read them when I'm flying, and I've even helped put a few together. Several years ago, we were involved in a Baltimore feature in UsAirways Magazine. This year, along with partner organizations like the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association (BACVA) and the Economic Alliance, we helped out with a profile on Baltimore that appears in the May issue of Southwest Airline's magazine, Spirit.


The articles give a pretty good entry-level introduction to any given city and are seen by tens of thousands of people from all over the world.

I'm not aware of any numbers that show whether or not an air mag profile increases visitation to a given market, but it sure can't hurt.

We know from BACVA research that people outside our region may not have much of an impression of Baltimore beyond the usual... crabcakes, the Inner Harbor, etc. But, once someone visits, they usually embrace the city and want to come back.

Baltimore is such a major hub for Southwest that it makes sense to profile the city in a glossy magazine. Using the same logic, a feature by Carnival Cruise Lines should be in the works soon.

Carnival was here a few weekends ago, covering Downtown with special events and promotions to build awareness of its new deal with the Port of Baltimore.

The cruise line is set to sail 50 annual round trips from Baltimore (generating an estimated $152 million for the local economy). Next year, Royal Caribbean will also begin offering year-round cruises, drawing visitors from across the mid-Atlantic and mid-West.

Whether they read about us in a magazine first or not, hopefully the scores of visitors attracted to Baltimore by the cruise lines get captured by the City's charm and make plans to return.

-Mike Evitts






May 5, 2009

so this sucked

Photo from the Baltimore Sun taken by Jed Kirschbaum.

This happens every so often in older homes, cars, cities. Stuff breaks. And, as was the case with the recent water main break that still has Lombard Street closed, people sometimes have a good idea where repairs should happen before it becomes an emergency.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to come up with the money and initiate a majorly disruptive infrastructure improvement project (with all the attendant traffic tie ups, pedestrian inconvenience and noise associated with it), especially if everything looks fine on the surface.

This is the challenge local governments face constantly. Money is short, needed repairs get put on hold. Communities want infrastructure improvements, but bristle at the cost in terms of tax or fee increases. And nobody wants to sit in traffic while the construction happens.

But the cost of doing nothing is much greater, as the Lombard break illustrates. Unfortunately, whether preempitvely for upgrades or post break for emergency repairs, the bulk of the cost for infrastructure improvements is shouldered by local taxpayers.

In 2007, the U.S. Conference of Mayors published a report that found 95% of the cost of water and sewer infrastructure development and operations is paid by local jurisdictions while only 5% is covered by state or federal monies. It also found that "state and federal contributions are flat and declining over time, even though federal mandates continue to grow."

Part of this makes sense... that a local municipality should pay for its own infrastructure. But, here's where it gets interesting. The authors of the report concluded that, "the direct and indirect benefits of increased investment in public water and sewer are significant. The findings support the notion that increased spending could stimulate the sluggish economy while at the same time providing clean water and sewer services to protect public health."

They argue that infrastructure development has a trickle-up effect on the regional and national economies so it's in the best interests of state and federal governments to cough up more assistance for these local projects. Here are their findings to back this up:

"One dollar of water and sewer infrastructure investment increases private output (Gross Domestic Product, GDP) in the long-term by $6.35;

"Each additional dollar of revenue to local government from providing water and sewer system operation and maintenance increases revenue (economic output) that occurs in all idustries by $2.62 in that year;

"Adding one new job in local water and sewer creates 3.68 jobs in the national economy to support that one job."

-Mike Evitts