Broadband advocate calls for a leap of faith from region
Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — Broadband can create jobs and allow small businesses based anywhere to compete nationally and worldwide, said Joanne Hovis, president of Columbia Telecommunications Corp.
Broadband is “essential to our future prosperity,” Hovis said. Thin glass tubes, referred to as “fiber,” can carry an immense amount of digital data and have “theoretically unlimited capacity” constrained only by the speed of light, Hovis said.
“As a region, you represent astonishing buying power,” Hovis said. And better broadband access can bring new investment to Allegany and Garrett counties, she said. Hovis is heading up a comparable project in Garrett County.
Hovis spoke to the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee on Wednesday morning in the chamber’s board room.
Hovis is the consultant for Allegany County’s Broadband Feasibility Study funded by a grant agreement between the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Allegany County Board of Education, said Rebecca Rupert, the co-chair of the chamber committee.
Hovis’ company has been headquartered in Maryland since 1983 and works exclusively for local, state and federal governments and nonprofits.
While the study will focus first on the needs of the educational system, the study and obtaining increased broadband access in the area will benefit the business community as well, Hovis said.
There is a great deal of unused potential in broadband because of lack of information.
“I work for the board, but I am really working for all of you,” Hovis said. Education and economic development are like this, Hovis said, holding up two fingers tightly together.
Broadband is a new way of thinking about infrastructure, but needs to be thought of as just as important to the local economy as highway access.
“It’s a foundational utility of our economy,” she said.
The feasibility study should help facilitate coordination between the private and the public sectors, Hovis said. Allconet was “15 years ahead of everybody else,” Hovis said, and while times have changed, the idea was a visionary one, she said.
Broadband networks are hard to build and expensive, so public/private partnerships can be important in broadband development, Hovis said.
“There’s too little investment in broadband because there is too little return,” in rural areas, Hovis said. She was explaining the difficulty in getting providers to build broadband networks in rural communities. Broadband is the most important selling point in commercial real estate, Hovis said.
Just like rural electrification in the 1930s and the national highway system, it will take a leap of faith to spur investment, with the belief that it will make a major difference, Hovis said.
“The more stakeholders the better,” said Stu Czapski, the chamber’s executive director.
The study will include a survey of residents and businesses.
“I will ask about telecommuting, recovery services, downloading of manuals,” Hovis said. The survey had a 46 percent response rate in Garrett County, and she’s hoping for a similar response in Allegany County, Hovis said.
Hovis said she’s in the information-gathering stage of the study and is seeking input from anyone about the region’s broadband service and needs for the future. Her commission is to do an analysis of the gaps and opportunities in broadband access. The study will help to leverage grant money for better broadband in Allegany County, Hovis said.
Maryland received more than $115 million last fall through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act to extend broadband access across the state, particularly in rural areas. The project is called One Maryland Broadband Network.
Hovis said her study will help Allegany County benefit from the state’s program. The 20 or so business leaders who packed the chamber boardroom all stressed the important of broadband access to their businesses in a discussion after the main portion of Hovis’ presentation. An ATK officer said his company is looking at projects like virtual engineering, so broadband is essential.
The target completion date for the study is June 1.
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com
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Staying put
Garrett’s fifth-graders won’t to go middle school
Cumberland Times-News
Wisdom and some common sense must have contributed to the Garrett County Board of Education’s decision not to place fifth-grade students in middle schools.
A proposed move to do so was part of a five-year reconfiguration plan designed to address staff and space problems and offer fifth-graders a chance to take foreign language and technical education classes.
Parents were concerned about the consequences of fifth-graders associating with other students who were older, chiefly the potential for bullying of the younger students. Fifth-graders have SpongeBob lunch boxes and could be “made fun of” by eighth-graders who do not, said one parent.
The fifth graders also would have had to do without recess and the opportunity for exercise it provides.
Those who are familiar with grade schools know there is a marked difference in the maturity level of students from year to year, and the younger the student, the greater the difference — and the difference can be traumatic.
We commend the Garrett County school board for listening to parents and recognizing this fact. Parents seemed to be relieved by the decision.
Another plan is now being considered that may act to both solve the logistical problems and address parents’ legitimate concerns, but the details won’t be known until later this year.
More here.
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Brochin proposals would alter future redistricting process in Maryland
State senator wants ‘people who are a little more apolitical’
By Jon Meoli, jmeoli@tribune.com
January 19, 2012 | 6:37 p.m.
State Sen. Jim Brochin introduced legislation in Annapolis on Thursday that he says would reform Maryland’s legislative and Congressional redistricting processes by making them less partisan and more objective.
“Politicians shouldn’t be making legislative redistricting maps,” said Brochin, a Democrat from Towson who represents the 42nd District. “They just shouldn’t.”
Brochin said the state’s redistricting process, conducted every 10 years to reflect changes in the U.S. Census, has, “become such a grotesquely partisan exercise that it just would make more sense if people who make maps for a living, and people who are a little more apolitical, did this.”
Senate Bill 160, one of three bills in the package introduced Jan. 19, calls for creation of a new eight-member redistricting commission, which would be directed by the executive director of the non-partisan Department of Legislative Services.
More here.
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DNR issues ice warning for Deep Creek Lake
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is urging people to be cautious when venturing onto the frozen surface of Deep Creek Lake near McHenry.
The agency said Friday that snowmobilers, anglers, hikers and cross-country skiers should wear personal floatation devices in case they end up in the water.
The DNR says the ice may be thin in spots, especially near highway bridges. And snowdrifts can act as ramps that may cause sleds and snowmobiles to become unexpectedly airborne.
Snowmobiling is allowed on the lake by those who have obtained permits, available by mail or at local state park offices. Snowmobiles may operate at night if equipped with working head and taillights. Snowmobilers can access the lake at Deep Creek Lake State Park or with permission from private landowners.
Friday, January 6 2012, 04:26 PM EST
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Educated public can help officials make right choice
CitizenShale (www.citizenshale.org) is a recently formed, all-volunteer non-profit organization.
Our mission is simple: through research, policy review, and education, we seek to encourage dialog and support comprehensive efforts to protect individual citizens and communities from the wide-ranging potential impacts of shale gas development in our region.
In the spirit of fostering that dialog, we wish to respond to recent by Garrett County Commissioner Jim Raley about the public debate over shale gas drilling (“TGCC showcases capital talking points,” Jan. 6 Times-News).
We hope to expand our working relationships with the Garrett and Allegany County commissioners, and believe Commissioner Raley’s — referring to our organization’s work — deserve clarification.
During a public meeting about an unrelated topic, Commissioner Raley referred to “educational pieces” — such as the programs CitizenShale puts on — as the work of “opponents.”
CitizenShale and its members do not support banning shale gas development in Maryland; we do, however, oppose unsafe or predatory development that takes advantage of the counties’ residents. And, given that many neighboring states have initiated such industrial gas-drilling, we believe it prudent to learn from their experiences.
CitizenShale was founded on the belief that only through public education — and the industry accountability that such education will demand — will we empower ourselves and our elected officials to make the right policy decisions.
For those who have not heard of CitizenShale, or been able to attend our meetings at Garrett College in McHenry, here is a brief summary of those with “eyewitness” experience whom we brought to speak during the last year, and some of the other educational content presented:
• A former land-owner near Pittsburgh where one of the first horizontally fractured gas wells was drilled in Eastern America. That well contaminated water on his farm — something he has seen since on numerous properties around him — and forced him into a protracted legal dispute with the driller that almost bankrupted his family, and changed their lives forever.
• A university microbiologist who showed aerial photographs depicting the new wells, compressor stations, and processing plants south of Pittsburgh (where two explosions took place last year) that transformed a generally rural area into an industrial zone in five years.
• An executive from the Oil and Gas Accountability Project who presented her experience working with people from New York to West Virginia who sought help defending their interests against the activities of energy corporations and, in many cases, against compliant state and local government authorities.
• A first in-region film screening of the two most acclaimed, and admittedly controversial documentaries about the natural gas industry.
• A program with the Maryland Attorney General and the Garrett County Bar Association devoted to answering legal questions about the hundreds of gas leases that energy corporations purchased from landowners in Garrett and Allegany counties.
• A speaker from a Washington, D.C.-based organization whose year-long study refutes claims by business and local governments about the jobs bonanza predicted with industrial drilling.
The economic, political, and land-use impacts of shale gas development are certainly worth better understanding, but any benefits must be measured by an equally thorough understanding of their costs and the longer-term effects on our region.
Anyone interested in the full range of our activities is invited to visit our website at www.citizenshale.org.
Mike Koch
Paul Roberts
CitizenShale.org
Oakland
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ASCI talks $3M default with Garrett commission
From Staff Reports Cumberland Times-News
OAKLAND — Garrett County commissioners announced that they met in executive session to discuss legal, financial and personnel implications of Adventure Sports Center International (ASCI) in regard to a default of $3 million in capital debt obligations.
During construction, ASCI incurred $3 million of loans from private lending institutions in order to address unanticipated costs.
During Tuesday’s commission meeting, Chairman James Raley read a public statement pertaining to ASCI, according to Monty Pagenhardt, county adminstration.
ASCI is a nonprofit entity and not under the authority of the board of county commissioners, according to Pagenhardt. The financial institutions involved with the debt collection are Susquehanna Bank and First United Bank & Trust.
An official and more detailed review will be made during the Feb. 7 public session, according to Pagenhardt.
“The board of county commissioners will be compiling their position and on this,” said Pagenhardt in an email to the Times-News. “I am going to coordinate something with ASCI board of directors.”
ASCI, located in McHenry, was incorporated in Maryland as a nonprofit in 1998.
ASCI manages the Fork Run Recreation Area, a 550-acre forest that hosts rock climbing, bouldering, mountain biking, hiking and geocaching, according to its website.
The first phase of construction for the man-made whitewater course, which consisted of a $3.4 million pump house and related machinery, was completed in 2005, according to a previous Times-News article.
The venture has received $4.1 million from the state, $2.9 million in federal funds, $1.3 million from Garrett County and $2 million from the sales of land donated by DC Development LLC, owner of the Wisp at Deep Creek Mountain Resort.
Attempts by the Times-News to contact Matthew Taylor, executive director of ASCI were unsuccessful.
Also during the meeting:
• Commissioners and Pagenhardt met with John Nelson, director for the Department of Planning and Land Development, to discuss a proposed Land Use Management Ordinance. Raley said Nelson began the review for the proposed plan by asking for the commission’s thoughts on a variety or sections of the ordinance.
• Commissioners ap-proved and executed a license agreement be-tween county commissioners and the University of Maryland and also approved a trail license agreement between the board and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
• James Stanto, representing the Youghiogheny River Watershed Association, provided an update on the Stream Waders Monitoring program.
More here.
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Real estate pros find hope, hot spots for 2012
(Reuters) – This new year might be the one in which the housing market starts to strengthen, according to the 2012 predictions of several housing industry observers and experts.
Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia.com, a real estate search and research website, says he sees rising rents, a humble recovery in housing prices and even some unexpected “hot” spots where he thinks price increases will exceed the average this year.
“Smart cities are hot,” he said in his annual forecast, highlighting Austin, Houston, San Jose, Boston and Rochester, New York, as cities where home prices can be expected to see modest to healthy increases.
Rochester might seem a surprising addition, since the city lost many jobs when the photography colossus Kodak thinned its ranks. Seems things are rebounding; “In Rochester, a center of high-skill manufacturing industries, education levels are well above the national average,” Kolko wrote. “As the recovery proceeds, smart cities are leading the way.”
More here.
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Mortgage applications surge on refinancing demand: MBA
(Reuters) – Applications for home mortgages surged more than 20 percent last week, fueled by a wave of refinancing demand as interest rates dropped, an industry group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, jumped 23.1 percent in the week ended January 13.
The MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications climbed 26.4 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases rose 10.3 percent.
“With mortgage rates reaching new lows, refinance volume jumped,” Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics, said in a statement. “Purchase activity also increased as buyers returned to the market after the holiday season.”
More here.
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Cardin talks fracking, bay cleanup during tour through Western Md.
Senator backs drilling moratorium, calls for industry transparency
Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — U.S Sen. Ben Cardin covered a lot of ground in a wide-ranging interview with the Times-News on Friday afternoon. He discussed matters ranging from natural gas drilling in Marcellus shale to the challenge posed by Iran.
The following are some of the highlights of the interview. Cardin is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works, Foreign Relations, Finance, Budget, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Security and Cooperation in Europe committees.
Marcellus shale
“I think we can do fracking … we should do it the right way,” Cardin said. That being said, Cardin supports Gov. Martin O’Malley’s moratorium on drilling in Maryland. Fracking is a process by which chemicals are pumped into the ground to free the gas trapped in Marcellus shale.
“I’ve tried to convince the industry they’d be better off with national standards than fight state-by-state,” Cardin said. Each state is using different standards.
“My point is I think we can develop the right practices.” Cardin said the country needs the natural gas trapped in Marcellus shale. ”The process is well-known and the risk factors are well-known,” Cardin said. The senator generally scores high marks from environmental groups for his voting record.
He also called for industry transparency. “We should know what they are using” as fracking fluids, Cardin said. The best way to prevent pollution from the fluids is to require recycling of fracking fluids. Recycling would minimize the risk to clean water, the senator said.
Chesapeake cleanup and farmers
The problems in the Chesapeake Bay are not only the quality of the water, but the ecological system, Cardin said. Unfortunately, farming is the major source of bay pollution, he said, and the largest growing source of pollution is storm water runoff.
“Many, many farmers are doing extraordinary things to protect the bay,” Cardin said.
“Our program should be based on the best science.”
Farm groups have been particularly concerned with the possible effects of bay cleanup efforts. The Maryland Farm Bureau believes farmers are being targeted unfairly by environmentalists.
“We oppose regulations that put farmers who live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed at a competitive disadvantage,” the Maryland Farm Bureau’s 2012 policy statement states. The Farm Bureau believes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is using a flawed model for setting pollution standards. Cardin said he’s relying on the scientists.
“The model that’s being used is the model they think is right,” Cardin said. The most serious challenge to the bay in the area of farming is the poultry industry, Cardin said. Cardin said he won’t be deterred from doing everything possible to clean up the bay.
“I think we need to do a more effective job. I don’t think we’re doing enough,” he said. Cardin thinks the Farm Bureau will work with legislators interested in a nutrient trading program, which would pay farmers to reduce their use of fertilizers and reducing runoff from their farms. It’s much cheaper to pay farmers at the source of the pollution than get nitrogen out of the water system, he said.
“Nutrient trading is a winner for farmers,” Cardin said.
The Occupy movement
“There’s a void and it was filled by Occupy Wall Street. It was sheer frustration,” Cardin said. He’s not sure whether the Occupy movement will have a long-term effect, because the movement’s political aims aren’t clear and there seems to be no interest in electing people to office.
“It’s not like the Tea Party. In many respects, it’s much broader than the Tea Party,” he said, since it includes libertarians and communitarians, he said. “The Tea Party is focused,” Cardin said, and therefore probably has more impact on policy than the Occupy movement.
The movement is a “comfort level for people to express anger and frustration,” Cardin said.
Iran
President Barack Obama is taking the right approach on Iran, Cardin said. “We need to isolate Iran as much as possible and support … enforcing sanctions,” Cardin said. Iran is widely believed to be trying to build a nuclear weapon and is under a variety of international sanctions for refusing to allow inspections of nuclear sites in the country.
“The question is, what are your options?”
The sanctions are having a major impact and there is at least a possibility the Iranian people will stand up and overthrow their government. Cardin said he had no confidential information, but that it seemed likely the U.S. and other allies had made cyber attacks on Iran. Those actions have slowed their nuclear program, Cardin said.
“We’re taking the steps we should be taking,” the senator said. And keeping the support of the international community is key to effective action against Iran’s government. There are only a few truly dangerous countries in the world, and Iran is one of them, along with North Korea and Pakistan, Cardin said.
“They can’t do it without us, but it’s gotta be international,” he said.
Politics
Changes need to be made to the presidential nominating process, Cardin said.
“The nominating process is so difficult. … It does not attract the people most qualified to be president,” he said. Cardin didn’t discuss details, but said the process is deeply flawed. On the state level, the senator said he thinks a Democrat will likely win the 6th Congressional District seat currently held by Republican Roscoe Bartlett.
“The numbers look like they give the Democrats the edge,” Cardin said. A redistricting map added large numbers of Democrat voters from the metro area late last year. Cardin is up for re-election himself. Eight Democrats and 10 Republicans have filed for the seat. Cardin will be seeking his second term. He spent 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and more than 20 years in the Maryland House of Delegates.
His wife, Myrna, said there’s a big difference between being a member of the House and being a U.S. senator. The transition from a small geographic area to the statewide office meant “you don’t get everywhere as often,” Myrna Cardin said. She said she prefers to stay in the background and was looking forward to a rare family weekend once her husband finished his Western Maryland tour.
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com
More here.
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