Growth and development

Dozens of newsmakers spanning the public, private and nonprofit sectors came together Tuesday for iMPACT Maryland, The Baltimore Banner’s new event for thought leaders to swap insights and discuss innovative ideas for the state’s future.

Anita Kassof, executive director of the Baltimore Museum of Industry, disagrees with a suggestion to move the museum from its Inner Harbor location as part of a strategy to redevelop the area,

Reimagine Middle Branch, an outgrowth of the city’s 2015 South Baltimore Gateway Master Plan, is a $175 million effort to redevelop 19 neighborhoods along one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most neglected shorelines, the 11-mile Middle Branch of the Patapsco River.

We commissioned artistic renderings of readers’ most popular design requests.

Harborplace's developer did not say when demolition will happen, but they will continue to engage with community members as part of its 12-month “design phase."

A downtown entertainment district near the stadiums would attract thousands of visitors and generate much-needed revenue.

When it comes to how Latinos in this country self-identify, it ultimately depends on the person as well as various factors at play, including age, location, class, race and an evolving view of sexual identity.

As the Greater Baltimore Committee focuses on boosting this region’s economic competitiveness, it must also support programs to end the economic apartheid that now plagues the city’s disadvantaged Black neighborhoods, says Lawrence Brown, an author and research scientist in the Center for Urban Health Equity at Morgan State University.

“If we don’t make any changes, someone else is going to make the changes for us,” City Councilwoman Danielle McCray said at Thursday’s hearing.

A vital Baltimore City permit process used by hundreds of street festivals, block parties and races has moved online this year.

State regulators warn the merger could affect Marylanders’ access to affordable food options, local job security and the vitality of the agricultural industry.

Representatives from Sagamore Ventures said the whiskey company’s signature “grain-to-glass” concept won’t change under new majority ownership.

Angelos sought $300 million in additional public funding and use of the parking lots at Camden Yards to spur development, according to sources.

This vote will enable the long-awaited project, which has been sputtering since at least 1998, to move forward and revive a section of downtown that has seen progress elsewhere, including the newly finished Lexington Market redevelopment.

Public and private efforts to reduce the number of abandoned and distressed houses in Baltimore need to include establishment of a Land Bank Authority, says David Plymyer, who retired as Anne Arundel County attorney in 2014 and now writes about law and government.

Baltimore City Community College will demolish long-vacant Bard Building after a Wednesday vote.

A gathering was held Thursday to announce the second class of the Downtown BOOST program, which seeks to place Black-owned businesses in downtown Baltimore storefronts and support their long-term success.

The revived east-west Red Line project will bring Baltimore communities together and provide a range of benefits to residents across the Baltimore region, say Gov. Wes Moore, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.

A revived Red Line to connect East and West Baltimore is long overdue and will spur economic growth throughout the city and region, say Mark Anthony Thomas, CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, and Kathy E. Hollinger, CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership.

Partnerships using public and private investment are benefiting infrastructure projects such as the expansion of Baltimore's Howard Street Tunnel and B&O Railroad Museum improvements, Ed McDonald, a commissioner at the Maryland Port Administration, says.