Dec. 31, 2001
 
 Should the state of Maryland sit around and wait for someone to go bankrupt in order to get their property at a bargain basement rate?
 
 It’s always nice to save the taxpayers a few bucks now and then, but what about the taxpayer who ends up getting the shaft? It was public knowledge for some time that the state intended to purchase the Cumberland Electric property in downtown Cumberland for the Canal Place project. So selling it privately for what it was worth probably wasn’t going to happen - who would buy it with the threat of the state taking it - through negotiation or condemnation - at some point in the very near future?
 
 That left the property’s owners in a tough position, especially as their business began to fail. The state was going to buy it, but refused to say when. With the state sitting there licking its chops, no one in the private sector was going to pay fair market value. Why would they?
 
 So the business failed and the state, suddenly finding the cash available, got the property for less than half its appraised value.
 
 There’s something not right about that. Would you want the state to do that to you? Let’s say the state wanted your house to expand or build a roadway. What if you lost your job, and needed to sell your house to pay your bills and relocation costs? What if the state, even though the road project was imminent, refused to negotiate to purchase your property, and instead waited for the foreclosure sale while knowing that the likelihood of you selling to a private buyer was just about nil?
 
 If the state wants to purchase privately owned property for a state project, it needs to pony up the cash and give the owners their due. After all, the state had no problem coming up with $2.4 million to purchase the Schwarzenbach building on Baltimore Street for its unemployment call center once the building’s renovation was completed. And that was $2.4 million for a building with no land and no parking.
 
 So what was the big deal with the Cumberland Electric property?
 
 Go figure.