A new company is coming to Western Maryland with 700 to 800 jobs. That is great news, and we want to congratulate the Garrett County economic development team and the state Department of Economic Development for their hard work in luring Closet Maid to Grantsville.
 
 Those jobs will mean a great deal to Garrett County’s economy, and to its tax base.
 
 We would like to suggest that the officials of Allegany County, who fell all over themselves patting themselves on the back for the great coup of getting a company to local one county to the west, regroup and look at why Closet Maid chose not to locate here.
 
 Listening to County Commissioner Jim Stakem and County Administrator Vance Ishler gush enthusiastically about the hard work they put into this company’s move was a little disconcerting. Do they own a map? Do they know Grantsville is one county over? Why would Allegany County officials try to take credit for a company’s decision to locate in Garrett County?
 
 Yes, it’s wonderful that the Maryland One program provides such great tax benefit packages that companies want to locate in the state’s depressed regions. That truly is a program for which Cas Taylor can take much deserved credit (we wish he would spend more time creating such innovative programs and less time trying to run every elected body in the county). But the fact of the matter is this: jobs locating in nearby West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington County and Garrett County don’t do a thing for our pathetic $26 million tax base (Washington County’s tax base, to put this in perspective, is about $126 million). And our tax base is so pathetic that half - HALF - of that $26 million comes solely from Westvaco. If that doesn’t scare you, we don’t know what will.
 
 We kind of buy into the idea that we will benefit as a region from this company’s location in Grantsville; some people may only have to drive to Grantsville for work instead of Winchester or Frederick. But the truth of the matter is it won’t do a darned thing to grow Allegany County’s economy. Allegany County officials should congratulate the Garrett County team for a job well done, and then take a long, hard look at where Allegany County was lacking.
 
 And then they need to get a map and find Grantsville. It ain’t here.
 

CUMBERLAND, Md., Sept. 27; One week after being awarded a land-use permit to build a thoroughbred racetrack by the Allegany county zoning board, developer William Rickman Jr. faced a public hearing on the plan today before the Maryland Racing Commission.
 Rickman, the owner of Delaware Park and a resident of Montgomery County, is vying with Joe De Francis, owner of Laurel Park and Pimlico, for a license to build a track in this mountainous region of western Maryland.
 
 In a hearing that lasted more than three hours, religious, business and civic leaders--as well as average citizens--lined up to voice support or opposition to a new track.
 Rickman hopes to build a one-mile track and simulcast wagering facility on a 140-acre farm in Little Orleans, a rural community of about 400 people in the eastern end of Allegany County. De Francis's proposal calls for a similar venture further west between Cumberland and Frostburg.
 
 While both camps found supporters eager to see the areas benefit from economic development a racetrack might bring, strong opposition was voiced over issues such as water supply, environmental degradation and moral concerns.
 
 "It's a gateway to the destruction to the quality of life in the community as we know it now," said Jim Johnson, a Little Orleans resident and member of Citizens Against the Racecourse.
 "The emotional issues you can understand, and they were well portrayed by the community," Rickman said. "I can't get over the emotional aspect, but horse racing is legal in the state of Maryland, and any legal business should have the right to expand."
 
 If Rickman is awarded the Allegany license, he plans to open three off-track betting outlets. His plans call for off-track sites in Cecil, Frederick and St. Mary's counties. A Frederick site potentially would siphon business from an existing off-track betting site in Urbana.
 "In the best interest of Maryland racing, this defies logic," said John McDonough, an attorney!
  representing De Francis.
 
 The racing commission will conduct a financial viability study of the two proposals, and the Maryland Stadium Authority will review construction plans. Commission Chairman John Franzone hopes to have those reports completed in 45 to 60 days.
 
 The commission then will schedule an evidentiary hearing in December or January, during which both sides will debate the merits of their proposals.

This is Smart?

We urge you to check out the designated "Smart Growth" areas as outlined on a map of Allegany County on a state of Maryland website, http://www.op.state.md.us/smartgrowth/smartpfa.htm. The Smart Growth idea is to confine development to areas that already have infrastructure in place - water and sewer lines, sufficient roadways, etc. The program is one of the hallmarks of Governor Parris Glendening's two terms in office.

In Allegany County, the map indicates that the regions designated for Smart Growth funding include Cumberland, Frostburg and Route 220. These areas make sense - development has already taken place there, so building from that ties into the Smart Growth concept.

However, on the map one very small Smart Growth dot sits at the far eastern end of the county, right along the Potomac River, in an area that has seen no development whatsoever. No town to speak of, just a few residential pockets and lots and lots of farmland and forests. The area at that end of the county designated as a Smart Growth site? Little Orleans, potential location of the Rickman horse racing track being touted not-so-subtly by Cas Taylor, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates.

Little Orleans has no infrastructure to speak of - no water lines, no sewer lines, only what is termed "tar and chip" country lanes. And why would they? Little Orleans is as rural as rural gets. There's a general store and bar, a camp ground, and that's about it. So just how did Little Orleans qualify for Governor Parris Glendening's program? And who influenced that decision?

Interesting that Rickman, the wealthy Delaware race track owner vying to obtain a Maryland Horse Racing License, wants to build his new Maryland track in a location with no water and sewer lines and a very poor water table.

Mr. Rickman claims he's going to run his facility with ponds and well water. Too bad Little Orleans has such serious water problems that running such a facility from the existing water table would likely suck the entire area dry. But if Mr. Rickman could get some infrastructure in there - paid for by the state (that means you, taxpayer) - his life would be so much rosier.

Plus, Little Orleans would be ripe for the development that typically follows the construction of such a facility - hotels, motels, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. And wouldn't that be peachy for a few land owners hoping to sell out and make a killing? Wouldn't do much for the rest of the county - or even the majority of Little Orleans residents living there for its quiet beauty, who oppose the track - but what's that got to do with it?

The only dilemma: how to get that infrastructure laid. Under the Smart Growth initiative, one of the exceptions on the moratorium for laying new infrastructure is the construction of new schools. Mr. Cas Taylor, who worked feverishly to stop the consolidation of our county schools even though he was clearly overstepping his role as a delegate (yo! Cas - you're in the General Assembly, not on the school board), spoke openly of creating "geographically balanced educational complexes." You get it - educational complex in the east, one in the middle and one in the west.

Mr. Taylor never did say just where he wanted his eastern educational complex to be located.

But darn if the State Board of Education didn't derail the whole plan by approving the consolidation of Allegany County Schools, silencing - for the moment - all discussion of an eastern educational complex, a complex that would have required the daily busing of approximately 1,000 students from the county's populated regions.

So now what? Well if the track is built in Little Orleans - with well water and ponds - any additional development will occur in nearby Washington County, where they have infrastructure. So Hancock will see a boom of sorts, and Allegany County will see not much of anything.

After all, who is going to drive 30 miles past their destination to stay at a hotel or eat at a restaurant in Cumberland, LaVale or Frostburg? No one with a sense of direction or a map. And all along we thought this track was supposed to boost economic development in ALLEGANY County. Silly us.