Friday, January 22 - Shovels in the ground

Pimlico is not the only track in my district.

There’s a running track on the grounds of Northwestern Senior High. It will soon be restored, thanks to the slots revenue that will be coming to the neighborhoods surrounding Pimlico.

When my 41st District colleagues and I spoke to neighborhood groups about the slots referendum in the spring of 2008, they did not believe us when we told them that they would receive a projected $45 million over a 15-year period.

This funding was put in the legislation to address the negative impact of the race track upon these communities over the years. It stayed in because of our hard work during the special session when slots were authorized.

And we wanted to receive political credit for doing so.

The slots money won’t start until next year, but we wanted to put shovels in the ground before that.

So we asked neighborhood leaders for their ideas. They chose the Northwestern track because it’s used by both students and the community. When 2,000 people came to the school grounds for a charity event this fall, it made very clear to me the potential for this site.

Federal stimulus dollars for schools and a state program for parkland will make it happen – with much more to come from slots revenue, starting next year.

Entering the home stretch

A new entrant in the Pimlico bankruptcy stakes.

Except horse racing and the Preakness are not in Carl Versatandig’s plans for the race track site, according to Friday’s Sun. He wants to build a shopping center instead.

That prompted me to ask the Attorney General’s office if the State or Baltimore City could take certain steps to prevent the track from being razed.

I don’t want to go public with a proposal if it’s unworkable or unconstitutional.

My requests outnumber those from any other legislator, the AG’s office has also advised me.

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My green jobs bill got a favorable report from the secondary committee, its chairman informed just before Friday’s floor session.

So I asked the Chief Clerk what steps had to be taken now to get the bill to the House floor.

Then I passed the details on to my colleague and co-sponsor on Appropriations, the lead committee.

On the General Assembly web site this morning, I read the good news:

HB 268 Status as of April 6, 2009: Bill is in the House - Favorable with Amendments Appropriations

On to the House floor and the final week of the session!