City seeking $190M in private financing to build new schools

Originally published in the Baltimore Business Journal

By Scott Dance, Staff Writer
Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008
The Baltimore City school system needs private financing to fund $250 million in new school construction, a practice more states have turned to as building costs skyrocket and budgets stagnate. The city is hiring a financial consultant for $350,000 to look at public-private partnerships as a possibility to move forward a plan for seven to 10 new schools in the next decade. The school system is slated to get $40 million in state money and $20 million in city money for the projects, but it's not enough, leaders said.

Getting on board: Is mass-transit's surge a blip, or are we in it for the long haul?

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun

By Michael Dresser, Sun Reporter
Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008
It was June 2001, and the price of a gallon of regular gasoline had soared to $1.68 a gallon. It was so ridiculous that many folks said to heck with it, we'll take mass transit. And they did. There were 5 million more transit trips taken in the United States that month than the previous June.But by June 2002, with travel curtailed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, gas was down to a less burdensome $1.39. Public transit lost 23 million rides from the same month a year before as commuters returned to their cars. Not until 2004 would annual transit ridership return to 2001 levels.Now comes another June, with many Baltimore-area outlets selling gas for more than $4. Transit ridership is up nationally and locally, according to the American Public Transit Administration and Maryland Transit Administration.