education : Development News

Howard County’s is debuting its largest branch next month — a $29 million new building in Ellicott City expected to bring in one million visitors per year.

Opening mid-December, the new Miller branch will replace an aging building with three times the space and, hopefully, a LEED Gold certification.

The 63,000-square-foot library will include a stone bridge, a garden to hold science and technology education and a terrace that will serve as an outdoor classroom or a spot where guests can listen to acoustic guitar concerts.

Yes, you just read library and acoustic guitar in the same sentence.

The site will house the Howard County Historical Society and a history education center, including genealogy resources, says Valerie Gross, CEO of the Howard County Library System.

A 3,000-square-foot meeting room will allow it to hold best-selling authors like Jodi Picoult, who will make an appearance March 16. Gross says she expects up to 600 visitors for the event, some coming as far away as New York.

A garden located in a quarter-acre park will be the setting for health, science and environmental education. It will include a pizza garden – a garden growing tomatoes, onions, green peppers and other vegetables to encourage kids to order vegetables on their pizza.

Howard County, and a $2 million grant from the Maryland State Department of Education, provided funding for the building.

A Bethesda real estate firm has snatched up a slew of retail buildings in East Baltimore, hoping that its proximity to Johns Hopkins Hospital and a new charter school will make the portfolio a good long-term investment.

Spectrum Properties LLC purchased 2213-2241 Monument St. for $4.55 million from Miller Real Estate Co. KLNB Retail Investment Sales brokered the sale.

Encompassing one city block, the portfolio consists of eight stores totaling 32,000 square feet. Tenants include Shoe City, Foot Locker, Rainbow clothing, Kost Less, and Murry’s Food.

A number of vacant and boarded up homes surround the area. But Spectrum Principal Alan Hammerschlag hopes that will change in time as families and hospital workers move to the area. Johns Hopkins Hospital is constructing two 12-story towers for cardiovascular and pediatric care that will be completed next year.

Johns Hopkins University School of Education took over the day-to-day operations of the East Baltimore Community School, located near the site. 

Spectrum’s other Baltimore properties include the Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club at Port Covington and Beltway Crossing Shopping Center in Glen Burnie.


Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Alan Hammerschlag, Spectrum

Baltimore City officials have created a new task force that will address the $2.8 billion shortfall for school construction and renovation projects.

The task force will explore alternative financing options, possible new legislation, and successful models used in other areas to come up with ways to raise money for construction. Appointed by Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore City Schools CEO Andres Alonso, the 10-person task force will make its recommendations by February.

The task force members are as follows:

• Sophie Dagenais, the mayor's chief of staff;
• Arlene Friner, CEO of Philadelphia financial consulting firm Vantage Point Associates;
• Mike Frist, chief financial officer of Baltimore City Public Schools;
• Edward Gallagher, Baltimore City finance director;
• Valerie Greene, associate general counsel of Baltimore City Public Schools;
• David Lever, executive director of the Public School Construction Program for the Maryland State Department of Education;
• George Nilson, Baltimore City solicitor;
• J. Keith Scroggins, chief operating officer, Baltimore City Public Schools;
• Thomas Stosur, Baltimore City planning director; and,
• Sabrina Sutton, the city's special assistant for youth and education.

The city says it needs to raise $1.5 billion for basic facilities maintenance and another $1.3 billion for major renovations and new school construction.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Baltimore City

The Enoch Pratt Free Library unveiled its brand spanking new Mobile Library Monday outside St. Ambrose School in Park Heights. The bright red van is a  new addition to the library's Bookmobile fleet.

This 28-foot state-of-the-art bookmobile is quite literally a mobile library, offering Baltimore residents many of the services they'd find at a brick-and-mortar branch. Visitors will be able to surf the Web using the public access computer and, of course, check out audio visual materials, periodicals, large print materials, and current bestsellers. The bookmobile will also include a number of books available in Russian and Spanish.

The new Mobile Library will visit areas of Baltimore that are not geographically close to a library. It will also regularly service senior centers, schools, Latino Relocation Centers, municipal buildings and the communities along Edmondson Avenue and Reisterstown Road where Pratt branches are closed for renovation.

"The Pratt Library is at the heart of every community in Baltimore and this new Mobile Library will bring valuable resources to our patrons," says Carla Hayden, Pratt Library CEO. "The Mobile Library is a modern and dynamic information center for the 21^st century. Our bookmobile service serves people of all backgrounds, providing access almost every service that patrons find in Pratt branches."

The Enoch Pratt Free Library's bookmobile fleet has a long history of serving and providing free library materials and programming to the citizens of Baltimore. In 1943, the Pratt's horse drawn "Book Cart Service was established to serve areas of the city that were not within walking distance of a Pratt Branch. It was later replaced in 1949 when the first Bookmobile began services to Baltimore City neighborhoods.

The Mobile Services provided by the Pratt Bookmobile are as popular and vital today as it was in its inception. According to a recently released report, nearly one-third of Americans, about 77 million people, used a public library computer or wireless network to access the internet in the past year.

The report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries, is based on the first, large-scale study examining who uses public computers and Internet access in public libraries, the way library patrons use this free technology service, why they use it, and how it affects their lives. The Enoch Pratt Free Library was part of this national study and Pratt patrons were even interviewed in-person for the report, which was conducted by the University of Washington Information School and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

"We discovered that 30 percent of people in Baltimorehave no access to the Internet. So they rely on the library system and we take that responsibility seriously. The mobile library is like an extension of the library system and now it's evolving like the main library has itself," says Roswell Encino, Enoch Pratt Library spokesperson.

The Mobile Library was funded by contributions of The Rouse Company Foundation and The Jean and Sidney Silber Foundation.

Source: Roswell Encino, Enoch Pratt Free Library
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Patterson Park Public Charter School (PPPCS) broke ground on a new $13,665.000 middle school building on Monday. The new facility was a result of closing on a $13,665,000 bond issue March 16, 2010 by the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority. The issue is the first of its kind for a charter school in Maryland and will allow PPPCS to refinance its existing facility and provide funding for the new middle school building.

As the largest traditional public charter school in Maryland, PPPCS enrolls 560 students in grades K-8 and will add a pre-K in fall 2011. The new building will complete the school's campus, fulfilling the vision that began with the school's opening in fall 2005,  adding six middle school classrooms and will also contain world class science and art facilities. 

The new building's design and construction will follow Baltimore City's Green Building Standards (equivalent to LEEDS silver). It will include solar panels, stormwater irrigation and recycled content materials. 

Principal Charles W. Kramer says the building will prove a major advance in the school's unique interdisciplinary curriculum by enhancing the school's science, art and technology instruction.

"The new facility is an important next step in providing superior education in Baltimore," says Ed  Rutkowski, spokesman, PPPCS. "Our middle schoolers will have the first-class environment they need."

Founded by community members who wanted educational choice, PPPCS offers all students a broad education. Besides reading, math, science and social studies, all students receive instruction in art, music, Spanish, technology and physical education. The curriculum makes extensive use of Patterson Park, the surrounding community and Baltimore City's rich heritage to widen students' perspectives and to emphasize community service.

Source: Ed Rutkowski, Patterson Park Public Charter School
Writer: Walaika Haskins