Infrastructure

HAGERSTOWN Washington County Hospital officials are a "big step closer" to beginning work on a new facility after meeting with the Hagerstown City Council to discuss water and sewer hookups. "It will be months yet, but it's a big step closer because of the action of City Council and the meeting we had tonight," said James Hamill, president and chief executive officer of Washington County Hospital Health System. During a work session Tuesday, City of Hagerstown staff members presented hospital members estimates of the current costs of providing water and sewer services to a facility near Robinwood Medical Center.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito stands underneath of an umbrella prior to a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the Tabler Station Business Park near Martinsburg, W.Va. Holding the umbrella is Jim Barnes, while Juston Sizemore, area manager for 84 Lumber, waits for the ceremony to begin. Capito helped obtain a $1.2 million federal grant in 2005 for infrastructure work in the business park. Along with 84 Lumber, A&S Warehouse and 167th TFR Federal Credit Union have signed contracts to purchase land in the park.

More than $9.9 million in bonds can be issued and sold by the City of Hagerstown to complete 21 projects, including improving the Edgewood Drive/Dual Highway intersection, widening Eastern Boulevard and doing streetscape improvements along Jonathan Street, City Council members unanimously voted Tuesday. Council members voted on the ordinance without discussing it. According to a written copy of the 15-page ordinance, the bonds can be issued "in one or more series from time to time," but cannot exceed $9,965,000.

Columbia Gas of Maryland's residential customers could pay 7 percent more for natural gas under a distribution rate change request the company filed Wednesday with the Maryland Public Service Commission, the company said in a news release. The rate change, which would be the company's first in 10 years, reflects the increased cost of providing service, including the company's ongoing infrastructure upgrade, spokesperson Shannon Webber said. "The men and women of Columbia Gas have serviced and maintained our existing infrastructure for decades, but portions of our system are nearing the end of their useful operating lives and need to be replaced," Columbia Gas of Maryland President Terrence J. Murphy said in the release.

Government is key to the creation of wealth To the editor President Obama's call to tax the rich has created quite a stir among conservatives - going well beyond tea partiers and right-wing commentators. Fortunately, the consternation of our conservative fellow citizens is due mostly to the illusion that wealth and success is the result of hard work. To be sure, hard work is important. But without the services of our government, hard work would be futile.

A planned $300 million downtown redevelopment project in Glassboro, N.J., currently being completed by Sora Development, a real estate development firm that's expressed interest in doing something similar in Hagerstown, has been well-received, an education official there said last week. “We give a lot of credit to Sora,” said Joe Cordona, vice president of university relations for Rowan University, which is involved in the Glassboro project. “People looking at Sora should take them very seriously.” The Rowan Boulevard revitalization project, a public-private partnership between Sora, the borough of Glassboro and Rowan University, contains several multistory mixed-use buildings, student-housing complexes and parking garages on 26 acres along a new one-third-mile corridor that connects Rowan and the heart of Glassboro's historic business district.

U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., Democratic challenger John Delaney and Libertarian candidate Nickolaus Mueller debated on issues including the federal deficit, health care costs, infrastructure, the economy and immigration during a forum Wednesday night at Hagerstown Community College's Kepler Theater as the three prepare for the Nov. 6 general election. One of the more spirited moments came near the end of the forum when Delaney referred to Bartlett's affiliation with the Tea Party.

Transportation, military housing, and hospitals are examples of how public and private organizations can work together efficiently, Balfour Beatty Construction Senior Vice President David Birtwistle said Wednesday .  “Public-private partnerships are all about a solution to a public need,” Birtwistle said. “It is a valuable tool that every public entity should consider for projects.” Birtwistle, who served with the Fairfax County, Va. Economic Development Authority for 11 years and the County's Office of Management and Budget for seven years before that before moving to Balfour Beatty in 1997.

Two hearings in Western Maryland next week will give the public a chance to comment on a rate hike request from a local gas utility that would increase costs by more than 16 percent for most customers. Columbia Gas of Maryland Inc., filed a request before the Maryland Public Service Commission in late February, asking to adjust its rates  to recover money that was required to upgrade the company's underground gas distribution facilities, according to a news release. The proposed rate increases are designed to boost revenues by $5.3 million, company officials have said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The potato roll has become a hit in the Deep South, so much so that Martin's Famous Pastry Shoppe Inc. is expanding into that region with a new bakery in Valdosta, Ga., the first one the company has opened outside of Pennsylvania. Ground is being broken today on the 220,000-square-foot plant on a 40-acre site. The plant will employ about 100 people, and production is expected to begin in the fall of 2008, Executive Vice President Ron Gipe said. "The Florida market has been very good to us. It's just a long way from here to Miami," Gipe said earlier this week.