My work doesn’t end when a bill becomes law.
Significant economic and community development projects will be funded with slots money in the neighborhoods surrounding Pimlico Race Track.
My 41st District colleagues and I worked with Speaker Busch and Governor O’Malley at the 2007 special session to keep that allocation in the bill.
But many of our constituents didn’t believe us when we told them about it. The urban myth that the lottery proceeds would be spent on education still prevails.
So we organized a tour of the areas where this money would be spent, and we urged the leaders of these communities to work together so that every eligible neighborhood would receive its fair share.
We met with the appropriate City government officials, and we put some shovels in the ground. The renovated outdoor track at Northwestern Senior High School is the kind of improvement that can be funded with slots money. We got it done with other funding sources last summer.
This morning, the City Planning Department met with elected officials to discuss its plan for implementing the law. Each neighborhood will be consulted with a timeline of final decisions by mid-June.
The projected revenue in Fiscal Year 2012 is nearly $900,000 for the Park Heights Master Plan and almost $300,000 for the other communities within one mile of the race track. Three years from now, those numbers are projected to increase nearly eightfold
Now it’s my job to help make this process work to the benefit of these neighborhoods.
February 14
