by FERN SHEN

 Benn Ray, owner of Hampden’s Atomic Books, couldn’t get over the language in the Baltimore Sun’s Friday Wal-Mart story, their first on the fact that a north Baltimore development proposal now includes a Wal-Mart, as well as a Lowe’s.

“A second Walmart store will open in Baltimore by the fall of 2011…” was the lede sentence.

“Why does it say ‘WILL open?’ The whole thing is being couched as a done deal, but they need to get a PUD,” Ray pointed out, correctly noting that, in order to be built, the mixed-use development would need to be green-lighted by the City Council as a  ”planned unit development.”

 “It’s unbelievable,” said Ray. “The government and the media are just accepting this is going to happen.”

Indeed, within hours after the Wal-Mart news broke, Baltimore government, community and media types  were staking out their positions, overtly or implicitly, on this hot button issue.

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by GERALD NEILY

Oh no! Didn’t anyone tell Rick Walker never to do what Gerry Neily says? When the Brew published my “Five fixes to make the Lowe’s redevelopment work for Remington“ several months ago, the developer must have paid attention, because the newly-revised plan incorporates almost all of the five fixes.

Coincidence? Perhaps, but when the city government finds out, he’s doomed!

The addition of a Wal-Mart may be controversial, but the new design, in my opinion, is now less so. Here’s how I score it on those five fixes: Read the rest of this entry »

by FERN SHEN

Google has dangled a prize and Baltimore’s tech community is throwing every bit of bandwidth they’ve got at it -– the search engine behemoth wants to wire a couple of trial locations in the U.S. with what would be one of the fastest Internet connections in the world.

Since Google announced this project a couple of weeks ago,  local tech entrepreneurs have hastily assembled a campaign, BmoreFiber, to make Baltimore’s case.

Becoming a demo site for Google would be a huge “get” for whatever city is chosen: the company would spend millions to lay web-to-doorstep fiber optic cable to 50,000 or more people.

Thrilled to be shaking Baltimore’s civic bootie at Google, instead of its fists at Comcast or Verizon, local business and government leaders (see video above) have hopped on board in droves, adding their political and financial muscle to the pitch.

The Brew caught up with BmoreFiber organizer David Troy, of Roundhouse Technologies, to get answers to some questions people might have about the effort.

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by FERN SHEN

Verizon made it clear last week that the utility is not deploying its much-awaited, desperately needed high-speed Internet service, FiOS, in Baltimore city.

Oh, they might bring FiOS to Baltimore in the future, Verizon spokeperson Sandra Arnette wrote in email to inquiring journalists, but “we just can’t say when that will happen right now.”

Accusing the utility of redlining, the group Progressive Maryland and some city council members are pushing Verizon to provide service to Maryland’s biggest city. The company has brought their super-fast, high-speed Internet service to most of the state’s other major jurisdictions, but not Baltimore.

“City to Verizon: What are we, chopped liver?” was The Baltimore Messenger’s excellent headline on their story Wednesday.

 Addressing the charge that the company’s behavior constitutes redlining, Arnette said ”race and ethnicity and income are never factors…”

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Tension has broken out this week over at Tide Point over something pretty simple….lunch. 

According to Locust POV,  it all started with Under Armour’s recent decision to open an in-house cafeteria at its Tide Point campus this week: “the Hungry and Humble Cafe.”

 Hungry employees seem to like it, POV reports, but nearby restauratuers….eh, not so much. They complain that their business is waay off. With the sluggish economy and some companies in the area laying people off, small businesses there are already hurting, they told POV.