Harford County will be a primary beneficiary of $65 million in federal funds designated for infrastructure improvement as part of the BRAC process.
Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger presented a ceremonial check for the amount to Harford County Executive David R. Craig, Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti and Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony Brown.
The funds will help pay for road, mass transit, and other important infrastructure improvements on and around Aberdeen Proving Ground. Of particular importance will be intersection improvements along key transit routes to the APG area.
Monies specifically earmarked include over $3 million dollars for road improvements in Harford, $13 million for improvements to the MARC train service, $475,000 for the Aberdeen MARC Rail Storage Yard, $1.9 million for locally operated transit systems and $500,000 for improvements to the water infrastructure at APG.
As a result of the Base Realignment and Closure process, Harford County is in the midst of preparing for the influx of a large portion of the nearly 30,000 new civilian and private sector jobs coming to Maryland. The complete realignment is scheduled for completion in 2011.
“These funds are a vital step for us in the preparation process, as we must ensure that all the necessary infrastructure components are in place and at the ready before the BRAC process is complete,” said County Executive Craig. “I thank Congressman Ruppersberger and his staff and the entire Maryland delegation for working to preserve these funds that will support APG’s mission to develop the best and safest equipment for our war fighters.”
Now it is a large portion of the 30,000 people coming to Harford County,the last
I heard from a Aberdeen council person was 8200 with an average annual income of $84,85,or 86000.00. There is a large difference between 8200 &
a large portion of 30,000. Can anyone give us more accurate numbers or just
be honest & factual not fictitious.
If there are 30,000 people coming to Harford does that mean they are bringing 30,000 kids with them? 2 new elementary schools won’t be enough.
I don’t think any body know’s. Winston’s Choice was primarly built to attract Brac people. it has attracted Roach’s Drug Dealer’s etc. as RWinger mentioned there is no law requireing the need to advise the inherent buyers.
You’ are moveing in to a low income neighbor hood. Hopefully some one can answer your question.
The 8200/30,000 may be 8,200 jobs with households including a spouse and/or kids, which add up to the 30,000. Not sure. There have been so many numbers flying around the last few years.
Bruce: I’m not sure that anyone knows how many are coming. The only thing that the government could supply is the amount of job numbers. I hold that many moving into the state with families will reside in Cecil County and I think that a percentage will “go home” on weekends with two or three people renting an apartment or house for work week living and the family unit staying in New Jersey where they have roots. I would venture to say that the bulk of BRAC activity centered around Aberdeen will be traffic so the road improvements are needed and Harford County should kick a little of the money toward Aberdeen to add a couple of more officers. More traffic means more accidents and more traffic violations.
RWinger
I totally agree with your comment, & some of them will probably retire & not come at all. The one thing I have really noticed is the heavier traffic flow ,since I have a
great view of Rt.22 & Mt. Royal intersection. One thing that really concerns me is
for the safety of the kids crossing Rt. 22 @ Mt. Royal on thier way to school. Maybe
the state consider reducing the speed limit to 40 or 45 mph & also increase the time for croosing Rt. 22, at least during the school year.
The question or how many people can dance on the head of a BRAC is still interesting. The only “relatively” accurate figure is the “net gain of 8200 jobs.” That means that after taking out the Ordinance School and a couple of smaller agencies, amounting to about 5000 spaces, we gain a net of 8200, or 13,000 new spaces from Monmouth and other areas. Now from there the math gets really fuzzy and can only be understood by a BOE member. 13,000 spaces does not translate to 13,000 people because as Bruce notes some folks will retire or quit. Eventually all 13000 will fill but how long is eventually? The Monmouth folk also have a huge contractor tail. I have heard the number as 4 or 5 contractor spaces per government space. Using the 13,000 and ratio of 4 brings in 52,000 contractors and along with them come family members. That brings us to 70,000 new jobs at APG. Add the new restaurants and car repair and laundries and so forth and you get the magnitude of this economic engine. The mandate from Congress is that this be completed by 2011. Gee it’s only 2009 we have plenty of time to sort out the impact to Aberdeen. This is only one of many lost opportunities during the past two years.
One thing you have to figure is that the net gain of 8200 jobs are Government employees only. You can count on at least 3 contractors for every 1 government employee for the work that’s coming down. There are a few HUGE contracts (multiple billions) for the NJ work either hitting the street or being awarded soon.
Also, I’ve been surprised at the number of NJ employees already done here. The big wave should be coming down this summer. A few of the homes around me that were sitting on the market forever have been purchased or rented by Monmouth employees recently. Aberdeen should be going out of their way to welcome these folks.
If we thought our schools were crowded before, I can’t wait to see how HCPS will shoe-horn in all these new kids. I know Balt. County and even Balt. City think that some will move there, but Harford is going to get most. Yet, the HCPS enrollment projections do not reflect BRAC. I can see not moving a high schooler, but I can see moving if I had small kids.
I certainly see a lot more NJ licence plates. You’re right this will bring huge changes to Harford. How come none of the millions for “infrastructure improvements went for new schools?
If there was a private school that wanted to come here, now is the time. We really don’t have private high schools in this county and this would be a great opportunity since many people drive to Baltimore just to go to school.
Was told yesterday about a General who had to move to either Aberdeen or Edgewood post (and they have not choice where to move except either of those locations). They sent their daughter to Aberdeen Middle but now are looking at private schools out of this county. They wanted her to have the public school experience but after leaving Fairfax County, Virginia they were very disappointed by the lack of RIGOR in Harford County schools. Huge inequities in the high schools too and I do have a personal comparison of Harford County high schools.
HCPS has lots of time to fight over school sites and write letters to the Governor about elected school board but when it comes to the real issues that need to be deal with like this situation and the FAILED high school reform initiative, they are not interested. Their lack of interest is going to really hurt Harford County during BRAC. Who is really going to want to move to an area where the average SAT scores are about 1400 (combined 3 tests). I am not knocking the students or families there (the ones who are trying) either because I think HCPS isn’t dealing with situation as it should. If we had school choice and vouchers, those parents could take their kids elsewhere.
Harford Lutheran is closing, so I don’t see a big rush for private schools to move here. And everyone enjoys bashing John Carroll, but it has more National Merit Scholars this year than Bel Air High School–which has ZERO, and it has more foreign language choice, including Chinese and Latin. Oh, and it offers a college prep curriculum, which unfortunately, the public high schools can no longer claim with the start of “Career Clusters.” I do not think Harford County would support another private school. The people are here, but I am not sure about the salaries and mentalities (meaning desire to attend, not ability).
I digress….You are all right that the numbers are hard to pin down and many middle age and older workers will commute from New Jersey until they can retire. That may be ten years. I really am happy that I am not in charge of figuring all this out and can just sit back and do the Monday Morning Quarterback thing.
It’s a bummer for the general to move from Fairfax County, home of the finest public school in America: Thomas Jefferson, but that has been going on for decades. Guess where most of those kids end up? It isn’t the out-of-county private schools.
I think the folks moving from Monmouth will also be disappointed. It will be interesting to look back say in 2015 and figure out where all the kids ended up. But let’s face it, HCPS has no real incentive to offer high quality academic programs. All they have to do is graduate everyone and make “adequate” yearly progress. There’s no mandate to offer programs for bright kids and frankly they’re probably just as happy to see them go to private school. They still get the taxes, but don’t have provide the education. Plus it helps with the overcrowding.
PMS mom your on track. that’s very good thinking.
Sinne Cal TJ is in Arlington County! That said Vouchers are not needed. and you can work at APG and live anywhere in this county.
Fairfax County kids attend TJ–magnet.
Oh, and if you are a general officer (or even lower-ranking in certain positions), you may be required to live on post.
TJ is only magnet and for tution some kids come from Alexandria, Fairfax, Prince William and Loudon counties but the balk of the spots are reserved for Arlington County residents.
That said Aberdeen is not this horrible cesepool either. There are far worse schools in this state that got a number 1 ranking nationally then our lowest preforming schools. If you lived on post at Edgewood would you not go to Joppatowne?
Take a look at the Farifax schools website: fcps.edu. It’s no wonder the General is unhappy with HCPS. Maybe it’s the gifted programs he’s missing, maybe it’s the 9 foreign languages offered. I like the chart that shows which high school offers which AP course. How about the easy to read charts that show AP and SAT scores. Oh yeah, maybe it’s the county wide 1650 on the SAT. Maybe he just misses a school system where they aren’t afraid to challenge their best and brightest and are willing to publish all their data.
Cdev: I have no idea why I continue this conversation with you, but the TJ I am talking about is a Fairfax County (and has students from all over Northern Virginia) magnet and if you attend its graduation ceremony, they welcome you to the graduation ceremony for the “finest public school in America.” Hence, my earlier post.
From the TJ Web site:
“Established in 1985, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is the result of a partnership of businesses and schools created to improve education in science, mathematics, and technology. Representatives from business and industry and staff of the Fairfax County Public Schools worked together in curriculum and facilities development for the school. In recent years, local business leaders and Jefferson parents have formed the Jefferson Partnership Fund to help raise money to maintain and equip labs and classrooms in the school. As the Governor’s School for Science and Technology in Northern Virginia, the school is also supported by the Virginia Department of Education. In addition to providing a specialized education for selected students in Fairfax County, Jefferson also serves other school districts including Arlington, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William counties as well as the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church. ”
What is a cesepool and who used that term?
The biggest problem with Harford County schools for those who have actually attended or have had their children attend schools somewhere else, is that they have some huge weaknesses and the people who are in charge either don’t know it or won’t admit it. For example, Virginia mandates that gifted kids (whatever the definition is for the state of Virginia) receive special education in its schools. Maryland, and therefore Harford County, does not. Monmouth County, New Jersey schools have a much lower teacher/student ratio than Harford County. The last time I looked, it was about 1/15 where ours (I think) is 1/25. And I am not surprised that someone who moved here from Fairfax County thinks Harford County schools “lack rigor.” They do.
Sorry for such a long post.
To go to the Fairfax County School for gifted and talent you have to have an IQ score of at least 140. In case you missed that, they have a whole school for gifted kids. If your IQ is 130-140, the student gets gifted classes at their home school. They also have programs for “double gifted” students. Gifted Students that have learning disabilities.
It was nice to see a school system that has a rigorous criteria and a curriculum for their gifted program. Many states mandate gifted education, Maryland does not and therefore most school districts, including Harford, don’t have it. But such programs could happen, IF the school board demanded it.
Here’s the truth: there are so few gifted kids that nobody except their parents care. Most people think if their kid gets straight A’s they are gifted. Most people think oh lucky you your kid is gifted. What they don’t realize is that many gifted kids lead very lonely lives because they have no peers.
It is a pity that in a school district of 40,000 students there is no gifted education. Another thread….
http://seekingalpha.com/article/134061-corporate-office-properties-trust-inc-q1-2009-earnings-call-transcript?page=9
“It’s really hard, Rich, to do that. It’s probably of all the areas it’s the easiest at Aberdeen Proving Ground where there’s 140 companies that are currently doing business with C4ISR and Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. They’re shutting Fort Monmouth down. The moves are scheduled. There’s 8,500 people moving on-site and the range is anywhere from 12,000 to 16,000 jobs off site. And so we think that’s 2 million to 2.5 million square feet of demand and we can only accommodate 800,000 of it.
So we know we’ll do that and we’ll blow through it, and the early discussion from the tenants is you can see the demand heating up because they’re facing the moves. I think as Roger said on Ft. Meade, the validation of the contracts that we relate to DISA which is the larger of the agencies moving, hasn’t yet occurred. And that will occur in fiscal year 2010 after October 1 of this year.
So kind of the early indications that we’re getting from a lot of the BRAC firms is that once the government validates it for fiscal year 2010 then you’ll start to see the lease commitments and they’ll proceed accordingly, so lots of discussions; some of the early ones signing, but nothing really there yet.
What is of more significance is really the Cyber Initiative and the expectations of very quick space requirements and a lot of tenants are hovering around talking about those requirements and trying to line up space there. So I think it’s just early to be able to tell that. We’ll get a very good picture by year end as to what that demand looks like, Rich. “
jimbow, who’s Rich?