M.J. "Jay" Brodie is stepping down as the head of the controversial Baltimore Development Corporation.
While some who have taken issue with the BDC in the past may be rejoicing, they are missing the bigger picture.
The problem hasn't been Jay Brodie. The problem is the BDC itself - a "quasi-governmental" development corporation (whatever the hell that means) that seems unaccountable to the public and seems more interested in developing for developers than residents.
Unfortunately, city and business leaders don't expect any fundamental change in the way the BDC operates - if anything, they sound like they expect a Jay Brodie-style BDC on Steroids.
David Corish of Cordish Cos. outlines his expectations:
“The person must have a deep resume in actually running a major [city’s or cities’] development offices comparable to BDC,” Cordish said in an email. “It would be a horrible mistake to go outside the box and have a learning curve. ...”
And the Baltimore Business Journal is reporting Robert A. Manekin, the managing director of Colliers International, a commercial brokerage firm, said the city should broaden the BDC’s role.
What seems to be absent from the conversation about what Baltimore would like to see from a new BDC head is community leaders. You know, the Baltimore side of the Baltimore Development Corp.
In fact, the real converastion we should be having is if we should still have a BDC at all.
Meanwhile, Brodie will stay on as BDC head until a replacement is found.
Source.
I believe this Super-BDC prediction will come true. I expect the BDC's capabilities to expand even more and become more pragmatic and bottomline focused under SRB's future appointee. No more seemingly half-way negotiations. SRB's style is to use the hammer, and she'll hire a hammer for this position.
It's sorta akin to the change Vegas went from a mafia-run town to a corporate machine. The localized cronyism was annoying a best, criminal at it's peak, but the organization was localized and operated with certain codes and style. Then corporations with bottom lines cam through and said f-you, pay me. Now, if you thought the BDC is a disruptive entity now, wait until a new streamlined, financially focused bottom line technocrat takes charge here.
The BDC will continue to exist until people vote for a mayor who states openly that they will eliminate the wing openly, and then keep them to that promise. And that ain't SRB. She's not that idealistic. If you're mayor, why take hits on economic development issues directly when you have the BDC to take the punches for you?
Posted by: GMan | February 24, 2012 at 03:20 PM
I think this decision explains a bit about what it means to be quasi-governmental in terms of open meetings:
http://www.courts.state.md.us/opinions/coa/2006/14a06.pdf
Posted by: Robin | February 25, 2012 at 09:43 AM