New Developments...

It's been awhile since I've updated this site......

It looks like the old London Fog Headquarters building is finally seeing some new action..

>> Baltimore County's GSE Systems Inc. is relocating its corporate headquarters north to bordering Carroll County......The company will relocate 85 employees to the former London Fog headquarters at 1332 Londontown Blvd. in Eldersburg. The move from 7133 Rutherford Road in Woodlawn is expected to be complete by July 31...

Full Article here: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2008/03/17/daily5.html

They also have started construction across the street for Main Street Eldersburg. Looking forward to some new shopping and restaurants...... haven't heard officially what stores/restaurants will be arriving but rumors (not confirmed) are we'll soon see a Outback in the area..

If only now we can get some progress on Carrolltown Mall... a wrecking ball and a couple bulldozers would be a good start....

Community Heros

There are a group of professionals in our community who everday risk their lives to protect us...... they are our community fire, EMS and police officers.... this group of men and women are under appreciated in our society... our paths rarely cross with them unless we are in need of their services... they save our lives, make our communities safe, and allow us to live our lives in relative security.

Who has gone out of their way to say thank you to these dedicated professionals? I'd guess that most have not. I must admit that I have taken them for granted.

In our backyard.. The Skyesville Freedom District Fire Department has protected both Skyesville and Eldersburg since 1933. The department is manned by both paid and volunteer professionals.... the volunteers give up their free time, sleep, and family time to protect us and the professionals are underpaid. They do it because someone has to do it... they do it to protect us.

>>It's difficult to imagine these groups of dedicated volunteers being taken for granted, but sometimes they are. Imagine what our lives would be like if there were no volunteer fire departments....

....Volunteer fire departments are just as important to the livelihoods of our communities as churches and schools, parks and libraries. Investing in them is imperative. (Pittsburgh Tribune)

>> President George W. Bush was in attendance at the 26th Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service Sunday morning, which honored the 87 firefighters who died in 2006

"It takes a special kind of person to be a firefighter. It begins with a different sense of direction. When an area becomes too dangerous for everybody else, you take it over," Bush said. "When others are looking for the exits, our firefighters are looking for the way in. - George W. Bush"

In our society, we too often idolize football players, pop stars, and movie stars....they are not the real heroes..

The next time you see a police officer, EMS, or Fire Department Professional... say thank you...

Highway agency set to start project at Routes 32 and 26

From the Sun:

The State Highway Administration is set to begin an $8.5 million construction project to improve safety and ease congestion for more than 30,000 drivers along Route 32 (Sykesville Road) between Route 26 (Liberty Road) and Macbeth Way/Piney Branch Parkway in Eldersburg.

Weather permitting, the half-mile project should be completed by fall next year.

Looks like a little more traffic in our future.... looking forward to the new Walgreens at this intersection...

Insiders' guide to Eldersburg

A very good article recently posted in the Sun .... "Insiders' guide to Eldersburg".

This really highlights some of the big reasons why we moved to Eldersburg 2 1/2 years ago…. Can’t believe it has already been that long… good schools, great environment, low traffic (yes.. our traffic is a joke), more stores/retail in the near future, great communities…

This year, Money Magazine's annual list of Top 100 Best Places to Live ranked Eldersburg as No. 56

From CNN.com

56. Eldersburg, Md.

Population: 31,800
Median home price (2006): $419,085
Average property taxes (2006): $2,730

Situated 30 miles west of Baltimore, Eldersburg has grown at an impressive clip in recent years, adding a Home Depot, a Wal-Mart and a Kohl's department store. A new "green" shopping center called Main Street Eldersburg - the first of its kind in Maryland - is to be finished in 2008. Yet it's still a small, quiet town, its lush hills dotted with old churches and houses, and the sprawling Liberty reservoir east of town offers hiking trails and gorgeous scenery. On the downside, though, high home prices make it a little exclusive, and the long commute to Baltimore means more jobs are far away. -A.F.

Watch out.. Farmington, Michigan.. next year we are gunning for you.. # 55

Overwhelmed / Co-author

It has been awhile since I’ve last posted on this blog. Family, work, life has been taking the majority if not all of my free time lately. I do have a couple draft posts that I’m hoping to upload shortly.

I would really like to see this blog become more active. The Eldersburg blogosphere is somewhat lacking. If anyone would like to co-author this blog, contact me and let’s chat (eldersburg1976@gmail.com) . I’m mostly focused on local/regional issues but sometimes post on wider items. Ideally, any co-authors should be local to Eldersburg/Carroll County/Marriottsville.

1000 Places to see before you die...

A non-Eldersburg post....

Was surfing the ever growing TV channel list last night and came across the show 1000 Places to See before you die on the Travel Channel.. Only watched the last 10 minutes or so but it got me thinking...

What places do I want to see before I make my last step on this planet... Life is short and as with most goals.. i find it good to put goals in writing..

Places I would like to see (in no particular order):

1. Amderstdam - if only 10% of the stories I've heard are true...this place would be a lot of fun
2. Roswell - UFO mecca
3. Moscow - standing in Red Square would just be cool
4. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
5. North Korea
6. Space - think I was born 50 years to early for this one..

there are many more but these come to my mind first..

Interesting related website: http://www.seebeforeyoudie.net/

What would you like to see???

http://www.eldersburgtoday.com/

Googled my blog the other day and came across this page: http://www.eldersburgtoday.com/

This seems like a great page for local news, weather, events, etc... but I want the world to know that I was here first... well, at least, my blog was online first..

sw

Developer seeing green with Eldersburg project

A recent article in the Baltimore Biz Journal details some of the Green Aspects of Mainstreet Eldersburg.... I'm really looking forward to this development in the hope it will bring much needed restaurants and stores to the areas....

Now only if we can get a Best Buy....

Read the Article HERE

"Retail developer Black Oak Associates Inc. will develop a "green" shopping center in Carroll County.

Groundbreaking on the $20 million retail center will begin this summer and will be completed by fall 2008."

Overcrowded/obsolete schools.....

Drive by Carrolltowne Elementary school and you’ll see a line of “temporary” classrooms… AKA trailers next to the building… The trailers have been there for years… even after a recent expansion project that added classrooms for Kindergarten.

This article posted in the sun highlights some of the long, recurring problems at the school…..

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/carroll/bal-ca.carrolltowne25mar25,0,6053806.story?coll=bal-local-carroll

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“Commissioner Michael D. Zimmer, whose daughter attends Carrolltowne Elementary, said the expensive renovation project is not a priority. But he wants to build security doors to internally lock down the school's open suites, in case of an intruder or fire. "This was an educational fad 30 years ago, so we have to deal with it," Zimmer said. "But the doors, or lack thereof, give me heartburn."

"You don't see open-space classrooms being built anymore, and it's with good reason. We need to fix those classrooms still in existence."

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Open classrooms… it was a FAD in the early-mid 80’s when I was in elementary school. In fact, most elementary schools in my area where converted from “Open Classrooms” to standard/traditional (with walls) while I was in 3^rd and 4^th grade. Is Carroll County so behind the time that it has taken us 20 years to move beyond this failed experiment??

We must do better…..

U.S. Heading For Financial Trouble?

A recent story on 60 minutes scares the hell out of me...

"I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan but our own fiscal irresponsibility,"

"What’s going on right now is we’re spending more money than we make…we’re charging it to credit card…and expecting our grandchildren to pay for it. And that’s absolutely outrageous,"

"If nothing changes, the federal government's not gonna be able to do much more than pay interest on the mounting debt and some entitlement benefits. It won't have money left for anything else – national defense, homeland security, education, you name it,"

Mr Walker is an expert in this field and the majority of leaders and politicans on both sides of the aisle accept his findings....
David Walker's Bio: Wikipedia Link

Similar story on ABC
Another similar story from Newsmax.com
From BBCNEWS

We must pull our heads out of the sand and face these issues... it is unfathomable that we are mortgaging our children's futures... what will they say about us 50 years from now when they look back at our time......