Canton : Innovation + Job News

"Tourism is lifting itself, and doing very well," says Tom Noonan, President and CEO of Visit Baltimore. 

At the Inner Harbor, increased tourism spending is providing opportunities for growth. The Rusty Scupper, a staple of the Inner Harbor tourist trade, expects revenues to increase 25% this year. The National Aquarium and The Maryland Science Center are also experiencing increases in visitor traffic and revenue. Baltimore's popular free bus service, The Charm City Circulator is experiencing increased ridership, and expects to reach 2 million riders this year. 

Visit Baltimore has taken the expected increase in tourism seriously. Through its Certified Tourism Ambassador program, Visit Baltimore aims to have hundreds of specially trained personnel around the city to provide welcoming help to visitors. The program will train hospitality industry workers, police officers, cab drivers and workers in other tourism related industries to help tourists navigate the city and answer questions about history, venues and landmarks. 

"We're training a knowledgeable force, so that as a guest you'll run into someone who is certified, has taken a class and passed an exam," adds Noonan. 

Hotel occupancy is increasing, fueled by both a rebounding travel market and a healthy convention business downtown. Baltimore's hoteliers are adding approximately 2,500 new rooms to handle the increased demand. The city's hospitality profile will increase with the addition of the new Four Seasons Hotel in 2012.

Author: Amy McNeal

Source: Tom Noonan, Visit Baltimore

Baltimore-based MP3Car.com is hoping to do for the automotive app what the Apple App store did for mobile apps with it's newly launched Auto App Mart.

Mp3Car, the largest car computing community online, is placing heavy odds that an in-dash computer will soon become a standard feature in every new car. The company points to the success of Ford's Sync, Genivi's selection of MeeGo as a reference platform and Google's entrance into telematics as clear indicators that in-vehicle infotainment is the new frontier in mobile computing.

Driving the market in that direction are drivers' demand for a smartphone-like application experience in their vehicle that provides access to a variety of helpful apps at little to no cost.

As the Apple App Store and other application platforms have proven, crowdsourcing application development is a successful marketplace that will continue to grow.

According to Heather Sarkissian, MP3Car's CEO, the Auto App will act as a conduit for carmakers, platform providers and others to connect with the its community of automative application developers with whom they can partner to create apps that balance consumer demands for functionality and a personalized experience with carmaker's concerns about safety and security.

"Essentially mobile computing will be increasingly available in cars over the next two to three years. The issue though is that the software for these systems becomes obsolete fairly quickly, are impossible to update, and right now there's no way to get apps to drivers that for the most part are free," she says.

MP3Car, Sarkissian says, is well positioned to become the leader in the auto app market. The Auto App Mart is important because it is mobilizing the global community of developers to consider developing a different kind of app, familiarizing them with what the concept of an automotive app would be, and getting them to start thinking about safety and usability concerns associated with these apps.

The company won't set industry standards, compatibility, other technical specifics, but rather to mobilize developers, acting as a central location for innovators.

"We're really focused on getting the developers all in one spot and being really aware of their needs and very supportive of what they need to do to innovate. Ideally [Auto App Mart] would be a resource that automotive makers will want to tap into to develop applications. The reality is that Ford isn't going to want to negotiate with 50 developers. They're going to want to negotiate with one -- MP3Car," says Sarkissian.

Source: Heather Sarkissian, MP3Car.com
Writer: Walaika Haskins

A new statistical analysis of Baltimore shows that the city has made important improvements in areas central to the city's improvement, including crime, housing, and education prior to the recession. Other social conditions, such as the number of teen births and the number of children with elevated levels of blood lead, have also improved according to the latest "Vital Signs" report by the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute. However, the report shows that while there have been significant improvements in a variety of economic and social indicators in Baltimore, not all neighborhoods within the city have benefited equally.

Available on the BNIA-JFI's new website, analyzes data from nearly 80 indicators provided at the Community Statistical Area level. CSAs, created by the Baltimore City Department of Planning, are clusters of neighborhoods organized around Census Tract boundaries, which are consistent statistical boundaries. Neighborhood borders don't always fall neatly into CSAs, but CSAs represent conditions occurring within the particular neighborhoods that comprise a CSA.

"This latest edition of 'Vital Signs' will help us access how our neighborhoods are doing and what we can do to help improve outcomes," says Janice Hamilton Outtz, senior associate for Civic Site and Initiatives at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. "I am excited about the new report."

The 8th edition of "Vital Signs reveals the following important trends currently impacting the city:

• The city's population declined by 3 percent, from 651,154 in 2000, to 631,815 in 2008. While a handful of neighborhoods lost population, several more, including downtown (22 percent), Loch Raven (8.4 percent) and Northwood (9.9 percent), experienced a growth in population.
• Median sales prices for homes in the city increased by well over 100 percent in the past eight years, although the pace of that increase has slowed considerably since the start of the recession.
• Both adult and juvenile crime has decreased in Baltimore City. In particular, Baltimore City's Part 1 crime rate has declined from 106.0 incidents per 1,000 people in 2000 to 78.3 incidents per 1,000 per people in 2008.
• The number of residential properties receiving rehabilitation investment is climbing, and may be continuing as the recession lingers and more homeowners choose to stay in their current home.
• Baltimore's high school completion rate is on the rise, while its rate of truancy in elementary, middle school and high school (including students who drop out of high school) is in decline.
• The teen birth rate dropped from 83.3 teens out of 1,000 in 2000 to 66.1 teens per 1,000 in 2008�a decline of 17.2 percent.

Other measurements, such as the larger number of Baltimore residents visiting local emergency rooms for non-emergency diagnoses and treatment, expose a city that continues to be constrained by larger trends such as rising health care costs and a lack of adequate medical insurance.

"While Baltimore City has made significant improvements in areas such as crime and education, we appear to be hampered by many of the same things that have struck other urban areas in this recession," says Matthew Kachura, program manager for BNIA-JFI at UB. "But we also are seeing some resilience, such as the increase in home prices, median household income, and an impressive number of small businesses based in well-established city neighborhoods like Edmonson Village and Greenmount East, and by the growing number of city residents who claim at least some higher education in their backgrounds."

BNIA-JFI began in 1998 as a partnership between the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers. In 2006, BNIA joined with the University of Baltimore's Jacob France Institute in an expansion of its capabilities. BNIA-JFI has strengthened the "Vital Signs" report and provided additional services and resources for those who seek data, information, and analysis about the city.

BNIA-JFI's latest product is a new Web site, www.bniajfi.org, which provides a wide variety of data, maps, and information for the City of Baltimore and its neighborhoods. Anyone interested in how Baltimore measures up can find easy-to-use statistical analyses, maps, reports and links relevant to the city.

This information is reflected in the latest "Vital Signs" report. For example, Edmonson Village reports the city's highest percentage of successful small businesses (69.2 percent), while a total of 50.9 percent of all city residents reported some type of college attendance as of 2008.

"These trends of educational attainment, lower crime and rising housing prices may not lead to a total revitalization for the city," Kachura said, "but show that many neighborhoods are improving and these improvements paint both a better and a realistic picture of Baltimore. The larger question is whether these trends can be maintained and translated into long-term improvements for Baltimore and its neighborhoods. For the most part, though, they are good news for the city."

Source: Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute at the University of Baltimore
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Residents of Canton, Dundalk and other communities near the Port of Baltimore will soon be able to breathe easier. The U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Port of Baltimore will receive $3.5 million in Recovery Act funding to help cut diesel pollution and clean the air in and around the Port.

The grant will be used to implement clean-diesel technology in 142 pieces of essential diesel-powered equipment used for harbor operations, including 2 tugboats, 7 locomotives, 50 short haul trucks and 83 on-dock handling units. It will also create jobs and reduce asthma rates and other respiratory illnesses.

The latest clean-diesel technology meets higher air quality standards. It is projected to cut emissions by up to 90 percent, dramatically reducing fine particulate and other pollutants contributing to smog. The new clean-diesel technologies include 9 engine repowers, 43 vehicle and equipment replacements, 83 exhaust controls and 7 idling devices.

The grant will also support extensive outreach to the maritime community with information about ways and technologies to cost-effectively reduce air emissions in collaboration with the Baltimore Port Alliance's environment committee.

"Recovery Act dollars will help the Port protect air quality and the health of Baltimore communities," says Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation. "Investing in clean diesel puts people to work and keeps them working, which helps our economy and our environment."

The Port of Baltimore was one of seven applicants selected to receive a share of $16.1 million from a pool of 40 requests.

"We are pleased that the Environmental Protection Agency saw fit to award the Port of Baltimore one of these seven grants," says Kathy Broadwater, deputy executive director for the MPA. "This generous funding will help us continue our commitment to a cleaner and healthier Port of Baltimore and surrounding community. These stimulus dollars are an excellent example of our government working to retain employment and creating a healthier environment for the country."

Kalypso Media Group, a German-based game publisher continues its global expansion, choosing Baltimore as the site of its U.S. headquarters, beating out Los Angeles, New York and Silicon Valley. The deciding factor was the high concentration of video game companies in the area, including Firaxis Games, BreakAway and Big Huge Games. The Baltimore office boasts a minimal staff of about five.

With its new digs located in Roland Park, the company named Deborah Tillett president. Former president of BreakAway Games, Tillett is responsible for developing and implementing Kalypso's strategic and creative vision in North America. Kalypso is perhaps known best for its "Tropico" series now on its third installment.

The company is seeking game developers who have created PC or mobile phone games in any genre of entertainment software. The company is particularly interested in strategy, adventure, action and simulation games. Kalypso offers developers marketing on a global scale in retail stores and via online platform. Interested game designers should contact the company at [email protected].

In other gaming news, Zynga, a San Francisco developer of games for social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace, plans to hire 12 to 15 game designers, web developers, artists and producers by the end of the year. The company has chosen Baltimore as the location for its new East Coast office. Helmed by Brian Reynolds, a former exec with Firaxis Games and Big Hug Games, anticipates that the office will locate in Timonium.

Writer: Walaika Haskins
Source: Kalypso Media Group