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April 1, 2009
Dear Alliance Members and Stakeholders:
We are writing to inform you of the current status on the State Center project and Master Development approval process which allows us to move forward on planning for Phase 1. As you recall, we had reached agreement on the terms of the Master Development Agreement, but it required a review by the General Assembly before it was submitted to the Maryland Board of Public Works for approval. Unfortunately, things went a little bit sideways with the General Assembly. We are working our way through the review of a special work group, and we are dodging an attempt to stop the Project that the Senate placed into a hastily conceived oversight bill.
Warm words of gratitude go out to you for joining with us to oppose sections of Senate Bill 1066 and House Bill 1572. Your correspondence to Senators and Delegates demonstrated your indelible support and reflected your input into the project vision. Several members of the legislature are rethinking their support of the Bill. Many of these decision makers want to be helpful to their constituency, and they are beginning to better understand what State Center is about - jobs, neighborhood revitalization, and economic growth that will be afforded to the community, the City, and the State. However, we understand though that the battle is not yet over until the legislature rules on this topic.
While these legislative efforts are proceeding, we have not scheduled the next community leaders and stakeholders meeting. We felt it was prudent to understand the support for the Project before asking you to invest more of your time on the organizational matters that we have discussed. In the meantime, the Team would be very willing to meet with any group that would like to discuss the status of the Project.
We urge you to continue your outreach activities and check in with your Senators and Delegates regarding the project approval status. Should there be further questions, please do not hesitate to contact any member of the State Center team. Thank you for your continued and collective participation on the State Center project.