Baltimore Business Journal articles from March 1997

Baltimore Business Journal archives from March 1997

Struggling to close gap: despite gains, black firms still in minority.
March 7, 1997... On a recent episode of the television police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street," a main character - an African-American police detective - referred to Baltimore as a "brown town." His point was that a large percentage of the Baltimore area's...

Business leaders: barriers remain. (continued discrimination against African American businesses)
March 7, 1997... Baltimore's African-American business community still has a long way to go. So say many local black business leaders, who contend that - despite the civil rights advances of recent decades - economic parity for African Americans is still far...

Hospital rate system faces scrutiny. (includes related article on Maryland hospitals' earnings)
March 7, 1997... Maryland's vaunted hospital regulatory system - the only one of its kind in the nation - may be headed for significant changes. After four consecutive years in which cost increases at Maryland hospitals have outpaced national figures, state...

Advanced technology center to train region's employees. (Greater Baltimore Advanced Technology Center)
March 7, 1997... Businesses in the Baltimore region soon will have a new place to train their employees on the latest technological advances. Just this week, the region's community colleges hired a director to lead the new Greater Baltimore Advanced Technology...

Building wealth: success stories pile up. (African American companies)
March 7, 1997... When Henry T. Baines Sr. opened his first grocery store on Park Heights Avenue in 1978, he had no idea the business would grow into a regional powerhouse. "That one store was everything," said the co-owner of Baltimore-based Stop Shop Save...

It's a hard-knock life: farmers keep paying the bills while weathering unforeseen storms. (farmers' production problems)(Small Business: Part 1)
March 7, 1997... Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series about local farmers and the problems they face as small business people. It's easy to be seduced by the seemingly calm beauty of a farm in northern Baltimore County. Meadow and woods stretch...

McCormick & Co. Inc.(Proxy Corner)(Company Profile)
March 7, 1997... Corporate Profile McCormick & Co. Inc. has just concluded a turnaround year that company officials predict will position the spice giant for new growth. After launching two successful advertising campaigns last fall, the No. 1 spice company in...

Suddenly, it's cool to be a temp: national survey finds temporary executives are hottest thing going.(Special Report: Human Resources)
March 7, 1997... Temporary executive. For some, that's the definition of the perfect boss. For others, it s a way of life, not to mention the hottest job around, according to a new workplace survey. "It's a nationwide issue. I think we're seeing it all over,"...

Tug-of-war endangers tech post. (Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development versus Maryland Technology Alliance over technology coordinator position)
March 14, 1997... The Glendening administration is butting heads with some influential legislators over something both sides want - a new state "technology coordinator." The coordinator would oversee the state's much-discussed efforts to become a major...

Boomlet on tap? (Maryland's booming office building development)
March 14, 1997... Like any other suppliers who happen to run low on inventory, real estate developers in and around Baltimore are gearing up to put more office buildings on the shelf. That means vacancy rates are low enough to warrant new construction, which in...

Finding strength in connections. (President's Roundtable group for African-American businesses)(The Color of Money: African-American Businesses)
March 14, 1997... Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. knew just what to do when an associate, Theodore N. Holmes, needed help getting financing for his string of Chicken George restaurant franchises in the 1970s. Haysbert was chairman of Parks Sausage, one of the nation's...

New Bell chief calls in: Bellamy ready to oversee new era of competition. (Bell Atlantic Maryland President/CEO Sherry F. Bellamy)
March 14, 1997... Sherry F. Bellamy knows that she's walking into a firestorm. And the new president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic Corp.'s Maryland subsidiary is loving every minute of it. "This is a state that has been very much out in the...

No need for NAACP boycott, hoteliers say. (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
March 14, 1997... Downtown hoteliers say their hotels should not be boycotted by the NAACP because they have plenty of African-American representation at their sites. "It's unfortunate," said Joseph Roseman, general manager at the Sheraton Inner Harbor hotel....

Survival of the fittest: farmers fight development, part 2. (preservation of farms for agricultural use)(Small Business)
March 14, 1997... Editor's note: This is the second in a two-part series about local farmers and the problems they face as small business people. As Wayne Armacost sits in the cramped farm office a few yards from his cows, he looks at a picture of the Baltimore...

New entrepreneurs overcome obstacles.
March 21, 1997... One woman risked personal financial ruin to revive a Baltimore day care center. An electrician built his electrical contracting company by taking advantage of a government contract set-aside program for minorities. A husband and wife expanded...

Anne Arundel lands desired distributors. (real estate developments in Maryland)
March 21, 1997... Showing confidence in the industrial real estate market despite some negative reports, a Bethesda-based developer plans to build 1 million square feet of speculative warehouse space in Odenton over the next three years. In addition, several...

Groceries, banks tango for clients. (mini-bank branches in supermarkets)
March 21, 1997... Banks and supermarkets have been pairing off like high schoolers at a Friday night dance, and at least one so-called wallflower is trying to make sure it's not the only one left without a partner. Landover-based Giant Food Inc. - the biggest...

Engineering firm tries to line up more global work. (GOW International Inc.)
March 21, 1997... GOW International Inc. doesn't seek complicated projects, but it has a knack for finding them. The Baltimore construction and engineering company has taken apart a cement plant in the Bahamas and moved it to Manila, resurrected a project to...

Right-to-work again heading for death, rebirth. (union regulation)
March 21, 1997... It has become an annual rite of spring, much like the crack of the baseball bat and the golden show of the blooming daffodils. But the right-to-work debate in Annapolis is quite a bit less pleasant. Last week, hundreds of Maryland union...

Blacks find doors open at fast-food franchises.
March 21, 1997... A number of African-American entrepreneurs have sought success - and found it - through fast-food franchising. Perhaps the best known is La-Van Hawkins, chairman and chief executive officer of Baltimore-based La-Van Hawkins UrbanCityFoods, who...

Hospitals gussy up to boost giving.
March 21, 1997... Extravagant, yes. But worth the cost? Get out your high heels or your tuxedo: The season for hospital galas is on its way. Hospitals bill the events as extravagant evenings of food and entertainment. But the galas are big business for a...

No time off for the ambitious. (University of Maryland weekend masters degree in nursing)
March 21, 1997... UM offers weekend master's degree in nursing JoAnne King is going back to school. The 28-year-old nurse is a unit director at the Genesis Eldercare Center in Randallstown, after rising steadily through the ranks for the past four years at...

Baltimore catches mini-branch bandwagon.
March 21, 1997... Baltimore is a late arrival on the mini-branch scene. Of the roughly 200 supermarket locations in the Baltimore area, fewer than one-fourth have mini-branches. But that is still far more than the area's four mini-branches recorded at the end of...

Series shows untapped potential in black business.
March 21, 1997... Forget your Michael Jordans and your Whitney Houstons. I'll take Harlow Fullwood any day. And not just Harlow Fullwood - I'll take Joe Haskins, Ray Haysbert, Torrie Johnson, Warren Wiggins and a host of others. These are true role models,...

Harbor project grows. (retail development project at Inner Harbor East, Baltimore, Maryland)
March 28, 1997... Baltimore developer John Paterakis is planning to add a massive retail/entertainment complex to Inner Harbor East. The project, which is in its infancy, could add as much as 400,000 square feet of retail space and has the potential to create...

BWI pumps up flights. (Baltimore/Washington International Airport)
March 28, 1997... More jets will be taking off at Baltimore/Washington International Airport this summer, even though the Linthicum facility may lose its status as a hub airport. Seven airlines are planning to add nonstop flights from BWI to several domestic...

How last choice won. (awarding of Inner Harbor East development contract to H and S Properties Development Corp.)
March 28, 1997... The Inner Harbor East proposal for a convention headquarters hotel, selected by the mayor as the winner of a three-way bidding process, ranked dead last in two separate Baltimore Development Corp. analyses. The staff of the city's economic...

Newest purchase pushes Sylvan into big time. (Sylvan KEE Systems. Sylvan Learning Systems's acquisition of National Education Corp.)
March 28, 1997... So many announcements of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures flow out of the Sylvan Learning Systems Inner Harbor East offices that when the company announced it was buying National Education Corp., the impact on Sylvan - and Baltimore - may...

Hopkins sets sights on India. (Johns Hopkins School of Public Health plans to create institute in India)
March 28, 1997... Johns Hopkins School of Public Health may create a privately funded, multimillion dollar education and research institute in a remote area of India, on more than 150 acres of land donated by the government there. The venture would represent a...

Bank aims to serve Baltimore exporters. (First National Bank of New England)
March 28, 1997... Manufacturers target market for new office First National Bank of New England is stepping up its efforts to recruit manufacturing clients in the Baltimore area. The Hartford, Conn.-based bank opened a new office this month to energize its...

Vendors file complaints to force Bandits to pay. (Baltimore Bandits)
March 28, 1997... Two creditors have filed complaints against the American Hockey League's Baltimore Bandits, charging that the team failed to pay its bills. William Michael Ross of the EFP Group in Owings Mills claims the local hockey team still owes $3,240...

BUCS Federal plans status change. (BUCS Federal Credit Union)
March 28, 1997... Credit union would be first to convert after fed ruling BUCS can make more bucks as a thrift. That's the conclusion of officials at Owings Mills-based BUCS Federal Credit Union, who are seeking regulatory approval for conversion to a savings...

Nordstrom tries to regroup after year of mistakes. (Nordstrom Inc. co-Pres. Peter Nordstrom)
March 28, 1997... Pete Nordstrom, one of the half-dozen family scions leading the namesake chain, offers no excuses for the mistakes made in a major refashioning of Nordstrom Inc. "We didn't execute that well," Nordstrom said bluntly. The co-president was...

Seeking a lucrative transformation. (MetaMorphix Inc.)(Special Report: Technology)(Company Profile)
March 28, 1997... Start-up biotech firm's research could produce profitable cures For scientists, unlocking the secrets to cell growth can lead to cures for a variety of diseases. For entrepreneurs, holding that key means the promise of potentially enormous...

Tech firm finds training partner at UMBC. (Computer Sciences Corp.; University of Maryland Baltimore County)(Special Report: Technology)
March 28, 1997... More than 800 workers have taken classes at university since 1994 Bill Mace had a problem: His primary client was moving toward networking its computers, but he knew little about the process. Mace found a solution, however - he took several...

Squabbles over domain spawn a new industry. (Internet trademark name brokers)(Special Report: Technology)
March 28, 1997... The potential for reaching throngs of new customers via the Internet has spawned a new generation of electronic brokers - domain name sellers. Companies looking to hop on the 'Net call them Internet name scalpers, while trademark lawyers call...

Hughes hopes to beat rivals with super dish. (Hughes Network Systems Inc.)(Special Report: Technology)
March 28, 1997... Hughes Network Systems Inc. is developing a new product that's a cross between its home satellite television and Internet products. The launch, expected within the next three months, is calculated to keep the company's edge in an industry whose...

Women owners take on feds. (certification of women-owned businesses)
March 28, 1997... When Suzanne Pearce tried to certify her business as woman-owned, she felt as though she were back in the Stone Age. Instead of answering questions about her business plan, long-term goals and sales objectives, she was subjected to an...

Diehl Graphsoft Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 28, 1997... Corporate Profile Already, Diehl Graphsoft Inc.'s fiscal year 1997 has been eventful - the Columbia-based company launched a Windows version of its popular computer-aided design software, and a trademark lawsuit filed by a Hungarian firm was...

Matchmaking programs link young companies, investors.(Book of Money)
March 28, 1997... The growth in new business start-ups in the greater Washington area is prompting local organizations and businesses to create programs linking potential investors and promising young companies. Investment professionals say much of the current...