On Monday, the town council gave Economic Development Director Ivy Wells permission to submit an application for a $130,000 Community Legacy grant. If received, the grant through the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development would be used to buy property on West Street that could be used as a train platform.
“If we do need it, it’d be advisable for us to own it forthright,” Wells said.
Officials in Worcester County have been working on bringing an excursion train to the area since early last year. They’d like to see a train that would run between Berlin and Snow Hill on the existing Maryland Delaware Railroad Company track.
Though Berlin Falls Park has been suggested as an ideal site for a train depot, Wells said this week that the empty two-acre lot at the intersection of Washington and West streets would also be suitable. Though there’s no for sale sign on the property, Wells said it was on the market.
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11 comments:
Berlin owns the former Tyson property next to the RR tracks. Why spend more money?
Because gee Williams loves to spend moneey and do backroom deals. Just wait until they want to expand the new Tyson plant park and purchase gees house and his mother's house with taxpayer money just like they paid troy Purnell for the plant.
Grant through this MD dept means tax payers are paying for it. Berlin should foot the bill. This isn't like it some kind of thing that is going to create any good paying jobs where people can make a decent living.
What are we going to look at on this ride? Cornfields and woods?
Maybe the taxpayers of Berlin need to pay for this if the mayor wants it.
The idea is to increase the tourist traffic, which equates to more money spent by tourists, which equates to more taxes for the state in amounts that would not be otherwise seen and that will in essence reimburse the state and the taxpayers for the contribution via the grant. It's an economic thing that not everybody gets.
That's a fine use of taxpayer funds all the while some roads around Berlin aren't fit for horse and buggy!
Oh I get it 1:28 and it's feeble minded. Stuffing the State's coffer's with tourist generated sales tax, room tax, etc has yet to benefit MD tax payer's in any significant way. MD is still one of the highest taxed states in the nation. To say this sort of thing is economic development is ludicrous. Real progress is like stated above good jobs that pay well so the residents have more money to spend locally. That is economic development. Tourists should be an added benefit. Berlin has a significant number of people living in poverty and people unemployed and a fairly high foreclosure rate. This will do nothing to improve those numbers.
2:41 - Blame some of that on the theft of Highway User Funds by our late Democratic governor.
3:01 PM - Apples and oranges. Tourism is the second greatest revenue generator on the Shore, next to agriculture. As was said before, more tourists equals more revenue and more profits. With more profits come more opportunities for expansion, new business and increasing jobs.
Well paying jobs are becoming more scarce here. We need something to get them here, but no one seems to have a good idea of how to do it.
I get it. But why not use trackside property they already own? Why spend more tax money?
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