City Council Candidates Discuss Economic Development

Patch asked the candidates for the May 3 election to share their opinions on more than a dozen topics relating to the city.

In this installment, City Council candidates—incumbents John Correri and Randy Craig, and challengers James Lauer, Diane Lawder, Lori Maslin and Barbara Wagner—address economic development in Havre de Grace:

John Correri

Correri has some ties to economic development in the city government.

“I feel very close to the economic development office here in town. Many years ago, the initial economic development commission was started by myself and I believe it was Mayor Montgomery in those days,” he said. “I was the council chair.”

The key, Correri said, is to pay attention to the business climate both inside and outside of Havre de Grace.

“I’ve long watched state and local economic development. The beauty of Havre de Grace, with the combination of water and the history, and things, it’s just, to me, its something we should be a part of,” he said. “We should be knowing what the state’s doing, what’s available, what the county’s doing, what’s available. We also have the responsibility to improve our house in a sense, to attract that economic development here in town.”

Correri called the industrial park off Old Bay Lane “a huge base for us.”

He thinks the industrial park could go through a bit of a renaissance, too.

“I’d like to see that somehow expanded into more of the technical jobs. Not the industrial type of stuff, but the technical jobs that bring a nice salary with them,” Correri said.

Correri said he admired the type of development that's occurred on Route 70 through Frederick and said that the same could be done in the Havre de Grace area situated between Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

Randy Craig

Craig calls local job growth a priority in Havre de Grace.

“As many local jobs as we can create here, it creates residents,” he said. “Businesses are the ones that donate to our youth groups and our volunteer organizations. A healthy business climate is good for everybody.”

The industrial park shows promise, Craig said, but it’s dependent upon fixing the pothole-ridden Old Bay Lane.

“There is a lot of opportunity at the industrial park for job growth. A lot of that hinges on Old Bay Lane,” he said. “That’s a big project the city has taken on, and I know that project will take some time because that’s a big project to do. The city accepted that burden of that road that’s in terrible condition, because we understand how it impacts the businesses’ choices.”

Craig said the beating the road has taken by the number of 18-wheelers that travel it daily has impacted the ability to bring new business to the warehouse district.

“It’s a big business investment to purchase a property there and put a couple hundred jobs in there,” he said. “That road did not help our situation.”

James Lauer

Lauer did not respond to repeated interview requests from Patch.

Diane Lawder

Lawder thinks the city can target some ideas that would both compliment what is already in place as well as bring in some new people.

“Other than the local parks where kids can play, [Havre de Grace] is not very kid-friendly. Bring something where you can have, where people from Bel Air can come down and say, lets take our kids,” Lawder said.

She said growing up in Massachusetts, there was a local pond that attracted visitors.

“A swimming hole—make something where kids can come down, beach it out, have a little beach,” she said. “I don’t know if its possible or if there’s property to do it. But have something kid friendly where people can come down in the summer, let their kids swim.”

The key, she said, is getting people who would otherwise ignore Havre de Grace to look at the city as a destination.

“People need to think, ‘The city is trying to work towards being mom-friendly,’ and get people to come down, have play dates down here. Walk them wherever they can, go to a restaurant,” she said. “There’s nothing like that.

Lawder wants to see some businesses that can survive year-round and attract visitors at slower times of the year.

“Seasonally, you have tourists that come down at specific times. This place is dead in the winter,” she said. “In the summer you attract people to come down. You have the festivals going on.”

Lori Maslin

Maslin said the primary thing the local government can do is to help foster an environment for successful business. Other than that, business owners need to run their businesses.

“You don’t want me coming in and looking over your shoulder and telling you how you run your business,” she said. “It’s not for me as a city council member, as a mayor, as a state senator, as any of those things, to tell you how to run your business.”

Maslin said the community must to be willing to support local business, too. But ultimately, businesses need to understand their community.

“I’m willing to pay a little bit more to shop local. I am not willing to pay 50 or 60 or 100 percent more,” she said. “Again, the business community needs to realize that. It’s a tough road to walk. Encourage businesses to stay open, to meet the needs of their customers and find out what those needs are. What are they looking for? As far as government goes, I don’t know if government has a whole lot of say, other than at the beginning.”

Barbara Wagner

Wagner said there is one solution to helping to develop the economy—help people come to Havre de Grace.

“Even simple signage,” Wagner said. “You don’t know how many customers have walked into our store [on Union Avenue] that said they got off the highway, they follow the signs, get to the funky intersection at Route 40 and see a sign that says “downtown is this way’ and they turn left, go across [Hatem] Bridge, and then these people are still motivated enough to come that they come back, after they’ve paid a toll to cross the bridge. I’m sure the percentage of successfully doing that is small. So even doing little things like signage would do a lot for us.”

Re-routing drivers from Route 40 to the end of 155, down Water Street and onto Union Avenue “would be tremendous” Wagner said.

In her interview, conducted in the residence above her antique shop, Wagner had an old sketch of a proposed “Susquehanna River Beach” located between the train bridge and the Hatem Bridge. While that plan never came to fruition—“I don’t know why not,” she said—Wagner would like to see better waterfront access.

“People come into town just to walk the promenade,” she said. “I’ve met people down there that don’t even know there’s a downtown. They’ve been coming here for years. Signage. Again, signage.”

Wagner thinks better advertising of the transient pier at Concord Point would attract boaters. And she supports a plan first suggested by county councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti to have bike rental racks set up around the city to encourage boaters to explore downtown once they dock.

“We could have those all around,” she said. “Bring your boat here, get your bike, ride around town, bring the bike back. There are lots of things you can do. Even the green issues—the attention that that would bring would be great for us. It would be different tourism.”

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Other issues the candidates for City Council have addressed:

—April 20

—April 21

—April 22

—April 23

—April 25

—April 26

—April 27