Monthly Archives: April 2017

City officials and others promoting the downtown hotel project constantly call it a ‘partnership’ but is it? The latest ‘One-Pager’ from the City Department of Economic Development says that: “The City has entered into a partnership with the Developer (PHP) … Continue reading →

‘Public-private partnership’ is an invitation to the worst form of cronyism, and it is not hard to see a lot of this coming down the pike in the next year or so. Alas, it is not at the federal level … Continue reading →

This City has belatedly noted that the General Assembly appropriated $16m in state grants for the Downtown Hotel. The news was reported here April 10 (see link at the bottom.) The City news release below has been given only limited … Continue reading →

The City’s official stance on the hotel project is expressed in a so-called One Pager (actually 2 pages) headed Downtown Frederick Hotel and Conference Center, Project Overview. Three versions have been published and we’ll label them:

Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner signed a check November 18 last year for $10,750 payable to the Chamber of Commerce as the County’s contribution to a lobbying effort in Annapolis for state funds for the downtown hotel. The payment was … Continue reading →

Hotel supporters have won the battle for state funding for the Downtown Hotel and Conference Center (DHCC) in the current session of the General Assembly. $16 million (m) is being appropriated by way of state grants to support the total … Continue reading →

Mr Mayor, Aldermen: I’d like to remind you of Plamondon Hospitality Partners’ (PHP) statement of historic preservation (HP) issues in their winning proposal in response to City RFP 14J the supposed competed procurement for a hotel/CC in 2014:

Longtime Frederick citizen and retired attorney Cliff Bridgford has written a strong letter to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan urging him to resist moves to provide millions of state dollars to the downtown hotel project. He says in his letter that … Continue reading →

Hotel supporters often claim opposition is “tiny” or “a small minority.” That is cast into serious doubt by a poll running in the electronic edition of the Frederick News-Post. As of 9am Sunday Apr 2 the polling was 51.1% Yes … Continue reading →

Ron Young: Regarding the Frederick Hotel and Conference Center: It is not a special interest project. The City of Frederick’s Comprehensive Plan included hotels and a conference center on Carroll Creek in the mid-1980s and as well as the current 2010 … Continue reading →