Published: November 20, 2009 10:51 pm      

O’Malley keynote speaker for PACE event

GRANTSVILLE — A third consecutive year of Gov. Martin O’Malley as the keynote speaker will highlight the 34th annual Mountain Maryland PACE reception and breakfast in January.

The yearly trek to Annapolis, intended to put the needs of Maryland’s two westernmost states under the spotlight of decision-makers in the state capital, is scheduled for Jan. 28 and 29 at Loews Annapolis Hotel. The evening reception Thursday is scheduled from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and breakfast Friday is from 8 to 9:30 a.m.

The celebration of what is unique to Mountain Maryland, both its assets and its needs, is typically conducted in the first two weeks of the opening of the Maryland General Assembly, which convenes Jan. 13.

More than a dozen members of the event, coordinated jointly by the Cumberland-Allegany County Industrial Foundation and the Garrett County Development Corp., met Wednesday at Penn Alps Restaurant in Grantsville and reviewed plans for another successful event.

“It looks like we’re doing really well,” said Bob Smith, PACE Committee co-chairman, of the top-level sponsors who have signed on to display their wares.

Committee member Kim Shirer said the hotel’s lobby, atrium and ballroom will be packed with nearly 20 displays covering issues ranging from tourism to natural gas extraction and from transportation improvements to industrial wind power.

“We’re good,” Shirer said. “We’re packed. Everybody will fit. Everybody will have a place.”

Only three tickets have been sold — but Smith isn’t worried. Invitations, with legislative talking points, aren’t to be mailed until early December.

“Everybody said it’s a bad year,” Smith said. “I’m shocked. We have 22 displayers, six more than we normally have. And then look at the corporate sponsors. I cut that back budget-wise. I think I’m going to reach at least my budget. I’m happy.”

Smith said despite the economic conditions, he believes companies are willing to help contribute to a successful event — and make their industry-specific concerns known to state lawmakers — because “we’re at the short end of the state when it comes to getting money.”

This year’s PACE reception and breakfast theme is “Think Green — Think Mountain Maryland” for the second straight year. Legislative talking points are not yet finalized, but a draft version, to be distributed on postcards with invitations next month, include noteworthy projects such as upgrades to U.S. Routes 219 and 220, which are seen as vital for economic development in the region; continued funding for the Center for Communication and Information Technology at Frostburg State University, with planning and design for the second phase scheduled to begin in fiscal 2011; a general support of broadband services to all of Mountain Maryland, which is seen as a key tool in economic development and a quality-of-life issue as well; and an awareness of natural gas extraction, as the Marcellus shale is in both Garrett and Allegany counties but no other county in the state.

For more information on the event, log on to www.mtmdpace.com or call Cindy Young in the Allegany County Department of Economic Development at (301) 777-5967 or e-mail cyoung@allconet.org.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.