Glendening ToutiS BWI as Economic Key: International Terminal Is Urged
Baltimore-Washington International Airport will play a key role in MarylandÛªs economic recovery as the state endures the loss of up to 50,000 jobs in the shrinking of federal government spending in the next several years, Gov. Parris N. Glendening told business leaders last week.</br></br>MarylandÛªs economy will lose $2.8 billion to $3.5 billion in direct federal aid, 20,000 federal jobs and as many as 30,000 jobs in the private sector, Glendening told a 225-member audience from Anne Arundel, Howard and Prince GeorgeÛªs counties during a meeting of the BWI Business Partnership Inc.</br></br>ÛÏMaryland is at a crossroads of the future," Glendening said, ÛÏWe are trying to make the public aware of what must be done. We have to make it very, very clear that the state cannot step up and back fill those cuts.Û</br></br>Glendening said the continued development of private ' businesses such as those tied to the airport corridor would be critical as federal cuts come in three waves. First, he said, the Washington suburbs of Montgomery^ and Prince GeorgeÛªs counties would suffer 85 to 90 per--cent of the federal job losses in Maryland. Secorid, Glen-dening said, Baltimore could expect to lose $750 million to $1 billion as federal social programs are cut. Finally, he said, the entire state would feel the ramifications of reduced state spending.</br></br>Û÷1 donÛªt believe this is a message of gloom and doom,Û he said. ÛÏThe sky is not falling, but we are offering real solutions."