MANAGING BALTIMORE'S INNER HARBOR OPERATIONS:
The Need for Direct Day-to-Day Authority and Empowerment

Report from the Greater Baltimore Committee's
Inner Harbor Management Task Force

RECOMMENDATION

In considering all of the alternatives that have been posed for managing and operating of the harbor, it is our consensus that the best approach is the creation of a not-for profit quasi-governmental entity similar in structure to the Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management, Inc.

The advantages to this approach over the current operation are many, but most importantly, its structure matches the critical needs for an effective harbor management structure: an entity with a singular focus and with the appropriate government empowerment to act.

The creation of a separate not-for-profit quasi-governmental entity is not a novel one for the city. As stated, the original Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management, Inc. was created over 30 years ago and the lessons learned from its effective operation in the initial development and management of Charles Center and the Inner Harbor can still serve as a guide. In recent months, the creation of the East Baltimore Development Corporation demonstrates the city's recognition of the need and importance of creating an independent body to focus attention to its most critical economic development initiatives. The management of the Inner Harbor is no less significant or important to the future economic health of the city.

The GBC recognizes that some detractors may raise objection to the creation of multiple quasi-governmental agencies being established separate and apart from city government. The GBC discounts those concerns and emphasizes that the size of city government and the multitude of problems confronting government leaders requires that the appropriate special attention be afforded to those successful components of economic development that are essential to the improved vitality of the city and that provide the needed financial resources to meet the ever-growing demands on city government.

Further, the creation of a quasi-governmental entity operated by an Executive Director, with appropriate oversight from a small independent board separate and apart from city government, helps to eliminate many of the bureaucratic challenges and intra-governmental department squabbles that can stymie swift and effective decision-making. Equally important, the separation of this body from the halls of city government helps to isolate the decision-making process from the threat of political pressure and influence. However, the appropriate empowerment from the mayor is critical as no structure or entity, however creative, can be created that will effectively address the operation and management of the harbor without the mayor's attention, focus, and demand for accountability.

For those reasons and others identified in this report, the GBC strongly recommends the creation of a not-for-profit quasi-governmental agency as the preferred choice of management structure to provide the needed oversight, supervision, and day-to-day operational direction needed to preserve the beauty of the harbor area and to fully develop its still unmet potential for economic development and tourism attraction.