I'm hesitant to start this topic because I'm not 100% clear on the details. However I don't believe it's been discussed in the past and I'd like some clarity on the matter.

The proposed city budget includes $309,000 for the renovation of a building across the street from city hall (the Rosalyn building). IT, Community Development, and Community Affairs will move into the upper floors of this building once it's renovated. That's all fine with me. The government needs space to work and evidently it's outgrown city hall.

What confuses me is the need for a pedestrian bridge that will link City Hall and the upper floors of the Rosalyn building. How much is the bridge itself going to cost, and why can't city employees just cross the street when they need to go to City Hall? I suspect it may have something to do with the Americans with Disabilities Act - maybe the Rosalyn building doesn't have an elevator, and it would be cheaper to build a pedestrian bridge across Franklin St. That's just a guess though.

Again, I understand the need for new office space, can somebody tell me why we should pay for a pedestrian bridge?

Correction: there's an additional budget item that lists the cost of the renovation as $1.01 million. I suppose the grand total of this project would be $1.32 mil.

well i wonder how many people go back and forth each day?? it can be a pain to cross that street, especially on windy rainy days, with papers etc... maybe it actually can be justified?? or maybe they're just trying to make it look fancy shmancy.

how long is that road gonna be closed while they build this thing??

Actually the Rosalyn Building is right next to City Hall. The pedestrian bridge would connect the two buildings over the driveway that goes into the basement of City Hall. It is only about a 20 foot span and will connect basically the 1st. floor of City Hall to the 2nd floor of the Rosalyn.

Just for the record, there has not been a vote on this subject as of yet. We could, or, could not move forward.

Seems like a reasonable measure to assure the safety of the employees who will be going back and forth constantly or it seems to me they wouldn't have proposed it.

O.K., who are you and what did you do with the real B...or is it really B and you were kidnapped by City aliens and reprogrammed

The mayor's comments actually make me support this idea less. While I'm sure that our city employees are perfectly capable of crossing the street (I do it every day - it isn't difficult), I could have been persuaded that, had there been a lot of going back and forth, this would be worth the cost.

BUT if the city employees would just have to walk down the sidewalk...call me crazy, but I'd like to know how much this bridge is going to cost, and how much it would be used!

As I said at the beginning of this thread, I don't know all of the details of this project, so maybe this is a justifiable cost. ...but maybe it isn't. I'm only seeking clarification.

Hummm... Pedestrians crossing the street safely... Isn't that why we have crosswalks????

NO ONE IS CROSSING THE FRIGGIN STREET!!!!!!!

Uh, sorry, I lost my mind there for a second.

No one has to cross the street. If you are standing on E. Franklin St. across from the main staired entrance to City Hall, and you look immediately to the left, that is the Rosalyn Building. The bridge would cross above the driveway entrance to the underground parking garage of City Hall. It would connect the two buildings.

Okay, I beleive if we do this project at all, we need to include the bridge. It would be convenient to tie the two buildings together so employees could access each building without going out into the weather. It would make sense, if not, why do the project.

I believe we could rent space in a building close to City Hall for a much lesser price than we can retrofit this building and build a bridge connecting them.

The grand total of the project is 1.01 million, this includes the bridge and also minor renovations at City Hall to help move code enforcement to the fourth floor and planning to the 3rd.

IT and and CD staff move to the second floor of the Rosalyn and Community Affairs moves to the 3rd floor of Rosalyn as well as developing a studio.

Total bond repayment and upkeep of the Rosalyn would be about 118k yearly, for 15 yrs., that doesn't account for inflation for upkeep. Granted, we would still own the building, but not a big fan of that either.

For 118K yearly, I would think we could rent a property that is on the tax rolls, then sell the Rosalyn building and cut our cost to almost nothing. The 118K does not reflect the initial investment of 125K from the Economic Redevelopment fund.

The information is on page 213 of the Capital Improvement portion of the budget.
Which you access on line at www.hagerstownmd.org

Oh, O.K. - well, now - it all makes sense...

and whose fault is that!?

lol. just thought that warranted a response... of some sort?

Maybe the county could provide you with space that will be freed-up when they move into their newly purchased downtown locations, or maybe you could move in with them. Either way you could then sell the Rosalyn building. Come on now, let's see some of that sharing and consolidating that we've been hearing about now for years.

The possibilities are endless.

I don't see a problem with it, after all the city tax payers have deep pockets, right?

Save some bucks and just eliminate that code enforcement crap. The only people they pick on are the people that keep their places up, and totally ignore the slumlords.

Sorry, just had to say that.

They can pay for it out of the water/sewer increase from the county residents.

Now thats a good idea Yoss, I'll vote for that.

Keep in mind that the city's child, the USM-H, looks like it will be coming around soon for it's allowance. Its budget shortfall may come in between $300,000 and $500,000, and they'll be looking to the 'local government agencies' to cover this. So hopefully the city will be putting some money aside for this in their proposed budget. That is of course unless the USMH can find 99 other school systems to pay $5,000 each to rent the facilities to go with the $5,000 that the WCPS is paying - that would cover the $500,000 shortfall. Talk about a Bridge to Nowhere.

Good news coming for the USMH. Can't talk about it yet. But I can assure you, I'm satisified.

Everything is a secret.

I'm just not at liberty to say just yet. It will be revealed soon enough.

Interpretation= The campus is still going to get screwed. Just not as bad and those who failed the campus in the first place are going to wait till the last minute to announce the "compromise" so they appear as the saviors instead of the idiots who let it happen in the first place.


Don't worry though Bob we know it is Myers, Donoghue and Shank that let this happen. I just hope that old Leroy can get over his fear of testicles next year, grow a set and make St. Mary's County delegation regret they messed with us or else it will be open season every year.

So the secret is that the USMH will now only be $100,000 short of its request. Now the question is: do they really need that $100,000 or can they cut back on some areas? If that $100,000 is really needed, I'm sure that the proposed Hagerstown budget can find a way to fund this cornerestone of their revitalization.

What is really needed is for Dave Warner of USM-H to get an "alumni" association or a foundation of community members going. Not for the individual schools but for those who have attended the campus. Let that group start raising funds and then also lobbying on behalf of the campus. Money from the private sector can go alot further and accomplish more than city funding would.

In many communities it would. But will it in Wash Co, known for all of it's low tech and warehousing business? Is UM-H mature enough yet to have a sufficient number of alumni scattered around the community?

It would sure be nice. Of course that means they'll have to get some staff to go out and ask those businesses to donate, making it more expensive to run that building every day...

P.S. what was the topic of this thread?

Don't worry though Bob we know it is Myers and Shank that let this happen. I just hope that old Leroy can get over his fear of testicles next year, grow a set and make St. Mary's County delegation regret they messed with us or else it will be open season every year.

You really need to leave Donoghue out of this one. He actually was one of the ones fighting for keeping the funding at the current level.
You can't throw your weight around when you're the minority party. It just isn't helpful.

Yeah this thread got hijacked. I will comment one more thing on the USMH you have to start somewhere and I know this area supports HCC heavily even a little bit of support goes along way.

Now back on topic the "bridge to nowhere" I don't have a problem if they build a pedestrian bridge connecting the two buildings. I think it is actually a good idea for several reasons. It is safer, IT is there I would want to be transporting thousands of dollars of equipments from one building to another across the street in all kind of weather and finally it might spark an interest in doing that with all of downtown.

We will never get the streets closed so how about we get the next best thing and make a series of skywalks. that would also open up upper floors to businesses and possibilities.

Nope he doesn't get a pass. In the position he is in he should have been able to get it squashed before it ever got that far. Our entire delegation dropped the ball and got blindsided. If they were more focused in doing their jobs instead of squabbling like little kids they might have gotten on it before the damage could even happen.

Not a bad idea Tony, if you can get it past State Highway. They can be a pain to deal with, even though we maintain the streets that they own. You can use the USMH as an example, across the street are many buildings linked together. Wouldn't it be convenient to add a skywalk across there connecting those buildings to the USMH, kinda futuristic, but worth exploring the pro's and con's of.

My guess is state highway wouldn't be that much of a problem if the bridges were 14 feet or higher. They are still going to want truck traffic down there and face it truck traffic has to be a part of downtown. Unless you get a central distribution point for the businesses and take things by smaller cart vehicles.

Knock it off Tony, he doesn't need anymore ideas on ways to spend taxpayer money.

I'd rather see somethign like this than an economist being hired. It would make downtown better and more accessible.

Are ANY of the Wash Co. Reps on the subcommittee headed by this St. Mary's County jerk who heads it and hijacked the funds in the first place? If not I don't think we can blame any of them. It's this pr... from St. Mary's County who should be getting all of our hate.