Gov.-elect Martin O?Malley told business leaders Thursday evening that he?s had a phone conversation this week with Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine and D.C. Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty about joint economic marketing of the region as the Chesapeake Crescent.
“We know the great strengths we have in Maryland, but what we?re not as often as cognizant of is the great strengths we have when we combine with our neighbors in Virginia and D.C. as well,” O?Malley told several hundred business executives at the World Trade Center?s 17th anniversary event at Phillips Foods global headquarters near Fort McHenry. While the three jurisdictions have cooperated on transportation and environmental issues, they have typically been fierce competitors on economic development.
“One of the things you?re hearing about in the promotion of economies around the world is people binding together,” O?Malley said. This includes concepts such as the industrial band stretching from London to Milan, Italy, in Europe being marketed as the Blue Banana, and states of the Great Lakes ? part of the pejorative “Rust Belt” ? promoting themselves as the North Coast.
While the Chesapeake region has challenges with work force shortages and the transportation infrastructure, O?Malley said the principal assets are the “creative” institutions such as universities and research labs that may discover “the weapons of mass salvation” in vaccines.
The Chesapeake Crescent is an evolution from the Creative Crescent O?Malley talked about occasionally in the campaign, an outgrowth of Richard Florida?s book on “The Rise of the Creative Class.”
“The rise of this innovative, knowledge-based creative economy is even more significant and more challenging to politics as the industrial economy,” Florida said in a post-election article. He is a professor at George Mason University in Northern Virginia.
Formal invitations for O?Malley?s Jan. 17 inauguration were mailed this week, and next week, his transition team expects to announce the Web site and other details for the nonofficial part of the celebration, such as inaugural balls and entertainment venues, said O?Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.
Legislative leaders said O?Malley is also planning to meet with a large group of General Assembly members on Monday to discuss his legislative package. This week he began a series of private meetings with county executives from the Baltimore-Washington region.
