Live Baltimore wants to roll out the welcome mat.
A local nonprofit organization that promotes the benefits of city living, Live Baltimore has proposed an advertising deal in excess of $450,000. The deal will lead the city government in showing off Crab Town to the thousands of people being relocated as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure initiative, also called BRAC.
In Mayor Sheila Dixon?s State of the City address, she announced that Baltimore will make a multiyear commitment to Live Baltimore, and work with it to promote the city.
“At the center of a thriving region, Baltimore has the capacity and the need to grow,” Dixon said. “I want to use every tool available to us to tell Baltimore?s story to the world.”
With the consolidation of military bases from Virginia and New Jersey to Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County and Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County, an influx of new residents will migrate into the region. Live Baltimore hopes to make urban real estate an attractive housing option.
“Baltimore City has tremendous assets, and we just think there is an opportunity to market them to people,” Live Baltimore Board President Jon Laria said. “[We want to] provide a one-stop shop for people who are interested in living in Baltimore.”
Under the terms of the proposal, Live Baltimore will focus on expanding its staff and its advertising capabilities to present Baltimore City as a viable option for the relocated workers. The estimated $450,000 campaign cost covers just the first year of Live Baltimore?s work, with total BRAC relocation not slated for completion until 2011. Live Baltimore now receives about a quarter of its annual operating budget from the city government, Laria said.
“We need to do some hiring and programming, but we will start as soonas we can,” he said. “We are having ongoing meetings with the city, but we are continuing to work at it and listen to suggestions and put together the best possible program.”
Live Baltimore definitely will keep busy. Baltimore City housing statistics from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. for December show a 20 percent drop in property sales for the year, and a 15.5 percent drop in the volume of total dollars sold. With what experts describe as a tough housing market, local officials consider effective marketing as a key to success.
“I think educating them on what is here [in Maryland] as far as facilities and what they can do for their quality of life is really going to help and be important,” Howard County BRAC Office Executive Director Kenneth Menser said.
