National Harbor - News, Events, Updates, Questions and Developments Etc. (Silver Spring: delivery, retired)

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Nice. i hope their crab cakes are as good as Timbuktu's!

I have never been to Timbuktu. Where is it located?

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by UrbanScholar

I have never been to Timbuktu. Where is it located?

1726 Dorsey Road
Hanover, Maryland 21076

On they way to Arundel Mills from I-95.

Timbuktu Restaurant & Lounge, Maryland :: Seafood : Steaks : Chicken : Crab Cakes

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

1726 Dorsey Road
Hanover, Maryland 21076

On they way to Arundel Mills from I-95.

Timbuktu Restaurant & Lounge, Maryland :: Seafood : Steaks : Chicken : Crab Cakes

Oh okay. Will have to check it out the next time I'm up that way.

[Dmvwhatup]

Granite city food and brewery coming to NH in February 2015...per their twitter @gcfb. I'm assuming this will be one of the retail tenants below the new apts.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Dmvwhatup

Granite city food and brewery coming to NH in February 2015...per their twitter @gcfb. I'm assuming this will be one of the retail tenants below the new apts.

Hmmmmm. Seems inevitable as they are in the same restaurant group as Cadillac Ranch. Same price point too.

[Optimistic20744]

MGM sets goals for local and minority hiring for National Harbor casino project - The Washington Post

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by Optimistic20744

MGM sets goals for local and minority hiring for National Harbor casino project - The Washington Post

A few thoughts as I was reading this:

• PG County leadership is bipolar or just lacks good sound goals. Is the goal of this project to build the best, state of the art casino that can be built or is it to ensure the minority gets jobs? No I do not believe the two are mutually exclusive, but if you want the best, then get the best. No need to add so many qualifiers. It's possible that the minority candidates are the best candidates anyway, but if that was so, then you wouldn't even need to add this requirement. I just don't think you have both. If you want the absolute best casino, and make it world class, you have to set the bar higher than just hiring people just because of their skin color.
• It's great that MGM is "aspiring" to hire 50 percent county residents. My reservation though, would go to how the Tanger Outlet job fair went where so many potential candidates lost opportunities because of their bad background checks.

[UrbanScholar]

• PG County leadership is bipolar or just lacks good sound goals. Is the goal of
  this project to build the best, state of the art casino that can be built or is
  it to ensure the minority gets jobs? No I do not believe the two are mutually
  exclusive, but if you want the best, then get the best. No need to add so many
  qualifiers. It's possible that the minority candidates are the best candidates
  anyway, but if that was so, then you wouldn't even need to add this requirement.
  I just don't think you have both. If you want the absolute best casino, and
  make it world class, you have to set the bar higher than just hiring people just
  because of their skin color.

Although I see your point there is also a need to level the playing field. Small and Minority business hires the major issue is that, for even the most qualifies SMEs and MBEs, the playing field is not equal and you have to provide guidance. There are only a handful of MBEs (within PG County) that can participate in this kind of work in terms of bonding and financing so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. As far as the politics behind it? Its an election year so I am not surprised by the posturing.

• It's great that MGM is "aspiring" to hire 50 percent county residents. My
  reservation though, would go to how the Tanger Outlet job fair went where so
  many potential candidates lost opportunities because of their bad background
  checks.

Yeah that is going to be interesting. Especially since the requirements to work in a casino will be much more stringent. Not so much for other parts of the resort. I am glad to see that they will be implementing a program with one the local schools as well as providing internship opportunities for kids with ties to the county. That type of experience goes a long way.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by UrbanScholar

Although I see your point there is also a need to level the playing field. Small and Minority business hires the major issue is that, for even the most qualifies SMEs and MBEs, the playing field is not equal and you have to provide guidance. There are only a handful of MBEs (within PG County) that can participate in this kind of work in terms of bonding and financing so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. As far as the politics behind it? Its an election year so I am not surprised by the posturing.

What playing field are you speaking of? How are these businesses not being treated fairly?

Originally Posted by UrbanScholar

Yeah that is going to be interesting. Especially since the requirements to work in a casino will be much more stringent. Not so much for other parts of the resort. I am glad to see that they will be implementing a program with one the local schools as well as providing internship opportunities for kids with ties to the county. That type of experience goes a long way.

I agree. That could be helpful to teach kids something that is very unique to the county school's curriculum and perhaps open up more doors.

[UrbanScholar]

What playing field are you speaking of? How are these businesses not being
treated fairly?

Access to capital and access to contracts. Nationally their is a huge disconnect between the profitability of minority vs. non-minority firms (especially in the private sector). That issue is echoed locally with small, minority, and disadvantaged businesses.

The link below is a study that discusses the issue of disparity faced by MBEs. Although it focuses on access to capital (financing and bonding), the same is true for access to contracts etc. Typically, because they may not have the scale/capacity, MBEs have been excluded from successfully capturing contracts. Without contracts, its difficult for them to acquire financing to build capacity or the appropriate level of bonding to pursue larger contracts. Its a cyclical issue.

[SIZE=3][SIZE=3]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Minority-owned businesses have been growing in number of firms, [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]gross receipts, and paid employment, at a faster pace than non-minority firms. If it were [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]not for the employment growth created by minority firms, American firms, excluding publicly-held [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]firms, would have experienced a greater job loss between 1997 and 2002. While paid employment grew by 4 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]percent among minority-owned firms, it declined by 7 percent among non-minority firms during this [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]period. Minority-owned businesses continue to be the engine of [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]employment in emerging and minority communities. Their business growth depends on a variety of [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]capital, from seed funding to establish new firms, to working capital and business loans to expand their [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]businesses, to private equity for acquiring and merging with other firms. Without adequate capital minority-owned firms will fail to realize their full potential. In 2002 there were 4 million minority-owned firms, grossing $661 billion in receipts and employing 4.7 million workers. If minority-owned firms would have reached parity with the representation of minorities in the U.S. population, these firms would have employed over 16.1 million workers, grossed over $2.5 trillion in receipts, and numbered 6.5 million firms. Increasing the flow of capital for minority-owned businesses must be a national priority to re-energize the U.S. economy and increase competitiveness in the global marketplace.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[/SIZE]

[/SIZE]
[/SIZE]


http://www.mbda.gov/sites/default/fi...cessReport.pdf

I agree. That could be helpful to teach kids something that is very unique
to the county school's curriculum and perhaps open up more doors.

I couldn't agree more. Especially since, as we have discussed previously, not all of the kids graduating from high school want to or can go to college. Having options, with a career track can definitely be beneficial to that population. It can also be beneficial to those going or graduating from college needing a job that can lead to other opportunities. As an international company employees can work throughout the world in various capacities within the organization.