It all depends on much money is paid to what politicians

I guess "better" use is in the eye of the beholder...

Looks like 400 Washington Avenue, Mailstop 2M01A has already been sold to developers.

(That's the county executive, in case you don't feel like Googling it.)

To express your opinion on these plans, contact Executive Kevin Kamenetz:
kevin@baltimorecountymd.gov
410-887-2450

I read this on Catonsville Patch, is Steve Whalen involved?

Not being from the area, does the Holabird Middle School already have trailer classrooms as most in the county do?

Sort of like shuffling cards to get a better deal or maybe that game played with 3 acorns that are moved around quickly to see if you get confused. I thought the schools were under the authority of the school board. How is the county exec got dibs on them now. I like things better when there was just the 3 county comissioners (way back when). There was sound policy and more accountability. Each community had a local magistrate and police station. Sanity ruled and everyone was better off.

There is no way on this earth that I would allow my 4th or 5th grader to be moved into a middle school. Children at that age (typically 9 and 10) are not emotionally ready to be thrown into a middle school setting. Include the fact that Holabird Middle School already has problems of their own doesn't make it any better.

I dont think 4th and 5th graders should be in the same school as 7th, & 8th grader, the mature factor would be the issue.

Lets see new police station equals new box stores on Merritt Blvd. hmmmmmmmm

Guaranteed they're selling our childrens safety for the sake of 'the rumored' Target. Ya think someone knew something 2 years ago????

And so the plot thickens.... Kamenetz and his cronies have been busy plotting how to make money, even if it means stomping all over kids and playgrounds.

Has Kamentez lost his mind? How could he possibly think this could be a good idea? Putting 4th and 5th graders in middle school is rediculous. How can this happen?

Obviously, Kamenetz isn't looking for re-election and could care less about real people and the success of our youths. Taking away parks and schools! What message does that send. It is all about the almighty dollar.

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These dang CROOKS you all put in office tells you stories about PROTECTING our kids on one side of their mouths and on the other side closes schools and sells the land ???? Makes any sense, but then they are spending millions a year and taking tons of police of the streets to control a growing sex offenders list that has not been proven to PROTECT nobody to date and is hardly used other then nosey people with no life , as if it was working they would expand it to include other typs of violent offenders to protect more people...SO yes kill the useless list and use the money to SAVE OUR SCHOOLS before it is too late. The worse part is closing EASTWOOD as it is a magnet school that a person close to me attends and has helped them to no end with learning and most coming from there to the next level is better prepared to move on. SO protect our kids SCHOOLS first...If they need a location for another useless police station ?? How about some of these empty shopping centers or lots that are a eye sore and magnet for homeless and crime and rebuild a police station there and save a area from the dirt / gloom and crime in these empty and unused areas and SAVE the SCHOOLS that are already overcrowded..HEY you all voted them in office so pat yourselfs on the back before the knife gets you there.

the meeting lasted 50 minutes and their were nothing but open ended statements the school officials left it to the three princibles to take the hit of questions which they danced all over they know exacty what motion will take place it will be option b where there be addition 21 centry eqipment moved in to holibird which is way behind schedule for such when they mentioned the younger students mixing in with the elder ones they plan to isolate the young ones to the upper section of the school for themselves times and class changes were mentioed but really not finallize

This is a BAD idea for so many reasons I can't even believe its on the table. I have definitely lost faith in all of our leaders.

Hello????? IS ANYONE THINKING ABOUT THE CHILDREN????

I am pissed and I am a Parent of a Eastwood Student!!! We are being told two options and which option they go with will be decided by having focus groups with parents and staff and that the selling of the Eastwood Building is already set in stone and at the end of this year it will no one be Eastwood!!! I have so many bad emotions about this I do not even know where to begin to even post it to make sense how I feel about either option at this point!!

WHY CAN'T EASTWOOD REBUILD SOMEWHERE ELSE! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ALL THIS CASINO MONEY WE ARE SUPPOSE TO BE USING FOR EDUCATION BUT INSTEAD YOU WANT TO MERGE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS WITH MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS!!

I am not happy about any of this. I don't understand why these school figures wasted everyones time calling us to a meeting, telling us to attend to ask questions and voice concerns, to basically answer a handful of questions and tell peole to write questions down on an index card and they'll try to get them answered! How can you drop a bombshell like this and. not expect a lot of questions???? Then to only have this "meeting" last for 50 minutes!!! I do not want my child going to school with middle school kids before his time to be in middle school. Why must they disrupt two schools because of another school's location closing? Is there no other place they could relocate Eastwood to to keep it an individual school??? These princials are not ready to handle something this major. They are in way over their heads. And besides that, does anyone really think they really care what us as parents think???? I don't think so!

Joe Bartenfelder Please come back ,We Are Sorry !!!!!

I agree with A.S. above... Also once they rebuild to make Eastwood Larger to hold more students they could use taxpayers money and casino money which is suppose to be used for Education towards more technology and programs for Eastwood that they said Norwood and Holabird will offer our Eastwood Students without having to put them with Middle School students before they are emotionally and socially ready to handle that. They could add more staff if needed and add the Stem Program into the school with more staff able to teach it.

hello baltimore county. you thought dr. harrison was so bad he was fighting this. that is part of the reason he retired. new superintendent no experince see what we got. man in the pocket. way to go.

While this meeting was going on and you all were spending your valuable time, expressing your concerns over this serious issue I happened to be sitting at a restaurant with Kamenetz and his family at the next table. How carefree he appeared to be as he stuffed his face with cake and took pics of his precious family, celebrating his sons b-day. Judging from his demeanor no one is trying to steal his kids playground or force them to age prematurely by forcing them into a middle school. Karma's a B&*^% Mr. Kamenentz. You should be so proud of the great example you are setting for your children.

This is shameful!!! Close a school to make money. How about give more money to the schools. Teacher raises..ect.. I thought that's why they wanted question 7. Money for schools but look they are closing the only magnet elementary schools locally. My children attend this school and what I heard in the meeting tonight makes me sick!!!! This school also had a special education program for children with a lot of other needs. Children who have Down syndrome and others with other needs like this. And guess what that program is being done away with. It will not be carried over to the other two schools Holiabird or Norwood. My son is 8 yrs old and they want to put him with middle school kids. That is just wrong. After this year with guns in our high and middle schools. Why in the world would you want to put little children with kids this much older. I'm sooo angry about this. Also Norwood is over capacity. They are teaching out of trailers! This is a fact. This guy is an idiot. He don't care about our children's education. As long as it looks good on paper and all about the money is what he cares about! I will be calling our politicians. And I will not be the only one!!!!!

No reason that precinct didn't go to Seagrams under the proposed land swap. New precinct, community center, and ball fields at Seagrams site. Target and restaurants at the new site. No school closures, money for the county for the difference in value, etc. But all people did was complain about losing the government center; and the traffic nightmare that would ensue.

Now look at the alternative.

They have these "public meetings" to placate the public. The decision was made long ago and no matter what is said, things will progress as THEY have already intended. These meetings are such a joke. They try to make us think we have all this input. Yet people keep voting the same lunatics in every time, then wonder why things are so horrible.

The community opposed the trading of the North Point Government Center for the Seagram’s Property because all the community programs housed in the this building would be shut down and all the athletic teams that used the fields would be displaced (the size difference between the two properties is too dissimilar to accommodate these programs and athletics from to the Seagram’s property), not to mention the property has one of the largest green open spaces in Dundalk and borders Lynch Cove Run Stream. Dundalk already has one of the highest levels of non-permeable surfaces in Baltimore County and they want to make more.

From my experience in commercial real-estate I can tell you chances of a big box retailer moving into area now occupied by the North Point Government Center space are very slim. Dundalk does not have a high enough median income to attract this type of retail establishment currently (We have at least four nearly empty shopping centers a big box retailer could move into immediately if they were actually interested). Additionally, our close proximity to the Target in Middle River negates Dundalk from being a candidate to this particular chain.

What a sad day for the children of Dundalk and the environment....

Our communuity is fighitng a similar top down decision to replace our neighborhood park with a fire station. How are these related? Both uphevals are crisis being created unnecessarily by elected officials who are proposing to sell publicly owned land to private developers.

The rumored buyer? WaWa.

Representatives from our community were told that it was important that all three sites be put out for bid at the same time - so we know Towson, we know Dundalk, but who is next?

Keep the pressure on these people! Write and call your councilman and Executive Kamenetz!
kevin@baltimorecountymd.gov
410-887-2450

This is a clear example why the citizens of Baltimore County need an elected school board - something Kamenetz vehemently opposes. Now you see why.

The facebook page Save Towson Manor Park has been stated to oppose these moves. Someone from the area near these schools should do something similar. It was also pretty easy to set up an online petition at change.org.

(If you'd like to sign ours, there is a link on the facebook page!)

I will definitely support efforts to oppose this heavy-handedness from our elected officials - let me know how!

Ok ! How damn stupid can these people be , really closing SCHOOLS how many schools can you close before there are NO SCHOOLS !! Than where will these children get their EDUCATION but let's remember the police will have a new police station . There are buildings that are empty that could be used for whatever it is that they want to build and leave our SCHOOLS alone . It's already hard enough for the children to get the EDUCATION they deserve because of the lack of supplies , why not give the money to the schools and keep them OPEN instaed of using the money to knock the school down to build a police station wake up as I said use a building that is empty already that would make more danm sense would it not . To put these kid's in schools that already have to use trailers because the school has to many kid's in it is dumb as hell , to put 4th and 5th grader's in a middle school please they are to young and their social skills are different then that of a middle school student do they not understand that and 1,2,3, grades are going to have trouble mixing in with others because of their ages and what will happen to the teachers they already have gotten to know , for real have we forgot that the furture are these children . Over filling these school has already been proven not to WORK . Let's band together as the family we are at EASTWOOD ELEM. and stand up for the EDUCATION of our CHILDREN and their FURTURE they need use to stand up for them and be their VOICE ....

I guess the fireworks would have to find a new home?

Is this the John Vontran that filed for personal bankruptcy in 2010? Interesting...
"Yorkway Developer Files for Chapter 7 Liquidation
Bankruptcy trustee accuses John Vontran of ‘gross mismanagement’ and providing ‘inaccurate and incomplete information.’ Effect on ambitious Dundalk development project remains uncertain, though work continues, a published report says."

Is this the same Jon Vontran that filed personal bankruptcy Chapter 7, Dec, 2010? If yes, is he going to do the ethical and moral thing of paying back all creditors, both personal and business debts owed if in fact he filed per personal bankruptcy?

Go to Facebook and like the Support Eastwood Elementary Magnet school page. Post and let your voice be heard!!!!