Developer plans to honor Kamenetz with memorial

Aprominent developer plans to honor the late Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz with a memorial at a development in the works in Middle River. St. John Properties plans to include memorial features in a park area at its Greenleigh at Crossroads development along Route 43, part of the larger Baltimore Crossroads development, said Larry Lichtenauer, a spokesman for the company. Edward St. John, chairman of St. John Properties, previously told the Baltimore Business Journal that he planned to erect a statue of Kamenetz. But the company now says it is in the early stages of figuring out exactly what type of memorial would be appropriate. Kamenetz, a Democrat who was running for governor whenhedied last month, often touted the extension of Route 43 and the subsequent growth in the Baltimore Crossroads area as a success story. “We built it and they came, bringing more than 3,000 jobs to Middle River,” Kamenetz said during a speech in April. Route 43 was extended 3.8 miles in 2006 at a cost of $68 million to connect the communities of White Marsh and Middle River. St. John donated the maximum $6,000 to Kamenetz’s gubernatorial campaign last December, according to campaign finance reports. In 2015, his company donated $1,000 worth of catering services to Kamenetz’s campaign. The Baltimore County government honored Kamenetz last month by naming an equestrian facility after him at the Center for Maryland Agriculture and Farm Park in Cockeysville. And Kamenetz’s campaign team worked with his family to donate morethan$1.3 million from his campaign account to Central Scholars, Northwest Hospital, the Maryland Zoo and the Hippodrome Foundation.

Online bus tracking begins for MTA

A year after the overhaul of Baltimore’s bus system, real-time tracking of the MarylandTransit Administration’s buses has arrived. The state agency spent just over $1 million to install Swiftly GPS devices in each of its 753 local BaltimoreLink buses and is sharing the signals with the Transit mobile app to allow riders to see the buses’ locations and better plan their trips. It works like the ride-share apps Uber and Lyft. “With pinpoint scheduling accuracy at their fingertips, riders won’t have to leave their workplace or home early to wait for the bus,” MTA Administrator Kevin Quinn said in a statement. “This enhanced feature truly will transform the bus-riding experience for our customers enabling them to better manage their daily schedules.” In addition to tracking the buses in real-time, the app has a “GO” feature that allows riders to enable voice alerts and push notifications for their routes. For those without smartphones, real-time bus tracking information is also available by calling the MTA Transit Information Call Center at 410-539-5000or by texting the stop number to MTAMD (68263). The Transit app, which functions in more than 175 cities, is free and available on Apple and Android devices. A car struck a pole, flipped over and landed in a fountain at the newly redeveloped Preston Gardens park in downtown Baltimore on Monday evening, Baltimore police said. The white BMW “became airborne” after hitting a pole at about 6:50 p.m. Monday in the 400 block of St. Paul St., Baltimore police Detective Nicole MonroesaidTuesdaymorning. A railing was damaged in the accident, said Michael Evitts, a spokesperson for the Downtown Partnership. which helped fund the park’s renovations, which were unveiled in April. A male driver left the scene after the accident, and the 2005 vehicle was towed, police said. Police searched nearby hospitals and could not find the driver.