Local & State Headlines

Downtown manager tapped

• An East Baltimore downtown manager is approved to take over the same position in Albany.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — The current director of economic development/Main Street program manager for the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition in Maryland has accepted the city of Albany’s downtown manager position.

Don Eric Buie, who has worked to revive the blighted Baltimore district for the past five years, accepted an offer to take the position Monday, Assistant City Manager James Taylor said.

The Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority’s board of directors finalized Buie’s position Tuesday by formally accepting him as the organization’s executive director. The vote was unanimous.

“(ADICA board member) Mr. (Andrew) Reid and I were on one of the committees that interviewed the finalists for the position, and Mr. Buie was the unanimous choice of both committees,” ADICA Board Chair Jane Willson said. “He came with a wonderful portfolio showing the work he had done (in Baltimore), and I don’t think anyone involved in the process would disagree when I say he was a really good choice.”

Buie took over as Main Street manager of the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition (which is a joint venture with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) in 2003 and became director of economic development for the redevelopment project in 2005.

The graduate of Sojourner- Douglass College (B.A. in Healthcare Administration) and Western Governors University (Master’s of Education and Technology) spearheaded a program that redeveloped 22 commercial properties in a blighted section of East Baltimore and created more than 72 new jobs in the process.

He also was the point man in an initiative that will bring $3 million in investment into the neighborhood.

Before coming to Baltimore, Buie was a sales manager and trainer for TMA Mortgage Corp. in Columbia, Md., and a Medicare HMO sales and marketing manager for Prudential Health Care in Houston.

“Mr. Buie has accepted our offer and is expected to begin work Nov. 17,” Taylor told the ADICA board. “He is an excellent candidate with a great deal of experience, and he is the kind of leader who can make a difference in our community.”

After the ADICA board voted to approve Buie as their director, outgoing ADICA and Albany Tomorrow Inc. President/CEO Greg McCormack introduced the board to new ATI President Kenneth Weaver.

“One of the things the (University of Georgia’s) Carl Vinson Institute stresses is the importance of bringing in new leaders with new ideas,” McCormack said. “Today is a great day for Albany because we’re bringing two fresh faces into the city. I think these two gentlemen will bring exciting new ideas to the city.”

Weaver, who was approved at a special called meeting by the ATI board Oct. 10, began work with the authority Monday.

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