May 17, 2013 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch Page 31 Salisbury Bike Path Network Gets Funding By JOANNE SHRINER STAFF WRITER Regional Digest FROM PAGE 30 are encouraging the public to join them in wearing a lifejacket to work today, Friday, May 17, to help kick off National Safe Boating Week. National Safe Boating Week begins tomorrow, Saturday, May 18 and runs through May 24. Maryland’s statewide initiative includes a push to increase awareness of the importance of wearing a lifejacket while out on the waters of the state including the Chesapeake and the coastal bays and Ocean City. To that end, NRP officials this week are encouraging boaters across Maryland to wear a lifejacket to work today to support the awareness campaign. “The simple act of wearing a lifejacket could mean the difference between life and death during a boating accident,” said NRP Superintendent Colonel George F. Johnson IV. “If we can prevent one fatality on Maryland waterways by reminding the public to wear a lifejacket, we have accomplished our goal.” Nationwide, approximately 75 to 80 percent of boating deaths are drownings, many of which could have been prevented with the use of a lifejacket. By encouraging everyone to wear a lifejacket in a non-typical setting, such as at work, NRP hopes to heighten public awareness and foster discussion on the importance of boating safety. SALISBURY – The funding has officially been put in place to begin the initial phase of a bike path network throughout the City of Salisbury. The first resolution to come before the City Council on Monday evening was to authorize Mayor Jim Ireton to sign the grant agreement and accept a grant of $13,750 from the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Maryland Bikeways Program for the provision of the initial two miles of pavement marking and signage necessary to create a bike path “Spine” route from downtown Salisbury to Salisbury University. The total cost of the project is $25,000. According to the resolution, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the City of Salisbury have been working together to improve bicycle connectivity between the Downtown Central Business District and Salisbury University. The bicycle facilities improvements to be constructed include the creation of a bike route, which will run from the intersection of Camden Avenue and West College Avenue to North Division Street near the Government Office Building, providing dedicated bicycleonly lanes and shared bicycle and motorized vehicle lanes, lane strip- ing for dedicated lanes, shared lane markings for shared lanes, bicycle markings on the pavement, and bike route signage along the route. The city is agreeing to provide 45 percent of the project costs in matching funds, including private contribution and/or services of actual project costs, in amount not to exceed $11,250 for the pedestrian-and-bicycle facilities improvements. The project will enhance bicycle safety and access to the Maryland Blue Crab Scenic Byway and will improve bicycle circulation in downtown Salisbury and the vicinity of Salisbury University. Matt Drew of bike-SBY, which has been an organization involved throughout the entire process, explained this started out as small personal project of his own and had grown to involve many others. “The basic concept is to connect people from where they live to where they either work or go to school, and where that commonality in pattern of travel to start creating bike lanes so we can promote cycling,” Drew said. “What popped out of that initial study was 18 miles of a network within the urbanized part of Salisbury that we didn’t have connectivity with bike lanes, and there is actually over 6,500 people that live within a core area of Salisbury that live less than two miles from where they either go to school or work, so by creating this bike lane network we can in essence connect this blatant demand for bike with people who could use it.” Drew furthered the initial “spine” route is a north/south connector that runs through the center of the network, and there are hopes to break out east and west from the route to create other north/south routes. “Thank you all for your patience,” Councilwoman Terry Cohen said. “We have been waiting patiently here at the city. The state has a process of approval on these plans, and I know Public Works went through a lot going through the plan with the state … so I am very, very happy that we have come to this day in time for the beautiful weather.” The next resolution on the table was to accept a donation of $2,500 from Salisbury University, a donation of $2,500 from the Seagull Century Foundation, and a donation of $1,250 from bikeSBY that was all included into the city’s contribution of $11,250 for the pedestrian-and-bicycle facilities improvements. “Thank you to those who are making the donations to help make this possible,” Cohen said. The council voted unanimously to approve both resolutions. . . State Visitor Totals Spiked 26% Since 2007 FROM PAGE 29 the 8.1-percent growth of the United States. Market share has increased 16.9 percent since 2007 so far outperforming regional and national trends. Leisure travel in Maryland is on the upswing while the state saw growth in all segments, business and leisure as well as both day trips and overnight stays. Leisure travel grew 8 percent in 2011, 30 percent since 2007. Overnight stays grew 8 percent in 2011, 27 percent since 2007. In 2011, Maryland reached record-breaking revenue of $14.3 billion economic impact, and visitor spending surpassed the state’s pre-recession high. Maryland’s tourism supports 131,000 direct jobs with a payroll of $4 billion. Tourism is the 10th largest private sector employer in Maryland. One out of 17 jobs in Maryland is a tourism job. The $14.3 billion in visitor spending generated $2 billion in State and local taxes. Without the revenue generated by visitors, Maryland households would have paid $920 more in taxes in 2011. Maryland’s tourism business continues to grow significant revenue. In FY12, the comptroller reported $377.5 million in sales tax revenues attributable to tourism for the Tourism Promotion Act, which is an increase of 5 percent from FY11, after adjusting for the increase on the sales of alcohol. An additional $18 million in tourism tax revenue was collected in FY12, qualifying the MTDB for an additional $3.573 million in FY14. “Very critical, and one of the first things we did when I came on board was both quantitative and qualitative research,” Amelia said. “We did an image awareness study to determine what consumers thought of Maryland and its competitors, and to determine what motivates consumers … and we did qualitative research on focus groups to allow consumer insight and direction for our advertising, our publications and our web design.” OTC refocused marketing efforts on key feeder markets and communicated with those markets year-round. The focus is on the top three markets of D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia, which make up 55 percent of Maryland travelers. The MTDB commissioned an effectiveness study on 2011 advertising that reported only incremental business was generated by ads, not travel planned prior to viewing the advertising. Advertising generated $182 million in visitor spending from 211,000 trips that supported more than 1,800 new tourism jobs. Every $1 spent on OTD ads generated $220 in incremental visits spending, $31 in state and local taxes and $6 in state sales tax revenue. “So while we were doing all that new research, all the branding work we still had to do all the core promotional work and outreach efforts,” Amelia said. “We are out there all the time doing travel trade sales, international marketing, public relations…it’s all about content development, and you need to continuously update your content on the web, social media and publications. Also, social and digital media and marketing, and we do a lot of product development.” OTD has an alliance with Washington, D.C., and Virginia, and while they compete aggressively against each other, they still work together, which has resulted in a successful Maryland investment in promotion to Western Europe and emerging markets of Brazil and China where every $1 put in is matched $8 in FY12. “And we have returned to the consumer market in Canada through a lot of Discover America programs,” Amelia said. “Canada is a great market for Ocean City.” OTDs future strategies for success recognize the state must go beyond the strategic regional promotional efforts, and it is necessary to target larger, and more distant metropolitan areas, such as New York City. “We have done a great job with our strategic regional promotional efforts but in order to grow we really need to be talking to that big Vet Gets Overdue Medals SALISBURY – U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski on Wednesday congratulated U.S. Navy Reserve veteran Charles Mowbray Jr., on being awarded a long-overdue honor and recognition for his service during World War II at a special ceremony at a Salisbury elementary school. Earlier this year, students from North Salisbury Elementary interviewed Mowbray about his service in World War II for a school project. Upon learning Mowbray had never received his medals and that the process could take as many as three years, third-grader Leanna Morris wrote to Mikulski’s office asking the senator to intercede on his behalf. Mikulski then worked with the Defense Department to secure his honors. “Each and every day, we are thankful for the service and sacrifice of all of our veterans and their families,” said Mikulski this week. “I went to work to cut through the red tape and break the bureaucracy to give Mr. Mowbray the long-overdue honor he deserves.” In a surprise ceremony at North Salisbury Elementary on Wednesday, Mowbray received his awards including the World War II Victory Medal and several others.