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Prospect of slots casino jobs, contracts draws thousands to Cordish expo

By MARC SHAPIRO Staff Writer

Published 11/20/09

For three hours yesterday, thousands of people poured through the food court at Arundel Mills mall, hoping to score information on one of 4,000 jobs that will be available if Cordish Cos. builds its proposed slots casino nearby.

Shannon Lee Zirkle - The Capital Josh and Jamie Bond of Arnold, with their daughter, Haylie, talk to Greg Dhaene, right, about a position in security during the Cordish Companies employee, vendor and contractor information expo Thursday at Arundel Mills mall.

Barbara Burnopp, a 47-year-old welder from Severn, was at the job and vendor fair with her sister, Betty Myers of Ferndale. Unemployed since February, Burnopp saw opportunities in her trade once construction begins, but like many yesterday, both women said they were just looking for something.

"Nowadays, I'm willing to do anything," Burnopp said.

Cordish Cos. officials said that although zoning legislation to allow slots at Arundel Mills has not yet been passed by the County Council, they are confident it will be.

"We believe that as this process rolls along, we have to be ready," said Zed Smith, Cordish director of asset management. "We believe that at some point the zoning will pass."

But the company also used the job fair as an opportunity to try to ensure the council approves that zoning legislation.

Cordish officials said 12,000 people signed up for the database during the event.

Company officials offered prewritten postcards for council members. County residents at the expo could sign their name on one of the cards, which the company planned to send to council members as a show of support for slots at Arundel Mills.

The Baltimore developer is projecting the casino would generate 2,500 temporary construction jobs and 1,500 permanent positions. The company expects $60 million per year to be spent in the community for various good and services necessary to run the casino.

Potential vendors, contractors and employees spent the expo filling out ap-plications so Cordish could put them in a database, which the developer plans to use as a means to pass along information to them as its plans move forward.

Tables were set up throughout the food court for the various fields: security, surveillance, food and beverage, accounting and finance as well information technology. Representatives of Anne Arundel Workforce Develop Corp. and Anne Arundel Community College also were on hand to talk about training and help available.

Roy Carson, chairman of the business administration department at AACC, said the college was there simply to get the word out about its training programs, since it's too early to tell what specific training casino employees would need.

"We have a very wide range or programs," he said. "I think almost any training people may need we can provide."

Job seekers

Information on job opportunities ranged from entry level jobs such as cooks, clerks and food runners to highly skilled jobs such as emergency medical technician training coordinators, assistant pastry chefs and kitchen mechanics.

"We certainly welcome and encourage Anne Arundel County residents to come to take advantage of these opportunities," said Gene Condon, the mall's general manager. "The unemployment in Anne Arundel County is fairly high."

The county jobless rate last month was 6.5 percent, well above the normal 3.5 to 4 percent. At its peak, the number of jobless in the county during the recession has topped 19,000.

Many jobseekers came from outside the county. Baltimore city resident Jock Bogans, who's been unemployed for almost three months, came to check out what was available. He previously worked as a custodian in Jessup.

"I'm looking to either get retrained, go back into the same field or get a better job," he said. "Any job, it doesn't even matter, as long as I get a job."

On the other side of the food court, tables were set up for vendors and contractors seeking information about procurement, general contracting and design and engineering.

Jake Jarosz, an estimator for Commercial Interiors of Hanover, was working at the general contracting table. He said the project will need all types of contractors.

"Everyone wants to be involved," said Jarosz, whose company is an advisory to Cordish on hiring contractors. "It's a big job and it's high profile."

Jim Joyce, a sales manager from Clarksburg-based Rentals Unlimited, thinks his company could benefit greatly in the casino's construction. It rents all types of equipment and tools, with about 10,000 pieces available.

"On a job like this, there's going to be 70 to 80 percent rented equipment," he said. "The stuff they'd be using is too expensive to buy."

Bob Weyrich, vice president of Glen Burnie-based Innovative Copy Products, said he was there to keep his company's name out in the public. The economy has slowed down the demand for copy machines and other office technology.

"It's just another opportunity," he said. "You have to keep on scratching and clawing. The people that don't don't survive."

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Let's make up facts - 2009-11-25 16:40:41

I went to the Mall to see how many persons came for the expo. I personally spoke with some of the THOUSANDS of persons specifically at the mall for the expo. My random conversations brought up a mix of persons not only from Anne Arundel County but from West Virginia, Baltimore and more. They also had a mixed resume. There were professionals and laborers. Every person I spoke with was polite and optimistic. Anne Arundel and the State need jobs. It is shameful to be so callous to deny jobs because a few persons drive to Starbucks may take an extra 3 minutes.
The herring that build it in somone else's backyard does not hold up as well. To rebid will take at least 4 more years. And to where? Again, someone else's backyard.

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Paul W - Baltimore, MD - Karma: Neutral

Hey Bob - 2009-11-25 15:52:31

8% unemployment in county and rising. Double digit for Country and rising. Get your facts straight. Police support, Firefighters Support, AFSCME American Federation of State, County and Muni workers support, all of the County's Chambers support and oh yea, your district overwhelmingly supported it too. But are you now alledging that people who own $500,000 homes near the mall were to stupid to read what they voted for. You make a compelling argument for that theory. Enough of your other half baked conspiracy theories. But if you really want one, I've got one for you, Jaime Benoit/stamato and the dark of night zoning that was put into the Counties GDP, look into that one. I know that the people of russett know what the real deal is. Maybe the Feds should look into that one. Your 15 minutes of fame is over. It's time to put people to work and jump start our county's economy or would you rather have your taxes raised? I've lived in this County all my life and can say for sure that you and your small band of the misinformed or worse self indulged don't speak for us. Go back to DC.

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bob pravda - Severna Park, MD - Karma: Neutral

Slots jobs... - 2009-11-21 03:28:22

This appears to be a shameful ploy...getting the unemployed desperate to come out and hold out hope (for who knows how long) apparenly just to get them to sign the "support slots" cards to send to the council members. First of all, most of these people probably do not live or own property in the local Hanover/Severn area and will not be affected by the establishment of casino gambling at AMM, so the zoning decision of course only figures in getting them a job in this case - duh. They can still drive home to their own neighborhood wherever (which will be casino-free) and go about their lives leaving the AMM area behind. Note the story indicated most jobseekers were from outside the county. Bad indicator...

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Jim K. - Severn, MD - Karma: Excellent

slots - 2009-11-21 00:44:14

..Many are fools who chase the glimmer of water in desert only to find that what shimmers are heat waves that lure the foolish on to.... ..to nonsense and, here, corporate foolings of them. What a neat ploy Cordish has accomplished with the suave, tenacious and bumptuous cawings of Mills Corp. to denigrate the hiring process. Twelve thousand fools, recently, seeked non-existant jobs. The corporations were seeking to out-legal the proper zoning process by staging a false pseudo- (perhaps, maybe) hiring of local yokels. ..Very neat ploy and most imaginative. Slots still do NOT belong at that site; no matter the snake-oil jobs offered.

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vvoof vvoof - lynnbrook, md - Karma: Neutral