Carroll County deputies will start serving the ICE warrants, which allow them to hold a suspect for up to two days, on Aug. 1. The agreement with ICE only affects detainees in the county’s detention center; it does not mean that deputies will actively go out in the community to serve the ICE warrants.

According to the agreement the county signed with ICE earlier this year, the Sheriff’s Office is “expected to pursue to completion all criminal charges that caused the alien to be taken into custody and over which it has jurisdiction. ICE will assume custody of an alien only after said individual has been released from [the Sheriff’s Office] custody.”

In the wake of a national outcry about President Donald Trump’s stepped-up deportation efforts and the way they’re being carried out, activists in Carroll County have been rallying every Monday night in front of county offices in Westminster.

DeWees called critics of the program “incredibly naive,” in a Maryland Matters article this week, saying: “This is a jail-based model. We are not running around looking for people that ICE wants.”

DeWees also “said the program isn’t discriminatory, as each person’s immigration status is checked, regardless of who they are,” according to Maryland Matters.

The rallies are now in their fifth week, and have drawn about 15 to 25 people each time.

“It’s growing every week,” said Natalie Sanchez, who has lived in Eldersburg for more than 20 years and helped organize a local group called Carroll County Immigrant Rights Defense.

A petition urging Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees to end the ICE agreement has more than 550 signatures, and notes: “Carroll County residents’ politics are varied, but we are united in our desire to keep an inhumane, illegal, and weaponized immigration system out of our county. We have seen how ICE agents violated Elsy Berrios’ rights in our community… Under any circumstances, we do not support local cooperation with ICE or 287(g) agreements, which have been shown to be racist and dangerous for communities. Under the current presidential administration, cooperation with ICE and implementation of 287(g) agreements amount to local facilitation of and complicity with illegal and inhumane orders.”

Berrios, 52, was arrested on March 31 by ICE officers while driving herself, her daughter and another woman to work at a Carroll County clothing manufacturer, local law enforcement and her lawyer said. Her daughter, Karen Cruz Berrios, took video of the arrest from the passenger seat. Officers refused to show her a warrant for her arrest despite her requests, video of the arrest shows.

When Berrios refused to get out of the car without evidence of a warrant, officers broke her car window, letting shattered glass fall on Berrios and into the car. After she stepped out of the car, they arrested her and took her to ICE’s Baltimore holding facility.

The petition was created by Indivisible Carroll County, a chapter of a grassroots progressive movement seeking “to resist the Trump agenda.”

The 287(g) agreement can be canceled any time, although the federal agency requests a 90-day notice. The agreement notes that the participating local law enforcement “personnel are bound by all Federal civil rights law,  regulations, and guidance relating to non-discrimination.”

CASA said it has implemented a “Know Your Rights” campaign, and has training available for anyone concerned about ICE activities in their community.

“Carroll residents are voicing their distrust and opposition to 287(g),” said Ninfa Amador-Hernandez, policy manager for immigrant advocacy group CASA, on Friday.

She explained that one of the main reasons is “the ability for flagrant civil-rights violations,” which she said have been seen in Latino communities in adjacent Frederick County.

With Carroll’s 287(g) agreement becoming active Aug. 1, she said, the group will continue to monitor the county “for any civil rights violations.”

Sanchez said DeWees doubled down on his commitment to the program when he met with the immigrant-rights group in April.

Commissioner Kenneth Kiler also declined to take up the group’s request to bring up the 287(g) agreement at an upcoming county meeting.

“While we would love for the sheriff to listen to the community and actually cancel the agreement, unfortunately we don’t think that’s actually going to happen,” Sanchez said. She said the group will continue to let their elected officials know about residents’ opposition, and support their immigrant neighbors.

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The two parishes had been working together since 2020, including sharing a pastor, and talks about the merger began in 2023.

The newly merged parish will continue to be called St. Francis de Sales, “because of its historical value to our community,” according to its website.

Church leaders cited “a significant decline in the attendance, ministries and finances at Prince of Peace over the past few years.” Prince of Peace was formed in 1977.

The merger prompted the relocation of The Sharing Table, a food pantry supported by 13 local churches that has been hosted by Prince of Peace for 22 years. The Sharing Table will reopen Aug. 2 at The American Legion on Edgewood Road at Willoughby Beach.

The pantry launched a GoFundMe campaign in hopes of raising $42,000, noting the Legion building “cannot meet all our cooking and storage needs, and much of our equipment — like the convection oven, refrigerator, freezer, and storage — is property of the church and will remain behind.”

Sharing Table President Wendy Weyant said in an email: “We are immensely grateful to the Prince of Peace community for hosting The Sharing Table for 22 years. Though our relocation was obviously an unexpected logistical and financial hurdle, we’ve been blessed by support from our GoFundMe page and other community assistance.”

Sam Meros, who now works for Aberdeen’s St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, was among the musicians at the final Mass in the Prince of Peace building. Now 20 years old, he started playing piano and the organ at Prince of Peace when he was 14.

Meros described Prince of Peace as “a community-based church” that was willing to give him a chance as a young musician.

“That church was the start of my music career, and not many places would take me,” said Meros, an Edgewood High graduate. “Saying goodbye to people was not easy. It was just the community and the love that I got.”

The last Mass in the building was “very emotional, but very uplifting. It was very sad. But, that will be a memory.”

This is the latest church merger for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which is shutting down more than half of its worship sites with the “Seek the City to Come” initiative announced last year. Five of the shuttered church buildings, all in Baltimore City, were put up for sale in May, including some that were landmarks for generations, such as The Shrine of the Little Flower on Belair Road.

The Prince of Peace building was “secured after June 30, 2025, and will be monitored weekly for an invasion or property issues,” the pastorate said on its website. “The utilities will be reduced to maintain the integrity of the property.”

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The company announced its Westminster location will hold a grand opening at 9 a.m. on July 30 in the Westminster Crossing West shopping center. It’s taking over the former Gavigan’s Furniture space.

New York Times-bestselling romance novelist B.K. Borison, who is based in Baltimore, will be on hand for the ribbon-cutting and will sign books.

The 20,000 square-foot store’s design will “marry the best traditions of independent bookselling with the resources of the historic chain,” the company said in a news release.

It will include a B&N Cafe, books and a range of toys, games, paper and gift items.

“The enthusiastic response from the community has been very encouraging, and our Westminster booksellers have been hard at work preparing a bookstore curated with their new customers in mind,” James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, said in a statement.

Barnes & Noble is opening seven new bookstores nationwide in July, as part of an ambitious corporate strategy.

The company expects to open more than 60 new bookstores this year, and opened more stores last year than it had in the decade between 2009 and 2019, according to the news release.

Barnes & Noble remodeled its two Baltimore County stores in White Marsh and Pikesville in recent years, and also downsized the Pikesville store, moving it across the street.

Stores in Bel Air and Ellicott City are among those that retain the company’s previous 1990s-style format.

The past decade has seen big changes for Barnes & Noble locally, as the company closed its high-profile, longtime stores at Towson Circle and at the Power Plant in the Inner Harbor. It also opened a new location in The Mall in Columbia.

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Jay Landsman Jr., announced this week he will take on three-term Sheriff Jim DeWees in the 2026 Republican primary.

Landsman is a 26-year veteran of the Baltimore County Police Department, most prominently as commander of the Towson precinct, and comes from a family focused on law enforcement.

He is the son of Jay Landsman Sr., who was featured on HBO’s “The Wire” in the early 2000s and inspired “Law & Order” character John Munch.

“Dad is like Obi-Wan Kenobi in policing, and that’s the way it is,” the candidate joked, referring to the “Star Wars” Jedi Master. “He has seen a lot of stuff.”

After retiring from Baltimore County police in 2021, the younger Landsman, who will turn 50 this fall, was an administrative services manager with Westminster Police Department, but realized “after three months, this is not something I am going to be happy doing 10, 15 years.”

He returned to Baltimore County to work for Towson University police, and left recently to pursue the Carroll sheriff job.

Even while working as a sergeant for Baltimore County and eventually as commander, “I always had that interest in the political process,” he said.

Landsman said Monday he has thought about a political post for a while, and was eager to give residents a choice in the election. He has lived in the Westminster area with his wife and two children since 1998.

“Contested elections are good for democracy,” he said. “It gives the community a choice. It drives voter turnout.”

His family’s work in police and fire departments goes back generations. His grandfather,  Lt. Charles “Buck” Pfaff, was killed in a fire-truck accident on Park Heights Avenue in 1949.

Regarding taking on DeWees, Landsman said: “The sheriff’s been in there 12 years. When you are in there, addressing crime and public safety, you don’t want to be stuck in the status quo, but a fresh perspective is good in a county that’s growing rapidly.”

He said it’s important to focus on residents’ issues with traffic, in light of new development, and to address “bleed-over” crime from neighboring jurisdictions, including Pennsylvania. That especially means juvenile crime, of which he saw a lot during his time in Towson, Landsman said.

“That juvenile crime situation is what’s going to drive crime in the future,” he said. “They are going to be tomorrow’s violent offenders, and it’s up to us to find that solution, build the model” so young offenders will face effective consequences.

Candidates have until Feb. 24 to file to run in the 2026 primary election in Maryland.

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Little G’s Diner has built up a lot of hype on social media and will hold a grand opening Saturday in the North Side Business Center on Main Street, previously home to the well-known Hampstead Diner.

The new restaurant is “a community-driven revival of Hampstead’s diner legacy,” owners Christopher and Katie Coil said in a news release.

The “Little G” in the diner’s name is their son, Grayson, who is set to cut the ribbon on the new establishment at 10 a.m. on Saturday, at 1365 N. Main St.

Area residents might recognize Grayson from “Mason and Grayson’s Lemonade Stand,” which has set up at community events and festivals.

The family’s KC Elite Hospitality, LLC, business has been running Bebo’s Mac Shack, a food truck focused on mac and cheese, in the Westminster area — along with the lemonade stands and catering.

Grayson did a menu reveal for Little G’s Diner on Facebook, showcasing specials such as “juicy smash burgers,” “hearty breakfasts,” “delightful sandwiches,” “homemade soups,” “sweet treats for the little ones” and more.

Little G’s will serve breakfast all day, and offer lunch dishes in “a cozy and nostalgic setting,” according to the news release.

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Fifty-five people signed up to speak at Monday night’s school board meeting after the local chapter of Together We Will — a national group supporting grassroots progressive activism — in particular urged residents to voice their opposition to the book ban.

The board plans to set up an informational and listening session in light of the protests, said board President Aaron Poynton, who was also reelected to his position by a 9-1 vote at Monday’s meeting.

“Flamer” is a 2020 semi-autobiographical graphic novel by Mike Curato, who drew on his experience growing up gay and Filipino-American, as he told the independent National Catholic Reporter. The book delves into a teen boy’s summer at a scout camp in 1995 before heading to a Catholic high school and struggling with his sexuality, among other topics.

Harford’s school board voted June 26 to remove the book, overturning the school system’s approval of “Flamer” for middle-school and high-school libraries. It’s the board’s first such move after the school system launched a Library Materials Reconsideration committee last spring.

The county’s chapter of Together We Will said: “Hate has come to Harford County. … This is an example of not listening to the professionals, and substituting personal bias or discomfort in place of professional expertise to the detriment and harm to students who are feeling isolated and bullied, for whom this book may be a lifeline.”

Poynton defended the ban in a lengthy statement in which he listed the book’s sexually explicit expletives and acknowledged the varying opinions about the book’s removal.

“This was the first formal appeal under the newly finalized book review procedure — a process nearly two years in the making, developed with input from staff, board members, and members of the public. The decision we made will likely set precedent for future challenges, and we recognize the importance of clarity,” Poynton wrote in the statement.

He also countered claims the ban was done in secret, because, he said, the new procedures were developed over the course of a year and invited public comment.

“This was among the most transparent procedures developments (Harford County Public Schools) has conducted,” Poynton said, explaining all appeals to the school board are made in closed session in order to protect the petitioner’s privacy.

Poynton extended the public comment period at Monday’s meeting from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. He also said in his online statement the board hopes to revise book review procedures to allow for more nuance, lamenting that the board was forced “into a binary decision: Either keep the book in middle and high school libraries or to remove it.”

Many who spoke at Monday’s meeting urged the board to reconsider the removal.

Kurt Doan, president of Upper Chesapeake Bay Pride Foundation, said: “For many LGBTQIA+ students, ‘Flamer’ is a lifeline, showing that they’re not alone in their struggles with identity, bullying, and self-acceptance. This validation is critical for their mental health and sense of belonging. … ‘Flamer’ directly addresses themes of suicidal ideation, bullying and finding hope.”

He also told the board members who voted for the ban: “If parents don’t want their kids to read this book, there’s an established process, and you know that.”

Several librarians from Aberdeen and North Harford high schools spoke against the ban and the Harford County NAACP released a statement referencing the 2024 Maryland Freedom to Read Act, “which prohibits the removal or exclusion of school library materials solely on the basis of an author’s background or partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval.”

“At the core of the FRA is the idea that a small subset of people should not be able to dictate what books are made available in the school library to an entire community. Yet this is what just happened, and it happened over the thoughtful review of fellow citizens charged with evaluating challenged material,” the NAACP statement said.

Other speakers who said they were with Together We Will said the school board’s reasoning took parts of the book out of context, and said “Flamer” isn’t endorsing vulgar phrases but uses them to show a character’s “true colors.”

“If a student had made similar claims [as the school board] in their book report, a teacher would be well justified in giving them a low grade for sloppy analysis,” one speaker said. “The board should reverse this ban before it embarrasses itself further.”

Another said he read the book and “it is actually less bad than I was expecting,” adding books he read as a young person, such as “Catch-22” and “1984,” were more mature in their themes.

Groups such as the local branch of the conservative national group Moms for Liberty praised the board’s decision.

“Thank you to the HCPS Board of Education for protecting kids. Our school libraries should be safe and welcoming spaces for all students,” the local Moms for Liberty chapter wrote on social media.

Several speakers at Monday’s meeting likewise supported removing “Flamer” and some said they don’t consider it a ban.

“Your reasoning suggests that many more books must be aggressively purged from our libraries. ‘Flamer’ was definitely not the only book that was not age-appropriate and not the book that certainly would have been rated ‘R’ as a movie,” one woman said during the public hearing. “The children deserve to keep their innocence and get an excellent education.”

A man who said he supported Moms for Liberty said: “Why do we want books that endorse foul language and sexuality?… [The New Testament book of] Ephesians tells us not to participate in the darkness but to expose it.”

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The Baltimore-based bistro plans to move into the former Snickerdoodles location in the Illiano Plaza shopping center on Route 30, according to Hampstead Town Manager Jim Roark, who said a mid-August opening date is planned.

The town’s planning and zoning commission is set to review an application for Roggenart’s signage on Wednesday.

Roggenart’s menu includes breakfast sandwiches, sweet and savory pastries, desserts, lunch items as well as coffees and teas.

“I know I’m looking forward to it, the staff are looking forward to it,” said Roark, who spoke with restaurant representatives two weeks ago. “Anytime we can get something new in town, it’s a plus for everyone.”

Snickerdoodles Bakery & Coffee House left Hampstead last year after 15 years. Its owners changed the business name to Starlings and moved to downtown Westminster last year.

Roggenart has six Maryland locations — Towson, Columbia, Ellicott City, Savage Mill, Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood and recently opened in Frederick.

The bistro is setting up shop outside of Maryland as well. It recently opened in Chicago and Arlington, Virginia, and announced plans to open in Reston, Virginia as well. 

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GG’s Pastry Shop will move into a one-story building previously occupied by Cle Doree. The new location isbehind the historic fire station building, now home to Cryin’ Johnnie’s and The Upper Deck.

Cle Doree closed two months ago so owners Julia and Leonard Kazanov could focus more on consulting and teaching.

But, they promised to pass on the business to another baker, and GG’s owner, Griselda Guillen, plans to feature “croissants, breads, sourdough, macarons, tarts and so much more,” the town announced on its Facebook page.

Guillen began making cheesecakes for her church about 10 years ago “and branched out into pastries five years ago while working at a restaurant,” the town said. “After working in a kitchen for several years, she wanted to branch out and own her own business. Guillen most enjoys the process of creating her decadent desserts and breads. Sometimes it is a long process, she notes, but once the recipes turn out perfectly and people enjoy eating the sweet treats, it is all worth it. She cooks for the love of pastries. Every item sold will be made from scratch.”

Guillen, whose venture can be found on Instagram at @ggspastryshop, has already begun moving in and said she hopes to open in about a week.

“It’s exciting,” she said, noting she will offer a variety of eclairs, tarts, strawberry-filled croissants and the like, in keeping with the precedent set by Cle Doree.

“It’s going to be very similar,” she said.

Guillen and her husband, Tarsis Delgado, hope to “add as we go,” including offering some Spanish desserts. She is from El Salvador and lives in New Market in Frederick County. “So I kind of go toward Damascus,” she explained.

Guillen previously worked in the kitchen and as a manager at Hornet’s Nest Grille in Damascus.

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Carroll has seen population growth taper off during the past 15 years or so, according to the U.S. census. County officials, however, earlier this year predicted a 5% increase in population over the next decade, amounting to about 9,000 residents, when it launched its Master Plan 2035 process.

Commercial development outpaced new housing last year, which is good for tax purposes, planning officials noted in a July 10 presentation to commissioners. The county approved just 23 plans for nonresidential development last year — the lowest number approved in at least a decade, according to the report.

Although there have been fewer commercial or office buildings approved, the county has apparently been approving far more use-and-occupancy permits for the ones that do get built.

Carroll issued 68 use-and-occupancy permits for nonresidential housing in 2024, the highest in more than a decade.

By comparison, the county approved 299 such site plans in 2023, and 297 in 2017.

The number of new homes in Carroll has also dipped significantly in the past few years, after growing steadily since 2018. Those numbers don’t include homes built within the limits of the eight municipalities located in the county.

County commissioner Ed Rothstein, who is leaving his role in a few weeks to lead the state’s veterans’ department, wondered what the planning report really amounts to.

“We are developing less over the past year,” he said about what it seemed to conclude, asking Comprehensive Planning Bureau Chief Mary Lane and planner Tiffany Fossett: “What do you want me to walk away with? So what?”

Lane noted that the state requires the bureau to present the information, and thinks the data is helpful for the board going forward.

Commissioner Kenneth Kiler said: “We have a housing crisis in Carroll County, and I think this supports that growth has not picked up that much.”

Rothstein, who represents the southeastern county, including Eldersburg and Sykesville, noted that although “we feel there may be growth happening,” the report shows that maybe it’s not.

He also said he is seeing a lot of senior housing being built and “it’s pretty high-end, which is pretty incredible. … We are talking about $600,000 / $800,000 homes.”

Kiler observed: “With the demographics of our population, there is a market for that. Will there be in 20 years?”

Carroll County’s Comprehensive Planning department has not replied to several requests for comment.

Growth has stalled significantly in virtually the entire Baltimore region, and Maryland grew by only 1.3% from 2020 through 2024, according to the census.

Carroll grew by 2.4% from 2020 through 2024, and just 1.2% in the 2010s.

That’s a big dip from a 10.7% increase in the early 2000s, and 22% in the 1990s.

Suburban Baltimore was booming in the 1990s, with most counties growing by roughly 10% to 20% in that decade, while Baltimore City shrank.

Those rates have been dropping for the past 25 years, and tumbled more sharply since 2020. Baltimore County, for the first time, actually saw a minor population loss, with -0.2% growth since 2020.

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Myrick grew up in the Hanson Road area and became a deputy for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, all while watching his hometown spiral downward. The soaring crime and blight spurred Myrick, in the early 1990s, to lead an effort to make Edgewood a municipality and, in turn, master of its fate.

While that effort fizzled out, there’s a renewed push to create an “Edgewood City” that seems to be gaining much more political momentum, more than 30 years later. An informational meeting is being held at 6 p.m. Monday, at 1493 Harford Square Drive, for residents to learn about incorporating Edgewood and what it would mean for them.

Harford County Council member Nolanda Robert, a Democrat, has been working on these “town halls” with fellow Edgewood residents and state Dels. Steve Johnson and Andre Johnson, who have tried three times to get a state bill passed that they believe would dismantle the main obstacle to Edgewood’s incorporation.

That obstacle is a longtime state law requiring the county, not the state, to approve any new municipality — which counties are generally loath to do, since they don’t want to lose that tax base, as the Maryland Municipal League has noted.

To become a municipality, a community with at least 300 residents must have 20-25% of its population sign a petition, according to the Maryland Municipal League. Once that threshold is met, it is presented to the county, which works with an organizing committee.  The committee then will speak with community members regarding the desire to become incorporated. Next, a charter would be created and sent to the County Council.

In 1954, the power to create municipalities transferred from the state of Maryland to each county. Since then, no new communities have been incorporated, according to Justin Fiore, director of advocacy and public policy for MML. MML says it is actively working to shift this law by presenting a bill to state representatives. So far, a bill has been presented to the General Assembly three times and failed, but MML intends to draft another one for the 2026 legislative session.

Although a new state bill hasn’t passed, its appearance signals that the political winds may be shifting in Edgewood’s favor.

Small-town life

If you’re among the 75% of Marylanders who don’t live in a municipality, the whole idea may be a foreign concept. The vast majority of Baltimore-area residents live in unincorporated communities. Baltimore County, Howard County and Baltimore City (which functions as a county) have no towns or cities.

Harford has three — Bel Air, Havre de Grace and Aberdeen — but it’s still a challenge to explain to Edgewood residents why becoming a municipality could be advantageous, Robert said.

“Some people are saying, no, they don’t want it because of taxes,” she said. “I think because other people have put in their heads that it’s going to be, like, thousands of dollars, when it’s not.”

She’s been part of a task force, along with the two delegates and two representatives of Progressive Harford and the county’s Democratic Central Committee, to beef up public support for the municipality concept.

The task force is putting together a fact sheet to spell out what incorporation would look like and what it provides.

“From someone who’s knocked on people’s doors, I’ve heard the reason why a lot of people don’t go vote or do anything is because they don’t believe they have a voice, so why bother?” Robert said. “And that’s why we’re trying to say, the more you get involved, the more you will have a voice at the table.”

Another 2026 County Council candidate, Kelly Bryant, a Democrat who’s challenging Robert for her seat, told The Baltimore Sun  he is in favor of incorporating: “This community has enormous potential,” he said. “I refuse to watch it go untapped any longer.”

Among others supporting the effort is an elected official from the municipality next door. Aberdeen City Council member Adam Hiob said he’s been providing assistance and guidance to the task force.

“The process [of incorporation] as a whole in Maryland has been stagnant since the ’50s,” Hiob said.

He doesn’t believe it’s “set up reasonably,” because “the county just says no.”

Myrick said that was exactly why the effort failed in the 1990s. It got “massive” pushback from then-Harford County Executive Eileen Rehrmann.

Edgewood residents “had one vote on a six-person [County] Council, and the county had continually used Edgewood as a dumping ground for everything they didn’t want,” Myrick said.

Hiob agreed that the southern end of Route 40 needs more political autonomy.

“If the majority of people want a pathway to incorporation, they should be given a pathway,” he said.

Edgewood is “not on the receiving end of a lot of economic activity. … I think it bodes well for all of us if we have more local governments advocating for the southern end of the county,” he said.

Theresa Kuhns, the chief executive officer at MML, said she thinks becoming a municipality is more than a legal step, it’s “a profound act of self-determination and equity,” that she believes Edgewood is looking for.

Kuhns said municipalities are a driving force in growth within the state economically, and becoming one would create opportunities that could shape a better future for Edgewood’s 25,000 residents.

“Bottom line, when our cities and towns are thriving, Maryland is going to thrive,” she said.

The bottom line

Robert agreed that the Edgewood community needs revitalizing, and said she’s been working with longtime shopping center owner The Cordish Companies to try to fill vacancies “with family-friendly things.”

“I mean, we don’t have anything. We used to have a bowling alley. We used to have a movie theater,” she said.

She said she’s seen many people supporting the municipality effort.

“We do have a lot of people liking it,” Robert said, noting that Edgewood has lost out on many millions of dollars in revenue from the hotel tax, for example. Despite having so many hotels in town, the tax revenue goes countywide.

Just like 30 years ago, the main concern comes down to the cost associated with an incorporated Edgewood.

Robert argued that “it doesn’t cost that much more. It might be $50 more, if we have this in your taxes, right? But at the end of the day, when you have a huge city, it’s probably going to be like $1,200 more — not $10,000 more, which some people seem to think, [that] it’s going to be this astronomical amount of money, but it’s not. And we’ve looked at [the other municipalities like] Havre de Grace, and we’ve looked at Aberdeen, and we looked at Bel Air to see what their rates are.”

Robert believes making Edgewood a city will benefit everyone, including the county, economically.

She noted that Havre de Grace and Aberdeen are revitalizing and booming, attracting money to the county. Meanwhile, “all the people in my section go to White Marsh, because it’s straight down [Route] 40 — not even going over to Bel Air, [but] going to Baltimore County, and that includes the Joppa residents,” she said.

A seat at the table

Making Edgewood a city, advocates say, is also about giving Harford County’s racial minorities a voice.

Edgewood is home to nearly one-third of Harford County’s Black residents, who constitute about 16% of the county’s total population. Roughly 44% of Edgewood residents are Black, compared with 29% of incorporated Aberdeen.

“That’s also the main point, is to give the residents a voice at the table,” Robert said. “And they can go to their local government, not having to go all the way to the county level and have that discussion, and actually have more people on the local government that look like them and feel that they can talk to.”

Previous skepticism about incorporating Edgewood has pointed out the number of low-income residents in the community.

County Executive Bob Cassilly, a Republican, mentioned that line of reasoning recently, telling the Capital News Service that he isn’t sure the cost of building a city hall and setting up a government, for example, “is in the best interest of the Edgewood community.”

“I am concerned that incorporation would be counterproductive to the Edgewood community, burdening residents and businesses with another layer of taxes and government they cannot sustain,” Cassilly told The Aegis in an emailed statement. “Edgewood and similar communities have too long suffered from a failure of county leaders to consider and address the unique challenges and opportunities in every part of our county.”

And, just like 30 years ago, the county is finding new ways to try to solve Edgewood’s problems, rather than greenlighting the municipality. Cassilly’s administration has the Southern County Task Force, which Robert said “is great, but we could do so much more if we had our own money.”

They were recently discussing the county’s street-sweeping program, for example. Robert said she’s seen him only twice, and the text messages sent about it are inconsistent.

During the 1990s Edgewood-municipality push, the county responded to crime concerns by building a  Sheriff’s Office location on Route 40.

Myrick said that “was more visual than anything else,” because the Sheriff’s Office staffing remained the same. In fact, he said the new station actually slowed things down because everything still needed to be processed in Bel Air.

Myrick also believed Edgewood’s lower-income population could still benefit from incorporation, because the tax base from the many homeowners is still going to be there.

“If people see the opportunities to have their voices heard, you will bring people into that area, you will increase the economic stability of that area,” he said.

Edgewood’s median income of $86,355 is higher than both Aberdeen’s and Bel Air’s —  $76,019 and $69,912, respectively, as measured from 2019 to 2023.

Edgewood’s poverty rate is just slightly above Havre de Grace’s, at 10.5%.

“I think there’s more ‘Section 8’ housing and stuff like that in Edgewood, but I also know there’s million-dollar houses in Edgewood,” Robert said. “So, I think Edgewood gets a bad rap because, if you go down certain streets, there’s beautiful, gorgeous, waterfront homes and things like that, and then you do have, like, the apartments and … that little pocket where the crime happens, the drug-dealing happens, those things happen.”

When Mountain Christian Church’s Luke Erickson was getting ready to launch The Epicenter facility on Route 40, about 12 years ago, he recalled how he was steered away from buying a home in Edgewood in the early 2000s. Erickson, who is white, said at the time that he heard from Black people who were, instead, encouraged to buy there.

He said at the time: “We are unsettled about the stigma that gets attached to Edgewood. We are not going to participate in Edgewood-bashing. We are just trying to see things as they are.”

More than a decade later, the community does have new amenities. The vacant Washington Court property, once home to a federal housing project, has been revamped as Coppermine’s CopperPlex, a turf-field sports complex.

Robert said she was talking with Coppermine’s director about, “where do all his people go? Because he doesn’t have his food stuff set up yet, either. … But he’s, like, ‘I know we go to 7-Eleven, Subway and Food Lion.’ But I was like, there should be so many more choices for these families to be able to go to and not have to travel far to get lunch.”

Myrick left Edgewood in 1999 for a federal job in Florida. He now lives in Prince George’s County — which has 27 municipalities — but still visits Edgewood often to see his brother. He said the area has gotten worse, and he believes drug problems, vandalism and robbery have increased.

“The crime has skyrocketed,” he said. “As you bring in more low-income housing, there’s less incentive for businesses to be there.”

And, although he was unaware of the renewed push to incorporate Edgewood, he still believes the concept would be “extraordinarily” helpful for the community.

“I have always been a proponent for people to determine their own destiny,” Myrick said.

For more information about the July 21 Edgewood Municipality Information Meeting, contact tori4edgewood@gmail.com.

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