OC Today WWW.OCEANCITYTODAY.COM
DECEMBER 17, 2021
SERVING NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
MAP DRAMA
REPUBLICANS GET SHAFT
New Congressional lines lessen GOP’s majority in Eastern Shore’s 1st District – Page 6
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Ad agency wows ‘em to win city contract Presentation by Wisc. firm ‘blows away’ mayor, council to rise above competition By Greg Wehner Staff Writer (Dec. 17, 2021) Ocean City Council members voted on Tuesday to enter contract negotiations with Wisconsin-based advertising agency BVK, which floored them with a proposal to promote and market the resort nationally. BVK beat out two other companies – Paradise Advertising and Marketing and Marriner Marketing Communications – in their bids to provide
the resort area with its advertising needs. Tom Perlozzo, the city’s director of tourism and business development, told the council during a work session on Tuesday that he and the city’s director of communications, Jessica Waters, were directed in June to pursue an ambitious schedule in search for a new agency. Ten bids in response to a request for proposals (RFP) were submitted to the city, though one was removed due to a conflict of interest. Of the nine remaining, Waters and Perlozzo reviewed each proposal, looking at the creative approach, experience See BVK Page 3
Housing for downtown OCDC model block plan puts focus on workers’ needs
LISA CAPITELLI/OCEAN CITY TODAY
YOU TOO R2?
R2-D2 and friends parade through the fourth annual Ocean City Comic Con, held last Saturday at the convention center. See more photos on page 34.
By Mallory Panuska Staff Writer (Dec. 17, 2021) From an IMAX theater to a children’s museum, Ocean City officials have indulged in more than a few shiny pipe dream visions for the 35,000 square feet of inner block properties between Somerset and Dorchester Streets. “I can attest as a kid it’s been eight different projects, at least in my lifetime,” said Kevin Gibbs, the president of the Ocean City Development Corporation, during a City Council work session Tuesday. “As we’ve always heard, there was aquariums, IMAX’s, retail villages, there’s just a lot of different concepts.” Despite OCDC officials championing an array of land purchases and swaps over the years to flesh out the
concepts, none of them panned out — until now. The newest concept for the model block, as officials call it, joins workforce housing with mixed use development and peppers in parking and public safety uses to create an aesthetic, functional project that is not expected to need taxpayer dollars. “I think primarily what we’re lookSee MODEL Page 4
ROUTE 50 ROAD WORK GOT YOU DOWN?
It’s a big bothersome mess — PAGE 10