Cumberland's Canal Place Faces Funding Issue

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- Cumberland's Canal Place tourism project is facing state funding questions after struggling for years to achieve its goals.

The Cumberland Times-News reports that state House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Bohanan has asked the project's governing board whether it wants to remain a state agency.

The Canal Place Preservation & Development Authority receives more than $500,000 a year from the state.

The legislature established the authority in 1993. Supporters hoped the project at the western end of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal would anchor economic growth in downtown Cumberland just as the Inner Harbor has boosted the fortunes of downtown Baltimore.

But just three of the nine storefronts at Canal Place are occupied. And the authority's executive director announced last week she is resigning for undisclosed reasons.

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