The title of Ambrose T. Hartman was incorrectly stated in yesterday's editions of The Sun in an article on his retirement as Baltimore's deputy city solicitor.
The Sun regrets the error.
Years from now, when he's telling war stories about his days as Baltimore's assistant city solicitor, Andy Hartman may want to tell the one about how he found a way to tax the air.
FOR THE RECORD - CORRECTION
It was in the early 1970s, and a private civil dispute over air rights had just ended with an agreement to lease the space above a downtown building. The city promptly decided to tax it as property.
"All hell broke loose, and I called Andy and said, 'Come up here, we've got a problem,' " recalled George L. Russell Jr., who was the city solicitor 1968-1974 and Mr. Hartman's boss.
"The city's argument was, 'Air is free unless you sell it,' " said Mr. Russell, now a private attorney. "And Andy argued that -- and won -- before the Court of Appeals."
It was vintage Andy Hartman -- finding a way to solve the city's thorniest problems.
Time and again, when city policy was challenged, or needed legal tinkering or deciphering, it wound up in the lap of Ambrose T. Hartman, the Law Department's stern, square-shouldered, shiny-pated No. 2 man for more than 30 years.
But Mr. Hartman walked away from all that Thursday. He retired.
"I've gotten a lot of satisfaction in performing public service . . . and shaping the direction of city government," said the 67-year-old backbone of the city solicitor's office. "But after all these years . . . I'm leaving while I'm still in good health and can enjoy life."
During his career, Mr. Hartman was a key player in devising the forerunner of the "piggyback" income tax, and he successfully defended before the state's highest court the financing innovations that helpedusher in the city's renaissance.
Many city officials and others say they fear that Mr. Hartman's retirement from his $90,000-a-year job will leave a permanent void in the institutional memory and experience of the 65-lawyer city solicitor's office.
"My God, the city's in trouble," said former City Council President Walter L. Orlinsky upon hearing of Mr. Hartman's retirement.
"When you lose someone with that much of an institutional memory -- and there really aren't that many people there who come even close to his comprehensive and institutional memory -- you've gotta hurt," said Mr. Orlinsky, who, like other council presidents, often found himself at odds with the administration's lawyers.
