Baltimoreans

I live about three-quarters of a mile from the Inner Harbor and have for close to seven years now, but I would not say it's one of my favorite places to frequent on a Friday night — or any other night. Sure, the harbor offers great waterfront views and a number of upscale restaurants, but most Baltimoreans would likely tell you that the Inner Harbor is for the tourists. The Inner Harbor is a moneymaking machine dreamed up 30 years ago, and it's still making money. Isn't it about time Baltimoreans took back the harbor?

Seven decades later, retired Baltimore Circuit Judge Thomas Ward still remembers the details of his Baltimore Sun paper route, calling the Windsor Hills terrain "horrible. " For $2.40 a week, 4 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Monday through Saturday, he walked. His final paper of the morning went to a house far distant from the street, deep within Gwynns Falls Park. "I was hoping they would stop taking the paper, but it never happened," says Ward, now 85. Early-morning darkness shrouds most paperboys and girls, granting a little anonymity.

My wife and I and another couple just got back from a few days in your beautiful city. We were there to watch baseball and stayed close to the Inner Harbor. While there we could not believe how friendly the people were. Television does not do justice to the beauty of Camden Yards. The Oriole fans are great people, and the concessions were excellent too. I would like to thank the folks at the Hampton Inn for taking such good care of us and also Dave at Peter's Pour House. But most of all I would like the thank the three gentlemen on the boat named "Bus N Loose" for the ride back to the Inner Harbor.

John Cusack didn't come to Baltimore when preparing to play Edgar Allan Poe in "The Raven. " In fact, he says he's never been here. But when asked whether this city, Boston, Philadelphia, New York or Richmond has dibs on the author's reputation, Cusack, 45, answers without hesitation. "Baltimore!," he said. "Is that even a question?" For Cusack, the only other city that comes close to having a hold on Poe is Boston. After all, he was born there. "But I think people generally would have to concede that Poe is a Baltimore guy," he said.

A FRIEND who was in town for genealogical research needed to get to Mount Carmel Cemetery. I located it on the map -- 5712 O'Donnell St., right across from the Baltimore Travel Plaza -- and on impulse offered to drive her there. We arrived late on a Saturday afternoon in a light rain. Unfortunately, my friend's research on her lost relative had yielded nothing more than an obituary mentioning interment at Mount Carmel. "So we're just looking for her name on a stone?" I asked. The caretaker's house was vacant, the front window broken.

EVERY SO OFTEN when I hear a certain phrase or sentence, I stop and think, well, that's a sure sign of being a Baltimorean. These signs are often elusive, but unmistakable. Here's a batch I've encountered over this holiday season. If you want to please a Baltimorean, or cause a near-riot, just open a box of Rheb's candy at the table. Baltimoreans do not become rhapsodic over $25-a-pound designer sweets. But they will stand in line for near decades for their favorite chocolates (you must have a preference, the milk chocolate or the bittersweet darks)

I RECENTLY read a story saying the federal government is considering a change that would separate Washington and Baltimore, which our District of Columbia friends blissfully consider to be one huge, seamless market. I speak as a native Baltimorean, one who thinks I'm in a very different world when I see the signs for the New York Avenue exit off the Parkway. And, I am informed, real Washingtonians get a twitchy feeling when they spot the Gladys Noon Spellman Memorial sign. One market?

News people fell over themselves this weekend. They pulled out all the foul weather adjectives in the dictionary. They predicted the snowfall would be "unprecedented."But they have short memories.What fell here Saturday can't hold a bag of salt to Baltimore's March 1958 pounding. Now that was a real March snow, a treacherous invasion full of the surprise this weather-notorious month often delivers. Sparking electric wires dangled in the alleys of nearly every neighborhood. Whole sections of the city and entire towns were without electricity.

All it takes is a brief trip away from Baltimore to make a returning traveler realize how curiously attired this town is.The trip can be as short as an afternoon spent in Rockville or Philadelphia. The mileage doesn't make any difference.We dress in a way that is perceptively different. And that's not a bad idea at all.A few months ago a well intentioned relative of mine insisted that I visit Tyson's Corner, that clothing/mercantile crossroads of the Washington metro area. The confusing parking garages reminded me of Towson Town Center, but the similarity ended there.

The voice on the telephone was upbeat and enthusiastic. Two words printed here had made the lady's day: Darley Park.Darley Park?It was a Saturday and I was trying to get the weekend's chores completed. The lady, let's call her Jane Darley, wanted to talk about an old Harford Road beer garden-amusement park that flourished maybe 90-plus years ago.According to a family story, some of her ancestors went there and had a bit too much Gottlieb Baurenschmidt and Strauss beer (old GBS). This imbibing got them in trouble, but not nearly as much fame as it imparted in family legend.

Maybe it was desperation or nervous energy that led me to Craigslist. My husband, still in South Carolina, was 15 days away from starting his job in Beltsville and I had to find a place in a safe neighborhood for $1,000 a month that accepted our pets - and we had to move all of our belongings and be settled enough to both go to work after a marathon weekend of packing, moving and unpacking. My real estate agent was searching for places that met our criteria, but I also put out a few feelers on Craigslist.

When 17-year-old John Edwards was shot in the head on Edmondson Avenue this month, no one marched on City Hall. There were no comparisons to Emmett Till, no columns in national newspapers about the anxieties of growing up black and male in a country still haunted by racial divides. Baltimore Ravens did not wear hoodies in solidarity. On average, one juvenile a month has been the victim of homicide in Baltimore over the past three years. Many, like Edwards, were written about and discussed briefly, then forgotten by all but loved ones.

Lillie M. Oliver and her husband, Lawrence, have lived in their East Baltimore rowhouse since the 1960s. The couple, who have been married 65 years, said they were terrified recently of losing the house they worked so hard to purchase because of an outrageous $41,000 water bill, which the retirees could not afford to pay. Prompted by my office, workers with the Department of Public Works investigated the matter and reduced the Olivers' bill to...

A new recycling campaign at the University of Baltimore is urging residents to vote with their trash. University officials are inviting Baltimoreans to answer questions about the city by placing their recycled trash in one of four see-through bins on campus. The first question: "Who is Baltimore's greatest team sports icon?" The possible answers, each with his own bin, are former Baltimore Orioles Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr. , Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis and former Baltimore Colt Johnny Unitas . The campaign, "Talking Trash: UB Votes to Recycle," is part of a larger effort by the midtown institution to help preserve the environment by reducing energy, promoting public transportation, using sustainable building techniques, and pursuing other "green" initiatives.

City and state leaders and voting rights advocates agree on this: After last year's abysmal voter turnout, Baltimore's odd election cycle should be changed to lure more people to the polls and save millions of dollars. But a fierce battle is brewing over whether to move city balloting to coincide with elections for president or for governor — choices which have political ramifications. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the City Council emphatically support the former option, which would make Baltimore the state's only major subdivision to hold elections on the presidential cycle.

"Back again, back again, we've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again, since Roosevelt's been re-elected moonshine liquor's been corrected, we've got legal wine, whiskey, beer and gin. " —Recorded by Bill Cox in 1936 Happy New Year! Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so loud. If you're suffering a bit this morning from too much New Year's Eve revelry and your head feels as though it was hit by a baseball bat and your stomach is churning like an Atlantic hurricane, you might want to consider skipping this column (I promise not to be offended)

I'm still waiting for my lunch to arrive from a meal I attempted to eat this past week at a smart-looking Fells Point establishment. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, the old neighborhood was bustling with activity, and many delightful-looking new rowhouses were rising along Caroline Street. A construction crew was setting down sod on a well-designed park at the old Jackson Pennsylvania Railroad Wharf. I started out in a mellow mood, but then the plague of the new Baltimore settled in. For all the delicious food served these days in Baltimore restaurants, the waiting staff does not measure up. A friend of mine calls it a state of defiant disinterest.

What is one of Baltimore's greatest mysteries?Answer: The base adult fare on a Mass Transit Administration bus, subway train or light rail car.The price of a bus ride is generally unknown in this region. The cost of a ride is secret because Baltimoreans are so allergic to public transit."I haven't been on a bus for so long I didn't even know the fare," is a line you'll often hear.Baltimoreans have voted with the automobile. They avoid mass transit. In the case of light rail, they are directly critical; sometimes downright hostile.

With Ed Hale retiring as First Mariner's CEO and chairman, I only hope that Baltimoreans realize the importance of retaining this man in our area ("First Mariner's Hale steps down," Dec. 24). I've known Ed for several decades and he is a true Baltimorean, a philanthropist, a very good tennis player and a great moral leader. He is a true treasure. James A. Holechek, Baltimore

Morris Martick, the inimitable Baltimore restaurateur, has died at 88. Martick died of lung cancer early Friday at Union Memorial Hospital. Read Jacques Kelly's obituary . We've started to hear from people who knew Morris Martick, or just about him. We will collect comment, tributes and memories from Baltimore chefs, restaurateurs, friends and former employees here. We'll also add in Martickana from the Baltimore Sun archives. What are your Martick memories?