Downtown Hotels

The new Oriole Park baseball stadium is a hit with downtown hotels.Although precise figures are not available, hotel managers say the stadium has boosted business, which had been lagging because of the recession and flattening of the convention business."

A 26-year-old Sacramento man was arrested by Baltimore police Saturday night as officers investigated the shooting of his girlfriend in a downtown hotel room near the Inner Harbor, records show. The circumstances of the shooting - which was reported at the Brookshire Hotel in the 100 block of E. Lombard St. - remained unclear Monday. Police said Saturday night that the shooting may have been self-inflicted or accidental, but have listed robbery as a possible motive.  Police said a sergeant was sitting in a marked patrol vehicle around 9:40 p.m. Saturday when the victim's boyfriend, Andrew Gasway, approached and said his girlfriend had been shot.

Bulky televisions - gone. Floral bedspreads - out of the picture. Desks where you plug in your laptop - so yesterday. Touches once found in the best hotels are going by the wayside in downtown Baltimore. The biggest hotels are spending millions of dollars to update and upgrade, to cater to tech-savvy guests and compete in a radically shifting hotel landscape. Hotels are going wireless in the guestrooms, smoothing "popcorn" ceilings, installing flat-screen computer monitors to double as TVs and making bedding more luxurious and lobbies more inviting.

A 51-year-old federal office worker was jumped and beaten by up to five juveniles Thursday morning in downtown Baltimore's Hopkins Plaza - an apparent random attack and the latest in a series of assaults in the heart of the city. Police are also investigating a fight that occurred at Charles and Lombard streets Wednesday morning and involved youths who may have been wearing school uniforms. Eight days ago, a group of youths stole candy and attacked the owner of a convenience store on Light Street.

Let's be honest and place Baltimore City's budgeting and spending problems into proper context. The lavish spending of public funds to fix up the offices of Jerome Oberlton, chief information officer for Baltimore City schools, is really nothing new. Neither is the recently announced closing of four Baltimore recreation centers. Frankly, the underprivileged children and families of Baltimore City are only too used to such things. Schools CEO Andrés Alonso called the spending by Mr. Oberlton a "bad judgment call," but the fact is, we have a governmental culture in this city that has a recurring history of similarly bad calls.

Representatives of BUILD abruptly walked out of a meeting with downtown Baltimore hotel managers yesterday, saying the officials were resisting the community group's efforts to gather information regarding the pay and career opportunities the hotels offer their employees.In a news conference held in the lobby of the Legg Mason tower, representatives of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) said they were tired of being "slow-danced" by managers of the eight major downtown hotels and would go directly to workers for the information.

WITH THE RECENT uproar over management of the city's convention bureau, an important related matter received little attention. It was a historic commitment by the major downtown hotels and restaurants to ensure that more Baltimore City residents share in the fruits of the tourism industry.Long after the battle of wills between Mayor Kurt Schmoke and the leaders of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association becomes a little-remembered footnote in the city's history, the tourism industry's agreement with state and city officials will be benefiting local residents.

In an effort to break an impasse between the BUILD organization and downtown hotels, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee is calling for a "summit" on the future of Baltimore's hospitality industry.Talks between Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development and downtown hoteliers over pay, benefits and career advancement in the industry broke down last summer."The time has come for all of us to move forward towards goals and solutions and away from accusations and threats," Del. Howard P. Rawlings, a Baltimore Democrat, said in a three-page proposal.

THE APPROACHING summer tourism season is heaven, if you are a downtown hotel operator. Practically every room is booked between now and September. If you need a room, though, you could be in for a hellish experience.The situation promises to change. Not only has the City Council given final approval to a $40.9 million tax abatement and aid package to the 750-room Inner Harbor East Wyndham hotel, but it has also passed a bill that enables Baltimore to offer similar sweeteners to other hotel developers.

For months, Baltimore leaders have been worrying whether there would be enough hotel rooms to handle the city's growing tourist industry. But now that another major downtown hotel project has unexpectedly surfaced, they are worrying that there might be too many rooms.Yesterday, after the disclosure that New York developer Harvey Schulweis plans to build a 600-room Westin Hotel across from the Inner Harbor without public subsidies, hotel industry analysts warned that a glut of hotel rooms could spell disaster for older, established hotels and the new hotels planned for downtown.

A group of youths attacked a federal office worker and a BGE employee Thursday morning in downtown Baltimore in random assaults that police said were related. The workers suffered injuries described as minor in the latest in a series of violent incidents in the heart of the city. Police are also investigating a fight that occurred at Charles and Lombard streets about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday involving youths who may have been wearing school uniforms. Police said they believe that incident is unrelated to Thursday's attacks, and they are looking at video surveillance to identify those involved.

Let's be honest and place Baltimore City's budgeting and spending problems into proper context. The lavish spending of public funds to fix up the offices of Jerome Oberlton, chief information officer for Baltimore City schools, is really nothing new. Neither is the recently announced closing of four Baltimore recreation centers. Frankly, the underprivileged children and families of Baltimore City are only too used to such things. Schools CEO Andrés Alonso called the spending by Mr. Oberlton a "bad judgment call," but the fact is, we have a governmental culture in this city that has a recurring history of similarly bad calls.

Troy Timpel misses the tough old days, when tattoos were anything but respectable. "I liked getting the dirty looks from the old ladies back in the early '90s and late '80s," says Timpel, one of the organizers of this weekend's Tattoo Arts Convention at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel. "It's no longer the lowbrow biker, sailor, convict kind of thing that it was 20 years ago. Sadly, I think it's become socially reputable. " Still, one suspects Timpel isn't all that upset.

The man injured in a shooting at the downtown Hilton hotel last week is in jail on unrelated federal gun charges, while the woman charged with shooting him has posted bail and is the subject of a protective order. Harold Lee O'Neal, 26, was being sought by federal authorities after being indicted in February on weapons charges, records show. A federal grand jury handed down an indictment charging O'Neal with illegally possessing a loaded Hi Point .9 mm semiautomatic handgun with an obliterated serial number, and possessing heroin with intent to distribute, according to court records.

Auctions of two downtown Baltimore office buildings that were undergoing conversion to hotels have been cancelled after the developers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection. The buildings that are no longer up for auction are the former Keyser Building on Redwood Street that was being converted into the Hotel Indigo, a $24 million project with 130 rooms, and the former Jefferson Building on Charles Street that was being converted into a 100-room Staybridge Suites in a $22 million project.

Baltimore police are the scene of a shooting at the city-owned Baltimore Hilton Hotel, where a person was shot. The hotel is just a block from Camden Yards and Orioles game in progress. Details are slim but here is the latest statement from police: "Baltimore Police were called for report of a shooting at 401 W. PRATT ST. at a city-owned Hilton Hotel. A female suspect shot a male companion in the lower back after a struggle. Both the victim, suspect were taken into police custody and a 40 cal handgun was recovered.

PSSST! In case anyone bothers to ask, Baltimore's Convention Center is a silent industry that generates millions of dollars and thousands of jobs across the state.Though the center itself produces nearly $11 million a year in direct state taxes, the greatest benefits are the spin-offs to related businesses such as downtown hotels and restaurants and the vendors who supply them.Yet the xenophobes who oppose expansion of the 14-year-old center insist it's strictly a city project with no relationship to the rest of Maryland.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke told nearly 2,000 members of his political base yesterday exactly what they didn't want to hear: He said it was beyond his power to raise wages in the Inner Harbor area.The BUILD organization had heard much the same from Mr. Schmoke in an open forum more than five months ago, but its leaders did not press the grim-faced mayor, who has enjoyed the group's support in the past.It was only after Mr. Schmoke and City Council President Mary Pat Clarke, who also spoke briefly to the group at the Hyatt Regency, made quick exits yesterday that the Rev. Douglas I. Miles, a BUILD leader, unleashed an attack on the politicians.

One of the city's largest hotels was forced to evacuate Monday night, displacing some 900 guests, after a water pipe burst in a stairwell. According to a spokesman for the Fire Department and an official from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, a standpipe in the stairwell between the fourth and fifth floors ruptured about 5:30 p.m. The standpipe is used to connect to a hose in case of a fire. Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said that there were no injuries, and guests were allowed to use two working elevators to retrieve their belongings before being moved to other hotels in the city and surrounding area.