East Hotel

THE BALTIMORE City Council intended to roll over and play dead rather than oppose a misconceived plan to build a convention hotel a mile away from the Convention Center. But the tremendous outcry against the proposal that dominated a public hearing Thursday night should have shaken the council from its lethargy.This monster edifice is not what people want. It's the council's job to make sure the hotel, in its current configuration, is not stuffed down Baltimoreans' throats.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and developer John Paterakis Sr. have made a case for building a hotel on the bakery mogul's property in Inner Harbor East -- but not one of this size.

Taxpayers turned out in force last night to fight the controversial Wyndham Inner Harbor East Hotel in the first Baltimore City Council hearing on the proposed $132.6 million building that would tower 48 stories above the waterfront.More than 100 people packed council chambers for the five-hour hearing before the Urban and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, and testimony overwhelmingly weighed against the 750-room hotel, which would be financed with about $50 million in public subsidies.

The master plan for development along the eastern banks of the harbor would be overhauled to allow construction of the 44-story Wyndham Inner Harbor East Hotel, under legislation introduced at last night's City Council meeting.The legislation, proposed by the administration of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, would scrap key provisions of the master plan for five waterfront acres.The height restriction would be raised from a maximum of 180 feet, or roughly 18 stories, to at least 44 stories, possibly higher if the height of the Wyndham hotel is raised.

A state lawmaker who opposes the Wyndham Inner Harbor East Hotel has proposed a measure that the hotel's developers say would effectively kill the $132 million project.A bill pre-filed yesterday by Del. Howard P. Rawlings, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, guarantees that the battle over an Inner Harbor hotel to serve the convention trade will shift to Annapolis and be played out in next year's legislative session.Rawlings, a Baltimore Democrat, said the legislation would relieve the state of its obligation to pay $3.7 million in annual subsidies for the Baltimore Convention Center if the City Council approves a Wyndham hotel larger than 350 rooms.

Rawlings questions site selection, calls for smaller Inner 0) Harbor East hotelIn the Aug. 24 Sun, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke attempted to defend the decision to commit substantial public resources to a planned hotel in Inner Harbor East. I must take issue with his arguments.The location of a new major hotel is crucial to the success of the Baltimore Convention Center and the continued economic development of the Inner Harbor. The state and city together have invested more than $150 million in the Convention Center recently and continue to support its operating deficits.

WHEN BALTIMORE'S Board of Estimates voted unanimously July 23 to approve construction of the $132.6 million, 750-room Wyndham Inner Harbor East Hotel, it took a critical step toward meeting the increased demand for additional hotel rooms in Baltimore. That demand has been spurred by the expansion of the Convention Center, as well as by the current and projected growth in the number of leisure and business travelers to Baltimore.Now that the Board of Estimates has put its formal stamp of approval on the Wyndham Hotel project, I want to take this opportunity to explain the process that has led to the decision to locate a hotel in Inner Harbor East.

WITH MAYOR Kurt L. Schmoke declaring "the Inner Harbor East Wyndham is the best hotel for Baltimore at this time," the Board of Estimates unanimously approved a new publicly subsidized, $132 million hotel complex south of Little Italy yesterday. But the mayor is wrong. Baltimore can do better.The Inner Harbor East project not only violates existing city laws, but requires voter approval for its financing and is so off the beaten path that its location has been criticized by professional meeting planners.

IT'S NO SECRET that Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke wants slot machines in Baltimore, but who knew he was such a high-stakes gambler? Rather than bet on a sure thing -- a new hotel close enough to be linked by covered walkway to the Convention Center -- he has decided to put his money on a long shot, a hotel a mile away at Inner Harbor East.That decision has rightfully upset state officials worried about low Convention Center bookings who believe a closer hotel would bring it more business. The mayor is afraid powerful critics such as state Treasurer Richard N. Dixon and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Howard P. Rawlings could thwart his plans.

THE PUBLIC torment of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke over where to build a new hotel offers at least one political lesson:A leader needs to be a salesman and an educator, particularly when he's about to do something that seems to defy common sense.Schmoke's problem was clear months ago. He wanted a new downtown hotel, and he wanted the builder to be John Paterakis Sr., a wealthy Baltimore baker with many financial interests.Paterakis wanted to build at Inner Harbor East, a mile or so from the city's newly renovated Convention Center, perhaps the heart of Baltimore's tenuous grip on economic viability.

The proposed Wyndham Hotel at Inner Harbor East won approval from the city's economic development agency yesterday -- with a price $25 million higher than the original proposal and taxpayers being asked to put up an additional $15 million of the cost.At the same time, the Baltimore Development Corp. voted to delay opening any hotel on city-owned parking lots next to the Baltimore Convention Center -- where Orioles owner Peter Angelos wants to build a Grand Hyatt hotel -- until at least 2002.