Hopkins Plaza

Baltimore City officials will start a long-planned, $2 million demolition of a skywalk over Baltimore Street at Hopkins Plaza as part of an effort to make downtown plazas more inviting and to attract office and retail tenants. The project, funded by the city transportation and planning departments, the Baltimore Development Corp. and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, will also include new landscaping and other upgrades, such as the removal of a staircase at the southern end of the skywalk.

Baltimore City officials will start a long-planned, $2 million demolition of a skywalk over Baltimore Street at Hopkins Plaza as part of an effort to make downtown plazas more inviting and to attract office and retail tenants. The project, funded by the city transportation and planning departments, the Baltimore Development Corp. and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, will also include new landscaping and other upgrades, such as the removal of a staircase at the southern end of the skywalk.

A map in Monday's editions indicated that a pedestrian bridge spanning Lombard Street just west of Charles Street will be torn down as part of the Hopkins Plaza renovations. The bridge will not be taken down.The Sun regrets the errorThe city of Baltimore has begun a $4 million renovation of Hopkins Plaza by demolishing sections of the little-used pedestrian skywalk system that runs through the area.Contractors have torn down much of a concrete stairway near the entrance to the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre.

he Internal Revenue Service is holding office hours this Saturday to handle tax questions and problems for those who can’t get to the agency during the weekday. Office hours in Maryland run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July 16 at 31 Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore; 8401 Corporate Drive, Landover; 11510 Georgia Ave., Wheaton. The IRS earlier this year announced it was going to be more lenient on liens, so this is a good time to find out about your options in this area if you are delinquent on taxes.

Reznick Fedder & Silverman, an accounting firm in the Mercantile Bankshares Corp. building, plans to move into the new office tower at 500 E. Pratt St. by year's end, officials said yesterday. The firm, in Mercantile's 21-story building at 2 Hopkins Plaza, is the first tenant to sign a letter of intent for space in the 279,000-square-foot office building developed by Trammell Crow Co. that overlooks the Inner Harbor. "We wanted to get the most appealing space we could for our staff," said Bill Riley, principal in charge at Reznick.

The Latino Festival, which had threatened to bid Baltimore adios because of increased city fees, now is expected to move ahead because the city reduced the price yesterday.The city had proposed charging the East Baltimore Latino Organization (EBLO), festival sponsor for the past 13 years, $4,000 for electrical wiring, trash pickup and booth rental -- 10 times more than the group paid last year.But after EBLO sent a letter to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke this week protesting the fee increase, the city reduced its price to $1,530, allowing the group to assume some responsibility for wiring and sanitation.

The scope of a project to renovate and stop water leaks in downtown's Hopkins Plaza must be expanded because of unforeseen problems, city officials say, pushing back the completion deadline by nearly two years and driving up costs by an expected $2.2 million. Contractors have discovered that areas outside the original limits of the project are allowing water to leak into an underground garage -- weakening support beams to the point that an engineer will certify their safety for only two years.

Want to enjoy some music with the fall weather today at lunch? Or tonight with dinner? Check out Sons of Pirates' free First Thursday concert from noon to 2 p.m. at Hopkins Plaza. Then at 5:30 p.m., catch the Bridge and Smooth Kentucky at Mount Vernon Place. For more information, visit godowntown baltimore.com. FYI Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck is on assignment. Her column will resume next week.

Concert season at Hopkins Plaza begins with Uprising bandThe free La Provence Thursday Night Concert Series at Hopkins Plaza kicks off this week with the reggae sounds of Uprising. After the opening performance by Zebulun, the Baltimore-based band will perform songs by Bob Marley, Black Uhuru and Steel Pulse, as well as its own original works.The series, held Thursday nights from 7 to 10, runs through Sept. 3. Hopkins Plaza is located between Baltimore Street, Charles Street and Hopkins Plaza.

FESTIVAL TIME: Cuban black beans and rice, Mexican tamales and Puerto Rican pasteles -- that's part of the long bill of Latin fare for the 18th Showcase of Nations Hispanic Festival today and tomorrow at Hopkins Plaza.You'll dance the merengue, cumbia and tango, as some of the area's best Hispanic musicians play a mix of Latin-American rhythms from 5 to 9 both evenings. Among the costumed dancers and musical groups -- from countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Spain and Venezuela -- will be Mariachis de las Americas, playing Mexican songs at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Baltimore Museum of Art's First Thursday film series, lovingly shepherded for the past two years by Maryland Film Festival programmer Eric Allen Hatch, offers its last hidden gem next week: Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's 2000 Together, the story of a houseful of counterculture types searching for common ground through which they can relate to one another - or at least keep living together under the same roof. This last offering from the free film series screens at 8 p.m.

The Shining, director Stanley Kubrick's visually stunning 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's horror tale of a snowbound author (Jack Nicholson) with a demonic case of writer's block, is this weekend's entry in the Charles Theatre's Saturday revival series. Showtime is noon tomorrow, with encores set for 7 p.m. Monday and 9 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $6 tomorrow, $8 other times. Information: 410-727-3456 or thecharles.com. Roy and Trigger ride in Kemo sabes and Tontos everywhere will have reason to celebrate tomorrow, as three episodes of the old Lone Ranger TV series will be screened for free at the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Southeast Anchor branch, 3601 Eastern Ave. Showtime is 1 p.m. Information: 410-396-1580.

Failure of city plazas has long been clear "Is this place successful?" James Howard Kunstler wondered about the architectural design of Hopkins Plaza. "There's nothing on the edge to activate it, just blank walls. What amazes me though, is the dumbness of the original planning" ("Charm offensive," Nov. 20). As an out-of-town visitor, Mr. Kunstler is a latecomer in discovering that neither Hopkins Plaza nor the nearby Charles Plaza works. Baltimoreans have known that for years. Endless public forums have been held to figure out ways to reinvent them and turn them into places that generate urban excitement, the way Bryant Park does in New York City.

James Howard Kunstler, the acid-tongued arch-enemy of gas-guzzling vehicles, discount superstores, bland modern architecture and - above all else - the "wasteland" that is suburbia, has trained his critical eye on Baltimore. And, as the salty author and orator unleashed his blunt commentary, scarcely a downtown landmark remained untouched. Not the Inner Harbor tourist traps. Not the nascent west-side apartment homes. Not the lonely public plazas. "Is this place successful?" he asks, taking in the flat, gray expanse of Hopkins Plaza, where, on an overcast afternoon, some pigeons - also gray - are the only beings stirring.

Want to enjoy some music with the fall weather today at lunch? Or tonight with dinner? Check out Sons of Pirates' free First Thursday concert from noon to 2 p.m. at Hopkins Plaza. Then at 5:30 p.m., catch the Bridge and Smooth Kentucky at Mount Vernon Place. For more information, visit godowntown baltimore.com. FYI Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck is on assignment. Her column will resume next week.

Flicks from the Hill Guests at the American Visionary Art Museum for the first installment of the Flicks from the Hill free outdoor film series tonight may be so captivated by the unusual venue that they won't notice Searching for Bobby Fischer flickering on the screen. An 11-foot golden hand extending from the side of the new Jim Rouse Visionary Center supports the 30-foot remote-controlled projection screen. The seating area on Federal Hill can accommodate a large crowd. The movie begins at 9 p.m. Moviegoers can also play a giant game of chess on boards set up in the Tall Sculpture Barn near the seating areas.

COMING UP It's been gone for 10 years, but Sunday and Monday, the Jewish-American Festival returns to Hopkins Plaza. The event includes Jewish music, a scavenger hunt, Judaica sales, Jewish and Israeli foods and cultural booths. Hopkins Plaza is between Hopkins Place and Charles Street and Baltimore and Lombard streets. The festival runs 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Admission is $3 per person, and children under 12 are admitted free. For more information, visit www.jewishamer icanfestival.

Latino FestivalFans of salsa, merengue and mariachi tunes will gather at Latino Festival '97 this weekend at Hopkins Plaza. The festival will also feature colorfully costumed dancers and Hispanic cuisine from the Americas and the Caribbean. Put on your dancing shoes and learn to dance the mambo or visit the arts and crafts displays. For children, the festival will offer face-painting and clowns.Hopkins Plaza is at the corner of Charles and Redwood streets downtown. The festival, sponsored by Education-Based Latino Outreach, will take place Saturday and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. each day. Admission to the festival is free.

The Morris A. Mechanic Theatre, once the keystone of downtown redevelopment efforts, has been sold to a parking facilities developer and faces an uncertain future that ranges from conversion to a movie theater to becoming rubble. One West Baltimore Street Associates, headed by Arrow Parking co-owners Benjamin and Melvin Greenwald, purchased the 38-year-old blocky edifice at Charles and Baltimore streets for $6 million last month from the estate of Morris A. Mechanic. The theater complex, which had stopped staging productions in summer, had been on the market since December.

CITIZENS OF Baltimore, lovers of art and those not so moved, municipal boosters and civic mavericks: As you drive past Penn Station, divert your gaze from the colossal He/She towering there. Reserve judgment on the patrons of the 52-foot aluminum hermaphrodite, the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore. For though its choice of a Baltimore symbol is in dispute, its contribution to the city's monumental character is not. Drive north on Charles Street to the intersection of 33rd Street, stop and admire the bust of Johns Hopkins, flanked as he is by two allegorical figures representing the university and hospital that bear his name.