Paca

While city officials wait to see how many proposals they get for a high-rise "convention hotel" near Oriole Park, developers are moving ahead with plans to construct another tall building in the same area, a 22-story apartment tower called the Zenith. Baltimore's Design Advisory Panel last month approved schematic plans for the $35 million, 191-unit project, which is being planned by Legacy Harrison Development LLC for the southwest corner of Pratt and Paca streets. The land is just west of a two-block parcel where Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson has proposed a 24-story, 750-room Hilton Hotel and a separate building containing a new headquarters for Catholic Relief Services.

Aspiring law students knew they would get to study in a brand new building this fall if they got into the University of Maryland School of Law. That's one reason applications to the downtown Baltimore school increased 85 percent last year - the largest jump in the country. But no one expected this. The building that opened to students this month is a $54 million palace wired with enough technology to run a small movie studio. The floor is made of slate from Norwegian fjords, and everything else, it seems, is made of cherry wood, right down to the London-style telephone booths in the lounge.

Hundreds of families mingled with 18th-century re-enactors and costumed performers yesterday at the restored home of Declaration of Independence signer and third Maryland governor William Paca, where they celebrated Independence Day and the 50th anniversary of the group credited with saving Annapolis' historic downtown. The Historic Annapolis Foundation event - part of a year-long anniversary celebration - drew about 1,800 people in the sweltering heat to the terraced 2-acre Paca garden, which featured puppet shows, musical performances, children's crafts, Colonial demonstrations and the chance to pick up a quill and put your own "John Hancock" on the document that shaped a nation.

If you take inspiration from a perfectly manicured lawn and garden, plan a visit to the William Paca House in the Annapolis Historic District. Briggs & Stratton, manufacturer of lawn mower engines, has named the property to its fifth annual list of the country's Top 10 Lawns. William Paca, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, developed the terraced gardens and used them for many grand parties. Now under the care of the Historic Annapolis Foundation and the State of Maryland, the grounds offer peaceful vistas and an opportunity to marvel at a reconstructed 18th-century garden featuring three terraces with a central walkway and turf alley.

MOST WEEKDAYS, I strap my infant son into a jogging stroller and set off for a run from the south end of Federal Hill through downtown to his day care near University Center. I negotiate many crosswalks and traffic lights during that 4-mile roundtrip and, therefore, feel qualified to make this judgment: Baltimore is certainly not the "Greatest City in America" for pedestrians. Look at any downtown street corner during rush hour and you'll find an eclectic mix of pedestrians. Blue collar employees who ride the bus or light rail are walking the last few blocks to work.

Rolling west on Saratoga Street, the wheelchair jolted to a stop. The man in the chair rocked and struggled to use his only leg to pull himself out of the pothole. "They need to do something about this," said the man, who identified himself as Eric, after he made his way across the intersection of Paca and Saratoga streets near Lexington Market. He was among many who had trouble yesterday negotiating the corner, where road work has had pedestrians dodging cars and drivers swerving around potholes and uneven manhole covers.

An exhibit of art by residents of the Paca House, a Baltimore residence for men who were once homeless, will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at 116 N. Paca St. The show will include more than two dozen works of art in a variety of media, including oils, charcoal and watercolors. Paca House, a Volunteers of America facility, offers affordable housing for homeless people who need help with physical disabilities, mental illness and problems with drugs and alcohol.

A 38-year-old man accused in a sexual assault in May was charged yesterday in an 11-year-old slaying of a homeless man whose body was found hidden behind bushes near a West Baltimore park.Sylvester Robert Kemp of the 1100 block of Druid Hill Ave. was being held without bail yesterday at the Central Booking and Intake Center. He is charged with first-degree murder in the 1987 strangulation of Claxton Hughes.Police said the Hughes slaying near a small park on Paca Street was similar to the assault in May, in which he is charged with assault and sodomy.

CITY OFFICIALS are considering the biggest change in downtown traffic flow since the 1950s, when the controversial Henry Barnes unsnarled chronic peak-hour congestion by setting up a system of one-way streets.Under a proposal from the University of Maryland's downtown Baltimore campus, northbound Paca Street would be reversed to southbound, Eutaw Street would change from its current two-way flow to one-way northbound, and southbound Greene Street would become two-way. Westbound Lombard Street also would become two-way near the UMAB campus.

William Paca House, 186 Prince George St., will be open until 8 p.m. each Saturday this month.The extended hours will offer visitors the opportunity to take a guided tour of the new exhibit, "I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In," and browse in the museum shop. Visitors will be taken through the restored 18th century mansion by volunteers to experience the variety of goods imported by the bustling port of Annapolis during the 1760s and 1770s.Imported items included spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, mace, sugar candy, teas, mustard, salad oils and lemons.