Parking Garage

The state has ordered Baltimore to stop construction on a partially completed municipal parking garage near City Hall because the building sits in the Jones Falls flood plain.The city neglected to obtain mandatory permits from the state Water Resources Administration before construction began last August."They went ahead without a permit," said Catherine Pieper Stevenson, chief of the Water Resources Administration.Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said that the city initially disagreed with the state on legal jurisdiction over the flood plain.

Amtrak and commuter rail passengers and the countless drivers trapped in North Charles Street traffic over the past two years have reason to rejoice over today's opening of a $14 million parking garage at Pennsylvania Station.Seven months late and $1 million over budget, the tri-level facility features 550 parking spaces -- twice what has been available at the privately operated street-level lot north of the 84-year-old train depot at Charles and Lanvale streets.Not only is the garage expected to make parking more convenient, but the building's top level creates a plaza at the station's main entrance.

IF THEY EVER want to do a study on how human beings react in a cold, harsh environment where the rules of common decency are thrown out the window and it's every man for himself, they should go to a parking garage. You talk about sociopathic behavior -- the minute people take their ticket and the gate swings open, a little switch seems to go off in their heads and they think: It's all about me now. This explains the behavior of the most annoying people in any parking garage, namely, those drivers who insist on backing into a parking space.

A 30-year-old man was shot and killed early yesterday in a downtown parking garage, apparently after spending an evening visiting strip clubs on The Block, city police said. The man, whose identity was not released pending notification of his relatives, was shot minutes before 2 a.m. in the head and upper body, police said. The attack occurred near the victim's car, which was parked on the third floor of the PMS parking garage at East Baltimore Street and Guilford Avenue. No arrests had been made last night, and detectives released few details.

The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency has recommended a $7,875 fine against a Baltimore crane company accused of safety violations in a parking garage under construction in Westminster that partially collapsed, sending part of a 30-ton concrete deck crashing to the ground and injuring three workers. Representatives with E.E. Marr Erectors Inc., the crane company working on the $2.85 million parking garage going up in the Longwell parking lot between City Hall and Main Street, are scheduled to meet Thursday with state inspectors to contest the findings in the MOSH report dated May 13. "These violations have nothing to do with the cause of the accident.

The Baltimore Development Corp. yesterday asked companies interested in redeveloping Rash Field into a harborside parking garage and recreational area to submit credentials and cost estimates for planning by Feb. 15. Plans for the park - on the north side of Key Highway across from Federal Hill Park - call for raising it high enough to accommodate a parking garage below, with the park covering the garage. The BDC's request yesterday called for interested companies to present past projects and approximate design costs.

The city plans to spend $186,000 to move a downtown hair salon across the street from its current location, a city-owned building that will be torn down for a parking garage. The Board of Estimates approved the relocation deal for Monica's Spa Salon yesterday after City Council President Sheila Dixon raised concerns about the cost. "It just seems like a lot of money," she said. However, Dixon and the rest of the board approved the deal after an official with the Baltimore Development Corp.

A bill that would allow the city to condemn several buildings in the 300 block of E. Baltimore St. has aroused the ire of preservationists, who say some of the structures are historic and should be preserved.Demolition would clear the way for a proposed parking garage. The proposal is to come before the Planning Commission at a hearing today.Construction of a parking garage was stipulated in the lease that Alex. Brown Inc. negotiated with the city and the owners of Commerce Place across the street, where the investment firm will consolidate its offices.

The Baltimore Board of Estimates yesterday approved spending $7.7 million to build a parking garage in Little Italy that will provide night parking for area restaurants.But the city's plan to add a 271-space garage on two properties at Central Avenue and Bank Street is being questioned by the president of the Little Italy Community Organization, who says the city is paying too much for the project.Traffic congestion has become a staple in the five-by-four block neighborhood famous for its restaurants.

Little Italy rejoiced last night over news of likely construction of two huge parking garages -- really.Appeasing often-feuding community groups while keeping an TC auto repair center from opening at Little Italy's gateway, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke announced yesterday his intention to proceed with approval of plans for garages at opposite ends of the historic enclave."