Parking Spaces

It's time to move the chairs. Nine days after back-to-back snowstorms buried Baltimore, neighborhoods still resemble a yard sale after a hurricane -- littered with not only chairs but with bar stools and ottomans, kitty litter containers and potted plants, Formica tables and ironing boards -- put down by weary residents claiming title to the public parking spaces they had spent hours shoveling. But now, the new mayor's magnanimous gesture of not enforcing the illegal claiming of public space is over.

The master developer of Columbia's Town Center aims to begin construction by early next year on a $100 million apartment and retail complex, the area's first new housing in a decade. The Metropolitan Downtown Columbia will be a six-story, 380-unit development that the Howard Hughes Corp. plans to build in a joint venture with Kettler of McLean, Va., and Orchard Development of Ellicott City, on land next to The Mall in Columbia. Rents are expected to range from $1,600 a month for a one-bedroom apartment to $2,800 for a three-bedroom unit — making them among the highest in the region.

When it snows in Baltimore, it isn't long before traffic cones, plastic chairs, lawn chairs, even a bar stool or two appear, as residents lay claim to curbside parking spaces they've labored to clear. Among the space holders spotted this week: a pair of walkers on Harford Road north of 25th Street, beach chairs in Rodgers Forge and a dining room chair in Hampden. The long-standing local practice is guaranteed to provoke snide comments and even threats. Some think it only fair, others think it the height of selfishness.

Mention valet parking in Little Italy to Justin Duvall, and he'll rattle off stories of valet drivers clogging traffic, parking cars in residential spots and blocking off public spaces with cones. "I've moved cones before," said Duvall, 29, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood. "If it's not their spot, if the street signs don't say 'No parking,' it's fair game. " In Little Italy, Fells Point and other city neighborhoods where restaurants and clubs commingle with houses and apartments, complaints about valet parking companies have grown common.

The Washington Redskins claim they need barely half the parking spaces required by law for their 78,600 seat stadium at Laurel.Team officials ended months of speculation yesterday by filing a zoning application in Anne Arundel County with requests for several variances from local regulations. Most of them were routine, but the request for only 20,000 parking spaces instead of the 39,000 the county requires could create the most problems for the team.Walter Lynch, the Redskins project manager, said they do not need so much parking because they want to encourage fans to car-pool or ride buses or trains to the game.

The problem of parking your car at The Mall in Columbia during the busy holiday shopping season has reached new heights.On any weekend from now until Dec. 22 from noon to 4 p.m., you can drive to The Mall and be greeted by a 10-foot-talltoy wooden soldier or clown eager to point out available spaces. And for those who, after a long afternoon of shopping, can't rememberwhere they parked, the towering toys will graciously help locate themissing car."It's our way of greeting customers and readily assisting them in pointing out available parking places, a way of helpingcustomers get through a stressful time," said Suellen Weisberg, community events coordinator for the mall.

Anne Arundel County might hit the brakes on construction of monster parking lots by creating parking-space limits that would make environmentalists happy but some business owners frustrated.During a seminar on suburban land-use issues at Anne Arundel Community College yesterday, Steven Cover, the county planning director, announced a proposal to limit the number of spaces for large new malls to 5.5 per 1,000 square feet of retail space.The county, outside of Annapolis, has surplus parking spaces.

A long-running battle over the expansion of the First Baptist Church of Guilford continued last night at a hearing before the Howard County Board of Appeals. More than 100 people attended the meeting, at which residents argued against a proposed expansion of the church sanctuary to 1,502 seats from 400. Some residents say the plan does not fit into their quiet, residential area and could cause traffic congestion and other problems. "I can't imagine anything that has been more destructive to a community than this battle," said Kari Ebeling, president of the Oak Ridge Homeowners Association, which opposes the expansion.

The Westminster Common Council voted unanimously last night to issue $780,000 in bonds to help finance a planned parking garage at the former Farmers Supply Co. site at Liberty and Green streets.Carroll County Bank and Trust Co. is developing the property into a $6 million office and retail complex, which would include 2 1/2 stories of parking -- 203 spaces -- and three levels of office space.The city has committed up to $1.5 million in funding for the garage.The redevelopment of the Farmers Supply site fits into a decade-long effort to revitalize the central business district.

A Hampstead pizza shop owner agreed to move a large metal trash container away from a neighbor's bedroom window and make other changes after his amended site plan was questioned by the town's planning and zoning commission last night.Michael Illiano, owner of J&P Pizza at Main Street and Ralph Avenue, told the commission that he would have the trash container and fence screening hiding it moved to the rear of the restaurant.The restaurant recently expanded when it took over space occupied by a convenience store.

Karen Druffel can walk outside her door in Elkridge almost anytime and find people from all over the region using the Rockburn Skills Park for mountain bikers and trail runners. The attention is impressive, considering the park is not even supposed to be fully functional until June 2, says Druffel, a volunteer with the nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts (MORE), which spearheaded the park's creation. "The community has been phenomenal," she said this week. "We were a bit worried because there are people who are pro-biking and people who are anti-biking.

The Souper Freak food truck won't be in its regular Friday spot on Sept. 16. Instead, Irene Smith and the Souper Freak gang will be on the northeast corner of Elm Avenue and 36th Street in Hampden, partnering with Baltimore City Recreation and Parks for a one-day event called Street Food for Parking Day. For one day, from 10 a.m-3 p.m., three parking spaces on that corner will be transformed into a bustling sidewalk cafe, where folks...

Is Main Street property in Bel Air worth more than $2 million an acre? Based on what the Bel Air town commissioners are willing to pay for .44 of an acre that served as the Branch Bank and Trust building and its parking lot, a little more than $2 million an acre is as good a number as any. The town is poised to spend $1,032,400 for the land, apparently regarding the building as worthy only of being torn down to make way for more parking, at...

A man who was convicted of killing a Baltimore police detective by throwing a chunk of concrete has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Sian James was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for hurling the concrete at Detective Brian Stevenson last year during a fight over a parking space in Canton last October. Stevenson was hit in the head.

Sian James was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for hurling a chunk of concrete that killed an off-duty Baltimore police officer last year during a heated argument over a parking space. James, 26, was charged with murder in the death of Detective Brian Stevenson, but a jury convicted him in April of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum 10-year prison term. His attorney said James — who was out on bail during the incident in a separate case charging him with the attempted rape of an ex-girlfriend — acted in self-defense, believing the officer was intoxicated and intended to shoot him and his friends.

in just a few weeks from now, Indigma will take up temporary residence in the old Tony Cheng's space at the corner of Charles and Madison. Tony Chemmanoor's posh Indian restaurant was one of the casualties of the December fire that totated Mount Vernon's Park Plaza buidling.. Chemmanoor plans to move back to the Park Plaza building when it reopens, which won't happen for another nine months, min. I'll keep you posted about the opening date for Indigma's temporary home.    

In a city with one of the nation's worst air pollution problems and a state where the governor is trying to double mass transit use, Baltimore and its businesses are working overtime to make room for more cars downtown with more than 7,000 new parking spaces in the works or being discussed. Other cities confronted with traffic congestion are taking an opposite route: incentives for those who leave their cars behind. But in Baltimore, the prevailing philosophy on parking seems to be build it and they will come.

Newly sworn Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer has launched an effort to open the abandoned parking garage at the just-vacated Anne Arundel Medical Center site downtown in time to ease the parking crunch of the coming legislative session. Yesterday, her third day in office, Moyer appointed an Annapolis lawyer to explore an arrangement with the hospital to reopen the 330-space parking garage and a lot, which closed when the hospital relocated Sunday. Moyer also plans to introduce a city council resolution that would lift zoning restrictions against public use of the facility.

By some accounts, Randy Scott DiGennaro was a terrific neighbor — the type who would shovel snow and cut grass for the elderly, and run errands for the sick. But others felt intimidated by the man who sat guard on his front porch. Baltimore County authorities said the tension on Fairgreen Road in Dundalk erupted Friday night in an argument over a parking space and ended with gunfire. In the aftermath, the 55-year-old DiGennaro has been charged with attempted murder and a man who lived nearby remains critically injured with bullet wounds to his face and chest.

After the verdict was read, two detectives in the front row buried their heads in their hands. Friends and relatives of the victim reached out to each other for comfort, tears welling up in their eyes and staring forward in disbelief. While jurors had found 26-year-old Sian James guilty in the killing of off-duty Baltimore Police Detective Brian Stevenson, the charge fell far short of his friends and relatives' expectations. "We're completely unhappy," Stevenson's partner, Detective Thomas Jackson, said after the verdict.