Repairs

Disgruntled tenants packed a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing yesterday to learn details of an agreement forcing a Baltimore landlord to pay at least $35,000 monthly for repairs on scores of properties that have been cited for housing code violations.About 50 people attended the standing-room-only hearing, which was to have determined whether the landlord, R. William Connolly Jr., would be required to set up the fund.The tenants came armed with hundreds of photographs, dozens of slides and a videotape, prepared to show deplorable conditions at Mr. Connolly's properties.

Several Anne Arundel County seniors will get help repairing and improving their homes this fall from the Home Builders Association of Maryland and the state Department on Aging.The region-wide project, dubbed "Senior Housepitality," will provide free home improvements toeligible seniors.Low-income senior homeowners often live in substandard and sometimes unhealthy conditions because repairs are too costly. Some seniorsare forced to sell their homes because of high maintenance costs andharassment by creditors.

It will be one heck of a way to start a job, but the city will breakin its new utility worker by sending him to inspect at least 400 manholes in preparation for a major sewer repair and maintenance project.It might not be so bad, though. City Manager Neal Powell said the sanitary sewers into which the manholes lead aren't as smelly as you might think."There is a slight septic odor," he said, but most of what runs through the sewer pipes is surprisingly clear.That's part of the problem, in fact.

Southbound traffic on Interstate 95 in southern Howard County is likely to be snarled tomorrow morning as contractors for the State Highway Administration make emergency repairs to deteriorated pavement.The repairs will result in the closing of the two right lanes between the Route 216 overpass and the Prince George's County welcome sign between 5 a.m. and noon. Road crews will set up signs warning of the 1.5-mile lane closure and construction site. All northbound lanes will remain open.If it rains, the work will be rescheduled.

Access to the Susquehanna River and a significant portion of the Conowingo Dam fishing area will limited for the next two to five months as Colonial Pipeline Co. repairs a pipeline that runs under the river just downstream of the dam, according to a company spokesman. Shures Landing Road and its parking lot already have been closed to house equipment for the project and to serve as a workspace for repairs. Work on the pipeline is scheduled to begin June 16. Company officials say they will accommodate recreational activities if possible.

Disgruntled tenants packed a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing yesterday to learn details of an agreement forcing a Baltimore landlord to pay at least $35,000 monthly for repairs on scores of properties cited for housing code violations.About 50 people attended the standing-room-only hearing, which was to have determined whether the landlord, R. William Connolly Jr., would be required to set up the fund.The tenants came armed with hundreds of photographs, dozens of slides and a videotape, prepared to show deplorable conditions at Mr. Connolly's properties.

The county Public Works Department hopes it has sent Sykesville a repair offer the town can't refuse: It has offered to pay $4,000 for material and $6,000 for manpower and equipment to repair Spout Hill Road.Town Council members said the heavily used road, which xTC connects Third Avenue to Main Street, is in a dangerous state of disrepair. Without county-funded repairs, the council has said, it would consider shutting the road to traffic.The town has repaired the county's sewer line, which runs under the road, at a cost of $165,000.

To make long-overdue repairs, Baltimore County may need to spend as much as $400 million on its aging school buildings in the next few years -- a cost equivalent to 50 new elementary schools -- according to a preliminary estimate from a districtwide study.The estimate, made recently by Superintendent Anthony G. Marchione, is based on a continuing survey of the county's 159 schools. Results suggest a widespread need for such work as boiler replacements, roof repairs, painting and the upgrading of electrical and plumbing systems.

Repairing the most urgent problems of Baltimore County's 101 elementary school buildings will cost almost $213 million over the next three years, county and school officials revealed yesterday.The final estimate from a comprehensive survey of every elementary school is 15 percent to 20 percent more than originally predicted, but county officials say their budget plans anticipated all but about $25 million of the money."It's a big cost, but it's what we need to pay to fix the schools," said Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor will look a little bare this week after two of its premier attractions — the submarine Torsk and the 1854 sloop of war Constellation — are towed away for a month of repairs in dry dock. The Torsk will be the first to go as tugs move in around 9 a.m. Sunday to escort the World War II veteran down the harbor to the Sparrows Point Shipyard. The Constellation will follow at about 9 a.m. on Monday, according to Chris Rowsom, executive director of Historic Ships in Baltimore, part of the Living Classrooms Foundation and the ships' caretaker.