Vacancy

City Councilman Timothy D. Murphy, D-6th, chairman of the Taxation and Finance Committee, has applied for a vacancy on the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore City.Murphy is among 25 people who are seeking to fill the seat left vacant when Judge Paul A. Smith was appointed to the Baltimore City Circuit Court in October.A lawyer for 13 years and a councilman for eight, Murphy said he long has had an interest in being a District Court judge."There comes a time when you explore new opportunities," said Murphy.

Carroll County school board members have forwarded to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. the names of three people they would like him to consider in filling a vacancy on the five-member panel. Last week, board members interviewed 13 candidates who are seeking to fill the seat vacated by Laura K. Rhodes in July. A 14th candidate did not attend the interview session, and a 15th withdrew. The board narrowed the field to Ellen Baker, who retired last school year as a history and social studies teacher at Francis Scott Key High in Union Bridge; Stephanie Dahlquist of Manchester, a retired English teacher at North Carroll High; and Patricia Gadberry of Sykesville, a longtime school system volunteer with three school-age children.

City Council President Mary Pat Clarke narrowly turned back an attempt by nearly half of the City Council to delay several proposals that would make more public the process of filling council vacancies.In two votes last night that were 9-8 in her favor, Clarke managed to defeat motions to refer the proposals to committees.Clarke had said she wanted the council to act on the vacancy-filling proposals before it recesses Monday for the holidays.The council president last night introduced a council rule amendment to require a public hearing in which the remaining council members of a district where a vacancy occurs would interview candidates for the vacant seat.

Vacancy is a mangy-looking mongrel with a lot of familiar markings and a little more on the ball than you'd expect at first glance. Can a horror movie really get away with having so many familiar motifs such as its Motel in the Middle of Nowhere complete with creepy night manager (Frank Whaley) and support staff of hideously masked cutthroats? Not only does Vacancy get away with it, the movie executes its every borrowed, nerve-bruising plot twist with such gruesome efficiency that it makes you feel as grimy, wasted and worked-over as its prospective victims.

The vacancy rate for the Baltimore area's office buildings barely budged in the first half of this year, as a weakening downtown market offset moderate improvement in the suburbs, a leading commercial real estate firm reports in a new survey.The Colliers Pinkard report also anticipates that modest local economic growth, further corporate downsizing by the likes of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland and further mergers in banking will keep the vacancy rate at about 15 percent for the balance of the year.

Baltimore's office vacancy rate fell slightly in the first half of the year, marking the first improvement in the closely watched indicator since 1988, a report released yesterday by CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc. indicated.The city's vacancy rate edged down to 22.5 percent, from 23.1 percent at the end of last year.That rate combines the 20.7 percent rate in newer, Class A buildings and the 24.8 percent rate in older, Class B buildings, whose price advantage has slipped away as Class A building owners cut prices to cope with the recession.

The amount of vacant office space in the Baltimore metropolitan area fell to its lowest level in six years in 1994, the latest indication of the local commercial real estate market's gradual recovery.Colliers Pinkard's market study also states that the lack of new office construction and continued absorption -- space removed from the total inventory through leasing activity -- will continue to reduce vacancy levels, which now stand at 15.1 percent, in 1995.The vacancy figure, which represents an 11 percent drop from a year ago, dovetails with Pinkard's statistic that a record 30.8 million square feet of commercial space is occupied in the region.

The vacancy rate for apartment projects in the Baltimore are is 3.9 percent -- far lower than the national average of 7 percent, according to a recent study by the Legg Mason Realty Group Inc.When projects in the initial lease stage are excluded, the long-term vacancy rate declines to 2.9 percent for the Baltimore area, according to the study, which measures apartment vacancies as of August 1990.The figure is a sign that the Baltimore rental market is not overbuilt the way rental markets in some areas of the country are and might even be considered "close to being underbuilt" in certain areas, according to Joseph Cronyn, senior associate of the Legg Mason Realty Group.

City Council President Mary Pat Clarke has proposed a rule change that would require more public participation in filling council vacancies.Clarke's rule change would mandate that, when a vacancy occurs, the remaining two members from that councilmanic district would hold within 30 days a public hearing at which applicants would be interviewed.Under the proposed rule, the two incumbents would then have 30 days to recommend a successor to the council for a vote.Baltimore is divided into six councilmanic districts, with three council members serving from each district.

After years of explosive growth, office park development in the Baltimore-Washington corridor is stagnant as developers and real estate brokers await a break in the current economic slump that will put this stretch of land back in business."