Birthday Wishes for Charm City!

Published: July 26, 2019, 2:09 p.m.

It was 290 years ago that the Maryland General Assembly issued Baltimore a town charter -- actually, voted out on July 30, 1729 … but Charm City is celebrating tonight with a party put on by Live Baltimore. The little settlement on the Patapsco was named for Cecil Calvert, second Baron Baltimore, first proprietor of the Maryland colony. Calvert never visited his colony. But even if he had, it’s safe to say neither he nor any of the succeeding Barons Baltimore would recognize what the city has become. What hopes do those who live here now hold for Baltimore? We asked more than two dozen denizens -- From Mayor Jack Young to film director and author John Waters -- to make a wish and tell us what they most desire for Charm City, on the threshold of its 290th year.