ST. PAUL, Charles and Calvert streets are heavily traveled barometers of Baltimore's progress. But while some blocks may be enticing, others look positively desolate.

The 2100 and 2200 blocks of Calvert Street are cases in point. Until recently, abandoned rowhouses were not even boarded up, although the city owns many of those eyesores.

This lax code enforcement makes no sense. Blight deters critical new investment in the corridor, which includes a newly designated arts and entertainment district.

The two Calvert Street blocks may already be unsalvageable. Elsewhere in the corridor, hope is evident. But so is uncertainty.

Near Penn Station, the art deco-style Railway Express building is slated to undergo an $11 million renovation. It will become office and studio space.

Charles Street, which has been closed for bridge construction, is scheduled to reopen in the fall. That could be a boon for an entertainment strip that includes the Charles and Everyman theaters.

Near the former Goucher College campus, just around the corner from the Calvert Street problem blocks, a long-vacant modernistic office building, originally constructed in 1959 for IBM, is about to be razed. This could be good revitalization news - or very bad. Because the site is next to three important landmarks - Stanford White's Lovely Lane Methodist Church and two former Goucher College buildings designed by McKim, Mead and White - it should have an architecturally compatible user. That, alas, is unlikely to happen if nearby decay scares away a buyer who appreciates the location's significance.

That's another reason why this highly visible corridor should be a priority on the O'Malley administration's redevelopment agenda.