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Mayor’s criticism of mini-markets gets pushback
//April 26, 2018
The mayor of Baltimore’s criticism that mini-markets attract crime is getting pushback.
Maryland Retailers Association President Cailey Locklair Tolle says Mayor Catherine Pugh was relying on an extraordinary amount of assumptions by saying businesses are causing criminal activity.
Store owners told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday that Pugh risked driving taxpaying businesses out of struggling neighborhoods and depriving poor consumers of options.
The mayor repeated concerns about crime that she says clusters around small markets that line commercial districts in Baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods. Pugh says she wants to use city health inspectors, the finance department and the zoning board to subject them to more scrutiny.
Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa says the link between business and crime has emerged as a significant focus of Baltimore’s multi-agency Violence Reduction Initiative.
