A coalition of Baltimore business owners is pushing city officials for new legal protections for commercial tenants, pointing to the shuttered taco spot Chihuahua Brothers as proof that vacant storefronts need more than a fresh coat of paint to fix. The group is drafting a Baltimore Small Business Bill of Rights that organizers hope to see signed into law within the next year, covering everything from lease accessibility to protections against sudden lockouts.
Lead organizer Tanner Mobley, who helped open Affogato, a cat cafe in Fells Point, argues that gaps in Baltimore's commercial tenant laws contribute to vacant storefronts and make it harder for local entrepreneurs to succeed, according to WMAR2 News. Baltimore currently has practically no protections in place for commercial tenants, the station reports, unlike the rules that govern residential leases in the city.
Maryland's Legal Gap Lets Landlords Lock Out Tenants
That gap traces back to how Maryland treats commercial leases under the law. Landlords can pursue self-help repossession and change the locks on a tenant without ever going to court, because commercial leases are treated strictly as contracts between business entities, according to Lorman Education Services. That legal framework exempts commercial tenancies from the habitability and eviction protections guaranteed to residential renters.
Chihuahua Brothers is the case organizers point to most often. Founders Kevyn Matthews and Meredith Brown started the business as a vegan taco cart before it grew into what the station called a beloved taco spot in Waverly. The restaurant later moved closer to downtown after its original building deteriorated, opening at 58 West Biddle Street, according to JMORE. It closed after a dispute with its landlord over rent and build-out maintenance costs, with the landlord changing the locks overnight before what was supposed to be the shop's grand opening downtown.
Coalition Drafts a Small Business Bill of Rights
The coalition's proposed Bill of Rights touches nearly every part of the landlord-tenant relationship, per the station's report: maintenance standards, anti-harassment and lease protections, bureaucracy assistance, fair standards and lease accessibility, absentee owner accountability, vacant storefront accountability, and scaling notice and eviction protections. Organizers say the goal is straightforward — fill vacant spaces and give small businesses a fighting chance.
The push comes amid a worsening picture for local retail. Twenty-two percent of commercial storefronts in Baltimore City sit vacant, a rate that has climbed for five consecutive quarters, according to figures published by the B'More Small Biz Rights Coalition. The same data puts Maryland's small business survival rate at just 12 percent, lower than in surrounding Mid-Atlantic states.
City Hall's Billion-Dollar Vacancy Push Leaves Tenants Unprotected
Baltimore City Councilman Zac Blanchard, who represents Federal Hill and parts of downtown, has thrown his support behind the coalition's effort and says he'll work with organizers and his council colleagues to work out legislative details, the station reports. Blanchard, a Marine veteran who previously led the Federal Hill Neighborhood Association, took office in December 2024, according to the South Baltimore Peninsula Post.
City Hall has already tried to tackle Baltimore's vacant property problem from other directions. In November 2024, the City Council approved legislation tripling property tax rates on vacant and abandoned properties starting in the 2026-2027 tax year, aiming to push neglected buildings into judicial foreclosure, according to CBS News Baltimore. Mayor Brandon Scott, working with the Greater Baltimore Committee and BUILD, also launched a $3 billion, 15-year redevelopment initiative in 2023 aimed at more than 37,000 vacant or at-risk properties citywide, per the Greater Baltimore Committee.
Separately, the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore already offers small businesses up to $35,000 through its Façade Improvement Program to fix deteriorated storefront exteriors, lighting and windows, according to the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. But organizers argue that kind of physical investment does little to protect tenants from lease terms and lockouts capable of shuttering a business overnight.
Town Hall, Petition Mark Next Steps for Organizers
To build momentum, the coalition has launched a petition and turned to Instagram to spotlight what it describes as the everyday reality facing local shop owners, the station reports. Mobley also launched a GoFundMe campaign in June to cover campaign flyers, town hall logistics and other grassroots organizing tools. The coalition's first town hall is set for next Monday, August 17, at 7 pm at 406 North Howard Street, with additional neighborhood walks and town halls planned to follow.
Mobley brings a policy background to the effort, serving as Manager of State Advocacy for The Trevor Project in Baltimore and regularly submitting testimony to Maryland lawmakers, according to Maryland General Assembly records. The coalition says it hopes to see several of its proposed measures signed into law within the next year, even as small businesses continue to close across the city.
