Coalition looks to give Baltimore small business owners stronger footing

Baltimore small business owners are banding together to create more protections for themselves.

The Small Business Rights Coalition is also trying to make the process of starting a business in the city easier.

While the coalition is young, it's already over 200 members strong, according to one of its lead organizers.

The coalition's goals

Tanner Mobley has heard small business owners' frustrations with the processes to start up many times. It's one of the reasons he helped start the Small Business Rights Coalition.

The coalition aims to go after landlords' predatory tactics, help cut the red tape, and tackle vacant storefronts.

Mobley and his partner own Affogatto, a cat cafe in Fells Point, where there are a number of empty storefronts within eyesight of the cafe's front door.

Right now, the focus is to bolster protections for businesses.

"Like 90 days' notice in the event of an eviction. 30 days is not enough time to sell your product and to transition to a new space," Mobley said. "Also, protecting small businesses from predatory practices. If you don't own the property, you shouldn't have to fix up your property for the next person that's renting it out from you."

A statement from the Mayor's Office said it's aware of the coalition, but the two have not met yet.

"The City continuously looks for ways to improve the environment for Baltimore's small businesses, and we look forward to further discussion on the issues that matter to business owners," the statement said.

You can keep up with the coalition here.

First-hand experience

Marvin Rodriguez is getting Aru Aru, his first restaurant, ready for its big debut this weekend.

Rodriguez said the eatery on Eastern Avenue will feature modern Latin cuisine, his take on the food he grew up eating.

While he's helped run his family's restaurant in Baltimore County for many years, he's been itching to start up his own.

"It was about time for my family to finally retire; my parents [are] getting up there in age. I still wanted to pursue [opening my own restaurant] still," Rodriguez said. "So I was just [thinking] the time is right for me to come down here to the city and start doing that."

It took a while to get to this point, though. Rodriguez said he knew there'd be challenges, but at every step of the way -- the permits, the inspections, securing contractors -- there were delays that piled up.

In one case, Rodriguez said the online portal to submit permits changed, but what he submitted didn't carry over. That resulted in a delay of nearly three months.

"A building like this size, this [whole process] could've been done in three, four months tops," Rodriguez said.

After his experiences, he's joined the coalition to make things better for the next person starting up their business.

"IF you wanna be a city that says we wanna bring in small businesses, help build a new city -- if we're dealing with issues like this, it makes it very difficult," Rodriguez said.