Baltimore small-business owner: Our complaints aren’t trivial, city must address them

Crumbling sidewalks. Torn up streets perpetually under construction. Graffiti everywhere you look. Trash in alleys and accumulating around dumpsters. Homeless people sleeping on walkways. The smell of urine in doorways, with periodic signs of human and animal defecation. Drug deals going down. The aroma of marijuana hanging persistently in the air. The specter of crime around every corner. Where am I? Karachi? San Salvador? Baghdad?Nope, we are in my small business’ block of North Charles Street in the Downtown Business District of Baltimore City.