BALTIMORE — Baltimore is poised to end the year with the fewest homicides in more than a decade, and nonfatal shootings have plunged from a year ago. But views of the city as unsafe persist.

That’s long been a challenge for city businesses that rely on visitors and customers from around the region and beyond. Even with the homicide rate down 23% and on pace for a 12-year-low, some say long-entrenched narratives won’t change overnight.

It will take more than a couple of years of downward numbers for Baltimore to overcome a “murder capital” characterization that’s been built up over decades, some business owners said.

“Downward numbers are great,” said Benn Ray, president of the Hampden Village Merchants Association. “But when [people] hear of a murder, it reinforces the stereotype that people who live outside the city and are afraid to come into the city are going to use to confirm their perceptions.”

As of Friday morning, the city had recorded 183 homicides, compared with 239 at this time in 2023. If that pace were to continue, it would mean 200 homicides for the year, the fewest since 2012.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has touted the effectiveness of community violence intervention programs that help mediate potentially violent conflicts in places such as Brooklyn in South Baltimore, which has gone more than a year without a homicide.

“Changing negative perceptions about Baltimore — and public safety in particular, especially downtown — depends very much on meaningful and consistent reductions in violent crime,” said Shelonda Stokes, president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.

There is “clear momentum underway,” she said. “The declines experienced last year, and which have continued this year, support our efforts to promote our many downtown assets.”

Factors beyond homicides are affecting business

Business leaders said it can be difficult to isolate a declining homicide rate as a factor in business improvement. Ray, owner of Atomic Books in Hampden, said his business has been strong in the wake of COVID-related lockdowns, in part because he has a loyal base of customers from within and outside the city.

Shirlé Koslowski, co-owner of Baby’s On Fire record store and cafe in Mount Vernon, said she’s glad the homicide numbers are down.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t noticed any thing different,” she said.

Ray and other business owners said they tend to see the biggest boosts at times of peak activities downtown or elsewhere in the city, such as Orioles and Ravens games, big conventions and festivals and other events.

“The livelier Baltimore City is, the better it is for all of us,” Ray said.

Others say they’ve worked with fellow neighborhood businesses to address customer concerns, picking up where some say the city has fallen off. Some merchants have taken it on themselves to promote their neighborhoods and offer extras such as security, valet parking and help with paid parking.

Beth Hawks, owner of Zelda Zen jewelry and gift boutique in Fells Point, sometimes hands out $2 bills to customers to help them offset parking costs. Merchants work with the Waterfront Partnership to have people walk customers to their cars.

Hawks said relief from record-high homicides has been overshadowed by concerns about juvenile crime. She continues to see Baltimore County residents hesitant about venturing into the city.

‘Is it safe to walk down the street?’

Data from the city State’s Attorney’s Office shows cases rising in Baltimore, with 590 juvenile cases charged in the first six months of 2024, compared with 655 cases in all of 2023. Charged cases last year were nearly double the number from 2022 when 334 cases were charged.

“People from the county will come for the Orioles, Ravens and conventions, but they’re not going to walk down the street and have dinner or come into one of our shops,” Hawks said, adding she’s often asked, “Is it safe to walk down the street?”

Hawks doles out advice, telling her customers to put away cell phones, remove lanyards and pay attention. If concerns arise, she tells them, visitors always can drop into the nearest business or knock on someone’s door.

“We all watch out for each other,” she said.

In a year that’s been especially difficult economically as more consumers make online buying a permanent habit, it makes her wonder, “Will Baltimore ever get out from under [HBO crime drama ] ‘The Wire?'” she said.

“It’s up to each and every person who has a business to promote their neighborhood and other businesses,” Hawks said. “It’s up to us to support each other. This city is filled with some of the best retailers.”

In Little Italy, Cafe Gia owner Giovanna Blatterman said the perception of crime has had an impact on business but that “things are getting a little better,” something she said she began noticing in late summer.

“People have been coming in and I feel they are a little less nervous,” she said. “We are doing everything we can to help the situation.”

Security guards, lighting and cameras help perceptions

Neighborhood restaurants have security guards and received a state grant to add video cameras as well as lighting both in business and residential areas.

Starting around Thanksgiving, Blatterman will join forces with Sabatino’s, Benny’s Baltimore and Chiapparelli’s to reinstate valet parking for those Little Italy restaurants after several years. The restaurants will use a shared drop off space at Fawn and High streets.

“That’s our gift to bring back people from the county,” a segment of business needed to get through the slower months of November, December and January, she said.

Mark Anthony Thomas, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, believes the city and region need an economic brand reset to start to change the narrative.

The business advocacy group is close to completing an initiative with the help of place-branding agency Resonance Consultancy Ltd. and market research firm Ipsos to come up with a brand strategy focused on business sectors and quality of life.

Part of the effort is aimed at attracting entrepreneurs and other businesses to the city and region. Improving crime statistics, and factors such as energy costs, the tax environment and availability of talent and sites will play into that, he said.

“A one-year milestone is not enough in itself,” Thomas said of what he called a significant reduction in crime. “But it gives you a sense that there is a concerted effort to address what is one of Baltimore’s stagnant issues.”

“The message that we can then send to the broader investment community and to businesses that are looking for new markets is that we’re trending in the right direction,” Thomas said.

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