BALTIMORE — A business owner says after finding a body hanging right outside of his shop this week, he's got some tough decisions to make.
The owner of Moran and Sons Inc. was 10 years old when his father established their business about 50 years ago.
He tells WMAR2 News more than anything he wants to stay in Baltimore to serve it's people but he’s coming close to the end of the road.
A vacant, abandoned city-owned property lined by broken down cars sinks Moran and Sons Inc. into the shadows along East Monument Street.
He says business at his commercial hardware and door distribution center is suffering because of sights like the abandoned building next door.
This week, he made an intolerable discovery, one he smelt before he saw.
Mark Moran came out outside Wednesday to find what he thought would be a dead animal like a rat.
"Where you see those boots still laying were the boots that were on the person who was hung from this alley way between our building and their building," he described.
"All I could see is from the back, he had a red shirt, khaki pants and you could see the soles of his shoes and he was sitting there bald head," said Moran.
The building on the other side of that alley was once a hotel riddled with prostitution and drug trafficking.
It was later transformed into a halfway house for Volunteers of America then they moved up the street.
"And this became an abandoned property the city hasn’t kept up with," Moran continued.
That abandoned building is part of the reason some customers have abandoned Moran's business.
He tells us that’s not the only sight thinning his patience.
"I’ve found people sleeping outside. In the winter time they make fires. I found a man one morning cooking a pigeon to eat it," he recalled.
"You see a guy comes up and he actually leans against the wall, goes to the bathroom, pulls his pants up and walks down the street," Moran remembered.
He says his cries to the city have gone unheard and the issues escalate while the cost to endure them soars through the roof.
"Customers don’t want to come here anymore. They no longer feel safe getting in and out of the cars so it’s impacted our business that way tremendously," he said in frustration.
Moran expressed his deep desire to stay in Baltimore but if things don’t change, he’ll be forced to make a tough decision.
WMAR-2 News reached out to the city's municipal facility management team about this issue and haven't received a response.
