BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — Under the proposed padlock bill, the Welcome Inn may not be welcomed anymore along Baltimore County’s Loch Raven corridor, because many in the area say it and other motels are bad for their businesses.
“It’s going to take getting rid of the motels,” said Tim Hollenshade, who owns an auto repair service, “That’s the bottom line to me, because the transients come here and stay and they don’t have any value in the community.”
“Our customers live in these neighborhoods, and the only thing that the community wants is just a higher level of safety and to not hear about things like shootings and stabbings and prostitution and those sorts of things that are happening right in everybody’s backyard,” added Ryan Fowler, who owns a guitar business.
The county council is considering a padlock bill to force businesses, which attract criminals to tighten up security or else.
Under the proposed bill, any property with two public nuisance violations within two years would be subject to action by the police chief.
“We are engaging our community associations,” said Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, “We’re talking to our chambers of commerce to make sure they know this is not an effort to go after the many, many really positive, productive businesses we have, but to go after the bad actors and to make sure if folks aren’t doing the right thing, we can act.”
While they wouldn’t go on camera, the Welcome Inn tells us it has at least 16 security cameras, 24-hour monitoring and checks a criminal database before allowing anyone to check into a room or to rent an apartment.
“It’s the teenagers that are the problem. You hear what I’m saying?” said Dexter Johnson, who moved into one of the inn’s apartments a few months ago, “Most people here are working people. You know what I’m saying? Nine to five or they work late at night, but we don’t seem to have any problems with that.”
Residents say the motel also won’t hesitate to kick anyone out who causes a problem, including four people who were evicted in just the last week.
