Federal Hill residents, businesses at odds after part of Cross Street reopens to cars

BALTIMORE -- There is controversy in Federal Hill over a street reopening.

East Cross Street was closed for years during the coronavirus pandemic to offer outdoor dining. But now the street is back open for vehicular traffic, and it's causing a debate between residents and local businesses. 

Many neighbors say when the street was closed they felt safe to walk and dine here. But some local restaurants and shops pushed for the barriers to come down because they said it was bad for business.

About two weeks ago, the city removed the barriers on the north side of East Cross Street to allow vehicles to come through. The street closed in 2020 and was only open to pedestrian traffic to offer outdoor services due to COVID-19 restrictions.

But many residents say traffic is dangerous in the neighborhood and they felt safer enjoying the neighborhood with their families when the street was closed.

"A lot of people can't even eat at the restaurant because it's like an hour or hour and a half wait for most of these places," Toni Grace, resident in Federal Hill said. "So, when it was outside seating a lot of people could actually come out here and enjoy."

In December, Ben Aronson and Locchanan Sreeharikesan wrote up an online petition to prevent the street from reopening in their neighborhood. It garnered 843 signatures. 

They are worried that the change could lead to a spike in crashes and traffic fatalities. They argue that people's lives are more at risk and that neighbors have a growing fear of getting hit by a car.

Aronson and Sreeharkesan added that the closed street builds foot traffic which could encourage people to shop local and boost the economy.

However, some local businesses say that's not what happened.

Monesha Phillips-Johnson owns a gift shop called Pandora's Box on East Cross Street. She said that the foot traffic did attract more customers, but rather more loiters. 

Phillips-Johnson is a part of the Federal Hill Main Street non-profit. The group helped push for the reopening because they say it's been bad for business. 

"We had to figure out every single week how we were going to maintain our deliveries, the trash, people loitering," Phillips-Johnson said. "So, it became very difficult."

Phillips-Johnson said it became costly for some of the businesses to maintain the street because trash started piling up quickly. With the street closed, city garbage trucks could not go down the street for trash collection. Therefore, the businesses had to pay more for trash pickups and would apply for grants to try to get street sweeping and trash pickups.

Deliveries were also an issue, she said. Delivery trucks could not park on the street and some restaurant/bar owners needed to arrive earlier to direct delivery drivers to unload products. 

Now, with the street reopening, some entrepreneurs say business is back.

"We see people again," Phillips-Johnson said. "There's parking. Our deliveries can have access to the street now. Our patrons and our customers can now park right outdoors."

But Aronson said the change does not value the neighbors who live there.

"I'm really disappointed," he said. "I feel like Federal Hill Main Street is prioritizing the businesses over that of the community. I feel like the community has overwhelmingly resoundingly been supportive of leaving the street closed."

Phillips-Johnson said her shop has been in the neighborhood for 23 years and agrees that there has to be a designated safe space for people to enjoy.

She hopes they can come up with a compromise to offer that space, just not on East Cross Street.