Mayor Young Announces Initiative To Help Baltimore City Businesses Safely Reopen Amid Pandemic
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Baltimore Development Corporation and Neighborhood Design Center will lead an initiative to help small businesses reopen safely amid the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Jack Young announced Tuesday.
The groups, along with experts from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health experts and other stakeholders, will put together a request for proposals that will help encourage social distancing in public spaces.
People and organizations will be able to submit their ideas for ways to make social distancing easier in public. The winning ideas will get $50,000 stipends, with the money going toward implementing the ideas in the city as well as making the plans available to others for free.
In a news release, Young said the goal of the initiative is to "recapture" public spaces like sidewalks and stoops for business activity like farmers' markets and lining up for carry-out from restaurants.
"We have the most capable and brightest public health experts, designers, makers, and innovators living and working in Baltimore City. We are well poised to lead the world in this way," the mayor said in the release.
The effort, made possible through $1.5 million in funding from the city's COVID-19 Small Business Assistance Initiative, will focus on specific parts of the city, including arts and entertainment districts and retail business licensing districts, Young's office said in a news release.
On Wednesday afternoon, Young announced the city will allow curbside retail pick-up starting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.
