Steven Rivelis has started multiple businesses in Baltimore City and each time he has had trouble getting a bank to give him a loan.
Rivelis, who owns The Elephant in Mount Vernon, told the Baltimore City Council’s taxation, finance and economic development committee, how one banker told him last year that there is a “Baltimore issue” and that people are not going downtown anymore. Rivelis said he has had to bet on himself and raise his own money to finance his projects, including The Elephant, which was recognized last year as Maryland’s “favorite new restaurant” by the Restaurant Association of Maryland.
“Our own city doesn’t back us,” Rivelis said. “It’s a shame. It’s a crisis. I can go anywhere I want. I came here, lived here and worked here…We need your help, we need your creativity and we need your leadership.”
Rivelis was one of several people who spoke during the City Council committee’s informational hearing on the decline of small business lending in Baltimore. The hearing was the brainchild of Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who came away with “overwhelming concern” after reading a report issued last year by the 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.
The report found that small business lending in Baltimore by banks fell 32 percent between 2007 and 2016, while deposits doubled during the same time frame. The number of small businesses declined by 1 percent during the 10-year period, including a gain of 100 between 2015 and 2016.