Baltimore Mayor's new chief of staff faced discrimination complaint, home lien in 2024

Carson Swick, The Baltimore Sun on Apr 7, 2025

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BALTIMORE — A complaint alleging racial discrimination and a home lien for unpaid water/sewer bills are among the list of controversies surrounding Calvin Young, who Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott promoted this week to become his next chief of staff with a 79% salary increase.

Young, who worked as treasurer on Scott’s 2024 primary campaign and became a senior adviser to the mayor last fall, has served in various public roles — including as chairman of the East Baltimore Development Inc.’s board of directors.

Andy Freeman, EBDI’s former vice president of real estate development, lit into Young at a Baltimore City Council hearing in October 2024. Freeman, who is white, told the council he was fired directly because of discrimination by Young, who is Black.

“[I was fired] as a result of a blatant racial discrimination and a violation of my First Amendment rights by none other than EBDI’s board chair, Calvin Young, and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott,” Freeman said at the hearing.

Freeman’s attorney, Baltimore civil rights lawyer Tonya Baña, filed a formal complaint with the Maryland Equal Employment Opportunity Commission days before her client publicly alleged racial discrimination. Filing a complaint is the first step before suing in court.

At the time, Baña said she was “concerned” about Young’s hiring as a senior adviser to the mayor. She did not respond by deadline to The Baltimore Sun’s recent request for an interview to discuss the case further. A request to contact Baña via email prompted an out-of-office reply.

The $1,783.81 home lien was filed against Young’s Residences at Roland Heights property in March 2024. The sum of the lien “represents water and sewer facilities charges which are unpaid and delinquent and permitted charges,” according to public documents.

As of October 2024, land records did not show if the lien had been satisfied.

Neither Young nor Scott’s office responded to The Sun’s requests for an interview and to clarify the status of any proceedings against Young, respectively.

Young, who ran for mayor himself in 2016, has a long history with Scott. The two men attended Mergenthaler “Mervo” Vocational-Technical High School together in the early 2000s.

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