This might surprise people that have seen or heard one of Jimmy’s Famous Seafood’s attention-grabbing marketing campaigns or follow the Dundalk restaurant’s pervasive and often brash social-media content. But John Minadakis, Jimmy’s 38-year-old co-owner—and the son of its late founder and namesake—says he considers himself a social recluse.

“I’m a bit of a hermit myself,” he says softly over lunch one day at his restaurant, before he forks into one of his eight-ounce famous crab cakes.

We’re sitting at a high-top table near the dining-room bar, masks off, finally, one afternoon near the end of April. And ironically, as we eat and talk, Minadakis is cracking open his own shell, so to speak, to talk about the Famous Fund. It’s one of the city’s more uplifting stories of the past year, and Minadakis—who owns Jimmy’s with his younger brother, Tony, both second-generation Greeks—is the guy behind it.

Since January, the Fund—essentially a crowdsourced fundraising effort—has raised roughly $480,000 (and counting) that’s been split among dozens of restaurants and bars across the city that were decimated by the pandemic and the ensuing social-distancing protocols that left stools, seats, and tables empty for months.

In a year-plus marked by widespread fear, anxiety, and uncertainty, owners of city institutions such as Vikki’s Fells Point Deli or Sliders Bar & Grille across from Camden Yards understandably sobbed when they got word they were receiving up to $25,000 in their bank accounts from the Famous Fund, hopefully enough to keep their businesses alive and rent paid until diners could patronize them again.

Jimmy’s has always attracted high-profile customers, especially athletes, so local celebrities, including Super Bowl XLVII hero Jacoby Jones, former Orioles out elder Adam Jones, and many more, delivered the good news in heartwarming live video calls.

In the case of Jones, he broke the announcement of a $10,000 donation to Marie Branch, owner of the Canton breakfast eatery, Simply Marie’s, where he regularly ordered the spicy sausage and eggs when he played here. “Wow, are you serious?” Branch told Jones. “It will pay some bills, keep the doors open.”

It was a common refrain. Jones was so touched with the movement that he gave an additional donation. The extra cash was enough to cover Simply Marie’s rent payments through the summer. The help was the practical kind that became so essential for so many establishments that simply couldn’t make up for lost foot traffic and had to lay off employees or go out of business.

For Jimmy’s to be behind such a noble cause seems a bit incongruent, perhaps. We’re talking about a restaurant, after all, that once made headlines for offering then-free agent slugger Chris Davis free crab cakes for life, got into a Twitter dust-up with animal rights activists a few years ago, and then admittedly went a bit too far going after an Atlanta café that serves vegan crab dishes.

But Minadakis, who says a marketing team handles much of the social-media grunt work for the business (he’s busy enough managing the day-to-day of the popular restaurant), says the lessons he learned as a student at Loyola Blakefield, where he graduated from in 2001, came to bear. “They always taught us to mentor others,” he says.

That said, the idea did receive a jumpstart from someone who is very much not a social hermit, the often-polarizing Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. As marketers go, Portnoy is as shrewd as they come, known for his Boston accent, cult of “Stoolie” sports fans followers, obnoxious personality, and Fox News appearances, among other things.

The style rubs some people the wrong way, but amid the pandemic Portnoy started using his platform and dedicated following for a lot of good and raised money for restaurants and bars around the country—including a few in Baltimore, like Abbey Burger Bistro, Don’t Know Tavern, and Claddagh’s.

Then, in December 2020, with COVID cases rising again, on his first full day on the job, Mayor Brandon Scott shut down indoor and outdoor dining in Baltimore for what ended up being six weeks. For so many restaurants that had survived the initial pandemic outbreak in the spring, “That was the death punch,” Minadakis says.

Most notably, longtime downtown presence James Joyce Irish Pub closed for good.

“People don’t realize how important the holidays are to restaurants,” Minadakis says. “In the same way you can’t catch up on sleep, you can’t make that money up ever. When you don’t have the money to pay your landlord and your bills, you have to close.”

Sensing that many other Baltimore restaurants could meet that fate, Minadakis, a big football fan, got Portnoy’s attention. The week of the Ravens’ mid-January playoff game with the Buffalo Bills, he made Portnoy (somewhat of a Bills supporter since their fans contribute content to his website) an offer he couldn’t refuse. The deal: Ravens win, you donate money to help another Baltimore restaurant. Bills win, we’ll rename our place to Dave’s Famous Seafood for a week on all social media channels. Portnoy bit. But after the Ravens lost 17-3 on a Saturday night in Buffalo, Minadakis woke up the next morning gutted.

You see, in the days leading up to the game, Minadakis had been following the social media buzz over the bet. A few restaurants in particular—The Angle Inn on O’Donnell Street, for one—kept getting nominated as potential recipients of the prize money. “I realized I might’ve just gotten somebody’s hopes up and put the last nail in their coffin without meaning to,” Minadakis says.

Hence the idea for the Famous Fund was born, sort of.

Minadakis made good on the bet, with a wrinkle. He decided to make and sell Dave’s Famous T-shirts, with the proceeds benefitting The Angle Inn, and that idea quickly overshot expectations. Then he decided to start a GoFundMe page with a goal to raise $100,000 for The Angle, Sliders, The Chasseur, G&A Restaurant, and Shotti’s Point Charm City.

In just four days, the effort raised more than $200,000, with the help of publicity, donations, and support from Ravens players like Marlon Humphrey and Ronnie Stanley and Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta and his wife Lacie. “It was all organic,” Minadakis says. “That’s the best part.”

At that point, with virality building on social media, Minadakis called in a favor to friend and former Baltimore City police spokesperson T.J. Smith, who was a regular Jimmy’s customer and who Minadakis knew was familiar with many local restaurants.

Smith agreed to take the lead on a broader citywide fundraising effort, alongside friends Paul Goins and Leroy Yegge. Soon after that, former Ravens kicker Matt Stover, who co-founded an organization that supports a lot of past and current Ravens players’ charities, told Minadakis and Smith he easily could do the same for them.

Donations poured in from total strangers, in many cases, as did the applications from dozens of bars and restaurants seeking aid or a “bridge to better days,” as Smith explains.

Smith reviewed the applications, which asked for some expenses and payroll documentation, made site visits, and conceived of how to deliver the good news. Smith spent hours arranging for well-known locals to surprise owners on video, recorded and edited the announcements, and posted them on social media.

As we write, the Famous Fund has helped at least 30 restaurants in various parts of the city stay open. Each has their own story, though their struggle is unfortunately common.

At Woodrow’s Bar-B-Que in Mt. Washington, owner Matthew Piron hadn’t taken a salary in more than a year, while still paying his workers above minimum wage.

“Every week, you worry if you can stay open or not,” Piron said after Ravens Hall-of-Famer Jonathan Ogden told him he was getting $10,000 for whatever he needed with the restaurant. “It’s amazing what the goodness of people can do.”

Minadakis says he wants to keep raising money in the months and years ahead, maybe by hosting regular events to benefit restaurants that still need help (and they still do), or create a college scholarship fund, something near to his heart.

“We’re not letting up anytime soon,” he says. “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. The pandemic has been tough on any business, much less a small business. If you need the money, we’ll figure it out.”

Since being appointed in 2015 by former police commissioner Kevin Davis, T.J. Smith, who has been known for his blunt, straight-to-the-point approach, resigned effective immediately on Wednesday as the chief spokesman of the Baltimore Police Department.

“Dear Baltimore. It’s time,” Smith said in his letter to the city. “Goodbye for now and thank you for letting me be me.”

Citing an “unstable environment” and “political turmoil” as the cause for his departure, the Baltimore native believes that the city still has “historically and disproportionately been plagued with social ills, guns, violence, and drugs” long before the Freddie Gray riots.

“Everything’s happening at one time—this is a battleship we’re turning around,” Smith told us in a recent podcast interview about the police department. “But we’re turning it around in a canal.”

The BPD said on Wednesday that Smith’s duties will fall to Matt Jablow, a former WBAL-TV reporter and police spokesman who returned to serve as the department’s chief of strategic communications earlier this year.

In his farewell letter, Smith divulges his experiences growing up in West Baltimore, corruption inside the BPD, and the effect it has had on the community.

As a former director of media relations for Anne Arundel County Police, Smith had an unorthodox way of delivering the harsh news. Pulling no punches and sparing no feelings, he knew the community well and it was evident the way he would show up at crime scenes and beg for tips from the public.

“I’ve spoken to families who have been deeply affected by the violence,” Smith said. “And as fate would have it, I too, faced the devastation of a personal loss when my little brother, Dion, was killed . . . Prior to being affected by violence directly, I chose to speak on behalf of everyone’s loved one with the same level of passion and humanity.”

While working under Davis, Smith played a very prominent role in the community. The then commissioner trusted Smith to respond to public crises in a way that the public would understand. He had a way of making sure that the people were listening to him.

“He was beyond a media relations chief to me—he was a close adviser on anything and everything, and I relied heavily on his opinion,” Davis told The Sun. “He’s developed not only into the face and voice of the BPD, but the conscience of the BPD.”

Smith’s departure comes as Mayor Catherine Pugh prepares to name a new police commissioner by the end of this month. Interim commissioner Gary Tuggle—the fourth since Smith joined the BPD—was being considered but withdrew his application earlier this week.

Although he no longer works for the police department, he still considers himself a champion for the city. He’s not sure what he will do next, he writes, “Hmmm, consulting, teaching, media stuff, and maybe, just maybe a book and politics.” But he knows that he plans to continue to play his role in helping to heal Baltimore.

“I love this town,” he said. “And despite its flaws, this city possesses great beauty, is rich in history, and exudes promise. However, the last few years have cast a spotlight on our city’s urban, gritty landscape; from scandals, corruption, murders, riots, and more. Through it all, I walk all over the city and people approach me offering ideas, prayer, and hope. That’s Baltimore, my Baltimore, a deeply resilient town.”

On Sunday, Mayor Catherine Pugh announced that she would expand the Baltimore City Police Department’s technologies in an effort to address the city’s increasing violence. The new investments are made possible through a $5 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies and come on the heels of another deadly weekend that puts the number of homicides in Baltimore over 300 for the third year in a row.

“Equipping our police officers with the tools they need to fight and solve crime is a critical component of our violence reduction strategy,” said Mayor Pugh in a statement. “This grant will help provide state-of-the-art equipment to our police force to ensure the safety of our city’s citizens and visitors.”

The new tech will beef up Baltimore’s existing Citiwatch program—a public-private partnership that allows residents to directly share information with the BPD to catch criminals—and will include 60 additional CCTV cameras, 25 additional license plate readers (LPRs), and gunshot detection software that will alert the BPD in real-time.

The additional CCTV cameras will be added to the already 750 cameras currently affixed to light poles around the city. They will be placed in targeted areas with a history of violent crimes and act as a deterrent for criminal activity.

“The expansion of the Citiwatch program is tremendously beneficial to the city of Baltimore,” said BPD spokesman TJ Smith in an email. “It will allow us to strategically deploy additional cameras to areas that currently have no coverage. Baltimore already has one of the largest networks in the country and this will only enhance it.”

The LPRs will be installed on patrol cars and will enable real-time notifications to officers to help identify stolen vehicles and other vehicles of interest. The gunshot detection coverage will be expanding upon an existing pilot program with the state to include 10 additional square miles to improves response times for shootings and making police aware even if 911 is not called.

“One of the most common requests I receive from my constituents is for more vigilance in our neighborhoods,” said City Council President Jack Young in a statement. “I’m extremely pleased to see the city directing resources to tools that have demonstrated success in keeping communities safe.” 

Michael Bloomberg has often made donations to Baltimore institutions—including more than $1.5 billion over the years to his alma mater, The Johns Hopkins University. Along with Goldman Sachs, he also gave a $10 million donation to fund a small-business initiative in Baltimore for the next five years. That came after a three-year, $1.5 million grant to City Hall to help reduce violence in Baltimore.

Vice chair of public safety councilman Brandon Scott is hopeful that this new technology will be a positive push towards safer neighborhoods in the city as long as it is implemented properly and “consistently monitored.” 

“These granted items can be a force multiplier for us,” he said. “This is $5 million that the city does not have to spend and should result in a matching investment from the city into public health approaches to reducing violence.”

The purchase of the new tech is underway and will be deployed to the BPD and rolled out in the beginning of 2018. Smith said he’s unsure of exactly which neighborhoods the new cameras will be located in, but says the increased numbers will benefit local residents.

“Citiwatch cameras are popular among the various communities,” he said. “We expect that they will be glad that additional technology has been allocated for the purposes of assisting in with public safety.”