There was jeering and booing from sign-waving opponents last night after the Baltimore City Council – as expected – voted overwhelmingly to give final approval to Councilman Ryan Dorsey’s Harford Road Zoning Overlay bill.

“Shame on you, Ryan,” audience members shouted on their way out of the chambers. “Vote him out!” several chanted.

But the real drama erupted a few minutes later during the routine committee announcements.

Dorsey announced that a November 5 hearing before his Land Use and Transportation Committee for Bill 26-0208 “is being canceled.”

That was unremarkable news to most in the room, but it came as a blow to Conway, the sponsor of this relatively routine zoning legislation involving a piece of Loyola University property.

In the CharmTV video of the meeting, you can see Conway look up as he realizes what Dorsey had done. The two seatmates then had a terse exchange of muffled words that began this way, Conway later told The Brew:

“I turned over to him, and I was like, ‘Did you just cancel my bill?’ And he was like, ‘Yep.’ And I was like, ‘Why’d you do that?’” Conway said.

Dorsey confirmed he cancelled the bill hearing because Conway had abstained on the Overlay bill rather than voting “yes.”

At that point, according to Conway, things got more heated.

“I told him that’s f—ed up!”

“Remember, we are one,” Councilwoman Phylicia Porter gently advised the feuding lawmakers, returning to what she was trying to say about one of her bills.

Conway eventually rose to apologize for the outburst and tell the chamber why he was so furious.

“A member of this council who leads a committee canceled the hearing for one of my bills as retaliation for my abstention,” the 4th District councilman said, calling on Dorsey and Council President Zeke Cohen to “rectify the cancellation.”

“I look forward to getting real work done here, not playing petty politics,” he scolded. “We’ve got work to do, people. This is disgusting.”

“I look forward to getting real work done here, not playing petty politics”  – Councilman Mark  Conway.

Conway rose a second time to explain the hassle caused by the cancellation of the hearing on the Loyola bill, which removes the planned unit development designation for 5104 York Road.

“The bill required 30 days of preparation. It required signage. It required Loyola University going above and beyond to make sure that they comply with the city law,” he said, complaining that the university was now going to have to do it over again because of a change that was “happening spuriously.”

“This is a joke!” he exclaimed.

“Councilman, we’ve heard you,” Cohen responded. “We will discuss it after the council meeting. In my chambers.”

Conway later declined to go into detail, but he told The Brew the closed-door meeting between him, Dorsey and Cohen concluded without Dorsey committing to restoring his bill’s hearing date.

Late last night, asked for comment, Cohen responded to The Brew’s query with this:

“A memo will go out tomorrow morning restoring the hearing to the original date,” he texted. (UPDATE: It did.)

Dorsey has not responded to a request for comment.

Courtesy to a Colleague

In recent days, there has been intense lobbying on the Overlay bill, which opens up single-family properties along the Harford Road corridor to apartment conversions and teardowns for new construction.

• Harford Road Overlay bill, which has drawn vocal opposition, up for final vote tonight (10/19/26)

In addition to letter writing and circulating a petition (which now has nearly 1,000 signatures), some foes of the bill came to City Hall yesterday, where they buttonholed council members. About 40 arrived for the 5 p.m. meeting by bus, and about 20 more arrived separately.

“We tried to peel off some votes, but we didn’t succeed,” former city councilman and Lauraville resident Jody Landers, said.

Several said they encountered sympathetic lawmakers who explained they had to vote with Dorsey in keeping with the tradition of “councilmanic courtesy.”

In the end, last night’s vote on Bill 25-0093 – with 10 yes and 2 no votes, with 1 abstention and 2 absent – was little different from the preliminary “second reader” vote taken last month.

VOTING YES: Blanchard, Bullock, Cohen, Dorsey, Gray, Jones, Middleton, Parker, Ramos, Schleifer.

VOTING NO: Porter, Torrence.

ABSTAINING: Conway.

ABSENT: Glover, McCray.

With final passage, the bill now moves to Mayor Brandon Scott for his signature.