Baltimore Police have a new target in their effort to padlock troubled businesses: the Executive Inn in Southeast Baltimore.

I visited the place and discovered that it is, in fact, not really an Inn. "That's a motel, not a hotel," said Annette Eden, the woman who lives across the street on Pulaski Highway. She runs a day care center and she was using the word "motel" in a disdainful sort of way.

Eden, of course, is happy that police want to shut down this motel. "The police are always there," she told me after I knocked on her door. "The ambulances are always there. The hookers are always there."

Last year, Baltimore police padlocked the Linden Bar and Liquors. The owner marched in front of City Hall and says police are using the large volume of 911 calls he made about crime to prove his bar is hub of crime. Police say it's an effort to hold business owners responsible for their patrons; the owners counter that they can only do so much, and shouldn't be punished for police failing to do their jobs.

Business owners need to be good neighbors, and just because you run a business on a street more known for prostitutes and seedy strip bars than for botiques and coffee shops doesn't mean you couldn't try and clean things up. Trouble is, some of these businesses are in the business of catering to criminals, be it drug dealers or prostitutes, or both.

We've yet to hear a defense from the owners of the Executive Inn, who did not comment for a story in yesterday's Baltimore Sun by Justin Fenton. In their statement, police cite numerous search warrants executed there for drugs, more than a dozen arrests and several shootings at the Inn.

Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III called the motel a "haven for illegal drug activity." The motel has long been known as a crime spot -- David Simon's The Wire featured it in more than one episode as the prime meeting place for the heads of various city drug gangs. My question, is art imitating life or the other way around?

Of course, opinions differ. I heard lots from the people living around Linden Lounge. While most supported the police decision to shutter it -- it was upheld at a hearing and by a judge -- some said police were taking away the only store many could reach on foot.

David Cooper, 28, is raising five kids on Pulaski Highway, across from the Executive Inn and down the street from Eden's day care center. He was sitting on his front steps when I walked by and he doesn't think closing the motel will make any difference.

"They don't need to clean up the motel," Cooper told me. "They need to clean up the neighborhood. They're turning tricks all around here. The police should do their jobs before closing down a business. I mean, if a woman wants to take a date to a room, at least they're not doing it in my back yard."

Here's the announcement from city police: