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Normally, proximity to a bigger city like DC should be a good thing - you can get a nicer place for cheap and use public transportation (MARC train) to commute.

by rm999 10y ago

Normally, proximity to a bigger city like DC should be a good thing - you can get a nicer place for cheap and use public transportation (MARC train) to commute. But something has prevented Baltimore from growing and gentrifying. I think the biggest problem, the obvious one, is crime. There are some small pockets of intense gentrification, and even these areas aren't particularly safe. The rest of the city is a no-man's land. Literally within a few blocks of crowded, active areas (e.g. Fells Point) there are extremely unsafe blocks where the chances of a mugging (or worse) are unreasonably high. Then, there are huge contiguous swaths of the city where no one but residents are really advised to enter. I remember going out to a bar in West Baltimore and not a single cab was willing to drive into the neighborhood to pick us up. The patrons of the bar refused to let us walk home ("you're gonna get stabbed!"), and a kind stranger drove us home. Most people I know who live in Baltimore want out, and many either move to DC or to the suburbs.

cbHXBY1D 10y ago
When I was a high school senior checking out Johns Hopkins I had the bright idea of going on a run through the city at 11pm. I was from a town that borders Oakland so I thought "this should be fine." I ended up getting chased through a neighborhood that looked like WWII had just hit. Baltimore is an interesting case in the U.S. because it's really the last dense, walk-able city that hasn't gentrified. Philadelphia is similar but it is experiencing gentrification in the core now. All over the country, millenials have been moving to older cities that were planned before cars and are possible to live in without one. I wonder why Baltimore hasn't suffered the same fate as Oakland, Brooklyn, or Philly? America seems like a tale of two countries at this point. We have cities that are burgeoning with young wealthy types trying to move there like SF, NYC, LA, Seattle, Boston, etc. Over-gentrified until they have become somewhat sterile. If only we could move some of the success of these cities to places that need it like the Rust Belt or Baltimore.
Edmond 10y ago
Your comment is a very unfair and inaccurate description of Baltimore, it is also one that I hear often from people who clearly have no meaningful experience with the city. It is a city with many problems, no one can deny that, but like most urban tales told by people who don't live in these places, their understanding are much more urban legend than reality. I have lived in Baltimore for the past 6 years and I am hopeful about the future of the city. I live in Mt Vernon, one of the more "upscale" neighborhoods, in the time I have lived there, there's been a good deal of development both in the neighborhood and the city as a whole. I am actually looking at buying a house in Bolton Hill (another quite nice and safe neighborhood)...the property tax rate has given me pause but otherwise I am excited about the future of the city. I don't want to go on a rant but Baghdad type stories like yours are not helpful.
- rm999 10y ago
  I was born in Baltimore, lived there for several years, went to college there, and visit it several times a year. I still consider it my home and have an intense amount of love for it. So "no meaningful experience with the city" does not apply here. Baltimore has serious crippling problems and denying that does the city no favors. Outside of very small pockets of often-non-organic gentrification (usually driven by the city or Hopkins), the city is at a nadir. Baltimore is the smallest it's been since WWI (for a few years now, to a rounding error), and the per-capita homicide rate is the highest it's ever been. Two awesome, solid people I know were murdered the last year I lived in Baltimore - in "safe" neighborhoods in unrelated incidents totally beyond their control. The fact that the homicide rate is now 30% higher is terrifying.
  - jeffwass 10y ago
    >Baltimore is the smallest it's been since WWI (for a few years now, to a rounding error) That's not quite the full picture. While population has mostly decreased in the last 70+ years, the rate of decrease has slowed substantially in the last couple decades, and is starting to increase. Actually, Baltimore's population looks like it's just starting to break through PG's "trough of sorrow". See plot at the bottom of this link : https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/baltimore-maryland https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/baltimore-maryland
tel 10y ago
I don't know the details so this could just be hearsay, but one thing I've heard is that Baltimore has an unusually small taxable area due to a quirk in the voting requirments for annexation of outlying counties. Many rich areas exist outside of the city proper but the city can't take advantage of these resources. Undoubtedly Baltimore has many immediate issues arising from racial tension, widespread poverty, and failure to rejuvenate industry at a scale necessary to recover from the manufacturing job implosion, but an underlying lack or resources could also be something of a stranglehold on the city. Which is all quite sad because Baltimore has a lot of nice aspects and sees some wonderful new people largely driven by Hopkins... but I agree with you that everyone just seems to want to leave.
- dionidium 10y ago
  Baltimore and St. Louis are independent cities. They are not part of their surrounding counties. And they're both pretty small, in relation to the urbanized areas surrounding them. This causes all sorts of problems (e.g. duplication of services) and makes other problems seem worse than they are, relative to other cities (e.g. homicide and poverty rates appear higher, because they don't account for affluent regions just outside of city limits).

by rm999 10y ago

cbHXBY1D 10y ago

When I was a high school senior checking out Johns Hopkins I had the bright idea of going on a run through the city at 11pm. I was from a town that borders Oakland so I thought "this should be fine." I ended up getting chased through a neighborhood that looked like WWII had just hit. Baltimore is an interesting case in the U.S. because it's really the last dense, walk-able city that hasn't gentrified. Philadelphia is similar but it is experiencing gentrification in the core now. All over the country, millenials have been moving to older cities that were planned before cars and are possible to live in without one. I wonder why Baltimore hasn't suffered the same fate as Oakland, Brooklyn, or Philly? America seems like a tale of two countries at this point. We have cities that are burgeoning with young wealthy types trying to move there like SF, NYC, LA, Seattle, Boston, etc. Over-gentrified until they have become somewhat sterile. If only we could move some of the success of these cities to places that need it like the Rust Belt or Baltimore.

Edmond 10y ago

Your comment is a very unfair and inaccurate description of Baltimore, it is also one that I hear often from people who clearly have no meaningful experience with the city. It is a city with many problems, no one can deny that, but like most urban tales told by people who don't live in these places, their understanding are much more urban legend than reality. I have lived in Baltimore for the past 6 years and I am hopeful about the future of the city. I live in Mt Vernon, one of the more "upscale" neighborhoods, in the time I have lived there, there's been a good deal of development both in the neighborhood and the city as a whole. I am actually looking at buying a house in Bolton Hill (another quite nice and safe neighborhood)...the property tax rate has given me pause but otherwise I am excited about the future of the city. I don't want to go on a rant but Baghdad type stories like yours are not helpful.

rm999 10y ago
I was born in Baltimore, lived there for several years, went to college there, and visit it several times a year. I still consider it my home and have an intense amount of love for it. So "no meaningful experience with the city" does not apply here. Baltimore has serious crippling problems and denying that does the city no favors. Outside of very small pockets of often-non-organic gentrification (usually driven by the city or Hopkins), the city is at a nadir. Baltimore is the smallest it's been since WWI (for a few years now, to a rounding error), and the per-capita homicide rate is the highest it's ever been. Two awesome, solid people I know were murdered the last year I lived in Baltimore - in "safe" neighborhoods in unrelated incidents totally beyond their control. The fact that the homicide rate is now 30% higher is terrifying.
- jeffwass 10y ago
  >Baltimore is the smallest it's been since WWI (for a few years now, to a rounding error) That's not quite the full picture. While population has mostly decreased in the last 70+ years, the rate of decrease has slowed substantially in the last couple decades, and is starting to increase. Actually, Baltimore's population looks like it's just starting to break through PG's "trough of sorrow". See plot at the bottom of this link : https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/baltimore-maryland https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/baltimore-maryland

tel 10y ago

I don't know the details so this could just be hearsay, but one thing I've heard is that Baltimore has an unusually small taxable area due to a quirk in the voting requirments for annexation of outlying counties. Many rich areas exist outside of the city proper but the city can't take advantage of these resources. Undoubtedly Baltimore has many immediate issues arising from racial tension, widespread poverty, and failure to rejuvenate industry at a scale necessary to recover from the manufacturing job implosion, but an underlying lack or resources could also be something of a stranglehold on the city. Which is all quite sad because Baltimore has a lot of nice aspects and sees some wonderful new people largely driven by Hopkins... but I agree with you that everyone just seems to want to leave.

dionidium 10y ago
Baltimore and St. Louis are independent cities. They are not part of their surrounding counties. And they're both pretty small, in relation to the urbanized areas surrounding them. This causes all sorts of problems (e.g. duplication of services) and makes other problems seem worse than they are, relative to other cities (e.g. homicide and poverty rates appear higher, because they don't account for affluent regions just outside of city limits).