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Right on. I have lived in Baltimore almost my entire life. I'm a PhD candidate at Hopkins now, but if I do a startup when I finish, I'd much rather stay here th

Right on. I have lived in Baltimore almost my entire life. I'm a PhD candidate at Hopkins now, but if I do a startup when I finish, I'd much rather stay here than move to California.

subelsky 16y ago
you guys don't even know how motivating it is to read stuff like this. I am forwarding these comments to folks I know in the economic development community. Perhaps we can get a bit more institutional backing for things like this so we can provide more resources to people in your exact spot!
Griever 16y ago
The Wire (while being an incredible show) definitely hurt Baltimore in terms of its reputation. There are some fantastic areas around, and the culture is very inspiring.
- ry0ohki 16y ago
  Baltimore already had that reputation thanks to Homicide, and also the fact that there really are hundreds of murders every year. I'm a Baltimore native, and there is really no hiding the fact that Baltimore, while a great city, still has some serious social problems and the Wire nailed them perfectly.
- mnemonik 16y ago
  I have to admit, the first thing that popped in to my head when I saw this headline was "Body-more Murda-land" from the opening credits of The Wire. Great show, though.
- xiaoma 16y ago
  I think it's the consistent 200-300 homicides per year that hurt Baltimore's reputation.
  - subelsky 16y ago
    yes but how many other cities have had their homicides so dramatically portrayed to the world cognoscenti?
    - burgerbrain 16y ago
      Ever watch Law and Order? CSI?
  - paulsmith 16y ago
    Every major American city has its share of violent, drug- or gang-based crime. That's not to diminish it, but unless you are actively involved in those trades or unfortunate enough to be caught up in it by proximity, it likely will never visit you. It's a shame because there are risks everywhere (suburbanites think nothing of climbing in their cars everyday to hop on the highways where 30,000 people die every year) but we're so bad in general at evaluating them. Frankly, it doesn't bother me that Baltimore's reputation is somewhat tarnished, because that just makes it all the more appealing to live here and know that there is great art, great music, a vibrant technology and hacking scene, lots of smart young people, and friendly neighbors to enjoy. Now if we could just get more bike lanes and some better frickin' public transit ...
    - xiaoma 16y ago
      To put it in context, Baltimore's homicide rate is six times that of NYC, which itself is also over the national average. Austin, Texas which is slightly more populous than Baltimore has about 20 homicides per year. This is a similar per person rate as Edinburgh and lower than Dublin, but higher than London. Austin isn't amongst the safest cities in the US. It's just a major city I chose at random. I think it's fair to say that on the whole the US is dangerous for a rich country, but the average is definitely being pulled up by outliers such as Detroit and Baltimore.
    - asmithmd1 16y ago
      Boston, which is almost exactly the same populations as Baltimore, had 72 murders last year. If New York had the murder rate that Baltimore does that would mean over 3000 people murdered in a year. Baltimore has a serious violence problem no matter how you try to rationalize it.
- subelsky 16y ago
  I actually don't mind The Wire reputation, because I loved that show so much. Lest anyone think I don't have a sense of humor about it, here's a tour I wrote up for seeing all the sites from the show, for people coming to RailsConf: http://www.subelsky.com/2008/12/wire-tour-of-baltimore.html http://www.subelsky.com/2008/12/wire-tour-of-baltimore.html

Right on. I have lived in Baltimore almost my entire life. I'm a PhD candidate at Hopkins now, but if I do a startup when I finish, I'd much rather stay here than move to California.

subelsky 16y ago

you guys don't even know how motivating it is to read stuff like this. I am forwarding these comments to folks I know in the economic development community. Perhaps we can get a bit more institutional backing for things like this so we can provide more resources to people in your exact spot!

Griever 16y ago

The Wire (while being an incredible show) definitely hurt Baltimore in terms of its reputation. There are some fantastic areas around, and the culture is very inspiring.

ry0ohki 16y ago
Baltimore already had that reputation thanks to Homicide, and also the fact that there really are hundreds of murders every year. I'm a Baltimore native, and there is really no hiding the fact that Baltimore, while a great city, still has some serious social problems and the Wire nailed them perfectly.
mnemonik 16y ago
I have to admit, the first thing that popped in to my head when I saw this headline was "Body-more Murda-land" from the opening credits of The Wire. Great show, though.
xiaoma 16y ago
I think it's the consistent 200-300 homicides per year that hurt Baltimore's reputation.
- subelsky 16y ago
  yes but how many other cities have had their homicides so dramatically portrayed to the world cognoscenti?
  - burgerbrain 16y ago
    Ever watch Law and Order? CSI?
- paulsmith 16y ago
  Every major American city has its share of violent, drug- or gang-based crime. That's not to diminish it, but unless you are actively involved in those trades or unfortunate enough to be caught up in it by proximity, it likely will never visit you. It's a shame because there are risks everywhere (suburbanites think nothing of climbing in their cars everyday to hop on the highways where 30,000 people die every year) but we're so bad in general at evaluating them. Frankly, it doesn't bother me that Baltimore's reputation is somewhat tarnished, because that just makes it all the more appealing to live here and know that there is great art, great music, a vibrant technology and hacking scene, lots of smart young people, and friendly neighbors to enjoy. Now if we could just get more bike lanes and some better frickin' public transit ...
  - xiaoma 16y ago
    To put it in context, Baltimore's homicide rate is six times that of NYC, which itself is also over the national average. Austin, Texas which is slightly more populous than Baltimore has about 20 homicides per year. This is a similar per person rate as Edinburgh and lower than Dublin, but higher than London. Austin isn't amongst the safest cities in the US. It's just a major city I chose at random. I think it's fair to say that on the whole the US is dangerous for a rich country, but the average is definitely being pulled up by outliers such as Detroit and Baltimore.
  - asmithmd1 16y ago
    Boston, which is almost exactly the same populations as Baltimore, had 72 murders last year. If New York had the murder rate that Baltimore does that would mean over 3000 people murdered in a year. Baltimore has a serious violence problem no matter how you try to rationalize it.
subelsky 16y ago
I actually don't mind The Wire reputation, because I loved that show so much. Lest anyone think I don't have a sense of humor about it, here's a tour I wrote up for seeing all the sites from the show, for people coming to RailsConf: http://www.subelsky.com/2008/12/wire-tour-of-baltimore.html http://www.subelsky.com/2008/12/wire-tour-of-baltimore.html