About to move to the area, advice please!

[davecj]

To think I hadn't even chimed in yet...

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

I don't hate it here as much as you do. Our experiences have been different, apparently. I don't understand why my opinions are such a problem for you to the point of making accusations that I'm being paid by someone else to make them. Really, how pathetic.

Your input about street crime is absolutely a good contribution to this thread and relevant to any discussion about where to live in the city, but you can make it without being a child. Of course, being helpful is not really why you're here, so I suppose we can expect more of the same nonsense.

[Chebasaz]

Just wanted to say that I do appreciate all the answers here. Getting to know an area via Internet is hardly a perfect scenario and you all have given me more things to keep in mind while browsing. If anyone else has an opinion (no matter what it may be), please feel free to chime in. All of this is going to come in useful when I actually have feet on the ground.

[Tallybalt]

I clicked on the link.

Very few of the addresses are in Roland Park or Guilford or Tuscany Canterbury. Most of the listed addresses are west of Falls Road or east of York Road, the accepted perimeters of North Baltimore, or down in the less salubrious parts of Hampden between Falls Road and JFX. Even on the Guilford "crime map" all but two of the crime incidents occurred on streets outside the neighborhood.

According to the crime maps, both the Federal Hill and Fells Point show quite a bit higher levels of criminal activity than the North Baltimore neighborhoods.

As a resident of Roland Park for the past thirty years our crime problems are what you generally find in affluent neighborhoods. The odd house burglary. A kid's bicycle stolen. Every now and then someone robs one of the shops on Cold Spring Lane or the convenience stores/fast food joints across from Poly and Western. I have co-workers who live in expensive Howard County subdivisions and they still suffered the same levels of crime as Roland Park, giving truth to how perceived affluence attracts unwanted attention.

As to the original poster: visit Baltimore. Visit Union Memorial. Walk around the area. Check out St. Paul's Street retail corridor and the apartments along St. Paul, Charles and University Parkway. You will immediately know if it's the right area for you.

Originally Posted by nextstate

Make sure you read all of jonj and handsupthumbsdown's posts. Couple of Realtors who desperately troll these boards trying to refute anything negative. Roland Park, Guilford, Homeland, etc are very pretty neighborhoods that are plagued by property crimes, ridiculously high property taxes and close proximity to bad areas. Again, don't listen to me, the stats are all available online. Roland Park, baltimore, MD Neighborhood Crime Map, Statistics, Alerts and Reports
Maybe that looks okay to you, and if so, great. Just don't listen to the clowns who insist on personally attacking anyone who brings up the inconvenient negatives about the city. Like today's piece in the Baltimore Sun about there having been 429 street crimes - muggings, etc - in the city so far this year. Several of the "safe" neighborhoods they list are specifically mentioned.

[nextstate]

Tallybalt - yes, that was exactly my point. You'll find some really pretty neighborhoods here with pretty typical crime rates for any city. But unlike any other city I've lived in those neighborhoods are in very close proximity --a matter of blocks -- to some pretty bad parts. Just something to be aware of. I run and bike regularly and I find it restrictive. I end up driving out to one the parks or trails if I want to go any distance. Personally, I hate that, but I've got friends here who don't think twice about it. I think a lot of other people relocating here might find it similarly disorienting to be at Hopkins, for example, and then head five blocks east and find themselves on green mount ave.