Why does Baltimore get treated like the "red-headed stepchild" of the East Coast? (apartment complex, townhouse)

[barante]

I invite andrew_s to name a single D.C. ghetto.

A Dutch visitor from Aruba asked me recently to "show me where the poor people live."

I took her to Benning Road, Anacostia. Found the neighborhood being rapidly gentrified. Yes, gentrified.

Except for some Georgia Avenue and Rhode Island streets, the D.C. ghetto is gone. A spectacular example is the 14th Street corridor, where most people walking on the streets on Sundays nowadays are white. Another remarakable transition involves U Street.

This is why visting D.C. from Baltimore these days is like going to a different country.

[andrew_s]

My wife took a wrong turn in DC on 3rd street NE. Had she taken the right way she would have been in my brother in laws decent neighborhood, but instead she was in a BAD area that even worried my brother in law and he bikes through some sketchy areas.

Also we were driving through anacostia somewhere trying to find our bearings and when they saw a white family in a van a group decided to try and surround our van and chased after us. Thankfully we didnt break down.

Do things like that occur in Baltimore? Sure, but dont think that Baltimore has a monopoly on such areas and instances. To do so is ignorance at its best.

[GrandviewGloria]

To paraphrase Mae West: "Honey, Redheadedness had nothin' ta do with it."

Demographics are destiny.

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by andrew_s

My wife took a wrong turn in DC on 3rd street NE. Had she taken the right way she would have been in my brother in laws decent neighborhood, but instead she was in a BAD area that even worried my brother in law and he bikes through some sketchy areas.

Also we were driving through anacostia somewhere trying to find our bearings and when they saw a white family in a van a group decided to try and surround our van and chased after us. Thankfully we didnt break down.

Do things like that occur in Baltimore? Sure, but dont think that Baltimore has a monopoly on such areas and instances. To do so is ignorance at its best.

Although DC has experienced a ton of gentrification; it still has it's "down and out" areas. And you are correct, Baltimore does not hold the cards on this unfortunate issue in our society.

[barante]

Drive around the worst D.C. areas you can think of and count the abandoned and boarded up houses. Then do the same in Baltimore.

After some 30 minutes in Anacostia, we counted half a dozen boarded up houses, including a whole garden apartment complex that had been mothballed and was being prepared for redevelopment.

What am I saying? That there is no comparison between D.C. and Baltimore, plain and simple.

We may argue about the reasons but there it is. And all this time we have been laughing about D.C. as the home of dysfunctional government.

Oone of the dangers of a forum like this is occasionally posters may pontificate about things on the basis of out-dated, or totally wrong, information.

Item: Taking a wrong turn near the American University on the way to the law school graduation this spring, I ended up on an NW street where someone had planted a huge, old sign on the yard. "Mayor Barry welcomes you to the District of Columbis," it proclaimed. Don't know about the rest of the story.

[andrew_s]

Originally Posted by jonjj

Although DC has experienced a ton of gentrification; it still has it's "down and out" areas. And you are correct, Baltimore does not hold the cards on this unfortunate issue in our society.

Agreed.

[barante]

and declare that D.C. is probably the most ghetto-free major city in today's America. The poor are being pushed out -- to PG, Montgomery (particularly if they are African immigrants or Hispanics) and various Virginia areas. This marks a reversal of the common U.S. suburban pattern to the European pattern, where the wealthy occupy the center cities and the poor are forced by economics, including long commutes, to the fringes.

Yes, one may find marginal areas along Rhode Island, Florida, Georgia and along streets intersecting with them, but there are virtually NO VACANT HOUSES. Boarded-up houses, if they exist, are not a problem but an opportunity.

Look at the transformation, over the past five years, of LeDroit Park, near Howard University. Amazing.

All this is due to three factors:

-- the money that defines the federal city;

-- a workable Metro transit system that has reinvented areas like Brentwood and the long-ignored "bad" blocks of Capital Hill;

-- the total lack of history among transients who come to D.C. every so often to chase well-paying political jobs. When they see a development of brand-new townhouses in Anacostia being advertised "from the 100s," they are likely to sign on the dotted line in the, usually well-justified, hopes that they can make plenty of money in reselling. They live in a world where the past doesn't matter, only opportunities do.

The demographic changes also are brewing political changes. It is widely speculated that D.C.'s next mayor may be white.

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by barante

and declare that D.C. is probably the most ghetto-free major city in today's America. The poor are being pushed out -- to PG, Montgomery (particularly if they are African immigrants or Hispanics) and various Virginia areas. This marks a reversal of the common U.S. suburban pattern to the European pattern, where the wealthy occupy the center cities and the poor are forced by economics, including long commutes, to the fringes.

Yes, one may find marginal areas along Rhode Island, Florida, Georgia and along streets intersecting with them, but there are virtually NO VACANT HOUSES. Boarded-up houses, if they exist, are not a problem but an opportunity.

Look at the transformation, over the past five years, of LeDroit Park, near Howard University. Amazing.

All this is due to three factors:

-- the money that defines the federal city;

-- a workable Metro transit system that has reinvented areas like Brentwood and the long-ignored "bad" blocks of Capital Hill;

-- the total lack of history among transients who come to D.C. every so often to chase well-paying political jobs. When they see a development of brand-new townhouses in Anacostia being advertised "from the 100s," they are likely to sign on the dotted line in the, usually well-justified, hopes that they can make plenty of money in reselling. They live in a world where the past doesn't matter, only opportunities do.

The demographic changes also are brewing political changes. It is widely speculated that D.C.'s next mayor may be white.

No one is debating with you. Yes, there has been a ton of gentfication. Yes, there are still rough and tumble areas. To say it's the most "ghetto-free" of America's cities is a bit debatable and to be honest, not so sure how even to approach that subject. What is a ghetto I guess? Once determined, how could that possibly be measured in comparison to the rest of the nation?

[jonjj]

Oops, I forgot to include my link of a web series I have been enjoying:

Anacostia Web Series - Season 3

And yes, the subject of gentrification occurs.

[barante]

and provocative because too many Baltimoreans have no ideas as to what has happened in D.C. A web of transportation issues has speeded up the transformation. The commuting situation keeps worsening by the day. This means that those with money want to live in, or at least consider, D.C. They are pushing the poor out, including minorities.

This has serious implications for Baltimore. Regardless of cost advantages, this city is less and less frequently a cheaper, or even realistic, alternative. In any case, real estate turbulence has largely wiped out the city's price advantage with Baltimore County, where certain SW areas have a better commute to D.C. This has happened during the past five years, adding to Baltimore's troubles and explaining its continuing population loss at a time when many other cities are gaining.

So I really get angry when stupid statements are made about Baltimore ghettos -- however they are defined -- being no different from D.C. They are based on total ignorance and denial of facts.

I have 25,000 reasons to believe I am right. Or 40,000. Depends on which number you believe about vacant/boardd up houses here.