Why does Baltimore get treated like the "red-headed stepchild" of the East Coast? (Annapolis: violent crime, casino)

[Hamish Forbes]

Originally Posted by barante

And for all these years, until you broke the bad news to me, I thought I was a member of that tribe.

Spiro T. Agnew was a complex guy. He was seen as so liberal as Baltimore County executive that he had to run for governor because he never would have been re-elected. In the gubernatorial election, he did not carry Baltimore County but did carry the city, with his strongest support coming from black precincts.

But the stronger and more strident civil rights demands grew, the more he resented them. After the 1968 riots he nearly got them restarted by accusing the moderate black leadership of having encouraged rioters. That performance was what caught Nixon's eye. (Not in My Neighborhood recounts his political development).

I thoroughly detest Agnew, but this kind of misattribution of responsibility regarding the 1968 riots is a good example of ideological bias running rampant. Agnew was not responsible (was he out there with a torch?) -- rather, brutal criminals were responsible for the riots and for their potential rekindling. And in fact, many supposedly moderate black leaders did indeed turn a blind eye to this criminal activity, to their enduing shame. By the way, I was living in the City at the time, I saw the riots, and I personally remember the circumstances quite well -- I don't think that the author of "Not in My Neighborhood" can make the same claim.

Agnew carried the city in the gubernatorial election because his opponent, Democrat George P. Mahoney, ran a campaign that seemed to be openly hostile to the civil rights movement (I'm sure that you know this, but perhaps some readers of this thread don't).

[barante]

In the 1970s, when I trekked to an overnight stay at a roach-infested apartment on/off Benning, I was told it was in Anacostia. I now stand corrected, according to the strictest definition, although I note that in the news media Anacostia often refers to the whole area across the river. Here is more: Anacostia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neighborhood monikers are a constant source of arguments at least here in Baltimore. Borders change, people's perceptions change.

So, some purists insist that the Ashburton reservoir, off Liberty Heights Avenue, in fact is not in Ashburton but in Hanlon Park. The trouble is that when it was first excavated circa 1911, news stories identified it as being in Forest Park! (Both Ashburton and Hanlon Park are in fact parts of the greater Forest Park metropolitan area!)

Adding to the confusion are all the purpose-created names during the urban renewal era.

What is Sandtown-Winchester? It's an artificial moniker that some planner dreamed up and applied to a strip east of Fulton Avenue that old folks simply knew as West Baltimore. . .

[barante]

Hamish Forbes -- I have read quite a bit about the man. He is totally dead. I know an academic who for years was working on a bio that would have not focused on Agnew's vice-presidency but on his years as a Baltimore County executive and governor. The latest I hear is the professor gave up because he could not find a publisher.

This is a shame because Agnew's county executiveness (executivity?) coincided with some of most crucial years in Baltimore County's post-WWII development -- its evolution to a jurisdiction that in many ways nowadays overshadows the city. Scandalously, Baltimore County has retained no Agrnew papers. Some documents pertinent to his county period may be find among his vice presidential papers at the University of Maryland, College Park.

On a personal note, I found it interesting that I got panned for not attacking Barry Goldwater by one poster, while another poster accused me of having an anti-white extreme left-wing agenda. Now pray, sir, tell me what my agenda might be in discussing the socio-economic transformation of the District.

[Hamish Forbes]

I don't know anything at all about the transformation of DC. My comments are intended to concern only historical matters within the City of Baltimore and to a lesser extent Baltimore County, as for example the fires of 1968.

Edit -- I went back and read the part of this thread about Goldwater. I don't think that anyone panned you, Barante -- rather, I think that the poster panned Goldwater (as did Dwight Eisenhower on at least one occasion). Which brings to mind another outstanding one-time resident of Baltimore in the Good Old Days - Milton Eisenhower, brother of Dwight, and a really capable man. Dwight said that Milton "got the brains of the family."

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by ffknight918

I completely disagree and I can pretty much guarantee I understand this aspect of DC better than you. I live in Baltimore City but I work for the District of Columbia Fire Department. There is still a TON of crime and you're crazy to think otherwise. DC doesn't have the vacants that Baltimore has but that has nothing to do with crime. PEOPLE commit crime, not houses.

As recent as this past week I was working and there were three separate shootings in our neighborhood alone in less than an hour. I responded to two of them myself. One was a double shooting where a car pulled up and unloaded on a group of kids. Another was up the street where we came up to a guy laying in an alley way with a friend doing CPR.

I worked a couple nights before that and talked to a buddy who responded to three homicides alone. Not sure what else happened in the city that night.

You spoke of Brentwood recently but I know someone was either shot or stabbed there yesterday.(heard it come out but forgot which one)

Crime is still very alive and well in DC. You can't push everyone out. I will agree that it has obviously cleaned up and it is not as bad as Baltimore as a whole but it not even close to a safe city nor the safest in the northeast.

While crime is still alive in DC, it is being pushed further and further east every year. The core is going to be pretty safe by about 2015 when much of the current development is done. SE DC is the final destination for development and much of that development is moving now.

St. Elizabeth in SE DC will be a major catalyst for Gentrification:

[MDAllstar]

Also, Skyland Town Center will be a major catalyst gentrification in SE DC:

[MDAllstar]

And the biggest Catalyst of them all will be the redevelopment of Barry Farms in SE DC adding 300% extra density with market rate units:

Barry Farm:
Spring/Summer 2010: Begin Construction of Phase I Off Site Units:
April 2010 : Begin Renovation of Barry Farm Recreation Center
2010-2011 : Conduct Planning and Design for Phases II-IV
Spring 2011: Grand Re-Opening of Barry Farm Recreation Center
2012 : Delivery of Phase I Off Site Units
2013-2020: Delivery of On Site Units

Barry Farm

[barante]

This is the kind of factual information we desperately need in Baltimore. With fewer and fewer people reading even the local Sun paper, which increasingly becoming an outsourced joke, or the declining Post, many have no idea about the fundamental transformation of D.C. going on. It's only some 40 miles between us, but D.C. could be another country and, to many, it is. Aside from commuters, relatively few Baltimoreans even visit.

[ffknight918]

Originally Posted by barante

In the 1970s, when I trekked to an overnight stay at a roach-infested apartment on/off Benning, I was told it was in Anacostia. I now stand corrected, according to the strictest definition, although I note that in the news media Anacostia often refers to the whole area across the river. Here is more: Anacostia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neighborhood monikers are a constant source of arguments at least here in Baltimore. Borders change, people's perceptions change.

So, some purists insist that the Ashburton reservoir, off Liberty Heights Avenue, in fact is not in Ashburton but in Hanlon Park. The trouble is that when it was first excavated circa 1911, news stories identified it as being in Forest Park! (Both Ashburton and Hanlon Park are in fact parts of the greater Forest Park metropolitan area!)

Adding to the confusion are all the purpose-created names during the urban renewal era.

What is Sandtown-Winchester? It's an artificial moniker that some planner dreamed up and applied to a strip east of Fulton Avenue that old folks simply knew as West Baltimore. . .

Aw how cute. You finally realized you have no idea what you're talking about. So once Bluefly says something it's okay but when I correct you(someone who works there), my opinion doesn't count? haha And trust me the borders have not changed in recent years. There are several neighborhoods in between. It's the same as calling Canton and Pigtown the same neighborhood.

[barante]

The man had to be restrained in order to prevent him from responding to ffknight918's puerile drivel. He muttered something about fighting fires. He claimed it's too damned hot. Does any of this make sense? He also told me to tell the cap'n that the Anacostia Smithsonian still isn't in Anacostia; so contact your congressman to correct it. Said this is serious and erodes people's trust in politicians. Poor guy.