Relocating to Baltimore and scared as hell!!!! (Frederick: sale, safe area)

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by Scriv

RustyGator
As a lifelong resident of the Baltimore burbs (west side, within 5 miles of city limits) I would advise you steer clear of the city, period. There are 1 or 2 somewhat safe and nice areas, but that's it and taxes are ridiculous. The Mayor was just indicted on 12 counts this past Friday...one-party rule in the city and state seems to breed corruption in this state, to a greater degree than most. I'm leaving as soon as I retire! But back to you; there are some nice suburbs on the west and north side of the city in which to live - I'd start looking there. They are close enough to allow a quick drive to the stadiums, Harbor, and Canton areas without having to live inside the city limits. Good Luck.

Spoken like a true suburbanite who hasn't a clue. Yes, the city has issues with really bad neighborhoods. What should the city do? Move everyone out to the burbs? Instead of putting down the city, you should be thanking them for carrying your load.
There are way more than one or two safe and nice areas in the city. Check out the sticky at the top. All of those neighborhoods are nice alternatives to the boring, car-driven madness of the burbs. Besides, most of the burbs around here are ticky-tacky and less appealing than the city. Gee, would I rather live in Bolton Hill or Glen Burnie??? Roland Park or Rosedale?? Ugh---some folks have no tastes.

[rosedale84]

i drive around the city for a living. as a driver for a private foster care agency i often have to drive all over, from the county to the heart of the city. most of the time i usually end up somewhere along North avenue. there are alot of people who live in the city and love it, but i dont get the appeal. i go to the city for football games, museums, and the occasional bar in fells point or restaurant at the inner harbor. other than that, i stay away as much as possible. i feel scared enough having to walk back to my car after class at UB at 8:30 pm. Baltimore or dangerous! and those people who think that it isnt, or that everything bad that happens is isolated to gang members or drug dealers are lying to themselves. people get mugged all the time around UB and its in a "good" area. i carry three things of pepper spray with me. as a female who is on the smaller side, walking around the city alone can be scary. but besides the crime, the schools are awful!!! take it from me, i go into these schools on a daily basis to pick up and drop off foster kids. they are not safe and kids who go there are scary. the teachers are getting beat up, how are kids supposed to learn in that environment? if you have enough money to live in Roland Park, then by all means, live in the city. but most people cannot afford Roland Park. That is why it is safe and pretty. Along with Federal Hill. They are safe and pretty areas because they are too expensive for most people to live in. I dont think baltimore county is so hot, but the schools are a little better. the streets are safer and although i live in rosedale and i can see it getting worse, i can still walk my dog at night. kids play outside. i came home from a wedding saturday night at nearly 10pm and i had to unload some flowers from my car and the only person outside was a kid riding his skateboard. other than being alittle noisy, he was just riding his board. if i was in the city, who knows what would have been going on. i definitely would not have left my front door wide open and car door open while i walked back and forth unloading my car. all cities have issues. but baltimore's issues are not being addressed, so nothing is being done. i've lived in philly, dc, and new york. baltimore is the only city that i have never ridden the subway. you couldnt pay me to ride the subway.

[Enschede]

@ Billiam, i'm not talking about the homes i'm talking about all the abandonend ugly rusty rotting warehouses and factory's and garbage along the tracks, they should demolish/clean up that, as they did in my city, empty buildings are a breeding place for crime etc.
And yes SOME of the houses should be demolished too, because they have nothing to do with history for the people living in it, only with poverty and misery.
The houses i saw where slums,sure you have to protect old houses and restore a lot of them but the houses who look like falling apart on the next windy day, they should demolish them and build houses for the people living in it that are suitable for the 21st century.
I mean i saw people sitting in fornt of those houses on a concrete step with there faces down and hands folded around their knees, it didn't look like they were enjoying their historic house, it looked more like they were sick entired of living in such a s*ithole.
That's a memory of the U.S. i can't get off my mind.

[RustyGator]

Thanks for the informative responses.

How about the suburbs? Are there any safe ones around the city...maybe within 30-40 minutes driving to downtown Baltimore? How is Columbia or Catonsville? I'd love to live somewhere south of the city, but also have access to regular spots like supermarkets, perhaps a mall, decent restaurants, cheap golfing, etc. I'm trying my best to do some research, but it's always easier to hear from the people that live or have lived there. Thanks so much again for the help everyone!!

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by Enschede

@ Billiam, i'm not talking about the homes i'm talking about all the abandonend ugly rusty rotting warehouses and factory's and garbage along the tracks, they should demolish/clean up that, as they did in my city, empty buildings are a breeding place for crime etc.
And yes SOME of the houses should be demolished too, because they have nothing to do with history for the people living in it, only with poverty and misery.
The houses i saw where slums,sure you have to protect old houses and restore a lot of them but the houses who look like falling apart on the next windy day, they should demolish them and build houses for the people living in it that are suitable for the 21st century.
I mean i saw people sitting in fornt of those houses on a concrete step with there faces down and hands folded around their knees, it didn't look like they were enjoying their historic house, it looked more like they were sick entired of living in such a s*ithole.
That's a memory of the U.S. i can't get off my mind.

Still, imo, those rusty abandonned warehouses should be renovated and turned into lofts or something. Is it so much that i don't feel demolishion is the answer? can you not respect that? Yes, I will agree there should be a garbage clean up, but no demolishion. Just because it isn't good history doesn't mean it isn't history. These homes used to belong to workers, when the area was booming. Just because things have taken a turn for the worse doesn't erase the history before all of the crime and poverty. Houses falling apart should be renovated imo. And guess what, renovation means to fix up, meaning they would fix it to fit the 21st century. First off, that isn't concrete thats marble you probably saw. Its a poverty stricken part of the city, is it really a surprise to see miserable people there? That doesn't have anything to do with what we're talking about. Im sorry, but the US has these places. Its a free market economy meaning you decide your own future (of course it will be harder to get a start if your born into a rich family vs. poor). Ive seen France from a bad perspective. Did i expect it? No. Do i remember it? Of course. Is that what most of France looks like? No way. Same with the US

[Enschede]

@billiam, just because houses belonged too workers 30 years ago doesn't mean they have to be renovated at all cost, what i just mean to say is, if something is so bad you almost cannot live in it unless you spend 30 or 40k on it, then tear it down.
If they left al the junk in my city over the past 30 years just because it belonged to workers or old factory's believe me it had been a real mess, my city was full of factory's all abandonend within 4 or 5 years they kept two of em and transformed it into beautiful musea, the rest is history, same 4 a bad neighbourhood used to house factory workers for 1 very big textile factory they were build in 1904, at the end the neighbourhood got so bad and the houses were really crap, they renovated like 80 of em real nice and the rest was history.
I respect your opininon, but i think a city has to move on, keep the good historic buildings but don't keep all the rubbish cause no one gets better off it in the end.

[RoadTripGurl]

Enschede I agree with your post, part of the reason the buildings are still there is probably because the city is too busy or cannot decide what to do with them. I was on the MARC train late in the morning and this young woman was there with her husband, taking her kids to the museums.
Needless to say, she'd neve been on there. When we were right before Baltimore Penn, her faced turned a sour I'd never seen before. She exclaimed, "Oh my God, you do this EVERYDAY?! This is ridiculous I can't believe it looks like that!"

I smiled to myself thinking "my sentiments exactly". It looks horrible, unfortunately that's what out of towners see when they ride the Amtrak this way too bad tey can't see some beauty

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by Enschede

@billiam, just because houses belonged too workers 30 years ago doesn't mean they have to be renovated at all cost, what i just mean to say is, if something is so bad you almost cannot live in it unless you spend 30 or 40k on it, then tear it down.
If they left al the junk in my city over the past 30 years just because it belonged to workers or old factory's believe me it had been a real mess, my city was full of factory's all abandonend within 4 or 5 years they kept two of em and transformed it into beautiful musea, the rest is history, same 4 a bad neighbourhood used to house factory workers for 1 very big textile factory they were build in 1904, at the end the neighbourhood got so bad and the houses were really crap, they renovated like 80 of em real nice and the rest was history.
I respect your opininon, but i think a city has to move on, keep the good historic buildings but don't keep all the rubbish cause no one gets better off it in the end.

ok agree to disagree

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by rosedale84

i drive around the city for a living. as a driver for a private foster care agency i often have to drive all over, from the county to the heart of the city. most of the time i usually end up somewhere along North avenue. there are alot of people who live in the city and love it, but i dont get the appeal. i go to the city for football games, museums, and the occasional bar in fells point or restaurant at the inner harbor. other than that, i stay away as much as possible. i feel scared enough having to walk back to my car after class at UB at 8:30 pm. Baltimore or dangerous! and those people who think that it isnt, or that everything bad that happens is isolated to gang members or drug dealers are lying to themselves. people get mugged all the time around UB and its in a "good" area. i carry three things of pepper spray with me. as a female who is on the smaller side, walking around the city alone can be scary. but besides the crime, the schools are awful!!! take it from me, i go into these schools on a daily basis to pick up and drop off foster kids. they are not safe and kids who go there are scary. the teachers are getting beat up, how are kids supposed to learn in that environment? if you have enough money to live in Roland Park, then by all means, live in the city. but most people cannot afford Roland Park. That is why it is safe and pretty. Along with Federal Hill. They are safe and pretty areas because they are too expensive for most people to live in. I dont think baltimore county is so hot, but the schools are a little better. the streets are safer and although i live in rosedale and i can see it getting worse, i can still walk my dog at night. kids play outside. i came home from a wedding saturday night at nearly 10pm and i had to unload some flowers from my car and the only person outside was a kid riding his skateboard. other than being alittle noisy, he was just riding his board. if i was in the city, who knows what would have been going on. i definitely would not have left my front door wide open and car door open while i walked back and forth unloading my car. all cities have issues. but baltimore's issues are not being addressed, so nothing is being done. i've lived in philly, dc, and new york. baltimore is the only city that i have never ridden the subway. you couldnt pay me to ride the subway.

List of U.S. cities with high transit ridership - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Almost 20% of the people in the metro commute by mass transit to work. I do also. I ride the metro about 4 days a week on average and haven't had an issue on it. Baltimore's metro is much safer and cleaner than Phillys-thats for sure.
I park on the street and unload the car. Nothing bothers me while I do that. I walk the dogs at night-not an issue.
Although I live in Patterson Park at present, I have lived in other areas of the city. Yes, the city has crime, more crime than the county. But, there are safer areas in the city than some county areas. And... for my bucks--I'd take Patterson Park any day over Rosedale---just my two cents.
By the way, wasn't someone just murdered out there last week????

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by jonjj

List of U.S. cities with high transit ridership - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Almost 20% of the people in the metro commute by mass transit to work. I do also. I ride the metro about 4 days a week on average and haven't had an issue on it. Baltimore's metro is much safer and cleaner than Phillys-thats for sure.
I park on the street and unload the car. Nothing bothers me while I do that. I walk the dogs at night-not an issue.
Although I live in Patterson Park at present, I have lived in other areas of the city. Yes, the city has crime, more crime than the county. But, there are safer areas in the city than some county areas. And... for my bucks--I'd take Patterson Park any day over Rosedale---just my two cents.
By the way, wasn't someone just murdered out there last week????

Totally random, but what other neighborhoods have you lived in? Just curious!