Baltimore Changing (sales, crime, homes)

[icon124]

Considering that I am not black, but growing up in Baltimore City, 90% of my friends are black...it's funny you say racism still exists because me and all my friends agree that at least in the city I get more racist remarks from black people than my friends actually get from white or other races...

I suppose it also depends on what area of the city you are in as well.

If you are talking about transplants being racist...I can see that because a lot of these transplants from rural white areas are overly snobby and annoying...but if you are talking about people from Baltimore....we have a lot of racist black people here as well so it works both ways

[remstone]

Originally Posted by baltplanner

Joel Kotkin, one of the foremost urban researchers of our time ...

Joel Kotkin? He's an anti-urban polemicist, not a foremost anything.

That said, your analysis is fine. The facts are facts. We're gaining some segments we should be gaining (from the suburbs I assume). But families already moved out in a big way - whites in the 80s, blacks in the 90s, broadly speaking.

Sorry the rest of your thread is getting hijacked ...

[baltplanner]

Remstone- first thank you for your sympathy about the thread getting hijacked. I'm new to this website but I get the feeling that happens a lot.

As for Kotkin, you're absolutely right. I used the word "researcher" in a very broad way... he's more known for opinion pieces than peer reviewed articles, and his writing definitely does sound more pro-suburb than pro-city. I do think however that there's an interesting conversation going on between the Joel Kotkins and Richard Floridas within the planning, architecture, and public administration fields.

The changing role/ demographics of cities can offer a big boost to areas struggling with population decline and revenue issues (Baltimore is now growing in both population and tax revenues because of this shift). I also know that it makes a lot of native born folks feel like their home is getting hijacked. There are good arguments on both sides- I really just wanted to point out that Baltimore, like many other prominent cities in the U.S, is experiencing the same transformation.

On a more personal note I also wanted to say that I don't think people from outside the city should be so terrified about moving to Baltimore. Before I moved here I got a lot of comments about the "The Wire" and blight. As I said in my first post there are plenty of great neighborhoods here. Its also a cheap city for the northeast corridor, has plenty of high paying jobs, its easy and cheap to travel to other areas (I regularly take Boltbus for $25 to visit friends in NYC), has a good a bar scene, is walkable with free transit (Charm City Circulator) and is steadily becoming less rough around the edges. Not to mention if you decide to make a life in the area, and want to raise kids outside the city, the surrounding suburbs have some of the best public schools in the country (but yes it can be expensive to live there...but not as bad as NY, CT, or MA).

I don't think the city is going to explode with growth the way Denver, Seattle, or Charlotte have, but I do think that we have strong fundamentals which will keep us moving in a positive direction.

[Tinawina]

Thanks baltplanner fro posting the info. It is very interesting and does resonate with my own anecdotal experiences since moving here. As a family with 2 elementary aged kids, I have been amazed at how many of our counterparts that I & the hubby meet at work, church or wherever don't actually live in the city. Almost anyone with the means to move, does... usually at the point they are ready to buy a house or when it's time to send the kids to school. There are a handful of *functional* neighborhoods within the city limits that contain a lot of families w/kids it seems, and they almost all have one of the few good public schools attached.

I will be very interested to see what happens in the counties over the next 10 years. It seems like there is an exodus of both middle class families and the poor to the counties closest to the city... and that may not end so well.

[baltplanner]

Also people consistently say that schools, taxes, and crime are the major issues holding Baltimore back. In each area things are improving:

Schools
This year the state government passed the Baltimore City Public Schools Construction and Revitalization Act committing to a $1 billion surge in school construction and modernization.
http://www.governor.maryland.gov/doc...nbaltimore.pdf

Taxes
The city has come to its senses that property tax rates are so high that they're causing diminishing returns. The mayor reduced property taxes this year and plans to keep reducing them until 2020 (The new rate will still be about twice that of surrounding counties...but hey its progress).

http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Portals...%20credit2.jpg
News & Media

Crime
Crime has gone down, and continues to go down in all major categories (http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime...-Maryland.html)

The Baltimore Sun tracks the homicides in the city very well and over 90% of this years victims were black males, as were a large majority of the perpetrators (Baltimore Homicides - baltimoresun.com). The violent crime rate is mostly related to the drug trade- those not involved have significantly less to worry about. Unfortunately the poverty rate in many of the black communities in the city is frighteningly high- this leads many to turn to drug dealing and other crime since many poor people see it as one of their only attainable pathways out of poverty. Unfortunately the education system, social moores/ structure, and historic disinvestment in these communities is failing to provide them with the tools they need to become more productive members of society.

However, as the city continues to become more diverse and bring in new residents from outside its borders it will continue to see more renewal and will increase the tax base needed to fund the programs these communities so badly need. There are plenty of nice parts of Baltimore and they're all growing. As the city becomes more socioeconomically diverse it will become more capable of addressing the fundamentals that are holding back needy communities.

I also wanted to mention that the city has begun an initiative to work more closely with federal agencies to capture and prosecute violent offenders and drug traffickers (http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Officeo...unding_for_Fed) . I'm sure we'll continue to see steady reductions in all our major crime areas as demographics shift and law enforcement improves.

[Infinite_heights77]

Joel Koktin's Tribes: How Race, Religion and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy is the bomb!! *Stop hating!!!

Also, Jeremy Rifkin's End of Work!!

[Infinite_heights77]

People "cook the books", "distort the data", and "the devils ain't always in the details" is practically an honored tradition within Baltimore. They love to F(*&^% with numbers that shows how smart they think they are, when in actually, the city government and her politicians...are quite dumb and asinine!!

Originally Posted by baltplanner

Also people consistently say that schools, taxes, and crime are the major issues holding Baltimore back. In each area things are improving:

Schools
This year the state government passed the Baltimore City Public Schools Construction and Revitalization Act committing to a $1 billion surge in school construction and modernization.
http://www.governor.maryland.gov/doc...nbaltimore.pdf

Taxes
The city has come to its senses that property tax rates are so high that they're causing diminishing returns. The mayor reduced property taxes this year and plans to keep reducing them until 2020 (The new rate will still be about twice that of surrounding counties...but hey its progress).


News & Media

Crime
Crime has gone down, and continues to go down in all major categories (http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime...-Maryland.html)

The Baltimore Sun tracks the homicides in the city very well and over 90% of this years victims were black males, as were a large majority of the perpetrators (Baltimore Homicides - baltimoresun.com). The violent crime rate is mostly related to the drug trade- those not involved have significantly less to worry about. Unfortunately the poverty rate in many of the black communities in the city is frighteningly high- this leads many to turn to drug dealing and other crime since many poor people see it as one of their only attainable pathways out of poverty. Unfortunately the education system, social moores/ structure, and historic disinvestment in these communities is failing to provide them with the tools they need to become more productive members of society.

However, as the city continues to become more diverse and bring in new residents from outside its borders it will continue to see more renewal and will increase the tax base needed to fund the programs these communities so badly need. There are plenty of nice parts of Baltimore and they're all growing. As the city becomes more socioeconomically diverse it will become more capable of addressing the fundamentals that are holding back needy communities.

I also wanted to mention that the city has begun an initiative to work more closely with federal agencies to capture and prosecute violent offenders and drug traffickers (http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Officeo...unding_for_Fed) . I'm sure we'll continue to see steady reductions in all our major crime areas as demographics shift and law enforcement improves.

[baltplanner]

I wanted to let people know that I work for a state agency, not the city. I'm not trying to be pro-Baltimore because I'm being forced to by my job. I'm pro-Baltimore because I'm a resident and I think that its a really cool, underrated place.

[Infinite_heights77]

I'm glad that you have Black friends, but you're missing my point. Name calling is bigoted (black on white, white on black, black on black, white on white, mulatto on black, white on mulatto, and etc..) and those kinds of antics are juvenile.

What I'm talking about is, a higher, more complex system of white privelege and white supremacy that still exist in this city today. I'm speaking of institutional racism, organized and complex!! If you're not ready to discuss this, then we have nothing further to discuss.

And by the way, white privelege and white supremacy doesn't come in just white faces, they use Black (negro) faces (read Franz Fanon's Black Skin, White Mask) as well to get what they want.

Originally Posted by icon124

Considering that I am not black, but growing up in Baltimore City, 90% of my friends are black...it's funny you say racism still exists because me and all my friends agree that at least in the city I get more racist remarks from black people than my friends actually get from white or other races...

I suppose it also depends on what area of the city you are in as well.

If you are talking about transplants being racist...I can see that because a lot of these transplants from rural white areas are overly snobby and annoying...but if you are talking about people from Baltimore....we have a lot of racist black people here as well so it works both ways

[versicle]

Originally Posted by baltplanner

I'm pro-Baltimore because I'm a resident and I think that its a really cool, underrated place.

Thanks, Baltplanner, for your comments. My spouse and I are considering moving to Baltimore from NYC for a job (and just for general affordability / ability to buy a house, etc.) and it's been helpful to have your counterpoint to some of the more negative views of the city. Your perspective is very useful as we consider this decision.