What is with Baltimore City ? (crime rates, credit card, purchase)

[debold4215]

We all know that Baltimore has the highest murder rate per capita as well as one of the highest non fatal violent crime rates. It has the 6th highest automobile accident rate nation wide and one of the highest opioid addiction rates. Now we learn that it's city's schools have no heat. The city was allotted 66 million to do repairs on their building which includes money for it's boilers/furnaces. To top this the city is unwilling to account for the money they have spent. Who is running the show in Baltimore ?

[choccity]

The folks stealing the money.

[LSone]

It's those "KOREANS", I bet!

[debold4215]

Originally Posted by LSone

It's those "KOREANS", I bet!

Are they at it again ?

[NJ2MDdude]

Originally Posted by debold4215

Are they at it again ?

I don't get it.

[tw71]

It's really pathetic. I have to travel to Baltimore for work, at least once a week, because our company merged with another one located there. I never cease to be amazed at how run-down the downtown area is despite the automobile and foot traffic.

I come from St. Louis, Missouri where the city had the same high crime and money problems Baltimore does. But at least in St. Louis, some of it was more understandable. The downtown is almost a ghost town when the work day ends and there's not a ball game bringing everyone in to see it. So many people simply moved out to a suburb and only drop in to the city itself for a specific reason, and leave again after that.

In Baltimore though, you've got all of these streets just falling apart, and now water main breaks all over the place. The whole paid parking system on side streets is even "broken"! I've tried, on multiple occasions, to park along the side of a street where you're supposed to go purchase a ticket from the machine to leave in your vehicle window. The machines are all non-functional, making it impossible to park legally. (Credit card readers never seem to be able to read the card you put in, or they simply say they're out of service on their display screen.) Doesn't seem to stop the parking cops from handing out the parking violations!

And I can't get from a major highway to downtown itself, or back again, without being hit up by panhandlers at multiple stoplights. They even still run that tired old scam from 30+ years ago with throwing a bucket of water (or something!) on your windshield and then squeegie-ing it off, and expecting a tip for it. When you ignore them or make a sign that you have no money - some of them get all aggressive too.

[skeddy]

Originally Posted by tw71

It's really pathetic. I have to travel to Baltimore for work, at least once a week, because our company merged with another one located there. I never cease to be amazed at how run-down the downtown area is despite the automobile and foot traffic.

I come from St. Louis, Missouri where the city had the same high crime and money problems Baltimore does. But at least in St. Louis, some of it was more understandable. The downtown is almost a ghost town when the work day ends and there's not a ball game bringing everyone in to see it. So many people simply moved out to a suburb and only drop in to the city itself for a specific reason, and leave again after that.

In Baltimore though, you've got all of these streets just falling apart, and now water main breaks all over the place. The whole paid parking system on side streets is even "broken"! I've tried, on multiple occasions, to park along the side of a street where you're supposed to go purchase a ticket from the machine to leave in your vehicle window. The machines are all non-functional, making it impossible to park legally. (Credit card readers never seem to be able to read the card you put in, or they simply say they're out of service on their display screen.) Doesn't seem to stop the parking cops from handing out the parking violations!

And I can't get from a major highway to downtown itself, or back again, without being hit up by panhandlers at multiple stoplights. They even still run that tired old scam from 30+ years ago with throwing a bucket of water (or something!) on your windshield and then squeegie-ing it off, and expecting a tip for it. When you ignore them or make a sign that you have no money - some of them get all aggressive too.

President Trump described what Baltimore really is the other day.

[slowlane3]

Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude

I don't get it.

I think the poster was being sarcastic, referring to urban black peoples' resentment at so many ghetto convenience stores, bodegas, fast-foods, liquor stores, etc. being owned by ethnic Koreans, instead of being owned by fellow black people. And the high prices they charge, compared with supermarkets.

Also, the late Maryland Governor Schaefer made an insulting and ignorant remark some years ago, equating (South) Korean-American shop-owners with North Korea's military belligerence.

[Tinawina]

The problem is the Baltimore City School district gets a lot of money but they also have a very expensive population of kids to educate and a lot of very old buildings. They’ve been audited up the wazoo and the money is not being mismanaged. They’ve been underfunded since forever.

The repair money from the governors office was regulated in a way that required districts to pay up front and get reimbursed. Baltimore didn’t have up front money so they were supposed to go through a different process where they got estimates and submitted those to get advance funding authorized, but then the state would take the money back if the estimate turned out to be too low... which frequently happened since the buildings are so old that additional problems would often arise once repairs were underway. That rule was meant to protect against fraud and price gauging but it just ended up screwing Baltimore City schools.

[pappjohn]

Part of the money was stolen by school administrators, from what I understand.
Baltimore schools are overfunded, not underfunded, based on tons of reports. Corruption is the problem in Baltimore schools, not underfunding.