I work in DC, son attending MICA, where to live?

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by baltimore's best

Man I guess I've been lucky. I'm relatively new here but haven't been afraid. I walk around Federal Hill, Fells pt., Canton and Paterson Park visiting bars and restaurants all the time. I've never even been appraoched except by the ramdom homeless person.

I walk or bike around those same areas also and I've never been hassled. But, remember there is another whole side of Baltimore that I would not walk around in. In some areas, I wouldn't even walk around in during the day. Not to dump solely on Baltimore though because every city has it's tough side that I would avoid.

[atx]

I want to tag onto this thread if I could our situation is very similar.

My wife and I are moving from Austin to the area. She will be attending MICA, I will be going to grad school at UM in College Park. She doesn't drive, I want to cut down. We are thinking along the same lines. Living in Baltimore near the penn line somewhere but close enough on transpo to MICA for her and then I commute to college park by train mostly. The difference is we will be broke and need someplace much cheaper than what Sketchy would be able to get. Suggestions?

I wasn't really worried about crime until I started reading this thread. looked into it more and found the murder map. coming from another mid-sized city, we average about 20-25 murders a year and crime is fairly isolated. vs. 250-300 in baltimore. its alot higher and it seems to be distributed everywhere. its got to be better than it seems, right?

[barante]

Penn line won't take you to College Park (unless you backtrack from Greenbelt by D.C. Metro). You need to live near Camden Line.
Seems to me that you may be a candidate for Carol Ott's Pigtown. Or some other nearby neighborhood, such as Hollins Market.
Mount Vernon near Howard Street may be a happy medium: Both of you could use the light rail -- your wife to reach MICA and you the Camden Station.

[baltimore's best]

"I wasn't really worried about crime until I started reading this thread. looked into it more and found the murder map. coming from another mid-sized city, we average about 20-25 murders a year and crime is fairly isolated. vs. 250-300 in baltimore. its alot higher and it seems to be distributed everywhere. its got to be better than it seems, right?"

I wouldn't worry about it. Baltimore is very safe. Just think, you could have decided on Detroit with 418 murders in 2006. Everything is relative and as posters point out frequently: city life isn't for everybody. Very rarely are "regular" people involved in these murders; unless you're unlucky and catch a stray bullet. It's almost all drug wars.

[Nutmeggz]

I'm a local who lives in Pigtown and I would suggest to def. move to Bolton Hill - in fact I used to live there - 1800 blk of Bolton St. For your son Bolton Hill is the place to be, he'll be close to friends and to school. There are a lot of great local hang outs right there for him as well. I also found the neighborhood to be the quiestest one that is close to downtown. Bolton St and Park St are the greatest streets in the spring time - I love the trees.
You cannot beat the houses in Bolton Hill - I love the old architecture of those homes!
As for safety - I used to walk the streets at night all the time! From the end of Bolton St all the way to Mt. Vernon - no problems the entire time I was there.
Could should look on Craigslist and some of the realtor sites like Long & Foster - there are quite a few ppl out there who own homes and rent them out (that is how I found an apt there). There are also several very nice apt complexes in that area btw Mt. Vernon and Bolton Hill.
As for your other options - Federal Hill you will get sick of - your son may not - but I can say parking is a nightmare - and if you live near Cross St market - be ready for noise and craziness.
Halethorpe - I agree with some of the other posts - your son will get bored. The one thing I would never take away from my college education was the close prox. that I lived to college, it made my experience so much better - I felt less removed (I commuted my first semester and I hated it).
Also, I commuted to DC for a period of time so I know about the commute - the closer you live to the station, the better. Halethorpe is an outdoor station and it gets cold in the winter! Penn Station is so much warmer :-)

[atx]

right. camden goes directly to college park but it only runs a few times a day in the morning and then again in the evening. I'll be doing a masters in architecture which requires longer days, so that may not be convenient for me.

I could take the camden line in and take the penn back if I had too.

How far apart are the stations? are they connected by light rail?


how about living in the middle along one of the lines so we split the commute? is it cheap/safe between DC and Baltimore?

[carolott]

Originally Posted by atx

right. camden goes directly to college park but it only runs a few times a day in the morning and then again in the evening. I'll be doing a masters in architecture which requires longer days, so that may not be convenient for me.

I could take the camden line in and take the penn back if I had too.

How far apart are the stations? are they connected by light rail?


how about living in the middle along one of the lines so we split the commute? is it cheap/safe between DC and Baltimore?

I used to commute to DC on the MARC train, and I would take the Camden line in, and the Penn line home. I live in Pigtown, and it was nice to walk to and from the Camden station (on the rare day I could make it home before the Camden line shut down for the day.) And Penn Station was only a 6 dollar cab ride away.

Congrats on your degree, by the way. The reason I worked in DC -- I was working for an A/E/I firm in Georgetown.

[sketchy]

Thanks for the insight into Bolton Hill, Nutmeggz. I have decided to focus on moving to either the safer section of Bolton Hill, Mt. Vernon, or perhaps the area immediately surrounding Penn Station.

An apartment with parking might be the least hassle for now. I might think about buying in a year once I get my Baltimore bearings and if the real estate market conditions clear up.