Baltimore looks like a ghetto, need improvement (Towson, Newark: crimes, houses)

[SmokeyLisa]

It is funny how everyone talks about gentrification in the city (any city), where are you going to put the people that you move out?

[are you kidinme?]

Originally Posted by Billiam

edit: You're predictable

likewise

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by gumbo31

I don't think Baltimore is any different from most big cities--there are good areas and there are bad areas.

Exactly.

[Tallybalt]

Baltimore differs in that the magnitude of the bad areas can and do almost overwhelm the good areas.

I lived in Denver for a period and was given a tour of the city by a life-long resident during my first week. He drove me through a somewhat run-down part of Denver and admitted that the neighborhood was probably the city's most crime and drug-ridden area.

I just started to laugh, and I laughed and laughed. What I saw had nothing to touch on the sheer decay of large stretches of Baltimore.

So, yes, it is misleading to write off Baltimore's bad areas by saying that every city is a mix of good and bad areas. That is true, but only a handful of other cities have such extensive stretches of run-down, drug and crime ridden neighborhoods. But Baltimore's pleasant areas are very pleasant and among the most attractive neighborhoods in the country.

[powersnax]

Originally Posted by SmokeyLisa

It is funny how everyone talks about gentrification in the city (any city), where are you going to put the people that you move out?

Gentrification is a natural social process that does not involve forced evictions. I'm not completely familiar with how this works in practice, but I'm sure it involves tax rates and housing prices becoming prohibitively high for lower income residents to come in, and the higher prices probably encourage the existing residents to sell for a profit which makes room for the yuppies.

I don't know where the former residents end up going either. Good question.

[SmokeyLisa]

Typically higher home values allow the homeowners to cash in or the landlords raise rents or switch their properties to condos/etc (ownership properties). These people move to other cities and neighborhoods perhaps not in such a highly concentrated area but either way the receiving town will eventually complain about the drain of resources on lower income people. Sometimes, the government does take over peoples houses thru eminent domain or other ways so that they can transform the city into a more desirable place. I'm definitely not a fan on eminent domain, I know in NJ near the water they took over peoples houses even though the kept up well and you people who had lived in their home 50 years and they were forced to leave but they could not afford to even buy the new condos that they were building.

I prefer incentives for the people to stay, clean-up and take pride in their own neighborhoods.

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by are you kidinme?

likewise

Yawn

[Joe84323]

Whoever found this as a surprise: are you serious?

I take it the OP either isn't well traveled, or isn't well traveled in the Northeast, or Mid-Atlantic, or something, but it is well known that all the significant Mid-Atlantic Cities are chocked full of high-crime ghetto. Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, Phila, Camden, Trenton, Newark, NYC, and the CT cities all have huge areas previously connected with industry. When industry died out, and got shipped overseas, these areas got really bad. Boston and NYC seem to have bounced back well.

Baltimore has been the worst major city on the east coast for any one of our lifetimes, followed by D.C. and Philly. Baltimore and Detroit have topped the high-crime lists for years in terms of larger cities.

Baltimore will gentrify, though, and slowly, as gas gets more expensive, and the suburbs get worse, people will want urban life once again, they'll buy cheap, fix it up, and sell it for a profit, to yuppies.

[Joe84323]

Originally Posted by SmokeyLisa

It is funny how everyone talks about gentrification in the city (any city), where are you going to put the people that you move out?

The inner-ring older suburbs. You'll see them go downhill in the next 10 years.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by Joe84323

The inner-ring older suburbs. You'll see them go downhill in the next 10 years.

Agreed...I think that some of these older suburbs..may be considered less attractive and some have outdated strip malls are being vacated leaving behind empty big boxes. Some of these suburban areas are too close in and older/style to be competative with the new outer suburbs and not close enough to downtown to be considered "trendy" or as transit accessible. Many will be the areas that may experience problems in the near future. Those who are gentrified will likely relocate to these areas because of the lower rents/prices etc. Some suburban counties may have problems dealing with this migration pattern.