I'm confused about MD (Baltimore, Bel Air: skyscraper, crime, suburbs)

[CJtheman07]

MHM, in havre de grace they sent half of one of the elementary schools to a little building downtown cuz they ran out of room (lol)

[Streetchie]

Originally Posted by carolott

so Maryland isn't corrupt... just developing IMHO. Maybe I'm wrong

No, I think you have a good attitude about it -- I don't think you're wrong. I really enjoy living here in Baltimore City, despite its ups and downs. I think a lot of it depends more on how you live rather than where you live, if that makes sense. Yes, I live in a city with a high crime rate...but I've had a great experience here over the past seven years.

CarolOtt, I totally respect your commitment to the city, really, but all I hear you say is that you've had "a great experience in the city" and "have never had a problem." Hmmmmm, how many times has your house been broken into? How many drug deals happen every day directly across from your cafe? How many people got shot or mugged while sitting on their front stoop a few blocks from where you live? This is serious crime that YOU are affected by, whether you choose to admit it or not.

[carolott]

Originally Posted by Cottons

CarolOtt, I totally respect your commitment to the city, really, but all I hear you say is that you've had "a great experience in the city" and "have never had a problem." Hmmmmm, how many times has your house been broken into? How many drug deals happen every day directly across from your cafe? How many people got shot or mugged while sitting on their front stoop a few blocks from where you live? This is serious crime that YOU are affected by, whether you choose to admit it or not.

Sorry, I can't give in to the negativity as so many have done. I'm not saying that I'm not affected by crime -- show me where I've said that, please. What I'm saying is that I've had a great experience here. I didn't move here with unrealistic expectations -- I'm all too aware of what city life can be like, good AND bad.

[Streetchie]

Well, your perseverance is impressive. I moved to a highrise (not my style at all) after the 3rd break-in. It's safe but once I hit the sidewalk I'm in combat mode. I've lived in big cities all my life. I can honestly say that Baltimore is one of the most unique places I've lived.....that goes for the people, the culture and the inordinate amount of crime. I'd like to think that I can wait it out, wait for things to get better, but I doubt it. It may never get any better.

[carolott]

Originally Posted by Cottons

Well, your perseverance is impressive. I moved to a highrise (not my style at all) after the 3rd break-in. It's safe but once I hit the sidewalk I'm in combat mode. I've lived in big cities all my life. I can honestly say that Baltimore is one of the most unique places I've lived.....that goes for the people, the culture and the inordinate amount of crime. I'd like to think that I can wait it out, wait for things to get better, but I doubt it. It may never get any better.

You're right. It may never get any better. So you can choose to live your life based on something that may never happen, or you can live in the moment and enjoy yourself.

Took me a long time to get to that point, but once I got there, I never looked back.

[crt76]

I was born and raised on maryland's easternshore and I've lived on the western shore for about 7 years. It's my opinion only but I do not like maryland and plan to move in the next year or two. The original poster asked if her family was doomed? I don't think doomed but if I had children I wouldn't be moving them to MD. The crime is outrageous here regardless of what people may say otherwise. I live in a nice historic district in a not so nice town. there is constant crime all around us and even in our district. we have a huge homeless problem that ever one turns a blind eye and sees no problem with in general. the schools systems in general are very bad in maryland. if i had children i wouldn’t raise them here or if i had no choice they would have to go to a private school no question. housing, taxes, and the cost of living in general is expensive. be prepared for a culture shock when coming to maryland. the implants living in maryland are usually much nicer than the actual marylanders. it's a "good ol' boys" mentality every were in Maryland so be prepared . now when your not dealing with that nonsense maryland just becomes plain ghetto and that's when it gets scary. you will hear about and perhaps learn more about crabs more than you ever wanted to know. i would say find some interesting places to visit on a regular basis and take regular vacations its the only way to survive maryland. a positive about maryland is you can potentially earn a good living. but other than that i would reconsider and move some place else. my wife and i are counting the days until we can leave.

[Streetchie]

Carol, That's exactly my point. Why should I live in a city that may never get any better when this country and others are filled with wonderful places with positive people, less crime and beautiful landscape? I've stayed in Baltimore this long because I like my job and friends here, the city itself (crime, poverty, ugly-ness, hopelessness) is why I'll eventually leave. I'll continue to support the cafe until then though. =)

[jonjj]

Good luck finding a city without poverty and crime and hopelessness. In terms of ugly... That is whole other story. I happen to find Baltimore beautiful because of it's age and architecture. I know it looks beat up and dirty at times. But to me, I'll take it any day to strip malls and traffic.

[rudy_d]

Originally Posted by jonjj

Good luck finding a city without poverty and crime and hopelessness. In terms of ugly... That is whole other story. I happen to find Baltimore beautiful because of it's age and architecture. I know it looks beat up and dirty at times. But to me, I'll take it any day to strip malls and traffic.

I agree 100% with that statement. You're going to run into crime and poverty no matter where you are, whether it's NYC or Jackson, Mississippi. Many of the newer, sprawling cities growing at a rapid pace will eventually experience the same problems as the Baltimore region if they're not doing so already (they may run out of water first).

I love Baltimore because of its history and sense of place. It's not some subdivision that appeared overnight in a former farm field and now labels itself a "community" (although we do have those in the surrounding counties). You do have to be cautious and taxes are high, but I think it's worth it to be able to be able to take a short trip to a market or pub rather than have to trek to a Wal-Mart or Applebee's in an anonymous strip mall.

One of the major causes of the problems in the Baltimore region--and many other older cities--is that people fled the city and inner suburbs in hopes of finding a better life farther out, only to find that the same issues they were fleeing followed them (or were already there, but less obvious).

[Streetchie]

I agree, every city has crime and filth. I've lived in 8 big cities in this country and 2 abroad and have never found a perfect place. Baltimore, however, is the city that I've had the most problems in. As a matter of fact, I never experieced any crime issues in other cities I lived in. Few could make that claim here. Just my opinion.