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Why do you defend Baltimore since you don't live there? Boggles the mind
Umm because I like Baltimore and all the other older, urban, cultured, major cities in the Northeast. So is it your argument that nobody can support a city they don't live in? That's news to me and this entire forum.
Baltimore’s advantages stem from being a large historic city port city that was wealthy and prominent for a long time. This means it has a long legacy of cultural endowments such as a prominent university, music school, museums, etc. It also has interesting historic neighborhoods and quite a bit of interesting historic architecture. On top of that, its neighborhoods are often built nicely on a pedestrian scale and its cost of living is quite low.
However, San Jose is economically doing much better and its crime rate is much lower while its public school system is markedly better. With the money it has now, San Jose is trying to build up its cultural institutions and improve its streetscape and transit system. There’s also the weather which I think a majority of people would find favorable compared to Baltimore’s.
Baltimore can probably turn itself around pretty well if its state government and suburbs weren’t as antagonistic towards it and if Baltimore’s political system were less dysfunctional. It’d also help if Baltimore worked on its strengths of being so close to the booming DC region and strongly invested in its port operations as well as getting its transit system better integrated with the DC area so that it can attract residents and companies/organizations from there into its orbit.
Baltimore’s advantages stem from being a large historic city port city that was wealthy and prominent for a long time. This means it has a long legacy of cultural endowments such as a prominent university, music school, museums, etc. It also has interesting historic neighborhoods and quite a bit of interesting historic architecture. On top of that, its neighborhoods are often built nicely on a pedestrian scale and its cost of living is quite low.
However, San Jose is economically doing much better and its crime rate is much lower while its public school system is markedly better. With the money it has now, San Jose is trying to build up its cultural institutions and improve its streetscape and transit system. There’s also the weather which I think a majority of people would find favorable compared to Baltimore’s.
Baltimore can probably turn itself around pretty well if its state government and suburbs weren’t as antagonistic towards it and if Baltimore’s political system were less dysfunctional. It’d also help if Baltimore worked on its strengths of being so close to the booming DC region and strongly invested in its port operations as well as getting its transit system better integrated with the DC area so that it can attract residents and companies/organizations from there into its orbit.
SJ has already built its cultural inst. and it's just as good as any city. Tech Museum is iconic, no other tech museum exist anywhere. Children museum is one of the best, along with public library. The city gets all the major touring acts, broadway and rock concerts alike.
You're leaving out the apartment complex breaking ground in Federal Hill, or the new tower underway in Harbor East, or Little Italy, or Calvert Street, and the many older building being gutted out and turned into condos. And those are just the projects that I can think of off the top of my head.
Yeah, it looked like there was a decent amount of new construction along with several newer high-end buildings going on along the Harbor when we were back there in October. The Pendry Hotel rehab at Fells Point is stunning
All I'll say is our visit there was really precipitated by the lack of flights into Pittsburgh which was our primary destination to visit friends and that city but we got a super cheap (red-eye ugh!) flight to Baltimore and so we decided to stay a couple of nights to check out the city and we loved it.
Stunning historical architecture/neighborhoods, great density, gorgeous harbor, great museums and decent free bus system downtown to take advantage of. Ate twice at Thames Oyster House we loved it so much and met some great local gals at the bar to give us the scoop about the city. Also became locals at the Saturday Morning Cafe downtown for breakfast and met some great locals there.
There was a sense of a Tale of Two Cities there, prosperous and educated vs desperate and downtrodden, but not so different than most great cities I've been to. We never felt uncomfortable or unsafe there, although we are pretty city savvy and know how to get around most places without getting ourselves in trouble.
We definitely desire to visit the city again.
I would have no reason to visit San Jose. I lived in Cambell growing up and am very familiar with the city.
Yeah, it looked like there was a decent amount of new construction along with several newer high-end buildings going on along the Harbor when we were back there in October. The Pendry Hotel rehab at Fells Point is stunning
All I'll say is our visit there was really precipitated by the lack of flights into Pittsburgh which was our primary destination to visit friends and that city but we got a super cheap (red-eye ugh!) flight to Baltimore and so we decided to stay a couple of nights to check out the city and we loved it.
Stunning historical architecture/neighborhoods, great density, gorgeous harbor, great museums and decent free bus system downtown to take advantage of. Ate twice at Thames Oyster House we loved it so much and met some great local gals at the bar to give us the scoop about the city. Also became locals at the Saturday Morning Cafe downtown for breakfast and met some great locals there.
There was a sense of a Tale of Two Cities there, prosperous and educated vs desperate and downtrodden, but not so different than most great cities I've been to. We never felt uncomfortable or unsafe there, although we are pretty city savvy and know how to get around most places without getting ourselves in trouble.
We definitely desire to visit the city again.
I would have no reason to visit San Jose. I lived in Cambell growing up and am very familiar with the city.
Don't need to visit Baltimore since San Diego is a cool city.
Why do you defend Baltimore since you don't live there? Boggles the mind
As a Baltimore resident I am often forced to defend my decision to live there. That seems odd to me. If someone likes someplace and wants to live there, why should they need to defend their choice? The critics seem to demand that everyone share their values, interests, point of view, etc. To me, that indicates a lack of confidence in one's own decisions, resulting in a need for external affirmation.
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