Who is leaving Maryland?? (Baltimore, Frederick: houses, income, taxes)

[skyshark75]

Kinda pointless to live in the USA if your vote is useless. This state is solid BLUE. Moved back south.

My neighborhood went to the crapper practically overnight. It recently became overrun with section 8's, relocated Katrina victims, and insurance fraud people. You know the type that carry crutches and are constantly paranoid a insurance agent is gonna catch them doing Zumba while on permanant disability... Hooray more left leaning voters! GONE!

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by dodge boy

I have lived in Hagerstown for nearly 50 years, my family has been here for generations. We are leaving as soon as possible, maybe by Thanksgiving, certainly by Christmas. I have seen the demise of this once nice little town. The past few years have seen an influx of welfare dependent, obnoxious people along with the problems that accompany them. I believe these people have come from the metro areas of the state with the approval/encouragement of local officials. The majority of inner city Hagerstown is now Section 8 housing. The drugs and crime are out of control.

Hmm....Section 8 moving into Hagerstown. Just found the post interesting, if nothing else. No specific comment, but curious to see others from Hagerstown if they agree or disagree, etc.

(I don't know Hagerstown myself, but I like the look of it).

[btsilver]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Hmm....Section 8 moving into Hagerstown. Just found the post interesting, if nothing else. No specific comment, but curious to see others from Hagerstown if they agree or disagree, etc.

(I don't know Hagerstown myself, but I like the look of it).

You have to understand that people on this site exaggerate a lot. A whole lot.

[MaybeMDorME?]

I don't know what to think of all this....... are these facts posted here or peoples opinions? I do enjoy reading them and they give me more questions to find answers too.....

I plan to go to Hagerstown later this month to look around for myself and see what I see..... should be interesting.

[North Beach Person]

There has been some complaint the last couple years about Montgomery County Section 8 residents being encouraged to move out to Frederick and Hagerstown. The encouragement was officially stated as the cost of housing being less in those two areas.

[nycwind]

I love Maryland...haters can leave ASAP.

[Ashley Wilis]

Hi,
I am not leaving infact I am enjoying my life here, I left Maryland some month ago just for vacation, and come back as soon as possible, I love my life here. its my sweet home

[ceilinglamp]

I like Maryland. It's not perfect, but there are good shopping options, a great number of interesting places (urban and rural), and a nice mixture of different cultures.

[Zixouh]

Originally Posted by MaybeMDorME?

I don't know what to think of all this....... are these facts posted here or peoples opinions? I do enjoy reading them and they give me more questions to find answers too.....

I plan to go to Hagerstown later this month to look around for myself and see what I see..... should be interesting.

Hagerstown certainly has its shady areas downtown(and by shady I mean worse than the 'shady' parts of, say, Columbia, but not inner city Baltimore), but like someone else said, people tend to exaggerate a LOT depending on their opinions.

It also has its beautiful parts, and is far out enough from DC that housing doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I rent a 3br apartment in a fairly nice suburb for less than $900 a month. I don't expect this to last for too much longer, though; Frederick has already exploded in growth in the past 10 years and I suspect the same will happen to Hagerstown in the next coming years as well.

[stephadele]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

You sound like a great person but all I know about you is this.

"Interesting all the responses here..I grew up in Waco, Texas and I would never live in the bible belt racist south again...I lived in Massachusetts for 20 years and loved it..Yeah, all those "high" taxes paid for WONDERFUL services that dont exist in Maryland....Thats what alot of people dont get. In EVERY small town, there was culture, the arts, open space, nature, educational resources galore...and healthcare for everyone..regardless of how much you could afford....So why am I not there?...I moved to marry my husband, he has a very good job is here.....I hated Montgomery County, it had far worse traffic than Boston...So we compromised and moved to the Eastern Shore near Kent Island...Yes, there are rednacks and bible belters here but nothing like what I saw in Virginia and the lower Shore....Being near Annapolis does help weed that out....The Upper Shore towns like Chestertown and Easton and Centreville and Queenstown are changing fast with people leaving Mont County and willing to commute to work by the bus service they have in Kent Island...Ive spoken to several people who moved here several years before we did and they already see rapid change in the number of educated people moving here....Nothing can compare here...I ride my bike and see eagle, osprey, deer by the hundreds, fox, quail, wild turkey....My garden has salamanders, monarch and swallowtail butterflies so thick it looks like a swarm, and plenty of frogs and toads...which is the sign of a very healthy ecosystem...Those amphibians and insects are very sensitive to pollution are are the first to leave a polluted area, which is why one doesnt see them much in Mont Co. ...All of this and the clean air and clear nite sky is worth the occassional stupid redneck for me..We pray that this doesnt change but if it does, we are moving too.....out of the country."


Calling people stupid rednecks doesn't reflect any of the compassion you seem to have for the other groups you work with at your church. Throwing regions like Virginia, Waco Texas and lower shore of Maryland under the bus is tasteless as well.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you were having a bad day, and just letting off some steam. Still, you have to realize your attitude and mentality are very different from mine and others. A house 20 years old where I lived would be called a "new house." Most of the housing stock in my county dates from 1940 and much prior. My house was built in 1916, as most others on my block. I sometimes wonder what the hillside my house sits on would have looked like before the neighborhood was constructed.....You can ask most of the locals what your piece of paradise looked like before 1990 and get a good description.

It is great when stable or declining regions, like where I live or the Eastern Shore, receives new residents. It is also great when those people work earnestly to help their new homes.

But, the condescending attitude you displayed in your first post is the fastest way to alienate people in traditional communities. We are not perfect, many of us are "Bible Belters" or "Stupid Rednecks" but throwing around epithets and insults, you would never dare utter against your chosen groups for outreach, turns people off and brands you as a hypocrite.

Lest we keep doing tit for tat here, its getting really old....I lived in New England for 25 years and never lived in a house under 100 years old.....My house in Silver Spring was 65 years old....I dont expect most people to understand my "attitude" and alarm regarding the environment and the state we are in regarding ruining the environment...I am tired of being called names also..tree hugger, traitor, stupid liberal...How do you think it felt like to get up and go to work each day and work 10 hours a day helping vets and families with PTSD and domestic violence and training professionals when I had to deal with people who had no idea how much I helped the very people they claimed they were "supporting"?.....How do you think it felt like to have rape victims, soldiers, people with depression, the mentally ill, substance abusers, being called liars and wusses by the public when Im the one who had to deal with the fallout of that behind closed doors?....Ignorance isnt bliss and most dont care or are clueless that Ive done more work helping people in my profession that most armchair critics have done in a lifetime so I wouldnt expect you, like most people, to understand...Sorry to upset you but from what Ive experienced and witnessed over 40 years, it is Southern ignorance and rednecks who perpetuate the Walmarts and endless gold courses and insistance on having everything "new" and "big" without any regard to others: the plants, people or animals....Most of strip mall Florida is an ecological nightmare...Ive lived in the South for 23 years before moving back to NE and saw it all....The truth hurts and accusing people who speak it of having an "attitude" doesnt change a thing....Keeping quiet and shutting up doesnt change things...History has proven that time and time again.....Thats reality...Face it...Im not responsible for your baggage regarding my "attitude", you are...Those who have been told that are the ones who have made the most difference in the world....I know what I have done and am proud of it.