Is crime really that bad in Maryland? (Baltimore, Columbia: neighborhoods, school)

[RoadTripGurl]

Either accept the apology or get over then. Sheesh! At least Westsideboy offered me a constructive argument, and not just a "you were"...

[Billiam]

oh, I was just kidding. You said "I'm not trying to be offensive" a lot of times. It was just a joke

[brimat]

Cecil County used to be very beautiful and rural. Everyone fleeing the cities and the depletion of their environments has overcrowded our schools, strained our water systems and destroyed much of our forests with development. We now have developments and the like named after what used to be there.."The Meadows," "Washington Woods". You get the picture. Crime however is still not a problem. (We're well behaved "hicks)

[monto3151719]

My sister lives in Colora not to far away. Yes you hear redneck and all but listening to my sister it is a great place to raise kids and she never locks her doors. She has 4 kids 3, 8, 9, and 19. She would not live anywhere else.

[le19555]

That's funny - figure out why? They commit crime usually because you have something they want!

[captj]

Well if only educated people live in Upper Marlboro, you must have gotten off at the wrong stop. I have never seen so many misspellings and typos from a so-called "educated" person. I couldn't even decipher half the "educated" city roll call because most were spelled wrong or mistyped. What the hell is 'Accrokee'? Do you mean Acc-o-keek?? The people in the cities you named are no more hard working and do not possess a greater desire to well care for their families than those in Cap. Heights, etc. If the people in Upper Marlboro, Bowie, etc., are paying $500K+ for a house that is the same square footage (or less) as some in Temple Hills, then who is really smarter? Get real... this is the DC metro area, regardless of where you purchase; if you buy a home anywhere in this vicinity, the property will appreciate at a rate faster than most cities in America. So instead of pointing fingers at areas you consider to be poor you should spend more time looking at a map or a dictionary and learning how to spell them. Thank you for your submission.

[ballclaper22]

yeah i live in parkville md, just outside of baltimore city and for the most part its pretty quiet. I'd say the most you would have to worry about is your car getting robbed or getting jumped by some nighttime hoodlums. Also there are many druggies in parkville (more than you would expect anyway) but other than that, not much goes down, i would know because im always walking around at all hours of the night busting windows out or going car hopping or smoking a blunt etc.

[alido]

Maryland is very diverse. Sure there are negative pockets. There are even a few isolated areas of old timers, some r progressive (surprise) others are not. That happens all over. We agree to disagree.

If you visit Western Maryland, Allegany, Garrett, and Washington Counties, you need to stay over and sample community events and meet people at the festivals and seasonal events. Seeing a confederate flag hanging on some balcony does not demonstrate the fiber or breadth of the community. I could say seeing a 7/11 with undesirable teens playing loud music outside makes that entire block bad. Not accurate/A broad brush short changes your options.

If you are a young 20 something try Hagerstown Md in Oct. www.HagerstownLive (broken link), features an attempt at a street festival, introducing new music and pubs.

Allegany County
I enjoy the street festivals and art communities in Cumberland Md better, as well as activities at Frostburg State University. (Fredrick Md is also entertaining but not as rural, and outside the Western Md line.)

The local hagerstown paper has a spread every year on the KKK. They describe a tiny KKK group that comes once a year for a very isolated and short term mini demonstration. They center around Shapesburg because it is near the battlefield. They are depicted as a rag tag group of 5 men, ranging in age from 25 to 30 yrs. old. They are viewed as rejects in funky hoods. There is a huge counter demonstration of Churches, they put on a family fair to draw attention to that vs the KKK idiots. The newspaper does not highlight the counter programs/community efforts.

Most townspeople ignore or laugh at them. The head guy last year was arrested months later on unrelated charges, a total waste of a guy. Certainly, not a barometer to guage Western Md or Washington County, Md. There is something called context and that is the context for the confederate flags and KKK wannabees I have seen in the area. This tiny spectacle gets huge coverage yet it is a tiny demonstration.You can look and find racially isolating practices anywhere, sadly all racial groups have tiny pockets of this. They sadly do not try to meet others and miss opportunities. I work on this myself. We all do. It is more uplifting & enjoable to sample the different cultures of the rural and more urban communities out here.

I live in a very diverse area of Hagerstown, Md in Washington County Md. The county is not perfect but either are other Maryland municipalities. Or Wash DC, where I moved from. A lot of people of varying backgrounds are pouring in here. So there must be some redeeming factors in Western Md.

I love it. It is actually good that some do not bother getting to know the wonders out here. It is their loss as they drive by on 70 or 81. Some whiz by assumming faulty generalities thru entire counties. That will mean less congestion and more space for me!!!

[Therapy4Life]

Originally Posted by RoadTripGurl

There's an area in St. Mary's County that i drove through like that, and some remote area of Cecil County. Again,. areas i would not have driven through if I hadn't known anyone. A poster was commenting that Carroll County was like that. I know it is somewhat very country, but I never heard of them being like that. They are definitely not as prevalent as the crazy black areas!!!!

You guys need to stop playing the race card!!! Life is to short for this. If it is rasicm in these areas its would be awesome for different individuals to know of these facts, however leave the race out of it and just let it be the human race !! Crime is crime no matter who comments it not what race did it .

[familymatters]

Originally Posted by alido

I love it. It is actually good that some do not bother getting to know the wonders out here. It is their loss as they drive by on 70 or 81. Some whiz by assumming faulty generalities thru entire counties. That will mean less congestion and more space for me!!!

well said alido!