Politics: B'More vs. DC, What's teh Beef? (Baltimore, Frederick: transplants, crime)

[waltlantz]

Reading the Post's coverage of MD politics sometimes, they make reference to a rivarly between B'more and it's burbs (B'more county primarily) and the DC burbs (MontCo and PW), most specifically on a recent push for transit dollars.

I am actually surprised as I assumed that they were familiar politically and culturally. Anyone have any insight to this? (NO TROLLING OR FLAMES PLEASE, KEEP IT CIViL AND INTELLEGENT).

[North Beach Person]

Actually it's between the City and the DC suburbs. Most MD Governors in the recent past have been Baltimore-centric and directed funding there (witness the number of State departments headquatered there rather than Annapolis), more so than to Montgomery and PG which have grown while the City has shrunk. Those Counties tend to have a different culture, more DC oriented, or mind set than the City and it's suburbs. Gov. Schaffer was very Baltimore oriented, O'Malley less so but still is. Ehrlich was, too. Glendenning, maybe not so much, but he was from PG.

Baltimore was once the population center of the State, now it's Montgomery, PG and to a lesser extent Anne Arundel (which is somewhat oriented to Baltimore).

[PenguinSix]

Money and focus. People in Montgomery County feel their tax dollars go to finance Baltimore.

Same story pretty much around the country. Folks in Georgetown DC feel their money goes to fund SE DC. People in downstate Illinois feel their taxes are overspent in Chicago. Pretty much anyplace with a large urban center will have folks in other parts feel they are unfairly financing the folks who live in the big city without getting much back in return.

[cool rob]

Pretty much what everybody else has said, money and focus. You mentioned PW as in Prince William (I think you meant PG as in Prince George's). Unfortunatley, Baltimore has contiuned to eat resources, while Montgomery and Prince george's have actually done something with the resources that they have received (to an extent, even though their is lot of money wasted on their ends as well).

Baltimore's biggest claim to fame has been the inner harbor, while on that same note the city may eat up more money on addiction prevention or AIDS awareness than a smaller county like, say Caroline county receives in their total budget. Baltimore City has been plagued by poor schools, addiction, AIDS, crime and other ills for many, many years (the same as other counties, just at a bigger rate with no signs of decline) and at some point, someone in office will be forced to realize that throwing money at it is not going to change anything. From my understanding, while crime has gone down in the District and Prince George's, it still continues to rise in Baltimore. Reason being, what industry can Baltimore latch on to? Bethleham Steel is long gone, along with other blue collar jobs, while Montgomery, Prince George's and NOVA have the luxury of latching onto the Federal Government in the DC for employment. The recession seems to have skipped the DC metro area, while Baltimore got hit like other cities. You also have entitlement and eliteism from all sides of the coin, making the waters even more murkier.

Baltimore has always has always strived to become a mini new york or DC, however just like New York, DC and other cities, corruption in government along with other issues like money mismanagement, and shifting priorities, runs very deep and can switch every four to eight years. Maybe instead of trying to make Baltimore into a mini New York, how about letting Baltimore just be Baltimore?

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by cool rob

Pretty much what everybody else has said, money and focus. You mentioned PW as in Prince William (I think you meant PG as in Prince George's). Unfortunatley, Baltimore has contiuned to eat resources, while Montgomery and Prince george's have actually done something with the resources that they have received (to an extent, even though their is lot of money wasted on their ends as well).

Baltimore's biggest claim to fame has been the inner harbor, while on that same note the city may eat up more money on addiction prevention or AIDS awareness than a smaller county like, say Caroline county receives in their total budget. Baltimore City has been plagued by poor schools, addiction, AIDS, crime and other ills for many, many years (the same as other counties, just at a bigger rate with no signs of decline) and at some point, someone in office will be forced to realize that throwing money at it is not going to change anything. From my understanding, while crime has gone down in the District and Prince George's, it still continues to rise in Baltimore. Reason being, what industry can Baltimore latch on to? Bethleham Steel is long gone, along with other blue collar jobs, while Montgomery, Prince George's and NOVA have the luxury of latching onto the Federal Government in the DC for employment. The recession seems to have skipped the DC metro area, while Baltimore got hit like other cities. You also have entitlement and eliteism from all sides of the coin, making the waters even more murkier.

Baltimore has always has always strived to become a mini new york or DC, however just like New York, DC and other cities, corruption in government along with other issues like money mismanagement, and shifting priorities, runs very deep and can switch every four to eight years. Maybe instead of trying to make Baltimore into a mini New York, how about letting Baltimore just be Baltimore?

Baltimore's unemployment rate is actually below the national average and the metro area has been doing quite well during this recession. I know a couple publications recently placed it as one of the better places to live during the current troubled economic era. There was never a housing boom and the jobs are mostly focused around education and medical, which are recession-proof industries.

[NJ2MDdude]

With respect to sports, DC stole the Baltimore Bullets (present day Washington Wizards) and were later accused of trying to steal the Orioles when DC atty Edward Bennett Williams bought the team. After the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis, Baltimore area football fans accused Jack Kent Cooke, the former owner of the Redskins, of trying to prevent Baltimore from obtaining another NFL franchise. Cooke claimed Baltimore was Redskins' territory, and he actually tried to enforce his claim by proposing to moving his team to Laurel (midway point between DC and Balt). Recently, Peter Angelos, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, tried unsuccessfully to stop the Montreal Expos from moving to DC.

[Gil3]

Baltimore's biggest claim to fame has been the inner harbor,

It won't be for much longer unless it is re-invented and updated.

[cool rob]

Originally Posted by danwxman

Baltimore's unemployment rate is actually below the national average and the metro area has been doing quite well during this recession. I know a couple publications recently placed it as one of the better places to live during the current troubled economic era. There was never a housing boom and the jobs are mostly focused around education and medical, which are recession-proof industries.

Those professions are also not classically considered blue collar, and most if not a great number of higher paid medical staff are transplants, who happened to attend hopkins. (same w/education)

Whereas in the District, with a high school diploma or less, you still have a lot of jobs for blue collar workers, and most if not all go to homegrown employees.

I also disagree regrading the lack of a housing boom, at one point houses were priced crazy and projects were being torn down (Murphy Homes, Edmonston Village) in order to put up new developments, which were priced too high for the area.

[cpterp]

Despite the distance of only about 30 or so miles between the two Beltways, it feels like Baltimore is 3 hours away sometimes. I strongly agree with North Beach and all the other posts above. The governor's office is biased towards Baltimore and it's suburbs, despite the DC Suburbs being the most populous jurisdictions (PGC and MoCo). I'm not sure, but I would guess that Montgomery County's is a stronger economic power than Baltimore is now. Instead of one united Metro Area however, it's the DC Metro Area and the Baltimore Metro Area.

One example of this bias is mass transit. I use MARC sometimes to commute from Montgomery County, and I've noticed that the MTA pays more attention to the two Baltimore lines than the Brunswick Line (Montgomery and Frederick Counties). The Purple Line is also the first time I can remember the Maryland Transit Administration (which services serve Baltimore almost exclusively) having anything to do with a suburban DC project.

The local media (such as the Wash. Post and WTOP) exacerbates the problem by only reporting news in specific counties. The only time the Washington Post will report anything happening in Anne Arundel, Howard, or Carroll Counties if it's a serious crime (i.e. a prime story for sensationalising). DC media regularly report news from Montgomery, Prince George's, Frederick, Charles, and Calvert Counties. The Baltimore media cover "the County," Howard, Anne Arundel, and Harford. It has nothing to do with distance either, since the Washington Post coverage area extends way south into Virginia (eg. Stafford County). The Post even regards UVA and VT as "local" colleges despite the former being the same distance as Villanova, and the latter being about 50 miles farther from DC than NYU, but the farthest MD school covered by the WaPo is the Naval Academy.

[KeyserSoze]

Originally Posted by cpterp

the Washington Post coverage area extends way south into Virginia (eg. Stafford County). The Post even regards UVA and VT as "local" colleges despite the former being the same distance as Villanova, and the latter being about 50 miles farther from DC than NYU, but the farthest MD school covered by the WaPo is the Naval Academy.

DC by far is the city with the greatest sphere of influence in Virginia. I don't know what your beef with the areas "way south" of you are, but they are just as much a part of the metro as the Maryland side. Would you complain about York County, "way North" in Pennsylvania that has strong ties to the Baltimore area?

Anyway. I've never seen much of the tension between the two metros. Yea, they're a bit standoffish to each other, but that's all I've really seen. If anything, I think it may just be the "spirit" of rivalry. But if animosity seriously exists between the two, I think that's silly. These two cities should be competing together as a big metro, like Dallas/Fort Worth, or San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland. The possibilities are literally endless.