Is Baltimore the 80's version of DC? (Newark: violent crime, credit)

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Chriz Brown

And I think Baltimore will stay in the poor group BECAUSE of its close proximity to DC. Just like Newark NJ and its close proximity to NYC.

You can't have two elite cities right next to each other. The more elite city will naturally attract the "better crowd" and the more poor city will naturally be in its shadow and stay there.

There is no incentive to go to Baltimore when given the choice of DC. Just like there is no incentive to go to Newark when given the choice of NYC.

While I tend to agree that Baltimore is doing better and gentrifying, this is a very good point that I think is probably Baltimore's biggest obstacle to ever seeing the kind of investment that DC is seeing.

[choccity]

I can not say this loud enough! It's the crime, murders daily etc!! The corruption, no audits, and the overtaxing of residents to balance budgets or fill "gaps" misappropriated money maybe? And it's the leadership! Need new leadership "different" maybe someone not local that can see the city without bias. DC had the control board take over to get the city's finances under control. After budgets were balanced for about 5 years the control board was eliminated. I don't know if receivership of Baltimore is a consideration but there has to be some drastic changes to save it.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by kcmo

While I tend to agree that Baltimore is doing better and gentrifying, this is a very good point that I think is probably Baltimore's biggest obstacle to ever seeing the kind of investment that DC is seeing.

What happens when, through John's Hopkins and UMBC's cybersecurity incubators, Baltimore starts to attract that industry and becomes a cybersecurty hub? It is certainly possible. People will pick and choose where they want to live in Baltimore just like they did in DC as it gentrified.

The problem as I see it is the politics. Baltimore never successfully transitioned from a factory town to a service industry or knowledge town.

[the resident09]

Baltimore has not gentrified enough, point blank. It has to gentrify at a much faster pace if it wants to keep up with the successes of DC or any of the other major NEC cities.

[Chriz Brown]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

What happens when, through John's Hopkins and UMBC's cybersecurity incubators, Baltimore starts to attract that industry and becomes a cybersecurty hub? It is certainly possible. People will pick and choose where they want to live in Baltimore just like they did in DC as it gentrified.

The problem as I see it is the politics. Baltimore never successfully transitioned from a factory town to a service industry or knowledge town.

Here is the thing. All world class cities in the U.S. have something unique about them. There is nothing unique about Baltimore. What makes Baltimore special? Nothing. So why should anyone care about Baltimore from an International perspective?

Elite cities are International cities. To be International you need something unique that attracts people outside the U.S. borders.

Los Angeles: Hollywood and entertainment
New York: Media, Art, Fashion, and Money capital
Washington DC: Nation's Capital, History, Politics, FBI and CIA Spy stuff
San Francisco: Technology

To a lesser degree:

Maimi: Fashion, Culture, Beaches, Drugs
Las Vegas: Over the top Casinos, Entertainment, Sex, Drugs
Chicago: Food, History

National Cities:

Philly: Cheesesteaks, sports, Rocky
Austin: Bar scene
Boston: Sports, Seafood
Houston: NASA, BBQ
New Orleans: Food, Party scene

There is nothing special about Baltimore. Its just an "any city" which there are many across the country.. like Wilmington, Newark, Dallas, Richmond, etc.

[bufflove]

Originally Posted by Chriz Brown

Here is the thing. All world class cities in the U.S. have something unique about them. There is nothing unique about Baltimore. What makes Baltimore special? Nothing. So why should anyone care about Baltimore from an International perspective?

Elite cities are International cities. To be International you need something unique that attracts people outside the U.S. borders.

Los Angeles: Hollywood and entertainment
New York: Media, Art, Fashion, and Money capital
Washington DC: Nation's Capital, History, Politics, FBI and CIA Spy stuff
San Francisco: Technology

To a lesser degree:

Maimi: Fashion, Culture, Beaches, Drugs
Las Vegas: Over the top Casinos, Entertainment, Sex, Drugs
Chicago: Food, History

National Cities:

Philly: Cheesesteaks, sports, Rocky
Austin: Bar scene
Boston: Sports, Seafood
Houston: NASA, BBQ
New Orleans: Food, Party scene

There is nothing special about Baltimore. Its just an "any city" which there are many across the country.. like Wilmington, Newark, Dallas, Richmond, etc.

First off: Bull. One of the few things Baltimore does very well is attract tourists. And if you think the likes of Houston, TX are more "unique" than Baltimore then you clearly haven't been to one or both of those cities.

Second off: who cares if Baltimore's an "International city" with an "International perspective???" I couldn't care less if someone from Brussels has an opinion on Baltimore; what matters is that Baltimore itself thrives. That has nothing to do with being known for casinos or cheesesteaks.

[DistrictSonic]

Originally Posted by Chriz Brown

Here is the thing. All world class cities in the U.S. have something unique about them. There is nothing unique about Baltimore. What makes Baltimore special? Nothing. So why should anyone care about Baltimore from an International perspective?

Elite cities are International cities. To be International you need something unique that attracts people outside the U.S. borders.

Los Angeles: Hollywood and entertainment
New York: Media, Art, Fashion, and Money capital
Washington DC: Nation's Capital, History, Politics, FBI and CIA Spy stuff
San Francisco: Technology

To a lesser degree:

Maimi: Fashion, Culture, Beaches, Drugs
Las Vegas: Over the top Casinos, Entertainment, Sex, Drugs
Chicago: Food, History

National Cities:

Philly: Cheesesteaks, sports, Rocky
Austin: Bar scene
Boston: Sports, Seafood
Houston: NASA, BBQ
New Orleans: Food, Party scene

There is nothing special about Baltimore. Its just an "any city" which there are many across the country.. like Wilmington, Newark, Dallas, Richmond, etc.

Boston is in the Elite group. Reason why...Universities. MIT, Harvard, etc. They have more in their city boundaries than any other place in the country. The Elite Group is NYC, Boston, DC, LA, and SF. But Boston is without question there. It's not just sports and seafood, it's the Research Institutions (the universities), and Biotech.

Back on topic...this is the thing. Baltimore is likely not going to thrive unless it has something driving people into the city. It is very hard to compete against both the elites of DC, Boston, and NYC. Likewise Philly is right there competing as well, with better infrastructure, and better resources.

If Baltimore would smart, it would try to position itself better for arts and entertainment. Even though New Orleans for example has many of the same problems as Baltimore, millions of people come to visit for the parties. Why? The french quarter is a party area like none other with great food as well. So it is a draw as a result. Baltimore...it has an aquarium and crab cakes. That's the big draw. It's loosing Otakon to DC which was a huge tourist event for them.

In some ways this is worse than DC. DC at least had that foundation to build from with being the nations capital. Baltimore needs to figure itself out in terms of the east coast. It's the red-headed step child of the BosWash corridor.

[TenTen]

Baltimore is definitely one of the stronger medical hubs, I would go as far to say the medical space there is better than in the D.C. area. It has a future in Biotech and Cybersecurity so much that the region alone has more biotechs than all of virginia. It is also the headquarters of Under Armour (CEO Kevin Plank is heavily invested in transforming the city) and financial firms like TRowe Price and Legg Mason.

The biggest obstacle seems to be that each government since the 80's doesnt want to do what needs to be done to take it to the next level and be competitive.

[DistrictSonic]

Originally Posted by TenTen

Baltimore is definitely one of the stronger medical hubs, I would go as far to say the medical space there is better than in the D.C. area. It has a future in Biotech and Cybersecurity so much that the region alone has more biotechs than all of virginia. It is also the headquarters of Under Armour (CEO Kevin Plank is heavily invested in transforming the city) and financial firms like TRowe Price and Legg Mason.

The biggest obstacle seems to be that each government since the 80's doesnt want to do what needs to be done to take it to the next level and be competitive.

I am going to say both in Biotech and Cybersecurity DC area is far larger. The cybersecurity industry is primarily located in the DC and SV/SF area. Baltimore is not even on the radar for people in this industry, and that is likely to remain the case. Same goes for biotech, Baltimore is far smaller, with none of the major firms located there, the major place for biotech in the area is Montgomery County, and with the purple line, it may start to go into PG with a direct connection with University of Maryland. These are too good examples of where DC and other BosWash cities are much larger. Cybersecurity is DC and Virginia in this region, with the area around Ft. Meade being secondary, but it doesn't reach into Baltimore city, the industry stops at the Ft. Meade area.

Also the biotechs tend in the DC region are primarily located in Montgomery County, and that is likely to remain to be the case.

Again these two fields are a prime example of really how little Baltimore has to offer. Maryland has these fields, but they are primarily located in the DC suburbs. Montgomery County is not Baltimore. Maryland can do great, but Baltimore really does not have a good foundation.

[seanlax]

Originally Posted by EducatedBro82

Some cities can co-exist. Look at Toronto/Mississauga. Or Raleigh/Durham? Dallas/Ft Worth? I think those are some successes in co-existing.

However, San Francisco/Oakland, Newark/NYC, Philly/Camden arent successful. One is doing better than the other.

Miss, Durham and Ft. Worth are dumps compared to the former in each of those tuples.