i hate baltimore too (schools, quality of life, sales tax)

[confusedasusual]

Originally Posted by nextstate

HandsUpThumbsDown -- okay, I'll take your word that stat is wrong. Add to my list of Baltimore negative's a once-great-paper that now is as thick as a piece of double ply and apparently can't do basic fact checking.

You guys kill me. You can keep trying to argue little thing after little thing like it somehow makes everything else someone says wrong. You didn't get robbed therefore all of the statistics must be wrong and Baltimore is really safe. One article may have a wrong stat about job losses therefore Baltimore's economy is booming.

How about this. You win. You are right, I am wrong. You know what you're talking about, I don't. Your prize .. you get to live in Baltimore. I'll crack a beer in your honor next month when I'm relaxing on the beach in CA.

Haha-- yes, I am with you.

My best friend lives in B'more due to her company which transferred her. She has a great job and makes a very comfortable living. Her rowhouse is gorgeous-- roofdeck, renovated, the whole nine yards. But even she hates it and plans to move as soon as an opportunity presents itself. She has had her purse stolen, her tires slashed, her car broken into many times, and her home robbed all within two years. She lives in a supposedly safe area. My former landlords were also accosted in their Baltimore neighborhood by pushing their two small kids in a stroller by a youth with a knife. I have mentioned my own personal experience.

I really think that its only a matter of time before the smug individuals who post are touched by some of this crime. Give Baltimore ten years and a more aggressive police force, better regulation of the drug trade (Baltimore is well known as one of the best source cities for heroin on the East Coast-- my ex worked in federal law enforcement investigations and had direct experience)-- maybe in a decade it will be destination city. But not now. Its got charm and a lot of potential and I don't actively dislike it but I really would never consider living there at this point.

[nextstate]

Since those of us sharing our crime stories are accused of making them up, then j'accuse the people casting doubt of being real estate agents. I think they troll these boards looking for possible leads for clients to rent or sell places to and whenever they see posts that might scare people off they start in with the "nothing bad ever happens here if you just use common sense" spiel.

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by nextstate

Since those of us sharing our crime stories are accused of making them up, then j'accuse the people casting doubt of being real estate agents. I think they troll these boards looking for possible leads for clients to rent or sell places to and whenever they see posts that might scare people off they start in with the "nothing bad ever happens here if you just use common sense" spiel.

Most psychoanalyists agree that paranoia is one of the hardest disorders to correct.

[nextstate]

The Realtor speaks! How about this stat from the Baltimore Sun today - there have been 429 street robberies in the city so far this year. They mention specific incidents in Roland Park, Charles Village, Federal Hill ... all those "safe" areas. I await your spin on this inconvenient truth with baited breath!

[are you kidinme?]

Is that Bawlmer?

[B.K.]

Let me say first off...I DON'T hate Baltimore. It has been my adopted hometown for the past 20+ years. By and large I enjoy it very much. But I do find myself having to defend my decision to live here often. Frankly, sometimes I have to rationalize it to myself.
To say that you will not encounter crime in the city if you just stay out of the "bad" areas, have some measure of street smarts, are not involved in the drug game, don't leave valuables exposed in your car, or don't somehow "provoke" a criminal response is either: a) naive; b) disingenuous; or, c) an outright falsehood. I've lived in other large cities (Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston), and have had many extended visits to most of the other major metro areas in the country. I love American cities, and I believe in them: I can't bear living in stagnant cookie-cutter suburbia (where I spent my youth). True, I witnessed some measure of crime in many cities. But I've never endured the concentration of crime that I have experienced in Baltimore.
I avoid "bad" areas, I've lived in inner-city America long enough to develop street smarts, I've gotten too old to run in a drug crowd, I don't have any valuables to leave in my 11 year old Hyundai, and I certainly don't run around provoking violence. Yet and still, since I've been here:
I've had my residences burgled 3x (every place I've lived in the city), surprised (and managed to forcibly detain) a guy breaking in to my house, my cars stolen twice, cars broken into 6x, car wrecked by a driver fleeing in a stolen car, mugged at gunpoint twice, mugged at knife point once (broad daylight Harford Rd in Hamilton), been jumped and beaten bloody by a gang of crackheads in my own block (while on my way to a BlockWatchers meeting), managed to flee from an attempted carjacking, had a bottle broken over my head by a young man riding a bicycle on the Hopkins Hospital campus, property crimes and vandalism episodes too numerous to remember, or even bother reporting any more, (thanks Steph and City Council). I'm sure I've forgotten at least a couple of incidents-that bottle to the head didn't help my memory. This is a violent, dangerous and crime-ridden city. You will encounter crime, even if you do all you can to avoid or lessen the risk of exposure to it.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by B.K.

Let me say first off...I DON'T hate Baltimore. It has been my adopted hometown for the past 20+ years. By and large I enjoy it very much. But I do find myself having to defend my decision to live here often. Frankly, sometimes I have to rationalize it to myself.
To say that you will not encounter crime in the city if you just stay out of the "bad" areas, have some measure of street smarts, are not involved in the drug game, don't leave valuables exposed in your car, or don't somehow "provoke" a criminal response is either: a) naive; b) disingenuous; or, c) an outright falsehood. I've lived in other large cities (Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston), and have had many extended visits to most of the other major metro areas in the country. I love American cities, and I believe in them: I can't bear living in stagnant cookie-cutter suburbia (where I spent my youth). True, I witnessed some measure of crime in many cities. But I've never endured the concentration of crime that I have experienced in Baltimore.
I avoid "bad" areas, I've lived in inner-city America long enough to develop street smarts, I've gotten too old to run in a drug crowd, I don't have any valuables to leave in my 11 year old Hyundai, and I certainly don't run around provoking violence. Yet and still, since I've been here:
I've had my residences burgled 3x (every place I've lived in the city), surprised (and managed to forcibly detain) a guy breaking in to my house, my cars stolen twice, cars broken into 6x, car wrecked by a driver fleeing in a stolen car, mugged at gunpoint twice, mugged at knife point once (broad daylight Harford Rd in Hamilton), been jumped and beaten bloody by a gang of crackheads in my own block (while on my way to a BlockWatchers meeting), managed to flee from an attempted carjacking, had a bottle broken over my head by a young man riding a bicycle on the Hopkins Hospital campus, property crimes and vandalism episodes too numerous to remember, or even bother reporting any more, (thanks Steph and City Council). I'm sure I've forgotten at least a couple of incidents-that bottle to the head didn't help my memory. This is a violent, dangerous and crime-ridden city. You will encounter crime, even if you do all you can to avoid or lessen the risk of exposure to it.

Damn BK... sorry to hear all of that.. I see that you live(d) in Gardenville in NE Baltimore? I am just curious.. In your opinion has crime in Gardenville/Frankford increased over the last five(5) years? I have heard stories from friends/residents there that the redevelopment of East Baltimore has pushed both residents (both good and bad) into areas such as Gardenville, Frankford etc.. Just curious to hear from a resident of that area....

[zita1976]

Thanks God! You kill each other with words, like we do in Hungary. We say it's tipical to hungarians, and here we go.

[jonjj]

Originally Posted by nextstate

The Realtor speaks! How about this stat from the Baltimore Sun today - there have been 429 street robberies in the city so far this year. They mention specific incidents in Roland Park, Charles Village, Federal Hill ... all those "safe" areas. I await your spin on this inconvenient truth with baited breath!

Hahaha-I am not a realtor although you do prove my point with that statement.

To be honest, I'm not sure of the street robberies in any city in the country and I don't really care. It would be nice if the world was a big rosy place but it's not. I accept that.

I do know that I was robbed in Boston on Beacon Hill a long time ago and my home was broken into when I lived in Milwaukee. Did I move because those things happened to me? Ah, no. Do I hate those cities because of those experiences? No. Now, for Baltimore. I have lived in the city for quite a few years and have never been robbed or my home broken into. Luck? Maybe. Who's to say? Oh, and I don't live within your radius rule.

[phlinak]

I worked and played in Baltimore for almost six years.

The city is worse now in terms of crime and quality of life issues than it was ten years ago.

Unfortunately, much like my birthplace, Philly, Bawlmer is not going to get any better because its residents perpetually sustain the status quo by:

1) not believing or seeing that things need to drastically improve, and
2) accepting mediocre to sub-par performance from their municipal government and self-serving elected officials and not holding them accountable.

Both Philadelphia and Baltimore rank first and second, respectively, as the most taxed cities in America.

Taxes are not inherently evil as some believe. After all, without taxes, there would be no money for government services such as schools, road repairs, public safety, etc. Most people understand this and are willing to pay for these services but people don't understand when their taxes continue to increase but their services continue to decrease, which is the situation in both of these cities.