Baltimore's Greatness (Frederick, Rockville, Hagerstown: appointed, transplants, crime)

[guest2]

Let me preface my comments by saying that I am a very satisfied transplant from the upper midwest. I had a chance to live in San Francisco, but opted for Baltimore. I couldn't stand what San Francisco had become, a place of artificiality, like much of America.

I'm extremely disappointed to see that a lot of the rants on this forum come from people who have no stake in Baltimore, and are unwilling to take responsibility for living here.

Baltimore is a place you can authentically call home and create rich, enduring connections. It's not a place for the transient trendy set, or suburban aspirants. If you're looking for either of those types of experiences why even consider Baltimore? I liken Baltimore to a person with a deep and interesting history, full of triumphs, failures, and everything in between, with a determined heart, ready to face whatever comes with courage and optimism.

To those considering moving here, I suggest you take a look at an op-ed piece from a Hopkins freshman to understand what being a Baltimore citizen means (for that matter, you should also read H.L. Mencken, watch some Johns Waters films, read Anne Tyler's and Laura Lippman's novels, even watch The Wire). In it she writes "I have realized how important it is for students to be proactive in engaging the city, rather than simply reacting to the imperfections." She goes on to describe how volunteering to clean up an elementary school in the inner city removed her fears and allowed her to connect to Baltimore's residents. She concludes that the most important thing is in "helping to improve Baltimore rather than wasting precious time criticizing it" (Engaging the neighborhood, contributing to the city - Opinion).

[barante]

guest2 got it right. I've been interviewing people for a history book and I have encountered several who have lived in the same house in Baltimore for more than 50 years! Yes, five-o. That's plainly un-American because everyone is supposed to move, statistically, every five years or so.
Baltimore used to be a very important city. It no longer is. I am not sure when the malaise started but here is an indication: Most American cities thrived during the post-WWII consumer boom. Not Baltimore. The first major office building to rise since the 1927 stock market crash wasn't built here until 1962!
Anyway. This is an easy city, with great access to D.C., Philly and NYC. I'll take this any time over a place like Atlanta, where nothing else is nearby.

[guest2]

Barante, I think people who've chosen to live in Baltimore appreciate the communality of shared purpose. After some time living here, the absurdities of urban life become part of the texture of life. Gentrification exists in Baltimore, but you need not walk far to be in the midst of a different kind of life. It's really this plurality of experience which makes life in Baltimore so invigorating for me.

When I bike the streets of Baltimore, through pleasant, tree-lined streets of rowhouses in Federal Hill, or through the housing projects in East Baltimore, I get to see layers of the city. All different, but all alive and contributing to a sense of place. When I go to the city markets to get produce or lunch, I see all kinds of people intermingling.

I would disagree that Baltimore is no longer an important city, and I hope that's not going to be the theme of your history book. It is still a a place of great institutions and countless assets -- Hopkins Hospital, MICA, the museums and many philanthropic foundations to name a few, even Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor are held in high regard as exemplars in urban design. Enoch Pratt Free Library is one of the best systems in the country and hews closely to the vision of its founder to be an asset for all Baltimoreans.

Baltimore doesn't have many corporate headquarters, but corporations do not necessarily enliven urban culture. Take it from someone who came from a major city in the upper midwest that boasted 15 Fortune 500 headquarters, but was dull as hay. In any case, Baltimore's economy is still strong, and the city core is being repopulated. The last few years have seen explosive growth not only in the obvious places, but also in the neighborhoods. This is a reversal from the post-war suburban flight you're referring to, which decimated the center city until Charles Center was built in the early 60s.

Please say more about the history book you are planning.

[westsideboy]

Not to burst your bubble guest2, but the city is still hemorraging population at a very fast rate. Just about 20,000 in the last six year. Here are some stats from census.gov

1990 - 736,014
2000 - 651,154
2006 - 631,366

[guest2]

That decline is about average for most American cities. Baltimore's urban neighborhoods, however, are regaining population.

[Tom Lennox 70]

That was a typical perspective from that girl, especially one from up in Connecticut. The typical, rich, snobby Connecticut to be exact.

Personally I'm sick of that kind of life. I've lived in a place like that in Montgomery County through high school and that's pretty done it for me for the state of Maryland and the Northeast in general (yes, the transplants have clearly made Maryland a northern state and not a border one). The only part of the state I like is Cumberland westward and the Eastern Shore, and while those parts are beautiful and friendly its hard to find employment there after I finish school.

I'm applying to both pharmacy and dental school at the Univ of MD campus in Baltimore City and I'm just completely depressed even though at least for pharmacy I think I have a good chance at getting in. My folks really want me to choose Maryland over out of state schools. For dental if I get in I really want to go to UNLV or Texas A&M. The idea of being in Baltimore really makes me dread. I don't see anything good about the city.

For one thing, the weather is miserable and its no doubt the entire Northeast AND Upper Midwest has been hemorraghing population to the Sunbelt states in the SOuth and Southwest at a rate that increases every year. The only place where you hear good things about Baltimore (or PHilly or Pittsburgh or Cleveland or Detroit) is from tourist bureaus. I have being cooped up indoors in the bitter cold from the middle of October all the way till beginning or middle of April when I can live in Nevada or Texas or NOrth Carolina where the sun always shines and though NC has a colder winter at least its not as long.

Baltimore just feels like a decaying, dreary city though ironically the East Coast is also snobby, arrogant, and elitist when it really doesn't have anything to be snobby about. I know people from both the DC and Baltimore areas who really look down on other parts of this country and as a native of New Orleans this really ticks me off. People here act like only the East and West coasts matter and the rest doesn't. Also Baltimore and Maryland are both ridiculously, insanely liberal. O'malley wants to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants and use our taxes to build labor centers for the illegals. Eventually they will succeed in overturning the gay marriage ban. Our public schools indoctrinate kids in anti-Americanism, to be ashamed of American history when in fact they should be promoting patriotism and national pride.

There's just so much about the Northeast in general and this state in particular I can't take anymore. If I stay in Maryland it will have to be in a small city or town and even then the weather is still miserable. In the DC and Baltimore there are only 2 kinds of people that I've noticed. One if the ghetto thug, in your face, openly hostile type. The other is the typical snobby, arrogant, elitist, cold, rude Yankee, many of them originally from New Jersey. Whether next year or in 4 years I'm outta here.

[Tom Lennox 70]

I don't know where "Charm City" comes from. Baltimore has none of the charm that places like New Orleans, Charleston, and Savannah have. What is so special about that Power Plant building and the DOminos Sugar sign? Those are ugly factories/industrial structures that should be demolished. I have posted a lot about resisting urban sprawl and the franchising of America but that only applies to charming Southern cities and small rural towns.

A decaying, urban wasteland like Baltimore....they should just knock down all those rowhouses and replace them with skyscrapers or strip malls. If Baltimore can't have the charm of New Orleans, at least have that modern, vibrant, flashy feel that Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tampa and Dallas have.

But like the original poster says, maybe Baltimore isn't just for me. After all, I either prefer a suburban subdivision type place or a small town. Don't want to deal with the crime, poverty, drugs, noise, lack of privacy, unfriendliness, traffic, lack of open space, and pollution or the big city. Its a shame that most of Maryland's population lives in the DC and Baltimore areas when there are still wonderful places left over like Hagerstown, Cumberland, Garrett County (around Deep Creek Lake), the Eastern Shore, and Frederick.

[choeck1]

Terrapin2212
you are really trashing baltimore, but i must ask: who is making you stay here? if you hate it as much as you say, why are you still here? this city doesn't need people who think like this, we need people who want change.
and it's strange to me that you keep talking about baltimore's crime and poverty but you are singing New Orleans praises. I love both cities, but New Orleans is as dangerous and poor.

[barante]

Mine is something quite unique -- a chronicle of what many other U.S.. cities experienced between 1910 and the 1970s: Residential segregation laws, racially restrictive covenants, redlining, blockbusting.
Baltimore was a pioneer in all of those developments. In fact, the nation's first residential segregation laws were enacted here between 1910 and 1913. Also, while many other U.S. cities had a dual housing market -- one for whites, a separate one for blacks -- Baltimore took one step further by establishing a separate housing market also for Jews. All this contributed to the formation of the city that you see today.
The book is tentatively titled "A White Man's City: How Bigotry Against Blacks and Jews Shaped Baltimore." I have another year of writing ahead of me. Soon to be a motion picture, lol.

[westsideboy]

guest2 - Obviously not all US cities are losing population. NYC is stable if not growing and places like Phoenix or other sun belt cities are growing rapidly. Even in Maryland places like Frederick, Westminster, Rockville, etc are growing quiet rapidly. There is no such thing as an "average" US city.

I also don't know what you mean by "urban neighborhoods" My understanding, as well as the official census designation ,would call the whole city "urban."

I do agree with your title of "old news" Baltimore has been hemorraging population for about 50 years now, so the recent declines are part of the same pattern. I am glad you like Baltimore so much, but unless you by yourself count for 20,000 new residents, the current demographic decline will continue with the new census in 2010.