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"To partially answer the question, nothing has gone particularly wrong in Baltimore over the past decade or so. The problem is that the city was such a mess by the late 1990's that a few years to stability/modest growth can't really make much of a dent. "
*This is a statement of delusion!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pwduvall
Oh brother! It is hard to kill this kind of thread. To partially answer the question, nothing has gone particularly wrong in Baltimore over the past decade or so. The problem is that the city was such a mess by the late 1990's that a few years to stability/modest growth can't really make much of a dent. Personally, I would like our politicians and civic leaders to see our slight progress as an opportunity to kick growth into a higher gear. Unfortunately, most of our leaders (despite O'Malley's hokey signs) still don't believe.
Anyway, the City's bond rating has just been upgraded and the population is probably inching upward. Sadly, I don't think Princess Stephanie has the necessary qualities to lead Baltimore into becoming a more vibrant and rapidly growing city.
It's funny that you mentioned this, because I know many New Yorkers who move to Baltimore have a difficult time making a transition into Baltimore life. Some like the city, others do not. It's a matter of preference. I love Philly, New York, Boston and DC!!! But, that is just me. Baltimore's affordability comes at a price, and I think that if the city was developed the way other East Coast cities have, Baltimore wouldn't be cheap and affordable as every claims it to be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by designer_genes
I actually laughed out loud when I read the OP refer to Baltimore as having a "high cost of living."
I'm from the New York metropolitan area. OP clearly doesn't know high cost of living. In fact, a big reason why I chose Johns Hopkins for graduate school was because my modest salary would get me a LOT further than it would in a lot of other cities where I applied (Philly, Boston, NYC). I find Baltimore to be very affordable and I make peanuts.
That said, in response to OP's concern that Baltimore has nothing to offer besides the Inner Harbor, that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, to be quite frank, I'm already sick of the Inner Harbor (aside from ballgames at Camden Yards) and I've only lived in Baltimore for a little over a year. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong. And it brings in a lot of tourism dollars. But, it's touristy. There are so many hidden gems in Baltimore if you bother to actually explore the city a little more. Will you find a lot of major tourist attractions outside the harbor? Probably not. But, that doesn't mean there isn't anything to do or see here. You just have to do a little searching. And for me, that has been way more fun.
I can give you a few examples of small wonders that Baltimore has to offer outside of the Inner Harbor:
- Patterson Park - Baltimore's version of Central Park. Just a nice place to hang out.
- The food scene - actually incredible. Coming from the NYC area, I was skeptical at first, but I really was pleasantly surprised at how good the food is here.
- Festivals - there is one pretty much all the time during the warmer months. Really a cool celebration of different cultures and interests.
- Food trucks - Baltimore has the best ones.
- The Book Thing - really awesome free book exchange. An amazing find for a bookworm like me.
- Swing dancing at Mobtown - An old church converted to a swing dancing club that you would never know was a swing dancing club from the outside. Most friendly group of people ever.
- The Horse You Came In On and Annabel Lee's Tavern - Two Edgar Allen Poe themed bars in Fells Point and Canton respectively. The Horse You Came In On is reported to be one of Poe's favorite drinking spots while he was alive and may be one of the oldest Taverns in America. Annabel Lee's is an awesome hole in the wall with amazing food.
- The Farmer's Market - Under route 83. Fantastic.
- Bad Decisions - One of my favorite bars in Baltimore. Located in Fells Point, they make custom cocktails for reasonable prices. All of their cocktails are in a huge book that is all written by hand.
- The Charles Theater - shows indie movies for reasonable prices.
- Basilica of the Assumption - America's first cathedral. Pretty neat.
- American Visionary Art Museum - Federal Hill. One of Baltimore's many great art museums.
- Fort McHenry - get your history education on.
It's funny that you mentioned this, because I know many New Yorkers who move to Baltimore have a difficult time making a transition into Baltimore life. Some like the city, others do not. It's a matter of preference. I love Philly, New York, Boston and DC!!! But, that is just me. Baltimore's affordability comes at a price, and I think that if the city was developed the way other East Coast cities have, Baltimore wouldn't be cheap and affordable as every claims it to be.
You are correct!! Baltimore's affordability comes at a price.
"To partially answer the question, nothing has gone particularly wrong in Baltimore over the past decade or so. The problem is that the city was such a mess by the late 1990's that a few years to stability/modest growth can't really make much of a dent. "
*This is a statement of delusion!
So where is the delusion? Do you have any sort of facts any figures that show serious decline in Baltimore over the past ten years? Instead, what I think what we are looking at is the full realization of how bad things really were in the late 90's-early 00's.
People tend to think that if a situation is bad it must be getting worse. This isn't necessarily so. It is also possible that things remain the same after being bad for a long time.
So many people believe that progress is impossible. But a decade ago hardly anybody believed that Baltimore could level off from its death spiral. As I said before, if we want things to get better, we have to believe that things can get better.
You are right about the expenses and population, but I think that having Jerry Springer as the mayor of Baltimore would be a big improvement over what we have now. I think even satan himself would be a big improvement over any of the mayors Baltimore has had in the past 25 years.
you must think wille don schaefer was a great mayor? he was not!!!! he had no plans for the city outside of the harbor for jobs when the heavy industry started leaving.all the other mayors have been dealing with stuff that festered under his and du burns watch.
Baltimore isn't the best city in terms of poverty, but I would that I don't think its like Detroit at all. All major cities have urban decay somewhere. The Inner Harbor is amazing. I haven't ever been to Cincinnati yet. And besides the Harbor, there's lots of stuff do in the suburbs of Baltimore. You have to remember the suburbs of large cities, not only its proper self, are a major part of them too. In Glen Burnie, you have the Baltimore & Annapolis biking trail which is great. And in Hanover, you have the mega Arundel Mills Mall. Baltimore's airport (BWI) is also one of the country's most notable. So in my opinion, Baltimore has more amenities than you think. Baltimore is also home to some of the country's best colleges. Its also a major seaport of the US. Cost of living in the Baltimore area can range from affordable to very expensive it depends where though. Some parts of Howard County are suburbs of Baltimore, and its very expensive to live there. However, I hear the a lot of places in Baltimore County are affordable, and Glen Burnie, Linthicum, and Hanover are also more affordable suburbs than the others.
I would like to respectfully add my two cents here. I have lived in Baltimore City for almost 20 years. (not looking from the suburbs in) I also work on location, so I see different areas of Baltimore City all the time, as well as areas of DC, Baltimore suburbs, DC suburbs, and I've even worked in Cincinnati!
1) Baltimore has most definitely improved since I first moved here. Very few areas are actually going downhill in any significant way. There are lots of areas that are doing poorly, but they've been doing poorly for a while now, unfortunately. Baltimore's big decline was pre-1995 or 2000.
2) I have noticed an increase in the amount of revitalization projects in the past 5 years especially. Before that, the hot areas were Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Federal Hill, Canton, Locust Point. Now, you see other areas joining this list, like Hampden/Woodberry, as well as areas that you'd never expect to be on the list, like Remington, Harbor East (which used to be desolate industrial land between Fells Point and the Inner Harbor), and Station North. Station North is taking off like a rocket, IMO. (and yes, Station North is near Greenmount and North Ave.)
I hope to see the good areas expand, and people look to new areas next to these good areas, so this growth leapfrogs. If the MTA could build efficient transit that really was quick and reliable, Baltimore will really take off.
A large part of the improvements in Baltimore is from actually taking artists seriously, and realizing they can really power an area's comeback. Station North is an arts district.
There's also a lot of theater companies buying dilapadated buildings and revitalizing them. Projects done in the last three years include:
Everyman Theatre (old Town Theater in Westside)
Chesapeake Shakespeare Theater (old Mercantile Bank downtown)
Single Carrot Theater (old tire shop in Remington)
Upcoming arts-backed projects in the works include:
Maryland Film Festival's new HQ (Parkway Theater, Station North, North Ave and Charles)
The Center (North Ave near Calvert, joint project of MICA and Hopkins, going to be used for a new joint film major program)
City Arts 2- 1700 block Greenmount Ave- artist's housing
A group of dancers, performers, etc doing a project in the 400 block of Howard St (Bromo Arts district)
These are just the bigger arts projects the news talks about. There are plenty of non-arts developments in the works, like in Sharp-Ledenhall by Caves Valley Partners, Hampden, etc. There are also people who are quietly buying buildings and renovating them. Baltimore is also using a new legal tool to take vacant, boarded up houses into receivership and auction them to qualified buyers who have a year max to rehab them.
If you speak to people from Detroit they will say similar opinions that Detroit has its issues but it has its nice areas. Detroit is so much bigger than Baltimore it is an unfair comparison. What we have to examine is the land size of the city, population, crime per population, vacants per block ext. Which is why I dismiss the notion of comparing crime from Baltimore to say Chicago. 200 plus homicides a year in a city of 600,000 people? Detroit is in the same boat.
We certainly do not have the issues Detroit has, but I believe if an east coast city would have any similarities it would be Baltimore.
Baltimore also has the foundation for a good public transit system.. Light Rail, Commuter Rail, Subway, Buses (and maybe one day a trolley and a monorail/highspeed rail to DC) along with the existing Amtrak..how we ultimately end up tying all of them together or screwing them up further is up to us.....
Ford City got rid of anything that didnt ride on rubber tires and other than the people mover.. doesnt have a very diversified intermodal transit system.. The suburban cities ring Detroit and would rather see it dead than alive and thus the Politicos are polarized. Baltimore is no way near that. We dont have a BAD relationship with surrounding Counties.. It may not be great.. but its better than the Detriot Metro..Detriot needs to downsize. The State and the surrounding Cities/Counties should annex pieces of the City adjacent to them (or Detroit cede them to them) and allow those municipalities to redevelop them under their own volition.If there are residents in those areas that want to go.. let them go... (dont want sound like Fidel Castro.. but)
That would allow Detriot City to concentrate its efforts in a smaller area and pool its resources to make improvements in a smaller area. Other sections of the City should be developed as "multi County industrial parks" where the surrounding Counties can make strategic investment in these areas along with the City of Detriot and share in the revenue without it being physically in their jurisidiction. Sharing the cost and the risk could make it more financially palatable to do innovative development and/or offer incentives.. NEVER GONNA HAPPEN with the current politics...
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