New FBI statistics: Baltimore No. 5 in murder rate (Mayo: rent, school)

[BMoreJuice]

Originally Posted by UKWildcat1981

Baltimore has a lot of same issues other cities do like Philly, Chicago, Detroit does not enough affordable housing for low income individuals so they end up turning to crime like sending drugs to make money and drug dealing leads to violent crime like murder.. happens in almost every US city, Baltimore is a little worse than most US Cities with inner city crime but a lot of other cities like Chicago and Detroit have it just as bad

The difference is that Philly, Chicago, is that there is plenty of great neighborhoods with diverse people. Baltimore is the opposite and lacks it. A dozen neighborhoods at best.. Detroit even has more white people.

[picardlx]

Originally Posted by BMoreJuice

The difference is that Philly, Chicago, is that there is plenty of great neighborhoods with diverse people. Baltimore is the opposite and lacks it. A dozen neighborhoods at best.. Detroit even has more white people.

Chicago is a very segregated city. I haven't quantified the lack of diversity for a objective comparison of the two cities, but my gut tells me that there isn't much difference in that regard. In fact, a place like Washington Village where low-income blacks and whites live together doesn't exist in Chicago. (I may be wrong, but I cant think of any off hand)

[Calvert Hall '62]

Originally Posted by BMoreJuice

Detroit even has more white people.

In terms of percentage?

Was my understanding that B'mo has about 64% black people while Detroit has 82%.

[dogpark]

Originally Posted by B.K.

dogpark, I agree. The Bottom Up scenario is a more difficult problem to rectify. Generational poverty and lack of opportunity for employment are persistent problems. However, some of the problem can be addressed by the Top Down scenario.
All economic models take in to account that there will always be a segment of society that will be poor. By improving the quality of leadership, we can help to insure that politicians will create an atmosphere where there is a smaller portion of the population that remains in poverty. The keys are education and attracting, promoting, improving, and even creating an atmosphere that will encourage opportunities to be made available.
That does not sound like the climate in Maryland, even less like that in Baltimore. The city and state have a reputation for being unfriendly towards business, especially to new businesses and those from out of state. Instead of attracting people to our area, the leadership seems to be working against the creation new and private sector businesses, thus denying opportunity to local residents. I get especially angry when I hear people say, "Oh, that new company will mostly be employing white collar workers, and will not be providing many jobs to locals, who may not be skilled in that field." All business requires ancillary businesses to support them. Some of those businesses will provide opportunity for low-skill/entry level workers in a huge variety of fields-food service, security, construction, cleaning, and on and on. Workers who stay in these fields can advance and make a decent living at it. The increase in population increases the tax base (and, hopefully, lowers the tax rate). Any opportunity is better than no opportunity, nothing succeeds like success.
Education will require a lot more work. I really think the Public Schools system in Baltimore is broken beyond repair, as it currently exists. It needs to be dismantled, re-thought, rebuilt, and have its leadership and administration taken over by an outside entity. City schools officials have proven time and again that they are either unwilling, incapable of, or incompetent to run a viable school system.Time and again we hear that while Maryland has some of the best schools in the Country, Baltimore has some of the very worst. And it's certainly not for lack of spending, rather it's for a lack of leadership and oversight. Having turned out decades' worth of functionally illiterate graduates does nothing but close the doors of opportunity, extend poverty, and add further burdens to the taxpayer.

The education component is very hard to rectify. North Avenue could certainly make changes (and so could the state for that matter), but at the base of it there are parents/guardians of children in BCPS that just don't value education. That inertia is debilitating. My wife taught in city schools for 15 years, Title I special ed, so we've seen it firsthand (she teaches private school now, much happier - folks want to be there and want to work together). Look at the public schools here - kids aren't held accountable, neither are their adult caretakers, nor is North Ave.

To complicate matters, there aren't many living wage jobs available. The US has a glut of labor; our economy has changed form a 3 sector economy to a service/consumer economy. The days of family supporting low skill industrial jobs (that largely built Baltimore's middle class, along with affordable living costs) are over.

Its easy to say "hey, we gotta to this, we gotta do that," but what is it that we are going to do? I don't know the answer either. Seems like there is no carrot and no stick for public education in Baltimore.

I was sitting in a neighborhood dive unwinding one weeknight after working late and struck up a conversation with the the guy sitting next to me. Turns out this guy was working for a health field start up, something to do with data management, and we were talking about the economy and jobs. He said bottom line, he can only hire folks that will add value to his company. All the social feel good stuff in the world will not add value and make the company strong. So where are these un/under educated, difficult to educate individuals going to fit?

[pwduvall]

Originally Posted by BMoreJuice

Detroit even has more white people.

Baltimore has twice as many white people as Detroit. I also find it a little bit surprising, but true, that Baltimore has more white people than Prince George's County.

[doubled8206]

Why is it always about race? If there were more blacks it would be this. If there were less whites it would be that. If there were less this its that and if there were more that it's this. Bottom line, if you want to clean up the stink you throw away the trash, period. You have to focus on the areas that thrive so people will actually want to move to the city. You can't blame BPD either. They are understaffed and dealing with a bunch of BS hood rats all day. You have people popping out kids so they get more government help for themselves. They don't care about that kid, they care about money. They don't discipline there kids, all they care about is when the drugs come to the door step. The government should implement that if you don't make a certain income you can't have a kid and you get an abortion. Sad to say but it's the truth.

[Sunflowery]

Originally Posted by doubled8206

Why is it always about race? If there were more blacks it would be this. If there were less whites it would be that. If there were less this its that and if there were more that it's this. Bottom line, if you want to clean up the stink you throw away the trash, period. You have to focus on the areas that thrive so people will actually want to move to the city. You can't blame BPD either. They are understaffed and dealing with a bunch of BS hood rats all day. You have people popping out kids so they get more government help for themselves. They don't care about that kid, they care about money. They don't discipline there kids, all they care about is when the drugs come to the door step. The government should implement that if you don't make a certain income you can't have a kid and you get an abortion. Sad to say but it's the truth.

At the end of the day, it's not about race. If a large group of Caucasian folks were put into an area where there weren't enough jobs to go around and such, there would be crime. By throwing the stink out, the citizens should start with City hall. I can't BELIEVE that the next Mayoral election isn't until 2016 (Baltimore election: Next city election to be 2016 - Baltimore Sun)

The government shouldn't be responsible for people who don't know how to use proper birth control. I definitely agree that BPD is understaffed. However, I think that they and other cops around the country need psychological tests.

[dogpark]

Originally Posted by Sunflowery

At the end of the day, it's not about race. If a large group of Caucasian folks were put into an area where there weren't enough jobs to go around and such, there would be crime. By throwing the stink out, the citizens should start with City hall. I can't BELIEVE that the next Mayoral election isn't until 2016 (Baltimore election: Next city election to be 2016 - Baltimore Sun)

The government shouldn't be responsible for people who don't know how to use proper birth control. I definitely agree that BPD is understaffed. However, I think that they and other cops around the country need psychological tests.

I agree with you - its about class and culture.

IIRC the city elections were put back to align with national elections due to super low turnout. I think SRB was elected in a vote with only 22% turnout (going from memory) after finishing Dixon's term. I am not a fan of this mayor, whose hand appears to be in the cookie jar. If you want to read about city issues, here a place that gets the scoop, the stuff the Sun and sometimes even City Paper don't get: https://www.baltimorebrew.com/
With this kind of journalism, the mayor is being scrutinized. It would be great to see some accountability. I think the mayoralty and city council need some changes.

I have mixed feelings on the practice of impoverished folks having children and being on the dole. The kids are innocent, teh parents ignorant. Punishing the parents punishes the child. I wish there was a good carrot and stick way to not support irresponsible and destructive behavior, just not sure what that is, have thought about it a lot.

BPD has issues but is making effort. Baltimore is a tough city to police. And police are a reactive, not proactive force by definition.

[Sunflowery]

Originally Posted by dogpark

I agree with you - its about class and culture.

IIRC the city elections were put back to align with national elections due to super low turnout. I think SRB was elected in a vote with only 22% turnout (going from memory) after finishing Dixon's term. I am not a fan of this mayor, whose hand appears to be in the cookie jar. If you want to read about city issues, here a place that gets the scoop, the stuff the Sun and sometimes even City Paper don't get: https://www.baltimorebrew.com/
With this kind of journalism, the mayor is being scrutinized. It would be great to see some accountability. I think the mayoralty and city council need some changes.

I have mixed feelings on the practice of impoverished folks having children and being on the dole. The kids are innocent, teh parents ignorant. Punishing the parents punishes the child. I wish there was a good carrot and stick way to not support irresponsible and destructive behavior, just not sure what that is, have thought about it a lot.

BPD has issues but is making effort. Baltimore is a tough city to police. And police are a reactive, not proactive force by definition.

I'm a HUGE fan of the Baltimore Brew. Been reading their articles for awhile.

[Calvert Hall '62]

[quote=Sunflowery;37281442]At the end of the day, it's not about race. If a large group of Caucasian folks were put into an area where there weren't enough jobs to go around and such, there would be crime[quote]

I have trouble reconciling the fact that crime, STD, and out of wedlocks are faaaaarrrr worse now 50 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, along with social engineering regulations like affirmative action, not to mention trillions spent in the War on Poverty, as well as society walking on eggshells for fear of being politically incorrect and offending the "protected" groups, than they were during Jim Crow when there was indeed blatant oppression. Also, while socioeconomic woes might explain robberies, how do they explain rapes, assaults, etc.?

Is that old socioeconomic explanation a dog that won't hunt anymore? Just wonderin'?