Scared to visit downtown Baltimore (neighborhood, living in, dangerous)

[LesLucid]

My wife and I went to a concert at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore to see Nightwish, our favorite band. Beforehand, we made a trip during the day, around 1:30, to scout out the area, best way in/out, where to park, etc. It made us feel more comfortable going there in the evening knowing that we knew the “lay of the land a bit better”. That’s the first time we’d been in Baltimore in years. We also avoid it.

[BangBangShrimp]

Originally Posted by LesLucid

My wife and I went to a concert at the Lyric Theater in Baltimore to see Nightwish, our favorite band. Beforehand, we made a trip during the day, around 1:30, to scout out the area, best way in/out, where to park, etc. It made us feel more comfortable going there in the evening knowing that we knew the “lay of the land a bit better”. That’s the first time we’d been in Baltimore in years. We also avoid it.

Makes sense. Hope you two had fun!

[feck]

Originally Posted by BangBangShrimp

I have to visit downtown Baltimore (Inner Harbor area) in a few days and I’m scared. I’m going to a concert so I’ll have to be there at night. Reassure me that the probability of being attacked by teen gangs isn’t THAT high, please. I Googled and it seems like these attacks were mostly happening in 2017? Has police presence gotten better? I try to avoid danger whenever possible but I can’t miss this concert. Thanks!

I think it is unfortunate that you make yourself a victim of mainstream media scare tactics.
Know that MM needs blood and guts sensationalism to survive in an increasingly fragmented
media environment. Geographically, most of the crimes reported occur in lower class black
communities. These are places you will less likely find yourself in unless you are a landlord,
a business owner or are looking for drugs.

[LesLucid]

Baltimore has one of the highest per capital murder rates in the country, the highest of any city recently. This year they added to that by adding robbery to their number 1 lists. That is not media sensationalism, they’re just simple facts. For those of us that don’t visit Baltimore, we don’t know the bad areas. That’s why we made the day trip to check it out in our case. I’ll take a bit of caution over careless when I’m visiting someplace unfamiliar.

[feck]

Media has more influence on shaping your perception of reality than you might
want to believe. You should not dismiss the media's power so lightly.
BTW, how does heaven look? Checked out the neighborhoods there? You do plan
to go there one day, right?

[Digger 68]

Feck, I have to completely agree with your two posts. Especially that second one. It's priceless!

I was talking to an occasional regular, (Does that make sense?) at the local Coffee House today who was making the same comments about how terrible the city is, and how much better it was. And most of this was his perception of the negative media, and what he wants to believe, and how he remembers the good ole' days. I am not going to deny that some things were better, like how awful Howard Street looks compared to what it looked like 60 years ago, but he was dismissing things, or not representing things accurately at all. Like why Howard Street looks awful. We did not mention Howard Street in our brief discussion.
Funny thing is I would say this guy was a fairly smart fellow. Played Clarinet for the BSO for 40 years. Is even traveling to Europe to attend some concerts.

This kind of stuff drives me nuts and it's all over affluent suburbia. People can be good at their jobs, and be dumb as a box of rocks otherwise. They refuse to think, and connect the dots.

And lastly most of those folks in lower class black neighborhoods aren't acting like fools. It's a small number, but big in relationship to the number of people in those communities.

I thought the NYT Article posted a few weeks ago was excellent.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I saw a documentary about Baltimore on HBO called "The Wire". That town is scary as hell.

[BangBangShrimp]

Originally Posted by Dr. Zoidberg

I saw a documentary about Baltimore on HBO called "The Wire". That town is scary as hell.

I’ve never seen The Wire which is probably a good thing.

[Digger 68]

Here is the link to the NYT Article. I copied, and pasted the article in the thread. It's the third post. //www.city-data.com/forum/balti...l#post54716193

Zoidberg........ Just joined.......

[pwduvall]

I'm headed to Cincinnati and St. Louis next week. St. Louis is supposed to be every bit as dangerous as Baltimore, though Cincinnati is not. I'm likely to be more cautious in those cities than I would be parts of Baltimore that offer a similar crime rate. That is because I don't know those cities and I'm not likely to pick up ques to unusual or threatening behavior. That said, I intend to travel to parts of both cites that aren't super safe. Of course, if I had anxiety issues, I might not be able to do that.

I guess my point is that the OP would probably be posting the same if he were going to the concert in STL, and maybe if it were in Cincinnati. Baltimore is only part of the issue.