Scared to visit downtown Baltimore (Woodlawn, Bel Air: hotel, gated, restaurants)

[BangBangShrimp]

Originally Posted by Nik4me

Stay safe- have fun- make sure the driver of the car that picks u up tells you YOUR NAME before you get into the car.
Don’t increase your Mom’s anxiety by showing her your own. Looks like you are both playing off of each other’s feelings...
Going to this concert could be a good character building, anxiety overcoming exercise
Let us know how it worked out for you
Good luck- enjoy the concert

Thank you!

[BangBangShrimp]

Just wanted to report that I made it back safely from the concert and had zero problems. Yay!

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by BangBangShrimp

Just wanted to report that I made it back safely from the concert and had zero problems. Yay!

[LisaLisa2323]

Originally Posted by personone

It's hard to understand your jibber jabber. Nobody is saying that any dangers happen frequently in Baltimore. The point being made is that even in tourist regions, things do happen, and you need to have your guard up and be street smart. This is true that you need to keep your guard up in most major cities, but in Baltimore, even in the downtown/touristy areas, this is the case.

Yeah, I guess people are making this up .........get outta here with that nonsense!!!!!!

Normal people don't walk around drugged up or drunk. When you engage in sordid behavior, you often attract negative attention. Just think, if he wasn't completely stoned/drunk, he wouldn't have been in that predicament.

[personone]

Originally Posted by LisaLisa2323

Normal people don't walk around drugged up or drunk. When you engage in sordid behavior, you often attract negative attention. Just think, if he wasn't completely stoned/drunk, he wouldn't have been in that predicament.

Was the family from New Jersey walking around the harbor "normal people?"

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...031-story.html

[Digger 68]

Are these normal people Man stabbed to death near AT&T Park in San Francisco

Anything can happen anywhere.

I was down there yesterday, I survived.........

[LisaLisa2323]

Originally Posted by personone

Was the family from New Jersey walking around the harbor "normal people?"

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...031-story.html

There are always two sides to every story. I don't know what the family did, prior to reporting the incident. I'm not condoning the incident, but perhaps the family provoked the incident by using racial slurs, or speaking in a disrespectful/ very aggressive manner.

I've never been the victim of any crime. I tend to keep a very tight social circle and when I'm out and about, I'm always fully aware of my surroundings and I try my best to treat others, as I want to be treated. Also, I'm not walking around looking for trouble.

I don't know if the family provoked the attack, but I know of instances where certain people instigate and then cry foul when they get a negative reaction.

[LisaLisa2323]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

Are these normal people Man stabbed to death near AT&T Park in San Francisco

Anything can happen anywhere.

I was down there yesterday, I survived.........

The topic is about Baltimore, not San Francisco...

But since you want to discuss the Bay Area, why didn't you highlight the following story: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/u...-stabbing.html

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by LisaLisa2323

The topic is about Baltimore, not San Francisco...

But since you want to discuss the Bay Area, why didn't you highlight the following story: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/u...-stabbing.html

There was another poster on here who was/is from San Francisco, That's why I posted it.

[pwduvall]

Originally Posted by personone

I've never been to Cincy, but I've found downtown Baltimore to be much more seedy and scary than downtown St. Louis. That's not to say that STL is a safer overall city, but in my experience, the "downtown/tourist" areas have a less dangerous feel. You don't hear as many stories of tourists being attacked or packs of teens causing trouble "downtown" or in the "touristy" areas of STL like you do in Baltimore.

Again, overall, Baltimore and STL are similar in crime, but downtown STL feels safer, so if you stick to major tourist areas, you should have no worry.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aAZMuNrKTk

I think what separates Baltimore from other major cities, is that you see more rowdy teens and bad behavior in the downtown/tourist areas. The stories of tourists getting beaten up in Baltimore is why many get nervous about visiting. I've lived in Philly and now Chicago, cities that have tough neighborhoods that can put Baltimore any neighborhood in Baltimore to shame, but for the most part the downtown/touristy areas maintain a safe feel for tourists.

Having visited some of these cities recently, I think I can support personone. I just got back from a trip to St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Louisville. The streets St. Louis is strikingly more racially segregated than Baltimore and the few people hanging out on the streets tend to be white.

Though the North St. Louis ghetto is a virtual moonscape of entropy and emptiness that nothing in Baltimore can come close to matching, the rest of the city is generally in better shape than Baltimore. They seem to have pushed their problems to a place that most people never go. I didn't see drug crews taking over the corners anywhere (even in the ghetto.) The beggars in STL weren't numerous but they were really annoying since, unlike in Baltimore, they are legally allowed to try intimidate people that say no by following and yelling at them. Someone also gave me a similar hard time in downtown Indianapolis, but I had no problems in Louisville. In general, the streets of St. Louis feel safer than Baltimore's, despite an overall crime rate that is about the same.

I haven't been to downtown Philadelphia in a couple of years but I am amazed by the number of cops I see on the streets downtown. The place appears to be on lock-down, and it seems to be working. Because of staffing shortages, Baltimore police couldn't do what Philadelphia police do, even if they wanted to.

Indianapolis is surprisingly impoverished, with a lot of deteriorating housing all around the city, except for an a group of attractive and prosperous neighborhoods east of downtown. The potholed streets are even worse than Baltimore's.

The west side of Louisville is obviously very impoverished, though I didn't have time to walk around. Just like in Indianapolis, the east side if downtown is the good side (and very cool.)

Cincinnati is a very odd city... but mostly in a good way. Vacant buildings, of which there were obviously a zillion at one time, are being fixed up by the dozens. Not only that, the work tends to be top quality historic restorations (at least on the exteriors.) This investment is supported by boatloads of investment by local corporations. The corporations have floated a group know as 3C CDC with lots of money that can be lent with the expectation of high risk and low returns. Baltimore's new NIIF fund will be set up with the same type if lending standards. (Jack Young is reported to be an opponent of the program, so it might be killed soon.) Anyway, the combination of tons of investment, lots of high paying jobs, and no nonsense policing have created a virtual Disney Land city unlike anyplace I have been recently. One note of caution is that downtown/Over the Rhine has more commercial space available than it appears can be reasonably supported. There are tons of bars, restaurants, and interesting shops but none of them ever seemed to be crowded. That can only work if commercial rents are held very low (which I suspect is the case.) The area near the University of Cincinnati is also growing quickly. Anyway, the thought of groups of kids heading to downtown/Over the Rhine to cause trouble would be a non-starter. The people in charge of the city obviously won't put up with that.