Race, class and antisemitism in Baltimore (foreclosure, to buy, to live)

[barante]

This is a long clip of a talk he gave to current and future medical practitioners at Johns Hopkins nearly a year ago, followed by a Q & A
Not In My Neighborhood

[barante]

We have talked on this thread about segregation and anti-Semitism. Another crucial factor in the formation of modern-day Baltimore was the influx of at leat 250,000 out-of-town defense workers -- mostly Appalachian whites and Southern blacks -- to overcrowded neighborhoods that had not been maintained during the Great Depression. The neglect accelerated during the war due to shortages of building materials and the lack of trained workers who were employed elsewhere. Here is a jukebox symbol of that era:
Rosie, The Riveter ~ Allen Miller & His Orchestra 1943 - YouTube

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by Hamish Forbes

I am surprised to hear this. If I remember correctly, Baltimore hired the famous traffic Engineer Henry Barnes in the early 1950's in a deliberate effort to improve mobility through the City. Barnes was a pioneer in the use of coordinated traffic lights -- you could cruise straight through the City without stopping too often if you got into synch with the lights and obeyed the speed limits. He is also sometimes credited with the introduction of the "Barnes Dance" which allowed pedestrians to cross streets in the coordinated and efficient (if somewhat hurried) way that is still used today in many places. I think that he went on to NYC as their traffic commissioner after serving Baltimore. Strange to link all of this to segregation . . .

It all gets linked to segregation because Baltimore is considered a case study in how the new Interstates were routed through the Metropolitan area. So roads, urban renewal, and segregation all got tied into a big furball.

Looking back at things that were said in my family in Dundalk when I was growing up I can't be real proud of some of the things that were considered 'normal' at the time. There are things today that I probably will never be truly comfortable with but my children are. Some things that I remember being controversial at the time I see resurfacing in the 'Gay Marriage' issue/debate. The funny thing is that some people that were adamant about the earlier issue seem to be more tolerant now than I would expect them to be from years ago. And some that have benefited from the advances made in race relations seem to be the most bigoted in the newer contriversy.

[Woodlands]

I know I may get Flamed for this.. but I-70 should have been built into downtown Baltimore or not built at all. The current highway to nowhere is a slap in the face to all the residents of the city especially those that were relocated out of its path only for the entire highway only to not get built. The section that wasnt built would have ran through Leakin Park...today.. that would be unheard of.. but back then there were not as many environmentalist around and even if there were.. it could have been designed more as a parkway (like the BW Parkway) that celebrated the urban forest rather than a true interestate. The important thing would be the connectivity would be there from the western county into downtown. The massive displacement of African Americans at that time destablized other sections of the City (i.e. Central Park Heights) which may have been a different community today had the current spur not been built which could have led to gradual intergration of the community and not wholesale racial change. The price paid by only having this one segment was not worth the price of admission.. They should have gone all out or not at all.

I think the connection to highways and segregation as MV Dad indicated is that many highways were designed to go through "blighted" or perceived blighted communities most of which were populated by African Americans as a mechanism of slum clearance. The massive displacement cause ripple effects in other parts of the City. Some of the areas that were deemed "slums" were viable neighborhoods.. though in need of repair/upgrading. Today,such neighborhoods would be revitalized with a combination of "in fill" housing, rehab loans/grants, and such that they would remain intact while encouraging existing residents to remain and new resident to enter which is "revitalization" versus the " urban renewal displacement" or the other extreme "gentrification".. that was unheard of and politically unacceptable in the days of the inner city highways of the 50s -70s..when the suburbs were the main driving force along with "slum clearance"

[barante]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

IThe current highway to nowhere is a slap in the face to all the residents of the city especially those that were relocated out of its path only for the entire highway only to not get built. The section that wasnt built would have ran through Leakin Park...today.. that would be unheard of.. but back then there were not as many environmentalist around and even if there were.. it could have been designed more as a parkway (like the BW Parkway) that celebrated the urban forest rather than a true interestate.

I-70, a parkway? It's there for you too see, with the heavy traffic, including speeding trailer trucks.

[barante]

Woodlands is such a good guy (we have never met but any friend of medfield bum. . .) that I wanted to continue a bit on the ill-fated east-west expressway. If you look at Robert Moses's design -- yes, the New York Robert Moses, whom Robert Caro immortalized in his bio -- he envisioned a parkway. Or at least that's what a copy of the plan available in the Maryland Room of the Pratt library suggests.

My remark only referred to the reality of what these "parkways" turned into in all Moses cities: nasty and noxious arteries that are bumper-to-bumper.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by barante

I-70, a parkway? It's there for you too see, with the heavy traffic, including speeding trailer trucks.

I was referring mainly to the spur that would have been built inside of the Beltway and through Leakin Park. Trucks would/should be routed around on Beltway. I believe trucks (semis) are not allowed on the BW Parkway either....

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

I was referring mainly to the spur that would have been built inside of the Beltway and through Leakin Park. Trucks would/should be routed around on Beltway. I believe trucks (semis) are not allowed on the BW Parkway either....

They are not allowed on the Parkway because that is not an Interstate but a literal Parkway controled by the National Park Service (Like the GW Parkway on teh VA side of the Potomac) Also remember when I-70 was designed there was still a lot of Industrial and commercial shipping business at the Inner Harbor.Key Highway Shipyard, working piers, etc that required truck traffic on a continuing basis.

I remember when they were building the 'detached freeway' I was working for Xerox as a Tech Rep in Downtown Baltimore and having to drive between offices in Downtown and the State Office Center out to our parts depot near Martins West. Driving Out Franklin and Mulberry and looking down in the long pit they were digging. And all the empty and boarded up houses along the two.

[rfp]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

They [trucks] are not allowed on the Parkway ...

They are not allowed on the Federal portion of the Balto-Wash Parkway. Trucks are allowed on the Maryland portion.

At least that was true when I lived there, at a time when Mastodons roamed the Piedmont Plateau.

[barante]

The Rise of Economic Segregation - Neighborhoods - The Atlantic Cities