Just HOW bad/scary is Mondawmin Mall and the surrounding area???? (Baltimore: to rent, tenant)

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by barante

I know a guy who grew up in Edmondson Village. The few times he has gone back he has carried a gun.
I myself think that's a bit extreme.

That interesting.. I am trying to understand (not criticize) logic of joe blow law abiding citizen carrying a gun around Baltimore. I guess my logic is.. if its not part of my job, why would I leisurely go somewhere where I think I may have to pull it out. Granted there are exceptions.. you live in a rough area and need to carry it to and from your vehicle to your door or you have to visit someone that lives in a bad area.. I get those reasons...

Ok say you do go somewhere where you dont expect to have to draw down on someone but unfortunately someone still pulls a gun on you .....it seems you can A) try to get your gun out and point it at them..which may get you shot B) Give up your goods..which still may get you shot C) You get your gun out and there is a shoot out and I guess somebody wins...or D) You are so nervous and apprehensive that you pull it out on someone as they walk up to you and ask for a smoke.. Damn that would be awkward...E) You get robbed now you can chase the crook and rob him back? That should be fun explaining to BDP...Dont get me wrong I know there are some very legit reasons...just curious to hear some. This also assumes that you are licensed to do so or Im sure that may become an issue with the Police at some point?

Sorry for rambling but just interested in hearing from those who are packing..but if it works for you.. keep holding the heaters.

[Oldhippie43]

Originally Posted by carthell

Uplands? Isn't that at least three miles (as the crow flies) south & west from Mondawmin, and blocked by at least two major thoroughfares, a river, and a massive park? You might as well declare Brooklyn a easy stroll from Mt. Washington.

The 1990s was a fairly bad time for selected swaths of the city (I used to live in one of them), but things has changed. The area that you speak of is awaiting redevelopment.

I visit Mondawmin on occasions, including this year. (I like Shoppers Food, so I usually take a weekend food run to shop at one of the chain's sites around the metro area.) Mondawmin is no different than any other mall that I've visited in the area, except it doesn't require an airplane ride from your parking space to a mall entrance.

Yep.....was definitely having an old hippie brain-fart. However, I can legitimately blame it on too many drugs back when.....and perhaps advancing senility now. In responding to the question, my thoughts drifted errantly to my youthful days wandering around Edmondson Village Shopping Center. I'm not even sure that Mondawin existed back in the 50's and 60's.

My only experience with Mondawmin has been driving past it years ago going to the Baltimore Zoo with my kids.

I'll go now.......

[ToneGrail]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

That interesting.. I am trying to understand (not criticize) logic of joe blow law abiding citizen carrying a gun around Baltimore. I guess my logic is.. if its not part of my job, why would I leisurely go somewhere where I think I may have to pull it out. Granted there are exceptions.. you live in a rough area and need to carry it to and from your vehicle to your door or you have to visit someone that lives in a bad area.. I get those reasons...

Ok say you do go somewhere where you dont expect to have to draw down on someone but unfortunately someone still pulls a gun on you .....it seems you can A) try to get your gun out and point it at them..which may get you shot B) Give up your goods..which still may get you shot C) You get your gun out and there is a shoot out and I guess somebody wins...or D) You are so nervous and apprehensive that you pull it out on someone as they walk up to you and ask for a smoke.. Damn that would be awkward...E) You get robbed now you can chase the crook and rob him back? That should be fun explaining to BDP...Dont get me wrong I know there are some very legit reasons...just curious to hear some. This also assumes that you are licensed to do so or Im sure that may become an issue with the Police at some point?

Sorry for rambling but just interested in hearing from those who are packing..but if it works for you.. keep holding the heaters.

When you hand the robber your wallet, drop it on the ground, making him bend over to pick it up. Then shoot him. Since there is no guarantee that he still won't shoot you even after you surrender your wallet, it is an acceptable strategy in the eyes of the law.

Also, a degree of situational awareness is helpful. If I were packing, I'd be instantly aware of someone approaching me of a suspicious demeanor. Before he even got close enough, I'd have my holster unsnapped and ready.

If you are off in la-la land not paying attention to your surroundings, you probably shouldn't be packing.

[Woodlands]

I am trying to get a handle on the parking lot at Mondawmin.. The times that I go.. its never "full" but the mall/Target are well utilized. This is presumably because most people walk or ride the train or bus there. I have wondered if Coppin State will take over the DMV and that side of the property once it is relocated up to near the Rogers Ave Metro stop. Coppins prez has been complaining about space issues since the campus is land locked and it taking years to assemble properties for expansion. If they knock down and or renovate the DMV and adjoining parking lot. They could expand their school across the Parkway. A pedestrian bridge would connect the athletic complex with this new building. Future expansion could add another building to the rear of Target.. just across the access road from the current DMV site and tie into the mall. That would allow student safe access from the main campus through the athletic complex on campus.. across the Parkway into this extention of the campus and into the mall. It could certainly benefit mall restaurants by having a better connection with the school students, faculty and staff who could/would eat there not to mention when games are held on the fields.

[barante]

Hadn't heard about DMV moving. The only relocation to near the Reisterstown Road Metro station that I know of involves the Social Security Administration's "Metro Center," off Greene and Mulberry.
I doubt that Coppin is going to expand to the current DMV. Instead, it hopes to get its hands on the current Douglass High School, which was built as Western High School in the 1920s when blacks spilled over from Pennsylvania Avenue to McCulloh Street and the old Western at McCulloh and Lafayette (?) became a black school.
I have heard rumors that Douglass might take over the Lemmel school property nearby. Alternately, the adjoining Community College of Baltimore City would get involved with Douglass at that site.
At this point all these are rumors. The fact that General Growth, which owns Mondawmin, is in bankruptcy and the state and the city are short of money leads to many rumors but to few facts.

[mrboltonman]

Finally made it over to the Target at Mondawmin Mall and am glad I did. The staff was helpful and found what I needed. It's great having a big store so close for stuff not at the stores around the corner from me.

[carthell]

Originally Posted by Oldhippie43

Yep.....was definitely having an old hippie brain-fart. However, I can legitimately blame it on too many drugs back when.....and perhaps advancing senility now. In responding to the question, my thoughts drifted errantly to my youthful days wandering around Edmondson Village Shopping Center. I'm not even sure that Mondaw[m]in existed back in the 50's and 60's.

The Rouse Company opened it in the 1950s, from my vague recall of various sources. Wikipedia has a date of 1955.

[barante]

That mid-1950s date is accurate. Mondawmin rose at the site of an old plantation that was last owned by the estate of Alex. Brown, the big investment banker. Before it was selected as the mall site, it was a candidate for Social Security Administration's new headquarters but lost in competition with Woodlawn.
Pietila's forthcoming Not in My Neighborhood details all this and the reason for Mondawmin Mall's quick decline: A lightning fast racial change of the neighborhood. (See my latest post on the antisemitism thread).

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by barante

Hadn't heard about DMV moving. The only relocation to near the Reisterstown Road Metro station that I know of involves the Social Security Administration's "Metro Center," off Greene and Mulberry.
I doubt that Coppin is going to expand to the current DMV. Instead, it hopes to get its hands on the current Douglass High School, which was built as Western High School in the 1920s when blacks spilled over from Pennsylvania Avenue to McCulloh Street and the old Western at McCulloh and Lafayette (?) became a black school.
I have heard rumors that Douglass might take over the Lemmel school property nearby. Alternately, the adjoining Community College of Baltimore City would get involved with Douglass at that site.
At this point all these are rumors. The fact that General Growth, which owns Mondawmin, is in bankruptcy and the state and the city are short of money leads to many rumors but to few facts.

There is a shopping plaza on Reisterstown Road at Rogers Ave across from the fire station that will be renovated into the new DMV.. I am somewhat surprised that this location was chosen.. though it is still about a block or two from the Rogers Ave Metro Station. Seems like they would want to co locate the DMV with a Metro Subway Station since if your license is suspended.. .you can take the subway down there to get it straightened out

[carthell]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

There is a shopping plaza on Reisterstown Road at Rogers Ave across from the fire station that will be renovated into the new DMV..

Hilltop shopping center, I believe. I used to live in the area for a time when I was a little sprout.

Are you sure about that? Are the lines at the current Mondawmin MVA site stretching into the parking lot now??

I can think of a few other regional offices (Perring & Joppa. Essex near MD-702.) that would need larger accommodations for the public than the Mondawmin site. My brother asked me to bring him to the Essex site because there might be a possibility of being served quicker than Mondawmin. There was enough of a line there to keep the MVA office's front door open for most of the time we were in the mall. (He decided against getting a replacement ID, so an hour later after getting other things we left).

I an only imagine the heating (or cooling) bill that the express offices manage to run up during a typical year.