Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The James riverfront as nothing on Baltimore's Harbor. Outside of Brown's Island, a Civil War museum (Baltimore has one too), and a couple restaurants, Richmond's waterfront is absolutely peanuts compared to Baltimore's, its largest selling point. As for Richmond's cooler neighborhoods, Shockoe Bottom, the Jackson/Monroe Ward, and the Fan District are neat, but Baltimore also has Fells Point/Canton to blow away the former, Mount Vernon/Station North/Bolton Hill for the later, and Federal Hill really owns over Church Hill. Outside of those neighborhoods listed above for Richmond, the rest of the city is quite suburban in feel compared to much of Baltimore, and quite honestly isn't much different than Nashville, Louisville, Raleigh or even the NC triad cities. Baltimore has lots of safe suburban areas, from Towson, Catonsville, the Lutherville-Hunt Valley corridor, the Pikesville-Reisertown corridor, Perry Hall/White Marsh, and even in some surrounding counties. Richmond's airport of course also serves far fewer destinations, and doesn't have a dedicated international terminal like BWI's does, and doesn't have a commuter rail system like NOVA/Baltimore. It is a least closer drive to a couple of theme parks, Williamsburg, Charlottsville, and to Myrtle Beach/Charleston. It also has no major league sports teams, and many pop music not only miss Richmond, but if they also miss Baltimore, they usually perform in Philly or DC, a pretty short drive for either. Simply put, Baltimore has more to offer despite its chips on its shoulders.
The James riverfront as nothing on Baltimore's Harbor. Outside of Brown's Island, a Civil War museum (Baltimore has one too), and a couple restaurants, Richmond's waterfront is absolutely peanuts compared to Baltimore's, its largest selling point. As for Richmond's cooler neighborhoods, Shockoe Bottom, the Jackson/Monroe Ward, and the Fan District are neat, but Baltimore also has Fells Point/Canton to blow away the former, Mount Vernon/Station North/Bolton Hill for the later, and Federal Hill really owns over Church Hill. Outside of those neighborhoods listed above for Richmond, the rest of the city is quite suburban in feel compared to much of Baltimore, and quite honestly isn't much different than Nashville, Louisville, Raleigh or even the NC triad cities. Baltimore has lots of safe suburban areas, from Towson, Catonsville, the Lutherville-Hunt Valley corridor, the Pikesville-Reisertown corridor, Perry Hall/White Marsh, and even in some surrounding counties. Richmond's airport of course also serves far fewer destinations, and doesn't have a dedicated international terminal like BWI's does, and doesn't have a commuter rail system like NOVA/Baltimore. It is a least closer drive to a couple of theme parks, Williamsburg, Charlottsville, and to Myrtle Beach/Charleston. It also has no major league sports teams, and many pop music not only miss Richmond, but if they also miss Baltimore, they usually perform in Philly or DC, a pretty short drive for either. Simply put, Baltimore has more to offer despite its chips on its shoulders.
Couple things have to be pointed out here:
-who told you the James was Richmond's "largest" selling point? Negative, though I agree it's not nearly as attractive as The Harbor...
-you named three neighborhoods in Richmond and conclude the rest of Richmond is suburbia, comparable to places that are known as being suburbia? Clearly someone doesnt know Richmond as well as they cockily thought they did. Another negative...
-Richmond does not have unique suburbs, won't disagree there...
-Richmond is much smaller than Baltimore, is wedged between two larger metropolitan areas as is Baltimore, and is less than 100 miles from two major airports. While BWI is "Baltimore's airport", surely it wouldn't have nearly the prominence it has without the "W". To be even more frank, if Richmond was geographically where Stafford is, RIC would have a whole lot more traffic and travel amenities. BWI being the greater airport is not an indictment of Richmond and is more telling of its location and proximity to DC, and the fact Baltimore has always been significantly larger than Richmond...
-previous sentence applies to national touring acts and venues but in reverse. Richmond is too close to DC to get the big time events, though I think people undersell that Richmond does fine with most cities of comparable size. DC is not exactly a long drive from Richmond. Plenty of people here go there all the time for various reasons...
-Lol sports? See previous two statements...
Baltimore is going to offer more by virtue of being the larger city. This isn't a comparison of peer cities. This isn't difficult. Instead, what city appeals to one over the other requires outside the box thinking (re:my previous post). Nobody is comparing Richmond and Baltimore as equals--therefore, nobody is preferring Richmond expecting it to have comparable flight options, or major league sports options, or the biggest of the big national touring acts You've missed the point...
She can't answer that. She's been asked many times over the years and she ignores the question. Why? Best guess is she's never been here. Her silly hate of Rich is contrived and imagined because there's nothing real she can base it on...
The girl needs a life....
@Kode, I'm one of the Richmond boosters, no shame here either, but her little mini-rant is unfounded. Richmonders on this board don't typically go from thread to thread creating drama or trying to be heard. We speak when spoken of, and of all people, Shakeesha should know. She goes out of her way to bump an old "Richmond versus" thread, or drag us into another convo, at least once a month. No Richmond "booster" cares enough to jump in every ring, and yet, thanks in no small part to her, we find ourselves mentioned...
She isn't the only one, but by far she's the most prominent Richmond basher...
@Diff:
Just to clear up, Baltimore isn't three times larger than Richmond by any metric--not MSA, UA, or municipal. Municipal city limits comes the closest, but Baltimore is still over 55,000 short of being three times larger than Richmond, and at any rate, city population is widely considered the worst comparison base for any two cities, so that doesn't matter. For the record though, the city population of both will continue to inch closer to each other, as Baltimore City is in population decline (614,664, -1.0% since '10 Census), while Richmond City is growing pretty nicely (223,170, +9.3% since '10 Census)...
By both MSA and UA metrics, Baltimore is only a few percentage points over double Richmond's size...
Obviously Baltimore is significantly larger, just not "three times" larger lol. This brings up another point I've made in the past. While we all can agree that Richmond is not a peer city to Baltimore, Richmond pretty much has to be compared to larger cities, because not a single city it's size is a more rounded or complete city across the board. Within Richmond's "weight class", Richmond is by consensus near the top, not the middle or the bottom. Yes, there are cities that challenge Rich or can be argued as being in front of Rich, but nationwide, those arguable cities can be counted on one hand (or less). Richmond is a premier city of its size group. Whether 'everybody' knows it or recognizes it doesn't matter--plenty of people do, and at any rate it doesnt change what Richmond is. So it pretty much has to be compared upwards, and for the most part, stands pretty well versus larger cities up to ~2 million...
@turner, I won't speak for everyone else, but Richmond gets my vote for the following reasons:
If I'm going to live in a larger city with population between 2-3 million, I need it to excel. Baltimore is basically 2.8 million, one of the three largest cities in that 2-3mil range, and yet I'm not sure it's a standout. Most of the other cities in this window are also culturally strong (Denver, St Louis, Portland, Pittsburgh, Cincy, Vegas, and Cleveland in particular are all considered vibrant, culturally unique cities, just like Baltimore); most are economically healthier; more than a few offer nightlife comparable to Baltimore's; 12 of the other 15 cities also have at least two big league sports teams, many of these cities are either more integrated or more racially and/or ethnically diverse (or both); pretty much every city besides St. Louis is safer than Baltimore and has far less urban blight and poverty than found in Baltimore; and there are other cities in this group where I'd get a comparable urban experience, with comparable urban amenities....
These are things that matter to me, not saying they should matter to everyone else. But going directly to your post, if I just wanted a city that "offers more" than Richmond, or a city that was just larger than Richmond, hell, my options are far from limited and there's a strong case that I could do better than Baltimore, even within Baltimore's weight class...
Have been to Baltimore several times over the years, have never been blown away. I can name many cities I think are worse than Baltimore, to me, but Baltimore certainly isn't a must-read place or somewhere I've ever shook with excitement to get to....
Just my opinion, and why I'd select Richmond instead. I'm sure plenty of people have their own reasons for why they'd never take Rich over Baltimore!
None of the metros listed are "hurting," but most cities are with the 3.7-4.6% unemployment range; Pittsburgh is the only metro over 5%. Also, Baltimore's labor force is growing faster in absolute numbers than some metros twice its size. Economically, the Baltimore area is very healthy. I think some of much of the population loss that the city recently experienced is due to gentrification. That seems to be the only justification since the Baltimore City is actually growing in every other metric.
Crime I get, but using F500 as a measuring stick??
It speaks to the economic health of a region, to a degree. It's extremely rare for a metro the size of Baltimore to have ZERO F500 corporate headquarters. But the region is lucky because large federal agencies like SSA, NSA, etc. pick up the slack
It speaks to the economic health of a region, to a degree. It's extremely rare for a metro the size of Baltimore to have ZERO F500 corporate headquarters. But the region is lucky because large federal agencies like SSA, NSA, etc. pick up the slack
Don't forget that it has the world's best hospital, and if Kevin Planck keep his foot out of his mouth, and make better looking shoes for their premier star Steph Curry, we'll have a 500 company. Nevertheless, Baltimore is doing economically better than A LOT of cities with F500 companies. Also, Maryland in general has a notoriously unfriendly business climate. Thanks Annapolis...
She can't answer that. She's been asked many times over the years and she ignores the question. Why? Best guess is she's never been here. Her silly hate of Rich is contrived and imagined because there's nothing real she can base it on...
You don't get to tell me what my experience of Richmond has been. You can't find any quotes saying that I hate Richmond. You are lying again.
Quote:
The girl needs a life....
I have one, and it's looking real good over here.
Quote:
@Kode, I'm one of the Richmond boosters, no shame here either
I am glad you admitted it just like you did about the high crime areas.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
