Is Baltimore Screwed?

[rolliefingers]

Why or why not? You have 45 minutes to complete this essay. When you're finished, hand your blue books to the TA and exit in an orderly fashion.

Seriously, I'm curious to know what people think about this. I know a lot of people on this board live in the Baltimore suburbs or in fairly wealthy areas of town.

I don't. I'm close to Hampden and Charles Village - both stable areas - but my actual neighborhood of Remington is still a fairly rough place, although not nearly as bad as many other parts of the City.

In 1950, Baltimore City was the sixth-largest city in the country. From Wikipedia:

Baltimore's population peaked at 949,708 in the 1950 Census, which ranked it as the sixth-largest city in the country, behind Detroit, and ahead of Cleveland. For the next five decades, the city's population declined while its suburbs grew dramatically, bottoming out in 2000 at 636,251. In the 21st century, the city's population has stabilized and is again rising, mostly due to revitalization efforts in many city neighborhoods. The mid-July 2004 Census estimate was 641,943.

That population loss had many causes, beginning with loss of blue-collar jobs, continuing with the heroin/cocaine epidemic that continues nearly unabated to this day, following with White Flight (and Black Middle-Class Flight) and ending with - let's be honest - flat-out racism.

I believe that the single greatest impetus for the middle- and upper-class exodus was the MLK riots of 1968. Quite understandably, blacks were fed up with the tragic shortcomings of the Civil Rights movement, and equally understandably, the ownership class was scared of further property loss, and fled to where things were safer.

The problem, IMO, is that we as a region have never really aired our differences to each other. The whites are entrenched in their view of blacks as uneducated thugs, and blacks are entrenched in their view of whites as haughty racists. Just reading the local politics board on BaltimoreSun.com has convinced me that we need a Truth & Reconciliation Commission for Baltimore, a la South Africa. There's so much mutual hatred and mistrust.

I'm not stating this as eloquently as I might - it's still early. But here's my basic question: Does anyone think that Baltimore will once again be the economic center of the region? Will the middle- and upper-classes return to the City and revitalize it? Will captains of industry create jobs for the unemployed?

Are we, as a region, simply writing off the poor of East and West Baltimore? Have we decided that those people have no benefit to society whatsoever?

Will we ever become one metro area again? Or will future generations continue abandoning the City and building up Hunt Valley, Towson, Columbia, Owings Mills and Bel Air?

[rolliefingers]

To put it another way...

To people who don't live in Baltimore: What would need to happen for you to move back? And how could those changes be made to happen?

[The Wedge]

To put it another way...

To people who don't live in Baltimore: What would need to happen for you to move back? And how could those changes be made to happen?

It'd have to be about 500% safer. How could that happen? Not a clue. Nobody else seems to have an idea, either.

[rolliefingers]

It'd have to be about 500% safer. How could that happen? Not a clue. Nobody else seems to have an idea, either.

Would you consider moving to one of the "safe" areas of town, though? Mt. Vernon, Canton, Fells, Fed Hill, etc.?

[The Wedge]

Would you consider moving to one of the "safe" areas of town, though? Mt. Vernon, Canton, Fells, Fed Hill, etc.?

Not at my current financial situation.

[rolliefingers]

I'd like to add, by the way, that I don't mean for this to be a flame war at all. I'm not trying to vilify anyone for where they choose to live and what they do with their time. I'm really just looking for honest answers and ideas.

[rolliefingers]

Not at my current financial situation.

I feel you on that.

Without getting too specific about your income or the value of your home, look at these stats:

('HOOD) (2006 avg. home sale price) (2006 median) (units sold)
__________________________________________________ _________

Canton || 309,860 || 279,000 || 488 ( )

Fells Point || 343,042 || 275,000 || 67

Federal Hill || 390,327 || 334,000 || 95

Mt. Vernon || 311,855 || 247,950 || 22

Mt. Washington || 339,053 || 354,250 || 66

Charles Village || 284,187 || 293,000 || 75

Hampden || 196,612 || 199,000 || 207 (!)

SOURCE

Just sayin'...

[Sports Guy]

Would you consider moving to one of the "safe" areas of town, though? Mt. Vernon, Canton, Fells, Fed Hill, etc.?

No parking..Small houses(generally speaking) and way overpriced.

Living down in Canton would have been cool in college...Rent a house with 2-3 other friends...But living down there when you are older seems senseless to me.

[Mackus]

('HOOD) (2006 avg. home sale price) (2006 median) (units sold)
__________________________________________________ _________

Canton || 309,860 || 279,000 || 488 ( )

Yeah there are multiple houses for sale on just about every block in Canton. Its quite ridiculous really. Even more ridiculous in that I had to search for about 3 months before I found a house that I really liked and fit all my needs. Move in next Wednesday!

[OregonBird]

I haven't lived in Baltimore since 2003 but I read The Sun online just about everyday. They make it appear as if the crime has gotten worse and I didn't think that was possible. Also, are the local politics still goofy?

I moved to Portland, OR in 2003. Let me tell you that it is a different world out here. While I still love Baltimore and miss it a great deal sometimes, I'm very appreciative of the things I have now, the things I don't have to worry about, and the west coast lifestyle that I can now enjoy.

People, attitudes, lifestyles are different everywhere you go, that's for sure.

[rolliefingers]

I haven't lived in Baltimore since 2003 but I read The Sun online just about everyday. They make it appear as if the crime has gotten worse and I didn't think that was possible. Also, are the local politics still goofy?

I moved to Portland, OR in 2003. Let me tell you that it is a different world out here. While I still love Baltimore and miss it a great deal sometimes, I'm very appreciative of the things I have now, the things I don't have to worry about, and the west coast lifestyle that I can now enjoy.

People, attitudes, lifestyles are different everywhere you go, that's for sure.

It has, and they are.

[AgentOrange]

I would never live in the city.

Hardly any parking, crime, property taxes are high, not a good place for dogs...

I mean it just doesn't match up well with what I am trying to do.

[OregonBird]

It has, and they are.

Every summer my wife and I go back for a week to visit family, friends and work on our house. After a week of struggling to find parking spots, struggling to get good service at a Home Depot or restaurant w/o someone acting like you ruined their day, struggling to move on the Beltway, struggling to feel safe w/thugs walking around the harbor, we struggle to ever want to move back. It always feels overcrowded and the people we encounter are miserable. We're always happy to get back to Oregon.

There was a time when I had a good job offer to come back and we decided against it. We looked at some houses downtown where its overpriced, small and get no parking, yet the price was ~$500k. Also, the property taxes are like $6k/yr and for what? Blue ribbon schools, safe streets, great schools? It was either that or take a 40 minute commute each way from Carroll County.

[rolliefingers]

It seems like there are two main camps of anti-Baltimore people:

1.) People who just have no desire to live in a city, period; they want a lawn, 2-car garage and picket fence

2.) People who would live in a city, if it were safe with good schools.

The other thing I'm hearing here is parking. Would people use public transit if it were accessible, fast, clean and safe? Or are cars a permanent fixture in everyone's life? What if there were a service like Zipcar available (there already is, near JHU), where you could get a car for a few hours, do what you need to do, then return it?

[rolliefingers]

Every summer my wife and I go back for a week to visit family, friends and work on our house. After a week of struggling to find parking spots, struggling to get good service at a Home Depot or restaurant w/o someone acting like you ruined their day, struggling to move on the Beltway, struggling to feel safe w/thugs walking around the harbor, we struggle to ever want to move back. It always feels overcrowded and the people we encounter are miserable. We're always happy to get back to Oregon.

There was a time when I had a good job offer to come back and we decided against it. We looked at some houses downtown where its overpriced, small and get no parking, yet the price was ~$500k. Also, the property taxes are like $6k/yr and for what? Blue ribbon schools, safe streets, great schools? It was either that or take a 40 minute commute each way from Carroll County.

So you still own a house in the City? Where is it? And why did you decide to keep it when you moved away?