This is what everyone says about every time period of the avenue though. People just fall in love with what they first knew.

I live in Brooklyn, shit happens here but it really goes block by block. Generally speaking it’s quiet where I am and I haven’t had any major issues. I’m sorry your car got messed with, that’s irritating. I hope you don’t have any more problems.

>We’ve had so many high profile attacks and random violence, plus everyday obvious nuisances like the squeegee folks, that it really drives home the “war zone” image

Re: random violence, though I have no way to prove this, my perception is that we do not have more random violence on a per capita basis than other cities. My hypothesis is that our bloated crime statistics are due to Baltimore having a high percentage of people who are simply up to no good or who live in a world where violence in a reasonable problem solving strategy. I know all cities have such people...I just think Baltimore has relatively more.

To illustrate what I mean re: random violence - NYC has had 22 instances of people being pushed onto subway tracks this year alone. These are about as random as it gets. Imagine that happening even once in Baltimore in a five year span. We'd never be able to live that down.

I do agree that the squeegee boys have a HUGE HUGE HUGE effect on public perception. When people I know tell me they won't go into the city, it is more likely they will mention squeegee boys than murder.

Statistics don't tell the whole story. Who's getting murdered? Mostly people connected to the drug trade, in places where that trade is happening, at night. If that doesn't describe you, you don't need to worry much about the murder rate.

NOLA actually has a bigger crime problem right now. They defunded the police department and as a consequence are short on cops. Response times are over an hour and that’s if they don’t downgrade your call and show up the next day to take a report. Baltimore has its own issues with the police but at least they’re funded. Hopefully with the new states attorney we can get crime rates down again. It sucks for both cities because there’s a lot to love and I do think the leadership means we’ll. Unfortunately a lot of bad policy gets passed and the people bear the brunt of it.

I would document all the events that take place here. On any given weekend there are multiple festivals taking place, most put together by locals themselves. This time of year is great for Christmas villages and festivals. Baltimore communities are really tight knit and that doesn't get showcased a lot.

Baltimore has (and still is) a major problem with race/racism. I believe, it's just as bad, or if not worse than drugs and murder. It's not as bad as it used to be during my parents era, but it's still present within Baltimore's business sectors. People still harbour racist beliefs and dangerous stereotypes that affect daily interactions.

Sorry but all I can think of right now is “ah yes….the ‘Dickensian aspect’…” 🤔

check out the “out of the blocks” podcast. they interview everyone on a given main st in a different neighborhood each episode.

its super interesting how different the neighborhoods all are here-each one has its own flavor!

Heritage Smokehouse just released a Thanksgiving menu that looks amazing.

Blacksauce Kitchen also has a Thanksgiving menu. Wouldn't be a traditional turkey though.

Growing up in Baltimore in the 1970's and 80's was fun, exciting and interesting (tho' slightly dangerous, too!). Many neighborhoods had their own character, eccentricities and charm. That's kinda faded away now. The people I grew up with left Baltimore for better opportunities (NYC, LA, Europe, etc.) I, myself, left for Houston in the early 90's for college, but came back to help family. While the city remained stagnant, most outgrew their neighborhoods.

This "new", "pre-gentrication" Baltimore is still in question and evolving. I do enjoy the change and interacting in a multi-cultural landscape with more of an international presence. Maybe the transplants, students, new creatives and aspiring residents will be the dawn of something better for the city.

I was just laughing at a Detrioters bit earlier today that gave me big Baltimore vibes.

A scene where two of their out of town friends are exploring the city and ask if an area is safe. The Detroiters scoff and say "it's not a damn warzone" then the friends ask if it's ok to walk there and they immediately change their tone "well God no don't do that"

Came here just to share this. One of my favorite YouTube channels. I find Johns Hopkins (the host of the show... yes that's his name) to have an infectious love of Baltimore.

There is plenty of room for housing in Baltimore lol. The city is in rough shape because it needs to be repopulated and rebuilt, and it might just be possible for Baltimore to get its chance and learn from the absolute failures in NYC, DC, Denver, SF, etc to meet revitalized housing demand. Hint: the answers start with transit and vastly reduced zoning codes.

There are regions of hyper blight all over the city and its all basically the same thing. Sandtown, Carrollton Ridge, Broadway, etc. Mostly collapsing vacants or empty lots, streets where nobody actually lives there where all the foot traffic is just crime operating where nobody else goes for the most part.

The easiest way to find them is to look for the areas where there are literally zero commercial stores of any kind open within a one mile radius.

Its almost like poverty begets (violent) crime and reducing poverty reduces (violent) crimes.

Really I think the root is the blight. You're right about more circulator lines etc. We should at least get circulator coverage in the 2 mile radius of downtown and let MTA act more as a commuter bus service for further out areas. It also needs better headways, like some cities get bus frequencies down to 4 minutes. We could at least do sub 10.

I think on infill development though the current city building code is crippling. There are like 50 different zoning districts and are allocated on totally arbitrary per-lot boundaries. The biggest thing is to rezone areas within 2 blocks of major transit stops (which would include those high frequency circular stops, imo) to an equivalent of the current TOD-4 zone with no parking minimums. If this actually happened with expanded circulator coverage and the red line it would make a lot of the city a singular zoning code, which would be hugely helpful to attract investors to build here.

Yeah, it’s funny because living in Nola, I feel like the negative gets mentioned so much, but you’re right that we do get a bit more love on the tourist front. My wife used to live in Baltimore and is always singing its praises, for what it’s worth!

THANK YOU

My coworker and I recently went to New Orleans and were saying the same thing. Baltimore does have culture and is a cool city with the potential to be a tourist destination especially given it’s proximity to big east coast cities. NOLA is shown as a destination for music, food, culture, etc even though they also have a lot of crime. Obviously Baltimore isn’t as special as NOLA and we don’t have Mardi Gras, but I think if local businesses, art, and other things unique to Baltimore were funded and allowed to thrive then Baltimore could definitely be a tourist destination in its own way.

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But it's NOT just fox rhetoric, that's my point. Just over the weekend somebebody was telling me how they switched their living rooms and dining rooms to avoid bullets on Preston St (down the hill) and their exact words were, "you gotta do what ya gotta do when you live in a warzone. I've heard people living in Carrollton Ridge decribe their neighborhood as a warzone, this is not isolated, I've heard dozens of Baltimore residents describe their neighborhoods as warzones. You saying people living in Baltimore don't have this perspective is just FALSE.

Waze does this too. Open the app and it should give you a walking ETA.

If you have Google maps I would still check, since by using Waze, you are in the Google eco system

> I think pretending everything is rosey is just as bad as completely sh***** on the city.

Nice strawman - all I said was that the "war zone" and "boots-on-the-ground" language is parroting Fox News, I didn't say Baltimore is a perfect place.

Maybe 15 W Franklin

I work in Baltimore, doing pest control. I've never had any real issues. If you have a little bit of street smarts you're most likely going to be just fine.