There’s nothing like a nice hot glass of diet ginger ale.

"This ain't Facebook, grandma."

When you walked through these you knew the party was about to be lit

>it's NOT the citizen's job to balance their checkbook to make sure DPW is doing their job.

No but everyone should balance their checkbooks to make sure expected bills are taken out. To ensure they don't go into the negative. And to make sure their responsibility are being taken care of.

>Most of those who pay online don't use a checking account (WARNING: DON'T GIVE ANY COMPANY DIRECT ACCESS TO ANY BANK ACCOUNT) but go on a credit card. It sure sounds like he/she/they are doing their part correctly.

So. This is dumb. Paying any Bmore City bill with a CC costs more. Not only with whatever interest rate you have but. Let's say you pay off your bill every month. Baltimore City CHARGES the payee to use a CC. Using a checking or savings account is free. The routing and account numbers are not saved on their website. You have to input the information each time you pay. Your cookies or whatever may save the digits but the website itself does not.

>The city accepting payment and is all the proof they (OP) needs. Unless, as the OP suggests, the DPW is mismanaging the situation and their financial resources.

This is also foolish. Every time you pay a governmental bill or utility, you get a reference number to track that specific transaction. For the city, millions of transactions occur monthly. As well, things happen. You put the wrong acct number, wrong address or whatever, you have proof of the attempt. Or get, your phone died or computer crashed or whatever, you have an identifier.

>way, I disagree with your premise that it's up to each of double check our transactions to make sure DPW

It's not just DPW. Every one should check ALL transactions. I pay property taxes online. I'm not just hitting send and going about my day.

Water bill, bge, tickets and property taxes, I pay by check/ACH and I check my account the day it's supposed to hit make sure it does. It always has.

I also check my accounts routinely because I like the peace of mind of knowing how much I got in the bank, that X bill was paid. It's more than DPW.

Op never checked apparently no now, they have to untangle this.

This isn't DPW issue cuz they don't take the payment. The City does. And just like with issuing tickets, the finance department of Baltimore City is really efficient.

Also. When you don't pay your bill. It gets bigger. The amount carries over. So op never looked at the bill? Never checked the amount? If they did, then there's an issue, probably user error. If so, those 3 payments can be tracked. How? The reference number.

The city is inefficient and fails in a lot of ways. This is not an e ample of that.

Death by misadventure.

The commute is very doable. I go twice a week from further away in Baltimore with no issues. The train takes an hour (thought there's a 45 minute express train coming back) and is very comfortable and reliable.

Not the OP, but it's NOT the citizen's job to balance their checkbook to make sure DPW is doing their job. Most of those who pay online don't use a checking account (WARNING: DON'T GIVE ANY COMPANY DIRECT ACCESS TO ANY BANK ACCOUNT) but go on a credit card. It sure sounds like he/she/they are doing their part correctly.

The city accepting payment and is all the proof they (OP) needs. Unless, as the OP suggests, the DPW is mismanaging the situation and their financial resources.

Not being able to track/confirm payment with 100% certainty -- which is kind of table-stakes when you're providing a service like water, and/or getting paid online -- is 100% unacceptable. This "maybe you paid, we aren't sure so we're sending a bill on a different platform which while wrong might become a collection notice" is 100% bullshit. This isn't selling quilts on Etsy, we're a major metropolitan city and this is water delivery.

The way this was written, it seems like the city accepted payment and then is telling them they didn't. Either way, I disagree with your premise that it's up to each of double check our transactions to make sure DPW is doing what they claim to be doing when they accept payment.

I’ve seen the typical alley in Baltimore but never one of these. Very cool! I learned something new today.

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Sally ports are the holding areas between door openings when you walk into a jail. One door opens, you walk forward. That door closes. You’re closed in the Sally port. Then a different door ahead of you opens and you can then go forward. The port is a holding area to prevent anyone from walking through the door and out of the jail. I always heard breezeway was the term for this in the row houses.

No, on the edge of Mt Vernon.

No and you never could. Its a myth that cities, anywhere can or could offer that type of guaranteed safety. If you think that you could in Cap Hill, then you were lucky. I have lived in Balt City for 38 yrs and never once have had a bad experience, but that does not mean that the city is 100% safe, NO, just that I have been willing to take precautions to not put myself in harms way, and a lot of luck. I grew up outside of DC, and remember when many parts were labeled as UNSAFE. This was in the 1970s when the memory of the 68 riots was still burned into the minds of the people in the DC area. Yet, my first job outside of high school had me working in all neighborhoods of DC, Never had a problem. What I realized is that there is an industry (local TV news) which spends much time keeping people in a state of unnecessary) fear. When you are on the ground and see what is real and what is not, you realize that most of the noise is fearmongering. Why do people expect every place they live to be a vacation destination with all bad things removed? I think a lot has to do with the 40 yrs of raising kids as house plants and not letting them be outside.

Pearls are not made without some irritation.

No and you never could. Its a myth that cities, anywhere can or could offer that type of guaranteed safety. If you think that you could in Cap Hill, then you were lucky. I have lived in Balt City for 38 yrs and never once have had a bad experience, but that does not mean that the city is 100% safe, NO, just that I have been willing to take precautions to not put myself in harms way, and a lot of luck. I grew up outside of DC, and remember when many parts were labeled as UNSAFE. This was in the 1970s when the memory of the 68 riots was still burned into the minds of the people in the DC area. Yet, my first job outside of high school had me working in all neighborhoods of DC, Never had a problem. What I realized is that there is an industry (local TV news) which spends much time keeping people in a state of unnecessary) fear. When you are on the ground and see what is real and what is not, you realize that most of the noise is fearmongering. Why do people expect every place they live to be a vacation destination with all bad things removed?

Pearls are not made without some irritation.

'Airy-way'

You can walk in Bolton hill at night. I do often as a few of my friends live on Eutaw. When I first moved to Baltimore after college I lived across north ave in Reservoir Hill and walked as my main source of transportation to downtown/mount Vernon/city at all hours of the night sober and not. Keep your wits about you. But both neighborhoods are some of most architecturally beautiful ones. I have plans to buy in Reservoir Hill.

As for nightlife - it’s very much a residential brownstone neighborhood, but there are gems there like Mount Royal Tavern (dirt church), Cook House, Tilted Row and On The Hill Cafe- so not completely abysmal. There are other shops on the ground floor of the ReNew MV apartment complex across from the light rail station and the armory/state center. Theres a Save-a-lot grocery store on McMechen St. That’s the closet. But you’ll need to go to Mount Vernon(Streets/Eddie’s), Station North, old Goucher/Charles Village(Gaint/Streets), Remington/Hampden (MOMs), Mount Washington (whole foods) for everything else. Good thing is you’re in a great spot for public transit. You can use the light rail/subway/bus and the circulator and hop on Marc/Amtrak at Penn Station

As for the diversity and inclusion… historically bolton hill was for WASPs, there’s art weirdos, hipsters, old money trust funders, other members of the alphabet soup group, and etc. Bolton hill is wedged between the former gayborhood (Mount Vernon) and the new/alternative one (Old Goucher/station north).

You’re also close to Druid Hill Park/ MD Zoo and all it’s amenities, Jones Falls, and the brunt of the cultural attractions.

But you would think someone at the city would’ve been knowledgeable enough to know how narrow they are so people don’t have to leave the cans in front of their homes 24/7

it's almost as if they were built before widescale trash pickup was a common thing... 🤔

did you heat it up?

I think the neighborhood is pretty cool. can't speak too much for night time but I would certainly feel safe there, and there are lots of MICA art students there that walk around at night. the neighborhood certainly isn't going to be as vibrant as a DC neighborhood just because of the size/money of the population in DC. it's like comparing somewhere in DC to Manhattan. I think the most important thing is whether or not you have any friends around. riding the Marc train just to see your friends will be a bit of a drag. though, I think baltimore residents are more friendly overall (except while driving) so I'm sure you'd be able to meet people here.

Breezeway

There was (is?) a little field behind some houses on Shroeder street where they would let the horses graze sometimes. I always enjoyed seeing the horses and connecting with the arabbers. It's one of those things that really does put the "charm" in charm city.

OP, this isn't just you but I've seen a trend lately, and I'm going to take this moment to call it out. This could have been a text post. All it is is words in a plain font with an emoji. For some reason, you(and many others, lately) chose to make it an image instead. This makes it so that people who browse with screen readers can't appreciate your post. Please consider not doing this, or at least posting a transcript as a comment(I'm not supplying one myself because it's your words, so you should have control over deletion etc which you don't have when I repost them in my own comment without permission).

Hundreds of years of designs all over the city, so it's unsurprising to not know it all... Especially if they aren't in the homes in your neighborhood.

Ah I see. An alarm system and locking is certainly all doable. Maybe a house with iron bars over the first floor windows would help. As would a garage I imagine.

Thank you for the realtor recommendation! She sounds like the ideal contact for me. I appreciate it.