I haven’t seen any alternatives suggested except for social workers, which is not the right answer in this case. What alternatives are available that don’t involve law enforcement? We have similar situations in Little Violetville/Saint Agnes. Who can we call other than law enforcement?

What’s the reason for calling Metro Crime Stoppers first?

Safety is the Safety and Crime Prevention meetings. One of the block captains from across Wilkens is the main Safety contact for us, they have the meetings at people’s houses around Saint Agnes and Violetville. The block captains are the people who receive the information from dpw, dot, other city agencies to share it with the neighbors on the block. The system used to be more organized, it’s slowly coming back as crime went up and more people want to do something to stop it.

You’re welcome! Good luck.

You can! The block captain for Safety, not the block captain for my block to clarify, one from another block, reported drug dealing to the mayor. The police reports to 911 and 311 didn’t help. Councilperson Porter does not respond at all. Our neighborhood group was replaced something Porter started and they don’t do anything. My street has three houses I know have heavy drug users who also steal, threaten people. There is one house with a man and woman who openly deal heroin. I was at my wit’s end.

I uploaded pictures from the doorbell camera to Metro Crime Stoppers. The Safety block captain, again not from my block, has been talking to the mayor about the problem. We finally received some action, uniformed patrol policemen and plainclothes men around the block for the last two days.

If you report to 911 or 311 I recommend you do it anonymously. The Metro Crime Stoppers website is already anonymous. If you decide to contact the mayor I recommend you ask someone who lives on a different block to be your middleman.

http://metrocrimestoppers.org/

https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/node/28

What does the private lateral restoration enforcement mean? Does this mean the city will find people if there are cracks in the private lateral line? I had the cured in place pipe fix done, there were cracks in the lateral on my side and the city side from tree roots. Will I be fined even though I already had the pipe fixed? I’m upset the city going to fine people even more for damage that came from the city.

This consent decree is about renovating the sewage pipes and stopping the sewage, pollution the city is dumping into the bay. I believe you are right about Baltimore County contributing more, but this is for fixing the current problems, not combining systems.

My neighborhood gets flooded with sewage in the streets and in the basements of many houses because the mistakes the city made with the sewage system. It happens every time it rains now. They need to fix that problem first before changing the whole system or making a new agency for the city and county together.

You can buy the cheese spread in any grocery store if you want without the experience.

Sunset in Glen Burnie and Kibby’s in Southwest Baltimore did this, both closed. I can’t think of any restaurants still open who do this. I’m following, this is a classic old fashioned appetizer.

Do you mean receivership?

The city can’t repossess a house, a bank could file foreclosure proceedings and then file for possession if the property is mortgaged, most of these are not mortgaged.

Receivership is a long expensive process in the city. At the end of the process the city will own the property. The city also fails at maintaining the city owned vacant properties.

https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/baltimore-city-continues-to-grapple-with-vacant-house-problem/

What maintenance? Have you seen some of the empty rentals in Baltimore? Some are so poorly maintained they collapse, killing people. Holding on to property until better city leaders are in place and the property increase in value is called real estate speculation, people do it all over Baltimore.

I live in Southwest Baltimore. Multiple houses are now vacant because landlords paused renting, it’s the main reason for vacants. Many landlords in my area inherited the house, started renting because they couldn’t sell, or rent out part of the house they live in. When the city doesn’t honor their commitments for rental assistance these landlords stop renting. They don’t sell, new families don’t want to buy here now. The houses sit empty, on my block ten of the twenty four houses are empty, almost half. All empty because the current owner either inherited and rented it out for a while before giving up, or moved away, couldn’t sell and gave up renting after bad experiences. Almost half the houses on both sides of the block.

This is recent in my area, but I believe this is how areas of west Baltimore because blighted. The assumptions that all landlords will divest their property and a new landlord will maintain it as a rental is false.

The city program pays directly to the landlord but they are very behind on payments. An older woman on my block rented the downstairs apartment to a family who were approved for rental assistance over a year ago and a half ago. She still hasn’t received any payment from the city.

Kudos to you for writing about your experience, that’s a tough step. I’m sorry this happened to you, I wish you a speedy recovery. Please consider counseling with a provider familiar with post assault traumatic stress and paranoia. Many people have feelings of fear or concern after assault, especially when interacting with someone who reminds them of the assailant. Smells, sounds, sights can all trigger feelings of uneasiness. This is normal after an assault, a trained counselor can help you heal from this. I wish you the best in your recovery.

I’ve always appealed through the mail, always been approved for a lower assessment. 10 appeals over the years all approved. I don’t know anyone who was denied.

Some areas have sewer line problems where the city sewage lines are at fault, the back up happens after rain storms and can push sewage from the city lines back into residential pipes. You can call 311 to see if this is the problem, your friend’s neighborhood group might have grants to get it fixed. I received around $11,000 over two years to fix my sewer pipes and install pumps and valves to prevent the back up. My sewage line is inside, but the same may apply to your friend’s home.

https://publicworks.baltimorecity.gov/soscleanup

Thank you for that information. It seems anytime someone trolls me on Reddit they are either a police officer or local aspiring politician. I should have guessed it.

That makes no sense, I volunteer with people in mental health crisis, one of my neighbors advocated for the federal law. This specifically has nothing to do with Baltimore County police, tying it to the police department or making it seem as if it is police sponsored is counterproductive. I wrote nothing about taking credit, please read my comments again.

I didn’t mention anything about credit, I clarified this is not related to police at all. I don’t know why the department needed to label the announcement as from them instead of asking the news stations to share the hotline number as a public service during the holiday season. The way the promotion is worded mentions police, Baltimore County police and the department enough to discourage some people from using the service. The description is confusing enough that it could be read as counselors from the police department. The entire purpose of the federal bill was to make the National hotline more accessible, not scare people away by associating it with police.

Even the title of the article “Baltimore County Police gives life saving info” is misleading. It is from the local Fox station, not unbiased.

This is not a police number. I don’t know why the Baltimore County police make it seem this way, this is the shortened access number for the National Suicide Hotline. This number has nothing to do with police.

This is not a police thing. This is the National Suicide Hotline shortened access number, the FCC put this out after Congress passed the 988 bill, or the National Suicide Hotline bill. A volunteer from my area helped gather signatures to get the bill passed.

I hope people don’t get confused that this has something to do with police. It’s nice the police promoted it, perhaps it would be better if the news stations promote the number without police involvement. Many people worry the police aren’t the best people to respond if someone is experiencing thoughts of self harm, police can make the matter worse instead of better.

If you need help call the number, please don’t think this is a police number, it isn’t. This is the National Suicide Hotline, no police will come if you call.

My heating system is oil, my son connected a switch the main electric box to control the heat, kitchen outlets, and the porch light by the generator. Good idea, thank you.

Good idea, thank you.

Be careful if you go out, I called 311 for salt on Wilkens and Unetta where I saw the water leaks freezing. It’s still very icy on some spots.

Is the water out for the others on your block? My water is on but there are definitely leaks under the roads because the water is coming up. Did you call 311 to report it?

Good luck, my friends without water are off Washington Boulevard. Part of their road is very icy with several hit and run car accidents so far. When I last spoke to them about an hour ago they still not have water but other neighbors did, it didn’t seem to affect the entire block.

Do you have a community resource or center that can provide updates or a warm place with water? I’m by Saint Agnes hospital, all the centers, neighborhood groups and everything that would help are gone. My house is chaos with people right now, happy chaos, but help from the city or neighborhood group would be welcome.