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saltysomadmin t1_iwbzum5 wrote

I mean, Baltimore is top 2 in terms of murder rate. There's definitely cool stuff in the city but the perception isn't going to change until we change the statistics. How we do that beats the shit out of me.

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NewrytStarcommander t1_iwc42mg wrote

I agree it needs to change- but I think the OPs point stands. New Orleans has one of the highest homicide rates in the US and has for a while, but still has a lot of positive image- you don't hear the same level of rhetoric about New Orleans as Baltimore, and more of a focus still on a fun place to go.

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perceptron-addict OP t1_iwc0zai wrote

Yeah the problem is multifaceted and complicated. I don't know where to begin to solve the whole thing. I'm hoping to just focus on one contradiction I've observed: the rest of the US sees us as a war-zone, and after living in the city for over a year, I think it is anything but. About 5 years ago, my cousin who worked in HR visited Baltimore on a business trip. She stayed in Inner Harbor, and the company told her not to leave the hotel. I know multiple people who say they're afraid to visit here. I just think it's sad. It's true the murder rate is bad, and something really needs to be done about that because it's a black eye on the city.

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DirtyPolecat t1_iwc40bd wrote

Within the first year of moving here I had tools stolen out of my truck, my car's hood stomped flat, and someone murdered in the back alley behind my house.

Reeeeally depends on where in the city you live. I'm sorry, I'm not seeing this "awesome" Baltimore from where I'm at.

I'm only here because I'm also a poor man, and housing is cheap.

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taketheleap22 t1_iwcnbyz wrote

I've lived here 5 years and have never seen the such. Absolutely love it here. I think that's the OP's point. So sorry that stuff happened to you though.

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DirtyPolecat t1_iwcng8b wrote

Brooklyn/Cherry Hill is brutal.

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Timmah_1984 t1_iwdh21f wrote

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.

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taketheleap22 t1_iwcp65p wrote

I love the park in cherry hill actually! I read there sometimes.

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completethesestreets t1_iwc3srq wrote

Maybe this is facile but if the city starts addressing simpler quality-of-life stuff and the population starts to grow, even if the number of homicides stays the same, the "homicide rate" will decrease because there's more people here.

I don't think it would be that difficult for the city to start prioritizing things like more dense infill development, more charm city circulator lines, fixing potholes and street lights, hiring some people to clean up more often, etc., and I think that would trigger some growth. Obviously we also want the number of homicides to decrease, but I think that fixing these other issues could go part of the way to addressing violence.

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flobbley t1_iwc6rqr wrote

Improved public transportation infrastructure and improved public school performance would have immense effects for the city. Every young couple I've known that has moved out of the city wanted to stay for the lifestyle but felt they had to because of schools, and the larger an area people are able to travel in a given amount of time means a larger area people are able to look for jobs, and a better chance of increasing their income.

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Xanny t1_iwd66kc wrote

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.

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physicallyatherapist t1_iwc2bc9 wrote

It's not always statistics though. Chicago is perceived as a high crime city (mostly pushed by Fox News) yet many other cities are worse.

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sllewgh t1_iwdfuq8 wrote

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.

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No-Success7693 t1_iwnq2h7 wrote

On one level, it's a serious uphill battle just because of the hard line drawn between city and county.

Many other cities would also look awful statistically if they had never been able to annex their inner suburbs.

In many other locations, a metropolitan area like Baltimore's would also have some of its higher-crime areas located in a completely different jurisdiction (think Philly/Camden, NYC/Newark, DC/crappy parts of PG, etc.)

Instead, they're all grouped together in one municipality, with little statistical counterbalance from inner suburbs.

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