No plans to visit Baltimore in the near future

[graydude]

Has less to do with who controls the local politics than it does the populace.

Different politics generate different environments, some of which are more prone to uncivil behaviors than others.

[Gabill]

Oldest daughter lived in Rockville and Gaitherburg for about 7 years. Didn't have any interest going to Baltimore. Did enjoy Maryland.

[Havok]

There is nothing that I want to do in Baltimore.

[rotorhead1026]

Chicago I've been to, no plans on going back. BAL has never been on my list. In fact, most anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line is non grata for me. Hopefully a trip to KY to do a distillery tour.

Louisville Slugger factory is a can’t miss.

[rotorhead1026]

There are places I avoid, especially if I cannot carry there. I haven't been to Baltimore in probably 20 years (but I do miss their softshell crabs!).

Louisiana has soft shell crabs, and you don’t have to visit New Orleans.

[NoDeer]

Has less to do with who controls the local politics than it does the populace.

The most recent I could find....doubt it has changed much.
The average homicide victim in Baltimore in 2017 had 11 previous arrests on his record. About 73 percent had drug arrests, and nearly 50 percent had been arrested for a violent crime. About 30 percent were on parole or probation at the time they were killed, and more than 6 percent were on parole or probation for a gun crime.

The rats are devouring their own. Good to see. Saves some good people from becoming a statistic.

[G26Raven]

Louisiana has soft shell crabs, and you don’t have to visit New Orleans.

I lived in New Orleans for three years back in the early 80s. Traveled throughout the Gulf coast while working offshore. Definitely some great seafood in that area!

[Texas Red]

I've passed through Baltimore probably a dozen times. Never stopped there, though. Just another East coast big city in my book, between Philly and DC.

[CG11]

Amazing how a place where the fight for freedom pretty much started has become a bastion of freedoms ended.

[G26Raven]

Amazing how a place where the fight for freedom pretty much started has become a bastion of freedoms ended.

Very sad.

[Swedishsteel]

I have traveled to Baltimore more times than I can count for business meetings and, quite often, to use BWI Airport and the connector train to improve my Washington DC access and egress. The Baltimore Inner Harbor is every bit as vibrant, safe, and attractive as similar convention center destinations around the world. BWI Airport is clean, efficient, and convenient. Things deteriorate quickly, however, once one leaves the Inner Harbor area. I have rented cars in Baltimore and driven to Washington when my travel needs required multiple stops. Neighborhoods in both Washington and Baltimore, just outside of the business districts, are jarring. Throughout the 90's and until I retired a few years ago, street prostitution in both cities was conducted in unfettered, open view. Hand to hand drug deals were commonly observed. Row houses often consisting of 5 to 20 connected units with several of the units boarded up while others were still occupied. Trash, graffiti, abandoned cars, broken windows, overgrown weeds were rampant. It is particularly depressing when one enters Washington DC from Baltimore on Route 1 (Rhode Island Ave.) or Route 50 (New York Ave.) From both routes, being slightly more elevated than the heart of the city, it is possible to see the beautifully illuminated dome of the capitol and the Washington monument rising above deteriorated, boarded-up hovels, street level drug traffickers, pimps and their property. I have traveled extensively around the world and I cannot name any more stomach churning display of the chasm between the wealthy and powerful of Washington and the desperate milieu of thousands of residents residing only blocks away.

Baltimore had a chance to attack their crime problem and raise the standard of living for its residents but squandered it due to concerns over privacy rights. https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion...426-story.html .

If this article whets your appetite for ways in which Wide Area Aerial Surveillance (WAAS) could cure urban crime I heartily recommend the book "Eyes in the Sky" by Arthur Michel https://dronecenter.bard.edu/staff-b...es-in-the-sky/. The author provides a fairly well balanced report on the benefits of Wide Area Aerial Surveillance and associated systems including ground based cameras, license plate readers, and facial recognition software juxtaposed with rights and attitudes toward personal privacy. I can feel readers of this forum tensing up and fuming over anything that "infringes" on their personal rights and freedoms. Please have an open mind and learn about this subject. I already see that some readers do not stray far from home due to fears, I suppose, over unfamiliar territory in big cities or regions of the country outside their "comfort zone". To me, that's an intolerable diminishing infringement on the freedom to travel, enjoy life, and explore.

A final thought on the subject of WAAS and its associated support tools. After a forty plus year in risk management, I am convinced that long prison sentences and the death penalty have almost no deterrence on crime. Yes, they separate the offenders from the rest of society but their departure only opens the way for their competitors in the murky underworld to expand their operations. Most criminals have the attitude that they will not be apprehended and, if they are, they will "beat the rap". It's not an unreasonable perspective. Indianapolis, a heartland city near my home, had 159 criminal homicides in 2018. The fourth record breaking year in a row! As of July, 2019 only about 50% of last year's murders have resulted in the arrest of a suspect. The conviction rate of suspects who do not accept a plea is less than 30%. Yep, people get away with murder every day, not to mention rapes, violent assaults, home burglary, car theft etc. What stops criminals is not the harshness of the consequences of being convicted, though that is the easy fix that politicians promote during election years; what stops criminals is the CERTAINTY that if they commit a crime they will be caught and will be punished. Swift, predictable escalating punishments such as short jail stints for first offenders followed by probation and re incarceration for longer periods upon ensuing convictions, would deter many criminals from getting on the treadmill...but the criminal has to know that they will be caught and convicted much more often than they can evade justice after a criminal act.

[KevinRohrer]

Baltimore has the top homicide rate per capita in the nation, and may exceed most 3rd world countries: 50 per 100,00.

[PPS1980]

Born and Raised in Philly,left there in `71 due to the "Change" and didn`t want to raise my Daughters there in the Loser School environment. Went back there 7 years ago and it looked like a War Zone,Gang Shrines everywhere!. Was back about 3 years ago and actually saw some improvement,no Gang Shrines and some trashed homes rehabbed,I was Shocked. Maybe some Hope??. Germantown was my neighborhood.

Same here but from up 309. All my immediate family has fled. Went up 3 years ago and was ashamed to tell
my kids it was where I grew up.

[G26Raven]

Baltimore has the top homicide rate per capita in the nation, and may exceed most 3rd world countries: 50 per 100,00.

When I lived in New Orleans back in the early 80s they had that particular distinction.

[Swedishsteel]

Baltimore has the top homicide rate per capita in the nation, and may exceed most 3rd world countries: 50 per 100,00.

Amazon's planned new headquarters will reportedly employ about 50,000 individuals. Based on the murder rate in Baltimore, siting the headquarters there would seem to require a recurring task of replacing 25 employees per year due to murder. Of course, crime statistics do not randomly distribute themselves across a region's population. If Amazon moved into Baltimore, they would build a walled enclave with advanced technology security measures to insulate their imported, high-wage earning, workers from the rabble at the gate.

Despite Amazon's best efforts to secure their physical workplace, however, a population of 50,000 workers will inevitably include a subset of drug users who will still need to enter the maw of Baltimore's street scene for supplies...so some workers will likely become murder victims due to their lifestyle choices, not their employment choice.

While on the subject; Robert Hare, one of the most oft quoted researchers on the subject of Psychopathy and the developer of the Psychopathy Checklist, has published data indicating that psychopaths make up about one per-cent of the adult population in the United States (it's lower in other countries). At one per-cent, Amazon is destined to recruit as many as 500 psychopaths into their employment pool of 50,000. Thankfully, some psychopaths are law abiding, driven, extreme personality types that achieve laudable leadership positions in industry and government. Many, however, are just psychopaths.