The beautiful row houses once part of sprawling tenements that illustrate Baltimore's urban decay

The Daily Mail ^ | September 1, 2013 | Daily Mail Reporter

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

One of the architectural quirks of certain cities on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. is the solo row house.

Standing alone, in some of the worst neighborhoods, these nineteenth century structures were once attached to similar row houses that made up entire city blocks.

Time and major demographic changes have resulted in the decay and demolition of many such blocks.

Occasionally, one house is spared - literally cut off from its neighbors and left to the elements with whatever time it has left.

Still retaining traces of its former glory, the last house standing is often still occupied.

[Starboard]

“Detroit with Crabcakes”.

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LOL!!!!

One more subtle differece: Detroit doesn’t have Baltimore’s “Hon’ culture. Welcome to Balmer Hon!

[drbuzzard]

Bothered to look it up- there has not been a GOP mayor in Baltimore since 1967.

[TurboZamboni]

I’m sure evil republicans control the entire city council and local school boards.

[rusty schucklefurd]

As per usual, (according to one of the comments) the blame for the decline of Baltimore? GW Bush! I wonder if we will ever get him away from the control panel of every problem in this country.

[Starboard]

If someone tries to tell you the Inner Harbor is cool, tell them to stuff it.
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A couple of years ago we were in the Inner Harbor. The entire atmosphere changed the momement it turned dark. There was a shooting around 10 pm and we saw a fight break out in the street on our way out. True story.

The city police have a mobile police station frequently stationed near the Inner Harbor.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Nice work, Democrats. You destroy and consume what others create.

[Shimmer1]

Baltimore is a cesspool

[jboot]

I'm a native Marylander and I see Baltimore every day. I get to see this crap up close. Other than racial politics and the entitlement mentality, the single biggest obstacle to fixing Baltimore is the attitude of the locals. There is not merely a denial of the problems-there is a perverse pride in them. Baltimore is "real city" to them. Urban blight is "honest" and efforts to clean up or redevelop are seen though a dark lens of black racialism or lefty hipster disdain. "Gentrification" and "redevelopment" are attempts by "the man" to destroy the "character" of the city. So when JHU buys up and demolishes a block of abandoned tenements and replaces them with a campus building or a parking garage it enrages rather than encourages the locals. It is crazy. IMHO it will keep on going this way until the city goes bankrupt.

[joshua c]

Wasn’t Martin O’Malley the mayor of Baltimore before he became Governor?

Is this his legacy?

[jboot]

So wouldn’t be surprised if federal workers/contractors are living in Baltimore and commuting to Washington.

Not happening. Even federal drones value their safety.

[deadrock]

Set building was obviously not required for the HBO show The Wire.

[PUGACHEV]

Yes, I remember that too, riding through Baltimore in the back of my parents’ car in the ‘50s on the way to Atlantic City. We’d marvel at the row houses, block after block of marble stoops. We’d also roll up the windows because the city smelled so bad. Mostly, it was an industrial rotten egg smell, but even the spice scent from the McCormack factory was too overwhelming.

[ontap]

Damn if I can see anything beautiful about being jammed up against your neighbor!!!

[T-Bird45]

“Detroit with Crabcakes” — made me LOL, Buckeye, sorry about the wife’s irritation with an inspired observation.

Rhinelander - thanks for the note about the Inner Harbor as I’ve seen glowing reports on various TV shows, especially on the food shows. Guess I’ll scratch that off my list of ballparks to visit.

[blueunicorn6]

Liberals/Democrats like to live in nice places, too. They just don’t want to make the effort to clean them up. I went to California when I was a kid. We went to a beach in Southern California. I went to use a public restroom. Somebody had crapped in the middle of the floor. This was an analogy of liberal California. Beautiful weather. Beautiful beach. Taxpayers paid a lot to build a nice public facility. Somebody ignores all that and craps in the middle of the floor, ruining it for everyone.

[TheRhinelander]

The one thing that struck me was all the bums hanging around and people in general were just rude. I almost got in a fight with a Pakistani after he tried to take a chair from our table in an outdoor cafe’. We told him the seat was taken and he just threw it down. I totally lost it on the guy. If I had been carrying I’d probably be doing a life sentence.

[jboot]

The Inner Harbor was really nice 25 years ago. But don’t let anyone tell you that it still is. There’s a few “safe” areas around but they are becoming isolated and narrow. Definitely do not hang around after dark. There have been several flash mob events this year and in 2012 that the local media conspired to keep out of the news.

[jboot]

Balmorites be rude. They keep it real. Just watch any John Waters movie. They pretty well sum up the local attitude.

[USNBandit]

The problem there is that the train system is so slow and unreliable. Much of the DC Metro system seems to be built on single track and the trains are really slow. Most of my friends that make long distance commutes ride chartered busses. A better way to ride, but still a long commute.

[maica]

Wasn’t Martin O’Malley the mayor of Baltimore before he became Governor?

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The TV Series “The Wire” is practically a documentary of Baltimore’s layers of corruption. O’Malley was portrayed as Mayor Carcetti, basing his decisions on his desire to run for governor from his record in a failing city.