VietVet876 Thanks for the private police force info. I am just curious how Johns-Hopkins can survive in a tough district.
The hospital complex is sprawled in the maw of a steaming ghetto. It has survived and even thrived because over the years it has bought up neighborhood properties in bulk and razed them in order to develop new medical buildings and housing for its employees. Hopkins is the major economic influence in Baltimore and years ago the city passed laws that gave the institution condemnation powers usually reserved for local governments. These condemnation powers are “quick take” meaning the properties can be seized prior to court proceedings that determine fair market values for purposes of paying the owners “just compensation”. This is the reverse of the typical condemnation whereby the condemning entity (city, county, state) has to either negotiate compensation with the property owner or wait for court proceedings to take their course which could take years. This enabled Hopkins to continually expand their medical campus creating a sort of “safer zone” that most ghetto dwellers know not to mess with. Now the college complex in north Baltimore is another story. It lies smack up against the wealthy Guilford and Roland Park neighborhoods with median single family detached values in the $500-$700,000 range yet are located just blocks away from down and out drug infested black slums. Many Hopkins university students live off campus here and street mugging of them is common. And there have been students murdered by the ferals from surrounding neighborhoods. Too bad because the area used to be extremely nice up until the mid 90’s.