Deficate where you live, move on when the smell and diseases overcome you, and repeat.
Posted on 06/25/2006 5:05:58 AM PDT by edpc
Wearing work boots and carrying flashlights on a spring day last year, a band of architects and developers picked their way through the dim interior of the American Brewery. They looked like archaeologists combing through an ancient ruin, which, in some ways, is exactly what the brewery is.
Built in the 1800s, the American Brewery has stood empty these past 33 years, a ghostly reminder of a distant past when the city's manufacturing muscle was on display in working-class neighborhoods such as this one in East Baltimore.
Rain drips from a hole in the roof and puddles on the floor. Ankle-deep piles of pigeon droppings and feathers soil the concrete floors. Holes and graffiti deface walls. Rust has corroded most metal surfaces.
The deterioration doesn't end at the doors of the old factory, which stands at an isolated, impoverished corner of the city near the point where East North Avenue dead-ends at the Baltimore Cemetery. The view from the brewery's vacant arched windows is equally desolate.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
"It's depressing," said Leslie Funderburk, one mother who lives in the neighborhood. "How can you expect someone to have a positive outlook on life, when all they see is destruction?"
Pick up a broom and a hammer.
They provide compelling evidence that the revitalization so apparent in some sections of the city has left many other parts untouched -- a reminder of the continuing gulf between prosperous and poor Baltimore.
More like the reminder of continuously failed and wasteful leftist policies. Home ownership equals investment and pride in the property. Residents of public housing have no stake in the property. Few, if any, feel any responsibility for its upkeep.
Many streets and alleys are strewn with refuse, which provide the food for rats, just as the abandoned buildings offer them shelter....litter and discarded furniture remain problems -- the result of the willingness of illegal dumpers, transients and even some residents to sully an already degraded neighborhood.
Apparently, it's only a few people in the area who litter. The majority comes from people risking life and limb going to this neighborhood just to dump trash. I don't buy it.
Crime is "commonplace enough," she said, "that it's not something you get all worked up about."
Maybe that's part of the problem. Your lack of outrage is enabling the advancement of crime and decay. Rebuild this area on the government dime and I guarantee it returns to squalor in a decade.
Agree with you on all your points.
Absolutely spot-on.
You made some excellent points.....forward tham on to the author...
a reminder of the continuing gulf between prosperous and poor Baltimore.... my aunt fanny. What a load. As if the elitism of rich versus poor is such a BRAND, NEW idea.
Vote for Bob Ehrlich, Marylanders. He is not our ideal, but the alternative is what you read in this article and in the posted comments.
Exactly. We dont need O'Mally in Annapolis. He cant even run a city , much less a State.
Deficate where you live, move on when the smell and diseases overcome you, and repeat.
Oakland, Detroit, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., St Louis, Cleveland ... where liberal politics and liberal politicians rule, it's pretty much always the same - isn't it?
"Holes and graffiti deface walls. "
Alright, outsiders come in and dump their trash - Are we to assume that people from outside of the area also come in to create the holes and graffiti? This article is so deep into denial as to the cause of the decay that it is hard to believe it actually made it into print!!!
Another part of the problem. In Massachusetts it's called the lawyers and "deleading consultants" full employment act (my name). You can't even paint over the lead paint without failing the test done by overpaid stooges with lead detectors. I'm sure there's many other anti-landlord laws that the author isn't aware of or won't talk about.
Thanks, but if you ask any MD Republican, they will tell you the same thing. Trying to debate The Baltimore Sun (aka The Calvert St. Democrats Club) is a monumental waste of time.
You don't see anything here about any sort of community action. Not neighborhood watch. Nothing. People who live in these NE cities don't even know how to have a meeting, and if someone calls one, they don't know how to behave. So, they are at the mercy of whatever anyone else wants to do. Their only idea is that somehow the gobmint should do someting. What gobmint? They don't know.
Excellant comments!!!!!Your post responds to all the idiotic remarks.
;-)
We are always told that poverty causes crime. Perhaps it's the other way around...
Let's test that premise. Is there a city (or cities) in that size range that has been under conservative political control for long enough to warrant a comparison?
I strongly suspect that you are right, but we need to document it with factual comparisons.
The creation of governemnt dependents has ruined so many lives, to their and our great tragedy.
It is government programs and the welfare state that causes crime. Povery itself does not.
Liberal politics rule because of the ignorance, hatred, and envy of the degraded individuals who vote for them.
I grew up in Cleveland. Being poor is not a reason for crime and disgusting living situations. In the 50's a whole crew of immigrants arrived after WWII. they lived in the poorest sections of Cleveland. They worked hard, made a large pot of soup on Sunday which they had all week. Their little apts were clean, the streets were clean, no graffitti.
and actually, it used to be that way in Black neighborhoods BEFORE govt help.
God save us from the government helping us with our problems.
As Hillary said," It takes a village to build a public project." (ha)
I understand what you mean. There were a couple of times when we had an outbreak of lice at school. It was traced back to a group of individuals who were from the poor section of town. They routinely came to school unwashed. I never thought low income was an acceptable excuse for being filthy.
I live in Md. and dont get up to Ballmer (our pronunciation) very often. What I have seen on my visits there is that outside of the waterfront most of Ballmer seems abandoned. The whole place is more than a little shabby.
Poverty is caused by low practical intelligence and personal disorganization. That includes a suseptibility to poor impulse control and can result in criminal behavior.
James Q WIlson explained and Rudy Giuliani effectively translated into policy the theory that crime is fostered by a lack of attention to limits and boundaries by the community. Ample evidence abounds that poor people tend to be of subnormal intellect, finding the simplest of coping skills, like getting to a job on time and reliably, to be a challenge.
And as PJ O'Rourke's mother is said to have said, "There's nobody so poor they can't keep their yard picked up."
You could start with Giuliani's NYC, which stopped putting up with street crime and "victim" crap and started enforcing the law, with salutary effect.
You can get the people out of the slum, but the real challenge is to get the slum out of the people. If you just clean everythig up and the people have the same attitudes, the area will quickly revert to a slum.
haven't read the article yet, but I would say that inept city governments have led to decay. They have done nothing to force landlords to keep up property that isn't occuppied, whether it's a warehouse or a single family, unfortunately that is where it starts. What the residents do to further the decay is disgraceful, but these left wing city governments hate to force anyone to take responsibility.
That's OK. It's 6 pages of tedium, blaming everyone but the residents for the conditions. As a Marylander, I'm sure you're familiar with The Sun's bilge.
Amazing what 62 years of socialism can accomplish, isn't it?
Then as in San Francisco, L.A., Portland and Seattle (all cities I'm familiar with) the liberal elite dumps tons of taxpayer money into luring homeless people, treating druggies, building sanctuaries for illegals, etc.
All of these elements contribute to one demographic explaination MORE DEMOCRAT VOTERS.
Ahem. Maryland and the city of Baltimore are below the Mason-Dixon line, yes?
And Maryland was rebel territory during the Civil War, yes? "The despot's heel is on our shore. . ."
And Maryland culture IS still Southern: No white before Mem Day/after Labor Day; iced tea all year round; mac & cheese is a veggie. . .
So, how come you moved us to the NE?
My grandparents had a beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's ... then the state opened a welfare office 1 block away ...
The first thing to attack in rehabbing the area is crime.. if you get that under control THEN you can rebuild the homes and rent them out for reasonable money.
Megapolis from Washington to Boston is my view. I lived in Washington for 12 years btw.
Not just that. Maryland is a blue state and it is not part of the "Bible Belt". So what if it's under Mason-Dixon line, it is part of the "United States of Canada"
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