Over on Kennedy ave. and 22nd. st. also over on 22nd & Robb st. right behind North ave., right across from the "Marches Funeral Home"use to be a big stomping ground for me at one time! I spent a lot of time around there buying, using drugs, trying not to get burned by junkies, shot by dealers who thought I was undercover and not getting locked up by actual under covers Police! If you get a chance you should contact your local Police department about going for a civilian ride along sometime and see it for yourself! It's a lot of vacant homes abandoned blocks! Road blocked streets to deter drug traffic and the smell busted septic pipes! Some days you can smell the shit literally for blocks! This is another community that my City has turn it's back on! Baltimore is ruff but I'm sure you've probably already heard that with the popularity of shows and series like "The Wire" & "The Corner"! An now its me doing The Relapse Diary!
The issue that I have is the masking job that Baltimore City is doing! They have its poor and undesirables bottled up in these horrible neighborhoods away from the public's eye sight! In Baltimore we have strategically set up all of our tourist travel systems that allows our visitors to circumvent all of the so called sketchy neighborhoods! These ignored neighborhoods are were a lot of the native inhabitants are living and where a lot of resentment and indifference toward tourist and outsiders comes from! Image if someone hid your need for help & assistance behind the skyline of downtown and the Inner harbor! Outlined by I- 83 expressway, the Baltimore light Rail system and ridden underneath of by the Baltimore Subway system! I hear people say all the time, "don't go beyond Penn Station, don't get off at the Mondalmin or the Penn North stops, it's bad there or whats that big building by I-83 that looks like a Castle(Baltimore Penitentiary)???" Some of these communities remind me of the movie "Death Wish 3" where this gang had a whole neighborhood held captive and no one was willing to do anything about it, except for a loan vigilantly played by Charles Bronson !
This current Baltimore issue that has gone viral on popular websites like Youtube & WorldStarHipHop showing the video of the Tourist being beaten in Downtown Baltimore and stripped of his clothes! It's garnered a lot of attention Nation wide towards Baltimore's crime, adding to this current popularity of videoed flash mobbed group fights and attacks of senseless violence! Some people have their opinions on what factors attributes to this behavior. I thought to myself, Thank God we haven't had our own Trayvon Martin incident here yet, because Baltimore is Primed for it! The Baltimore City officials need to take a initiative and begin to reach out, setting up dialogue with these alienated groups, invest back in its actual communities, not just window dress the cities tourist attractions and more frequented areas! People of different social groups and backgrounds need to know who each other are! Having a understanding of what brings them to Baltimore and what connection they all have with our city! Stereotypes, Indifference, racial profiling and treats of stiffer Criminal penalties for these incidents are not working!
Some of the people from these abandoned, deteriorating and eroding neighborhoods of Baltimore city are attracted by the lights and entertainment of Dowtown, Towson and Huntvalley, and will come out of their communities to the downtown ares to see what it's all about! Baltimore City and it's developers have turn there back on them! There is no entertainment or recreation in these neighborhoods! These Neighborhoods have become strong holds for drug dealers, drug users, murderers and slum lords! It's wrong and unfortunate that a lot of the innocent become victims of collateral damage of this unaddressed social problem! The destitute will wonder in search of new hunting grounds when they've exhausted the resources of their own territories! They see the big cars, designer bags, expensive jewelry,World Advertised, Popular, famous branded Stores, Businesses, Restaurants & Merchandise, with a lot of our cities visitors being in excess of material wealth as well as being intoxicated and incoherent as they walk the streets! I've festive events in different cities & towns, Key West & Mardi Gras, passed out in different places and have waken up in my hotel room! I'm sorry but Baltimore isn't the place for that kind of reckless good time!!! Certain places you just can't wonder too far and Baltimore is one of them!
We need to stop ignoring the native Baltimore neighborhoods needs and reinvest in our actual communities! Attract industry to our city to create jobs for non professionals! Set up a prison outreach program to help ex-convicts & ex=offenders find DECENT EMPLOYMENT! The only place I see help for People in bad situations is on Reality shows these days and this shouldn't be the reality many Baltimore Native have to face! The only home grown career and Industry Should not be Corrections(look it up "smallest States with the most Prisons" Sometime)! I mean if Corrections is your thing that's cool, but I just don't want to babysit the problem, I want to address and fix the problem!!!!
2 comments:
"The issue that I have is the masking job that Baltimore City is doing! They have its poor and undesirables bottled up in these horrible neighborhoods away from the public's eye sight!" ... "Image if someone hid your need for help & assistance behind the skyline of downtown and the Inner harbor!"
I don't think anyone is actively trying to hide or suppress Baltimore's problems. You forget that Baltimore's poorer neighborhoods receive from society far more than they pay into it. It is true that they need more to thrive, but whether or not they deserve it is a moot point because it is not going to happen without tourist revenue or a tax base. The city is not going to find tourists to come or middle class folk/businesses to settle by advertising the ghetto. That's just reality.
I appreciate your feedback and thanks for reading!
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