Every major American city has its share of violent, drug- or gang-based crime. That's not to diminish it, but unless you are actively involved in those trades or unfortunate enough to be caught up in it by proximity, it likely will never visit you. It's a shame because there are risks everywhere (suburbanites think nothing of climbing in their cars everyday to hop on the highways where 30,000 people die every year) but we're so bad in general at evaluating them.
Frankly, it doesn't bother me that Baltimore's reputation is somewhat tarnished, because that just makes it all the more appealing to live here and know that there is great art, great music, a vibrant technology and hacking scene, lots of smart young people, and friendly neighbors to enjoy. Now if we could just get more bike lanes and some better frickin' public transit ...
To put it in context, Baltimore's homicide rate is six times that of NYC, which itself is also over the national average.
Austin, Texas which is slightly more populous than Baltimore has about 20 homicides per year. This is a similar per person rate as Edinburgh and lower than Dublin, but higher than London. Austin isn't amongst the safest cities in the US. It's just a major city I chose at random. I think it's fair to say that on the whole the US is dangerous for a rich country, but the average is definitely being pulled up by outliers such as Detroit and Baltimore.
That's irrelevant to what Paul said; he didn't say that Baltimore's murder rate wasn't outrageously high.
What he said is:
> unless you are actively involved in [drug] trades or unfortunate enough to be caught up in it by proximity, it likely will never visit you.
Baltimore undoubtedly has a serious drug violence problem; much more serious than Boston and NYC. (Fortunately our government's Drug War is on the verge of eliminating that problem any day now!)
What Paul is saying, though, is that this problem has remarkably small collateral damage considering its severity; almost nobody who's not involved with the drug trade ends up in those murder statistics.
(I know it's not nobody, but I suspect that the rate of "unrelated to drug trade" murders in Baltimore is similar to that in Boston and NYC.)
who's trying to rationalize it? There's not much I can do about it; it's still an awesome place to live. Good luck buying a house in a nice part of Boston or NYC as a working-class or middle-class person. Meanwhile I'm hacking code, running a startup, and I live in a super nice house in a walkable neighborhood that's very different than the one narrow slice you saw in that show.
I am criticizing as only a family member can (or should.) I grew-up outside Baltimore and lived in the city for 10 years in Federal Hill, Canton, and Homeland.
My wife and I decided we wanted to raise our family in Boston and when we were looking for a place in 2004 I was shocked to find out there were only 39 murders in Boston in 2003.
The status quo in Baltimore is not acceptable and is not what is tolerated in other cities.
However, I will be applying and I would love to spend 3 months back in Baltimore.
We haven't locked down the space yet but are hoping for a spot in Fells Point. I actually also live in Charles Village, let's meet up for coffee sometime! (mike@subelsky.com)
