Josh wrote:Judas Maccabeus wrote:Robert wrote:
Hon, I was born in the inner city of Baltimore and lived in several large cities and worked downtown. I live in my rural bubble now because I left that mess behind.
Your constant references to Nazis is ridiculous and I grow tired of it. I have lost a lot of respect for you because of it. I no longer an interested in hearing your opinions since they are so biased and distorted. I pray for those you care for. I hope they experience a better side than you show here. Goodbye.
Than you should know the opinions I express are the norm here, and not an outlier.
J.M.
No offence intended to people in Baltimore, but most the rest of the country doesn’t want to have Baltimore’s crime problem or crooked, corrupt government. There are reasons the cities ended up so depopulated - when it’s too violent and too corrupt to run profitable businesses, the city just dies. I’m sorry to say I see that happening right now including in my beloved New York City. Most retail there is not reopening, compared to say, Ohio, where retail and restaurants are figuring out how to stay in business despite this pandemic.
To understand why Baltimore and other eastern cities have fallen on hard times one needs to look water policy at a bit past the turn of the century. People WANTED to be in city limits, because it brought with it the benefits a city had to offer, mainly sewage and water systems. Property developers also wanted areas annexed, it was far more profitable to build at the higher density that central sewage and water allowed. Over the years, Baltimore, as well as several other eastern cities annexed more and more territory. Streetcars made this possible.
I will use Baltimore as an example. Soon, it ran out of sources of water within it's own boundaries, and needed to look into surrounding areas for water. To do that, it needed the ability to take property, and build infrastructure into surrounding land, that it did not govern, and hence had no authority to "take" the land. It had to make a deal to get the water, in the case of Baltimore, it meant agreeing to supply the county with filtered water from the cities system, at cost of maintaining the distribution system that the county required, in perpetuity. Bad move, now county residents had all the advantages of living in the city, and paid 1/4 as much for the water. I am across the line, and my bill is about 20% of what one of the single guys pay. The advantage of living under the city government is gone, and any annexation attempt is impossible, because it would take a referendum. In a similar manner, county residents can take advantage of city amenities and not pay taxes to support it. Hence, taxes in the city are DOUBLE what I pay.
Thus, the cities of the Northeast (Philadelphia has a similar situation, Boston less so) cannot expand, and the more affluent suburbs are separated from the city that gave them reason for existence. Up until just after the turn of the century, cities could and would annex land that was going to be effectively part of the city. Before 1918, Baltimore's northern boundary was North Avenue. There has been no annexation since, that is about 30-years after the "water deal" was made.
So, this explains at least some of it.
J.M.
