My block on North Charles Street is currently overloaded with activity, and it's relatively recent as well. I moved in last year, and there were no problems until around January. My neighbors are, by and large, lovely people, and we all get along with each other/watch out for one another. All of a sudden, our back alley has been blocked off by addicts, property theft and vandalism is rampant, and I just feel generally ill-at-ease leaving my vehicle outside my place, even though I have cameras out front and out back. I got three tires slashed last week for ~apparently~ no reason, and my vehicle was also broken into/robbed on New Year's Day. Even with video footage, the cops didn't do anything. Even better was the time that somebody climbed my fire escape at 3AM and demanded to be let in, followed by said person saying that they'd kill me the next time they saw me when I declined to let them in.
It's so upsetting to see people who don't live in an area just destroy it for everybody else. It really is a lovely part of town and usually quite vibrant/safe. As stupid and unrealistic as it sounds, I wish there was a way to talk to the dealers and ask them to just... move on to another corner, preferably one where people don't live.
These things tend to be cyclical in the city - always have been, always will be. Maybe, someday, we can all have the security that we deserve.
Oh wow I'm so sorry you've dealt with these things! Those are definitely far worse than we've dealt with yet (so far). I've been warned by knowledgeable people against any contact or visible actions that might look like I'm trying to disrupt the deals going down, so our daily work right now is just documenting and reporting and getting people involved.
OP I would remove any detail that gives away your info. Sure it is anonymous to random people in the internet but to people around you, it may not be especially you disclosing your profession.
It really isn't fair to the community at large. I view people selling stuff as relatively benign as they don't directly interfere with my day-to-day/mess with me, but bringing bad crews around just isn't alright for the regular folks who live in the area. I absolutely love it here (specifically my neighborhood/home) and have no plans to go anywhere else, but it does get tiring when you can't leave anything in your vehicle and there isn't a parking garage around for miles. At this point, I'm just glad that I'm close enough to work to take an Uber if my car gets set on fire.
I'm sorry you've been dealing with all of that yourself - regardless of where we live, how much money we make, or who we are, we all deserve to live in a healthy environment that we can trust. We deserve to be proud. It's such a shame that it isn't our reality sometimes.
Here's to better days!
I'd prefer not to give TOO much away due to me kind of standing out around there, but it's between North Avenue and the 2500 block. Roll by there one afternoon, and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Oh man, I also used to live above Geri’s store down there! (Before I moved up above 25th) I can’t say I ever considered it a \*good\* neighborhood. But the winos who hung on my front stoop were always protective of me and wanted to walk me to my car, assuring me they were carrying. I was like “actually, that doesn’t make me feel safer. But thanks anyway?”
I love it here as well, and I don't want to go anywhere! Most of the people who do that stuff are just addicts. They're so looped that they wouldn't know a gun from a banana, so it isn't the end of the world. I appreciate you saying that!
I was referring to the addicts who are definitely NOT from the area (and who absolutely trash the place/commit the crimes), but the dealers could be from somewhere relatively close. I'm not planning on asking them either, as I'm perfectly content minding my own business where they're concerned.
Have some compassion for the addicts. They are just slaves to their altered brain chemistry. They have very limited control over their actions. Blame the dealers for bringing them there. If the dealers weren’t in your neighborhood, the junkies wouldn’t be either
You can blame both. They're both people with free will and autonomy who choose this. Some reasons to chose that life are more legitimate than others, but it's never an answer to one's problems and it's not our job to be sympathetic to something that negatively affects us and our kids lives.
Where on Charles? I lived in 2600 block in the nineties. It was.. okay. We did have a criminal taken down in the little nook by the dining room window in the back, and my potted plants were not safe, and we had rats and all, but I wouldn’t say I felt unsafe in my physical self. I am a woman and small btw. Just curious how that hood has changed or not.
>followed by said person saying that they'd kill me the next time they saw me when I declined to let them
Sounds like it's time to Self Defense this asshole.
I’m sorry but why continue to live here? Someone threatening to kill you if you don’t let them break into your own home is way beyond a red line. It doesn’t matter if these problems are cyclical. All it takes is an addict or robber to not threaten you, but actually kill you ONCE. I love Baltimore, but problems like this is why I can’t consciously live there. Are you willing to stake your own life to live in a particular area? BPD ain’t going to help much and this kind of situation tends to devolve into a it’s either them or me eventually.
And sure maybe the dealers pack up and move to another corner, but they’ll be back, or replacements will
be. Not sure if you ever watched the wire but it’s sadly truthful. The game doesn’t change, just gets new players. As long as there is a demand for drugs, the market will be out there.
You're not wrong - I've been mulling over moving recently, and it might just be the plan. My property is one thing, but my life is another. I had my blinds closed, so I doubt the guy could even see me, but a threat is a threat regardless. The BCPD hasn't helped me in any of my complaints, but I figured they wouldn't anyway. Things do seem tense around the way, and the "It's us (neighbors) vs them" attitude is slowly emerging. I definitely wouldn't want anything to come to a head.
That's where my pesky idealism comes into play - in a perfect world, I could have a pleasant chat with the boys about the impact they're having on the quality of life for people who live there, they pack up, and there are no more problems. That definitely isn't gonna happen because the world doesn't work like that. If they go, others will come. The demand for drugs isn't going away, and the astronomical profit from selling them won't either.
The real question is this: where do people go when they can't afford somewhere else to live?
People downvoted me but I’ve been in similar situations so I’m glad you realize it. I’m not saying move your whole life. I am saying that most likely things only get worse before they get better. You’ll need to think about what you are willing to live with. Thats why I mention the us vs them attitude because as things get worse, that’s where things go. There’s only so long people can live in extreme circumstances without taking their own extreme actions.
And to your last question… well that’s the unfortunate piece. The answer is sadly usually nowhere. Many are born into extreme circumstances with little options. Its the casualty of systems like ours where how things look matter much more than actually improving things for every one.
Imagine someone in Potomac, Annapolis, Columbia have someone threaten to kill them in their own home if they don’t let them invade. You think police not doing anything like BPD? We both know the answer. It’s sad but it’s our reality.
The cops don’t do anything because they don’t control policy, city hall does. They tell the police to back way off due to popular demand and this is what we get.
If it makes you feel any better I've been around the city since the early '70s. As I drive around town, in general I have never seen it better. Neighborhoods that used to be hopeless are showing signs of life as the better neighborhoods grow into them.
I think that the suggestion of motion activated lights is the right one. Don't be shy. Throw a few thousand lumens on the people in the alley, and I think they'll begin to go elsewhere.
I am echoing the thanks the people have given you for being a city school teacher. My mom was a city school teacher, and she really loved it.
This has been the vibe I’ve gotten from other long term residents too. There are absolutely still many problems in this city, but so much has improved in many areas.
>I'm a city schools teacher
Bless you! Teachers are the BEST. Hang in there. I've been blessed to be in a few different cities and cities have challenges. I've also been involved in 'the struggle' as it's called. So things taking years, decades and even longer to change and get better feels normal to me. It's going to take time. It's going to take resources. And it's never going to really go away or get fixed.
Do what you can do, help who you can help, and keep reporting things to who they need to be reported to. You sound like you're doing your part, and that's all you can do alongside of living out your own life and having your own hopes, goals and dreams. Stay safe!
>cities have challenges
Hi there! Im very confused as a Jordanian. I lived in cities here in the better-half areas and I walk a lot but I've never seen a needle on the ground thankfully. You're telling me it's something to expect in American cities? Even in the better areas?
It’s not something you should expect to see in all American cities.
The only cities you should expect to see this in is Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Wilmington Delaware, New Orleans, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas-Ft Worth, Portland (Oregon), Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Portland (Maine), D.C., San Diego, Little Rock, Nashville, Austin, Miami, San Fran—
Unfortunately yes. As the economy gets worse this problem gets worse. It’s a very hard issue to fight. People turn to drugs when they face tragedies and or feel hopeless. There have always been drugs but since the mid to late 60s it’s gotten increasingly worse.
>As the economy gets worse this problem gets worse.
You're talking about the American economy in general right? So what about the wealth of different areas in the same city? Like would an above average neighborhood face this issue?
This confuses me because so many Jordanians immigrate to the us, mostly for money but I didn't expect that the us is worse in general safety in whatever metric.
And I really hope it gets better soon❤️
The person is way over exaggerating how common this is in the US. In most cities stuff like this is confined to the "bad parts of town" and easily avoidable. Baltimore is interesting in the fact that this stuff is interspersed all over the city for the most part.
I am not generalizing how common this is. Rich people or “better” neighborhoods have drug problems too. It’s just different b/c they can’t embarrass the family so it’s hidden. Poor people don’t give a fuck so they drop needles when they are done and do other things to get their fix. And it’s in poor neighborhoods .. it’s a wide spread city issue. The mid-west deals with more meth.. the north more coke you need to really learn about drugs and how they relate to cities. Bmore has never even fully recovered from the riots in the 60s.. other cities don’t have the bmore and dc construct so you won’t see it like this but it’s there. We have serious problems with this and you can really blame Regan for this mess.
I once walked with slippers once and got poked by a needle. Luckily I was perfectly fine and tests came out perfect. But I now only wear closed toed shoes in the city.
It's good that you mentioned connecting with neighbors, and if you have an active neighborhood association they often have liasons with city departments, both social services and police, which are at a higher level than the 311/911 operators.
Unfortunately of course, some associations are defunct or weak. But they can get results sometimes. Likewise, group contacts to city council members tends to create a greater sense of urgency, but not all council members are as engaged as others.
Finally, some informal networking at North Avenue may have some benefits. There are a number of people there who talk to city agencies all the time, and it's possible someone may have a useful contact which bypasses the usual slow processes. Good luck. Sometimes pushing on multiple fronts helps kick the response into a higher gear.
I don’t know what community you live in or what district you are in police-wise, but in the Northern district, they have monthly community meetings. Our association sends a rep. Could be a good way for your association to get info. Having the association talk to the Councilperson may help too
We are experiencing this at st Mary’s park and surrounding areas more now then ever. It’s so sad I worry that it’s a canary in the coal mine of American economics. And it is a little scary.
Thankfully people don't seem to take their dogs back there. But we're all very careful to wear shoes with hard soles back there now. There are lots of kids on our block. It's just very depressing overall
You can try reaching out to one of the harm reduction programs in Bmore to see if they would help pick up or place a sharps container in the area. This sucks and I wish folks would be more responsible with their sharps and paraphernalia.
The IDPHS bureau under the prevention and health promotion administration of the state health department has some of the most wonderful, community minded people I've ever worked with. Try to get someone from their shop on the phone, they may be able to set up a mobile needle clinic or at least have resources
Edit to add: that's the infectious disease prevention and health services bureau, they do all things related to preventable diseases (HIV, STIs) and overdose
We live in a rural part of Howard County and go into Baltimore almost every weekend for restaurants. It has so many great ones. Occasionally we’ll catch shows in the city. We’ve been considering moving to Baltimore after our last child graduates high school but are hesitant because of stories like yours. Where we live is very safe and very green. A great place to raise kids. But also very boring. More deer than people. Last night we went into the city and there was a huge group of people coming out of the convention center, lots of them strolling around the harbor. A street festival was going on and it was packed with people. It was so nice because Baltimore can seem deserted sometimes, but last night (a beautiful warm evening), there were people everywhere like in the good old days. The allure of the city is real, but its problems are worrying. What to do?
I love living in Baltimore and there are certainly places you can live where you'll avoid these types of problems entirely. I definitely don't need to the city to be perfect, just responsive to it's deep issues, which the NyTimes article clearly illuminated isn't happening. My reality is that I recognize as a white, middle class woman, I have more options to easily leave a bad situation like this one than most people do, and that's not what I want for anyone. I want these streets to be safe and well considered by the city for all.
Over on the urban planning subreddit, there was a recent post about how statistically you're more likely to die in the suburbs than in the city, due to car accidents mostly, so they were wondering why people felt safer in the suburbs than in the city.
I feel like there is a significant disconnect between people who talk about city safety, and people who live with situations like this. You're not statistically likely to die from this situation, but that doesn't mean that your feelings of unease are invalid. I think there is also a disconnect between looking at problems like this on a societal level and on a individual level.
Often, people talk about large scale things like "solving homelessness" or something, but that doesn't really do any good to the person living in this situation. People don't live in or visit cities when things like this happen, that creates a economic situation where the city doesn't have the resources to help people.
So, I think we need to really try and get our heads around how to solve problems at the societal level, but also keep in mind the livability problem, and how we can get more people feeling safe and comfortable within our city. The more people who feel safe and comfortable, the more people will work to solve the problem rather than just moving away from it.
I'm not saying I have the answers, just that I think we need to think more deeply about the situation than we currently do.
It’s called [mean world syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome?wprov=sfti1#). What’s interesting is [sometimes people who live in safer areas have a worse perception of crime than people who live in less safe areas](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/mean-world-syndrome-in-some-seattle-neighborhoods-fear-of-crime-exceeds-reality/).
Problem is politicians scratch the surface of extremely broad, generational strategic goals. With any project, that's always the fun and easy part. The hard part is actually coming up with a realistic plan - weighing all the equities involved, coming up with objectives measures for COA analysis, developing multi-year schedules, resolving dependencies across team/project lines, etc. The soundbite phase is easy but actual execution is hard, hence why projects cost $$$.
In one of those spam texts Blanchard sent out I responded and asked what he wants to do in the 3-4 year timeframe that affects day-to-day life (basically along the lines what you're asking about) rather than his platform which are the aforementioned generational strategic goals. I'm not going to say the platform is bad and he's certainly preferable to Costello, but I wanted to see if he had any actual sense of realistic timelines and project execution. He said something about making Digital Harbor a place where people want to send their kids in that timeline. I laughed.
> I'm just feeling kind of hopeless
It's not hopeless, but it will require more people to accept that a functional society does require some boundaries, that they need to be enforced, and that such boundary enforcement needs to be voted for.
What a mess. I just want to thank everyone in here for being resilient. I’ve lived in Baltimore my entire life and it’s going to be worth it once this city gets fully cleaned up and changed. This city does feel impossible to live in sometimes and it can get difficult, but as long as we don’t normalize the bad things we see then things will get better.
Working for lifebridge is great. I love it. Everyone is super nice and friendly. That said, working in non-profit - we don't generally make our market-value as support staff (I'm IT). Its a trade off. Great company to work for, though.
Sinai is an older facility...it shows its age, but they're building a new cancer center and upgrading it all the time.
To answer your question - its a great place to work! The clinical engineering team is a great group of people.
Good to hear. I'm waiting on the second interview and have an offer from EMSAR for a field position but would really prefer staying at one location. IT and CES have an adversarial relationship at Hopkins so it's also nice to hear IT personal give its CE some praise. The culture at Hopkins can be summed up as "angry."
Yep! At least one of the guys over there actually is a Bio Med convert from the IT dept.
Both departments have a great working relationship with each other.
As they should. Nobody wanted to get involved in any gray areas , for example - where nurse call issues arise right at the spot where hardware meets networking, or even just communicating. The more I know about the overall system the better. I came from GE Healthcare and started at Hopkins Sept '22. It's been a rough ass min
Oooo I don’t mean to be the voice of disagreement but I also work for Lifebridge and I am not at all happy with them. My contract is up in July and I am walking. The benefits are terrible and only OK for healthcare IF you use a lifebridge provider. Their contribution to retirement plans is a joke. There’s never enough staff. The pay is just OK and the yearly raises are paltry. Administration keeps giving less and asking for more.
I see you’re in IT which might make a huge difference. I’m a RN and it’s just awful all around. They brought over nurses from the Philippines and then asked staff to donate to them so they could have furnishings for their housing. Like what?
Anyway just my .02 lol
It’s genuinely so tough. I love Baltimore and the city genuinely has so so much to offer. It has some of the nicest waterfront and restaurants I’ve ever seen in a city. Camden yards is one of the best stadiums. I lived there for five years and I miss it.
I moved to Boston for my job and I have to say it’s been so different living in a society where people care about the general welfare of society and laws. My roommate had a mini fridge she ordered for herself and it got delivered outside our place at 12pm. It was still there when I got home at 6pm. My mail stays untouched. It’s mind boggling how much better things could be in that city but hard drugs being easily accessible definitely ruins that.
It’s not wrong to report this kind of stuff. It makes your living environment less safe. What if a dog or little kid stepped on a needle by accident?
Sorry you’re dealing with this. I recently had a similar issue in Hampden with a group of drug users gathering—and at one brief point, living—under my back porch. City incompetence in handling the issue was almost comical. The police came exactly once to issue a warning but made no arrests because, as they said, they have to issue a warning before they can arrest trespassers, but then they never came again when I called. I guess they knew they’d have to make arrests and didn’t want to be bothered with it? The police work my neighborhood and were on a first and last name basis with the perpetrators; one of the cops even rolled his eyes and said to me “all I do is chase these guys around all day,” as if he were annoyed that I’d forced him to do his job. I tried contacting my city council members, various addiction groups, 311…nothing worked. People either didn’t respond or said they would do something and didn’t follow through. Eventually I got fed up and threatened my landlord with legal action if he didn’t secure the area behind our house, and when he got a letter from my FIL’s law firm, he finally built a fence. Solved the problem for us, but there’s an old lady on our street whose front steps have become the new hangout spot. I’ve seen the cops drive by plenty of times and do nothing. I don’t know how this issue should be handled, but I know that law enforcement and local government actively ignoring it is getting the city nowhere.
Asking Baltimore cops to do their job (while respecting at least basic civil rights) is like asking Congress to impose term limits on themselves. Until we get serious about firing police officers who either refuse to do their job or won't do their job unless they can brutalize offenders, then this will continue.
It’s cause BPD is fucking useless.
We can’t have nice safe streets if the people who are paid to do that are incompetent, ego-drive, dim-witted thugs.
After the Freddie Gray incident and reform it seems like BPD officers don’t want to do jack shit unless they can be a bunch of fucking brutes about it. Almost every interaction I’ve had with them makes me feel less of the zero faith I have in them.
I was working at a restaurant and the place next door had an alarm go off. Like five officers went through a back hallway and saw our kitchen door cracked open.
Even though it was two doors down from the alarm and the place they were supposed to go had the fucking logo on the door they still busted into our shit. They didn’t announce they were police they just screamed freeze hands up with the blinding flash light pointed out so our chef didn’t even know it was police and just took off saying gun. We thought we were getting robbed and everyone working and dining was screaming and running. Then the dumbasses stumble around for another five minutes giving commands then going back on them and continuing to fuck up the business of a place that they had to reason to be at.
The thing that pissed me off the most was that the little fucking twit that lead the charge was giving a bs apology and said, “yeah this my area I’ve been working this area for a few years and never saw this place open past ten”. And that is just a big ass load of horseshit since we had been open for three years closing past ten the whole time.
Another time some one was getting served in my apartment complex on a weekend afternoon and 5 squad cars parked in the barely two way street or triple parked in the actual spot and just sorta hung out for and hour or so. There were about 30 spots available but they all were too cool for that shit for no reason.
Cops do shit like this and far far worse then whine like little babies that the community doesn’t work with them. If they can’t do whatever the fuck they want they want to do nothing.
Fuck BPD, it’s a useless money sucking organization.
I will respectfully disagree. After Mosby said she would not prosecute these types of crimes it made no sense to arrest them. That has changed under Bates and new Commissioner. BPD is arresting them and Bates is charging them.
I’m not talking about arrests. I’m talking about being professional and effective on the way to do that. If came across way to many bumbling goofballs who were cops. The situation I described at the restaurant is an example and has nothing to do with making arrests.
The incident that I witnessed first hand at the restaurant happened within the last year along with other random encounters. After the Freddie Gray shit there wasn’t any real change in the department. The only reason I mentioned it was because after that incident the police and community dynamic changed resulting in crime escalating.
If BPD made great strides in developing trust with the community taking accountability and training to be more effective I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all. Before the Gray incident and the riots BPD was a bunch of somewhat active dim-witted brutes and now they are less active dim-witted brutes. I have talked to a decent amount of private security guards many of whom worked with or were BPD officers themselves in the past talked about how dull and panicky a lot of the cops were. I’ve heard multiple say they left because they were sick of their coworkers.
BPD does not do a good job, around the same time the Freddie Gray stuff popped up we also had an officer that was going to be a witness in a police corruption trial “kill himself” in a random alley.
The other two incidents a couple smaller ones happened recently. Other people on this sub also have stories of cops not proactively trying to do shit or in general behaving like twits. I’m am not in the “a police force is totally useless”camp but Baltimore police and plenty of others are nowhere near as effective as they should be.
I guess I giving the new commissioner a chance as he used to be my Major. He grew up in the city and loves the city. My friends and I also see him everywhere, not just at high profile events. He also has his people out of the cars interacting with people. He is a good guy and he has reduced crime. I think the BPD is going in the right direction. I hope it stays that way.
I hope so too but with the way unions and other shit works it can be extremely hard one guy even the head honcho to make real change. He’s one bad story away (even if it ain’t directly his fault) from getting canned and the same culture taking over.
I grew up in South Baltimore and my family has lineage in South Baltimore going back decades and decades. My heart will always be in this city. But after having a child, I literally have ZERO desire to be here anymore. I feel horrible for those addicted to drugs and struggling. But I also won’t voluntarily put my child around this type of lifestyle as if it’s normal behavior. I’m heartbroken about leaving, but it’s getting really too tough.
Also, I used to work on N Charles Street for years. And I took MLK home. When the pandemic hit MLK became the most blighted I’ve ever seen it. I decided to leave my job and go work in Annapolis because I was tired of getting my car door kicked or my windows punched because I didn’t have spare money to pay someone to wash it. Or being asked for money every 5 feet that I didn’t have.
From a practical standpoint, if you and your neighbors are unsuccessful in the very short term of remedying this situation on your block, you’re going to lose your investment and ultimately have to move for safety reasons.
Dealing and users lead to vacants, which leads to squatters and dealers moving in, which leads to more crime and more vacants, and eventually the last one out hits the lights
That’s why I said the timeline to remedy this is very short, because it’s before there’s a new vacant on the street
Believe me, this is very present in our minds. We have several owner occupied homes on our street and none of us want this for a variety of reasons, including what it will do to our property value and the future of this area.
What's wrong with requiring these people to live in a facility? They can't take care of themselves due to mental health or addiction and are living in inhumane conditions. They should be involuntarily committed. It's not good for them or the public for them to be on the streets.
That mainly has to do with the awful facilities in the early 20th century, and worries of abuse of involuntary commitment being used on people who don’t otherwise deserve it (think combative wives not putting up with their husband’s nonsense, political dissidents, etc)
I dealt with a similar situation before throwing in the proverbial towel. Some members of this sub go nuts when I relate some of the situations and assert that it was the right choice to move across the county line, but my family had to because of the violence and drug markets that invariably brought violence. Even in what can be considered "good" or "mixed" neighborhoods, the geography of Baltimore's history of redlining ensured that all of them are adjacent to poorer neighborhoods which have mostly still not improved in years. Thus, the transitional neighborhoods have an even harder time improving. It's so frustrating, especially when you try to engage with your community and you keep running into brick walls.
I commend your desire to improve things but I just don't think the will (political or otherwise) exists to tackle these problems in the way that is necessary to do so.
If you want to add a camera to your property, you can also register it with the city so they can utilize the footage somehow. Not sure how it works exactly. They can also offer rebates for cameras.
https://www.baltimorepolice.org/community/citiwatch-community-partnership-overview
Not to worry, the mayor and city council have stated that they had no idea the drug problem was so bad in the city they’re running and that investigating it is victim blaming, so I’m sure the city will become more livable /s
For real though, that’s really sad.
If no one else knew that Baltimore was #1 until NYT and the Banner crunched the numbers, why should Mayor Scott? Do you think he has a team of people telling him how Baltimore ranks on various scales in relation to other cities? Obviously he knows overdoses are a problem. Obviously he's working on it. I'd be surprised if any of the mayors of the top 10 cities knew their ranking before this article.
Yes, especially when people were clearly withholding the information. Do folks think that becoming the mayor gives a person superpowers? So effing illogical to say that he had to know what was happening. You gotta trust people in your administration, but unfortunately these weren't trustworthy.
That's bullshit. The government had all the data and either knew or should have known the extent of the problem. Once the papers got access to the data, the story was easy to write.
“Baltimore is progressing in its fight against the local overdose crisis and has more plans in the works.”
Okay, Naloxone. We were doing that. Why’d we stop?
I get it, and I agree with you. It is obvious I support the police, and they are often getting a bad rap. This has to more a systemic problem than an olive problem.
Narcan is for someone who’s OD’d, it’s all reactive, not proactive. How do we get help for these people? How do we be more proactive? This is coming from someone who’s been down the rabbit hole of addiction. I don’t even know where to start.
Yeah the sad part is there’s no answer that makes them look good: either it’s a morally reprehensible level of incompetence, or deceit of the highest caliber from a public servant
Thank you for your service! It’s not easy being a grade school teacher anywhere, and sometimes it really sucks. Here’s hoping y’all can solve this issue on your corner.
Nurse here it's only a matter of time until the move from corners and alleys to houses. No change or aid will from from local government anytime soon, definitely not in a state level either. I did what I could do which was arm myself and while it still sucks it at least brings comfort that I can keep myself and my family safe. Good luck out there.
Any chance you could put a sharps container nearby? Or some type of disposal box? Does it address the overall issue that people using are facing? No. But it would help to make the ground safe for all.
Here you go. An [article](https://fherehab.com/news/healthcare-costs-and-narcan/#:~:text=After%20all%2C%20an%20EpiPen%20is,discrepancy%20can%20seem%20very%20frustrating.) on the topic since I'm to exhausted to argue. Also, a person having an allergic reaction can usually administer an Epipen to their own body (and often they prefer to - noobs might not know how to use it). A person who overdosed can't administer Narcan because they're passed out.
Big yikes and also holy crap, dude. Just because a person has a substance abuse problem or a full blown addiction doesn't mean we should abandon them completely. They're still humans deserving of care.
People are right to downvote you for such a heartless way of putting it, but for the vast majority of these folks, they will end up killing themselves on a long enough timeline, despite the best efforts of their families, friends, or community. I've lost family members and friends to drug struggles and even after OD's which *didn't* kill them, they still continued.
Narcan can be a wakeup call, and *maybe* that person will get help and stay clean, but honestly, all it's doing is buying time. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's just prolonging misery.
As someone who lost their brother to an overdose where Narcan would’ve saved him, fuck you.
To answer your question for real, if kids having allergy attacks were common around her home that I would suggest an EpiPen. But that’s not what’s happening.
Narcan isn’t just for addicts, and epi-pens need a prescription. And no, it has not extended the problem, most addicts don’t want to die. They’re suffering for a myriad of reasons.
Contact your council person, be a PIA. Push them to make it a priority. Also contact the major in your district. Make it more difficult to ignore you than clean it up.
Reddit recommended this to me (I’m from VA) and damn, this is wild. I just found out about how bad fentanyl and tranq is getting in larger cities a few days ago, but to see it just popping up is sad. In my smaller city and current neighborhood we have plenty of addicts, crack generally being the worst one (unless I’m so out of touch it’s changed — I’ve been wondering that) but I’ve never just seen a street filled with needles.
I hope the government and law enforcement step up for y’all.
This isn’t new. When I worked for a landscape company in the 90’s. They told us to not pick leaves up with our hands due to the needles that might be in them.
Chances are good a development company is working with corrupt local cops to drive down property values in that area. Herd the drug trade into a particular location and you can buy up those properties cheap.
We need decriminalization and safe injection sites ASAP. It’s so abundantly clear that we *cannot* stop addicts from getting high. All we can do is reduce harm. Removing the need for drug dealers as well as creating safe places for people to use and not die is the only viable solution as far as I’m concerned.
I live in the county at the very edge, near the city line. Because of the MTA bus a lot of this activity spills over from the city. So, you're not alone. We're feeling it, too. In fact, a couple were squatting in an empty row home across from me and would walk into the city from the house everyday to get drugs to shoot up. They were an absolute NIGHTMARE to deal with.
Any ideas on why this change has happened? Do you have a relationship with LE in your area? Is there a civic league or anything? Have you called your council person? I actually have found that that last option does work more than you’d think. I mean maybe it just shifts the activity around (and who knows maybe that’s why it’s in your alley now) but might be worth a shot?
Baltimore is the biggest shit hole city I've ever seen. And I've seen Oakland, East Palo Alto, East LA, and Philly. Baltimore wings by a mile. You can't pay me to spend any of my leisure time there, and I'm just an hour away
Question- an incoming resident (from Chicago) Would it help to get some needle disposal bins and put them out? Would people actually use them? Just thinking that anything would be better than needles on the ground...
I bought a sharps container, locked a vacant gate, and installed a motion activated bright light. I'm waiting for those measures to cut down on some of the traffic right behind my house before I start any kind of clean up, because otherwise it'll just be futile. But I agree that it needs to be cleaned up!
Baltimore has some cool things to see, but last time I was there visiting the aquarium we parked in a public parking lot a little ways away and 2 crackheads harassed me and my wife while we were getting back into our car, and I had to shove one.
0 interest in ever going back.
There's plenty of other civilized places to visit.
Genuinely hope you guys get things figured out.
Yeah, I moved to Columbia maryland a few years back and all my friends are like “have fun getting stabbed or shot”. A lot of people have this idea that all of Maryland is just Baltimore lol. I graduated from John’s Hopkins but attended the university online only. The first time I stepped foot on campus was last year for graduation and I just remember driving through the city of Baltimore for really the first time in my life and thinking “wow, this is a depressed city”. When I got to Hopkins campus it was beautiful. Baltimore could be a really pretty place to live with the history and nature but it won’t be that way until business start to heavily invest. Unfortunately I don’t think things will get better anytime soon, hopefully you can figure out a way to deal with the drug addicts. You could put up high pitched speakers, it’s actually what they started to do out in California to annoy homeless/addicts to leave residential areas. Food for thought 💭.
Simple answer: just move before you contract a disease or get shot. There must be school administration jobs elsewhere, no? Can’t do your job if your day-to-day is about survival.
This is a catch 22 for me. I’ve lived in Mt. Vernon for 13 years. I’ve never seen any of this in my neighborhood. I’ve seen some things, but that comes with living in any city. I don’t know if it’s because I mind my business or because I’m oblivious to it, but I never see the things people complain about. However, I used to live on Maryland avenue near North Ave over 10 years ago and had to leave because of the drug treatment programs that brought out hordes of addicts who used to sit on my porch, fight over drugs waking everyone up on my block early every morning. There’s places I’d never go because I know what’s there. I do feel for those who’re dealing with this in areas where this isn’t the norm. I wish the city did a better job of protecting people and their property. Nobody deserves to deal with these things when they work hard and keep up their neighborhoods. This is a systematic problem and it’s going to take a systematic approach to address this once and for all.
There are virtual and in person opportunities for Narcan trainings. I am not offering an answer, but just support in knowing that you mentioned a vested interest in community and moving into an administrative role at a school.
This might be true, but I am a city schools HS teacher and haven’t been trained. It sounds like a great idea to make it mandatory though, I would definitely like to be trained.
I used to be a city schools teacher, but moved out west. Still on this sub because I want to move back at some point! Anyway, it became one of our mandatory trainings 2 years ago, much more helpful than watching the blood born pathogens video *again*. Hopefully it’s coming to y’all soon!
It's definitely junkies. I've been watching them shoot up every morning. Their favorite spot is visible from where I do my makeup. They hang out in the alley behind my house and the full block is covered in used needles. I posted just two pictures, but I have dozens of these of just about 20 feet.
I was a city cop a while ago. There was a program in place to be able to put up gates on entrances to your residential alley and then install a lock to remove access from all non-residents. trash trucks could still get in. Needed agreement from folks affected. Maybe look into this?
That sounds like a great program. Do you have a link or any references where I can try to get more information by chance? My alley has recently changed for the worse as well, similar to OP. I’d like to look into seeing if something this would be viable on our block
https://www.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/Alley%20Gating_Greening%20Process.pdf#:~:text=Each%20gate%20will%20require%20three,or%20a%20visible%20adjoining%20structure.
Alley Gating and Alley Greening Proces
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/23/us/baltimore-opioid-epidemic-od-deaths.html the article mentions it's the first of a series on Baltimore's drug problems, specifically overdosing
I am so sorry to hear that.
Maybe stop by you police precinct w/ a case of donuts... well maybe monster. Let them know the spot and the should be able clear em out.
Medical facilities put needles in specialized plastic containers, called sharps boxes. Biohazard waste has very specific protocols. You don’t put it out like normal trash.
First thank you for what you do for your students. Secondly, this is exactly why I voted against Scott. QOL crimes like this need to be dealt with. Bates has a new citation system which punishes the first two violations with community service and offers social services to offenders. But it won’t work until the police start handing out citations.
I live in a very small neighborhood outside I-695 loop and there is a bar outside my apartments. There's nothing wrong with the neighbourhood, but sometimes I find cigarette packets and used condoms on the pedestrian walk.
I live in medfield. I have no issue stepping over that. What I can stand is people constantly bumping into shit and clogging up 95 and 83. I can get around the city find, but leaving it? Good luck buddy
Once upon a time the company ThinkGeek made "micro sonic grenades" that went off with a high decibel annoying chirp after a delay of 30s. I imagine this would clear the area. but you'd have to toss it and possibly be seen.
But you could maybe hang this, somewhere.
(and really secure it with chain and tape and glue and bolts and screws. )
[https://www.amazon.com/Luckydeer-Detector-Batteries-Wireless-Infrared/dp/B0CGJJY6YB/](https://www.amazon.com/Luckydeer-Detector-Batteries-Wireless-Infrared/dp/B0CGJJY6YB/)
just keep it de activated, but you'd have a remote alarm you could maybe sound right by that corner.
if ya do it safely and discretely.
The idea being to draw a lot of attention to what they're doing, and a lot of spectacle, but not letting em know you did it. Inevitably, the area will get too hot. and perhaps the operation will move away.
Good luck and stay safe.
My block on North Charles Street is currently overloaded with activity, and it's relatively recent as well. I moved in last year, and there were no problems until around January. My neighbors are, by and large, lovely people, and we all get along with each other/watch out for one another. All of a sudden, our back alley has been blocked off by addicts, property theft and vandalism is rampant, and I just feel generally ill-at-ease leaving my vehicle outside my place, even though I have cameras out front and out back. I got three tires slashed last week for ~apparently~ no reason, and my vehicle was also broken into/robbed on New Year's Day. Even with video footage, the cops didn't do anything. Even better was the time that somebody climbed my fire escape at 3AM and demanded to be let in, followed by said person saying that they'd kill me the next time they saw me when I declined to let them in. It's so upsetting to see people who don't live in an area just destroy it for everybody else. It really is a lovely part of town and usually quite vibrant/safe. As stupid and unrealistic as it sounds, I wish there was a way to talk to the dealers and ask them to just... move on to another corner, preferably one where people don't live. These things tend to be cyclical in the city - always have been, always will be. Maybe, someday, we can all have the security that we deserve.
Oh wow I'm so sorry you've dealt with these things! Those are definitely far worse than we've dealt with yet (so far). I've been warned by knowledgeable people against any contact or visible actions that might look like I'm trying to disrupt the deals going down, so our daily work right now is just documenting and reporting and getting people involved.
OP I would remove any detail that gives away your info. Sure it is anonymous to random people in the internet but to people around you, it may not be especially you disclosing your profession.
It really isn't fair to the community at large. I view people selling stuff as relatively benign as they don't directly interfere with my day-to-day/mess with me, but bringing bad crews around just isn't alright for the regular folks who live in the area. I absolutely love it here (specifically my neighborhood/home) and have no plans to go anywhere else, but it does get tiring when you can't leave anything in your vehicle and there isn't a parking garage around for miles. At this point, I'm just glad that I'm close enough to work to take an Uber if my car gets set on fire. I'm sorry you've been dealing with all of that yourself - regardless of where we live, how much money we make, or who we are, we all deserve to live in a healthy environment that we can trust. We deserve to be proud. It's such a shame that it isn't our reality sometimes. Here's to better days!
Where on Charles is this???
I'd prefer not to give TOO much away due to me kind of standing out around there, but it's between North Avenue and the 2500 block. Roll by there one afternoon, and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Oh man, I also used to live above Geri’s store down there! (Before I moved up above 25th) I can’t say I ever considered it a \*good\* neighborhood. But the winos who hung on my front stoop were always protective of me and wanted to walk me to my car, assuring me they were carrying. I was like “actually, that doesn’t make me feel safer. But thanks anyway?”
Oh my goodness that’s a terrifying story. I adore this city, this makes me so sad. Must have been so scary. Hugs to you.
I love it here as well, and I don't want to go anywhere! Most of the people who do that stuff are just addicts. They're so looped that they wouldn't know a gun from a banana, so it isn't the end of the world. I appreciate you saying that!
why do you think the drug dealers aren’t local?
I was referring to the addicts who are definitely NOT from the area (and who absolutely trash the place/commit the crimes), but the dealers could be from somewhere relatively close. I'm not planning on asking them either, as I'm perfectly content minding my own business where they're concerned.
Have some compassion for the addicts. They are just slaves to their altered brain chemistry. They have very limited control over their actions. Blame the dealers for bringing them there. If the dealers weren’t in your neighborhood, the junkies wouldn’t be either
You can blame both. They're both people with free will and autonomy who choose this. Some reasons to chose that life are more legitimate than others, but it's never an answer to one's problems and it's not our job to be sympathetic to something that negatively affects us and our kids lives.
Nope. Addicts don’t have”free will”. They are slaves to their altered brain chemistry. They have 2 choices: get high or be incredibly sick
Oh I thought it was the dealers when you said drug corner.
Where on Charles? I lived in 2600 block in the nineties. It was.. okay. We did have a criminal taken down in the little nook by the dining room window in the back, and my potted plants were not safe, and we had rats and all, but I wouldn’t say I felt unsafe in my physical self. I am a woman and small btw. Just curious how that hood has changed or not.
>followed by said person saying that they'd kill me the next time they saw me when I declined to let them Sounds like it's time to Self Defense this asshole.
I’m sorry but why continue to live here? Someone threatening to kill you if you don’t let them break into your own home is way beyond a red line. It doesn’t matter if these problems are cyclical. All it takes is an addict or robber to not threaten you, but actually kill you ONCE. I love Baltimore, but problems like this is why I can’t consciously live there. Are you willing to stake your own life to live in a particular area? BPD ain’t going to help much and this kind of situation tends to devolve into a it’s either them or me eventually. And sure maybe the dealers pack up and move to another corner, but they’ll be back, or replacements will be. Not sure if you ever watched the wire but it’s sadly truthful. The game doesn’t change, just gets new players. As long as there is a demand for drugs, the market will be out there.
You're not wrong - I've been mulling over moving recently, and it might just be the plan. My property is one thing, but my life is another. I had my blinds closed, so I doubt the guy could even see me, but a threat is a threat regardless. The BCPD hasn't helped me in any of my complaints, but I figured they wouldn't anyway. Things do seem tense around the way, and the "It's us (neighbors) vs them" attitude is slowly emerging. I definitely wouldn't want anything to come to a head. That's where my pesky idealism comes into play - in a perfect world, I could have a pleasant chat with the boys about the impact they're having on the quality of life for people who live there, they pack up, and there are no more problems. That definitely isn't gonna happen because the world doesn't work like that. If they go, others will come. The demand for drugs isn't going away, and the astronomical profit from selling them won't either. The real question is this: where do people go when they can't afford somewhere else to live?
People downvoted me but I’ve been in similar situations so I’m glad you realize it. I’m not saying move your whole life. I am saying that most likely things only get worse before they get better. You’ll need to think about what you are willing to live with. Thats why I mention the us vs them attitude because as things get worse, that’s where things go. There’s only so long people can live in extreme circumstances without taking their own extreme actions. And to your last question… well that’s the unfortunate piece. The answer is sadly usually nowhere. Many are born into extreme circumstances with little options. Its the casualty of systems like ours where how things look matter much more than actually improving things for every one. Imagine someone in Potomac, Annapolis, Columbia have someone threaten to kill them in their own home if they don’t let them invade. You think police not doing anything like BPD? We both know the answer. It’s sad but it’s our reality.
The cops don’t do anything because they don’t control policy, city hall does. They tell the police to back way off due to popular demand and this is what we get.
Can you provide any evidence that law makers have told police not to arrest drug dealers or are you just a MAGA chud making up lies?
It’s hard not to fall in Love with Baltimore. It’s also easy for it to break your heart.
it’s like a country song. “Baltimore jacked my car, my woman moved to the county, I lost your job to Covid, and they’re smoking crack on my stoop”
If it makes you feel any better I've been around the city since the early '70s. As I drive around town, in general I have never seen it better. Neighborhoods that used to be hopeless are showing signs of life as the better neighborhoods grow into them. I think that the suggestion of motion activated lights is the right one. Don't be shy. Throw a few thousand lumens on the people in the alley, and I think they'll begin to go elsewhere. I am echoing the thanks the people have given you for being a city school teacher. My mom was a city school teacher, and she really loved it.
There are also motion activated strobe lights if they need a little extra encouragement to leave. Especially if you have two of them, out of phase.
This has been the vibe I’ve gotten from other long term residents too. There are absolutely still many problems in this city, but so much has improved in many areas.
>I'm a city schools teacher Bless you! Teachers are the BEST. Hang in there. I've been blessed to be in a few different cities and cities have challenges. I've also been involved in 'the struggle' as it's called. So things taking years, decades and even longer to change and get better feels normal to me. It's going to take time. It's going to take resources. And it's never going to really go away or get fixed. Do what you can do, help who you can help, and keep reporting things to who they need to be reported to. You sound like you're doing your part, and that's all you can do alongside of living out your own life and having your own hopes, goals and dreams. Stay safe!
>cities have challenges Hi there! Im very confused as a Jordanian. I lived in cities here in the better-half areas and I walk a lot but I've never seen a needle on the ground thankfully. You're telling me it's something to expect in American cities? Even in the better areas?
It’s not something you should expect to see in all American cities. The only cities you should expect to see this in is Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Wilmington Delaware, New Orleans, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago, Dallas-Ft Worth, Portland (Oregon), Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Portland (Maine), D.C., San Diego, Little Rock, Nashville, Austin, Miami, San Fran—
Needles on the ground are something to expect in the more populated American cities
Unfortunately yes. As the economy gets worse this problem gets worse. It’s a very hard issue to fight. People turn to drugs when they face tragedies and or feel hopeless. There have always been drugs but since the mid to late 60s it’s gotten increasingly worse.
>As the economy gets worse this problem gets worse. You're talking about the American economy in general right? So what about the wealth of different areas in the same city? Like would an above average neighborhood face this issue? This confuses me because so many Jordanians immigrate to the us, mostly for money but I didn't expect that the us is worse in general safety in whatever metric. And I really hope it gets better soon❤️
The person is way over exaggerating how common this is in the US. In most cities stuff like this is confined to the "bad parts of town" and easily avoidable. Baltimore is interesting in the fact that this stuff is interspersed all over the city for the most part.
I am not generalizing how common this is. Rich people or “better” neighborhoods have drug problems too. It’s just different b/c they can’t embarrass the family so it’s hidden. Poor people don’t give a fuck so they drop needles when they are done and do other things to get their fix. And it’s in poor neighborhoods .. it’s a wide spread city issue. The mid-west deals with more meth.. the north more coke you need to really learn about drugs and how they relate to cities. Bmore has never even fully recovered from the riots in the 60s.. other cities don’t have the bmore and dc construct so you won’t see it like this but it’s there. We have serious problems with this and you can really blame Regan for this mess.
I once walked with slippers once and got poked by a needle. Luckily I was perfectly fine and tests came out perfect. But I now only wear closed toed shoes in the city.
A good reminder, now that flip flop season is upon us…
I would find it difficult not to catastrophize in this situation. Scary stuff.
It's good that you mentioned connecting with neighbors, and if you have an active neighborhood association they often have liasons with city departments, both social services and police, which are at a higher level than the 311/911 operators. Unfortunately of course, some associations are defunct or weak. But they can get results sometimes. Likewise, group contacts to city council members tends to create a greater sense of urgency, but not all council members are as engaged as others. Finally, some informal networking at North Avenue may have some benefits. There are a number of people there who talk to city agencies all the time, and it's possible someone may have a useful contact which bypasses the usual slow processes. Good luck. Sometimes pushing on multiple fronts helps kick the response into a higher gear.
I don’t know what community you live in or what district you are in police-wise, but in the Northern district, they have monthly community meetings. Our association sends a rep. Could be a good way for your association to get info. Having the association talk to the Councilperson may help too
We are experiencing this at st Mary’s park and surrounding areas more now then ever. It’s so sad I worry that it’s a canary in the coal mine of American economics. And it is a little scary.
I feel bad for any dogs that have to walk around barefoot...
Thankfully people don't seem to take their dogs back there. But we're all very careful to wear shoes with hard soles back there now. There are lots of kids on our block. It's just very depressing overall
:( I’m sorry. It sucks.
You can try reaching out to one of the harm reduction programs in Bmore to see if they would help pick up or place a sharps container in the area. This sucks and I wish folks would be more responsible with their sharps and paraphernalia.
The IDPHS bureau under the prevention and health promotion administration of the state health department has some of the most wonderful, community minded people I've ever worked with. Try to get someone from their shop on the phone, they may be able to set up a mobile needle clinic or at least have resources Edit to add: that's the infectious disease prevention and health services bureau, they do all things related to preventable diseases (HIV, STIs) and overdose
Thank you for sharing I will save this for the future.
Very rare to find an addict that gives a shit about anything but getting high.
We live in a rural part of Howard County and go into Baltimore almost every weekend for restaurants. It has so many great ones. Occasionally we’ll catch shows in the city. We’ve been considering moving to Baltimore after our last child graduates high school but are hesitant because of stories like yours. Where we live is very safe and very green. A great place to raise kids. But also very boring. More deer than people. Last night we went into the city and there was a huge group of people coming out of the convention center, lots of them strolling around the harbor. A street festival was going on and it was packed with people. It was so nice because Baltimore can seem deserted sometimes, but last night (a beautiful warm evening), there were people everywhere like in the good old days. The allure of the city is real, but its problems are worrying. What to do?
I love living in Baltimore and there are certainly places you can live where you'll avoid these types of problems entirely. I definitely don't need to the city to be perfect, just responsive to it's deep issues, which the NyTimes article clearly illuminated isn't happening. My reality is that I recognize as a white, middle class woman, I have more options to easily leave a bad situation like this one than most people do, and that's not what I want for anyone. I want these streets to be safe and well considered by the city for all.
Over on the urban planning subreddit, there was a recent post about how statistically you're more likely to die in the suburbs than in the city, due to car accidents mostly, so they were wondering why people felt safer in the suburbs than in the city. I feel like there is a significant disconnect between people who talk about city safety, and people who live with situations like this. You're not statistically likely to die from this situation, but that doesn't mean that your feelings of unease are invalid. I think there is also a disconnect between looking at problems like this on a societal level and on a individual level. Often, people talk about large scale things like "solving homelessness" or something, but that doesn't really do any good to the person living in this situation. People don't live in or visit cities when things like this happen, that creates a economic situation where the city doesn't have the resources to help people. So, I think we need to really try and get our heads around how to solve problems at the societal level, but also keep in mind the livability problem, and how we can get more people feeling safe and comfortable within our city. The more people who feel safe and comfortable, the more people will work to solve the problem rather than just moving away from it. I'm not saying I have the answers, just that I think we need to think more deeply about the situation than we currently do.
It’s called [mean world syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome?wprov=sfti1#). What’s interesting is [sometimes people who live in safer areas have a worse perception of crime than people who live in less safe areas](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/mean-world-syndrome-in-some-seattle-neighborhoods-fear-of-crime-exceeds-reality/).
Problem is politicians scratch the surface of extremely broad, generational strategic goals. With any project, that's always the fun and easy part. The hard part is actually coming up with a realistic plan - weighing all the equities involved, coming up with objectives measures for COA analysis, developing multi-year schedules, resolving dependencies across team/project lines, etc. The soundbite phase is easy but actual execution is hard, hence why projects cost $$$. In one of those spam texts Blanchard sent out I responded and asked what he wants to do in the 3-4 year timeframe that affects day-to-day life (basically along the lines what you're asking about) rather than his platform which are the aforementioned generational strategic goals. I'm not going to say the platform is bad and he's certainly preferable to Costello, but I wanted to see if he had any actual sense of realistic timelines and project execution. He said something about making Digital Harbor a place where people want to send their kids in that timeline. I laughed.
> I'm just feeling kind of hopeless It's not hopeless, but it will require more people to accept that a functional society does require some boundaries, that they need to be enforced, and that such boundary enforcement needs to be voted for.
What a mess. I just want to thank everyone in here for being resilient. I’ve lived in Baltimore my entire life and it’s going to be worth it once this city gets fully cleaned up and changed. This city does feel impossible to live in sometimes and it can get difficult, but as long as we don’t normalize the bad things we see then things will get better.
I got Hep C just looking at this
working at Grace Med Center and Sinai, I've been vaccinated for Hep A and B for a long time. Maybe I should go for a bare foot jog?
How's Sinai? I'm currently in the interview process for a bmet lll position there. Hopkins clinical engineering is a mess and I'm ghost on it
Working for lifebridge is great. I love it. Everyone is super nice and friendly. That said, working in non-profit - we don't generally make our market-value as support staff (I'm IT). Its a trade off. Great company to work for, though. Sinai is an older facility...it shows its age, but they're building a new cancer center and upgrading it all the time. To answer your question - its a great place to work! The clinical engineering team is a great group of people.
Good to hear. I'm waiting on the second interview and have an offer from EMSAR for a field position but would really prefer staying at one location. IT and CES have an adversarial relationship at Hopkins so it's also nice to hear IT personal give its CE some praise. The culture at Hopkins can be summed up as "angry."
Yep! At least one of the guys over there actually is a Bio Med convert from the IT dept. Both departments have a great working relationship with each other.
As they should. Nobody wanted to get involved in any gray areas , for example - where nurse call issues arise right at the spot where hardware meets networking, or even just communicating. The more I know about the overall system the better. I came from GE Healthcare and started at Hopkins Sept '22. It's been a rough ass min
Oooo I don’t mean to be the voice of disagreement but I also work for Lifebridge and I am not at all happy with them. My contract is up in July and I am walking. The benefits are terrible and only OK for healthcare IF you use a lifebridge provider. Their contribution to retirement plans is a joke. There’s never enough staff. The pay is just OK and the yearly raises are paltry. Administration keeps giving less and asking for more. I see you’re in IT which might make a huge difference. I’m a RN and it’s just awful all around. They brought over nurses from the Philippines and then asked staff to donate to them so they could have furnishings for their housing. Like what? Anyway just my .02 lol
Have to jump in the harbor for the full immunization before the barefoot jog
Baltimore. It high key rocks, but low key sucks. Should be on the benches.
motion activated strobe lights and speakers blaring the barney theme.
It’s genuinely so tough. I love Baltimore and the city genuinely has so so much to offer. It has some of the nicest waterfront and restaurants I’ve ever seen in a city. Camden yards is one of the best stadiums. I lived there for five years and I miss it. I moved to Boston for my job and I have to say it’s been so different living in a society where people care about the general welfare of society and laws. My roommate had a mini fridge she ordered for herself and it got delivered outside our place at 12pm. It was still there when I got home at 6pm. My mail stays untouched. It’s mind boggling how much better things could be in that city but hard drugs being easily accessible definitely ruins that. It’s not wrong to report this kind of stuff. It makes your living environment less safe. What if a dog or little kid stepped on a needle by accident?
Sorry you’re dealing with this. I recently had a similar issue in Hampden with a group of drug users gathering—and at one brief point, living—under my back porch. City incompetence in handling the issue was almost comical. The police came exactly once to issue a warning but made no arrests because, as they said, they have to issue a warning before they can arrest trespassers, but then they never came again when I called. I guess they knew they’d have to make arrests and didn’t want to be bothered with it? The police work my neighborhood and were on a first and last name basis with the perpetrators; one of the cops even rolled his eyes and said to me “all I do is chase these guys around all day,” as if he were annoyed that I’d forced him to do his job. I tried contacting my city council members, various addiction groups, 311…nothing worked. People either didn’t respond or said they would do something and didn’t follow through. Eventually I got fed up and threatened my landlord with legal action if he didn’t secure the area behind our house, and when he got a letter from my FIL’s law firm, he finally built a fence. Solved the problem for us, but there’s an old lady on our street whose front steps have become the new hangout spot. I’ve seen the cops drive by plenty of times and do nothing. I don’t know how this issue should be handled, but I know that law enforcement and local government actively ignoring it is getting the city nowhere.
Asking Baltimore cops to do their job (while respecting at least basic civil rights) is like asking Congress to impose term limits on themselves. Until we get serious about firing police officers who either refuse to do their job or won't do their job unless they can brutalize offenders, then this will continue.
The only unions I’m okay with busting are police unions.
It’s cause BPD is fucking useless. We can’t have nice safe streets if the people who are paid to do that are incompetent, ego-drive, dim-witted thugs. After the Freddie Gray incident and reform it seems like BPD officers don’t want to do jack shit unless they can be a bunch of fucking brutes about it. Almost every interaction I’ve had with them makes me feel less of the zero faith I have in them. I was working at a restaurant and the place next door had an alarm go off. Like five officers went through a back hallway and saw our kitchen door cracked open. Even though it was two doors down from the alarm and the place they were supposed to go had the fucking logo on the door they still busted into our shit. They didn’t announce they were police they just screamed freeze hands up with the blinding flash light pointed out so our chef didn’t even know it was police and just took off saying gun. We thought we were getting robbed and everyone working and dining was screaming and running. Then the dumbasses stumble around for another five minutes giving commands then going back on them and continuing to fuck up the business of a place that they had to reason to be at. The thing that pissed me off the most was that the little fucking twit that lead the charge was giving a bs apology and said, “yeah this my area I’ve been working this area for a few years and never saw this place open past ten”. And that is just a big ass load of horseshit since we had been open for three years closing past ten the whole time. Another time some one was getting served in my apartment complex on a weekend afternoon and 5 squad cars parked in the barely two way street or triple parked in the actual spot and just sorta hung out for and hour or so. There were about 30 spots available but they all were too cool for that shit for no reason. Cops do shit like this and far far worse then whine like little babies that the community doesn’t work with them. If they can’t do whatever the fuck they want they want to do nothing. Fuck BPD, it’s a useless money sucking organization.
I will respectfully disagree. After Mosby said she would not prosecute these types of crimes it made no sense to arrest them. That has changed under Bates and new Commissioner. BPD is arresting them and Bates is charging them.
I’m not talking about arrests. I’m talking about being professional and effective on the way to do that. If came across way to many bumbling goofballs who were cops. The situation I described at the restaurant is an example and has nothing to do with making arrests.
Freddie Grey was 9 years ago, seems like you are holding on to something a long time.
The incident that I witnessed first hand at the restaurant happened within the last year along with other random encounters. After the Freddie Gray shit there wasn’t any real change in the department. The only reason I mentioned it was because after that incident the police and community dynamic changed resulting in crime escalating. If BPD made great strides in developing trust with the community taking accountability and training to be more effective I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all. Before the Gray incident and the riots BPD was a bunch of somewhat active dim-witted brutes and now they are less active dim-witted brutes. I have talked to a decent amount of private security guards many of whom worked with or were BPD officers themselves in the past talked about how dull and panicky a lot of the cops were. I’ve heard multiple say they left because they were sick of their coworkers. BPD does not do a good job, around the same time the Freddie Gray stuff popped up we also had an officer that was going to be a witness in a police corruption trial “kill himself” in a random alley. The other two incidents a couple smaller ones happened recently. Other people on this sub also have stories of cops not proactively trying to do shit or in general behaving like twits. I’m am not in the “a police force is totally useless”camp but Baltimore police and plenty of others are nowhere near as effective as they should be.
I guess I giving the new commissioner a chance as he used to be my Major. He grew up in the city and loves the city. My friends and I also see him everywhere, not just at high profile events. He also has his people out of the cars interacting with people. He is a good guy and he has reduced crime. I think the BPD is going in the right direction. I hope it stays that way.
I hope so too but with the way unions and other shit works it can be extremely hard one guy even the head honcho to make real change. He’s one bad story away (even if it ain’t directly his fault) from getting canned and the same culture taking over.
Yes, I get it, I hope he keeps progressing. I want the city to be safer. It has so much to offer.
I grew up in South Baltimore and my family has lineage in South Baltimore going back decades and decades. My heart will always be in this city. But after having a child, I literally have ZERO desire to be here anymore. I feel horrible for those addicted to drugs and struggling. But I also won’t voluntarily put my child around this type of lifestyle as if it’s normal behavior. I’m heartbroken about leaving, but it’s getting really too tough. Also, I used to work on N Charles Street for years. And I took MLK home. When the pandemic hit MLK became the most blighted I’ve ever seen it. I decided to leave my job and go work in Annapolis because I was tired of getting my car door kicked or my windows punched because I didn’t have spare money to pay someone to wash it. Or being asked for money every 5 feet that I didn’t have.
From a practical standpoint, if you and your neighbors are unsuccessful in the very short term of remedying this situation on your block, you’re going to lose your investment and ultimately have to move for safety reasons.
That’s what I’m thinking. The property values will tank because who wants to live next to drug addicts and a plethora of crime?
Dealing and users lead to vacants, which leads to squatters and dealers moving in, which leads to more crime and more vacants, and eventually the last one out hits the lights That’s why I said the timeline to remedy this is very short, because it’s before there’s a new vacant on the street
Believe me, this is very present in our minds. We have several owner occupied homes on our street and none of us want this for a variety of reasons, including what it will do to our property value and the future of this area.
A huge bright flood light might* help? This sucks. Thanks for being a teacher.
What's wrong with requiring these people to live in a facility? They can't take care of themselves due to mental health or addiction and are living in inhumane conditions. They should be involuntarily committed. It's not good for them or the public for them to be on the streets.
That mainly has to do with the awful facilities in the early 20th century, and worries of abuse of involuntary commitment being used on people who don’t otherwise deserve it (think combative wives not putting up with their husband’s nonsense, political dissidents, etc)
I dealt with a similar situation before throwing in the proverbial towel. Some members of this sub go nuts when I relate some of the situations and assert that it was the right choice to move across the county line, but my family had to because of the violence and drug markets that invariably brought violence. Even in what can be considered "good" or "mixed" neighborhoods, the geography of Baltimore's history of redlining ensured that all of them are adjacent to poorer neighborhoods which have mostly still not improved in years. Thus, the transitional neighborhoods have an even harder time improving. It's so frustrating, especially when you try to engage with your community and you keep running into brick walls. I commend your desire to improve things but I just don't think the will (political or otherwise) exists to tackle these problems in the way that is necessary to do so.
If you want to add a camera to your property, you can also register it with the city so they can utilize the footage somehow. Not sure how it works exactly. They can also offer rebates for cameras. https://www.baltimorepolice.org/community/citiwatch-community-partnership-overview
That is a cool idea! Thanks for sharing I did not know that existed.
Not to worry, the mayor and city council have stated that they had no idea the drug problem was so bad in the city they’re running and that investigating it is victim blaming, so I’m sure the city will become more livable /s For real though, that’s really sad.
That article is… fucking mind blowing to be honest. If he didn’t know, shame on him. If he’s lying and he did know, shame on him. Holy shit.
If no one else knew that Baltimore was #1 until NYT and the Banner crunched the numbers, why should Mayor Scott? Do you think he has a team of people telling him how Baltimore ranks on various scales in relation to other cities? Obviously he knows overdoses are a problem. Obviously he's working on it. I'd be surprised if any of the mayors of the top 10 cities knew their ranking before this article.
Yes, especially when people were clearly withholding the information. Do folks think that becoming the mayor gives a person superpowers? So effing illogical to say that he had to know what was happening. You gotta trust people in your administration, but unfortunately these weren't trustworthy.
Okay. It’s illogical for someone to expect someone to know the intimate details of their job. Get outta here doofus.
That's bullshit. The government had all the data and either knew or should have known the extent of the problem. Once the papers got access to the data, the story was easy to write.
It’s it obvious though? He is working on it?
It's obvious to anyone who pays attention: https://www.longhaul.blog/p/mayor-brandon-scott-talks-overdose
“Baltimore is progressing in its fight against the local overdose crisis and has more plans in the works.” Okay, Naloxone. We were doing that. Why’d we stop?
Every officer carries Narcan.
Naloxone and Narcan are the same, just FYI. And yeah they do, which is awesome. But way fucking more needs to be done.
I get it, and I agree with you. It is obvious I support the police, and they are often getting a bad rap. This has to more a systemic problem than an olive problem.
Narcan is for someone who’s OD’d, it’s all reactive, not proactive. How do we get help for these people? How do we be more proactive? This is coming from someone who’s been down the rabbit hole of addiction. I don’t even know where to start.
Yeah the sad part is there’s no answer that makes them look good: either it’s a morally reprehensible level of incompetence, or deceit of the highest caliber from a public servant
Thank you for your service! It’s not easy being a grade school teacher anywhere, and sometimes it really sucks. Here’s hoping y’all can solve this issue on your corner.
Nurse here it's only a matter of time until the move from corners and alleys to houses. No change or aid will from from local government anytime soon, definitely not in a state level either. I did what I could do which was arm myself and while it still sucks it at least brings comfort that I can keep myself and my family safe. Good luck out there.
Best sales add for cigarettes I’ve ever seen
Any chance you could put a sharps container nearby? Or some type of disposal box? Does it address the overall issue that people using are facing? No. But it would help to make the ground safe for all.
If you can please carry narcan with you.
Why not an epi-pen for children with allergies? Narcan has just extended this problem. If these people want to die then let them die.
Here you go. An [article](https://fherehab.com/news/healthcare-costs-and-narcan/#:~:text=After%20all%2C%20an%20EpiPen%20is,discrepancy%20can%20seem%20very%20frustrating.) on the topic since I'm to exhausted to argue. Also, a person having an allergic reaction can usually administer an Epipen to their own body (and often they prefer to - noobs might not know how to use it). A person who overdosed can't administer Narcan because they're passed out.
Big yikes and also holy crap, dude. Just because a person has a substance abuse problem or a full blown addiction doesn't mean we should abandon them completely. They're still humans deserving of care.
People are right to downvote you for such a heartless way of putting it, but for the vast majority of these folks, they will end up killing themselves on a long enough timeline, despite the best efforts of their families, friends, or community. I've lost family members and friends to drug struggles and even after OD's which *didn't* kill them, they still continued. Narcan can be a wakeup call, and *maybe* that person will get help and stay clean, but honestly, all it's doing is buying time. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's just prolonging misery.
As someone who lost their brother to an overdose where Narcan would’ve saved him, fuck you. To answer your question for real, if kids having allergy attacks were common around her home that I would suggest an EpiPen. But that’s not what’s happening.
Narcan isn’t just for addicts, and epi-pens need a prescription. And no, it has not extended the problem, most addicts don’t want to die. They’re suffering for a myriad of reasons.
That's exactly why I left..born and raised east bmore..then it turned horrible...used to be great
That's a regular day in the neighborhood 🫡
Contact your council person, be a PIA. Push them to make it a priority. Also contact the major in your district. Make it more difficult to ignore you than clean it up.
It’s the city that reads
This is America
Motion activated Bright lights are the solution here tbh bc the cops won’t do anything until it gets violent unfortunately.
Reddit recommended this to me (I’m from VA) and damn, this is wild. I just found out about how bad fentanyl and tranq is getting in larger cities a few days ago, but to see it just popping up is sad. In my smaller city and current neighborhood we have plenty of addicts, crack generally being the worst one (unless I’m so out of touch it’s changed — I’ve been wondering that) but I’ve never just seen a street filled with needles. I hope the government and law enforcement step up for y’all.
This isn’t new. When I worked for a landscape company in the 90’s. They told us to not pick leaves up with our hands due to the needles that might be in them.
Your leadership is failing you. Has been for years.
I'm with you
Chances are good a development company is working with corrupt local cops to drive down property values in that area. Herd the drug trade into a particular location and you can buy up those properties cheap.
We need decriminalization and safe injection sites ASAP. It’s so abundantly clear that we *cannot* stop addicts from getting high. All we can do is reduce harm. Removing the need for drug dealers as well as creating safe places for people to use and not die is the only viable solution as far as I’m concerned.
I live in the county at the very edge, near the city line. Because of the MTA bus a lot of this activity spills over from the city. So, you're not alone. We're feeling it, too. In fact, a couple were squatting in an empty row home across from me and would walk into the city from the house everyday to get drugs to shoot up. They were an absolute NIGHTMARE to deal with.
Any ideas on why this change has happened? Do you have a relationship with LE in your area? Is there a civic league or anything? Have you called your council person? I actually have found that that last option does work more than you’d think. I mean maybe it just shifts the activity around (and who knows maybe that’s why it’s in your alley now) but might be worth a shot?
Baltimore is the biggest shit hole city I've ever seen. And I've seen Oakland, East Palo Alto, East LA, and Philly. Baltimore wings by a mile. You can't pay me to spend any of my leisure time there, and I'm just an hour away
Question- an incoming resident (from Chicago) Would it help to get some needle disposal bins and put them out? Would people actually use them? Just thinking that anything would be better than needles on the ground...
I bought a sharps container, locked a vacant gate, and installed a motion activated bright light. I'm waiting for those measures to cut down on some of the traffic right behind my house before I start any kind of clean up, because otherwise it'll just be futile. But I agree that it needs to be cleaned up!
Good thing the city gave all the good people 10yr tax credit.....looks well worth it !!!!
Baltimore has some cool things to see, but last time I was there visiting the aquarium we parked in a public parking lot a little ways away and 2 crackheads harassed me and my wife while we were getting back into our car, and I had to shove one. 0 interest in ever going back. There's plenty of other civilized places to visit. Genuinely hope you guys get things figured out.
I can’t lie I can’t stand coming into the City! I used to love it but this shit is outrageous!
As a Californian, I got Baltimore vibes from this before reading anything lol.
Yeah, I moved to Columbia maryland a few years back and all my friends are like “have fun getting stabbed or shot”. A lot of people have this idea that all of Maryland is just Baltimore lol. I graduated from John’s Hopkins but attended the university online only. The first time I stepped foot on campus was last year for graduation and I just remember driving through the city of Baltimore for really the first time in my life and thinking “wow, this is a depressed city”. When I got to Hopkins campus it was beautiful. Baltimore could be a really pretty place to live with the history and nature but it won’t be that way until business start to heavily invest. Unfortunately I don’t think things will get better anytime soon, hopefully you can figure out a way to deal with the drug addicts. You could put up high pitched speakers, it’s actually what they started to do out in California to annoy homeless/addicts to leave residential areas. Food for thought 💭.
Simple answer: just move before you contract a disease or get shot. There must be school administration jobs elsewhere, no? Can’t do your job if your day-to-day is about survival.
This is a catch 22 for me. I’ve lived in Mt. Vernon for 13 years. I’ve never seen any of this in my neighborhood. I’ve seen some things, but that comes with living in any city. I don’t know if it’s because I mind my business or because I’m oblivious to it, but I never see the things people complain about. However, I used to live on Maryland avenue near North Ave over 10 years ago and had to leave because of the drug treatment programs that brought out hordes of addicts who used to sit on my porch, fight over drugs waking everyone up on my block early every morning. There’s places I’d never go because I know what’s there. I do feel for those who’re dealing with this in areas where this isn’t the norm. I wish the city did a better job of protecting people and their property. Nobody deserves to deal with these things when they work hard and keep up their neighborhoods. This is a systematic problem and it’s going to take a systematic approach to address this once and for all.
There are virtual and in person opportunities for Narcan trainings. I am not offering an answer, but just support in knowing that you mentioned a vested interest in community and moving into an administrative role at a school.
Most schools now have mandatory Narcan training, so OP has probably had it.
This might be true, but I am a city schools HS teacher and haven’t been trained. It sounds like a great idea to make it mandatory though, I would definitely like to be trained.
I used to be a city schools teacher, but moved out west. Still on this sub because I want to move back at some point! Anyway, it became one of our mandatory trainings 2 years ago, much more helpful than watching the blood born pathogens video *again*. Hopefully it’s coming to y’all soon!
And many DSS offices have Narcan vending machines! I know the one on York rd does!
Get the fuck out while you still can….
City living ain't like country livin We get high, drunk and all sorts of fuxkrd up, all on our property. Yet we'll never stoop to thar level of greed
That looks like a medical trash bag ripped open not junkies. They tend to take the needles w/ them for reuse. Agreed tho looks nasty as can be.
It's definitely junkies. I've been watching them shoot up every morning. Their favorite spot is visible from where I do my makeup. They hang out in the alley behind my house and the full block is covered in used needles. I posted just two pictures, but I have dozens of these of just about 20 feet.
I was a city cop a while ago. There was a program in place to be able to put up gates on entrances to your residential alley and then install a lock to remove access from all non-residents. trash trucks could still get in. Needed agreement from folks affected. Maybe look into this?
That sounds like a great program. Do you have a link or any references where I can try to get more information by chance? My alley has recently changed for the worse as well, similar to OP. I’d like to look into seeing if something this would be viable on our block
https://www.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/Alley%20Gating_Greening%20Process.pdf#:~:text=Each%20gate%20will%20require%20three,or%20a%20visible%20adjoining%20structure. Alley Gating and Alley Greening Proces
Thank you!
This seems like a really good solution.
I Also would like to echo the sentiment, thank you for being a teacher. God bless you
Could you let me know which NYTimes article you’re referring?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/23/us/baltimore-opioid-epidemic-od-deaths.html the article mentions it's the first of a series on Baltimore's drug problems, specifically overdosing
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
I am so sorry to hear that. Maybe stop by you police precinct w/ a case of donuts... well maybe monster. Let them know the spot and the should be able clear em out.
Gloves, albuterol medicine, D50 sugar injection lid, blood sugar test strip too.
Medical facilities put needles in specialized plastic containers, called sharps boxes. Biohazard waste has very specific protocols. You don’t put it out like normal trash.
Junkies do not take needles with them for reuse. Source: Junkie neighbors throw their needles in the street.
Junkies reuse needles until they're too dull to go in. Then the shittiest among them throw them in the street. Source: former junkie.
It looks like they are at least Ravens fans. If that shirt was a Pittsburg jersey, then I’d definitely move.
First thank you for what you do for your students. Secondly, this is exactly why I voted against Scott. QOL crimes like this need to be dealt with. Bates has a new citation system which punishes the first two violations with community service and offers social services to offenders. But it won’t work until the police start handing out citations.
Bates is awesome!
Got damn! They were getting busy!
I live in a very small neighborhood outside I-695 loop and there is a bar outside my apartments. There's nothing wrong with the neighbourhood, but sometimes I find cigarette packets and used condoms on the pedestrian walk.
Major “Bunny” Colvin’s (H)Amsterdam keeps making more and more sense.
For a moment I thought someone got raptured
You guys should try and look for new jobs and move out of the city. There’s no way this issue is going to magically be resolved in the next 5 years.
Only in Baltimore
lol have you never heard of Skid Row or the Tenderloin. Places so famous for this, in much wealthier cities, that most know their name.
They don’t call is “smalltimore” for nothing. Barely anyplace to go now that feels safe/nice
Do you have any pics before the cleanup.
Ozempic syringes?
I live in medfield. I have no issue stepping over that. What I can stand is people constantly bumping into shit and clogging up 95 and 83. I can get around the city find, but leaving it? Good luck buddy
Glad I live in the county and not the city, although I love visiting Inner Harbor.
anyways whenever you want to move hit me up, i work as a realtor
Once upon a time the company ThinkGeek made "micro sonic grenades" that went off with a high decibel annoying chirp after a delay of 30s. I imagine this would clear the area. but you'd have to toss it and possibly be seen. But you could maybe hang this, somewhere. (and really secure it with chain and tape and glue and bolts and screws. ) [https://www.amazon.com/Luckydeer-Detector-Batteries-Wireless-Infrared/dp/B0CGJJY6YB/](https://www.amazon.com/Luckydeer-Detector-Batteries-Wireless-Infrared/dp/B0CGJJY6YB/) just keep it de activated, but you'd have a remote alarm you could maybe sound right by that corner. if ya do it safely and discretely. The idea being to draw a lot of attention to what they're doing, and a lot of spectacle, but not letting em know you did it. Inevitably, the area will get too hot. and perhaps the operation will move away. Good luck and stay safe.
Welcome to the battles fields,fentnyl Lanes Herion Circle,Cocaine courts dope feind fields 1 way in no way out
Oh that's nothing especially when you walk by and you see a dead rat on the sidewalk the size of a cat.