Tell me about Baltimore

bonanza
Fri, 08 May 2009 09:48:31 +0000

Relax. It’s not that bad. I sent my 18 year old daughter to Hopkins and she never had a problem. She lived in the Marylander (on St. Paul St.) for her last two years and always felt comfortable going back and forth to campus. I wouldn’t recommend traveling alone a 3 a.m. however.

The campus has excellent security and is very safe. Charles Village–at least the portion of it adjacent to the Homewood campus-- is a safe part of Baltimore. But it is an urban environment so one does have to exercise good judgment. Most of the crime in Baltimore is in the heavily drug infested neighborhoods. They are easy to spot because the city has installed video cameras with flashing blue lights to deter crime. Charles Village is not one of those neighborhoods.

Charles Village is made up mostly of students, young professionals, faculty, and a few long time residents. In the less expensive apartments, there also are a fair number of recent immigrants–particularly from the Far East. Hop Cops patrol the adjacent area in addition to city police–so the bad guys generally stay away becasue they know they will get caught. There will be an occasional group of young teens (too stupid to know they’ll get caught) from outside the area looking for trouble, and occasionally an addict (too drugged to know they’ll get caught) may wander in looking for an easy mark–but the usual precautions will minimize the risk. It is no more dangerous than similar areas in other urban environments.

There are some fun places in Charles Village–but many more in Hamden (just west of the Homewood campus), Mount Vernon (where Peabody is), Federal Hill (south of Inner Harbor), Fells Point (West of Inner Harbor) and Camden (further west still). Baltimore can be a very fun place, particularly since you’re over 21.

Good luck.