9 Responses

1. This is the reason why we need guns at home. In Texas and Florida home invasions usually do not turn well for the burglars.

2. Horrible! Through our tefilos he should make a full recovery. On YWN I once recalled a frum resident of Baltimore getting very upset and defensive when commentators remarked about the dangers of living in Baltimore. I’ve never lived there, but I know the frum community are precious people. That being said, the crime and aesthetic landscape of that entire area is terrible. I wouldn’t recommend anyone moving there, especially children and elders!

3. TGIShabbos again shows their lack of knowledge. Baltimore’s frum community is safe. Very safe. We walk around at night with no problem. The daily incidents in New York are proof that the inexpensive, friendly, low-pressure community in Baltimore is THE place to move to NOW. 6 bedroom brand new homes for under $300k? You have that in the tri-state area? Not. 40+ shuls of every stripe, an Eruv that everyone holds by, dozens of financially stable mosdos that don’t get FBI, Police and Fire scandals? Baltimore. This situation in this article was troubling but unfortunately it’s the 3rd or 4th time this person’s house was broken into. His car(s) were stolen multiple times. There is a back story.

4. BaltimoreMaven:
   I am from Baltimore as well, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Baltimore is NOT SAFE enough to walk alone at night. In the past several months, there have been multiple incidents of people being mugged on the streets, not to mention the dozens of home invasions and car break-ins.

   Additionally, please tell me where these 6 bedroom homes for less than 300k are. I hope you are not referring to Park Heights/ Reisterstown Road neighborhoods, as those areas are even more dangerous. Not to mention that those cheap homes are usually very run down.

   While I agree with you the Baltimore may be better than New York, anyone who is looker for safer cheaper living should not turn to Baltimore. There are many communities in the Midwest and elsewhere that are both significantly safer and cheaper than Baltimore or New York.

5. Baltimoremaven, I think we are seeing things very differently. Please Google “Baltimore crime ranking”. Not one bachur or Kollel guy from Baltimore told me they envision raising a family there. As I originally said, the frum Jews of Baltimore are wonderful people. The shuls, yeshivos, and restaurants are fine. The discussion is the 600,000 other residents, 70% consisting of a particular demographic. As far as the pricing of homes- it’s all relative. I can buy a house in Rochester (look at the YWN advertisements) for under $200,000, or live in Sunny Florida and not pay state, county, and city income taxes, which Baltimore holds all three. Lastly, insurance fraud is a real crime. However, if this individual was stabbed in the stomach, I hardly believe that it was staged. It’s not a competition between which city is better, and certainly we are not talking about the frum population.

6. TGI- I am not sure what you refer to as the “aesthetic landscape” but the overall quality of life in the Baltimore frum community is quite high. You have a very large and good core of families, shuls, and schools which make up the community. There is a steady group newlyweds that start their married life in Baltimore majority of whom eventually stay (I am not sure which kollel guy you have been speaking to). Outside of Lakewood there isn’t another community with such a strong young core where housing is relatively affordable.

   Yes, the city of Baltimore has a boatload of issues but they are primarily located in an area where we would never go. What is going on now is likely a spill over affect of from the lack of proper policing in the problematic areas. This is not indicative of how things have been in the past. nor how thing will be in the future. I anticipate that Shomrim and NWCP along with political pressure will work to fix the issues.

7. I apologize for not addressing all potential irrelevant comments previously. Rochester? Really? Florida is nice if you like to drive 14-20 hours or to fly (including the TSA lines). Baltimore is the next Lakewood – it’s under 3 hours from Boro Park and has every amenity (and an Eruv everyone holds by). It’s an Ir Shel Shalom – you don’t see the Rabbonim fighting amongst themselves. Everyone uses one Mikvah. The Star K is a solid hechsher. There are people moving all the time to Baltimore from all over the world. Top notch medical care, two Hatzolah ambulances, Chaveirim, Shomrim etc. A bunch of Chassidishe families just moved here and they seem to love it. New mosdos opening all the time. Why not come see for yourself. I’ve lived here 25 years and although I came for personal reasons I stayed for the wonderful environment, excellent chinuch and plentiful amenities. Not to mention the lower cost of living and proximity to Washington DC.

8. @BaltimoreMaven
   I kind angry with you even though not everything you wrote is correct. We read all the time how all the car windows or tires on a block being smashed or slashed or stabbings in Crown heights it could happen anywere but I think the big issue in Baltimore is people are not taking it seriously. Baltimore shomrim is always saying that they are basically targeting cars with unlocked unlocked doors and I’m saying that if people would just install alarms in there houses that would stop most the breakins for example what happened this morning

9. @BaltimoreMaven
   I kind agree with you even though not everything you wrote is correct. We read all the time how all the car windows or tires on a block being smashed or slashed or stabbings in Crown heights it could happen anywere but I think the big issue in Baltimore is people are not taking it seriously. Baltimore shomrim is always saying that they are basically targeting cars with unlocked unlocked doors and I’m saying that if people would just install alarms in there houses that would stop most the breakins for example what happened this morning