MADopers, what should I know about Baltimore and Newark, DE?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I’m a medical student heading up to interview for residencies in Baltimore and Delaware next week.

If I end up in Baltimore it will be at the Univ of Maryland Medical Center. What is the deal with the Inner Harbor? I’ve heard that downtown Baltimore is not a very nice neighborhood. Where do people who work in the Inner Harbor area live? What’re the housing market and cost of living like in the area?
Also I’m going to interview at Christiana Care hospitals in Newark and Wilmington, Delaware. Anyone have any experience living in the area? Is there much to do there or do you have to drive to Philly for a nice restaurant, etc?

Any other comments are, of course, welcome.

USCDiver

2

Parts of inner Baltimore are bad just like most cities. The Inner Harbor is wonderful but I don’t actually know anyone who lives there. All the people I know from Baltimore lives outside of town and commute.

But Dave will be along shortly. He’s the major partisan for Baltimore.

And according to board legend Delaware doesn’t actually exist. Be warned.

3

There’s lots of nice places to live downtown, just speak to someone who knows the city before you pick one. For some reason B-more seems to attract people who like to down talk it. There’s one moron who posts here who once posted a long lying screed about driving for hours through crime riddled neighborhoods that was obviously complete and total bullshit. The entire city is only 10-15 miles square, anyone driving for “hours” would have struck the beltway unless they were driving in circles. Ginger has said to me many times ( and remember, she’s from squeeky clean Canada ) how much she would like to live in the city. ( we don’t because we have a 10 year old-city schools do tend to be sub-par, I will admit)

4

See?

I told you he’d be along.

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Well, Kreskin, why don’t you post that I’ll win the lottery now?

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You might want to contact moi as she’s been doing an art internship in Baltimore, and would be happy to share her insight.

Delaware does so exist, JC! Do you really think all of that petrochemical industry and the DuPonts could be nothing more than an urban legend?

7

Not to mention all those banking firms.

8

I know several people at UMD med school. Most of them live right downtown. As do I, practically. It’s not the crack-town it once was, but like any major city, you still have to be careful. Depending on how much you’re going to be making, there are several very nice apartment buildings within blocks of the med school. Feel free to write if you want to know more!

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Baltimore and Delaware (that which does not exist) are full of very nice Dopers. Come a week early and we’ll feed you.

Hell, we’ll feed you anyway. Email us if you would like to go on a tour of the city when you get here. Dave’s born and raised here, and I just like looking around.

10

Okay, I’ll do my tricks on command. But only 'cos that charmer, danceswithcats, was the one barking orders. This post, however, should not be used to infer that I’m always so predictable! :wink:

I live in downtown Baltimore and have for the past six months. Previously, I lived in a small college town in PA and a woodsy development in NJ. However, I have some streetsmarts and have had no problems in the city. What’s different about my life?
[ul][li] My trashcans were recently stolen. They were large, metal, and chained to my fire escape.[/li][li] I bought The Clubsup[/sup] for my car.[/li][li] In general, I’m smart and cautious about my surroundings, particularly after dark.[/li][li] Panhandlers are part of my environment.[/ul][/li]
If you can live with those few negatives, I can’t think of any reason not to live in Baltimore. It’s a quirky, fun, and there’s a lot to do. (Though, as a medical resident, you may not have time to take in the city’s many pleasurable diversions. I know that graduate school certainly got in the way of everything I wanted to do in Philly! :))

Baltimore is very neighborhood-y, so it’s good to familiarize yourself with the different areas of the city before going apartment hunting.
[ul][li] Fell’s Point is very nice, local to lots of bars, art galleries, and the water. Bit pricey.[/li][li] Hampden is superfunky, lots of charming shops, eateries, etc.[/li][li] Charles Village has a lot of character (beautiful row homes). I live at the far, far south end of this community.[/ul][/li]I don’t know a lot about Federal Hill (art galleries, some shops) and some of the other neighborhoods, but I could always shop around some of my Charm City* friends and get their opinions on any neighborhoods you’re looking into.

With the exception of the Inner Harbor and some areas of Fell’s Point, I’ve found housing prices in Baltimore to be very reasonable (in comparison to, say, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia). If you can swing it, living in some of the neighborhoods I’ve mentioned will probably give you a great experience. Living in the Inner Harbor itself would be a nightmare, I expect, due to the huge tourist population and its effect on travel, prices, etc.

So, to summarize:
[ul][li] Don’t become emotionally attached to your trash cans.[/li][li] Baltimore has personality, and I mean that in a good way.[/li][li] Delaware doesn’t exist.[/ul][/li]
[sub]* You’ll also have to get used to Bawlmer’s many nicknames. This one’ll give you a head start. :slight_smile: [/sub]

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Thanks for the info so far, everyone.

av8rmike I’ll find out if I get the job there in March, so I’ll have a couple of months of school left before I make a move. I’ll be looking into specifics of housing, etc then.

GingerOfTheNorth I’d love a free meal or three, but I’m on a tight schedule, whirlwind swing through the area. I’ll be sure to let eveyone know where I end up, so I can participate in Dopefests.

By the by, I’m not going to disappear into some vortex on I-95 when I try to cross into Delaware am I?

12

I just gotta say that Delaware does exist. It’s where all of us bumpkins from the Jersey side of the bridge go to shop, dine, club or whatever! Just don’t waste your toll on coming to see our side. Picture a county with about 50 pizzerias and only one stinkin’ department store.

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Well, your wallet will disappear into a vortex of toll booths, but that’s about it.

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My husband lives aboard our boat in the Inner Harbor and he loves it. In fact, he’d like me to get a job in Balto so we could stay there. That amazes me because he never was a city boy.

I grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, and I like the area in general, but I don’t want to live there. I want to have space, and I can’t afford an acre and a half in that part of the state. But my sister lives in Canton and works in Fells Point, and she loves it. You really need to scope out the neighborhoods with someone who knows the city - it’s so diverse, you can’t count on lucking out when looking for a place to live.

I think I drove thru Delaware once. I have a quarter that says Delaware and I think it’s genuine currency… :smiley:

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Canton is a beautiful part of the city. I would live there in a heartbeat - had we the money for a private school tuition for Matthew. I just don’t want him going to a city school.

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Most cities are driven by a single industry/employer. For Seattle, it’s Boeing. For DC, it’s the Federal government. For Pittsburgh it’s steel and for Raleigh-Durham it’s tobacco.

For Baltimore, it’s shipping. Baltimore’s shipping industry has been in decline for 30 years and no one can imagine a circumstance where that will turn around. Major importers have no particular advantage to using Baltimore anymore, and the entire city is in decline as a result. Until recently, Baltimore had the nation’s highest rates of homicide and syphilis. If you’re a filmmaker, Baltimore will bend over backwards to accomodate you. John Waters and Barry Levinson make lots of movies there.

Delaware’s big employer is DuPont. DuPont owns so much of the state that they underwrite state taxes. Yep, Delaware is one of those states with no state tax, but lots of user fees. Lots of corporations use a dummy shell office to claim to be Delaware-based, even though all their actual operations are in Maryland or New Jersey or wherever. It’s a great place to say you do business, not such a great place to actually do it. Nice beaches, but the whole state is at the brunt of every hurricane that hits the mid-Atlantic states.

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As a native of Delaware, I do feel obligated to defend my home state! :slight_smile: Yes, it does exist, and Christiana Care is an excellent hospital (that’s where my Mom was, at first). New Castle county has fairly reasonable (market rate) housing and practically everything is within a 20 minute drive. However, the traffic is really bad, IMO–I-95 can get backed up rather quickly, especially if there is an accident. Not only is it the major interstate highway, it’s also very well used for day-to-day driving and errands by many Delawareans.

There are many restaurants in the Wilmington area and there is also the Opera House (recently renovated) where you can take in classical music and yes, even opera. Here is a link to the Wilmington News-Journal online site:

That should help give you some idea of whats going on in the New Castle county area. You might even find less expensive housing just into Kent county (Middletown) and still be within very reasonable distance of Christiana Care in Newark, btw. And Delaware has no sales tax - although they do have personal income tax. It’s just that pesky traffic problem. And of course the toll booths. :wink:

Good luck; hope you’ll be able to make the best choice for you.

18

Lookit all the MADs in here that I didn’t know there were! Come to our Dope-The-Halls tomorrow!

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Something else to know about Baltimore (and the entire D.C. area, by extension):

When it snows, the entire population freaks out. Schools and businesses close for 2" of snow. News programs broadcast “snow emergencies” and pre-empt all other programming. They warn people to stay off the roads at all costs so the road crews can do their job.

This, apparently, drives Ginger nuts. :stuck_out_tongue:

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CRAZY! IT DRIVES ME BATSHIT!

For those of you that are unaware, the ‘of the North’ refers to
Canada’s Arctic. Yes, really. 62.5 degrees north. WHERE WE DON’T CLOSE SHIT FOR SNOW. EVER.