Pigtown Drug Violence

On the morning of July 1, just as I was reading a neighbor's concerns about a shooting that had happened earlier that day, I heard 6-8 canon-like booms right beside my home. Minutes later I peeked outside--saw neighbors running and an abandoned "drive-by" bicycle in the middle of the street. Three doors down and around the corner, a young man lay, writhing in pain. Blood was gushing from his back as he lay on the concrete face down.

By the end of the afternoon, a third shooting had happened, all within 4 hours and blocks of one another. Drug feuds, no doubt.

Although shootings can happen anywhere, their quantity in Pigtown is too dangerous to ignore. There is little regard for human life--makes me feel so disgusted...and afraid. Until Baltimore City changes its approach on crime, I have no choice but to relocate.

Time to go. I tried.

Here is an article in the Baltimore Sun that describes this chaotic day: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-city-shootings-20110701,0,4127607.story

Cleaning out my camera...September/October 2010 in photographs

Better late than never! Pigtown, in pictures, last September-October 2010. Enjoy!




Man, unknown, getting a questionable-substance-induced nap mid-day.


Gallery 788--art galore--undoubtedly the coolest thing in Pigtown EVER.


...and even cooler Eduardo Rodriguez, manager of Gallery 788.


Todd and Nelson running.




Was really surprised the city came out and removed the hideous graff tags on the corner bar near me in just one call. Not bad, Bmore!




A commemorative graff to Pigtown, of the cool kind, on my back fence. Thanks Todd!


My favorite house on the 11th block of Cleveland.








Green Pig Commons Project Block--great concept; too bad it's not duplicated throughout Pigtown.


Flash flood--crazy. Two minutes before this pic was taken, the water was above the curb. Drain blockage? And like that, it was gone.


When I was thinking about starting a garden/consignment shop last year, I was hoping to take over the lease from the African Braiding salon. How in the world do they stay in business? Braids haven't been popular since the 1990s.


Great architecture going to waste. I'd love to rehab the boarded building into a loft co-op for artists.

Cleaning out my camera...Musings from April 8, 2011

Scenic views from my Pigtown window last April. Of course I'm nosy so I lifted the window and listened in. The perp: "My teeth are missing" and "I swear [cocaine/crack] is not mine!!!" The officer: "Then why did you run?" "See what happens when you run." Wow...you gotta love getting a scene from The Wire right from your own backyard.

My Other Life in Cecil County

Evidently, I'm a woman of extremes. I love the convenience, progressive minds, and pace of city living, but I need to see major green acreage every now and then. So, to escape the urban chaos that comes with summer in Baltimore--I was pressed enough to buy a very humble "weekend" cottage smack dab in the middle of a Tea Party-packed [gulp] campground community in Cecil County, Maryland.

Yes, I'm crazy. Find it here.

Where's the Beef? and June is here!

Yes, the posts are few and far in between. Sowry. I had one heck of a May--try planning your friend's wedding reception at a mega nightclub and see what I mean--but I'm back.

Anyway. Back to Pigtown. We lost our one and only coffee shop, Perfecto. Will we ever have viable mainstreet commerce?



Worse, awesome neighbor and interior design/lifestyle blogger extraordinaire Meg Fairfax MOVED to another neighborhood. Fortunately, she's retaining the "Pigtown" part of her famous blog title (http://pigtown-design.blogspot.com/). All the best, Meg!

$2M Inner Harbor Park to Break Ground Next Month

$2M Inner Harbor Park to Break Ground Next Month

G'Bye Troublesome Trees!

Initially I blogged that Baltimore city was behind the tree cutting, but it appears that it was just another pre-rehab clearing. Nonetheless, what contractor cuts trees on Sunday at 10am? I dig treehugging and all but I was super pleased to see two oddly overgrown and gargantuan trees--the kind that crash through your bedroom and wipe out all the power on the block for 2 weeks--getting trimmed. I had no idea they'd both be a complete and distant memory within 3 hours--they seemed nearly impossible to climb. Dag on it...I missed seeing how they did it.



Check the brave soul in the tree.


Wow. Trees all gone! Coincidentally, the house where the trees were chopped is the same one where the poor dog named "Scoobers" was being neglected (and I blogged about him).



Everybody loves the sunshine!!! Plus, no pesky leaves clogging up my gutter.

Is This the End?

Pigtown's horrid housing market depreciation (due to its ridiculous overinflation) is affecting me to the point of grief. I love my home, and have put so many of my resources into it, but it's all for naught. Zillow.com is estimating my home's value at 60% of what I paid in 2006. All my closest neighbors--who were proud homeowners--have left. Of the rehabbed homes that don't remain empty, transitional students and section 8-vouched renters abound. The neighborhood's open-air drug market has decreased significantly (thanks to the vigilance of great community activism), but this gem of a neighborhood is still too rough to truly enjoy.

Washington, DC beckons my return...to be continued.

UPDATE THE NEXT DAY: Just toured a $1200/month Capitol Hill apartment (a good deal for the area) with supposedly 650 square feet (more like 400), and the pic below is HIGHLY flattering compared to reality--you wouldn't believe the bathroom. Well...looks like I'm staying in Pigtown--I'll take the comforts of a newly rehabbed home over a craptacular roach condo. If I can't live within walking distance to work, it takes just as much time getting around DC as a 45-minute drive to Baltimore.