Baltimore has gotten better, but not everywhere

I live in Southwest Baltimore about 2 miles from Pratt and Monroe streets, the Ground Zero in the current controversy between President Donald Trump and Rep. Elijah Cummings. There you will find rats, mice, bed bugs and trash including used hypodermic needles. You’ll find them in other areas of Baltimore too. I see rats in my backyard from time to time. You’ll find this in most major cities in America and not a few around the world. It’s unrealistic to expect the federal government to solve these local problems (“Trump alleges ‘billions and billions’ of federal aid wasted in Baltimore; city officials dispute claim,” July 30).

I came to Baltimore 43 years ago. Contrary to what you might have been told, my experience was that things have actually improved since that time. But not at Pratt and Monroe. And not everywhere in Baltimore. In 1976, I lived on Patterson Park Avenue directly across from the park. That is Southeast Baltimore. It was a stinking mess. Packs of dogs, five to 15 dogs at a time, ran through the park and the neighborhoods and crapped all over the sidewalks. The park was not well cared for. Trash was a problem. Now, there is great Improvement in that neighborhood. The city has eliminated the dog problem. The park is much nicer. You can walk the sidewalks comfortably. Much of the neighborhood on the south side of the park is relatively new construction. These and other neighborhoods which were as bad as Pratt and Monroe is today are now gentrified.

Baltimore is 65% African-American. But in Southwest Baltimore, there are poor whites, destitute whites and white drug addicts. It’s not a racial problem, it’s a human problem.

Baltimore has been called the evangelists’ graveyard. There are hundreds of denominations and non-denominational congregations. All the main line and all the ancient denominations are here. Perhaps we do not have heaven on Earth in Baltimore because Christendom is so fractured here.

Wannabe tyrants don’t get to defame Baltimore

Baltimore is my city. I didn’t live there. I merely grew up about an hour away. But my dad was born there. It was the first place my mom lived after immigrating to the United States. It was where both sets of my grandparents lived and worked and are now buried. It was where I spent almost every single weekend of my life growing up. I played in its parks. I worshiped there. I root for its sports teams through thick and thin for no reason other than the fact their uniforms say “Baltimore” across the chest.

I consider Baltimore to be as much a part of me as any member of my extended family. That’s how I feel about Baltimore. And if you insult it, you insult me. That’s how it goes. And it is a gorgeous, diverse and incredible city with a rich culture and history to it. Our own National Anthem was written there. Of course, it has its share of problems and struggles, more than most places even. Some of them are institutional while others relate to issues that have haunted us as a people for decades or even centuries. But there are parts of the city that are absolutely vibrant and lively. Places where you can walk at night and not feel the least bit uncomfortable, places where the biggest problem is trying to find a place to park. And there are other parts that face their challenges.

But regardless of where you are in the city, it is full of people who are proud to live and work there and call themselves residents of one of America’s great cities. So if anyone has the gall to refer to my city as “disgusting, rat and rodent infested” or “filthy” or claim that “no human being would want to live there,” if anyone has the nerve to say such things about Baltimore and its residents — or any great American city — that person has zero respect and zero love for this country.

It is not a perfect city, but Baltimore will forever be my city. And I will not sit by and watch it be defamed by wannabe tyrants.