Baltimore top ten(The bad)

You know you are in Baltimore when:

1. 10 percent of the population has a heroin addiction. Baltimore has a population of about 500,000 and 50,000 heroin addicts. The 50,000 thousand does not include the number of people who are addicted to crack, ecstasy, weed(yes, there are people here who are addicted to weed)etc... I guess we should be happy that crystal meth has not made its way here yet. When(hopefully never) that happens then, this city will really be in trouble.

2. The public schools here suck. If you have a child and you want that child to know something beyond Jay Z's latest song you must pay for private school. Its as if those in charge are making it a priority to make sure there is a perpetual underclass here.

3. Public transportation sucks. We have three types of public transportation here: the bus, subway(metro),and the light rail. The subway only serves one side of town. The light rail and the subway only cross paths at two stops both within a block of each other. The bus is frequently late and as slow as all get out.

4. The rent is cheap(most of time). Don't worry you will spend any extra money that you save because of the cheap rent on a car because Baltimore's public transportation drives 60% of people batty after a while.

5. Home prices have begun to soar in parts of Baltimore because many people come here to flip houses. Thereby, making it harder to poor and working class people to ever be able to afford to purchase a home.

6. People here lack a sense of personal style. To many people here think that wearing a bunch of logos is stylish. If you wear anything like this you will probably get weird looks on the streets of Baltimore.

7. 85% of the young males here have a uniform that they wear all day, everyday: long white tee, Timberland boots, and dark jeans.

8. We have a large number of hipsters here. I notice that their style is rubbing off on a number of black people too(teens and 20-somethings). I am guilty of hipster style.

9. We have a large number of very big overweight people. It all almost seems like all of the obese people drove in overnight. The obesity rates are particularly astonishing in poor black neighborhoods where there are more fastfood places than supermarkets,clinics, drugstores and boutiques combined. Fast food/junk food is to African-Americans what alcohol is to Native Americans.

10. Sex in Baltimore is dangerous. I guess that is why I am holding back on my undiscovered freak. In a few studies Baltimore has been number one in various STD infections. There is an area of Baltimore where many of the young men have no problem sleeping with a woman who has HIV. Yes you read it right, no problem at all, as long as you don't look sick, they are willing to do the do.

Don't worry, Baltimore has some good points also. I will write about those next week.