July 6, 2008
Readers speak on the Web
Here's what readers have been saying online about The Sun's American Brewery project and what might be done to help the neighborhood:
"Take a trip up to Philadelphia and there are neighborhoods that are being revitalized by offering space for artists to ply their trade. Others who want to live in neighborhoods like that move in, and with that comes commerce. The city could work with private developers to turn houses and other buildings into artist lofts and small businesses like restaurants and other retail. There are quite a few arts organizations in [Baltimore], including at least two educational institutions that the city could work with. As long as the city expands its arts opportunities, this could be successful." - Chris
"Noting the uncertainty of the west-side development, attempting to revitalize the brewery in that [East Baltimore] neighborhood would be the height of folly. The west side would have died at night were it not for city attention and security. The area around the brewery would be dead during the day, except for drug dealers!!! What the city should do is take the building apart brick by brick and rebuild in a viable neighborhood." - drh
"A Kenyan (here legally) recently recounted to me a trip on the No. 19 bus, where a shouting match between two peeps turned into a brawl amongst eight passengers. Yes, she was frightened and appalled at behavior which she had never witnessed in her homeland. She was also dismayed that this would occur in the land of opportunity. Easy answer would be to tell her to take the next flight back to Kenya; more difficult would be to explain to her how a city that used to be a jewel of the United States might now be more appropriately named 'Dysfunction at the Junction.'" - paco
"The area around that brewery is the absolute worst of the worst. The very fact that that gem of a building has been allowed to disintegrate for three decades speaks to just how bad that neighborhood is. Most of Baltimore is decidedly NOT like that, and I'm tired of people always saying it is." - funkateer
"This is the area [where] I have worked for the past seven years. This is still a rough area, but not as bad as it was 10 to 15 years ago. Many of the young men have died or gone to prison, or relocated to other areas in the city. This isn't the only neighborhood that has been abandoned in Baltimore." - Wagonmaster
"Unfortunately, that isn't the only neighborhood that is neglected or ignored by the city. There are pockets of these neighborhoods all over Baltimore. ... Very, very sad. But, on the bright side, developers and others are beginning to discover these neighborhoods, and some are slowly but surely starting to come around." - Paintlady
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