I didn't realize John Rocker was a judge now. It's a very inappropriate comment from someone in his position. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone can say he's completely incorrect...

Not just West Baltimore but all of Baltimore has become Beirut. We are in town for a funeral and have witnessed what appeared to be a drug deal, boarded up houses, a boarded up apartment complex, guys loitering all over the street and homeless beggars. As a lifelong Baltimorean, I am saddened at what has happened. I am saddened that the police commisioner and politicians don't give a damn about what has happened to OUR city!

Baltimore in general is a big steaming pile of !@$%. Generations of my family have lived there. Good thing we moved to Carroll county when I was a kid. I used to hear stories about walking around the city any time of the day or night. Going to the markets. What a great place it used to be.

Worse thing that ever happened was blowing up the projects. Then they ruined Baltimore county. Anybody been to milford and Liberty road recently? Next time I go it will be with my gun. I would rather get a charge then die. Talk about a bunch of racist and not the white kind.

The city officials are busy stealing from the poor making themselves rich-er. Its a sad day, and i still think this is the calm before the storm....My prayers and sympathy go out to any Baltimore City Police Offier...your job has always been hectic, but now its just gotten that much harder. The youth is on a rampage and indeed taking over...In their minds...you are nobody until you kill, harrass, destroy or disturb somebody....thats some crazy **** and i am so tired of it...and Baltimore.

Uh, how dare you compare dilapidated Baltimore to Beirut! Have you been to Beirut? I am assuming no. Yes it used to be a bombed out mess but I can say that after a trip there recently, Baltimore is of no match to Beirut. It is a wonderful city with very little crime to boot (certainly cannot say that about Baltimore), great people and amazing nightlife.
Stop making outdated comparisons people! The civil war in Beirut and Lebanon ended almost 20 years ago!

Sam, if you read the post, it's the judge who made the comparison. I'm linking to it because I was, frankly, surprised to hear a judge make such a comment -Justin

Comparing Baltimore to a pile of dog excrement is very disrespectful to the excrement.

To Justin-
Yes you are correct, I should have directed my comment towards the judge! And yes that is very surprising that a judge would say that.
However, its not clear from the way the blog entry is written that what he said was ignorant, it appears only as a harsh criticism of Baltimore at Beiruts expense.
In anycase, I have seen comparisons like this before, its just unfortunate that most Americans have distorted view of that region, in particular Beirut (memories of civil war images...)

BALTIMORE,S OTHER PROBLEM IS THE RAMPANT RACIAL JOB IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR.EVERYBODY CAN,T WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT.YOU GOT A TON OF LILY WHIYE PLACES IN B-MORE OR MAYBE ONE OR TWO BLACK IN A MAJORITY BLACK CITY

I've heard many, many other people make the baltimore/beirut comparison and 99% of the time it comes from people that don't live in the city or have any interest in seeing the city succeed.

ryan, the highrise projects were one of the worst ideas with regard to crime, quality of life and living conditions that anyone has ever had for low income families and the city of Baltimore as a whole. Destroying them was the right thing to do in every way imaginable.

Evan,

At least it was contained. What would you do with an infectious disease? Let it spread and infect the rest of the society. Is that fair to the rest of us? People who can abide by the rules and take care of their childeren.
My feelings, you want to live like animals so be it. Just leave everyone else alone.
Plain ignorance not poverty.

The New York Times ranked Beirut as the number one place to go in 2009. It was also listed as one of the ten liveliest cities in the world by Lonely Planet.

I am very disappointed with this comparison. You are comparing Baltimore to "Bombed-out Beirut", but before talking about Beirut, has anyone of you been there? Do you know what it looks like TODAY, in 2009? I don't think so.

Beirut was once a bombed-out city, that's true, but that was more than 15 years ago. Beirut has rebuilt itself, just like London, Paris and Berlin got rebuilt after world war 2. In 2009, Beirut and Lebanon received more than 1 600 000 tourists, 5 stars hotels such as 4 seasons, Le Gray, Rotana, and many others are under construction.

The Beirut International Airport is seeing an increasing activity, it has never seen before.

And as a proof to this activity, Beirut was host to the 6th Francophone games last September, bringing thousands of Francophone persons from all over the world.
Not to mention the international venus, like David Guetta, Paris Hilton, the Pusscat dools, DJ Tiesto, Snoop Dog, Sean Paul, Mika, Kat De Luna, Armin Van Burren, Deep Purple, Helene Segara, and much more.

So next time before writing an article making such ignorant comparison that is very degrading to Beirut, Lebanon and the whole Middle East, please make some searches and verify your sources.

I invite all of you to see what Beirut really looks like today:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=359334&pp=20&page=30

And here is a forum about Projects, cities, and events going on in Lebanon:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=694

And finally, this is how Beirut celebrates Christmas:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=526908&page=34

Maybe Motz should come and visit Beirut, he might pickup a few tips on how to fix up West Baltimore.

Born and bred in Baltimore (Poplar Grove/Presstman) I was a child of the 60's I saw it all change. I often think how my generation was the agent of the change our submission to the drugs of choice I saw family homes go for taxes that led to the empty houses and revoling renters in neighbor hoods where our parents saved and brought and invested. Just like many I grew up with I left in 79 to go to the Army, in 2009 I realize that most of the people I know who are still around are because like me they escaped the city. How sad. Although I must close on the comment about the projects. Your visualization of the jets suggests you have never been there.

It is a mistake to blame the police or any other agency, be it the schools, the buildings or the teachers. We are looking for someone to blame for a deterioration in family child rearing among those that populate Baltimore City. Blame the adults who are not accepting responsibility, but instead projecting blame onto someone else. As long as you do not define the problem correctly, you will not develop strategies for a solutions! It is the culture in the city and avoiding placing responsibility on those who have, but do not set limits on their children.

I'm from Hartford, CT and I agree that tearing down the projects was a bad Idea. The Ghetto folks in those areas have moved to the neighborhoods and ever since then crime has gone up in working-class neighborhoods. The mayor at the time thought it was a good idea to bring them down and give the residence Section 8 Housing in the neighborhoods. I always wanted to compare another area where the projects came down and crime went up, and Baltimore happens to be one such place. It's a shame....

I never thought of comparing West Baltimore, or any American city for that manner, to Beirut. I don' t know a ton about Beirut, but I have heard that it's gorgeous, full of new and old architecture, and you can find great art and music there. (Maybe that's why that band named Beirut chose that to be their name?). Yeah, check your history before you're comparing things like this. Beirut has been a well-established and re-built city for over a decade already.