The implosion of America’s inner cities is creating the real “shitholes,” and should be on everyone’s radar – not Haiti. In Baltimore, Maryland, decades of deindustrialization and 50-years of democratically controlled leadership has turned the city into a failed liberal experiment, with a homicide rate on par with Venezuela, a country that is suffering from an economic collapse.
In 2017, Baltimore’s population crashed to a 100-year low, as Baltimorans have finally discovered that the gentrification narrative by Kevin Plank, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Maryland Medical Center could be a distant pipedream. The fact is, the millennial generation is quickly leaving as violent crime has turned Baltimore into America’s most dangerous city.
Breaking down the racial wealth divide in Baltimore, the figures are truly shocking. When it comes to education, health, and wealth inequalities, Baltimore has the most extensive gaps in the United States. African Americans make up a majority of the total population coming in at 63 percent of 614,000.
But according to JPM, one-third of African American households have a net worth of zero. To make matters worse, the unemployment rate for African Americans is three times the rate of white workers, despite the garbage propaganda from the Trump administration declaring record low unemployment figures for African Americans.
Why do we need to know the structural backdrop of Baltimore? Well, because, it would better help us understand why the vacancy rate of one Baltimore neighborhood is the highest in the United States.
According to 24/7 Wall St., the report analyzed the 30 highest vacancy rates in U.S. Zipcodes from the housing market data company called Attom Data Solutions. Those 30 communities are situated in 20 inner cities across the United States.
24/7 Wall St finds similarities between all high vacancy rate locations:
Many have not participated in the nation’s economic recovery — areas that continue to experience the economic malaise of the Great Recession. They are characterized by shrinking populations, jobs loss, low home values, and underwater mortgages.
The report names Zipcode 21223, a West Baltimore community as the highest vacancy rate in the United States coming in at 17.3%. Interesting enough, this is the same area where the American drama series ‘The Wire’ was filmed.
Like most neighborhoods with high vacancy rates, the area has suffered from population loss and declining property values over the last several years. The population of ZIP 21223 fell from 25,270 in 2012 to 25,127 in 2016, a 0.6% decline. Over the same period, the median home value in the zip code fell from $86,500 to $69,500, one of the largest drops in real estate value of any neighborhood.
A bulk of the vacant buildings resides in Zipcode 21223. However, the U.S. Census Bureau says there are as much as 46,800 vacant structures throughout the city. Simply, the city is shrinking…
JPM details the phenomenon behind vacant structures and homicides:
There is no shortage of theories to explain it—a dearth of jobs and opportunities, poor schools, underinvestment in public services. The plight of the city’s most vulnerable residents mirrors that of cities across the country.
As residents began leaving Baltimore in the 1950s, public investment followed them to the suburbs. While the city’s population has dropped, the surrounding counties have grown by leaps and bounds. And along with the people came investments in roads, schools, and businesses, leaving far fewer resources for the core city.
In November, we documented how one neighborhood in Zipcode 21223 was under lockdown, as one citizen said, “Police Declared Martial Law.”
And apparently police been standing on corners like this the last two days pic.twitter.com/y9Qrd2TSRe
— Pulla (@KINGDACEO) November 17, 2017
15 @BaltimorePolice vehicles on Schroeder alone and dozens more on surrounding blocks. All the officers are just sitting in their cars. pic.twitter.com/M9zCCltdzK
— Baltimore BLOC (@BmoreBloc) November 19, 2017
To sum up, the situation in Baltimore is only going to get worse as the city continues to shrink. As JPM demonstrates high vacancy rates leads to more violent crime. The situation is critical in Baltimore, can the city avoid a collapse before 2020?
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