Recent comments in /f/baltimore

socatsucks t1_j70ggwp wrote

Reply to comment by Nicktendo in Does anyone wonder where their tax dollars are going? by Nicktendo

Yes. You have correctly identified the sole purpose of graffiti: to make people look at your dumb tag every day. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean it isn’t art. Certainly seems to have gotten an emotional response here, and isn’t that the entire point of art? To evoke emotion and feelings inside a person? I certainly think so.

Regardless of your feelings about the merits of tagging, I also think there are much larger problems we can throw that money at rather than wasting it on removing paint from a bridge or whatever. Paint that is going to be reapplied at the writer’s earliest opportunity. I say just enjoy some local art.

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Wilmore99 t1_j70dzln wrote

Reply to How real are the red light and speed trap cameras all over town? by DvrthKen

Ok so here’s my experience:

In regard to speed cameras I notice if you don’t go over 5MPH you’re good, might be able to do 10 over but I haven’t risked that to check. As for the ones on 83, don’t go over 60MPH and you’re ok.

Red light cameras seem to be tweaked depending on the popularity of the intersection. Falls Road/Cold Spring and the Presidents Street/Fayette intersections don’t fuck around. Others seem to have a slight delay if you’re trying to get through a yellow.

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Animanialmanac t1_j70d68l wrote

Reply to Does anyone wonder where their tax dollars are going? by Nicktendo

From what I’ve seen the difference in service level is getting greater, less hidden. I live in the Saint Agnes neighborhood, a tiny neighborhood across Wilkens from Violetville. We’re technically part of the Violetville neighborhood group. My area is lucky if we get recycling pick up every other month, not every other week. The street sweeper can’t fit down our streets anymore because the tractor trailers, illegally parked but never ticketed, take up too much room. Several trees fell last spring and are still on the curb except for the large branches neighbors were able to move out of the way. The level of services here dropped dramatically in the last few years.

On the other hand I went to a neighborhood meeting last month where people complained the councilwoman’s friends who co-founded a rival community group with her, receive special DPW cleaning services above and beyond normal. I was doubtful until the man showed a video compilation of DPW crews sweeping that woman’s back patio and cleaning up leaves in the alley every week, all while other parts of the neighborhood don’t get baseline services.

I don’t know if the overall level of services dropped in the city, or if people are more blatant about misusing city services because it goes unchecked. Whichever it is, it’s much worse now than it ever was before.

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BmoreInterested t1_j70cino wrote

Reply to comment by _The_Bear in Does anyone wonder where their tax dollars are going? by Nicktendo

Pretty sure that's false. At $560M we certainly spend more than we should for 600K people, but there are other cities that spend more per person. Uvalde comes to mind because of the closer look articles gave to their budget. For 15,312 people they spend $25.3M on police. So they spend $1652 per person vs $933 per person here in Bmore.

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