I was born and raised in this part of Baltimore City. From the time I was born, the area I lived in was heavy on crime and it seemed to get worse and worse as the years past until it got to the point where the combination of slumlords, drugs, and crime combined to make the neighborhood nearly uninhabitable.

A lot of people started moving long before that but I didn’t make my initial move until 2004. When I did, it was as though someone had breathed life into my body for the first time after spending so many years in such a repressive environment.

It wasn’t until very recently that I’d had a chance to see the old neighborhood again for the first time since 2004 and I have to say that the people who stayed behind are really doing a great job in improving the place. While there are still drug dealers, crime, etc. the neighborhood seems a bit more supportive of non-criminal life again and there seem to be new community centers opening for various uses from skills training to employment opportunities.

I didn’t go onto the actual street I was raised on but the slumlord that allowed the place I lived in for nearly all of my life to go so far downhill is no longer in control and, based on the recent news, those places under the same management look to be torn down.

It’s like the old saying… ‘You can’t go home again…’