The broken window routine, but it doesn't start there.

This is a regular sight on my way into work. I work in one of the government complexes around Baltimore, unfortunately. So this was another hit on a state employee, because the vehicles are sitting ducks. The sad part is, there isn't any choice. The state allows the employees to be fodder for thugs. Now if we worked in Annapolis, we would have a nice, safe garage to park in, instead of a high crime area. A poor soul had to partk next to the spot, despite your instincts telling you otherwise, because there is no parking. Unless you have $150 to throw down for a parking lot, which most state employees don't.

My own car has been hit 4 times in the two years that I have worked here. That is over $1200 in windows. Three times were in the last 9 months. When an investigator from the city called me about it and I explained all the hits, his response was to ask me if someone didn't like me.... Yea, that is it. I am a middle aged woman who have enemies with a grudge. Seriously? Do we work in the same city? The fact that they even have to ask is a little mind boggeling, he is in law enforcement.

Now what is it that they steal? Well the first time was the gps. Since I am not criminally minded, I didn't know that leaving the suction circles on the window is a clue to criminals. I would assume that if the actual gps isn't in view, you wouldn't have one. But they look anyways. So there you go, if you live in a high crime area, don't leave the suction circles on your window. The last three times? For my handicap pass. Apparently there is a black market for handicap placards because you get four free hours of parking in the city. There you have it folks. Criminals go running around breaking into vehicles and smashing out $350 windows for four hours of free parking.The placards go on the blackmarket for $50. This is why Baltimore sucks, big time. My saga doesn't stop there.

 Not only did the state not feel the need to warn about 10k employees that the handicapped are being targeted for crime, the city and the municiple law enforcement tackle it by...having stings and setting up dummy cars. Seriously? How about we take the sting money, and put out cameras. Or better yet, provide parking, or place gaurds around. Because these breakins like the one I have pictured, are right outside the state complex, in the middle of the day. These aren't vehicles being left overnight. Where someone in a ski cap is stealing placards, this is all in sight of employees, police, in the middle of the day. I can only imagine the criminal element in this city that steals from the handicap, in the face of two differen law enforcement agencies, in the middle of the friggin day. Why? Because they can.

Twice now, when I have had a window broken out, the great city of Baltimore ticketed my car for not displaying the placard. God help me if I am lying. Then, after having 3 stolen from me, I had to request new ones from the MVA, who said I had enough. I then had to write a letter to MVA explain how many times my car has been hit to get new ones.

Now, for those who actually may be concerned about civil rights, why are the handicap parking on the street with everyone else? Because the state doesn't give handicap parking to its employees. I am not even sure it is legal. There used to be a handicap lot, but the state rents it out to a private company as a fee lot who charges extraordinary prices. If you want handicap parking, we have to go through another parking regulating agency (that has a half empty parking lot to themselves that we get to look at everyday) and get their permission, send over 6 different documents and my son's fingerprints to prove that I am handicapped.
 AND THEN, they hand them out based on need. So a state agency, that has nothing to do with health, decides which handicapped people will be given a blessing for parking, and they will decide how handicapped you are to do it. While collecting rent on 50 spaces next to the building.

I can tell you where the placards are going, the Catonsville WalMart. For one, it is one of the closest. For two, they have like 30 handicapped spaces and they are all filled constantly. I highly doubt there are that many handicapped people in Catonsville. It seems to be an extraordinary amount. I think I agree with the investigator, someone must hate me out there... it is the government.

Why I started this blog.

People blog about a lot of things, whether it is documenting their bike trip through Chernobyl or their pregnancy. Not as many people blog about why their city sucks. But Baltimore is the cesspool of cesspools of cities. Detroit is a close runner up. While crime may be higher in Detroit, I put it second. It does have some redeeming attributes to speak for it such as an automobile industry. Baltimore doesn't have even that. They had to name their football team after a poem about a bird, because this city has nothing else to brag about. The funny part is, that Poe probably would of been a Giants fan. He spent more time in NY than in Baltimore. So the one redeeming attribute is Poe. Every year a visitor would come visit Poe's grave on his birthday. Instead of letting the tradition continue, they put up a video camera to see who it is. The visitor no longer comes. So the one interesting thing that happens in this city, they couldn't leave it alone, and screwed it up. I hate this city, and many around me hate it to. The politics are notoriously corrupt, the crime is high, the city is poor and run down. In the last two years I have worked here, I have had my car broken into four times. I have received parking tickets from the predatory parking maids who have placed tickets on my car with the smashed out window because my parking pass was stolen. The city is on the brink of bankruptcy, but they can't raise taxes because they are legally maxed out. So how can you max out the tax system and remain mind boggingly poor? Hence the predatory ticketing practises. Not that I expect hordes of people to read this blog, but I am using it as a tool to bring to attention the most failed city in America. To document the blight on the face of America. And maybe someone, somewhere, might take notice and actually care. I have considered wrighting this blog for sometime. But a new coworker went out this morning to find his back window smashed out. So I figured this was a good time to start documenting the phenomenon known as Baltimore.