The Endicott Enquirer News from the Southern Tier

Cleaning Up Hagerstown

"I grew up in this, what was onceunty,social a small, family-oriented town, when we had noise ordinances, and we had laws that would make the young people stay off the street and the corners after 11 at night. What happened? We travel quite extensively, to many towns, many states and other countries, but in the U.S. and the other towns that we ... when we have to hear that violent, boisterous rap and hip-hop that shakes our cars, that shakes our houses and makes our blood pressure go up, there's something wrong. Clean up Hagerstown. Enforce it with city codes." - Hagerstown

This text above was recently in the Mail Call section of the Herald Mail and I think this caller is going to get what they are asking for if they can stick it out another 10 or so years in Hagerstown. The city is being cleaned up in the downtown areas slowly but surely. As developer renovate and rebuild many of the older buildings and turn them into modern office space more money will flow into the heart of downtown and spread outwards from there. Once this begins to happen, the city will get cleaner and friendlier as time goes on.

What is going to prove interesting though is what will happen with many of the poor inhabitants of downtown Hagerstown that will be forced out due to higher rent and a clash of cultures. When downtown becomes a trendier place to live, the people with more money will certainly be able to push many of the lower income families out of the city. I think this is both good and bad, it does get rid of some of the less desirable elements that are downtown but it also forces the good hardworking people of the town out of their homes. In many ways this is what has happened in some of the cities back in New Hampshire where I am originally from. There we had old mill towns where the industry died and what was left were a lot of blue collar workers without jobs. This led to a lot of very bad areas of these cities until several years ago when developers decided they could start turning the old mill buildings into high-value loft apartments or office space. This effectively created a divide between halves of these cities and it continues to grow today. This will likely happen to Hagerstown as well, it is just a question of when and to what extent.

Personally, I like Hagerstown and the mix of people it offers. While I would love to see high-tech, higher paying jobs come into the area so I could work here, I moved away from the city to specifically avoid some of the culture that brings with it. I have never been places as unfriendly as the suburbs of Washington DC in Montgomery County. People really don't care about anyone but themselves and they will do anything to get ahead in whatever they are doing at the moment (driving their car, getting in the elevator, going through a door, etc.) even if it means steamrolling over someone else at the same time. Hagerstown really isn't like this, people care more about each other and what they are doing. No one is too busy to hold a door, say hello, or wish you a good day in almost all situations.

So I am torn, Hagerstown is coming to a crossroads and it is going to be interesting to see what types of extremes will be found as events progress. I sincerely hope that the city does not lose the down-to-earth atmosphere that I moved out here for. I don't want to be around the people I moved away from again but I also want to see Hagerstown develop economically and to some degree socially.