here you go...........
> Charmless?
>
> A new book shreds the image of Baltimore,
lumping
> it with the worst cities in America
>
> by John Woestendiek, Baltimore Sun reporter
> November 27, 2006
>
>
> Baltimore? Dave Gilmartin clearly has yet
to "Get
> in on it."
>
> Contrary to the city's new tourist slogan,
> contrary to its being named last year as one of
> the top 10 summer travel destinations in the
> world, and maybe just plain contrary, Gilmartin
> has proclaimed Baltimore one of "The Absolutely
> Worst Places to Live in America."
>
> His new book by that name trashes 50 cities he
> says range "from the truly miserable to the
just
> plain awful," all of which were nominated and
> voted on over the Internet.
>
> Far from scientific, the author admits, the
book
> is intended as satire - a send-up of all the
best-
> places-to-live lists, magazine articles and
> almanacs. Still, it doesn't pull any punches,
> borders at times on scathing and, even before
its
> release late last month, had caused hurt
feelings
> from Georgia to South Dakota.
>
> The book offers the following in its profile
> of "Charm City," underneath a photo of
> a "Greatest City in America" bench in a trash-
> strewn lot:
>
> Actually Charming: No
>
> Ideal for: Black Market Gun Dealers ... Drug
> Runners, TV Cops.
>
> Cultural Highlights: Auto Theft, STD Clinics,
> Getting Mugged on the Steps of Your Own Home,
> Overpriced Crabs ...
>
> It doesn't get any better after that for what
> once called itself "The City That Reads" (but
> might change its mind after this book).
>
> Just who is Dave Gilmartin, and why is he
saying
> these terrible things?
>
> His publicist at St. Martin's Press calls
him "an
> expert on sprawl, crime, boredom, and ugliness"
> who "traveled the country in search of the very
> worst towns and cities in America."
>
> In reality, "Dave Gilmartin" is a pseudonym
being
> used by a 30-year-old New York advertising
> copywriter - raised in South Jersey, schooled
at
> a Boston-area (but not Harvard) university -
who
> admits to never setting foot in many of the
> cities and towns included in the book.
>
> He said he doesn't have to go to Detroit to
know
> that it stinks. "I think enough evidence
exists,"
> he said in an interview.
>
> Both Gilmartin and his publicist declined to
> reveal his real name, which he says he wants to
> keep secret for his own safety.
>
> Even before its release last month, the book
had
> stirred up reaction on Internet forums in
> Georgia, home of three towns named in the book.
> The mayor of Mitchell, S.D., offended with
> Gilmartin's portrayal of his town as "corn-
> obsessed," has challenged him to a radio
debate.
> Gilmartin says he plans to accept, though he
> admits the fact that he's never been to
Mitchell
> could put him at a disadvantage.
>
> Gilmartin said the idea for the book arose in a
> discussion with his editor. "The 'Best Places'
> lists came up, and it just sort of came
together
> as something that would be good to satirize."
>
> Gilmartin posted messages on all the public
> Internet forums he could find, including every
> Craigslist in the country, posing the
> question, "What's the worst town in your
state?"
> After tallying the results, he sought
additional
> comments, via e-mails, from those who had
> responded and, using their comments and his
own,
> compiled the book.
>
> The 50 cities are not ranked, and their
selection
> was based on both the voting, his research
> (primarily the 2000 Census and crime data from
> Sperling's Best Places) and his own "expertise"
> when it comes to bad places.
>
> "I grew up in New Jersey, which is what really
> developed my eye for this. If you were raised
by
> wolves, you would know a thing or two about
pack
> animals. I know a crappy town when I see one,"
he
> said.
>
> Gilmartin said Barstow, Calif., got the most
> votes for worst place. Baltimore, he said,
wasn't
> too far behind - "probably in the top five," he
> said.
>
> "Detroit may get most of the press, but it's
> Baltimore that boasts the nation's highest big-
> city murder rate," Gilmartin wrote in the
> book. "Meanwhile, murder convictions have
> plummeted to an all-time low, due mainly to the
> fact that witness intimidation (i.e., more
> murder) is something of a cottage industry."
>
> The book includes brief comments from the
> Internet contributors, all of which are
genuine,
> Gilmartin says, though not all have real names
> attached to them.
>
> In the case of Baltimore, at least two of them
> are real.
>
> "Baltimore: the city where people get mugged in
> church," wrote Michael Tully, a self-described
> writer/director/musician/house painter who
lives
> in Mount Airy and says he has been a friend of
> Gilmartin's for several years. Tully also
offered
> his two-cents worth on Dundalk in the
> book: "White Trash Ghetto at its most
terrifying.
> Shirtless four-year-old children stomp down the
> sidewalks with the authority of a hardened
> criminal."
>
> Tully said in an e-mail that he doesn't expect
> anyone to get angry about his comments: "I
would
> be truly disappointed in any human being who
> would take offense to some random moron's
> comments in a book that is clearly just trying
to
> be funny."
>
> Comments from Micheline Birger, a Baltimore (by
> way of San Francisco, which is not in the book)
> freelance writer and humorist, were also
> included. She wrote that the No. 1 sport
> is "dodging bullets," and that the Inner Harbor
> is "like Disneyland in the middle of
Afghanistan."
>
> Gilmartin says his book is aimed more at
> eliciting chuckles than anything else. But he,
> too, sees Baltimore as a city with skewed
> priorities - intent on showing off its Inner
> Harbor to tourists while neglecting the social
> ills that fester in its neighborhoods.
>
> Gilmartin said he has visited Baltimore several
> times, as recently as last month. Much of his
> knowledge of the city, he said, comes from
> friends who live in the area, and from being an
> avid watcher of HBO's The Wire, the Baltimore-
> based crime drama.
>
> The pseudonym "Dave Gilmartin," he said, is a
> name a friend of his used on a fake ID card in
> high school.
>
> "He is such a coward he can't put his real name
> to this?" asked Tracy Gosson, executive
director
> of Live Baltimore, a nonprofit organization
> founded in 1997 to promote the benefits of city
> living.
>
> "I've got one word for this guy: Loser," she
> said, flipping through the pocket-sized
hardback
> book in her office. "I think it's sad people
have
> to sink this low to make a dollar and get
> something published." Gosson called the book
> superficial, one-sided and said it reinforced
> negative and outdated stereotypes.
>
> "He's just a nobody who got a book deal," said
> Gosson, who once lived in Syracuse, N.Y., (also
> listed in the book). "I'm sorry, but he lives
> where? Pleasantville?"
>
> For Baltimore - like Philadelphia, Gary, Ind.,
> Camden, N.J, and many other cities in the book -
> getting dissed is nothing new. Even the city's
> new tourism slogan, "Baltimore: Get in on it,"
> implies the city's appeals aren't widely known.
>
> Still, Gosson noted, Gilmartin's findings run
> counter to the last two years of good press the
> city has received. Its ranking on more positive
> lists recently include No. 7 arts destination,
> according to AmericanStyle magazine; No 5 city
> for singles, according to Forbes magazine, and
> one of the top 10 and coming summer
destinations,
> according to From- mer's, a travel guide.
>
> Gosson said she doesn't expect Baltimoreans to
> get much of a laugh out of the book, or to
spend
> too much time worrying about it.
>
> "People in Baltimore don't take themselves so
> seriously. That's what makes this a great
place.
