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NEWS: Baltimore Group Pegs Otakon's Impact at US$21 Million

Deltakiral wrote:

Spotlesseden wrote: looks like anime fans have alot of money. Well when you save up all year just to drop a lot of dough on one event that's what happens. Although I am not sure if anime fans are rich, I think that most of fans aren't "rich" there probably like every other joe schomo out there.

Yep, that's pretty much what I do. The other two cons I go to (AnimeUSA and Katsucon), I don't spend nearly as much money as I do at Otakon.

There actually was no attendance cap this year.

In terms of the money being spent in B-more, you gotta also factor that everything there is over priced. The problem is so many con goers are from out of town that they don't know where else to go.

One other thing to do is get mugged and shot which happens quite often too.

psycho 101 wrote:

In terms of the money being spent in B-more, you gotta also factor that everything there is over priced. The problem is so many con goers are from out of town that they don't know where else to go.

Compared to other major cities, I think that Baltimore is pretty cheap. Try getting a full (non-Burger King/McDonalds) meal in DC or New York for less than $6. Good luck. The only thing I think is overpriced is the Aquarium.

Quote:

One other thing to do is get mugged and shot which happens quite often too.

Yep, very often near the BCC. I have some camera footage of these incidents myself.

Yes, the area surrounding the BCC is not a nice area despite the tourist attractions. There are worse by far but it's still not even near being a decent part of town let alone a good part. I always urge friend to never walk alone but in big groups. Even many of the homeless people will get in your face there.

Also im glad they did a positive news story. I always knew that Conventions did pump money into whatever city it's held. Baltimore wouldn't want to lose any of it to Washington.

Compared to other major cities, I think that Baltimore is pretty cheap. Try getting a full (non-Burger King/McDonalds) meal in DC or New York for less than $6. Good luck. The only thing I think is overpriced is the Aquarium.

Most of the restaurants around the inner harbor are kind of over-priced, but if you know where to look, there are some restaurants with really good food at a really good price.

psycho 101 wrote:

Yes, the area surrounding the BCC is not a nice area despite the tourist attractions. There are worse by far but it's still not even near being a decent part of town let alone a good part. I always urge friend to never walk alone but in big groups. Even many of the homeless people will get in your face there.

Yes, the area surrounding isn't very good (and when I say area, I don't even mean the immediate area...I'd say about a 5 mile radius out). But luckily enough for con-goers, they have no reason to venture into those areas. Those areas are largely residential, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to go there, anyway. And before anyone says anything about con-goers "getting lost," there's a clear division between the business/tourist district of Baltimore City and everywhere else. As for never walking alone, that's a common sense action that should be practiced basically everywhere.

As for the homeless, in my experience, most homeless people do not accost people. Homeless =/= dangerous. And if it they do, it's not a situation that's exclusive to Baltimore. It happens in DC, Philly, New York, Boston, etc. It's certainly not enough to consider an area "dangerous." If you're that afraid of homeless people, then perhaps you should avoid big city conventions.

kuni_kuni wrote:

psycho 101 wrote: Yes, the area surrounding the BCC is not a nice area despite the tourist attractions. There are worse by far but it's still not even near being a decent part of town let alone a good part. I always urge friend to never walk alone but in big groups. Even many of the homeless people will get in your face there. Yes, the area surrounding isn't very good (and when I say area, I don't even mean the immediate area...I'd say about a 5 mile radius out). But luckily enough for con-goers, they have no reason to venture into those areas. Those areas are largely residential, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to go there, anyway. And before anyone says anything about con-goers "getting lost," there's a clear division between the business/tourist district of Baltimore City and everywhere else. As for never walking alone, that's a common sense action that should be practiced basically everywhere. As for the homeless, in my experience, most homeless people do not accost people. Homeless =/= dangerous. And if it they do, it's not a situation that's exclusive to Baltimore. It happens in DC, Philly, New York, Boston, etc. It's certainly not enough to consider an area "dangerous." If you're that afraid of homeless people, then perhaps you should avoid big city conventions.

Yea there is a clear division but with traffic patterns and road work so screwy you c`an easily find yourself winding up in an even worse area real quick. Of course that's in a vehicle, if you're walking most of the hotels are with in a 2-5 block radius of the BCC so that shouldn't be much of a problem.

As for the homeless, you'd be surprised how often people do get accosted by them. Obviously this is something any big city has and not just Baltimore. Some people also simply aren't sure how to act around homeless people so a situation like that would make them uneasy.

Heck If i worked at a locl restuarant i'd put my leave in as soon as the dates were announced. I would hate to deal with that many people.