I completely agree with you that Baltimore is better than NY and NJ. Baltimore and Cleveland are wonderful options because of what they have to offer. I encourage everyone to leave the greater NYC area and move to a more livable place.
I assumed that by the next Lakewood, this thread was talking about a very small community that has little to none Jewish life and then transforming it into a place of Jewishness. That would disqualify Baltimore and Cleveland as places to be the next “Lakewood”.
Baltimore and Cleveland have great Jewish histories and saying that either one of them can be the new “Lakewood” is flat out insulting the history of those respective cities. Its disrespectful to Ner Israel and Telz Cleveland to suggest that they don’t currently have any great Torah centers. Personally I think its better for those communities to have natural growth instead of having transplants from New York ignore how the city has operated and decided that they had to do things their way.
I have a a lot of family that currently live in Baltimore and have been in Baltimore since the 1950s. I also have friends who are from Cleveland as well. I don’t have anything against the city, but regional rivalries encourage me to rip on those two cities. I hope the Ravens never have a winning season again.