The Supposed Affluence of PG County (Bowie, Clinton: low income, apartments, condos)

[volare6]

pg county is a great place to live if you are african-american. All the people who graduate from howard university live here and they all have $$450,000 homes. However, there are some bad neighborhoods, but I would just stay away from the border of d.c. and you should do fine.

[jallen]

PG County has it good and bad like any other major metropolitan area.

As mentioned previously the parts of the county that have high crime borders the district of Columbia (Inside the beltway). I 'am a New York transplant been here since 1982. It is however nice to be able to go to a large segment of the county outside the beltway and see upscale housing with AA being the predominant residents. I would have never envisioned a Panera Bread in a predominantly AA community 5 years ago. To walk in there and see AA professionals patronizing the store as the predominant customer sitting with their laptops is a sight to behold. Upscale housing is being bullt around Metro stations. Condo conversions also are taking place albeit not at the rate of DC. Major mixed-use shopping centers called towncenters to include Woodmore TownCenter, Unviersity TownCenter, New Carrolton Town Center will be developed with upscale townhomes/condominums as part of the center. I would never have envisioned Wegmans coming to this county however they will anchor Woodmore town center in an all AA community. Upscale retail is finally trickling in the county. PG county today will not be the same PG county 10 years from now-It will be expensive to live here just as in D/C and surrounding areas

Crime and the School system are the the achilles heal of the county. Crime has dropped some this year after a high in 2005. PG is at approx 15 per capita in murders which is high. The bulk of that being inside the beltway (bordering D/C) and the sad fact is that the bulk is AA killing AA. Gentrification in D/C is pushing some of the lower income people in these areas i:e crime has gone up. Hopefully the decline this year is a sign of things to come.

The school system has suffered for years from poor leadership. The previous superintendant has been indicted on various charges involving conflict of interest/bribery. The newly hired superintendant comes from the west coast with high aspirations and hopefully the school systemt will show some improvement. The problem is not the funding of the school system it is the culture within the school system. Hopefully the test scores will begin to show improvement as competent leadership takes hold of the system.

[Alanboy395]

personally i think you are better off staying in atlanta than moving to the dc metro area. if you must move here i would suggest prince william county in va. its mostly white but more and more AA's and africans are moving there and reasonable housing can be had there. if you just want to move north up the east coast. i would suggest either Richmond (great job market) and Hampton Roads (sorta like DC with less crime and cheaper) in Virginia.

[Vicman]

http://www.americancity.org/article.php?id_article=135 = This is an American City article about the problems facing Prince George's County

[redhotnineball]

I live in PG and I'm a white female. Here is the thing, I live in Beltsville, a small,mostly white and hispanic area. Near me is College Park, and Laurel and other PG cities. The only ones that are bad are Hyattsville and Langley Park. Not ALL of PG is bad at all.
As for the school system, yes, they are mostly all bad,even in Beltsville.

[adh0789]

Originally Posted by redhotnineball

I live in PG and I'm a white female. Here is the thing, I live in Beltsville, a small,mostly white and hispanic area. Near me is College Park, and Laurel and other PG cities. The only ones that are bad are Hyattsville and Langley Park. Not ALL of PG is bad at all.
As for the school system, yes, they are mostly all bad,even in Beltsville.

\
You are missing alot of places on that list. Suitland, Captiol Heights etc...

[Vicman]

I wish that College Park got its own middle and high school. It would be good if the city had its own secondary schools.

[Leonsadc]

In regards to lower crime rates, better schools and convenience to pretty much anything you can think of. Not carrying my own chair but I live in a very very nice neighborhood (HOA). It somewhat borders Charles and PG county. Anyway, so far statistically, this area specifically Clinton is a reasonable place to live at compared to cities in PG. Green Line Metro is about 4 miles away (great access to anywhere) etc.... The best thing to do is drive out here and check it out. Folks here in Clinton are very sensitive, in their own good ways. I can still consider Clinton as one of the few which are called "hometowns" in America.

Goo Luck and God Bless!

p.s. By the way, I am asian. That information might or might not be important but I said that just for me to say that I see Clinton in a broader perspective.
For me in my honest opinion, race has never been an issue here in Clinton.

[TnTrouble]

I also replied to Chicagoland92. I was not brought up to be prejudice. I never felt prejudice from people till I moved to Tn and would go back to Clinton to visit family, PG County has changed my feelings, it is feels like downtown Baltimore or D.C. boi1der says it Very Well! If you really want to stay out of "a mostly black" area, do some research and find a few some-what trust-worthy real estate companies, not just one if you can. Both of our family's homes are now occupied by black families and they have willingfully trashed the homes and the yards, it looks like junk yards from the satelite photos now. It is truly sad to see something your family built by hand to be trashed! No Respect! Not just cause they are black, because they can!
Good luck, if you really want some true space and some peace and quiet, try Tn, lol.

[mayjormom]

Wow, as a teacher I am very impressed by your candor and accuracy. You pretty much summed it up about PGC. I am happy to hear that you did learn something in PGCPS. I personally think this "Black Affluent Suburb" notion is just that: a notion. I grew up in DC and upon graduating from college moved to PGC. I am very disappointed and every day it seems to mirror DC. It is not a desirable place to raise children nor is it desirable for single people. I live 3 blocks from DC and I am appalled by the things that go on in my apartment complex. It just seems like quality people don't exist anymore. I don't profess to be the greatest person in the world, but really where are these people coming from? My neighbors consist of domestic abusers, drug users and sellers, and future evicted tenants. It seems every month someone gets evicted making me feel like I live in the projects or something. I do not recommend the DC metro area to anyone right now. I am definitely moving. The cost of living is ridiculous compared to what you get. I'm just curious to the writer of this thread: why do you want to move from Hotlanta?