Maryland vs Virginia (Baltimore, Towson, Pikesville: credit, sales tax, restaurants)

[DMV]

SOME DIFFERENCES:

1.) Politically Speaking Maryland's more Liberal and Virginia's more Conservative.

2.) Geographically in certain areas MD and VA kind of look the same, but Maryland generally has more urban Cities and Towns as a whole than VA does.

3.) Traffic on both sides are horrible Mon-Fri, but the edge goes to VA because of Highway 66 and 395 South when leaving Downtown DC during the week .

4.) As far as family Oriented goes they're both good in those departments.

5.) Crime wise, MD always had a little more activity going on in that dept. than VA has

6.) They both have Cultural differences but its hard to pen point for some reason. All I know is when ever I cross that Bridge on to the VA side I get a different feel than when Im on the Maryland side. It's a strange feeling because they're so close, but yet so far away.

[So Special]

Originally Posted by vanyali

Can you buy beer at gas stations? I don't buy a lot of beer, but I have a hard time picturing a 7-11 or a gas station snack shop without the beer fridge.

You can buy beer in the gas stations in Georgia.

[newhart]

When I was in NC they even sold liquor in 7 Elevens too

My local 7 Eleven in HoCo, Md sells beer and wine but the one half a mile down the road does not.

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by So Special

You can buy beer in the gas stations in Georgia.

But Georgia don't have 7-11............

[raven302]

EVERY gas station and grocery store in Utah carries beer. It was rather confusing walking into a WaWa when I first moved out here and did 3 circles around the store looking for it...

[westsideboy]

Hmmm...nothing quite like that 3.3% ABV Mormon beer. You are more likely to drown in it than get drunk.

[raven302]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Hmmm...nothing quite like that 3.3% ABV Mormon beer. You are more likely to drown in it than get drunk.

Very true, it's a downside. However you can still smoke in most bars out there; the ones that dont allow it do not get much traffic.

[NigerianPrince]

Maryland not even close......

[Tom Lennox 70]

Maryland is actually not that liberal outside of Montgomery County, PG, and Baltimore City. Howard County is split and moderate overall. I would say most of Baltimore County (excluding Towson and Pikesville), Harford, Carroll, Cecil are conservative along with the entire Eastern Shore and Western Maryland. 75% of Eastern Shore residents are against gay marriage. Even in Baltimore County many people are very conservative when it comes to taxes and illegal immigration, and moderately conservative when it comes to social issues.

Virginia is better in that the liberal elites of NOVA do not control the state, and the power lies in Virginia's rural, Southern areas. THis is why Virginia has much more sensible tax levels, gun laws, why its less welcoming to illegal immigrants, why it has lower tolls, etc. NOVA has high taxes but these are regional taxes so that people in Danville and Lynchburg don't have to pay for NOVA's transit needs, whereas in Maryland, Eastern Shore and Western Maryland residents are expected to subsidize the ICC, the DC Metro, and the Baltimore Light Rail through gasoline and sales taxes and tolls. They are raising tolls in Perryville and the Bay Bridge to pay for the ICC. While in Virginia, tolls in Hampton Roads are MUCH cheaper and some across the James River have been removed. Also in Virginia restaurants still are allowed to have smoking sections but not in nanny state Maryland. And even NOVA don't have nanny statism to the level of MoCo where plastic bags are taxed, even a little 4 foot hotel pool is required to have a lifeguard (the cost is passed on to the guest, or to apartment renters...) and restaurants can't use trans fats (I've heard people speculate this is why there is no Sonic, Waffle House, Bojangles or Cracker Barrell there). Also Montgomery's public buildings are not even allowed to have Christmas trees because it might offend the Muslims and Jews and athiests.

[Jobworkinger]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Maryland is actually not that liberal outside of Montgomery County, PG, and Baltimore City. Howard County is split and moderate overall. I would say most of Baltimore County (excluding Towson and Pikesville), Harford, Carroll, Cecil are conservative along with the entire Eastern Shore and Western Maryland. 75% of Eastern Shore residents are against gay marriage. Even in Baltimore County many people are very conservative when it comes to taxes and illegal immigration, and moderately conservative when it comes to social issues.

Virginia is better in that the liberal elites of NOVA do not control the state, and the power lies in Virginia's rural, Southern areas. THis is why Virginia has much more sensible tax levels, gun laws, why its less welcoming to illegal immigrants, why it has lower tolls, etc. NOVA has high taxes but these are regional taxes so that people in Danville and Lynchburg don't have to pay for NOVA's transit needs, whereas in Maryland, Eastern Shore and Western Maryland residents are expected to subsidize the ICC, the DC Metro, and the Baltimore Light Rail through gasoline and sales taxes and tolls. They are raising tolls in Perryville and the Bay Bridge to pay for the ICC. While in Virginia, tolls in Hampton Roads are MUCH cheaper and some across the James River have been removed. Also in Virginia restaurants still are allowed to have smoking sections but not in nanny state Maryland. And even NOVA don't have nanny statism to the level of MoCo where plastic bags are taxed, even a little 4 foot hotel pool is required to have a lifeguard (the cost is passed on to the guest, or to apartment renters...) and restaurants can't use trans fats (I've heard people speculate this is why there is no Sonic, Waffle House, Bojangles or Cracker Barrell there). Also Montgomery's public buildings are not even allowed to have Christmas trees because it might offend the Muslims and Jews and athiests.

Well, as long as MoCo thinks that they'll still have money and ability to flex their social policy then they'll keep doing so. Fairfax County won't completely eat away at MoCo, but the contrast certainly is stark between the 2 counties. At the end of the day, MoCo wouldn't be acting the way they are if they had to deal with issues like AA, HoCo, Prince William, or PG Counties do.