Prince George's County (Columbia, Bowie, Fort Washington: condo, hotel, townhome)

[SoCalviaPGC]

After observing some of the posts about PG I became intrigued to post some comments. Although I currently live in the San Diego area, I lived in Forestville from 1962 - 1984. Some of my family still lives there and I come back to visit about every 2 years. Much has changed in the Forestville area since I lived there. However, when I lived there my parents home had been broken into 3 times in 8 years, my father's car stolen out of the driveway twice, and lawn equipment stolen out of the storage shed in the back yard more times than I can remember. This is pre-1984.

In a recent visit I was astonished to see how bad the overall area (Forestville, District Heights) has gone downhill. I noticed several, once thriving shopping centers, mostly vacant and abandoned,with tenancy primarily consisting of independent places of worship (according to a Washington Post article, many are being used by their owners, posing as pastors, as a front for operating other businesses with the objective of avoiding taxation), and a few 'Mom & Pop' businesses. Gone are many of the anchor department stores and grocery chain stores that once occupied these shopping centers. In all honesty, what was once a nice suburban area seems to have declined to ghetto status. The family-oriented stores once present, such as clothing and shoe stores, auto parts and family eateries, have been replaced with liquor storers, custom wheel rentals and nightclubs.

Thankfully, the homes of family and friends have not been broken into for several years now; however, violent crime and murder has increased. During my visit I did find what appeared to be some bright spots in PGC, such as Upper Marlborough, which appears to have avoided the plight of the Forestville area. Lastly, it was sad to see the area where many of my memories were built, experience such a decline.

[RFMD]

Originally Posted by triniboy

Very well said my friend. As for that Konrterra project you mentioned, I can`t wait till they begin. Do you have anymore info about the project?I have been on the site but as far as completion dates and begining dates. I live in Laurel 2 mins away from where the proposed prject will take place in those new houses at the Glens of Wellington. Property values will sky rocket.I`m so excited. as you can tell.

I don't have a time frame on the start of the project however I know it is massive and an impressive one which you should be excited if you live in the area. I spoke with the person responsible for regional marketing for Whole Foods Market in this area and he indicated they are finally targeting PG County. I could see that project an area they would look at.

[maat]

Now that's some really good news. I've been waiting forever for Whole Foods to show up. I've sent numerous emails over the years . I guess when they saw that Wegman's is coming they figured there must be a market. And maybe the success of the Safeway Lifestyle stores helped too. In any case, we vegetarians are happy.

And here's some more good news from today's Post:

washingtonpost.com

[RFMD]

Originally Posted by maat

Now that's some really good news. I've been waiting forever for Whole Foods to show up. I've sent numerous emails over the years . I guess when they saw that Wegman's is coming they figured there must be a market. And maybe the success of the Safeway Lifestyle stores helped too. In any case, we vegetarians are happy.

And here's some more good news from today's Post:

washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

That is good news. Relative to Montgomery and the Fairfax county school system which are good ones PG has some work to do however among the 50 largest school districts in the country PG fares decently for a predominantly minority school district.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-20-dropout-rates (broken link)

[RFMD]

I 'am not sure why the link did not take you to the site. I believe I correctly spelled the URL. Can someone help.

[maat]

Originally Posted by RFMD

I 'am not sure why the link did not take you to the site. I believe I correctly spelled the URL. Can someone help.

The link was incomplete.

USATODAY.com - Big-city schools struggle with graduation rates

[RFMD]

Thanks.

This county will not be the same in 5-10 years-www.shoppingcenterbusiness.com/articles/may07/story30.shtml (broken link).

What is interesting in this article was Jack Johnson's statement regarding the county replacing the many low income apartments inside the Beltway with retail space in the next 10 years. As I mentioned previously as this county builds-out that portion of the county will be very valuable and it will undergo some degree of gentrification.

[RFMD]

Maat: Could you help me out with this link and let me know why my links are incomplete?

[maat]

Originally Posted by RFMD

Maat: Could you help me out with this link and let me know why my links are incomplete?

In this case, the link was case sensitive - MAY07 vs may07. If you just copy and paste the URLs you should be fine.

Shopping Center Business

This article is outstanding, thanks for posting it. I consider myself a PGC news junkie, but I missed this one.

Yes there will unfortunately be some gentrification in those communities, but I do believe the county is making efforts to minimize it. An example is the annual homeownership fair that attempts to get people on the right path to purchasing a home. Prince George's County 2007 Homeownership Fair (broken link)

[rekuci]

Before you listen to many of these people trying to increase the values of their homes by promoting PG County, let's have a bit of realism here. You are from central NY. This will be a MAJOR culture shock for you. The crime here is ridiculous. I live in an apartment complex in a 'good' area of the county (it even appears to be a cute benign suburb), 1/4 mile from the Montgomery County line, and people here have been held up at gunpoint, and someone on the first floor moved out the day after he was assaulted by 3 armed men just outside the building (his face was clearly badly beaten and he had a broken nose). Both my car and my husband's car have been vandalized - my husband's by some kid who tied a hunk of metal from a skateboard onto a rope and slung it into his windshield, mine by professional thieves who stole the CD player in my car, and police said that they received 16 other reports from this complex that morning. While I was cleaning up the broken window glass, not one but TWO people in my building stopped to talk to me saying that their cars were stolen. Our previous neighbors were drug dealers, we had packages stolen that were left outside our door, and we've had to call the police multiple times - once for a violent fight occurring in the hallway of our building. Gang signs are painted everywhere, and most children act like little gangsters, and many are already criminals (I witnessed what appeared to be two 12ish-year-olds breaking into a car one night). As a white female, I'm afraid to walk to the store at night by myself, and during the daytime get ogled and honked at by ghetto people driving by. I don't jog by myself after dark anymore, which basically means jogging in summer is not possible.

Second, you will be scammed here like you've never seen before. Cost of living is just out of control. Traffic is better in PG than Montgomery but still pure hell. Housing costs, both rent and buying, are completely unjustifiable compared to local salaries (largely government and non-profit) and out of control. Quality of life is just plain low. If you have to rent an apartment, the management companies (aka slumlords) here are also professional scams. You will pay over $1000/mo, excluding utilities (I pay a bit over $1000/mo for a 800 sq ft, nothing-special 1 bedroom in a big garden apt complex). Utilities are a scam, our bill for March claimed $277 for heating, and we've been paying over $30/mo for water for years. Also over $30 for 'hot water'. If it weren't for a utility cap due to our base rent going up so much from the previous year, we would have had to sue them for this bill. Our AC doesn't work and for six years we've been unsuccessful at getting it fixed. Maintenance is just miserable. Someone pulled our mailboxes out of the wall and we waited three weeks for new boxes and couldn't receive mail. I think you'll experience similar situation to us in nearly any large management complex (find a private place!).

There's my two cents about PG County...I'm getting out of here for a cross-country move in August and can't wait.