Why has Montgomery County Let itself go downhill (Bethesda, Frederick: how much, unemployment)

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by cpterp

Remember that the Dulles Corridor and Tysons have no rail transit access at all. Arlington is pretty good with TOD, but the rest of NoVa is digusting sprawl. Biotechs were never supposed to sustain the county, federal jobs and defense contractors are the biggest employers in the area. However, you can't just shrug off biotechs as if they don't count. The I-270 hub is the second largest in the nation after Boston, MA.

You do know that they are building the Silver Line Subway, right?????????

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by vivo

lol I do get dissapointed when I see the ration of private jobs in VA to moco. i wonder wha explains the crime rate difference?
one should keep in mind that arlington is practically an extension of downtown dc as far as jobs and apts. well at least moco will have the purple line. icc too.
wish we could extend I-95 at least a little bit. not dtown but perhaps to the dc line at least.

wonder if moco can catch up to ffx a bit job wise

now what to do about pg?

Extend I-95 to the DC Line then Tunnel it down to the 3rd Street Tunnel.....
But the Maryland Hating Anti-Growth Communist Lawmakers and Special Interest Groups won't support it....

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by cpterp

Thanks for the complement. The "citizens" own and pay for BWI Airport, not Dulles (even though Maryland has part control of both VA airports since there are 2 MD members on the 13 member MWAA). Also, BWI competes with National and Dulles, just as it does Philadelphia. Why would the taxpayers of Maryland pay to make Dulles more competitive to BWI? If Virginia wants to do that fine. New Jersey doesn't encourage residents of North Jersey to use JFK or LGA instead of Newark.

Right now it's about equal distance to both BWI and Dulles from mid- and upcounty Montgomery. The ICC was built partly to draw MD flyers in Montgomery to BWI. Building a bridge on the otherside would defeat the purpose.

I do agree that is annoying that the Beltway is the only way across the Potomac between MD and VA (in PG and MoCo), but another crossing solely for the purpose of making it easier to access Dulles doesn't really make much sense, to me anyway. To tell the truth this discussion is kinda pointless, since a new bridge wouldn't reall decrease travel times to Dulles significantly anyway, unless there would be a new expressway to go along with it.

What about building a New Bridge between PG/Charles County and Fairfax/Prince William County??????????

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

It amazes me how you can physically see the county decaying around you while other jurisdiction are experience positive growth at the same time. Yet the county officials continue to pat themselves on the back at the same time. The only thing saving Moco is its I270 technology corridor but if they aren't more business friendly they will continue to lose out to Fairfax & howard (ie. Hilton hotels, VW etc)

The simple answer is politics. Democrats have run Montgomery county right into the ground with their silly laws that make it so unfriendly to businesses and families.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by $mk8795

You do know that they are building the Silver Line Subway, right?????????

building is the key word (and it won't be a "subway," much to the chagrin of Tyson's Corner business owners and the "tysonstunnel.org" lobby). The Dulles Corridor should have had Metro access long ago. DCA is a far more accessible airport and BWI has multiple rail connections, including Metro via the B30 (Dulles has the 5A). Bethesda, Silver Spring, and Arlington all have urban cores with easy transit access, but Reston is sprawled out along 267 with nothing.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by Denton56

The simple answer is politics. Democrats have run Montgomery county right into the ground with their silly laws that make it so unfriendly to businesses and families.

You're absolutely right, I forgot how right-wing Republicans dominate the Fairfax County government.

[guyincognito]

Originally Posted by cpterp

Thanks for the complement. The "citizens" own and pay for BWI Airport, not Dulles (even though Maryland has part control of both VA airports since there are 2 MD members on the 13 member MWAA). Also, BWI competes with National and Dulles, just as it does Philadelphia. Why would the taxpayers of Maryland pay to make Dulles more competitive to BWI? If Virginia wants to do that fine. New Jersey doesn't encourage residents of North Jersey to use JFK or LGA instead of Newark.

Right now it's about equal distance to both BWI and Dulles from mid- and upcounty Montgomery. The ICC was built partly to draw MD flyers in Montgomery to BWI. Building a bridge on the otherside would defeat the purpose.

I do agree that is annoying that the Beltway is the only way across the Potomac between MD and VA (in PG and MoCo), but another crossing solely for the purpose of making it easier to access Dulles doesn't really make much sense, to me anyway. To tell the truth this discussion is kinda pointless, since a new bridge wouldn't reall decrease travel times to Dulles significantly anyway, unless there would be a new expressway to go along with it.

I'm having trouble figuring out where to begin here. First of all, who said access to Dulles was the sole reason to build a bridge? What about the thousands of MD and VA commuters who work in the other state and have to funnel through the American Legion bridge (or Rt 15) every day to get to work?

Secondly, BWI may be owned by Maryland, but I can guarantee the vast majority of its costs are covered with passenger user fees. If Maryland is using tax-payer dollars to upgrade an airport people don't want to use, that's an internal state political issue that has little if anything to do with Washington D.C.'s transportation infrastructure. If improving the regional transportation infrastructure leads more Marylanders to use IAD over BWI, that means there's a problem with BWI, either in terms of destinations, pricing, convenience, etc. Pretend we were in a region that wasn't so jurisdictionally ham-strung, like maybe LA. Can you image someone putting forward the argument that they shouldn't improve the roads around Orange County because some people might stop using LAX and start using John Wayne airport? It's rediculous, and I'm somewhat amazed that it passes as acceptable to some people that a government would intentionally inconvenience its citizens because of an inter-state penis measuring contest. Maybe more Virginians might start using BWI if the bridge is there?

Your analogy with NJ and JFK or LGA doesn't really hold water, as every realistically conceivable connection between NJ and New York has been made, to include multiple tunnels, bridges, subways, trains, and ferries. No one is asking MD to promote the use of IAD, just to further connect our regions which will have positive benefits for both sides.

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by Denton56

The simple answer is politics. Democrats have run Montgomery county right into the ground with their silly laws that make it so unfriendly to businesses and families.

They also got help from those anti-Growth Special Interest Tree Hugging Groups that are more than likely non-Maryland Citizens.

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by cpterp

building is the key word (and it won't be a "subway," much to the chagrin of Tyson's Corner business owners and the "tysonstunnel.org" lobby). The Dulles Corridor should have had Metro access long ago. DCA is a far more accessible airport and BWI has multiple rail connections, including Metro via the B30 (Dulles has the 5A). Bethesda, Silver Spring, and Arlington all have urban cores with easy transit access, but Reston is sprawled out along 267 with nothing.

The Subway that they are going to build is just icing on the cake for more MASS Urban Growth for Loudon County and Fairfax County....

[$mk8795]

Originally Posted by cpterp

You're absolutely right, I forgot how right-wing Republicans dominate the Fairfax County government.

The last time I checked; Fairfax County is Majority Conservative Democrats while Montgomery County is Majority Far Left Communist Democrats....