Stay away from PG County! (Baltimore, Bowie: credit, high school, tax)

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by thefatkid

Eh, I'll pass, I know there's a ton of traffic on the beltway, and NY Avenue does seem somewhat worse than 295. I'm just saying - as someone who works downtown in DC - Bowie works well for me.

From what I've seen PG county gets an awfully bad rap, but admittedly most of the places I go in PG county are either in or around Bowie. I won't characterize what it's like to live elsewhere in PG because I haven't done so, but again there look to be some pretty nice farm/semi-rural areas not too far away and still in PG.

A few of us here I think are just reacting because people make PG county out to be this homogeneous den of iniquity, when in fact it's got some perfectly nice places to live.

Having lived in PG for 5 years, specifically Bowie, I agree that it's a nice, quiet bedroom community. From the surface, everything looks great. When you start digging into the details and comparing it to other counties, you may notice that you're not getting much bang for the buck.

A lot of PG's bad rap comes from the elected leaders. Yes, people who PG residents put into office.

Jack Johnson taking overseas trips for "economic" purposes even during a down tax revenue year where the gov. workers are getting furloughed and laid off.

Secrecy Shrouds Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson's Trip to Africa. - washingtonpost.com

Sweetheart Deals - washingtonpost.com

City Council members using county charge cards for personal use.

Md. Prosecutor to Look Into Use of Prince George's Co. Credit Cards - wtop.com

Albert Wynn leaving office early after losing in elections to Donna Edwards causing PG taxpayers to spend $2 mil for a special election for only 6 more months.

AverageBro.com: Thanks for Nothing, Congressman Albert Wynn.

Ulysses Currie and his conflict of interest.

FBI Agents Search State Senator's Home - Baltimore News Story - WBAL Baltimore

[jayman1981]

I must admit I was speaking a little out of anger last night, so please forgive me for the white people comment. The point of the matter is that people should seriously look into P.G. Live strong, there is no doubt there are better places to live. Heck I think there are better places to live other than the D.C. area. I will admit numbers don't lie. To be completely honest I don't really know why taxes are that much. I bet you stayed in Bowie. I know there taxes are pretty high.

Anyway I'm pretty sure you picked something based on your wants and needs. Congratulations. I will always tell everyone to look at all areas in this area to get a feel for it and see what fits you. The argument though is this. P.G. is a nice community we have rural area. We have beautiful trails as well. In a nice country setting. Many people don't know about it, because they fear if your in P.G. your gonna get shot at or your car stolen. But when you travel around you'll notice that it is a beautiful county. There is a whole lot of P.G. that has not been developed. With that in mind P.G. is a wonderful prospect for development and job creation. I think this would seriously cut down on traffic as well.

To conclude if anyone is interested in this county by all means look at it. It's a nice county that has issues just like all of the other counties in the D.C area. Know matter where you live there will be issues, some more known than others. But at least investigate and come up with an informed decision that fits you.

Originally Posted by live_strong28

It is expensive to live closer to DC, but check out PG. Anything near the DC border is low end and high in crime. In PG, the further away you are from the border, the better it is. That's a unique phenomenon.

When I lived in PG, my new McMansion was assessed at about 480k in value, but my tax was about $8,500. Now, I live in McLean and my 12 year old house is valued at over 1 mil, but my tax is around $10,500. That is one ridiculous ratio of property taxes relative to house value in favor of McLean.

You said that people are flocking to Waldorf. Waldorf has seen an uptick in crime. Aren't most of the people coming into Waldorf coming from PG?

I'm not going to comment about your statement that you need a white guy to say that PG is good, but if you take for example the best public schools in this area and in the US, the student population is mostly white or asian. If whites and asians are leaving PG, there's got to be a reason for that.

PG won't see an influx of whites until PG creates huge job centers like the Tysons Corner area or Bethesda/Rockville and the schools start getting better. A McMansion home would be easily double in price if it was in Potomac, McLean, or Great Falls instead of Woodmore.

Check out what Delonte West just bought in Ft. Washington. He bought an 8 bedroom mansion by the water. Cost? It was "only" $1.05 mil. A house with 8 bedrooms by the water in Great Falls would go for about $6 mil.

Reliable Source - Delonte West Settles Down, Settles In

[gettingyouloans]

Every county has their good in bad. I agree that the better parts of PG is the Bowie, Laurel area.

[jayman1981]

Sorry to ignore your post. I would think Laurel, Beltsville, Calverton and Bowie are nice in Northern P.G. To be honest P.G. is really not a diverse county. We have our pockets of places where there is more mixing, this tends to happen in Northern P.G. county. This is closer to Montgomery County line.

There are plenty of good counties and areas in Maryland. Depending on your budget for a home and the tolerance for commuting you can find some good deals. Charles County (Waldorf, Indian Head, White Plains, La Plata). Montgomery County (Rockville, parts of Silver Spring, Germantown, Gaithersburg, Potomac) I'm sure there is more but that is all I know. Howard County (the entire county). Calvert County, Parts of Anne Arundel County.

As far as diversity Montgomery and Howard Counties are your best bet. However they are the most expensive places to live in the state. Hopefully this answers your question.

Originally Posted by GeekChick

Hey I posted on the Delaware forum and I was wondering about PG

County also! Can you name some cities in that county that are clean,

diverse and middle class? And any other good county's in Maryland!

[dkf747]

I'm a white guy who had no problem living in PG until my kids reached Middle School age. When I looked at the Middle School I could see that we had to leave. The key to PG fixing it's rep is fixing the schools. I'm not the only one who left because of the schools and not because of crime. Crime was not a problem where we lived.

[NJ2MDdude]

Originally Posted by dkf747

I'm a white guy who had no problem living in PG until my kids reached Middle School age. When I looked at the Middle School I could see that we had to leave. The key to PG fixing it's rep is fixing the schools. I'm not the only one who left because of the schools and not because of crime. Crime was not a problem where we lived.

I think the bad rap on PG Cty schools is overrated. Every year the school system sends more than its fair share of graduating seniors to the top colleges and universities in the country. The issue is parenting: the creme floats to the top, whereas the ***** sinks to the bottom.

[kjg1963]

I'm a white that has lived in PG my whole life. I don't "love" it but I haven't felt it necessary to run screaming to another county (or state).

One note. Laurel and Bowie are often mentioned as the better areas. I live in Laurel. Unfortunately, I think the high school in Laurel is terrible. My son went to Laurel and it was a chaotic atmosphere with a useless administration that let the kids run wild. Luckily my daughter went to Roosevelt which had a very different atmosphere. However, prior to my son's high school years, I was always pleased with my kids' teachers and, very often, the administrators.

I've also lived all over PG. Sometimes in the "not so nice" areas. I think I can give my opinion based on first hand knowledge. PG is not as terrible as everyone makes it out to be. Certainly not great, but definitely not a cesspool of crime and violence. And to be honest, I see many whites in PG county that are comfortable living here and are not afraid because it is a predominantely AA county. Heck, if I hadn't joined this forum, I probably never would have known that, because I'm one of the county's minorities, I should fear for my life every day. I'm glad I experienced PG myself before I came on here and found out that what I knew and liked about the county was apparently all wrong according to others who may not have even ever lived here.

[RaisedWell]

Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude

I think the bad rap on PG Cty schools is overrated. Every year the school system sends more than its fair share of graduating seniors to the top colleges and universities in the country. The issue is parenting: the creme floats to the top, whereas the ***** sinks to the bottom.

I'm tired of these PG County threads, but couldn't help but comment here. I've lived here since I was 10. Prior to that I was in DC public schools . I've seen the good, bad and the ugly. I graduated from a PG County high school. Now, I teach in the public school system here. When my children reached the middle school age, I saw grades and behaviors in them that I never thought I'd see. That's just middle school period, anywhere you go.

Well now we're through the middle school years and next week my oldest will be leaving to attend a top university with a Prince Georges County Public School diploma just like I did.

[tercel95]

Originally Posted by RaisedWell

I'm tired of these PG County threads, but couldn't help but comment here. I've lived here since I was 10. Prior to that I was in DC public schools . I've seen the good, bad and the ugly. I graduated from a PG County high school. Now, I teach in the public school system here. When my children reached the middle school age, I saw grades and behaviors in them that I never thought I'd see. That's just middle school period, anywhere you go.

Well now we're through the middle school years and next week my oldest will be leaving to attend a top university with a Prince Georges County Public School diploma just like I did.

Just because you and your children were able to attain a decent education does not mean that the schools are "good" especially when compared to neighboring counties...

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by NJ2MDdude

I think the bad rap on PG Cty schools is overrated. Every year the school system sends more than its fair share of graduating seniors to the top colleges and universities in the country. The issue is parenting: the creme floats to the top, whereas the ***** sinks to the bottom.

The cream in any county will always rise to the top.

If you look at the evaluation of test scores, in the state of Maryland, PG County is second to last, with Baltimore City being the worst.