The Fort Washington Inevitability (Baltimore, Silver Spring: real estate, apartment complex, luxury)

[molukai]

Well RamblingMan, I am glad that you're a part of the community. I think as long as there is an increase of well-intentioned, reasoned individuals then we can find a solution that would be amicable to all stakeholders. Having the heart for those individuals to persevere challenges by those unwilling to change the community for the better will be the real issue for the years ahead.

[HurricaneDC]

Well if you wanna convince folks to build schools and police stations, you better make sure you've got the most silvery tongue there's ever been. It's hard to deal with stupid :/

[bowian]

Originally Posted by RamblingMan

My concern is a "bait and switch" where after we approve the former, we wind up with something closer to the latter.

And that's a valid concern. We've seen that happen before in PG.

I'll also add my comment here about the proposed STEM high school. It's not that gang-bangers would not (or would) attend such a school (they could, if the parents are making a last-ditch effort to save them). The issue is more with the potential for loitering and other (illegal) on school grounds, particularly after school. Folks aren't too keen on having their homes near a high school or even a middle school for that reason. I admit I am not; not all parents have control over their kids, and teens have cars, will drive to hang out in deserted locations. However, the higher quality the school, and the higher the security, the fewer problems you will have. Making the school a charter or magnet would help. So would having daily community activities there (an attached community center, or making it a community school).

[ajsmith365]

1 Moratorium on any new home construction or residential development
2 Limit the number of Beauty Mart, Beauty 4 U, Beauty Beauty Beauty stores in a square mile radius
3 Residents stop complaining and fighting progress and let NH do for FW what Verizon Center's done for Chinatown
4 Peterson Cos. should revitalize their other holding, Rivertowne, and put quality stores there (Ross & Kmart don't cut it)
5 Do 210 like Route 5
6 Screw gambling, it won't save us financially/socially/education-wise
7 Get real, brand-recognizable stores. NH is wack (too boutique-ish) and Rivertowne is too "frugal"
8 Force "certain residential elements" back to DC, Alexandria VA, or the northern end of PG county

[HurricaneDC]

Ah yeah just dump your problems on us instead of prison

[bowian]

Originally Posted by HurricaneDC

Ah yeah just dump your problems on us instead of prison

Lol. Musical "CREs." Or we can act like a pinball machine and bounce them from one locality to another. Although, all jokes aside, DC did (and will continue to) dump the undesireable elements with gentrification. PG needs a plan to deal with that. Actually, PG should have had a plan in place from the beginning, but hey, better late than never.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by bowian

And that's a valid concern. We've seen that happen before in PG.

I'll also add my comment here about the proposed STEM high school. It's not that gang-bangers would not (or would) attend such a school (they could, if the parents are making a last-ditch effort to save them). The issue is more with the potential for loitering and other (illegal) on school grounds, particularly after school. Folks aren't too keen on having their homes near a high school or even a middle school for that reason. I admit I am not; not all parents have control over their kids, and teens have cars, will drive to hang out in deserted locations. However, the higher quality the school, and the higher the security, the fewer problems you will have. Making the school a charter or magnet would help. So would having daily community activities there (an attached community center, or making it a community school).

I agree with both of you that expectation, quality, and delivery are critical to future development. I have seen that the county has made an effort to ensure that expansion of the "prestige" projects has shown continuity with their expectation. Hence why I am not as worried about what a casino at the national harbor would look like compared to rosecroft or the pitches made for the Blvd or Chesapeake Bay VA. You make a valid point about the school and that is a concern. From what I recall of the debate at that time, the expectation was that the school was to be a game changer in regards to the the curriculum, the facility, and the efforts that would ensure quality would be maintained. I am sure that those goals would have been enhanced if the school was a magnet or a contract school more than if it would be a charter school since charters can have challenges maintaining monetary support above what the state/county which is minimal.

[ajsmith365]

Originally Posted by HurricaneDC

Ah yeah just dump your problems on us instead of prison

Not everyone is prison-bound. A nuissance, yes, but felon...no. So, I'll re-phrase, send all of the nuissances to college park/hyattsville.

All joking aside, but Bowian is correct. Either PG County has not planned for it and should, they have planned for it and have been ineffective in dealing with it, or they are too clueless as to what is going on. But, at some point in time, they are going to have to deal with the influx of low-income residents that are being "expurgated" from the District. They aren't going to go to Florida or Kentucky; they are going to go to the closest place they can afford. Not all of them are bad people, but unfortunately poverty and crime, more likely than not, tend to follow each other.

Unbeknownst to most PG residents (but if you think about it), PG County - Fort Washington particularly - is undergoing ghettofication while DC is experiencing gentrification. The residents of Ft Wash can fight progress all they want. But, what will happen is most businesses won't even consider them for development, as a lessons learned from previous attempts, due to the legalities and push-back. They'll build up Waldorf and everything south of it because Waldorf needs it and wants it. So, Waldorf and all the way to King George will be built up. Silver Spring and Montgomery County speaks for itself in regards to development. And, DC and Virginia will continue to build. These places' rents and land value will skyrocket and that will leave poor old Fort Washington and other pockets of PG County fighting to stay "rural" and only wanting "affordable" and "home grown" businesses with section 8 houses, low property values, low income residents and a bunch of Beauty Marts, Casinos, liquor stores and carry outs and buffets.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by ajsmith365

Not everyone is prison-bound. A nuissance, yes, but felon...no. So, I'll re-phrase, send all of the nuissances to college park/hyattsville.

All joking aside, but Bowian is correct. Either PG County has not planned for it and should, they have planned for it and have been ineffective in dealing with it, or they are too clueless as to what is going on. But, at some point in time, they are going to have to deal with the influx of low-income residents that are being "expurgated" from the District. They aren't going to go to Florida or Kentucky; they are going to go to the closest place they can afford. Not all of them are bad people, but unfortunately poverty and crime, more likely than not, tend to follow each other.

Unbeknownst to most PG residents (but if you think about it), PG County - Fort Washington particularly - is undergoing ghettofication while DC is experiencing gentrification. The residents of Ft Wash can fight progress all they want. But, what will happen is most businesses won't even consider them for development, as a lessons learned from previous attempts, due to the legalities and push-back. They'll build up Waldorf and everything south of it because Waldorf needs it and wants it. So, Waldorf and all the way to King George will be built up. Silver Spring and Montgomery County speaks for itself in regards to development. And, DC and Virginia will continue to build. These places' rents and land value will skyrocket and that will leave poor old Fort Washington and other pockets of PG County fighting to stay "rural" and only wanting "affordable" and "home grown" businesses with section 8 houses, low property values, low income residents and a bunch of Beauty Marts, Casinos, liquor stores and carry outs and buffets.

With all due respect, College Park and Hyattsville are going through a revitalization that will match that area closer to Silver Spring. Another luxury apartment complex will be going up behind PG Plaza next year. A luxury apartment building has already broken ground near UMCP. And who can forget the Whole Foods battle Royale at University Park and Riverdale Park. I hardly think all of PG, this part of the county at least, is undergoing "ghettofication." Lastly, Montgomery County's new $3 billion LifeSci Village at the FDA campus in White Oak will have an impact area that includes parts of Northern PG. I see nothing but upside. The parts of the county that you say will get all of the development will get the ghettofication more than anything. Why? Cheaper values due to their distance from anything urban. Look at Gaithersburg. Who would l think people would feel unsafe there? But prices are cheaper out there because of location location location.

Yes, DC is spearheading gentrification, but those areas inside the beltway will catch some of it too.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

With all due respect, College Park and Hyattsville are going through a revitalization that will match that area closer to Silver Spring. Another luxury apartment complex will be going up behind PG Plaza next year. A luxury apartment building has already broken ground near UMCP. And who can forget the Whole Foods battle Royale at University Park and Riverdale Park. I hardly think all of PG, this part of the county at least, is undergoing "ghettofication." Lastly, Montgomery County's new $3 billion LifeSci Village at the FDA campus in White Oak will have an impact area that includes parts of Northern PG. I see nothing but upside. The parts of the county that you say will get all of the development will get the ghettofication more than anything. Why? Cheaper values due to their distance from anything urban. Look at Gaithersburg. Who would l think people would feel unsafe there? But prices are cheaper out there because of location location location.

Yes, DC is spearheading gentrification, but those areas inside the beltway will catch some of it too.

I think PG is really a tale of two places. The southern part has been grossly neglected as far as development. Residents down here definitely deserve a lot of the blame for blocking more from being built, but I think the northern part definitely has greater potential. I noticed that a majority of the people who live in the southern parts like myself, tend to have a more negative outlook on this county. I definitely think things need to get more balanced.