Montgomery County looks to get hip (Baltimore, Silver Spring: 2014, apartments, to rent)

[phoenixmike11]

Montgomery County looks to get hip - The Washington Post

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by phoenixmike11

Montgomery County looks to get hip - The Washington Post

I can see some of the measures, like relaxing the liquor laws for restaurants and relaxing the noise ordinances.

Another issue that annoys me is the rules on the number of unrelated people who can live in a house. Much of MoCo is not affordable to young people unless they have room-mates. So, if a group of six unrelated people want to rent a big house in Bethesda or Chevy Chase, I think they should be able to.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

I can see some of the measures, like relaxing the liquor laws for restaurants and relaxing the noise ordinances.

Another issue that annoys me is the rules on the number of unrelated people who can live in a house. Much of MoCo is not affordable to young people unless they have room-mates. So, if a group of six unrelated people want to rent a big house in Bethesda or Chevy Chase, I think they should be able to.

Any number of persons related by blood or marriage, or up to five unrelated persons living as a single housekeeping unit can live together in a home. Note: (A group home may exceed 5 unrelated persons -see question 19 for group home definition).

How many people do you feel are acceptable? I don't know about some neighborhoods, but most have houses with 5 or fewer bedrooms. 5 Unrelated people is a lot of people in a regular single family home. McMansions are another story. And if the people living in the McMansion can afford the rent, then they can afford one bedroom apartments for themselves. It then becomes a choice. With public transportation, young people don't HAVE to live in Bethesda. I will admit that rents in this area are insane and are not worth the amenities provided. They need to come down at least 20%.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by phoenixmike11

Montgomery County looks to get hip - The Washington Post

Interesting article. It will be a while before Silver Spring can become "hip." And there is also a danger of things getting out of hand by having a lot of clubs with alcohol. You run the risk of inviting unwanted patrons as well. I think hip places are organically created and not designed. U Street wasn't designed to be hip. It was already hip from unique businesses locating there over decades. Same thing with Adams Morgan and Georgetown. Look at Tysons Corner and National Harbor. Two relatively new developments yet, both are not in the hip category. Though NH is heading in the right direction. Look at College Park. It should be a given that College Park would be hip. Yet it is being left behind by Arts District Hyattsville in hipness. So not every city can hit that mark of being hip. And throwing a bunch of bars in an area is not going to get you there. It will be interesting to see how Montgomery County and Silver Spring can create a hip place from paper to reality. Perhaps College Park can take some lessons from the study. It has the demographics to be hip. But, it is squandering the opportunities.

[UrbanScholar]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Interesting article. It will be a while before Silver Spring can become "hip." And there is also a danger of things getting out of hand by having a lot of clubs with alcohol. You run the risk of inviting unwanted patrons as well. I think hip places are organically created and not designed. U Street wasn't designed to be hip. It was already hip from unique businesses locating there over decades. Same thing with Adams Morgan and Georgetown. Look at Tysons Corner and National Harbor. Two relatively new developments yet, both are not in the hip category. Though NH is heading in the right direction. Look at College Park. It should be a given that College Park would be hip. Yet it is being left behind by Arts District Hyattsville in hipness. So not every city can hit that mark of being hip. And throwing a bunch of bars in an area is not going to get you there. It will be interesting to see how Montgomery County and Silver Spring can create a hip place from paper to reality. Perhaps College Park can take some lessons from the study. It has the demographics to be hip. But, it is squandering the opportunities.

It will be interesting what they come up with. Their biggest challenge is that you can't manufacture "hipness". Another challenge they will have is maintaining it. Being hip is a fleeting thing (for the most part )and needs to continuously be re-imagined. I think that in pursuing this demo, MOCO and other jurisdictions need to develop profiles of its sub-markets that it would like to target and aggressively market to them. For example, college park and silver spring could market to urban professionals ages 23-27 and Tysons Corner and NH could focus on the 28-33 crowd. Each group has their own interests that could define an area if planned correctly. Even within those groups their could be further considerations for ethnicity, gender, orientation, etc. that expedite the resulting growth of establishing a niche out of the city. Another area I could see capitalizing on this would be Greenbelt. If they begin that process now it could bode well for future development.

[ay jayy]

I think "hip" is just their way of saying attractive to the 21-35 urban professional crowd. I would argue that Arlington has managed to do this on the orange line corridor.

Montgomery County has managed to do this to a limited degree in downtown Bethesda and SS, but to really compete with Arlington they need to do more, especially along the Red Line.

[phoenixmike11]

Proposed Montgomery zoning rules look to a more urban county - The Washington Post

Montgomery County taking some more steps to be more urban (or at least trying to take more steps)

[phoenixmike11]

Could a new wave of boutique coffee, beer and bao buns remake

Ulman's next step: revitalize College Park - Baltimore Sun

Silver Spring and College Park take some small steps toward revitalization

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by phoenixmike11

Could a new wave of boutique coffee, beer and bao buns remake

Ulman's next step: revitalize College Park - Baltimore Sun

Silver Spring and College Park take some small steps toward revitalization

Out with Hoskins and in with Ulman. All hope is not lost. Ulman has the same views about College Park as I do. All the pieces are there. It's just that he needs to get the major players to realize the potential of College Park. You have a top research university, a research park, proximity to major government agencies (FDA, NSA, NASA, NOAA, USDA), and a major city. Yet, College Park couldn't even compare to the research triangle in North Carolina. And that's pretty sad.

[AeroGuyDC]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

I can see some of the measures, like relaxing the liquor laws for restaurants and relaxing the noise ordinances.

Another issue that annoys me is the rules on the number of unrelated people who can live in a house. Much of MoCo is not affordable to young people unless they have room-mates. So, if a group of six unrelated people want to rent a big house in Bethesda or Chevy Chase, I think they should be able to.

Disagree. Completely. While you hang your hat on "young people" being shut out....who is really being shut out are illegal immigrants, and rightfully so. At least to the degree that it's policeable and enforceable. The idea being that no one who values their home, their property, and their property values wants to see 15 illegal immigrants and 8 Toyota Corollas packed into one house and driveway next door.

Montgomery County has an illegal immigrant and growing poverty problem. This rule is one of the very last vestiges of salvaging what's left of the county. Start allowing a house to be a hotel for vagabonds and next thing you know MoCo is total crap.