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the Hampton Park (Kingdom Square) commercial space located directly before the 495 access, is between the initial and pre-construction stages which is by estimates 2 years out. The plans call for an additional hotel, retail anchors, the new PG county Dept. of Health and Human Services headquarters, and other mixed-use development. (See plans here: Hampton Park Plans
Good info, the focus seems to lean towards office/retail more so than residential, but seems to be a solid upgrade.
True that a lot of people troll Prince George's, but most of the time people (including myself) are just exhibiting a healthy amount of skepticism. Half the items you note are developments that have been long-promised but still haven't seen shovels hit the ground. Talk is cheap.
My question is: how does all that development help quality of life in the area? Oh wow! You have a Wawa, a Sonic, and a Krispy Kreme now? That's like sooooooo cool. Maybe one of these days you'll build, you know, a Park or something instead of a housing development or a strip mall.
Prince Georges is probably one of the most bifurcated counties in the country in terms of income. You either work for the federal government ($$$ + infinite bennies), or you are struggling to get by in a service job catering to those workers. Surely there are some people eking it out in the middle somewhere, but percentage wise it is likely a small proportion of the population.
So when you translate that out into housing you either have the slummy areas (houses or apartments) or you have $700k+ cookie cutter McMansion developments where all the trees have been clear cut and the HOA mows everyone's lawn for them. Both are not exactly amazing as far as quality of life goes. So where does the middle class fit in besides the other side of the Patuxent?
And then when all's said an done and your property taxes are forked over you still have the 2nd worst school district in the state, but hey, at least you beat out Baltimore. Nice!
My question is: how does all that development help quality of life in the area? Oh wow! You have a Wawa, a Sonic, and a Krispy Kreme now? That's like sooooooo cool. Maybe one of these days you'll build, you know, a Park or something instead of a housing development or a strip mall.
Prince Georges is probably one of the most bifurcated counties in the country in terms of income. You either work for the federal government ($$$ + infinite bennies), or you are struggling to get by in a service job catering to those workers. Surely there are some people eking it out in the middle somewhere, but percentage wise it is likely a small proportion of the population.
So when you translate that out into housing you either have the slummy areas (houses or apartments) or you have $700k+ cookie cutter McMansion developments where all the trees have been clear cut and the HOA mows everyone's lawn for them. Both are not exactly amazing as far as quality of life goes. So where does the middle class fit in besides the other side of the Patuxent?
And then when all's said an done and your property taxes are forked over you still have the 2nd worst school district in the state, but hey, at least you beat out Baltimore. Nice!
Am I raggin' on PG county too hard? My bad.
I am a life long resident who grew up poor and now I am one of those who work for the federal government. There are a number of issues to address and the biggest is being a desirable place to live so that those who make it like myself can stay. We need homeowners, they provide the property tax that fuels everything. These developments give me hope that things are turning around. Do you realize how far this county has come since the turn of the century? We had nothing to stop people from moving out to Howard, Anne Arundel, St. Charles, & Montgomery counties. now we are slowly but surely getting there. If you cannot support business and spur development then you will fail, period. Along with these new stores and restaurants come jobs. Also we now have various housing developments coming up thousands of single family homes and townhomes being built in the county. Once you start becoming an attractive option to middle and upper class families to stay here in the county then things will get better over time. But if all those who "make it" flee to other counties then they will have it all and this area will get worse. Call it gentrification if you like but improvement follows.
My question is: how does all that development help quality of life in the area? Oh wow! You have a Wawa, a Sonic, and a Krispy Kreme now? That's like sooooooo cool. Maybe one of these days you'll build, you know, a Park or something instead of a housing development or a strip mall.
Prince Georges is probably one of the most bifurcated counties in the country in terms of income. You either work for the federal government ($$$ + infinite bennies), or you are struggling to get by in a service job catering to those workers. Surely there are some people eking it out in the middle somewhere, but percentage wise it is likely a small proportion of the population.
So when you translate that out into housing you either have the slummy areas (houses or apartments) or you have $700k+ cookie cutter McMansion developments where all the trees have been clear cut and the HOA mows everyone's lawn for them. Both are not exactly amazing as far as quality of life goes. So where does the middle class fit in besides the other side of the Patuxent?
And then when all's said an done and your property taxes are forked over you still have the 2nd worst school district in the state, but hey, at least you beat out Baltimore. Nice!
Am I raggin' on PG county too hard? My bad.
I think you may be speaking from ignorance about the county as a whole. You state that there is no middle ground in the county? That is categorically false. You fail to mention or perhaps you aren't aware that there are entire middle class communities in the county such as Hyattsville, College Park, Adelphi, Fort Washington, Bowie, Greenbelt, to name a few.
In addition, what is wrong with a housing development? DC and NoVa are building them like crazy and making millions. Is this form of development somehow not allowed in PG? Or are you looking at it with biased glasses? It's okay for them, but if they are in PG it's bad somehow?
There is nothing wrong with welcome retail. And yes, if you have been aware of any development in the county the past few years, you'd know there are a lot more than just Wawa, Sonic, and Krispy Kreme, and strip malls.
Therefore, you are not ragging on PG....too hard, you're just speaking from a position of ignorance on the subject even though you did use big words.
If anything, DC is THE most bifurcated area in the region outside of Baltimore. All you have to do is draw a line down Rock Creek Park. Maps showing that divide between rich/poor and white/diverse has been used in countless articles.
Last edited by adelphi_sky; 05-15-2016 at 06:29 PM..
I think you may be speaking from ignorance about the county as a whole. You state that there is no middle ground in the county? That is categorically false. You fail to mention or perhaps you aren't aware that there are entire middle class communities in the county such as Hyattsville, College Park, Adelphi, Fort Washington, Bowie, Greenbelt, to name a few.
In addition, what is wrong with a housing development? DC and NoVa are building them like crazy and making millions. Is this form of development somehow not allowed in PG? Or are you looking at it with biased glasses? It's okay for them, but if they are in PG it's bad somehow?
There is nothing wrong with welcome retail. And yes, if you have been aware of any development in the county the past few years, you'd know there are a lot more than just Wawa, Sonic, and Krispy Kreme, and strip malls.
Therefore, you are not ragging on PG....too hard, you're just speaking from a position of ignorance on the subject even though you did use big words.
If anything, DC is THE most bifurcated area in the region outside of Baltimore. All you have to do is draw a line down Rock Creek Park. Maps showing that divide between rich/poor and white/diverse has been used in countless articles.
Actually housing is the worst kind of development for an area. While it may increase the tax base, which every elected official trumpets, it's really a case of "don't look behind the curtain".
When you do "look behind the curtain" what you find is that for every dollar of increased tax revenue you spend between three and five dollars for increased government services, primarily schools. As a note, that doesn't hold exactly true for age restricted/over 55 developments. That's why every jurisdiction in the State is actively courting them.
There is a formula used to determine school impact of new developments on the schools, it works out to something like .8 students per house (each level of schooling is assigned a different value, weighted towards elementary schools).
Calvert County figured out a few years ago that for every new house bringing in $4000 of tax revenue cost the County $14000 in new spending totaled across all government expenditures.
You can do the math yourself, the average tax bill in Prince George's is around $4000 dollars, the cost per pupil in the school system is around $12000.
Those jurisdictions in Virginia you mentioned are all facing serious budget shortfalls due to residential growth.
Actually housing is the worst kind of development for an area. While it may increase the tax base, which every elected official trumpets, it's really a case of "don't look behind the curtain".
When you do "look behind the curtain" what you find is that for every dollar of increased tax revenue you spend between three and five dollars for increased government services, primarily schools. As a note, that doesn't hold exactly true for age restricted/over 55 developments. That's why every jurisdiction in the State is actively courting them.
There is a formula used to determine school impact of new developments on the schools, it works out to something like .8 students per house (each level of schooling is assigned a different value, weighted towards elementary schools).
Calvert County figured out a few years ago that for every new house bringing in $4000 of tax revenue cost the County $14000 in new spending totaled across all government expenditures.
You can do the math yourself, the average tax bill in Prince George's is around $4000 dollars, the cost per pupil in the school system is around $12000.
Those jurisdictions in Virginia you mentioned are all facing serious budget shortfalls due to residential growth.
But not every home has a child or their kids go to private school. PG has a very robust private school system. No one is running to PG to put their kids in PGPS.
My question is: how does all that development help quality of life in the area? Oh wow! You have a Wawa, a Sonic, and a Krispy Kreme now? That's like sooooooo cool. Maybe one of these days you'll build, you know, a Park or something instead of a housing development or a strip mall.
Prince Georges is probably one of the most bifurcated counties in the country in terms of income. You either work for the federal government ($$$ + infinite bennies), or you are struggling to get by in a service job catering to those workers. Surely there are some people eking it out in the middle somewhere, but percentage wise it is likely a small proportion of the population.
So when you translate that out into housing you either have the slummy areas (houses or apartments) or you have $700k+ cookie cutter McMansion developments where all the trees have been clear cut and the HOA mows everyone's lawn for them. Both are not exactly amazing as far as quality of life goes. So where does the middle class fit in besides the other side of the Patuxent?
And then when all's said an done and your property taxes are forked over you still have the 2nd worst school district in the state, but hey, at least you beat out Baltimore. Nice!
Am I raggin' on PG county too hard? My bad.
I jumped in google maps and there are a bunch of parks / rec centers close to me... more than I could ever use. I'm confused by your statement.
What kind of park do you want the gov't to build for you? Where do you want them to build it?
School system is not too bad... my cousin's raised their kids here and all of those kids went off to nice schools. One got a full ride and had a 4.2 gpa... and making 4.0 in college. Okay, she is not the norm.. but still, it is possible. Two of them went to private schools up until middle school to give them an edge. All had heavy parenting. Not knocking your statement... school system does have issues, but I think parents have a part as well (lot of issues there).
I've lived in other areas... I'll stay right here, thank you!
I think most people who don't live here and only been here while driving on 495 have a lot to say about PG. That is fine...
Hey, I'm still waiting to see the crime map to update on that shooting in Silver Spring I saw back in 2011...
My question is: how does all that development help quality of life in the area? Oh wow! You have a Wawa, a Sonic, and a Krispy Kreme now? That's like sooooooo cool. Maybe one of these days you'll build, you know, a Park or something instead of a housing development or a strip mall.
Prince Georges is probably one of the most bifurcated counties in the country in terms of income. You either work for the federal government ($$$ + infinite bennies), or you are struggling to get by in a service job catering to those workers. Surely there are some people eking it out in the middle somewhere, but percentage wise it is likely a small proportion of the population.
So when you translate that out into housing you either have the slummy areas (houses or apartments) or you have $700k+ cookie cutter McMansion developments where all the trees have been clear cut and the HOA mows everyone's lawn for them. Both are not exactly amazing as far as quality of life goes. So where does the middle class fit in besides the other side of the Patuxent?
And then when all's said an done and your property taxes are forked over you still have the 2nd worst school district in the state, but hey, at least you beat out Baltimore. Nice!
Am I raggin' on PG county too hard? My bad.
I don't think you know what you're talking about at all about PG or Maryland.
But not every home has a child or their kids go to private school. PG has a very robust private school system. No one is running to PG to put their kids in PGPS.
The cost of services number takes that into account. Residential growth, without commercial growth, is a net loss.
What throws a wrench into that also in the DC area is the amount of property owned by non-profits and governmental agencies. The fees in lieu of paid for something like Andrews don't come close to being the full assessable property tax.
Actually housing is the worst kind of development for an area. While it may increase the tax base, which every elected official trumpets, it's really a case of "don't look behind the curtain".
When you do "look behind the curtain" what you find is that for every dollar of increased tax revenue you spend between three and five dollars for increased government services, primarily schools. As a note, that doesn't hold exactly true for age restricted/over 55 developments. That's why every jurisdiction in the State is actively courting them.
There is a formula used to determine school impact of new developments on the schools, it works out to something like .8 students per house (each level of schooling is assigned a different value, weighted towards elementary schools).
Calvert County figured out a few years ago that for every new house bringing in $4000 of tax revenue cost the County $14000 in new spending totaled across all government expenditures.
You can do the math yourself, the average tax bill in Prince George's is around $4000 dollars, the cost per pupil in the school system is around $12000.
Those jurisdictions in Virginia you mentioned are all facing serious budget shortfalls due to residential growth.
So, where do you put all the people that are migrating to an area? Do you say, "Sorry, no room at the Inn?" Sprawl is not the answer if the migrants desire urban style living. Jobs are getting created somehow and people are moving in filling those jobs. Where do you put them?
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