Opinions about the National Harbor in PG County (Potomac, Mayo: tenants, income)

[BigCityDreamer]

Saw the fireworks at NH last night. Awesome!

[TechlawyerinPG]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

Saw the fireworks at NH last night. Awesome!

It was a great show! I watched them from my deck. They do them every Saturday night though not as big of a display as the 4th

[macnietspingal]

Originally Posted by jayman1981

You know I kinda understand where your coming from. I will say the race card is played alot because often times things do happen, because this is a majority black county. .

Well since this was brought up. I moved to PG from Garland,TX. Before that it was all Montgomery County politics.

The first thing that greeted me was a shocker for me: Black Chamber of Commerce and Black Caucus. Well, I'm white. It's not my fault. I finally gave up. I'm Hellenistic-YaHWhist so it's a Christian problem

I just want all people who are tenants in multiresidentials to meet and greet on Hallway Matters which are the most local politics. In my complex, the parents taught the kids how to disrupt the entry security system with screw drivers, large tree branches, stones and dimes in the mechanism. They teach their kids to follow walkers around closely.

[Jadedea Jade]

wow they moved it? i remember my cousins took me to see it waaaaay back in the day, i was like 12. i thought it was a guy drowning lmao. i was looking forward to seeing him again oh well....

[macnietspingal]

Originally Posted by Jadedea Jade

wow they moved it? i remember my cousins took me to see it waaaaay back in the day, i was like 12. i thought it was a guy drowning lmao. i was looking forward to seeing him again oh well....

It's unbelievable up close. Good photo spot.

[btsilver]

Originally Posted by Jadedea Jade

wow they moved it? i remember my cousins took me to see it waaaaay back in the day, i was like 12. i thought it was a guy drowning lmao. i was looking forward to seeing him again oh well....

You can still go see it. It looks really nice there.

[ajsmith365]

Opinions of National Harbor:

1) Pressed for money. They charge for everything but entrance to the complex. But, I guess that's what the garage is for.
2) Parking prices are too high and no free parking; even if just select spots.
3) If a tourist destination, then having a tourist destination in my back yard.
4) If not a tourist destination, not having stores that service the community.
5) Too few stores, next to none for men.
6) Lack of quality restaurants.
7) Prices (everything...retail, restaurants, parking) vs. value
8) Lack of bike parking
9) The development is not intuitive. It's obvious by many city-data posts that no one knows what it is supposed to be (tourist destination, true MUD, etc.)
10) Seems detached from community

What would improve National Harbor (from a community perspective):
1) Get rid of Mayorga and go with Starbucks (better brand recognition)
2) Anchor store that is brand recognizable (department store)
3) Communication of development's vision and strategy (maybe that would increase/reduce some demographics' expectations)
4) Possibly lower rent for tenants as price points may be relative to rent
5) Attract complimentary retail brands and add like brands to increase competition and add for variety

[macnietspingal]

This discussion reminds me of the one in Garland, TX when I was on the Library Board. Garland has a great public golf course, recognized in the state. The cry at budget time was they care more about golf than they do books. I reminded them that the money derived from golf would pay for the books. A lot of money went to insuring that the George Bush Tollway and the North Central Freeway both had agreeable access straight to that golf course.

I was Financial Secretary and Treasurer of Einstein High School in Wheaton MD. That's when I learned how important athletics are to funding education. That expanded my tolerance in budgeting.

So now it's important the PG residents start watching the allocation of $$$ derived from the National Harbor.

OTOH, I think that it's awful that residents of PG County allowed the Virgina labor to build instead of a Maryland labor. Why didn't communities protest? I can think of one community that should have.

[ajsmith365]

Originally Posted by macnietspingal

This discussion reminds me of the one in Garland, TX when I was on the Library Board. Garland has a great public golf course, recognized in the state. The cry at budget time was they care more about golf than they do books. I reminded them that the money derived from golf would pay for the books. A lot of money went to insuring that the George Bush Tollway and the North Central Freeway both had agreeable access straight to that golf course.

I was Financial Secretary and Treasurer of Einstein High School in Wheaton MD. That's when I learned how important athletics are to funding education. That expanded my tolerance in budgeting.

So now it's important the PG residents start watching the allocation of $$$ derived from the National Harbor.

OTOH, I think that it's awful that residents of PG County allowed the Virgina labor to build instead of a Maryland labor. Why didn't communities protest? I can think of one community that should have.

I agree with you, in theory, but it almost never works in practice. Why, because of the politicians, elected officials, or the system (capitalism). For your 1st part on subsidizing PG with NH revenue, that's no guarantee. That's like all of these folks betting on slots to bring revenue to the state and save the people or the education system. Well, I'll believe it when I see it, for one. Second, do you sell your soul to make a buck; or, will the thing you allow into your county to generate revenue align with your values. Or, does it bring greater problems into your neighborhood, county, or state. A non-homeowner or someone not in close proximity may not care, but I wouldn't want Delaware-type home prices in my neighborhood due to a casino. But I digress. With NH, a PG resident not in close proximity to a "tourist destination" (if that is the intent, which I highly doubt) may not care, but if it does not service the neighboring community, a local may have a problem with it.

Part of what took so long to break ground on Nat'l Harbor was the negotiation of a certain percentage of PG contractors to work on the project as well as a guarantee of a certain % of jobs to go to PG residents. That took a minute. But, big business always finds a way to do what they want to do. The local residents and some delegates called The Peterson Co. and Jack Johnson out on the fact that The Peterson Co. was hiring VA contractors, his prior business partners, to do the work and no PG contractors were getting bids. But, what are residents going to do when your officials do not step in (County Exec, Senator, Governor, etc.)?

Look @ our Federal gov't system. They can't or won't control private industry (wall street, banks, Halliburton). The people have been crying for decades about consumer issues. No individuals got bailed out, only businesses. Banks doing funny loans but they get bailed out while homeowners suffered. Harry Markopolos went to several gov't entities regarding Bernie Madoff and no one cared until the system collapsed and people lost their life's savings. And, with Nat'l Harbor, the project was in motion, the monies allocated and, basically, the project was a "go"; thus, there was no turning back for PG because they were betting on the project for the revenue. So, we can't blame the people and say that people have not done enough. No matter who you elect, they are either going to not want to do something due to some kick-back they are receiving or they are going to want to do something about it, but the system will render them powerless to do so.

I am not saying you are blaming the people for allowing the VA contractors to get NH bids, but sometimes it just sounds like we are placing the burden of power and authority to act on the people/residents of PG when it is capitalism/trickle-down economics that allows this type of behavior by the people who control the dollars.

[bmwguydc]

Since there are now three threads on National Harbor, please make sure to confine remarks to one thread only as others will be duplicates. For this thread, general opinion discussions are appropriate.

For opinions that National Harbor is very successful, please see: http://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...-has-been.html.

For opinions that National Harbor is not successful, please see: http://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...l-letdown.html

Were it not for the polls in the recent threads that duplicate the intent of this thread, all three would be merged into one comprehensive thread. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do that and leave the polls intact.

Thank you.