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It certainly is interesting to hear about the historical differences in West Virginia. I can only assume the southern part of WV around Charleston was more pro-Confederate. When I was visiting Mineral County and Hampshire County right up by Cumberland I saw a few Confederate flags, which in Maryland I've only seen in Carroll County, the Eastern Shore, and eastern Baltimore County.
Anyway with Western Maryland......yall are lucky that the portiosn on WV and Pennsylvania nearby are very isolated and not that developed (despite that Rocket Center facility) so less competition from those states more business friendly policies. I think you are right in pointing out Western MD's overdependence on the state and state resources but perhaps the region will be less dependent if the state allowed more commercial and residential development there which would increase the tax base and provide jobs, and if the state went ahead with natural gas fracking of the Marchellus Shale in Garrett and Alleghany Counties. And something like exporting natural gas would increase the state and local tax base and make it harder to justify the higher taxes. And again while there is less agriculture in the west, the farms that do exist will be more profitable without O'Malley's onerous environmental restrictions that farmers in other states have never even heard of.
I am sure the Deep Creek area can be further developed. If they can allow more housing and growth in that area people would definitely move there.
I think while Western Maryland is overlooked by the state the relationship with the central counties seems at least a bit better than between the state and the Eastern Shore counties. The central government's policies really create hardships and barriers toward a thriving agricultural industry. The recent lawsuit against Perdue chicken only highlights this. Farmers in other states do not have to deal with these kinds of costly regulations which are only there to satisfy the liberal sensibiliies of the Montgomery County and Howard County electorate who live far away from farms. Many farmers have a long-time understanding that they willl be able to sell their land to developers and retire yet that is suddenly being changed by PlanMaryland which hurts rural areas and devalues farmland. The farmland in the Tier 4 places especially are basically worthless since while development is not legally banned the state will not support sewer services and septic tanks are now illegal. I don't think the Montgomery COunty bureaucrats and liberals understand the concerns of rural residents adn the realities of rural economies. Most Eastern Shore residents would like to see more growth and development but the state is preventing that and devaluing farmers property values by taking away developmental rights.
It seems like the bureaucrats from MoCo only see their region and they have a lot of federal jobs (at least until the sequester hits full force) so they don't find a need to care about private industry, manufacturing, the private sector, mining, or fishing/farming in the rest of Maryland. They think Maryland will be fine as long as the federal dollars keep coming in, courtesy of hardworking ordinary Americans from the Kansas heartland, Kentucky coal country, Ohio Valley steel towns, and the Mississippi Delta. They are against any kind of economic development in the Eastern Shore or Western MD and perhaps want these areas to be dependent on the state.
Unsure of how much has changed in the past 10 or so years but i recall many on the eastern shore/S.DE that were fighting development tooth and nail. See MD/DE 404 as a great example of that granted the MD side has caved a bit. Notice that the DE part of 404 remains the same single lane highway in each direction despite the well known issues. They will probably fight any attempts at widening it till the end of time as they fear more development along/near it. Growth has always been a very hot topic especially the closer to the beach you get. Ofcourse alot of that has to do with the terrible planning ( highways etc ) that has gone into it up to this point. Thus those further in do not want any more headaches then they already have during the summer because of the traffic etc. Ofcourse you do as well have those who are in it ( fighting development ) more from the nature/enviromental side of things. Times do change though as i recall years back when people in Bridgeville and Denton were fighting DE/MD about building a bypass around those places as they felt it would take from the local businesses. Similar type thing with Salisbury and the 50/13 bypass however in this case i believe it was mostly just the business community who did not want either one of bypasses for obvious reasons. The Salisbury mall ( use to be located closer to downtown vs north side ) kinda changed that though.
Reasons why despite most knowing that a interstate grade bypass around the DC/Baltimore areas ( for those heading from NYC/Boston/Philly to the deep south and vicer versa to help with traffic on I95/Beltways etc) is needed but one is still not built down the length of the Delmarva. Granted Delaware may come close eventually via the rt1 freeway but they have many obstacles to cross with getting it through Sussex county and thus where the problems begin. Most seem just content with bringing it to Lewes and thus the resorts but even with that there has been a ton of opposition from locals living along/near it.
Most of the problems on the eastern shore and S.DE with development is tied to the main highways ( 13/50/404/113/1 ) which have a hard enough time as is keeping up in the summer. Many old timers pretty much hate how the coastal resorts have exploded. Thus the fear they have with more development.
Those counties make the most money and could fund all those programs without the rest of Maryland, but honestly this sounds really silly and petty. All states have counties and cities should all the cities break apart from each one and form separate states? What a crazy notion I've lived here 23 years but I had no clue some people here were so weird I know its a southern state an all but sheesh. If people want to leave they should just leave like they've been doing if they could get a vote to join another state I say let them its crazy how they want to blame all the crime on illegals or people from DC when most of the break ins we had we're bored neighbors kids or drunks and they were all American. smh
Though I want to keep College Park, maybe with a sliver of land along I-95 connecting it with Baltimore. If not we can make UMBC or Towson or Salisbury the main campus and College Park can become a branch campus of UDC
Unsure of how much has changed in the past 10 or so years but i recall many on the eastern shore/S.DE that were fighting development tooth and nail. See MD/DE 404 as a great example of that granted the MD side has caved a bit. Notice that the DE part of 404 remains the same single lane highway in each direction despite the well known issues. They will probably fight any attempts at widening it till the end of time as they fear more development along/near it. Growth has always been a very hot topic especially the closer to the beach you get. Ofcourse alot of that has to do with the terrible planning ( highways etc ) that has gone into it up to this point. Thus those further in do not want any more headaches then they already have during the summer because of the traffic etc. Ofcourse you do as well have those who are in it ( fighting development ) more from the nature/enviromental side of things. Times do change though as i recall years back when people in Bridgeville and Denton were fighting DE/MD about building a bypass around those places as they felt it would take from the local businesses. Similar type thing with Salisbury and the 50/13 bypass however in this case i believe it was mostly just the business community who did not want either one of bypasses for obvious reasons. The Salisbury mall ( use to be located closer to downtown vs north side ) kinda changed that though.
Reasons why despite most knowing that a interstate grade bypass around the DC/Baltimore areas ( for those heading from NYC/Boston/Philly to the deep south and vicer versa to help with traffic on I95/Beltways etc) is needed but one is still not built down the length of the Delmarva. Granted Delaware may come close eventually via the rt1 freeway but they have many obstacles to cross with getting it through Sussex county and thus where the problems begin. Most seem just content with bringing it to Lewes and thus the resorts but even with that there has been a ton of opposition from locals living along/near it.
Most of the problems on the eastern shore and S.DE with development is tied to the main highways ( 13/50/404/113/1 ) which have a hard enough time as is keeping up in the summer. Many old timers pretty much hate how the coastal resorts have exploded. Thus the fear they have with more development.
As someone who was born and raised in Salisbury. This was mainly controversial for the "treehuggers" however, US 50 through Downtown was terrible before the bypass. It was better now. However, the Centre at Salisbury was the birth of the Bypass as the old Salisbury Mall was in aging decline, not to mention the crime that was happening around there. The North Salisbury Corridor is the Urban Sprawl while Downtown is now under Revitalization.
This was a "trivia" type of debate in the local news paper. If "Delmarva" was a state, it would consist of the following:
Delaware- Kent and Sussex Counties
Maryland- Kent, Caroline, Queen Annes, Talbot, Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset. (THe Eastern SHore)
Virginia- Accomack and Northampton County
Dover, Salisbury, Easton, Ocean City would be the "major cities" of the State.
The problem would be education. Delaware State, Wesley, Salisbury, UMD Eastern Shore, DelTech and WorWic would be affected.
I highly doubt that this would ever happen. This is as realistic as DC reverting back and giving Georgetown to VA
I think Delmarva WOULD be able to fund all its colleges after all think about all the tax money that is diverted to the Western Shore. Imagine if all of Ocean City's revenue stayed in Delmarva, and how much more profitable businesses would be without all the restrictions from the Maryland state government.
MD and DE 404 are ridiculous. Route 50 to Ocean City is okay for the msot part even though I wish it was completely built to Interstate freeway standards with bypasses around Easton and Cambridge and traveling 65 or 70 mph plus additional bridge or at least wider bridges into Ocean City on Route 50 and 90. 404 however really needs an upgrade. It is two lanes most of the way from 50 all the way to DE 1.......mostly just 2 lane driving to the Delaware beaches. I think they really need to widen the entire length of Route 404.
that is true. Unfortunately, as conservative the Eastern Shore is, with the exception of Salisbury, it is unlikely to happen. Salisbury compared to the Eastern Shore is more of the "city" much like Dover is to what they call "Slower Lower" those 2 are more urban than the rest of the areas. If the States look into funding any projects it will be those 2. Especially when both cities have 2 major resorts in a 30-40 mile proximity.
And here is another example of the Montgomery County folks forcing their liberalism and nanny statism on the rest of the state. Now they want to make STATEWIDE the 5 cent plastic bag tax. Maybe cause Montgomery County grocery stores have been losing money to other counties. For those of us here in eastern Baltimore County and most people I know from rural Maryland things like this are completely alien and beyond ridiculous. Sometimes its like the folks in MoCo and Howard......the folks pushing for illegal immigration, bag taxes, "smart growth", gay marriage gun control and trying to end the death penalty come from a different reality than we do.
And with the tolls the rest of the state DEFINITELY is subsidizing the ICC. The Bay Bridge tolls are enough to pay for the upkeep of the bridge itself. The ONLY reason they increased tolls on ALL the facilities was to build the ICC.
And here is another example of the Montgomery County folks forcing their liberalism and nanny statism on the rest of the state. Now they want to make STATEWIDE the 5 cent plastic bag tax. Maybe cause Montgomery County grocery stores have been losing money to other counties. For those of us here in eastern Baltimore County and most people I know from rural Maryland things like this are completely alien and beyond ridiculous. Sometimes its like the folks in MoCo and Howard......the folks pushing for illegal immigration, bag taxes, "smart growth", gay marriage gun control and trying to end the death penalty come from a different reality than we do.
@TOM LENNOX......You always have something to say about MONTGOMERY, PG, AND HOWARD COUNTY......I'm from MONTGOMERY COUNTY and I can't speak for everyone, but yes I am one that tries to Isolate myself from the rest of Maryland (Especially Hagerstown and Baltimore)....I associate myself with WASHINGTON D.C......because I relate more to D.C..........Baltimore is a Poverty strict place (THE SAD THING IS THERE ARE MORE GHETTO SPOTS THAN NICE PLACES) in BALTIMORE.........Many people in the COUNTIES that I listed above work in D.C..........so it more common to take to a place that see your vision and that....... GROWTH.........
And here is another example of the Montgomery County folks forcing their liberalism and nanny statism on the rest of the state. Now they want to make STATEWIDE the 5 cent plastic bag tax. Maybe cause Montgomery County grocery stores have been losing money to other counties. For those of us here in eastern Baltimore County and most people I know from rural Maryland things like this are completely alien and beyond ridiculous. Sometimes its like the folks in MoCo and Howard......the folks pushing for illegal immigration, bag taxes, "smart growth", gay marriage gun control and trying to end the death penalty come from a different reality than we do.
I have lived in a few areas that enacted a 5¢ bag tax. These were all instances where the grocery stores pushed for the tax, policy, or what-ever you want to call it. Plastic bags in particular are an operating cost that grocery stores have been wanting to do away with for a long time and the whole point is to encourage customers to bring their own bags, or the alternative, to subsidize there use. However I have never heard of such a thing being State-wide. If you do not want to pay the tax, bring your own bag.
You have an odd sense of politics as it seems that everyone who is opposite of your ideals is a Liberal. I know plenty of young (under 40) Conservatives and Libertarians who support gay marriage, are against the death penalty with few exceptions, would rather bring their bags even if only saves them a nickel, etc. Isn't this what Liberty and Freedom are about? And the only Liberals that I am aware of who support illegal immigration are those who are so far to the left they are off the "liberal" spectrum.
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