Trickle of MD'ers going towards NoVA? (Baltimore, Silver Spring: houses, employment, neighborhood)

[JD984]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

The people in PG county are urban. They live a much faster lifestyle than PW county which is very slow. The density in PG county is way higher than PW county. There is nothing urban about PW county. Upper Marlboro and Clinton are zoned to stay rural to protect the environment just like Potomac is zoned to stay rural in Montgomery County. Maryland has very strict zoning laws that only allows building near transit. That is something Virginia doesn't have which is why they have an overabundance of single family homes and lack urbanity.

Maryland is way more urban than Virginia. Maryland has apartments everywhere, 6 metro legs, 3 commuter rail routes, and high bus ridership. PW county and Fairfax county have a ton of single family homes which isn't urban. Their lifestyle is built around the car while Maryland's is built around the subway and buses and that gap is only going to expand more and more. Maryland is building the purple line, corridor cities tansitway, and BRT routes. If Montgomery County and PG county didn't have zoning laws and built up the whole county like Fairfax, Montgomery County would have about 2 million people and PG county would have about 1.5 million people. There are huge underdeveloped area's in Maryland because of zoning.

If you want to discuss the urbanity of NoVa, you need to discuss the areas that are closest to DC - Alexandria and Arlington. They have many of the attributes you attribute to Maryland.

It's hard for me to believe that people who live in Olney or Potomac or North Bethesda don't lead a car-oriented lifestyle. But a lot of MoCo is quite dense. I don't mean this as either praise or a put-down, but I feel like I'm back in New Jersey when I'm in Silver Spring or Bethesda. NoVa could be suburban Atlanta or Dallas, though fortunately not as hot.

[Five00NCSTNW]

This subject is overrated. There's a greater outflow from no MD to so PA and from western shore to eastern shore than MD to no VA. A move from MD DC suburbs to No VA is like moving from one side of town to another.

[scottfs]

I bailed on MoCo for Fairfax after living in MD most of my life. I'm much happier here for a number of reasons, but one thing that drives me nuts is the condition of the roads over here is garbage compared to MD.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Five00NCSTNW

A move from MD DC suburbs to No VA is like moving from one side of town to another.

That's about how I see it, too. The MD side is slightly denser and the communities are a little bit older but it's not a huge difference, IMO. People move to where their jobs are. Right now there are more job openings in VA, so that may account for it. There are also people moving to MD for work, so it evens out.

[vanyali]

I've had neighbors move from one block on my street to the next block on the same street. And this has happened in the last two cities I've lived! People do strange things.

Having grown up in NOVA and moved to MD after returning to the area, I do regret it. I think NOVA has changed a lot since I grew up there, but MD to me feels like part of the greasy industrial North East. I feel like I could be in Pennsylvania, but with the DC I'm-more-important-than-you attitude.

In NOVA, I feel like I could be in the Carolinas, but also sometimes with the DC I'm-more-important-than-you attitude.

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by vanyali

I've had neighbors move from one block on my street to the next block on the same street. And this has happened in the last two cities I've lived! People do strange things.

Having grown up in NOVA and moved to MD after returning to the area, I do regret it. I think NOVA has changed a lot since I grew up there, but MD to me feels like part of the greasy industrial North East. I feel like I could be in Pennsylvania, but with the DC I'm-more-important-than-you attitude.

In NOVA, I feel like I could be in the Carolinas, but also sometimes with the DC I'm-more-important-than-you attitude.

That's the point. Virginia is country. Why would Maryland which is the city want to be like Virginia which is the country. Single family homes in the city equals major FAIL. Maryland isn't building many single family homes and suburban neighborhoods anymore.

[Stephen 81]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

That's the point. Virginia is country. Why would Maryland which is the city want to be like Virginia which is the country. Single family homes in the city equals major FAIL. Maryland isn't building many single family homes and suburban neighborhoods anymore.

I'm not sure that suburban Maryland has anything as built-up as Arlington or Alexandria. Bethesda and Silver Spring come closest, but they are smaller, less densely-populated, and less mass transit-oriented than Arlington or Alexandria.

Also, considering how you recently mentioned Montgomery's zoning, which protects the rural crescent upcounty, it's kind of odd to say that Virginia is the country. Montgomery is the county that has actually preserved farms. You seem to think that the VA suburbs and the MD suburbs are like night and day, but they're really more like 11:45 and 12:15 when you compare them to the range of development patterns nationwide.

[MDguy99]

Originally Posted by vanyali

Having grown up in NOVA and moved to MD after returning to the area, I do regret it. I think NOVA has changed a lot since I grew up there, but MD to me feels like part of the greasy industrial North East. I feel like I could be in Pennsylvania, but with the DC I'm-more-important-than-you attitude.

In NOVA, I feel like I could be in the Carolinas, but also sometimes with the DC I'm-more-important-than-you attitude.

This is so not true. As much as I hate ALL of the DC suburbs, the DC suburbs of Maryland a beautiful and polished - far from "greasy". The attitudes of the people really are the "I'm-more-important-than-you" kind but in BOTH places- hate to break it to you! You seem to have a biased view and like the VA suburbs better- good for you - but to claim Maryland is "greasy" like the northeast (obviously you haven't been to New Jersey) and more haughty than VA is bogus. They are nearly identical and certainly like two sides of the same coin.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by MDguy99

This is so not true. As much as I hate ALL of the DC suburbs, the DC suburbs of Maryland a beautiful and polished - far from "greasy". The attitudes of the people really are the "I'm-more-important-than-you" kind but in BOTH places- hate to break it to you! You seem to have a biased view and like the VA suburbs better- good for you - but to claim Maryland is "greasy" like the northeast (obviously you haven't been to New Jersey) and more haughty than VA is bogus. They are nearly identical and certainly like two sides of the same coin.

Didn't Gordon Gekko say "greasy is good"?

Anyway, have lived in NJ, MD and VA at different times and the comparison isn't totally off-the-mark. I feel like I'm in a North Jersey town like Kearney or Elizabeth when I'm in Silver Spring or Wheaton, but not when I'm in NoVa.

But that's based on the physical environment. I don't think there's any appreciable difference with respect to attitudes, even if there might be with respect to politics.

[MDguy99]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Didn't Gordon Gekko say "greasy is good"?

Um, no he didn't that is my point.

Originally Posted by JEB77

Anyway, have lived in NJ, MD and VA at different times and the comparison isn't totally off-the-mark. I feel like I'm in a North Jersey town like Kearney or Elizabeth when I'm in Silver Spring or Wheaton, but not when I'm in NoVa.

I have no idea what you are talking about. I lived in North Arlington, NJ for two years and those cities you mentioned are nothing in appearance like Silver Spring, or even Wheaton for that matter. The whole North Jersey area is grimier and smellier than the Baltimore-Washington area by far. The people's attitudes are even worse than the haughtiest of metro DC residents.