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You’re partly correct in thinking that PG needs more jobs in the area in order to obtain additional budgetary revenue. However, I made the same mistake in thinking that businesses and corporations typically represent the bulk of city and state revenues. Philly for example, funds the bulk of their city’s budget through wage taxes. The city taxes residents about 3.9% and commuters/non-residents about 3.5%, give or take. These taxes alone represent over 42% of the city’s revenue. If you use NYC as another example, the city gets the bulk of its revenue from resident property taxes. Corporations and other businesses bring NYC 78% less revenue than money it receives from resident property taxes.
So while I agree with you that PG would be much better off if the leaders were able to attract more businesses and high paying jobs, their presence would not directly influence the county’s budget. But there would be some indirect benefits and they would most likely manifest themselves in ways that would certainly increase county revenues. I would imagine that more high paying jobs in PG would create an increase in demand for housing since people would naturally want to live as close to their job as possible. A sudden increase in demand for PG real estate would obviously lead to higher property values which would then increase the amount the county could charge for property taxes.
Right its all part of a system. Take the car companies out of Detroit or take the Steel mills out of Pittsburgh or Bmore and empirically we have watched them suffer because in the end.....tax revenues go down and people flee.
Jobs and trade are the foundations of any area.
I am impressed that PG hasn't imploded on itself, but I think that DC is providing enough "sustinance" for the area to keep it in its zombie like state (sorry for the harsh words, but I was a very agitated resident).
Manhattan was once a hellhole but when the jobs came, so did homebuyers and investors. In short: If PG doesn't get jobs then nothing will change. Schools and crime don't matter to improving an area if it has no jobs.
I will bet that's true. And it's not just DC bureaucracy.
I would amend that to say the problem is poor culture that doesn't value education.
I would amend that and say that it is a selfish,lazy, jealous parenting culture. I would argue that there are many poor people who value education and want better for their kids than what they have. I was poor growing up and education was valued. We see first generation college kids every day. I think the problem is that some parents are just lazy and don't care. They are apathetic and usually don't hold degrees themselves. Others are selfish. Misery loves company. They feel that if their kids excel, their kids will perceive them differently. Weird, but it happens. And other parents are just selfish. They put everything else ahead of education for their children whether it be material things, time, or money.
I agree. Fairfax and Loundon County are suburbs and are even further from DC than PG is from many points. Yet the Dulles Corridor is ranked #4 nationally in terms of commercial sq. footage.
Certainly I'm not saying PG needs or can even get to that level but it should be able to attract considerable private commerical investment just based on it's proximity to DC and the fact 15 metro stations exist within their borders. I'm always amazed how much open land there is by Largo metro for example, it's a pity really.
In this regard I think PG has an excellent opporunity in that it is not all built up and out yet. PG can take advantange of the new smart growth initiative and really build out the rest of the county the right way as far as parks, bike paths, walkability, and green/farm space. We see that now with new town centers, bike shares, and a focus on pedestrian friendly developments near metro stations. That wasn't the focus of many developments 20 to 30 years ago. So, in this sense, it may be good to be last? PG can take advantage of the mistakes of other jurisdictions.
I actually believe the schools are more or less fine but to put it bluntly black culture is the problem.
I have to disagree with you there. It's not a racial culture, it's a mindset culture. Lack of educational priority can be had in all races. There has been a rise in the culture of educational apathy whether it comes from giving up due to bureaucracies, a devaluation of education, or just plain bad parenting. I don't think race has anything to do with it. I always listen to my parents, aunts and uncles tell stories about how education was top priority even though they were poor. Every single one of them went to college by hook or by crook. They wouldn't think of coming home without a degree. In the 50s and 60s, I think poor blacks saw education as a way out. Not so much these days. So, I wouldn't say it's a black culture.
I would amend that and say that it is a selfish,lazy, jealous parenting culture. I would argue that there are many poor people who value education and want better for their kids than what they have. I was poor growing up and education was valued. We see first generation college kids every day. I think the problem is that some parents are just lazy and don't care. They are apathetic and usually don't hold degrees themselves. Others are selfish. Misery loves company. They feel that if their kids excel, their kids will perceive them differently. Weird, but it happens. And other parents are just selfish. They put everything else ahead of education for their children whether it be material things, time, or money.
I have to disagree with you there. It's not a racial culture, it's a mindset culture. Lack of educational priority can be had in all races. There has been a rise in the culture of educational apathy whether it comes from giving up due to bureaucracies, a devaluation of education, or just plain bad parenting. I don't think race has anything to do with it. I always listen to my parents, aunts and uncles tell stories about how education was top priority even though they were poor. Every single one of them went to college by hook or by crook. They wouldn't think of coming home without a degree. In the 50s and 60s, I think poor blacks saw education as a way out. Not so much these days. So, I wouldn't say it's a black culture.
Maybe it's a bit of both. Inside black culture there is bit of poverty sticken mindset, but I agree it is in no means exclusive to the black culture. Let's put it in perspective. If you grow up poor, parents are uneducated, had you while they were a teenager, get government funding of some sort and devalue their children, there's a chance that their children will repeat that pattern.
I saw a story last year that there was a high school in Memphis that had 90, yes 90 girls who were pregnant or had children. It got so bad that the mayor and other city officials stepped in and started initiatives to prevent this from happening. Now let's sit back and think about this for a second, we know teenagers have sex and that girls getting pregnant isn't unusual but it certainly is unusual to have this high rate of it. But if your parents did the same thing, you've never experienced anything different, never saw a better example of how you can be, and you aren't being encouraged to be better than why would these kids act any different than their kids?
To relate this to PG County and the main topic, I truly believe that parents here are more concerned about status than emphasizing education and the effects are similar to those parents who aren't educated and don't see the value in it. Many people who live here are insecure and feel the need to 'prove' that they have made it. I seen this mentality a lot from people that I went to school with and I went to two HBCUs (A&T, Howard). Sometimes I believe we feel as though we have to show 'the man' that we have made it as a race and we forget what this is all about. I can't tell you how many classmates I've had who have had parents who were doctors, lawyers, high ranking government officials, who had kids and they brought those kids all the name brand clothes and new Jordans while their kids are failing. Is education important? This doesn't apply to all black people here, I know my brother and I are a huge exception, but it happens enough that it is a subculture in Prince George's County and in my opinion contributes to poor performance at schools in middle to upper middle class neighborhoods.
I have to disagree with you there. It's not a racial culture, it's a mindset culture. Lack of educational priority can be had in all races. There has been a rise in the culture of educational apathy whether it comes from giving up due to bureaucracies, a devaluation of education, or just plain bad parenting. I don't think race has anything to do with it. I always listen to my parents, aunts and uncles tell stories about how education was top priority even though they were poor. Every single one of them went to college by hook or by crook. They wouldn't think of coming home without a degree. In the 50s and 60s, I think poor blacks saw education as a way out. Not so much these days. So, I wouldn't say it's a black culture.
Agree with you 100%. My father would tell me constantly about what he had to go through to put himself through college back in the late 60’s. He grew up very poor and convinced himself that an education was the only way out. He referenced his life’s experience to teach me how important education was. I don’t get the feeling that this type of conversation is the norm now.
I have no clue of what the prevailing sentiment is with regard to education among the different cultures, but since I’m black I tend to focus on this issue as it pertains to black people. I just don’t want to see my people miss the boat on opportunities because of a failure to recognize the value of a good education. It kind of turns me off a little bit when I see folks throw huge parties and rent expensive limousines as a celebratory gift for young kids upon graduating high school. I may be in the minority, but I think it sends the wrong message when kids get the biggest party of their young lives for simply graduating high school. As a parent, I have much higher expectations for my children.
I honestly don’t have an answer to how we can get children to understand the value of a good education when there are so many other outside influences that seem to suggest otherwise. With the “No Child Left Behind” laws that are around, schools aren’t even allowed to identify and separate high performing children from the low performing children because it would be considered profiling which is a no-no. Even in instances where the behavior of some students impedes the progress of the rest of the class, a teacher may not single out those students and separate them from the rest of the group. This sets up a dynamic in which teachers have to ignore the reality that in every class there are bright children and children that underachieve. With “No Child Left Behind” the only thing that matters is that all children achieve the minimum standards set forth by the government; which most would agree are pretty low. With such low standards to meet, the students who need to be challenged are left uncultivated because by law the teachers must spend most of their time making sure that a certain percentage of the student body meets the AYP standard.
If education isn’t valued at home and we operate under the assumption that schools aren’t capable of awakening the desire to be educated, what is left? With regard to PG schools I don’t think it’s impossible to make significant change. But with the current set of guidelines in place, it will take an extraordinary effort to revamp a school system that has such a recognized history of poor performance.
I have an anecdotal story. There was a foreclosed house in our "hood" in Camp Springs. Camp Springs still has a few white people. The home's lawn was pretty much going to seed with about 3ft high grass.
One day a few months ago on my way to work. I saw this white woman in the middle of the street taking pictures of the home. I suspect she was a neighborhood resident at any rate within a few days the home was mowed and landscaped.
She probably contacted the bank that owns the property, read them the riot act and they came out and addressed it. Again this goes back to culture and I'm guilty of it too. Sometime we (Blacks) see a problem and we think, "well someone else will take care of it" or "it's not my problem" but it is are problem.
I suspect some of that is going on in the linked article, apathy.
Agree with you 100%. My father would tell me constantly about what he had to go through to put himself through college back in the late 60’s. He grew up very poor and convinced himself that an education was the only way out. He referenced his life’s experience to teach me how important education was. I don’t get the feeling that this type of conversation is the norm now.
I have no clue of what the prevailing sentiment is with regard to education among the different cultures, but since I’m black I tend to focus on this issue as it pertains to black people. I just don’t want to see my people miss the boat on opportunities because of a failure to recognize the value of a good education. It kind of turns me off a little bit when I see folks throw huge parties and rent expensive limousines as a celebratory gift for young kids upon graduating high school. I may be in the minority, but I think it sends the wrong message when kids get the biggest party of their young lives for simply graduating high school. As a parent, I have much higher expectations for my children.
I honestly don’t have an answer to how we can get children to understand the value of a good education when there are so many other outside influences that seem to suggest otherwise. With the “No Child Left Behind” laws that are around, schools aren’t even allowed to identify and separate high performing children from the low performing children because it would be considered profiling which is a no-no. Even in instances where the behavior of some students impedes the progress of the rest of the class, a teacher may not single out those students and separate them from the rest of the group. This sets up a dynamic in which teachers have to ignore the reality that in every class there are bright children and children that underachieve. With “No Child Left Behind” the only thing that matters is that all children achieve the minimum standards set forth by the government; which most would agree are pretty low. With such low standards to meet, the students who need to be challenged are left uncultivated because by law the teachers must spend most of their time making sure that a certain percentage of the student body meets the AYP standard.
If education isn’t valued at home and we operate under the assumption that schools aren’t capable of awakening the desire to be educated, what is left? With regard to PG schools I don’t think it’s impossible to make significant change. But with the current set of guidelines in place, it will take an extraordinary effort to revamp a school system that has such a recognized history of poor performance.
You maybe in the minority but you are not alone in that sentiment. My mom and dad being from Africa couldn't understand why the parents of my classmates made a big deal about graduating from high school. From their perspective it was expected and nothing to go all out for.
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