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When your kid brings you home bad grades, and you pop a gasket, should his response be "How do you know I am not already making straigh As this quarter"
Tell that to the kids of the 80s and 90s that grew up in lackluster conditions here in the county "just wait....something is coming"
Hope is not a plan. We need action.
If I am waiting until my kid brings home the bad grades then that is questionable parenting. I know what my child's weaknesses are be it in school or home and work with him on an ongoing basis. That said if he comes home with that response my retort would be that the record doesn't reflect otherwise. IF there is an error of some kind we need to address it. The same goes for being a citizen of this county. I am not a reactive person by any means and I would recommend that practice being proactive with assisting the county achieve its economic development goals if you don't like what they are doing. Those that grew up here and don't recognize that some things have gotten better over time need to take an honest look at what they are doing to facilitate change that is more productive than complaining with no action or substance behind it.
If I am waiting until my kid brings home the bad grades then that is questionable parenting. I know what my child's weaknesses are be it in school or home and work with him on an ongoing basis. That said if he comes home with that response my retort would be that the record doesn't reflect otherwise. IF there is an error of some kind we need to address it. The same goes for being a citizen of this county. I am not a reactive person by any means and I would recommend that practice being proactive with assisting the county achieve its economic development goals if you don't like what they are doing. Those that grew up here and don't recognize that some things have gotten better over time need to take an honest look at what they are doing to facilitate change that is more productive than complaining with no action or substance behind it.
I wish I did have the power to make quick and decisive change in PG. Here is what I would do:
1. Form an official partnership/agreement with NOVA and MoCo we all shouldn't be trying to do it alone
2. Decrease the hell out of corporate taxes (if it takes cutting entitlement programs, then so be it)
3. File a formal complaint about the over abundance of Federal jobs in MoCo and NOVA and how there is no presence in PG
4. Slow the building of single family homes, and drive high rise areas (akin to Silver Spring), Greenbelt and College Park shouldn't be the only two "downtown" areas. SFH areas with no corporation support do very little for the county.
5. Construction of "Satellite" offices of government agencies (example: National Science Foundation in Arlington, give them an office space in Greenbelt, and allow individuals that live in the county to commute there)
I hear you loud and clear "Don't just talk about it....do something" but with the plans I have, that takes power and control, and that's stuff I don't have. I could also just move to NOVA and be done with it all, but PG is home.....
they band together to vote down gay marriage (black church) and vote for a casino. Great job PG!
This is absolutely not true. The gay marriage vote was 51-49 in PG. This was not really a cohesive effort by the black church. There was a huge variance of views on both issues amongst black churches in the county which is probably one of the reason why the law was able to pass. The view of gay marriage amongst the black church has changed depending on the kind of church you go to. Also the divide was the same for casinos. You have some that supported it and some that did not. The views of these issues were not a monolithic as you make them appear.
Again no one is saying that a casino is going to be the end all for the county. To that point no one effort being the corporations or government agencies are going to fix things. It will take a several efforts to turn around the perceptions and realities of the county. The question I ask you is how do you know that the county is not trying to lure other corporations and government agencies to the county or reduce the foreclosure rate, or high crime and the rest of your wish list. .Just because the media doesn't focus on these things doesn't mean that they are not happening. This county is large and diverse enough to have several types of industries including the casino that you are obviously against. Also though PG did vote down gay marriage it wasn't by much (4000 votes). A much narrower gap than what was polled earlier in the year. It should also be noted that, if you look at it district by district within the county the percentage of the margin that voted against it were significantly smaller than they county as a whole. As for what others are saying about PG, at the end of the day who cares.Are we to define ourselves by what others say? The reality is that you can complain about any state, city, county or neighborhood anywhere in the metro area. If the county is not meeting your expectations then become active in changing it or move to one of the areas that your admire.
I agree. There are many people in NoVA that think that PG County is a complete slum, and they don't know that there is such a variance of good and bad area. At times some of the criticism comes from people who rarely ever come to this side of the area. I don't give it much weight even though we should still have a higher expectations of what this county is.
I wish I did have the power to make quick and decisive change in PG. Here is what I would do:
1. Form an official partnership/agreement with NOVA and MoCo we all shouldn't be trying to do it alone
2. Decrease the hell out of corporate taxes (if it takes cutting entitlement programs, then so be it)
3. File a formal complaint about the over abundance of Federal jobs in MoCo and NOVA and how there is no presence in PG
4. Slow the building of single family homes, and drive high rise areas (akin to Silver Spring), Greenbelt and College Park shouldn't be the only two "downtown" areas. SFH areas with no corporation support do very little for the county.
5. Construction of "Satellite" offices of government agencies (example: National Science Foundation in Arlington, give them an office space in Greenbelt, and allow individuals that live in the county to commute there)
I hear you loud and clear "Don't just talk about it....do something" but with the plans I have, that takes power and control, and that's stuff I don't have. I could also just move to NOVA and be done with it all, but PG is home.....
This has been beaten to death but it's obvious that the government doesn't want to have employees around crime and bad schools. They aren't going to ever admit it, but it's obvious. I think the best thing PG can do is to tackle these issues better (as they have been so far) and see where it gets us in a few years.
I wish I did have the power to make quick and decisive change in PG. Here is what I would do:
1. Form an official partnership/agreement with NOVA and MoCo we all shouldn't be trying to do it alone
2. Decrease the hell out of corporate taxes (if it takes cutting entitlement programs, then so be it)
3. File a formal complaint about the over abundance of Federal jobs in MoCo and NOVA and how there is no presence in PG
4. Slow the building of single family homes, and drive high rise areas (akin to Silver Spring), Greenbelt and College Park shouldn't be the only two "downtown" areas. SFH areas with no corporation support do very little for the county.
5. Construction of "Satellite" offices of government agencies (example: National Science Foundation in Arlington, give them an office space in Greenbelt, and allow individuals that live in the county to commute there)
I hear you loud and clear "Don't just talk about it....do something" but with the plans I have, that takes power and control, and that's stuff I don't have. I could also just move to NOVA and be done with it all, but PG is home.....
those are pretty solid changes and if you ran for a political position in the county, you could have the influence to incite the change you would like to see. You could also be a community activist but that doesn't guarantee the ability to influence change. As for your suggestions.
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1. Form an official partnership/agreement with NOVA and MoCo we all shouldn't be trying to do it alone
That is a good idea and is already in place for some transportation issues and law enforcement efforts. The biggest problem with forming these partnerships is who pays for what. For example, Maryland/PG has been talking to NOVA for years about developing a alternative mass transportation option (metro, LRT, BRT) to cross over the WWB. Great idea and would reduce the carbon footprint while increasing the quality of life for MD and VA. What has been the hold up? Money and who pays for what.
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2. Decrease the hell out of corporate taxes (if it takes cutting entitlement programs, then so be it)
Agree 100%. Right now MD tax rate is 2% more than VA with not that much more to offer. If you were a corporation, you could increase your profits by 2% just by crossing the Potomac. That doesn't include the other incentives that help stimulate business. Conversely, DC's tax rate is about 9.99 percent. But they have the advantage of being the reason why this area exist and where most businesses want to be in or near. As for MD, if we created special tax districts that reduced the corporate taxes for high need areas by a quarter of a percent lower than VA we could go a long way in stimulating business growth. As a side note the Tax Foundation identifies MD as one of the worst places for corporations in 2013.
The 10 lowest ranked, or worst, states in this year’s Index are:
Maryland
Iowa
Wisconsin
North Carolina
Minnesota
Rhode Island
Vermont
California
New Jersey
New York
3. File a formal complaint about the over abundance of Federal jobs in MoCo and NOVA and how there is no presence in PG
I am not sure what that will do in the long run and there are other ways to build that relationship. Remember that PGC suffers from a long history of corruption and fraud. Some of those issues come from the misappropriation of government funds. Like him or not, Baker coming into office has begun the process of changing the perception of the county. The recent ethics office that has been establish is a good public nod to saying we are trying to change. Hopefully that will change but with the downsizing of gov't, the real push will need to involve pursuing other industries as will as creating lucrative incubators for high growth industries. And for the record there is a presence of Gov't agencies in PG (Census, NOAA, Agriculture, etc.), we just want that presence to be stronger.
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4. Slow the building of single family homes, and drive high rise areas (akin to Silver Spring), Greenbelt and College Park shouldn't be the only two "downtown" areas. SFH areas with no corporation support do very little for the county.
Agreed. I think that there are some indicators of change though. Konterra, National Harbor, Hyattesville and the future downtown Oxon Hill are all being positioned as urban centers but that process is going to take time to implement. We will have to see what pans out over the next decade.
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5. Construction of "Satellite" offices of government agencies (example: National Science Foundation in Arlington, give them an office space in Greenbelt, and allow individuals that live in the county to commute there).
The feds are moving more towards teleworking than increasing the amount of square footage in their portfolio. That said the only thing I could see them reasonably doing is increasing the number of telework centers.
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I hear you loud and clear "Don't just talk about it....do something" but with the plans I have, that takes power and control, and that's stuff I don't have. I could also just move to NOVA and be done with it all, but PG is home.....
It may take power and control but that doesn't mean that you can acquire them. Also, don't under-estimate the power of influence. You don't have be a leader to affect change. It may take time to build those qualities but it can be done. As much as we may want things to change immediately, it all takes time.
I agree. There are many people in NoVA that think that PG County is a complete slum, and they don't know that there is such a variance of good and bad area. At times some of the criticism comes from people who rarely ever come to this side of the area. I don't give it much weight even though we should still have a higher expectations of what this county is.
Agreed and that also demonstrates how simple people can be. Its funny how people can talk down about PGC when there are areas in Alexandria, Annandale, Woodbridge, etc. that are just as bad if not worse than troubled PG areas.
Actually the waterfront redevelopment in Alexandria is their version of the National Harbor. Same with the Wharf in DC. Both those projects were fast tracked when they saw the success of the National Harbor in the DC market.
I have been going to the waterfront behind the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria for decades. How long has the Charthouse restaurant been where it is? They built those $$$$ town homes on the water 20 years ago. I went for a boat ride with a buddy this past July 4th and we put out at Ft Washington. We went to NH and Old Town. NH was dead in comparison as there were people all over the waterfront in Alex. We didn't make it up to Georgetown because we were in a small speedboat and the water was too rough from the number of boats on the river.
I have been going to the waterfront behind the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria for decades. How long has the Charthouse restaurant been where it is? They built those $$$$ town homes on the water 20 years ago. I went for a boat ride with a buddy this past July 4th and we put out at Ft Washington. We went to NH and Old Town. NH was dead in comparison as there were people all over the waterfront in Alex. We didn't make it up to Georgetown because we were in a small speedboat and the water was too rough from the number of boats on the river.
I didn't say that Alex's or DC's waterfronts don't draw crowds. What I said was the National Harbor developments success has prompted them to jump start their projects. How each is currently used has not capitalized on the desired revenues for the cities. Essentially they are spending more money maintaining those areas than what is being generated. This has especially been the case with Alexva. The plan that they approved for the waterfront, allows for the additions of hotels closer to the water, condos and rentals, retail, and more restaurants. Some of the residents are not happy about what is being planned and have taken the city council to court. They want it to be developed as green space, parks, and museums. The city council counters that such a development would be too costly to maintain given the city's strained resources. The next year or two will determine how that plays out. Bottom line is that the National Harbor demonstrated to them that redeveloping their waterfronts in a similar fashion as the NH will be very lucrative.
I didn't say that Alex's or DC's waterfronts don't draw crowds. What I said was the National Harbor developments success has prompted them to jump start their projects. How each is currently used has not capitalized on the desired revenues for the cities. Essentially they are spending more money maintaining those areas than what is being generated. This has especially been the case with Alexva. The plan that they approved for the waterfront, allows for the additions of hotels closer to the water, condos and rentals, retail, and more restaurants. Some of the residents are not happy about what is being planned and have taken the city council to court. They want it to be developed as green space, parks, and museums. The city council counters that such a development would be too costly to maintain given the city's strained resources. The next year or two will determine how that plays out. Bottom line is that the National Harbor demonstrated to them that redeveloping their waterfronts in a similar fashion as the NH will be very lucrative.
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. Its funny how people can talk down about PGC when there are areas in Alexandria, Annandale, Woodbridge, etc. that are just as bad if not worse than troubled PG areas.
