College Park Starts a Marketing Campaign (New Market: high crime, university, quality of life)

[adelphi_sky]

Not a bad idea.

New Marketing Website

College Park Starts Marketing Campaign – A Smart Place to Live | KabirCares.org

The media push is currently taking place and will run through the end of June, while the City can supplement the campaign in a variety of other ways over time.

In regards to the media portion, the City has put together a portfolio of the ad work for everyone to see. The portfolio shows the ads, their run dates, and the publication they appeared in.

Additionally, an ad appeared on last Tuesday’s edition of the Express, which is distributed at Metro stations and other high density spots around the region.

[JBPisgah]

This will work great until people visit and see the reality. Poor Maryland.

[Khemistry]

Originally Posted by JBPisgah

This will work great until people visit and see the reality. Poor Maryland.

And what reality would that be? Maryland being one of the better states to live?? Other than Maryland being overly (almost sickeningly) liberal, proponents for constant taxation, and a haven for illegals... since so many people don't take issues with at least two of the three aforementioned, I don't see what the problem will be.

[JBPisgah]

Originally Posted by Khemistry

And what reality would that be? Maryland being one of the better states to live?? Other than Maryland being overly (almost sickeningly) liberal, proponents for constant taxation, and a haven for illegals... since so many people don't take issues with at least two of the three aforementioned, I don't see what the problem will be.

The reality of urban Maryland? High crime, for one. And insane cost of living. Gee, this is really shooting fish in a barrel...dysfunctional government, surly workers, gridlocked traffic, rudeness and incivility, a lack of community, extreme poverty, massive wealth and education gaps between haves and have not, extensive privatized natural areas with no public access, crowding, racial tension, sprawl, a dearth of quaint/interesting historic towns. I'm not even breaking a sweat, here.

But this thread is about College Park, so I would just say, to be fair, that in the context of the DC area and MD - where this ad is geared to - College Park has some things going for it. It's pretty lame compared to most university towns I've been to and/or lived in, but for this area, given all of the above, it has real advantages. I choose to live here and I like quite a few things about it. I just think that and the focus should be raising the bar, and I suppose that selling itself is part of that. But CP has a long way to go to get close to its peers outside of your "better state." The town surrounding a premier public university really should be better and there's still a long way to go.

[Zimar]

Originally Posted by JBPisgah

The reality of urban Maryland? High crime, for one. And insane cost of living. Gee, this is really shooting fish in a barrel...dysfunctional government, surly workers, gridlocked traffic, rudeness and incivility, a lack of community, extreme poverty, massive wealth and education gaps between haves and have not, extensive privatized natural areas with no public access, crowding, racial tension, sprawl, a dearth of quaint/interesting historic towns. I'm not even breaking a sweat, here.

Most of the above applies to the District, and even Northern Virginia. Maybe you just don't like this region? Different strokes for different folks!

[JBPisgah]

Originally Posted by Zimar

Most of the above applies to the District, and even Northern Virginia. Maybe you just don't like this region? Different strokes for different folks!

Exactly my point: CP does have something to offer when compared to it's neighbors, which is what the ad is getting at. When compared to many of it's peer university towns, it's pretty lame. As far as claiming to like crime, traffic, expense, surliness and so on, different strokes indeed. I'd just note that I didn't see any of these touted in the ad.

[Zimar]

Originally Posted by JBPisgah

Exactly my point: CP does have something to offer when compared to it's neighbors, which is what the ad is getting at. When compared to many of it's peer university towns, it's pretty lame. As far as claiming to like crime, traffic, expense, surliness and so on, different strokes indeed. I'd just note that I didn't see any of these touted in the ad.

This is an urban area. Crime, traffic, expense, and surliness are pretty typical of urban areas. If you're not getting any benefit (like higher pay, culture, proximity to amenities) to balance it out, you should probably just live somewhere where you'll be happy and spare us your own surliness.

[JBPisgah]

Originally Posted by Zimar

This is an urban area. Crime, traffic, expense, and surliness are pretty typical of urban areas. If you're not getting any benefit (like higher pay, culture, proximity to amenities) to balance it out, you should probably just live somewhere where you'll be happy and spare us your own surliness.

Your generalization about urban areas applies to some areas, but not nearly to all. I'm sorry you haven't experienced an area with higher quality of life than the DC metro. The good news is that you can. They aren't hard to find.

[Zimar]

Originally Posted by JBPisgah

Your generalization about urban areas applies to some areas, but not nearly to all. I'm sorry you haven't experienced an area with higher quality of life than the DC metro. The good news is that you can. They aren't hard to find.

It's not "higher," or "lower," it's different. This area has more vitality than a lot of cheaper, emptier, traffic-free regions. I've had enough of this "wahh MD does not conform to my standards of a utopia wahhh," stuff.

[JBPisgah]

I agree that the DC area has a lot of vitality, huge amounts, and that CP offers a nice setting close to DC. Unfortunately, the vitality university towns often have gets sucked away to DC, while some of the low quality of life aspects of PG County and the larger DC area waft in.