What is the REAL reason people hate PG County so much?? (Bowie: real estate, crime)
Washington, DC suburbs in MarylandCalvert County, Charles County, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County
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Since becoming a member on here, I have read negative press in the PG Forums. I have moved here in 2004 to attend Graduate School at Bowie State and stayed ever since. I like the beautiful aesthetics, cultural diversity, soon to be amenities. It was refreshing to see such new developments such as National Harbor, hopefully more additions to the Woodmore Town Center, and Hyattsville Corridor. What is there to complain about?
I am under the assumption that those who speak negatively about PG County have been chewed up in the job market and/or have had difficultly making friends, or havent even lived in this area at all. These are obviously personal qualms and should not interfere with people's perceptions of PG County. I personally love this area, been here for almost 10 years. I see potential rebound in the inner beltway areas and more development in the suburban areas (Laurel, Bowie, Upper Marlboro, Brandywine) What is your opinion about the constant complaining about this place??
Yes I know I will be the "3rd Degree" from this as well
Oh, and the fact that there is a real crime problem in some locations, a lack of amenities that folks from NoVA are used to, and underperforming and poorly resourced schools.
Just keeping it real.
People don't like being minorities, so white people tend to not move here. I'm a white home owner in Fort Washington. You wouldn't' believe the racism, veiled as advice, given to me to avoid any portion of PG County.
I am a native to the county, and the negativity is usually based on comparisons of the neighboring counties as it relates to crime, economy, and school. Since those surrounding areas are considered tops in the country when people see PG it just looks a lot worst than it might actually be. I do hope things trend up for county as I purchased a home here and to always like to see growth
Since becoming a member on here, I have read negative press in the PG Forums. I have moved here in 2004 to attend Graduate School at Bowie State and stayed ever since. I like the beautiful aesthetics, cultural diversity, soon to be amenities. It was refreshing to see such new developments such as National Harbor, hopefully more additions to the Woodmore Town Center, and Hyattsville Corridor. What is there to complain about?
I am under the assumption that those who speak negatively about PG County have been chewed up in the job market and/or have had difficultly making friends, or havent even lived in this area at all. These are obviously personal qualms and should not interfere with people's perceptions of PG County. I personally love this area, been here for almost 10 years. I see potential rebound in the inner beltway areas and more development in the suburban areas (Laurel, Bowie, Upper Marlboro, Brandywine) What is your opinion about the constant complaining about this place??
Yes I know I will be the "3rd Degree" from this as well
PGC has been the red headed step child since forever....Prior to the inferences of it being a dangerous place to live due to crime and the high minority population, it was dogged because it was rural with a poor working class white population. I am not originally from the area and the contention continues to amaze me. You have people here look at PG as a cesspool but I have family and friends friends visit and they comment on how nice and affluent it is compared to other parts of the country. To answer your question it mainly has to do with the latent prejudices(economic, racial, social, etc) of society.
PGC has been the red headed step child since forever....Prior to the inferences of it being a dangerous place to live due to crime and the high minority population, it was dogged because it was rural with a poor working class white population. I am not originally from the area and the contention continues to amaze me. You have people here look at PG as a cesspool but I have family and friends friends visit and they comment on how nice and affluent it is compared to other parts of the country. To answer your question it mainly has to do with the latent prejudices(economic, racial, social, etc) of society.
This is what many people forget, when PG was majority white it was also not considered a place you wanted to be.
And the school system was one of the worst ones in the State then, too.
It's all about perspective. I know a lot of people who move to PG like yourself from another area and absolutely love it, especially for blacks. I have friends whom I went to school with that grew up in predominantly white or poor areas. Living in a place where there are wealthy black people is something that unique and is considered a dream for them. For many who haven't grown up here, PG has an attraction because of that. Then you have those who have lived in places like Northern Virginia, Montgomery County or some place similar and GENERALLY, they look down on PG because PG doesn't have quite the same quality of living. For the most part if you live in one of those places, you may be accustom to living around a lot of money, wealth, nice shops, stores, good schools, few poor people, etc. PG is different because it is a lot more economically diverse than some of those places and as a result it doesn't have the same type of overall living that those places have.
Me personally, I'm in the middle. As I was about to graduate out of college (I went to NC A&T), I really only saw myself living in PG if I moved back to the area, but I went to graduate school and as part of my fellowship I had to live in Northern VA. I honestly saw a big difference in my lifestyle and I saw it even when I was going to school in Greensboro. To me, I thought PG was a nice place, but the flaws become a lot clearer to me. Don't get me wrong, I love PG, but I also believe it hasn't lived up to it's potential. I think Rushern Baker, even though I disagree with some of his decisions, is actually doing a pretty good job and the county is slowly starting to go in the right direction. With that said, I do understand why people choose not to live in PG. If schools and crime are a concern, I do believe there are better places, but if people simply don't want to live around black people, I become very offended. I do get irritated with the stereotypes that are spoken of about the county, but at the same time, I recognize that there is quite a bit of truth in some of the criticism that the county receives.
I think honestly the only way the idea that people hate PG doesn't become as big of a stigma is if people learn to deal with differing opinions and critical opinions. People will not always agree with what is done, but if they don't it has to be looked at critically instead of assuming that every time someone says something negative has an agenda. Let's be honest, black people as a group doesn't like criticism and talking about a place that is predominantly black isn't going to make things any different. I do believe there is some absurb criticism, but honestly PG isn't as "hated" as some people may believe.
Black and brown people
Crime or the perception of crime
School or the perception of bad schools
People need to hate something and feel superior about something and want to believe that nearly 900,000 people reside in Beirut like conditions 20 miles down the road
Funny how some parts of DC were the same or worse than comparable parts of PG, yet DC is enjoying a rebirth as if it was never the murder capital of the country 25 years ago. City Under Siege ring a bell? Schools were not much better and even worse than PGC. They still are. DC was 75% black. Now you have white people walking the streets at night on Rhode Island Avenue? Petworth? 14th St.? H. St? SE near the Nationals Stadium? Yet, the chorus to avoid DC is not as loud as it is for PGC.
I do agree that there is underlying prejudice and racism. There are some who don't accept minorities having anything of value. And certainly not neighborhoods as nice or nicer than theirs. But it baffles me that the once avoidable areas of DC are all of a sudden acceptable whereas comparable areas of PGC aren't. So, there is certainly an underlying prejudice there against PGC. Can anything good come from PGC? But now there is progress and people still scoff. PGC can become a top ten county and I believe there are some who would still dog it.
And like some people said, historically,races just tend to want to be around other races. No one wants to be the minority. I think slowly, the latest generation can change that. They want to live in diverse communities.
Funny how some parts of DC were the same or worse than comparable parts of PG, yet DC is enjoying a rebirth as if it was never the murder capital of the country 25 years ago. City Under Siege ring a bell? Schools were not much better and even worse than PGC. They still are. DC was 75% black. Now you have white people walking the streets at night on Rhode Island Avenue? Petworth? 14th St.? H. St? SE near the Nationals Stadium? Yet, the chorus to avoid DC is not as loud as it is for PGC.
I do agree that there is underlying prejudice and racism. There are some who don't accept minorities having anything of value. And certainly not neighborhoods as nice or nicer than theirs. But it baffles me that the once avoidable areas of DC are all of a sudden acceptable whereas comparable areas of PGC aren't. So, there is certainly an underlying prejudice there against PGC. Can anything good come from PGC? But now there is progress and people still scoff. PGC can become a top ten county and I believe there are some who would still dog it.
And like some people said, historically,races just tend to want to be around other races. No one wants to be the minority. I think slowly, the latest generation can change that. They want to live in diverse communities.
I honestly believe many of them do research about communities and future development. I remember going to some community meetings for the Tanger Outlet Mall and the casinos, and I would say that at the meetings at least half the room was white and at one of the meetings it was almost completely white, despite the areas being discussed being predominantly black. I think people do their research and determine if a place is changing enough for them to invest in. It's smart and honestly likely due to having knowledge of real estate that likely stem back for generations. There are people who know where to invest their money at.
Funny how some parts of DC were the same or worse than comparable parts of PG, yet DC is enjoying a rebirth as if it was never the murder capital of the country 25 years ago. City Under Siege ring a bell? Schools were not much better and even worse than PGC. They still are. DC was 75% black. Now you have white people walking the streets at night on Rhode Island Avenue? Petworth? 14th St.? H. St? SE near the Nationals Stadium? Yet, the chorus to avoid DC is not as loud as it is for PGC.
I do agree that there is underlying prejudice and racism. There are some who don't accept minorities having anything of value. And certainly not neighborhoods as nice or nicer than theirs. But it baffles me that the once avoidable areas of DC are all of a sudden acceptable whereas comparable areas of PGC aren't. So, there is certainly an underlying prejudice there against PGC. Can anything good come from PGC? But now there is progress and people still scoff. PGC can become a top ten county and I believe there are some who would still dog it.
And like some people said, historically,races just tend to want to be around other races. No one wants to be the minority. I think slowly, the latest generation can change that. They want to live in diverse communities.
You'll also see them in Trinidad (Mainly the southern parts), Benning Road, U Street/Shaw, and even Anacostia.
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