Can Anybody Tell Me Anything About Capitol Heights, MD? (Bowie: section 8, for sale)

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by gmenfan85

Is capitol heights that bad of an area that you are all turning it into a racial thing? black white who ever not 1 person has answered the main question...do you recommend the area to someone who is out of town or not?

Here goes a quick short answer: No. Almost all of Capitol Heights is awful. I will say it has to rank as one of the top 5 worst places in the DC area, hands down. They are trying to develop near the Addison Road Metro Station (considered to be the town of Seat Pleasant, which has the same zip code), but they have a long way to go. As others have mentioned, the schools in Capitol Heights are horrible, has a high incident of murders, very little shopping, and is not aesthetically pleasing at all. Stay away.

[PGC301]

Originally Posted by gmenfan85

Is capitol heights that bad of an area that you are all turning it into a racial thing? black white who ever not 1 person has answered the main question...do you recommend the area to someone who is out of town or not?

No, I would not recommend it to someone from out of town who isn't familiar with the area. It's not a warzone like some people are making it out to be (no, people do not get shot there every day), but it's also not likely to be the next Adams Morgan like some others would like you to believe.

Like someone has already mentioned, Capitol Heights takes up alot of area. The actual town itself is fairly tiny, but most of the surrounding areas (Coral Hills, Pepper Mill, Walker Mill, etc) are usually considered to be Capitol Heights and use Capitol Heights mailing addresses. Even Fairmount Heights and Seat Pleasant use Capitol Heights addresses and they are their own incorporated city/town. Since the town itself is very small and the town limits are kind of strange, if you don't know the area its very difficult to tell if you are actually in the town itself or one of the surrounding areas.

This map shows the location of every homicide in Capitol Heights (and the rest of PG County) from 2005-2009...All murders in Prince George's County, MD 2005-2009. You can see that in some areas, violent crime is a continuing problem (like Marlboro Pike outside the DC line, the Central Gardens area- Central Ave/Cindy Lane), while other areas like Brooke Road and Rollins Ave haven't had a murder in over 5 years.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by PGC301

No, I would not recommend it to someone from out of town who isn't familiar with the area. It's not a warzone like some people are making it out to be (no, people do not get shot there every day), but it's also not likely to be the next Adams Morgan like some others would like you to believe.

Like someone has already mentioned, Capitol Heights takes up alot of area. The actual town itself is fairly tiny, but most of the surrounding areas (Coral Hills, Pepper Mill, Walker Mill, etc) are usually considered to be Capitol Heights and use Capitol Heights mailing addresses. Even Fairmount Heights and Seat Pleasant use Capitol Heights addresses and they are their own incorporated city/town. Since the town itself is very small and the town limits are kind of strange, if you don't know the area its very difficult to tell if you are actually in the town itself or one of the surrounding areas.

This map shows the location of every homicide in Capitol Heights (and the rest of PG County) from 2005-2009...All murders in Prince George's County, MD 2005-2009. You can see that in some areas, violent crime is a continuing problem (like Marlboro Pike outside the DC line, the Central Gardens area- Central Ave/Cindy Lane), while other areas like Brooke Road and Rollins Ave haven't had a murder in over 5 years.

That's the only nice part of Capitol Heights imo. It is very nice over there, but the schools in the area still leave a lot to be desired.

[Binsky]

I live in Coral Hills (same zip as C. Heights) and have for 9 years. Never experienced any problems, except for some brats (from D.C.) who broke my window once. Then again, my street is quiet.

Capitol Heights (area code 20743) is HUGE and typically, the closer you are to DC, the more problems you'll encounter.

[stupes]

What?!?!? By your own definition, and I quote, "Anyone who uses the term "ghetho" is sketchy and a subtle or blatant racist.
A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background or united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion." Capitol Heights WOULD be considered a Ghetto. 92.84% of its residents are Black. Sounds like a group of like people living together to me.

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by PGC301

No, I would not recommend it to someone from out of town who isn't familiar with the area. It's not a warzone like some people are making it out to be (no, people do not get shot there every day), but it's also not likely to be the next Adams Morgan like some others would like you to believe.

Like someone has already mentioned, Capitol Heights takes up alot of area. The actual town itself is fairly tiny, but most of the surrounding areas (Coral Hills, Pepper Mill, Walker Mill, etc) are usually considered to be Capitol Heights and use Capitol Heights mailing addresses. Even Fairmount Heights and Seat Pleasant use Capitol Heights addresses and they are their own incorporated city/town. Since the town itself is very small and the town limits are kind of strange, if you don't know the area its very difficult to tell if you are actually in the town itself or one of the surrounding areas.

This map shows the location of every homicide in Capitol Heights (and the rest of PG County) from 2005-2009...All murders in Prince George's County, MD 2005-2009. You can see that in some areas, violent crime is a continuing problem (like Marlboro Pike outside the DC line, the Central Gardens area- Central Ave/Cindy Lane), while other areas like Brooke Road and Rollins Ave haven't had a murder in over 5 years.

Thanks for the map.

[Shadowlynx]

No - stay far away! I went to school there for a couple of years (Central Highschool) but ended up transferring, had family that tried to live there (Fox Glen, Joel), and have a few old teammates there and in surrounding areas (Walker Mill Rd, Central Avenue, Seat Pleasant Area). Every county has its "bad" part, and the Capitol Heights area is the "bad" part of PG. It is very run-down, and yes, very Ghetto (don't get offended - it is what it is, and those of you who live there know what it is). The schools are extremely bad (hence the reason why I ended up transferring), and most of the nonsense from SE DC filters over into the area. There is a lot of crime and gang activity, and the area is always on the evening news for some bad reason or another, though not always for murders. To be fair, a large portion of the crime is committed by people from SE DC that come over into the area, do something stupid, then run back into SE DC.

Overall, bad area located on the wrong side of DC. Horrible schools, lots of drugs, lots of crime, and a lot of thug culture. If you're into that kind of stuff, then you'll feel right at home. If not, then you'll hate it, and you'll be better off going to NOVA, NOMD, MoCo, or other parts of PG. The only redeeming quality I can think of is the close proximity to the jobs in DC, but you can live in much better areas around DC than Capitol Heights and still be close to the jobs.

[ATL_II_DMV]

I wouldn't recommend moving to Capitol Heights, but there are parts of the town that you won't have any problems in. Don't go to certain streets like Larchemont and a few others.

Actually Largo and Upper Marlboro are a little further east down Central Ave and those towns are much nicer.

Basically, the further you go towards DC in Capitol Heights, the closer you may to be higher concentrated crime areas

[DC2PG]

Originally Posted by lscalder

Your friend made a wise decision on moving to capiol Heights because they will get a lot of property appreciation. The county is building new shopping center and developers are building in the area. I know people are loosing property value but not in Capitol Heights. Home Owners in Capitol Heights are gaining value. I have a client who purchase a home one month ago and the value just went up $30,000 in one month.

5 years later... dont see any change!

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by lscalder

Capital Heights is on the up and coming. I am 115 pounds 5 3" and have no problem with walking around the area. I have clients who are purchasing homes in this area so I do walk around the area with my client or by myself and have no problem. Crimes in school are all over because I went to High school in Montgomery County in Olney and majority of the white kids were on crack. When a white student had a party it was nothing but alcohol and drugs. People try to make it seem like white children are 100% perfect and black children are the only ones with problem. Let’s talk about all the white kids and only white kids who either make bombs or shoot up their schools. SO please lets get off the race issue because we can go on and on about how crazy white people are. White people scared the crap out of me because I see them all as crazy and suicidal. When a white person get fired at their jobs I always tell my friend stay at home because you know they will get a gun and shoot up the entire company.

Your friend made a wise decision on moving to capiol Heights because they will get a lot of property appreciation. The county is building new shopping center and developers are building in the area. I know people are loosing property value but not in Capitol Heights. Home Owners in Capitol Heights are gaining value. I have a client who purchase a home one month ago and the value just went up $30,000 in one month.

Originally Posted by DC2PG

5 years later... dont see any change!

It's kind of cool to read the real estate boom and bust real time via these threads. Her client made 30K on a real estate transaction in Capitol Heights and from there she assumes it will be smooth sailing from there.
Meanwhile she dismissed the fundamentals as to why the area may not be such a hidden gem after all.