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I read the first couple of posts, but decided the rest would be too much for this evening. Here are some comments I have about PGC:
1. It kind of sucks. Not totally, but quite a bit. When we moved here from the central coast of CA about two years ago, we were appalled by the slums of PG county. I've lived in three of the nation's ten biggest cities in the country, plus the biggest cities in two other states, and never have I seen slums like this--not even when I've been in the worst those cities had to offer.
2. There are semi-okay parts. I work in College Park, so I commute through most of the nice parts of PG on my way to work. I actually wouldn't mind living in Adelphi or northern/eastern CP if my kid(s) had the option of going to a better school.
3. The schools are terrible. We looked at Upper Marlboro, Hyattsville, Beltsville, Adelphi, College Park, Laurel, and Bowie in our house hunt, and none of them had good public schools at all. I've never once seen schools that were so bad, but it seems that people think it's almost a given that one must send kids to private school in order for them to get so much as a respectable education. That's not normal, nor should it be. That's failure on the part of the county.
4. The "richest black county in America" card is kind of dumb. Race is unimportant to me, as it should be to just about everyone, and really, what does "black county" or "African-American county" mean anyway? Does it mean there are more black people than any other race in the county? In consideration of that, look at where PG actually ranks among the richest counties in the US. It's not even in the top 250. So apparently it's not even all that affluent, despite being in an area with some of the highest costs of living in the nation. There are four Maryland counties in the top 100 wealthiest counties in the nation: Montgomery (#14), Howard (#29), Talbot (#71), and Anne Arundel (#83). These can change somewhat depending on whether one is considering median per-capita income, median household income (in which case Howard is highest among Maryland counties, and Prince Charles is also on the list), or median personal income, but PG isn't anywhere near any of the lists. In fact, in terms of per capita personal income, PG is 284th among counties in the United States. I suggest people stop waving the banner of ostensible PGC wealth.
5. The income that PG does have does in fact fall well short of offsetting the high cost of living within the county. Making $100,000 a year means living in a modest 3BR/2BA house in PGC. Making $40,000 a year in Wichita, KS means living in a 4BR/2BA house with probably an acre of land and possibly a pool, while making $100,000 there means a pretty nice spread.
6. I have a close friend who works homicide for PGC police, and she's pretty much confirmed that there's no way a sane person could rationalize away the sheer numbers coming from that division.
In short, I sure as heck wouldn't buy in PGC if I had any hopes of gaining decent equity over the next decade while raising a young family, which was exactly my goal when I was house-hunting. I did research for more than a year prior to moving to Maryland, and it still looks like my top places, none of which were in PGC, were the right ones to consider.
I read the first couple of posts, but decided the rest would be too much for this evening. Here are some comments I have about PGC:
1. It kind of sucks. Not totally, but quite a bit. When we moved here from the central coast of CA about two years ago, we were appalled by the slums of PG county. I've lived in three of the nation's ten biggest cities in the country, plus the biggest cities in two other states, and never have I seen slums like this--not even when I've been in the worst those cities had to offer.
2. There are semi-okay parts. I work in College Park, so I commute through most of the nice parts of PG on my way to work. I actually wouldn't mind living in Adelphi or northern/eastern CP if my kid(s) had the option of going to a better school.
3. The schools are terrible. We looked at Upper Marlboro, Hyattsville, Beltsville, Adelphi, College Park, Laurel, and Bowie in our house hunt, and none of them had good public schools at all. I've never once seen schools that were so bad, but it seems that people think it's almost a given that one must send kids to private school in order for them to get so much as a respectable education. That's not normal, nor should it be. That's failure on the part of the county.
4. The "richest black county in America" card is kind of dumb. Race is unimportant to me, as it should be to just about everyone, and really, what does "black county" or "African-American county" mean anyway? Does it mean there are more black people than any other race in the county? In consideration of that, look at where PG actually ranks among the richest counties in the US. It's not even in the top 250. So apparently it's not even all that affluent, despite being in an area with some of the highest costs of living in the nation. There are four Maryland counties in the top 100 wealthiest counties in the nation: Montgomery (#14), Howard (#29), Talbot (#71), and Anne Arundel (#83). These can change somewhat depending on whether one is considering median per-capita income, median household income (in which case Howard is highest among Maryland counties, and Prince Charles is also on the list), or median personal income, but PG isn't anywhere near any of the lists. In fact, in terms of per capita personal income, PG is 284th among counties in the United States. I suggest people stop waving the banner of ostensible PGC wealth.
5. The income that PG does have does in fact fall well short of offsetting the high cost of living within the county. Making $100,000 a year means living in a modest 3BR/2BA house in PGC. Making $40,000 a year in Wichita, KS means living in a 4BR/2BA house with probably an acre of land and possibly a pool, while making $100,000 there means a pretty nice spread.
6. I have a close friend who works homicide for PGC police, and she's pretty much confirmed that there's no way a sane person could rationalize away the sheer numbers coming from that division.
In short, I sure as heck wouldn't buy in PGC if I had any hopes of gaining decent equity over the next decade while raising a young family, which was exactly my goal when I was house-hunting. I did research for more than a year prior to moving to Maryland, and it still looks like my top places, none of which were in PGC, were the right ones to consider.
Hey Burnt I tend to echo your ending conclusion about raising a family in PGC, but like Iscalder, Bob, and a few others you are not being forthright or remotely close to honest with yourself about the county. I think it is perfectly fair to speak of the problems in PGC as long as their accurate and factual. You have done remotely little of that in your trashing of the county. I'm just trying to be fair, so since i took offense to Iscalders over emphasis this false belief of "wealth" i'll kindly take offense to your over emphasis on poverty. You cannot be on distinctly far ends and expect to have a decent and fair debate about this county.
1. If you moved from California i'm not totally why you were looking at the Slums in PGC as a place to live. Those slums boarder the projects in South Easter DC, which at one point was America's crime capital. I could go to the Slums in Alexandria, VA or the Slums in Gaithersburg, MD and find equally deplorable places. My question is who the hell goes looking for a house in the projects?
2.College Park in my opinion is not semi ok nor is Adelphi. The only good thing to come out of Adelphi was Surgy Brin (Founder of Google and Eleanor Roosevelt High Graduate). Frankly they're both highly immigrant blue collar areas, which are lower middle class areas with some scattering of poor individuals here and there. There is nothing impressive about any of those areas near PGC side of the Moco side. Are those areas significantly dangerous based on police reports and crime statistics no. Str they great areas for a blue collar family of 4 or a young white collar family starting out yes. However, you have the means those would not remotely be choices i would make.
3. Well, depending on what you're looking at in terms of schools. Elementary schools in PGC more "affluent" areas are on par with their Moco and Fairfax counterparts and in some cases better. However, if you're looking for schools in predomintely blue collar areas in PGC you're probably not going to get the same level of excellence. Hyattsville, Beltsville, parts of Laurel, Adelphi, College Park, and some small parts of Bowie are extremely blue collar areas. While the elementary schools in these areas are still on par with blue collar areas in Moco and other counties they are not on par with the more "affluent" elementary schools in the county.
Your only valid argumet in terms of schooling in PGC is once kids enter middle and high school the school system seems to go straight to the hell hole very fast. Not sure why that is, but i have my suspicions on the reason why.
4. Look again there are more than 3077 counties in this country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_(United_States). Can you do basic elementary math 250/3077 places PGC in the top 8% of all counties in this country, so by all measures it is a solidly middle class county and way more affluent than 2,827 other counties. Another way you could say this is that PGC is in the 92% percentile of wealthy counties in the US. Which in laymans terms means that PGC is wealtheir than 92% of the counties in America. Again if you do not like blacks just say it do not try to hide behind falsified statistics. The county is perfectly right statistically if it wants to call its self the "wealthiest majority black county." It simple means that blacks are 62% of the pop whites are 26% and others are % of the pop. In fact more honesty in these forms behind intentions would be welcomed. Anyway i digress.
Moco for a long time has been a majority middle and upper middle class county hence why it is in the top 1% of all counties in the US. Another way to say this would be Moco is in the top 99% percentile of all wealthy counties in the US. In other words Moco is wealthier than 99% of all counties in the US. Howard is now emerging as the in "county" for wealthy outside of baltimore. Ann Arundel up until probably 3 or 4 years ago was behind PGC in terms of wealth. PGC up until a few years ago was in the top 100 counties. The county has gone down rapidly and Ann Arundel success is partly attributed to the "upper class" black/white flight families moving out of PGC and into Ann Arundel over the past 4-5 years.
5. Look not even debatable. Incomes that are paid are reflected in the cost of living. You are right a $40,000 dollar salary in bum **** no where Kansas is probably well to do. Whereas a $40,000 dollars salary in DC Metro with a family will have you living in a not so nice area. While you have an argument it is really meaningless across the board in terms of buying power. $40,000 dollars in bum**** Kansas does not increase your buying power, but $100,000 dollar salary in DC Metro does. I'm not going to go into the economics behind what i said. What the hell I will. The only people making that sort of income in bum**** no where areas are working in small/mid size cities. Bum**** no where area people make less than 12,000 a year, because there's only bum**** jobs available. In other rewards the cost of living in the DC metro is reflective of the high skilled jobs that are available etc....I agree the whole area especially where people are willing to pay a prem to live for better schools etc is over priced etc and you do not get much for what you're spending etc
6. Ask you friend where 90-95% of all homicides take place in the county. Ask her if it is all done within a half square mile of the DC boarder line. Then ask here if the neighborhoods outside the beltway have a homicide problem. When you do report back to the board.
All i'm asking is that if do not like black people come flat out and say it. I would be prefectly fine with someone coming on the board and saying "I'm a racist and I hate black people therefore i'm not going to fairly debate you on this forum. I'd prefer to trash the forum to help make me feel comfortable being a racist. Helps me to sleep at night etc." Let's not hide behind our own bs stats to prove a point that does not exist. Hell, i do not like people with one foot, but i'm not going to go out my way to screw up statistics to make me feel better about not liking them.
To the extent that we can discuss this county fairly let's try not to be all on "militant" sides of the isle. You are just no different than Iscalder or Bob. Come on dude add to the conversation factually. As opposed to going out and trying to defend the whole county you all would serve yourselves better by starting a forum on how we reduce crime inside of the beltway. That would be much more inshightfull to outsiders trying to figure out this county. Racist want to gross generalize the entire county and not play fair etc. I said i personally would not live in the county because of the "militant" blacks. Does not mean all blacks in the county are "militant" but there's a very strong fraction and whether they're the majority opinion they seem to be the "vocal" majority. Vocal refers to the one's that speak out the loudest in the county. I just do not like one sided debates and a one party system etc.
Last edited by truthhurts; 12-18-2007 at 07:15 AM..
Truthhurts: What the hell are you trying to prove. All race have millitant children. What do you call these white children who bring a very deadly weapon to school only to kill? Almost every month a white child/children shoot up a school and you have not mention anything about that as a matter of fact no white person on this forum have ever talk about these white young,angry,crazy children shooting up malls and schools.why not talk about it or do whites wish it were the Black millitant children. Blacks are quick to point out our mistakes or issues within our communities. We have television shows and radio shows and thats all they talk about are issues in the Black communities but I have never hear of a white person talking about issues in their communities. Are you guys scared to see or face the truth about the issues in the white communities?
The suicide rate among age school children are higher in the white race then anyother race and thats because of these white millitant children who bully and tease their school mates. Here is a article to read about these crazy white children killing themsilves because instead of the white race talking about the issues they talk about other race issues and ignore their own race so these children are feeling ignore and left out and they have no one to talk to. White teens have a higher depression rate then blacks and have a higher rate of using drugs then black children. Here is the website to read about your crazy,sicko white children who thinks killing themselves is a outlet. No where in any article did I read the reason for a high suicide rate amoung white teens are Black Millitant, Its the white millitant children who people thinks do no exist.
Copy and paste:http://www.dartcenter.org/dartaward/...per/hm2/01.php
Here are some of the comments in the article:
Eight of 10 teen suicides in the United States involve white adolescents.
First, there are simply fewer outlets for teens if they don't fit in with the popular crowd or meet social expectations. That makes them isolated. Second, there is an expectation in such communities that people handle their own problems.
American teenagers in small and midsize communities face a combination of social pressures that adds to the suicide risk.
You know, lscalder, this is very sad. It makes me sick to see posts like this- it is such blatant racism that it makes me feel just as sad for you as I do for other ignorant people who dislike black people simply because of their skin color. You do the same to white people. It's disgusting. You are just as bad as white supremisists- epsecially because as a black person, I'm sure you have experienced racism before, yet you still perpetuate it any chance you get. It is hypocrisy at it's finest. I very much hope you are not teaching these twisted views of white children to your son. He deserves the chance to have friends who are white, and not be afraid of them.
I have no problem at all with my son having white friends as a matter of fact he do have white friends that he plays with. I do have a problem with whites on this forum who ONLy bash the black race and you pass those post to talk about my post why is that. Are you going to ignore the other posts that bash the entire black race and call our children Black millitant or the only issue you have is a Black person bashing t he white race. I goes both race if no one bash the Black race I will stop posting about the cazy whites. Why are you pretending as if nothing in my post is correct. Are you telling me that white teens do not have a higher suicide rate then black teens. I made my comments because other posters say Black millitant children are worst then white children but thats 100% wrong statement because the white children are committing suicide because of bulling. I would never teach my son not to like white or any other race but he will know the truth its out their in the world to know. I see posting who agree when a white person comment about blacks and you have never made a comment to them but yet out of all these post you only comment about my post. What I mention about whites are facts but maybe whites are not ready to face the truth. its not racist. It is a fact that 8 out of 10 suicide by teens are white how is that racist, people love to talk about facts when it comes to Blacks its racist to speak the facts about white as if they are better then us. My son is having his birthday party next month and I have invited all of his friends who are majority whites and I have no problem with them because I know his freinds parents accept us and would never think or say black millitant child.
Well, yes, your posts are horrible. They're hard to understand, and they try to argue non-relevant facts. What does a suicide rate have to do with committing crimes against other people? Why do you keep going on about suicides? What is the obsession with it?
Please, before hitting "Post Reply", look over your message, and look for the red underlined words... They're normally spelled wrong.
If you read other member posts where they state, they do not want their children around Black millitant kids because Black millitant children are the worst when it comes to bulling. The article is about white children committing suicide at a higher rate then black children because of White millitant children. I guess no one find it offensive when someone reference to black children as Millitant kids but when I mention white children are much more millitant then Black children now I am the racist one.
Only if you get in a debate with lscalder. I appreciate others opinions, but when the same thing is said over, and over, and over and ... etc., it tends to bring out the argumentive side of some of us.
I have no problem at all with my son having white friends as a matter of fact he do have white friends that he plays with. I do have a problem with whites on this forum who ONLy bash the black race and you pass those post to talk about my post why is that. Are you going to ignore the other posts that bash the entire black race and call our children Black millitant or the only issue you have is a Black person bashing t he white race. I goes both race if no one bash the Black race I will stop posting about the cazy whites. Why are you pretending as if nothing in my post is correct. Are you telling me that white teens do not have a higher suicide rate then black teens. I made my comments because other posters say Black millitant children are worst then white children but thats 100% wrong statement because the white children are committing suicide because of bulling. I would never teach my son not to like white or any other race but he will know the truth its out their in the world to know. I see posting who agree when a white person comment about blacks and you have never made a comment to them but yet out of all these post you only comment about my post. What I mention about whites are facts but maybe whites are not ready to face the truth. its not racist. It is a fact that 8 out of 10 suicide by teens are white how is that racist, people love to talk about facts when it comes to Blacks its racist to speak the facts about white as if they are better then us. My son is having his birthday party next month and I have invited all of his friends who are majority whites and I have no problem with them because I know his freinds parents accept us and would never think or say black millitant child.
Did you not see the part in my post about ignorant people who dislike blacks just because of their skin color??? I think that you post without carefully reading the things you are responding to. I have made it pretty obvious my feeling about racism- in all forms- in my previous posts. When I read your post about being afraid of white men you see at the mall molesting your child, obviously I was offended. To think that you view men such as my husband, my father, my brothers as possible child molesters automatically because they are white, is not just insulting, but it's ignorant.
You can post whatever you want about how white people are horrible, and try to justify it by saying that people say bad things about black people, but no matter how you say it, its RACISM. You're no better than people who claim similar things about black people. Until you and other people(OF ALL RACES), who think about other races the way that you do stop thinking of each other as adversaries and begin to realize that we all deserve the same things, racism will never end.
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