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P.s. - I don't have to drive. I can shred your arguments while walking, riding Metro, or riding the bus. Just another quality of life perk in the city. And you should learn what a "tweet" is. Have a pleasant Sunday. It's beautiful here.
What's the problem with cities like Gaithersburg redeveloping into something more urban? If anything that's a good thing, might help drive down the cost of real estate overall. More and more people want to live the 'urban experience' which generally includes being walking distance from nice restaurants, retail and even grocery stores. TOD is also high in demand, as gas prices creep ever higher.
The more 'urban experience' areas there are, the cheaper they'll be overall. Right now if you truly want the urban experience you're basically limited to DC, Arlington (mainly the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and Pentagon/Crystal Cities), downtown Silver Spring and Bethesda, and some parts of Alexandria. And the unifying thing about them: they're all bloody expensive.
And as it is, suburbia isn't much cheaper. 1br/1ba apartments still go for like $1,500 even out near Dulles. It's insane!
I have no problem with messy suburbs becoming more urban. I just think we have enough underutilized urban areas that I'm concerned they're going to get spread too thin and we'll have half-utilized urban areas spread all over the region without an economy large enough to utilize all of them. You're right that it's better that than sprawl, which I said above, and you're also right that suburbs are not necessarily cheaper around here so there's not a lot of incentive to take the QOL hit. My main point was simply that Gaithersburg is trying to get in on the urban game so they don't lose population / jobs / businesses as society moves away from suburbia, which is very different from what Stars99 argument, which is that it's some sign that people prefer suburbia. They don't. They prefer city living, and that's what Gaithersburg is trying to create.
In the end, better it become a city than what it is.
I wouldn't mind retiring to deep suburbia (somewhere like Leesburg, or around Dulles) but I think I'd go nuts living there while working. It's far from stuff, traffic is a nightmare unless you're very close to work, and you have to drive everywhere. It's very quiet, which is nice, but damn. I can't imagine living out there.
The entire DMV needs to become more decentralized. People from Olney should have to risk their lives because driving drunk home because the only bars they can go to are on Adams Morgan, H Street, etc. There's no reason for the WashBa area to be DC-centric.
^^^That's a very absurd argument. They DON'T "have to" risk their lives by driving drunk. They choose to do it, and they should go to the slammer for it. They can either get a designated driver, a taxi or just drink at home.
so when is this light rail construction gonna start? I swear projects in MD are so slow to start. It'll be 2025 by the time the purple line is done.
Meanwhile NoVa is building the silver line, which is heavy rail and takes far more money and time to build than light rail, will be done by 2015-2016 (Phase II)/ 2013 (Phase I).
NoVa seems to be a lot more progressive then MD sadly.
If Maryland could:
-Build the purple line
-Build the CCT
-Build a light rail to Waldorf/St. Charles from Branch Ave station on Rt. 5 via Camp Springs, Clinton and Brandywine.
-Get some type of rail service to Annapolis (Annapolis is the only state capital without any form of rail service)
-Run the Penn line on weekends too and extend the hours
-Build a light rail up to Laurel from Greenbelt station along Rt. 1
-Build a light rail to Burtonsville from Silver Spring station along Coleville road and Columbia Pike via Four Corners, White Oak, Briggs Chaney and Greencastle.
-Build a rail connection to the National Harbor and other points southward such as Friendly, Ft Washington, Accokeek, and Indian Head to the Naval base.
It'll bring the MD suburbs on par with NoVa, or at least close.
In the original WMATA plans the orange line was supposed to go to Bowie, but I think building a light rail would be better now.
I don't think NIMBY-ism would stop this, I have fam in SoMd and know other people don't there too, they would love a rail connection to other parts of the metro area.
I wonder how much all of those projects would cost and if they would ever happen in our life time.
so when is this light rail construction gonna start? I swear projects in MD are so slow to start. It'll be 2025 by the time the purple line is done.
Meanwhile NoVa is building the silver line, which is heavy rail and takes far more money and time to build than light rail, will be done by 2015-2016 (Phase II)/ 2013 (Phase I).
IDK, but they need to start connecting suburb to suburb (not spoking everything through the DC)
Yeah that's my biggest gripe with Maryland. Takes ages for anything to happen. The current iteration of the ICC can be traced back to the 1960s for crying out loud.
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