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I moved here after living in very rural areas my whole life, and for the first couple years I was here I kept trying to figure out how I could get out. But I am starting to come around.
I am grateful to live in a place that has a strong economy, where bad things can happen to you and you aren't totally screwed. My husband is an elementary school teacher and I work in nonprofit management. Obviously not super high income careers, but that type of work is valued around here, so we are able to have a stable life. I recently lost my job, but we are fine, we have enough savings to last for at least 6 months, and we can live solely on his income if we need to. And we live in a 2 bedroom apt in Bethesda. There are deals around here if you look!
Then our car was hit by a mini van, but we are able to go on living our lives quite normally because of MoCo's public transportation system (Metro and Ride On). I've been reading about accident responses on the internet today, and in a lot of places, police will refuse to come out and write an accident report. But here, we didn't even have to call them as far as I know, they just showed up less than 2 minutes after it happened (on University in Wheaton). People can complain about taxes if they want, but I enjoy living somewhere with a strong public sector. I notice the difference.
I feel a lot more safe and stable here than I think I would be able to be in many other places in this country. There is an infrastructure in place to support people that other places don't have. I value that. If you don't value that, then don't live here. Pretty simple really.
There are also ways to get around the common complaints people have about the region. It's about getting over the mindset of "needing" a single family home/one bedroom apt all to yourself and a car for every person in the family. Montgomery County gives you the opportunity to choose a different type of lifestyle than that if you want to, which I appreciate, because I feel it has given my family the ability to save more money and build more security than we could otherwise.
Montgomery County USED to be a shining star. Anyone in the US with a sense of awareness had at least heard of Montgomery County, even if they lived 2000 miles away. But, that is also Montgomery County's downfall. Everyone has heard of MoCo, and that includes illegal immigrants, who are flocking to the county in droves since MoCo is a de facto Sanctuary City. No county, town, municipality can thrive when a large portion of the new residents are also the lowest common denominator of society. MoCo has seen it's peak and is now on the downhill slide.....it was only a matter of time until a critical mass was reached and rich people could no longer prop up the poor. County budgets are now focused on paying for year-round meals for poor kids, English as second language classes, fewer homebuyers, more renters, and exploding poverty up the I-270 corridor. Of course county officials downplay this downfall. What else are they going to say?
Just think how much of those resources could be directed to something positive in terms of county growth instead of being forced to bring a subset of society up to very basic living standards....people who aren't even citizens of this country!?
Some people simply have blinders on. MoCo has already lost its luster. Now it's a matter of if it will ever even have a sheen.
Montgomery County USED to be a shining star. Anyone in the US with a sense of awareness had at least heard of Montgomery County, even if they lived 2000 miles away. But, that is also Montgomery County's downfall. Everyone has heard of MoCo, and that includes illegal immigrants, who are flocking to the county in droves since MoCo is a de facto Sanctuary City. No county, town, municipality can thrive when a large portion of the new residents are also the lowest common denominator of society. MoCo has seen it's peak and is now on the downhill slide.....it was only a matter of time until a critical mass was reached and rich people could no longer prop up the poor. County budgets are now focused on paying for year-round meals for poor kids, English as second language classes, fewer homebuyers, more renters, and exploding poverty up the I-270 corridor. Of course county officials downplay this downfall. What else are they going to say?
Just think how much of those resources could be directed to something positive in terms of county growth instead of being forced to bring a subset of society up to very basic living standards....people who aren't even citizens of this country!?
Some people simply have blinders on. MoCo has already lost its luster. Now it's a matter of if it will ever even have a sheen.
Are all 23K of your posts whining about immigrants? Just curious.
Are all 23K of your posts whining about immigrants? Just curious.
What's amusing to me is that you limp-wristed, perpetually-aggrieved liberals can't even force yourselves to say the words "ILLEGAL immigrants." The fundamentally disingenuous side of you simply won't acknowledge that most of us conservatives have no problem with "immigrants" that move here legally.
What's amusing to me is that you limp-wristed, perpetually-aggrieved liberals can't even force yourselves to say the words "ILLEGAL immigrants." The fundamentally disingenuous side of you simply won't acknowledge that most of us conservatives have no problem with "immigrants" that move here legally.
You have no idea who's illegal v. legal; you simply assume, obviously. You can pretend MoCo sucks now, but if you compare just about any corner of MoCo v. 20 years ago, you'll see a more economically vibrant and robust county today, with lower crime, higher graduation rates, better public and private amenities, and - yes - more diversity. Pretend all those are bad things if you want, but don't pretend like you make any sense when you do it.
You have no idea who's illegal v. legal; you simply assume, obviously. You can pretend MoCo sucks now, but if you compare just about any corner of MoCo v. 20 years ago, you'll see a more economically vibrant and robust county today, with lower crime, higher graduation rates, better public and private amenities, and - yes - more diversity. Pretend all those are bad things if you want, but don't pretend like you make any sense when you do it.
And NONE of what you said actually changes the fact that poverty in MoCo has increased dramatically, county budgets are strained by illegal immigrants, that more people renting (and stuffing homes and apartments with as many family and friends as possible) means fewer property tax dollars, that schools are now forced to pay for at least one meal for poor students (and in some cases 3 meals), etc. All of that is completely invisible to you simply because someone graduated high school, fewer people committing crimes, and "amentities" have grown better in the last 20 years?
You folks simply cannot be reasoned with. Your loverly liberal la la land shall NOT be criticized.
And NONE of what you said actually changes the fact that poverty in MoCo has increased dramatically, county budgets are strained by illegal immigrants, that more people renting (and stuffing homes and apartments with as many family and friends as possible) means fewer property tax dollars, that schools are now forced to pay for at least one meal for poor students (and in some cases 3 meals), etc. All of that is completely invisible to you simply because someone graduated high school, fewer people committing crimes, and "amentities" have grown better in the last 20 years?
You folks simply cannot be reasoned with. Your loverly liberal la la land shall NOT be criticized.
I "simply cannot be reasoned with" because I don't auto-assume middle and lower income people are bad. I just explained how MoCo has successfully become more economically vibrant, with better amenities (I don't know what "amentities" are), lower crime, more successful schools, etc. and you just pretend like none of that matters. Brown people = bad, in your mind, even though the reality around you proves otherwise. You simply see more brown people, assume they're illegals, and assume they're turning the county to crap - facts be damned. Oh well. Enjoy your ranting, grandpa.
Housing is expensive but how many comparable suburbs have redline Metro Acccess points that connect to any section of DC including DuPont circle, gallery place Chinatown, woodley park, navy yard, Oldtown Alexandria, smithsonian...from a stroll walk to a station and swipe a smart card ?
Traffic can be avoided by riding the DC metro
You wouldn't move to suburban DC most likely without a Govt, not-for-profit, or political or legal or govt contracting job and once in you have a lot of options within the system to navigate through USAJobs
Stuck-up and spoiled bratty people are present in any US city with preppie colleges. That would be true for almost any urban atmosphere. People are dependent on system functionalities in densely populated cities, where as rural country folks are self-reliant and less spoiled in these places. Country folks, however, are spoiled in how much patio space they think they need for one's backyard, where city folks are more open to public space sharing. The brat-ness works both ways.
Cold weather 7 months out of the year? Don't move to New England or the Midwest or the Pacific Northwest or Continental Europe whatever you do. DC's winters are seasonal for any typical temperate land with seasonality.
Now the PRO's
Montgomery county schools are ranked very high
Organic farmers markets and local grocery store options
Very diverse demographic of people
Very low crime
Historic landmarks and battlefields
Community events "wine tasting in Rockville" for example
Easy access into DC by metro
Hiking in Great Falls, MD and Billygoat trail
Maryland has no motor vehicle taxation
Bike trails, woods, hills, easy road access to George Washington Parkway
Good Chinese food, good crab cakes, good bakeries
U can find all those things in most areas in the DC region, and in some ur paying way less for a home. Nothing that u mentioned is uniques to Moco
I "simply cannot be reasoned with" because I don't auto-assume middle and lower income people are bad. I just explained how MoCo has successfully become more economically vibrant, with better amenities (I don't know what "amentities" are), lower crime, more successful schools, etc. and you just pretend like none of that matters. Brown people = bad, in your mind, even though the reality around you proves otherwise. You simply see more brown people, assume they're illegals, and assume they're turning the county to crap - facts be damned. Oh well. Enjoy your ranting, grandpa.
Assume they're illegal? Maryland's illegal immigrant population is estimated to have QUADRUPLED since 2000! Where do you think those folks are....in Western MD? LOL
There is no assuming. Only facts. Those pesky things you like to ignore while you're focusing on "amenities" over the past 20 years.
Assume they're illegal? Maryland's illegal immigrant population is estimated to have QUADRUPLED since 2000! Where do you think those folks are....in Western MD? LOL
There is no assuming. Only facts. Those pesky things you like to ignore while you're focusing on "amenities" over the past 20 years.
So? And the county is thriving. Are you saying that illegal immigrants are the reason why MoCo's crime is down and economic development is up during that timeframe? Or you're trying to say that it doesn't matter how well we're doing, since illegal immigrants are benefiting, too? All I've gathered from your 23K posts is that 1. you think everyone walking around Gaithersburg is here illegally and 2. you think illegal immigrants are bad. Neither makes any sense and I've repeatedly pointed to reasons why you don't have a leg to stand on. You're response is always "...but there are illegal immigrants here! That means it's a bad place!" How silly and simpleminded of you.
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