Am I alone in hating Montgomery County? (Germantown, Bethesda: lease, low crime)

[soliloquyenlightened]

iNCREDIBLY diverse area with a lot of people (my age) who are capable of being down to earth, funny, open minded, out-side the box. I love that a lot of them don't live in a bubble, that they're willing to open up and branch out and get to know others. They're not overly social or overly conservative and I love that middle ground. I like it that a lot of the people here are so much more open and willing to interact with others who don't look like them, act like them, think like them and in my experience, great public schools, lots to do, so much to get involved in (I did lacrosse, field hockey, track, tennis, green school's club, study circles for diversity, latin student union, kayaking, canoeing, volunteering cleaning up lakes, participating in blood drives, etc etc etc). So I always appreciated the opportunity to have stuff to do here outside of that incredibly boring go to bars and get drunk, party, and go clubbing scene (though that is available if you're interested in that too).

Snooty people are everywhere. I understand what you mean that Moco can seem like a snooty atmosphere but the individuals I've met here who are from here are pretty cool. *shrugs*

[oldway]

Originally Posted by Zimar

Q: When do you know that you have an overly developed sense of entitlement and have no idea what it's like to live in a country where people's liberties are actually limited?

A: When you consider a $0.05 bag tax and a red-light camera an erosion of your "liberties."

I know you are so right. Overly sense of entitlement sums me up. Keep paying your taxes open up your wallet and just give Ike all your money now. Stop the slow bleed because you know well and good the elected officials know how to spend your money better than you do.

[oldway]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

With that many people on the roads, it probably just maintains a bit of civility. Besides, once you get in the habit of not speeding, not trying to get around cars illegally, and not regularly running yellow lights with full throttle...

Than it's not really all that much of an issue...

It's not regularly running lights. The question is why are their all these cameras in moco? Why not in Baltimore city? Surely there are more crowded cross walks in the city. Again is it a safety issue or the fact that moco residents can afford to pay the fines whiles others cannot. What are the stats between the number of red light cameras in moco compared to PG? I can assure you moco has more even though pg is a very crowded county as well. It all comes down to who can afford to pay and who can't.

Enjoy your taxes as it appears that a lot of people actually do.

[rsh56]

Originally Posted by oldway

It's not regularly running lights. The question is why are their all these cameras in moco? Why not in Baltimore city? Surely there are more crowded cross walks in the city. Again is it a safety issue or the fact that moco residents can afford to pay the fines whiles others cannot. What are the stats between the number of red light cameras in moco compared to PG? I can assure you moco has more even though pg is a very crowded county as well. It all comes down to who can afford to pay and who can't.

Enjoy your taxes as it appears that a lot of people actually do.

As for the crowds and traffic, I will agree that this is a problem. But it is a problem that hasn't been something that has directly affected me. There hasn't been anything else that will drive me away from the area except the odd, abysmal weather and annoying house prices.

I'm not for taxes but I can certainly say that I've seen a lot less bags being littered around the street than usual ever since the new year began. You tell me if that is a good thing or not.

As for speed cameras and red light tickets, I'm not a fan of them either and I don't normally travel through the roads that have them for the most part. They are a bit dangerous to have when the cars in front of you have to brake but then again Americans don't really know how to drive. However, a lot of them seem to be on school zones and if they are used to catch speeders during the regular school days, then that's fine with me. I don't want to see no fart-can Honda blasting through the school zone and the next thing I hear is that someone gets hurt.

As long as there is a sidewalk, I'll walk on it. I have felt safe walking around most areas in the county and it has drastically made my legs stronger and have saved $$$ on gas since I don't really need to drive around as much. I once went on a band trip to Orlando, FL which was a nice place but I've also found out that it was a dangerous place to walk around because everything was so spread out. Now granted that place has lots of other things going for it like nicer winters and whatnot but I will never live in a place where the car is the only way of getting around. Apparently, Florida is not pedestrian-friendly and that's quite ironic that a state warmer than the rest of the NE US won't give you the option of walking unless your in Naples or some other beach town. I like having options of getting around w/o a car like I do now and I'm not shying away with that. In fact if gas prices were to shoot past $5 a gal, I could care less and continue my journey by walking/bus/rail. Will still use a car but not highly necessary and I plan to keep it that way.

[Jermaine88]

your reasons make me want to go there.

[John13]

Originally Posted by oldway

Like I said to each their own. I am married with 3 kids. Sorry but a basement apartment just won't work for my situation. I did that when I was 22 not now that I am 40. I guess I think I should have something a little nicer after all the crap I put up with at work, but like I said to each their own.

I know the bag tax is petty don't you think? Sad that I brought it up. I guess that's why you like living in moco then. Why should the county tax you on a bag that seems pretty petty to me. The reason is its easy money a little here a little there.... Don't worry the lemmings in the county won't complain about it because it's so......petty. If it so petty, why not push it out to the rest of the state? Oh that's right moco is the sugar daddy and everyone there makes a million or more so they can pay for the rest of MD citizens.

And just what are statistics around the red light cameras anyway? I know they bring a ton of cash in for the state....funny again how these red light and speed cameras show up in moco? Why is that? Are the citizens of moco more important than the people of carroll or Washington county? Or could it do with the amount of money that is moco? I wonder.....

It really is sad when people really careless about giving up their liberties and bend over for the government just to take more money of their pockets. But then again that seems to be the mentality of a lot of people who live there based on the crooks they keep voting into office.

The obvious point I was making is there is affordable housing here if you want it.

An example is you can find a good large townhouse in Montgomery Village for 150,000. Or one could rent a house for about 1700 per month.

Spending a half million on a home here like you mentioned is absurd.

As far as the bag tax - it was already in DC and it's my understanding it is coming to PG County later this year.

[Zimar]

Originally Posted by oldway

Enjoy your taxes as it appears that a lot of people actually do.

Nobody enjoys taxes. People accept taxes and move on with their lives because they recognize that you have to make sacrifices to live in a society with other human beings. Your objections to Moco are that, apparently, you cannot afford to live in Bethesda, which is an extremely sought-after community, and you don't like the bag tax, and you don't like the speed camera. Fair enough, but I think most people can find three things that they don't like about their community that are far more serious than these issues. It is when you suggested that everyone who likes moco is a tax-loving lemming that you came across as someone who is bitter and has entitlement issues. My family doesn't have a ton of money, but we scrimp and save and try to enjoy this area for what it is, and when we do move somewhere else, I think I'm going to have good memories of moco.

[Tiger Beer]

The 'bag tax' isn't unique to MoCo either. That's become a more common in many places. I think I remember it even as long as 15 years ago in Oregon...

Basically people just 'recycle' their bags...put them in the trunk of your car, bring them into the stores, and keep re-using them.

Half of the garbage that we throw away, is basically just 'wrappings' like paper bags and plastic bags and packaging. Instead of throwing them in the trash, just throw them back in the trunk of your car. Not that big of a deal.

I'm not sure if MoCo do that with their bags...but people in Oregon seem to understand the law to have been created with that kind of purpose in mind.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by oldway

It's not regularly running lights. The question is why are their all these cameras in moco? Why not in Baltimore city? Surely there are more crowded cross walks in the city. Again is it a safety issue or the fact that moco residents can afford to pay the fines whiles others cannot. What are the stats between the number of red light cameras in moco compared to PG? I can assure you moco has more even though pg is a very crowded county as well. It all comes down to who can afford to pay and who can't.

Enjoy your taxes as it appears that a lot of people actually do.

Who cares about the cameras? You can go up to 11 miles an hour above the speed limit and not get your photo snapped. Those going faster than that deserve what they get.

[jacksonthor]

I got one red light camera ticket in moco for simply going over the intersection line a little bit. I went to court on it and got it reduced, but had to pay court costs. So it cost me $47 rather than $75.

The problem I have with these cameras is they are more about revenue than public safety. Private companies run most of them so there is a real profit motive, especially among ones that get per-ticket fees.