Not The College Park I Knew

umcp11
Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:32:38 +0000

^I was talking about group houses, not apartments, when referencing Capital Hill. Though, I’m willing to bet that $1500 studio is probably a LOT nicer than one in The View or Parkside, even when you don’t count its far superior location :P.

Silver Spring and SW waterfront both have studio apartments for the same price or cheaper than those found in College Park, however.

The price/quality ratio is much better almost anywhere else besides CP. The University can help this by building more on-campus housing and reducing the demand. They’re moving forward with this with their public-private partnerships as well as with the construction of Oakland Hall and graduate student housing in East Campus. However, I am not sure they are keeping up. Every year more and more people want to live on campus…increasing the beds on campus to meet the demand of the year before (well, it’s less than that!) will not meet the demand by the time it’s built. I assume the campus will eventually meet the demand (perhaps by purchasing up the “Knox Box area” sometime into the future)…and I hope they continue to make on-campus housing one of their priorities.

“Who said flagships are associated with crappy towns?”

Somebody on this thread. LOL.

“I don’t think CP can undergo the transformation of, say, Silver Spring without investment from the City and County, and more big employers”

The city very much wants to put their skin in the game, as does the university. I think both the city and the university can continue to pressure the county for business-friendly legislation, and I think they can encourage big employers to make the investment as well. I also think the city should do more to improve their relationships with business-owners…a lot of business failures in CP have had to do with acrimonous feelings between owners and the city. I think this is inevitable in any town (some owners will simply be bad apples and jerks), but perhaps the city is not doing enough to cultivate good feelings. Finally, finding ways to help businesses with property ownership would also help. The city often blames high rents as a factor for businesses “moving out.” Maybe the city can help business owners own.

I also think being student-friendly and supporting students’ movement into the neighborhoods will help liven up the community and create a base of year-long customers with disposable income. Currently the city is not student-friendly in terms of wanting students in the neighborhoods.

I also really respect suggestions to open up a “lab” charter school with education professors/students/etc. in addition to “regular” teachers. There is an empty school in the Calvert Hills neighborhood just waiting for the moment. This would definitely bring in some more young couples and creative types.

However, I don’t have all the answers. That’s one of the reasons why I started this thread.

What are the solutions to making the town better? “It is how it is” is certainly not a very proactive or interesting/provacative response ;).