<p>You know, I don’t think of big state universities as being in funky, artsy locations…many of them are urban universities just like UMCP. If you are looking for funky, artsy, you go somewhere like Cornell, where the university defines the town. College Park has the advantages of metropolitan DC and Baltimore, but it also has the disadvantages, over-crowding, over-commercialization, over-population. It is what it is…but you’re there for the education and educational opportunities, not necessarily the ambience. The ambience is just a benefit. :D</p>
<p>I miss the Voo. I think when I win MegaMillions or Powerball I’ll re-open the Voo. Yes, I had Voo shoes.</p>
<p>Yeah, the problem of expensive off-campus housing is a product of the region. Housing everywhere in DC that isn’t in the bad parts of town will be expensive, and I can’t see any way of fixing that short of a county law that gives an incentive to developers to provide cheap housing only to students, much like section 8.</p>
<p>“many of them are urban universities just like UMCP”</p>
<p>Urban = hip and funky.</p>
<p>DC and Baltimore = hip and funky.</p>
<p>College Park is…neither. Despite its proximity to DC and a bunch of young, cool kids (lol) hanging around, it has not experienced the revitalization that areas like Takoma Park and Silver Spring have.</p>
<p>And ok, maybe hip and funky was like, wrong word choice, because I’m not saying there should be classical music halls around (not exactly what I associate with hip and funky, but ok). I’m talking like, chill coffee shops, chill independent businesses, music venues like the 9:30 club or Ottobar, not like the BSO. Haha. Most students in College Park would enjoy these things, it’s just a matter of making sure they are run well and appeal (cheap drinks perhaps? up-and-coming bands?).</p>
<p>(As an aside, Ithaca is ok for a small town but it’s pretty crappy lol. Not exactly what I was thinking.)</p>
<p>Chapel Hill and Anne Arbor and Austin and Charlottesville and towns surrounding many other flagships are >>>> College Park. Flagship state unis are often assoicated with thriving towns, in fact. </p>
<p>I don’t think the university can necessarily DIRECTLY do anything but I think it’s an issue students can and should be concerned about. I do believe that improving the town will improve the prestige of the university, and I think there is a way for it to be done…I am not the roll over and die type ;).</p>
<p>Well, take that back about the university not directly being able to do anything - East campus is their way of directly “doing” something to improve the town.</p>
<p>And there’s a lot of indirect ways the university can help as well…which administrators have already acknowledged…so I think saying “oh well we can’t do anything” isn’t something that ANYONE is thinking.</p>
<p>Instead, it’s more of a question of WHAT should be done, not if anything should be done at all.</p>
<p>[The</a> Diamondback - Residents want next president to build community](<a href=“http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/residents-want-next-president-to-build-community-1.1343966]The”>http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/residents-want-next-president-to-build-community-1.1343966)</p>
<p>I admit I haven’t been around a ton but when I think of the city of College Park I immediately think of this video:</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - HASTILY MADE CLEVELAND TOURISM VIDEO](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY)</p>
<p>I don’t think Austin is a good example. It’s supposed to be a great city, but I mean it’s a CITY city. It’s the capital of Texas. Its population is almost a million, that’s a fair bit more than College Park. Same with Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, and Charlottesville. IDK about Chapel Hill and C-ville but Ann Arbor and Austin also benefit from having more than just families and a university. There isn’t really anything here.</p>
<p>Dougbetsy</p>
<p>I agree, and I will do the same. The VOO was infamous. You could not graduate from UMDCP unless you said you had a pr of VOO shoes.</p>
<p>I did not attend there, went to college in Philly, but I do remember one time when I went to visit Bullet he looked at me and said “you aren’t wearing those shoes”, in my befuddlement I couldn’t understand why, then he told me “because after tonight you will never wear them again, except to go to the VOO!” </p>
<p>I think that is probably the saddest thing about College Park town, the VOO was a rite of passage and now it is gone!</p>
<p>At least Testudo has yet to fly away 
For incoming students you will learn quickly that inside joke.</p>
<p>The other tradition that I think is great at UMD is that kids rub Testudo’s nose for luck, especially during finals…again it makes me laugh because he has yet to fly away! Maintenance is probably the happiest regarding the tradition because they never have to clean it 
</p>
<p>DC UMD is really far out there regarding housing if you are trying to say it is expensive because of DC. Nobody that is raising a family and working in DC would opt for CP. It is expensive because UMD has a housing shortage for their upperclassman and that means the demand is higher than the supply. Crappy houses that would be never looked at in a traditional bedroom community go for top dollar at CP because kids need a roof over their head and UMD can’t supply it.</p>
<p>I remember the VOO. I’m from MD and only took a class one summer (was admitted, but went OOS), but it was a go to bar when I was home on breaks. Both my parents graduated in the 50s, so I grew up going to football games before Byrd had an upper deck.</p>
<p>I will agree that MD-CP has improved tremendously in the past 30 years. In the 70s if you were a NMCS you had an automatic admit and a waived application fee, plus they accepted almost any in-state resident that had a pulse. The downside was there was no housing if you lived within 30 miles from campus, unless you were a jock or in the honors program.</p>
<p>In the 80’s that was also true if you were a NJ resident. However, now it has changed and one thing to UMD’s credit is they worked hard to get rid of that image. The creation of BK, Honors, Gemstone and Scholars allowed them to be a state university cost wise while creating the private university feel regarding classes.</p>
<p>I lived in NJ and graduated hs in the 80’s, kids who went to UMDCP were seen as ones who wanted to get away from NJ. They were below par of PSU and on the same level of UC Boulder. Now, in NJ they are to many above PSU and Boulder is the laughing joke.
Their allure and image is increasing because their acceptance rate is decreasing. It is no longer a safety for NY/NJ residents that are avg. it is now a Can I get in? If you are an NJ resident and believe that Rutgers is a NO CHANCE, UMD will be a HELL NO CHANCE. Sorry for being blunt, but it is best to know where you stand IMHO.</p>
<p>umcp11, I’m never going to change your mind on this topic, I know. But I don’t really agree with you. College Park may be a college town but it’s wedged between two huge metropolitan areas. The whole region is over-developed and College Park is just one facet of a regional over-development problem. I grew up in Ithaca and went to grad school in Austin. Ithaca is defined by the colleges and a lot of small business thrives there because it’s a) isolated and b) catering to the college crowd. Austin, as someone else pointed out, is a city affected by the college population but not defined by it. And Austin’s attractions are much broader than the university…the Capitol, a presidential library, Pecan Street, big industry, etc. This economy is tough and small businesses are extremely difficult to sustain. The kind of places you are looking for are small businesses…the big book vendors and big restaurant chains are killing them all over, not just in College Park. Would you want to run one of the small businesses you’re missing? Do you think you could attract enough of a following in this economy to make it sustainable for 10 years? What kind of incentives from the city would you like to see in place to make that possible?</p>
<p>Yes bullet that’s a part of it but let’s be real. Studio apartments near the Metro in Springfield, VA which is about as exciting as the Sahara desert still run over 1,000 a month. The DC metro area and most of Maryland is very expensive in regards to housing.</p>
<p>The only cheap houses are the ones where you wear a bulletproof vest to bed.</p>
<p>I’m 100% certain the high housing prices are a result of the student demand, NOT a result of of it being “close to DC.” If you go further North up route 1 around the Greenbelt metro, just one stop away, the prices drop dramatically. Apartments run FAIRLY consistent, but especially if you are looking at group rental homes, the price of a home drops exponentially. For what many people pay to rent behind or near frat row (read: $800-900 per person without utilities), you can definitely get a rowhouse on Capital Hill. Capital Hill. That’s pretty f-ing close to DC isn’t it.</p>
<p>The View charges NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS per student for a TINY 2 bedroom apartment. That’s $1800 dollars. Prices in MUCH, MUCH nicer metro-convenient areas (Alexandria, Silver Spring, or even SW waterfront downtown - on the good side of the river) run equivalent to that, usually for nicer places. Silver Spring is the real hotbed for DC-commuters because it is far nicer and equally or more affordable than CP-metro-area. And again for the prices paid on apartments and house rentals here, you could go much closer (or even into) DC.</p>
<p>I used Austin because I was debunking the theory that flagships are associated with bad towns. They are, on the contrary (especially the prestigious ones), associated with thriving towns. All places that experience a revitalization are at first “nothing but families.” See: Silver Spring. See: anywhere. College Park is a fairly small town and I think a lot can be done - especially because of its proximity to the metro - to make it more of a destination in its own right, and to make it balloon.</p>
<p>Oh and Sprinfield’s high price (so you say, I haven’t looked into it) is probably because Northern VA has excellent school districts…it’s not exciting, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a ritzy suburb.</p>
<p>The Greenbelt-Hyattsville-College Park area is not exactly in the same vein.</p>
<p>That’s funny, I’m looking at a few 1br1ba in Capitol Hill and the cheapest one I could find was something at $744/mo somewhat far from any Metro. Anything close to the Metro runs well over $1,500.</p>
<p>[Google</a> Maps](<a href=“http://■■■■■■/9aWUjO]Google”>http://■■■■■■/9aWUjO)</p>
<p>One complex that I will hand to you is the Fort Totten Station apartments. They’re quite cheap, and right on the Metro. The neighborhood they’re in is quiet and somewhat boring but it’s not dangerous and given that you’re a short Metro ride away from, well, any hot spot it’s not that big a deal.</p>
<p>Are you talking about average prices in all of Silver Spring? Because it’s a big area. Locations close to the Metro will be more expensive. There is some pretty cheap housing in Alexandria as you mentioned, but the stuff near Old Town and the Metro stations is still expensive.</p>
<p>edit: I’m not saying that supply & demand isn’t a factor, I’m just saying that there’s more than one factor at play here.</p>
<p>Who said flagships are associated with crappy towns? That’s a ludicrous thing to say.</p>
<p>edit2: Anyway, what exactly do you suggest be done about this? I don’t think CP can undergo the transformation of, say, Silver Spring without investment from the City and County, and more big employers (like Discovery Communications in Silver Spring).</p>
<p>^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.</p>
<p>Silver Spring and SW waterfront both have studio apartments for the same price or cheaper than those found in College Park, however.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Who said flagships are associated with crappy towns?”</p>
<p>Somebody on this thread. LOL.</p>
<p>“I don’t think CP can undergo the transformation of, say, Silver Spring without investment from the City and County, and more big employers”</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>However, I don’t have all the answers. That’s one of the reasons why I started this thread.</p>
<p>What are the solutions to making the town better? “It is how it is” is certainly not a very proactive or interesting/provacative response ;).</p>
<p>K I’m glad we’re on the same page then :)</p>
<p>I know that PG County has basically had the same five major employers for something like 30 years now. The Federal government spends a lot of money in other counties in the area, and usually on things like office buildings. In PG County I believe they spend a lot less and it’s usually on things like storage lots.</p>
<p>Bringing more employers to the county in general could be a major help. Look at Montgomery County… first Bethesda got all spruced up, then Silver Spring, now they’re slowly transforming Wheaton.</p>
And an alarming number of students killed on Route 1 when falling drunk into the road. Last year was at Ledo and I saw loads of police and fire vehicles…woman had fallen onto Route 1…died.
I forgot about the nightly parade of female students dressed in 6 inch stilletos and wearing an upper and lower hairband.
Lots of great stuff going on in development of College Park, most of it driven by the University.
There’s a Whole Foods being built and a push for a Trader Joe’s
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/article_0dbcb46c-c159-11e4-85ba-97ac547facf8.html
And TargetExpress