Anyone Remember Bethesda and Silver Spring in 2000?

[Anonymous]

I remember when Bethesda was MUCH nicer than a boring, run down place like Ballston, which had an old Radison hotel, a decaying mall, and a subpar movie theater and not much else. I remember when Silver Spring had more going on than Crystal City or Pentagon City.

No one would prefer Ballston over Bethesda 25 years ago. Now it’s a toss up, and some might want to live in Ballston instead. You could make comparisons to VA suburbs vs MD suburbs over the course of the past 25 years and in almost every instance VA will come out ahead when you look at how much economic and infrastructure development they’ve had.

What happened to all of MOCO’s momentum? Is it all Elrich’s fault? Who’s to blame for the complete lack of forward momentum compared to Virginia in business and infrastructure development in the past 25 years?

[Anonymous]

Remember when MOCO was trying to get Amazon to come to the White Flint Mall site? Amazon’s already built office buildings in Crystal City and there is nothing but dirt and no plans to build anything at White Flint. You can’t make this stuff up.

[Anonymous]

Everywhere is a nightmare and overbuilt.

[Anonymous]

OP doesn't remember that 2000 Bethesda was New Bethesda that replaced run down Old Bethesda.

OP doesn't understand how suburban sprawl spits out new development, burns it out, and then builds something new elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP doesn't remember that 2000 Bethesda was New Bethesda that replaced run down Old Bethesda.

OP doesn't understand how suburban sprawl spits out new development, burns it out, and then builds something new elsewhere.

When it is going to spin out to White Flint, which has been a barren wasteland for ages?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP doesn't remember that 2000 Bethesda was New Bethesda that replaced run down Old Bethesda.

OP doesn't understand how suburban sprawl spits out new development, burns it out, and then builds something new elsewhere.

When are they going to build out enough to cover a $2 billion state deficit while VA has a $2 billion surplus and much lower state income taxes? Are they just going to continue to tax their citizens into oblivion and scare businesses over to VA? Is that the plan?

I just want to know what the plan is to bring MD into the 21st Century.

[Anonymous]

MOCO was just first. Ballston will seem tired soon enough. It’s just shiny and new now. That’s how development goes. Momentum isn’t infinite. People made their money and moved on

[Anonymous]

I just want to know where I can find a Giant in MOCO as nice as the one in McLean or a Harris Teeter as nice as the ones in Ballston, Dunn Loring, or in Crystal City.

I’ve seen homeless people literally asking for change from people in the self checkout lines at the Harris Teeter on Battery Lane and saw shoplifters rushing the door in the morning last week at the Harris Teeter near White Flint. I asked the women who worked at the bakery if it was a regular occurrence and they said it happens all the time but no one does anything to stop it. It’s not like this in the VA Harris Teeters I go to and they’re nicer and stocked better as well. Why?

[Anonymous]

And I also want to know why the Targets in Bethesda, Rockville, and Wheaton are depressing as hell compared to the Targets in Mosaic, Ballston, etc.

[Anonymous]

Everything that's urban and accessible is accessible to everyone. Things in car only deserts will have fewer people who don't have a car to get there.

[Anonymous]

And yet when you read the Real Estate forum all of the folks living in MD always have scathing comments to make about VA.

MD is on the downward slide, and just the sheer volume of traffic from MD into VA for work shows that.

[Anonymous]

The county allows developers to sit on projects and they look like crap. Look at the block along Wisconsin that is all boarded up. It has been that way for the past 15 years. The County even closed a parking lot a few years ago that is all fenced off and sits next to two decaying buildings that are used by homeless people who keep removing the boards and fences.

The old gas station at Montgomery Ave was vacant for at least 10 and used by developers as a place to store equipment.

The Balston area moves projects along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know where I can find a Giant in MOCO as nice as the one in McLean or a Harris Teeter as nice as the ones in Ballston, Dunn Loring, or in Crystal City.

I’ve seen homeless people literally asking for change from people in the self checkout lines at the Harris Teeter on Battery Lane and saw shoplifters rushing the door in the morning last week at the Harris Teeter near White Flint. I asked the women who worked at the bakery if it was a regular occurrence and they said it happens all the time but no one does anything to stop it. It’s not like this in the VA Harris Teeters I go to and they’re nicer and stocked better as well. Why?

They don’t even have self checkout lines at that Harris Teeter in “North Bethesda” near White Flint. Tells you all you need to know. And this is one of the nicer areas of suburban MD from what people say. I’d hate to see how the grocery stores in the bad areas are.

[Anonymous]

Anyone remember Tysons Corner Mall, Wheaton Mall, Springfield Mall, and Montgomery Mall in 2000? Anyone been to these same places this year? Stunning how VA has literally leapfrogged MD during this time. Wheaton Mall and Springfield Mall used to both be run down and shady in 2000. Now Springfield Mall looks brand new and has a Lego Land and a Magianno’s. Wheaton Mall looks almost worse now than in 2000 if that’s possible.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I grew up in Bethesda and occasionally went to silver spring. I was already out of college and living in Clarendon by 2000. Clarendon was pretty dumpy back then. Rosslyn and Courthouse were nicer.

I'll tell you what happened to Maryland, they kept raising taxes and corporations moved to Virginia, so Arlington got much more built up. I went to a catholic school in DC for HS. About 2% of my class was from Arlington. Unless it was country club hills, it was not a desirable place to live. Now, 22207 is the most represented zip code at the school and MD is the Catholic state.