Anyone Remember Bethesda and Silver Spring in 2000?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I get it. They are brainwashed. Bethesda and Chevy Chase are very nice and parts of Kensington and Potomac and Rockville are nice. That's about it in MoCo.

[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?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

Have you been to the places I’m talking about? We’re comparing the same stores. The Ballston and Mosaic Targets are as walkable than the Rockville Target and the Wheaton Target. Go across the bridge sometime and see for yourself and then ask yourself why things are this way.

And we get it, Crystal City and Pentagon City have crime at times. Let’s compare Potomac to Great Falls, Tysons to Bethesda, Leesburg to Frederick. Let’s drill down on the crime data if you want. While we’re at it let’s compare the crime stats in PG County to any VA suburb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

+1

[Anonymous]

It's going to get worse. MoCo has more Feds who are likely to get cut--scientists, lawyers, regulators--than NoVa. Add this to the lack of private sector jobs in MoCo and you have a bad recipe. We're also facing down much higher assessments and higher income tax. I can't imagine that these apartments in Bethesda--like that new stick-frame monstrosity on OGR "The Cecil"--will be anywhere close to full. The cops also started hitting the f-it button after 2020--no traffic or petty crime enforcement. And, of course, County Council stays 100% Takoma Park DSA types. Pretty depressing.

[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.

Correct. My aunt build her house in downtown Bethesda BEFORE THERE WAS A METRO STOP there, in the 1980s. We moved from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 2010 and bought a house near hers. She's seen a lot of changes, and she still loves Bethesda.

Is OP the poster who continually dumps on MoCo in favor of NoVa? I would never live in Virginia myself. State laws are not the same. I would MUCH rather pay more in taxes and have better public services!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's going to get worse. MoCo has more Feds who are likely to get cut--scientists, lawyers, regulators--than NoVa. Add this to the lack of private sector jobs in MoCo and you have a bad recipe. We're also facing down much higher assessments and higher income tax. I can't imagine that these apartments in Bethesda--like that new stick-frame monstrosity on OGR "The Cecil"--will be anywhere close to full. The cops also started hitting the f-it button after 2020--no traffic or petty crime enforcement. And, of course, County Council stays 100% Takoma Park DSA types. Pretty depressing.

No, it will be worse for NoVA. Defense spending is by far much bigger than all of the other agencies that have been tackled so far. And Arlington/Fairfax have about 20% of residents who are federal employees, which is the same as MoCo. Plus, Nova has way more contractors. Nova has not diversified at all except for amazon, and it is about to suffer the consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Correct. My aunt build her house in downtown Bethesda BEFORE THERE WAS A METRO STOP there, in the 1980s. We moved from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 2010 and bought a house near hers. She's seen a lot of changes, and she still loves Bethesda.

Is OP the poster who continually dumps on MoCo in favor of NoVa? I would never live in Virginia myself. State laws are not the same. I would MUCH rather pay more in taxes and have better public services!

+1. I've been in Bethesda since the 1980s, and if only people actually lived in Bethesda back then, they would understand how far it's come for the better. There barely used to be any "downtown" area and crime was way worse back then (there was just no nextdoor and email lists for people to talk about it, but the local news was basically nonstop crime reporting). Bethesda is so much better now, I love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

Have you been to the places I’m talking about? We’re comparing the same stores. The Ballston and Mosaic Targets are as walkable than the Rockville Target and the Wheaton Target. Go across the bridge sometime and see for yourself and then ask yourself why things are this way.

And we get it, Crystal City and Pentagon City have crime at times. Let’s compare Potomac to Great Falls, Tysons to Bethesda, Leesburg to Frederick. Let’s drill down on the crime data if you want. While we’re at it let’s compare the crime stats in PG County to any VA suburb.

You didn't answer my question as to why you're spending the weekend running around to big box stores in the suburbs? Maybe you're just making everything up? Because normal people don't do this. Depending on what I need, I shop at the HT Bethesda, Trader Joes Bethesda, Giant Bethesda, and Costco Wheaton, and that's it. I think the overwhelming majority of people are like me. I'm not driving 45 minutes into Nova to go to a Harris Teeter there -- that's truly bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Correct. My aunt build her house in downtown Bethesda BEFORE THERE WAS A METRO STOP there, in the 1980s. We moved from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 2010 and bought a house near hers. She's seen a lot of changes, and she still loves Bethesda.

Is OP the poster who continually dumps on MoCo in favor of NoVa? I would never live in Virginia myself. State laws are not the same. I would MUCH rather pay more in taxes and have better public services!

More taxes does not mean better public services if they’re not applied by competent people. Silver Line is complete while the Purple Line is still years away and shut down for a few years because of mismanagement and blown up costs. And remember the Silver Spring Transit Hub?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/silver-spring-transit-center-delayed-indefinitely/2012/01/13/gIQAvBmNxP_story.html

The structural issues that have slowed construction of a massive new transit hub in Silver Spring are more serious than Montgomery County officials suspected, they said Friday.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said earlier this week that the opening of the Silver Spring Transit Center had been pushed back to June and that the county expected the cost of the project to reach $101 million. But officials now say that they don't know when they will be able to open the facility, which is to bring Metro, MARC, Ride On, taxis and intercity buses to a single site in Silver Spring's revitalized downtown.
Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning.

The facility’s structural integrity had already emerged as a concern, and an engineer’s assessment delivered to the county Friday concluded that at least some of the cement was improperly poured and must be redone.

Virginia is constantly improving its highway system in NoVA while the Maryland suburbs haven’t seen improvement since constructing 200 years ago.

I’d be fine with higher taxes if it meant than public transit, infrastructure, public safety, and schools in MoCo were world class compared to Fairfax. But they’re not. I’d argue that Fairfax is outperforming MoCo by any metric over the past 25 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

Have you been to the places I’m talking about? We’re comparing the same stores. The Ballston and Mosaic Targets are as walkable than the Rockville Target and the Wheaton Target. Go across the bridge sometime and see for yourself and then ask yourself why things are this way.

And we get it, Crystal City and Pentagon City have crime at times. Let’s compare Potomac to Great Falls, Tysons to Bethesda, Leesburg to Frederick. Let’s drill down on the crime data if you want. While we’re at it let’s compare the crime stats in PG County to any VA suburb.

You didn't answer my question as to why you're spending the weekend running around to big box stores in the suburbs? Maybe you're just making everything up? Because normal people don't do this. Depending on what I need, I shop at the HT Bethesda, Trader Joes Bethesda, Giant Bethesda, and Costco Wheaton, and that's it. I think the overwhelming majority of people are like me. I'm not driving 45 minutes into Nova to go to a Harris Teeter there -- that's truly bizarre.

I live in VA and it takes me 15 minutes to get to the 495 Old Georgetown Road exit where I have family nearby. I’ve been going to all these stores for the past 5 years and am in MD at least 2 days a week. You’re acting like someone is comparing stores in Fredericksburg to stores in Owings Mills. Tysons is a 10 minute drive to Montgomery Mall in no traffic. It takes 25 minutes to drive from the Mosaic Target to the Rockville Target in no traffic. It makes as much sense as comparing somewhere in Gaithersburg to somewhere in Bethesda.

A more interesting question is why you are so set on never going to Virginia. If you live in Bethesda, North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away and a lot closer than Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Correct. My aunt build her house in downtown Bethesda BEFORE THERE WAS A METRO STOP there, in the 1980s. We moved from Silver Spring to Bethesda in 2010 and bought a house near hers. She's seen a lot of changes, and she still loves Bethesda.

Is OP the poster who continually dumps on MoCo in favor of NoVa? I would never live in Virginia myself. State laws are not the same. I would MUCH rather pay more in taxes and have better public services!

+1. I've been in Bethesda since the 1980s, and if only people actually lived in Bethesda back then, they would understand how far it's come for the better. There barely used to be any "downtown" area and crime was way worse back then (there was just no nextdoor and email lists for people to talk about it, but the local news was basically nonstop crime reporting). Bethesda is so much better now, I love it.

Now compare Bethesda in 2000 to Bethesda now. Everything around DC was crappy in the 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

Have you been to the places I’m talking about? We’re comparing the same stores. The Ballston and Mosaic Targets are as walkable than the Rockville Target and the Wheaton Target. Go across the bridge sometime and see for yourself and then ask yourself why things are this way.

And we get it, Crystal City and Pentagon City have crime at times. Let’s compare Potomac to Great Falls, Tysons to Bethesda, Leesburg to Frederick. Let’s drill down on the crime data if you want. While we’re at it let’s compare the crime stats in PG County to any VA suburb.

You didn't answer my question as to why you're spending the weekend running around to big box stores in the suburbs? Maybe you're just making everything up? Because normal people don't do this. Depending on what I need, I shop at the HT Bethesda, Trader Joes Bethesda, Giant Bethesda, and Costco Wheaton, and that's it. I think the overwhelming majority of people are like me. I'm not driving 45 minutes into Nova to go to a Harris Teeter there -- that's truly bizarre.

I live in VA and it takes me 15 minutes to get to the 495 Old Georgetown Road exit where I have family nearby. I’ve been going to all these stores for the past 5 years and am in MD at least 2 days a week. You’re acting like someone is comparing stores in Fredericksburg to stores in Owings Mills. Tysons is a 10 minute drive to Montgomery Mall in no traffic. It takes 25 minutes to drive from the Mosaic Target to the Rockville Target in no traffic. It makes as much sense as comparing somewhere in Gaithersburg to somewhere in Bethesda.

A more interesting question is why you are so set on never going to Virginia. If you live in Bethesda, North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away and a lot closer than Wheaton.

Sorry, there's no world in which North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away from Bethesda, even if you live in 20816 right on the DC line and you do the trip at 5 AM. Even then, you'd get to a part of McLean and North Arlington that has no grocery stores, so you need to drive even further to get to one of the stores you mentioned. I live near downtown Bethesda, and all of the stores I mentioned are within 5 minutes of me, except that Costco is a bit of a longer drive. I actually do have family in Falls Church, but I go there to visit them, not to do my grocery shopping. Like I said, that would be truly bizarre. At best, I have been to some of the restaurants in that area.

[Anonymous]

I live near Bethesda and work in Ballston. Vastly different vibes to me, and I still prefer Bethesda. Just my take

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Oh boy, the dude who compares Harris Teeters and Targets in the suburbs is back. Do you just spend your weekends running around to different big box stores? Your comparisons are silly. If you're going to interview store clerks, then do it across the board and for stores that are in similarly walkable locations -- is the McLean location of HT walkable to anything? The ones in White Flint and Bethesda are in very urbanized areas. The idea that VA doesn't have shoplifting is silly.

Meanwhile, while this dude was making the grand tour of grocery stores, here's what else was happening in VA over the weekend:
https://www.arlnow.com/2025/02/15/breaking-shooting-reported-in-crystal-city/

Have you been to the places I’m talking about? We’re comparing the same stores. The Ballston and Mosaic Targets are as walkable than the Rockville Target and the Wheaton Target. Go across the bridge sometime and see for yourself and then ask yourself why things are this way.

And we get it, Crystal City and Pentagon City have crime at times. Let’s compare Potomac to Great Falls, Tysons to Bethesda, Leesburg to Frederick. Let’s drill down on the crime data if you want. While we’re at it let’s compare the crime stats in PG County to any VA suburb.

You didn't answer my question as to why you're spending the weekend running around to big box stores in the suburbs? Maybe you're just making everything up? Because normal people don't do this. Depending on what I need, I shop at the HT Bethesda, Trader Joes Bethesda, Giant Bethesda, and Costco Wheaton, and that's it. I think the overwhelming majority of people are like me. I'm not driving 45 minutes into Nova to go to a Harris Teeter there -- that's truly bizarre.

I live in VA and it takes me 15 minutes to get to the 495 Old Georgetown Road exit where I have family nearby. I’ve been going to all these stores for the past 5 years and am in MD at least 2 days a week. You’re acting like someone is comparing stores in Fredericksburg to stores in Owings Mills. Tysons is a 10 minute drive to Montgomery Mall in no traffic. It takes 25 minutes to drive from the Mosaic Target to the Rockville Target in no traffic. It makes as much sense as comparing somewhere in Gaithersburg to somewhere in Bethesda.

A more interesting question is why you are so set on never going to Virginia. If you live in Bethesda, North Arlington and McLean are 10 minutes away and a lot closer than Wheaton.

Np. Why would someone shop in Virginia when they don't have to? And they live in Silver Spring?