Sell me on Silver Spring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are ethnic restaurants a plus or a minus. I say that as one rich then I lived with blocked them constantly. They allowed them but always trouble and brought up crime, quality of life issues, traffic and tons of garbage.

I am not sure what the rest of your message actually says but in regard to the first—what??? I would be very sad to live without Indian,Chinese, Thai, Italian, French, Mexican, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Greek, Salvadoran, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Central European restaurants within drivng/walking/delivery distance.

Cheap ethnic restaurants are one of the main draws of SS!!!!

I love cheap ethnic restaurants and am a short drive to them in Chevy Chase. Don’t need to live in SS. Too much multi-family housing and concrete ugliness. Even the nice neighborhoods like Woodside or other small pockets of SFH neighborhoods with pool clubs are too close to ugly strips.

What cheap ethnic restaurants a short drive from Chevy Chase do you frequent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the green space comment at all. SS has tons of gorgeous trails, parks, and playgrounds. Many are very close to downtown. No idea what you are talking about OP.

When we moved out of the city we bought a home in just off Sligo Creek in Silgo park hills. Cute neighborhood with interesting neighbors we thought was perfect counter to the city. In the 3 years we lived there-
1- a homeless man who slept in the park behind our house scared my wife a couple of time so she stop walking with the baby and jogging
2-our street parked car and back shed were broken into multiple time with bikes stolen out of the shed (master lock cut)
3-a car jacking block away
4-murder a block away on flower ave in the middle of the street
5-gun shots during the summer around the same flower Ave area multiple times
6-some lady at the church where we sent our son for preschool decided my wife took her parking spot and started a verbal altercation threatening to go physical. She was there for the food pantry while my wife had a small child. Even if my wife was oblivious is that really the place for thug life with kids around?

None of that has happened since we have moved to Bethesda but I will say our renters love the spot so it just shows different strokes for different folks

We have lived in DTSS for 4 years and have not experienced anything like the above. I have walked past homeless people on the way to the yoga studio, but they have never been threatening. We feel very safe in our apartment and walking around with our toddler. We have heard of stuff being stolen from vehicles (lock your cars people) and car jackings, but I wasn't aware this was specific to Silver Spring. I've seen reports of car jackings in a lot of places. Not doubting that you felt unsafe and had reason to do so - I do think some of the neighborhoods east of downtown Silver Spring are rough, and it dies vary by where in the Silver Spring area you are. Fortunately there are crime maps you can look at to get a sense if which neighborhoods are most impacted.

+1. And the PP's house in Sligo Park Hills is not what I would call DTSS. That is the area bordering Takoma Park off Piney Branch north of TPMS.

Technically, if she lived near Flower, she was on the other side of Sligo Creek from Sligo Park Hills. It's a little cheaper, a little more crime and a lot of it is actually in Takoma Park. SPH is its own thing.

It is that is why I said SPHs which is where I lived not the other side of the park which is TP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is where souls go to die. Rockville, Frederick, anything thing is better than heinous and hoitey Bethesda with its zero parking, congestion, and office park overload. Blah blah blah. It’s the Arlington of MoCo.

Oh yes, the drug & opioid epidemic ground zero, crime riddled Frederick is MUCH better than Bethesda.
I'm sure given the option of a free home in either location, you'd far prefer to live in Frederick, right? 🤣

Oh, and please spare us the part where you extolle all of the virtues of Frederick, ok?
I grew up there.

Nothing, absolutely nothing you can say would make Frederick a better place to raise your family than Bethesda.

Any place is better than Frederick to raise a family... ANY PLACE.

I live in Rockville now, so I have no dog in this Silver Spring fight, but for you to make such a ridiculous, laughable and untrue statement, shows that you have ZERO clue of what you speak of.

It sounds like you have a lot of unresolved trauma in your family of origin. That absolutely can color your opinion of a place. I live in Takoma Park, and like most people here, I would never ever want to live in Bethesda. We have friends in Frederick who have kids who love it. The parks are great and the college town vibe is a positive. I also like Columbia, MD and Severna Park. Rockville, too, checks a lot of boxes.

Nah, Frederick is one of those places that has a picture pretty facade, but is completey fake.

I'm not the PP, but I agree with their sentiment.

Frederick tries to put on a quaint, small-town, quirky, neighborhood vibe, however if you scratch just slightly under the surface, you'd be shocked at how abhorrent of a place it really is.

I would never, ever send my child to college in/near Frederick, as the drug culture starts very early -- not in high school, but in middle school and sometimes shockingly, elementary school.
It is so out of control, there's no way to get away from it easily if you grow up there, because so many parents send siblings are involved in it.

Anyone who has lived there for at least 30-40 years and has generational family members living there too, has most likely had a family member affected by drugs (usually one of their parents or their children).
Drugs & crime go hand in hand (crimes to get money to get their drugs) and it affects all ages there, young & old. It's really sad.

My husband is a defense attorney up in Frederick, and he's constantly disturbed by the cases he receives with heartbreakingly young clients getting arrested.

It really affects him deep down that these kids are so young, fresh and could have potentially had the brightest of futures (if they'd grown up somewhere else), as well as because we have kids the same age as some of his clients (which is what made him get into defense in the first place).

He firmly believes that every child should have the opportunity to dream big and do whatever they want in life, yet growing up in Frederick doesn't usually provide them with a great chance for that bright future, because:

1. The drugs are everywhere.
2. They are easily accessible.
3. It's absolutely effortless to get sucked in.

I truly hope your friends love it in Frederick and their lives are never touched by the unbridled drug epidemic that runs rampant and has infiltrated & permeate Frederick, because it's very rare for families who live there to come out totally unscathed by drugs.

Please, please make sure that if your friends have children of any age, that their eyes are wide open and they start talking to those kids *early and often* about drugs, because even if it seems that their kids "would never do drugs" it doesn't mean that their kid's best friend won't try drugs.
It's no secret that a teen's best friend has a lot more influence over your kid than you do.
A lot more influence.

I'll end this on this last statement.
The last place any family want to end up is in my husband's office - retaining his services, because every family comes in with the same shocked, bewildered & panicked look of "how did we ever get here??".

Sigh, sorry to get off topic, back to the topic at hand.

Like the PP, I too don't have a dog in the Bethesda/SS argument.
Honestly, both seem to be really nice places and they both have redeeming qualities & places.
I guess it really comes down to person preference, doesn't it?

However, I don't believe it's necessary to trash Bethesda because you live in Silver Spring, and vice versa.

Why does it have to be one or the other, why can't people appreciate both places?

Way to hijack the thread

+1

Thanks for the memoir, Frederick lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the green space comment at all. SS has tons of gorgeous trails, parks, and playgrounds. Many are very close to downtown. No idea what you are talking about OP.

When we moved out of the city we bought a home in just off Sligo Creek in Silgo park hills. Cute neighborhood with interesting neighbors we thought was perfect counter to the city. In the 3 years we lived there-
1- a homeless man who slept in the park behind our house scared my wife a couple of time so she stop walking with the baby and jogging
2-our street parked car and back shed were broken into multiple time with bikes stolen out of the shed (master lock cut)
3-a car jacking block away
4-murder a block away on flower ave in the middle of the street
5-gun shots during the summer around the same flower Ave area multiple times
6-some lady at the church where we sent our son for preschool decided my wife took her parking spot and started a verbal altercation threatening to go physical. She was there for the food pantry while my wife had a small child. Even if my wife was oblivious is that really the place for thug life with kids around?

None of that has happened since we have moved to Bethesda but I will say our renters love the spot so it just shows different strokes for different folks

Ah, I live in the Forest Glen area, and this hasn't been my experience at all. We are constantly on the Sligo trails and in the parks and playgrounds - and feel very safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we moved here from Brooklyn, where we'd ived as gentrifying hothouse flowers for about two decades in Williamsburg, Bed Study and Clinton Hill... DTSS was the only neighborhood in the entire DMV that even seemed close to what we were looking for: decent, affordable housing stock, small businesses, a variety of restaurants, ethnic diversity, decent schools, something that seemed like an art scene.

Sadly, we had underestimated how miserable the entire DMV truly is, but my assessment still stands: if one is forced to live in this miserable place full of type-A strivers, DTSS isn't so bad. It's not all quinoa bowl fast casual like Bethesda. (Seriously, I have to go there a lot for work and every miserable restaurant there just serves some version of a protein "bowl" for $15. That's what you all consider a thriving downtown? Lol.)

I wish I had lived in dtss when there was a borders bookstore. I wish a major bookstore would return.

On the upside, I love the music, I love the pedestrian traffic (all two blocks of it), I love the old stores on GA and Fenton, I love the comic book store, I love all the Ethiopian coffee options, I love the irish pub, I love parking is free on weekends, I love the hardware store, I love Denizens, I love the dated office buildings, and Info see a great deal of potential.

I've been predicting the next big thing in urban neighborhoods since the early 90s so I don't think I'm wrong: as far as it goes in the DMV, Silver Spring has the 'it' factor. This area is still a miserable place full of joyless, humorless, didactic and whiny people... But DTSS is so much better than Bethesda or Del Ray or Capitol Hill.

Interesting post. My only quibble is that NYC is also full of strivers and type A people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda is where souls go to die. Rockville, Frederick, anything thing is better than heinous and hoitey Bethesda with its zero parking, congestion, and office park overload. Blah blah blah. It’s the Arlington of MoCo.

Oh yes, the drug & opioid epidemic ground zero, crime riddled Frederick is MUCH better than Bethesda.
I'm sure given the option of a free home in either location, you'd far prefer to live in Frederick, right? 🤣

Oh, and please spare us the part where you extolle all of the virtues of Frederick, ok?
I grew up there.

Nothing, absolutely nothing you can say would make Frederick a better place to raise your family than Bethesda.

Any place is better than Frederick to raise a family... ANY PLACE.

I live in Rockville now, so I have no dog in this Silver Spring fight, but for you to make such a ridiculous, laughable and untrue statement, shows that you have ZERO clue of what you speak of.

It sounds like you have a lot of unresolved trauma in your family of origin. That absolutely can color your opinion of a place. I live in Takoma Park, and like most people here, I would never ever want to live in Bethesda. We have friends in Frederick who have kids who love it. The parks are great and the college town vibe is a positive. I also like Columbia, MD and Severna Park. Rockville, too, checks a lot of boxes.

Nah, Frederick is one of those places that has a picture pretty facade, but is completey fake.

I'm not the PP, but I agree with their sentiment.

Frederick tries to put on a quaint, small-town, quirky, neighborhood vibe, however if you scratch just slightly under the surface, you'd be shocked at how abhorrent of a place it really is.

I would never, ever send my child to college in/near Frederick, as the drug culture starts very early -- not in high school, but in middle school and sometimes shockingly, elementary school.
It is so out of control, there's no way to get away from it easily if you grow up there, because so many parents send siblings are involved in it.

Anyone who has lived there for at least 30-40 years and has generational family members living there too, has most likely had a family member affected by drugs (usually one of their parents or their children).
Drugs & crime go hand in hand (crimes to get money to get their drugs) and it affects all ages there, young & old. It's really sad.

My husband is a defense attorney up in Frederick, and he's constantly disturbed by the cases he receives with heartbreakingly young clients getting arrested.

It really affects him deep down that these kids are so young, fresh and could have potentially had the brightest of futures (if they'd grown up somewhere else), as well as because we have kids the same age as some of his clients (which is what made him get into defense in the first place).

He firmly believes that every child should have the opportunity to dream big and do whatever they want in life, yet growing up in Frederick doesn't usually provide them with a great chance for that bright future, because:

1. The drugs are everywhere.
2. They are easily accessible.
3. It's absolutely effortless to get sucked in.

I truly hope your friends love it in Frederick and their lives are never touched by the unbridled drug epidemic that runs rampant and has infiltrated & permeate Frederick, because it's very rare for families who live there to come out totally unscathed by drugs.

Please, please make sure that if your friends have children of any age, that their eyes are wide open and they start talking to those kids *early and often* about drugs, because even if it seems that their kids "would never do drugs" it doesn't mean that their kid's best friend won't try drugs.
It's no secret that a teen's best friend has a lot more influence over your kid than you do.
A lot more influence.

I'll end this on this last statement.
The last place any family want to end up is in my husband's office - retaining his services, because every family comes in with the same shocked, bewildered & panicked look of "how did we ever get here??".

Sigh, sorry to get off topic, back to the topic at hand.

Like the PP, I too don't have a dog in the Bethesda/SS argument.
Honestly, both seem to be really nice places and they both have redeeming qualities & places.
I guess it really comes down to person preference, doesn't it?

However, I don't believe it's necessary to trash Bethesda because you live in Silver Spring, and vice versa.

Why does it have to be one or the other, why can't people appreciate both places?

Wow! Is this true. I had no idea that Frederick had such a drug epidemic. This is very disturbing. Is this due to the opioid crisis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are ethnic restaurants a plus or a minus. I say that as one rich then I lived with blocked them constantly. They allowed them but always trouble and brought up crime, quality of life issues, traffic and tons of garbage.

I am not sure what the rest of your message actually says but in regard to the first—what??? I would be very sad to live without Indian,Chinese, Thai, Italian, French, Mexican, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Greek, Salvadoran, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Central European restaurants within drivng/walking/delivery distance.

Cheap ethnic restaurants are one of the main draws of SS!!!!

I love cheap ethnic restaurants and am a short drive to them in Chevy Chase. Don’t need to live in SS. Too much multi-family housing and concrete ugliness. Even the nice neighborhoods like Woodside or other small pockets of SFH neighborhoods with pool clubs are too close to ugly strips.

Now this is just rude. Not surprised you live in hoighty toity Chevy Chase. Well, my SS kids are hobnobbing with your kids at BCC high school and there is nothing you can do about it

[Anonymous]

Is the area around Glenwood pool/Flora Singer ES good? Looks like a lot of multi-family housing and old housing stock. But people seem to like it. I can’t tell if they’re just boosters for the area because they care about their property values or they want to build a close community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the area around Glenwood pool/Flora Singer ES good? Looks like a lot of multi-family housing and old housing stock. But people seem to like it. I can’t tell if they’re just boosters for the area because they care about their property values or they want to build a close community.

Well I don't need to boost my neighborhood - houses are flying off the market. I'm actually lamenting it a little bit as it's going to be harder for young families.

Anyway, if you walk around my hood, you'll see many people have done two story additions. People are sinking $300+ more into the housing stock here because we love it. It's a great community. But definitely not trying to sell anyone on it - it's not necessary and I'm totally aware that there are people who look down it. Shrug, everyone's mileage varies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the area around Glenwood pool/Flora Singer ES good? Looks like a lot of multi-family housing and old housing stock. But people seem to like it. I can’t tell if they’re just boosters for the area because they care about their property values or they want to build a close community.

Well I don't need to boost my neighborhood - houses are flying off the market. I'm actually lamenting it a little bit as it's going to be harder for young families.

Anyway, if you walk around my hood, you'll see many people have done two story additions. People are sinking $300+ more into the housing stock here because we love it. It's a great community. But definitely not trying to sell anyone on it - it's not necessary and I'm totally aware that there are people who look down it. Shrug, everyone's mileage varies.

I know doctors and scientists in that neighborhood but they are surrounded by low income housing on those barrack looking Fields apartments. Those people might cause problems. I don’t think Bethesda has this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the area around Glenwood pool/Flora Singer ES good? Looks like a lot of multi-family housing and old housing stock. But people seem to like it. I can’t tell if they’re just boosters for the area because they care about their property values or they want to build a close community.

Well I don't need to boost my neighborhood - houses are flying off the market. I'm actually lamenting it a little bit as it's going to be harder for young families.

Anyway, if you walk around my hood, you'll see many people have done two story additions. People are sinking $300+ more into the housing stock here because we love it. It's a great community. But definitely not trying to sell anyone on it - it's not necessary and I'm totally aware that there are people who look down it. Shrug, everyone's mileage varies.

To be clear, i'm in the neighborhood across Georgia from this one. But have lots of friends there. McKenney Hills I think is the one you are describing - both it and Forest Estates are great, and I'm also a big fan of the neighborhood nearby called Sligo Hills I think. All clustered in that area, all feed to Flora Singer/Sligo Middle/Einstein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the area around Glenwood pool/Flora Singer ES good? Looks like a lot of multi-family housing and old housing stock. But people seem to like it. I can’t tell if they’re just boosters for the area because they care about their property values or they want to build a close community.

Well I don't need to boost my neighborhood - houses are flying off the market. I'm actually lamenting it a little bit as it's going to be harder for young families.

Anyway, if you walk around my hood, you'll see many people have done two story additions. People are sinking $300+ more into the housing stock here because we love it. It's a great community. But definitely not trying to sell anyone on it - it's not necessary and I'm totally aware that there are people who look down it. Shrug, everyone's mileage varies.

I know doctors and scientists in that neighborhood but they are surrounded by low income housing on those barrack looking Fields apartments. Those people might cause problems. I don’t think Bethesda has this problem.

Yeah rich kids never have any behavior issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are ethnic restaurants a plus or a minus. I say that as one rich then I lived with blocked them constantly. They allowed them but always trouble and brought up crime, quality of life issues, traffic and tons of garbage.

I am not sure what the rest of your message actually says but in regard to the first—what??? I would be very sad to live without Indian,Chinese, Thai, Italian, French, Mexican, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Greek, Salvadoran, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Central European restaurants within drivng/walking/delivery distance.

Cheap ethnic restaurants are one of the main draws of SS!!!!

I love cheap ethnic restaurants and am a short drive to them in Chevy Chase. Don’t need to live in SS. Too much multi-family housing and concrete ugliness. Even the nice neighborhoods like Woodside or other small pockets of SFH neighborhoods with pool clubs are too close to ugly strips.

This tells me everything I need to know about you, in order to consider the source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get the green space comment at all. SS has tons of gorgeous trails, parks, and playgrounds. Many are very close to downtown. No idea what you are talking about OP.

How accessible are they from Downtown SS? That is, how close are they from Colesville and Georgia? People throughout this thread have said Silver Spring in general has nice neighborhoods, just that Downtown Silver Spring is poorly planned and has little green space.

DP.
Ellsworth Park is on Colesville 3 blocks from Georgia.
Woodside Park is on Georgia 3 blocks from Colesville.
Fairview Park in on Spring 1 block from Georgia and 2 blocks from Colesville.

All of that plus sligo is maybe a 1/2 mile from downtown. Rock creek park is 1-2 miles in the other direction, but very easily bikeable on the path along East West highway. (I rode from 16th street to the Capitol Crescent or Rock Creek park 100+ times when I lived in Silver Spring.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the area around Glenwood pool/Flora Singer ES good? Looks like a lot of multi-family housing and old housing stock. But people seem to like it. I can’t tell if they’re just boosters for the area because they care about their property values or they want to build a close community.

I don't live there but people rave about that neighborhood. I think it's even better if you manage to get into the Glenwood pool, as it is kind of the social heart of the neighborhood as far as I can tell. It also has the longest waiting list of any of the parks on the east side of the county, though.