Detailed reasons for why you wouldn't live in Prince Georges County...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people on this forum are afraid of Black people. They talk about PG under the guise of "bad schools," etc. in order to avoid saying it plain and clear.

In some cases that might be true. However, I think it is more complicated than just people are "afraid of Black people."

My observation has been that while some parents have no problem interacting with minorities, that when it comes to their children's education, they detour in favor of "better schools" that still have diverse student and teacher populations. What's wrong with that?

When it comes down to a good education for my kids, I don't give a shit about diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are my reasons:

Crime
Lack of diversity (I like the international feel of Fairfax better as suppose to the monoracial social settings)
Terrible Schools (my uncle who currently teaches in PG County talks all the time about how terrible it is to teach there and he taught in DCPS for years)
No great shopping, restaurants, or cultural amenities like the other surrounding counties
Corrupt local leaders
Mentality (there is no desire or focus on change there. It continues to decrease in regards to quality of life)
DC gentrification (As DC continues to gentrify many of their cesspool of criminals, Section 8 government dependency types, and ghetto fabulous types seem to flock to PG County which is another reason for the crime and poor quality schools.)
Police Department

Also, this may not be PC to say, but I'm going to say it, "I really don't care to live around African Americans who continue to ignore the pathology that exist within their communities and I am African American. It's just sad to see the pathologies in PG County and to accept it as the norm. Even talking to relatives whom reside there they seem to accept the dysfunctionalism as normal life. It drives me totally insane to see my people settled for less than what they deserve. I mean PG isn't Baltimore City or Southeast DC, but the Washington DC area have better options for families to live. There is a reason why the homes are so cheap there.

You need Jesus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are my reasons:

Crime
Lack of diversity (I like the international feel of Fairfax better as suppose to the monoracial social settings)
Terrible Schools (my uncle who currently teaches in PG County talks all the time about how terrible it is to teach there and he taught in DCPS for years)
No great shopping, restaurants, or cultural amenities like the other surrounding counties
Corrupt local leaders
Mentality (there is no desire or focus on change there. It continues to decrease in regards to quality of life)
DC gentrification (As DC continues to gentrify many of their cesspool of criminals, Section 8 government dependency types, and ghetto fabulous types seem to flock to PG County which is another reason for the crime and poor quality schools.)
Police Department

Also, this may not be PC to say, but I'm going to say it, "I really don't care to live around African Americans who continue to ignore the pathology that exist within their communities and I am African American. It's just sad to see the pathologies in PG County and to accept it as the norm. Even talking to relatives whom reside there they seem to accept the dysfunctionalism as normal life. It drives me totally insane to see my people settled for less than what they deserve. I mean PG isn't Baltimore City or Southeast DC, but the Washington DC area have better options for families to live. There is a reason why the homes are so cheap there.

You need Jesus

+1

This made me laugh out loud. I needed it too, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Wow. Ok, anyway, back to the original topic... We're talking about a large, relatively densely populated county, not about one town or one neighborhood. I definitely wouldn't rule out a whole county on principle.
My hubby and I live in Hyattsville with our kids and really like it. We always planned on doing private school, almost no matter where we live, so we didn't want to pay a ton to live in an area where competition for the hottest public schools is driving the housing prices up. We are so in love with the beautiful house we bought (CHEAP!!!), and already have several very good friends in our neighborhood.
That said, there are definitely areas of PG county I wouldn't want to live in, for many reasons: crime, lack of charm, distance from downtown D.C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congrats 18:00 (are you the OP?) I am glad you found something that is right for you/your family. What part of PG did you move to?

No, I'm not OP. We are moving to a newer subdivision in Lanham-Seabrook. I looked very carefully at crime statistics and schools. There's a lot of petty crime in some of Lanham, but not where we're going, and not much more than what you'd find in Silver Spring, where we live now.

Welcome, neighbor! We live in the same area, in one of the older homes that surround Greenbelt National Forest. We have been happy here. We haven't experienced any crime and find shopping/library/parks/pools/movies/restaurants/metro, etc easy to get to. We have a child at the public Montessori which has been a good experience. Everyone we know who is happy with their kid's public school is in a specialty or TAG program. Most in regular public are not happy. But there are reasonably priced privates as well. I'm not denying that pg county has problems but they haven't held back my family.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Old Greenbelt for years. It's a great community, especially if you have kids. The crime that gets talked about in PG County for the most part doesn't apply to that neighborhood, though it's not without issues. Local grocery store (plus Giant, Safeway and Wegman's a short drive away), little movie theater, a couple restaurants, farmers market, aquatic center, library. Parks and playgrounds all over the place.

We paid about $250k for a 2.5 bedroom townhouse with a big yard in 2007. Our neighbors mostly sent their kids to the neighborhood schools, including the middle school (though they agreed that it wasn't great).

We actually moved into the city when DD was a year old for various reasons, mostly the commute, which was about an hour in and an houraand a half out from our house to Foggy Bottom. The neighborhood, taxes, race (we're both white), crime and available shopping were not on the list of reasons we left.

[Anonymous]

Having a majority Black population does not make a place diverse. It makes it majority Black. Diversity means there are a bunch of different races and ethnic groups all together. I don't think that describes PG county, although admittedly, I don't frequent that area. But I'm tired of majority Black areas being called "diverse"- that's crap.

[Anonymous]

Here are my reasons:

Crime
Lack of diversity (I like the international feel of Fairfax better as suppose to the monoracial social settings)
Terrible Schools (my uncle who currently teaches in PG County talks all the time about how terrible it is to teach there and he taught in DCPS for years)
No great shopping, restaurants, or cultural amenities like the other surrounding counties
Corrupt local leaders
Mentality (there is no desire or focus on change there. It continues to decrease in regards to quality of life)
DC gentrification (As DC continues to gentrify many of their cesspool of criminals, Section 8 government dependency types, and ghetto fabulous types seem to flock to PG County which is another reason for the crime and poor quality schools.)
Police Department

Also, this may not be PC to say, but I'm going to say it, "I really don't care to live around African Americans who continue to ignore the pathology that exist within their communities and I am African American. It's just sad to see the pathologies in PG County and to accept it as the norm. Even talking to relatives whom reside there they seem to accept the dysfunctionalism as normal life. It drives me totally insane to see my people settled for less than what they deserve. I mean PG isn't Baltimore City or Southeast DC, but the Washington DC area have better options for families to live. There is a reason why the homes are so cheap there.

ALL OF THIS (also AA and not the author of this post).

Reality is a bitter pill to swallow....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having a majority Black population does not make a place diverse. It makes it majority Black. Diversity means there are a bunch of different races and ethnic groups all together. I don't think that describes PG county, although admittedly, I don't frequent that area. But I'm tired of majority Black areas being called "diverse"- that's crap.

Maybe people hold onto this in light of the fact that there was a point when PG was diverse, before the whites began moving out in droves. It's not like the AA population moving into PGC in the 70s and 80s wanted to live in 95% AA neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in PG county for 12 years. I don't really know why people are afraid of "crime" here. Honestly, like anywhere, it depends on which neighborhood you live in, but I can tell you that I see MUCH LESS crime in my cute little PG County neighborhood than I do in my MOCO friends' neighborhoods. Kids leave their bikes in the yard regularly, people leave their sheds unlocked, I feel totally comfortable walking down the street at night....As for schools... it can be hit or miss. Again, it depends on the neighborhood. My children are getting an equal or better education in their PG County publci schools than their MOCO peers (we have lots of MOCO friends from church, so that is my point of comparison).
One thing the PG county does have more of than other counties is BLACK PEOPLE. Everything else... reports of crime, businesses not wanting to be in PG, real estate... as far as I'm concerned, it's all racism. Some people may not even realize that that's what it boils down to, but that's really the source of any and every difference. I'm white btw.

[Anonymous]

Live in Bowie and I love it! Very diverse, near everything, and good schools.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in Bowie for 3 years and love it.

Crime has dropped significantly over the last few years- especially violent crime.

Plenty of shopping, very easy to get to DC/Baltimore/Annapolis for evn more options.

Some of he elementary schools in Bowie ar excellent. The middle/high schools are not.

[Anonymous]

Pp here: sorry for the typos. Didn't proof read- should know better than to trust the ipad to auto correct.

[Anonymous]

My ILS live in PG Co., and have for 35+ years. They live near the Orange line and Route 50, which is great for commuting. That's about it on the "plus" list for their house.

On their street there is VERY bad crime (stolen cars, car vandalism, house break ins, muggings, drive by shootings, etc.) Just a window into how unsafe it is - our kids aren't allowed to go to their house.

The houses on their street look terrible. Very run down, trash in the yard, etc.

The neighborhood school are atrocious and unsafe. They send DH to parochial school to get him out of the neighborhood schools - and that was 30 years ago - and they could scarecly afford it.

Most of the nearby shopping consists of pawn shops, liquor stores, convenience stores, and check cashing.

We have been begging them to move for at least a decade. They have some pretty severe inertia.

[Anonymous]

Avoid any areas with major construction.

For the next 10 months or so, the worst area is live in is Lanham-Sebrook near the $100 Turkish-American Community Center site at 9704 Good Luck Road. Noise, shockwaves and pollution 7 days a week. Utility disruption without notice to the residents. Inspectors, and local officials are of no hope to the residents. Dozens of Turkish workers are occupying houses as the residents are moving out. There's been a slight increase in local crime but the police are slow to respond to resident complaints unless it involves the protection of the site. Either someone is taking bribes, or they are interested in kissing up to the Turkish Prime Minister.