Oh, Maryland, what happened to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Bethesda and made my way over to Virginia after college due to better work prospects in Virginia. My parents finally left Maryland a few years ago and we don’t go back often. I traveled to Bethesda and Rockville yesterday for the first time in about a year. What struck me the most:

-panhandlers at every side of all the major intersections. I’m shocked Montgomery county allows that.

-why on earth did they take 1/3 of a major artery (Old Georgetown Road) and close it off for bike traffic? Want to know how may bicyclists I saw using that section of the road? Exactly zero.

-I almost hit two pedestrians in two completely different areas who stepped in front of my car in the middle of the block when they were looking at their phones. Neither of them ever seemed to even notice I was there.

-I also almost got hit four separate times by people either pulling into traffic from the side streets without caring if it was clear, or realizing they wanted to turn at the next intersection when they were several lanes over.

Is it entitlement? Or do people in Maryland just tend to have their heads up their rears? I couldn’t figure it out but the vibe there is so different than it was when I was growing up there (in the 70’s and 80’s) and so different from Virginia. How do people stomach living there these days?

Yeah I’m sure all of this happened in your one day in Maryland.

I live in Rockville and frequent Bethesda and the surrounding areas. Today on Rockville Pike was the first time I have seen a panhandler in a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Bethesda and made my way over to Virginia after college due to better work prospects in Virginia. My parents finally left Maryland a few years ago and we don’t go back often. I traveled to Bethesda and Rockville yesterday for the first time in about a year. What struck me the most:

-panhandlers at every side of all the major intersections. I’m shocked Montgomery county allows that.

-why on earth did they take 1/3 of a major artery (Old Georgetown Road) and close it off for bike traffic? Want to know how may bicyclists I saw using that section of the road? Exactly zero.

-I almost hit two pedestrians in two completely different areas who stepped in front of my car in the middle of the block when they were looking at their phones. Neither of them ever seemed to even notice I was there.

-I also almost got hit four separate times by people either pulling into traffic from the side streets without caring if it was clear, or realizing they wanted to turn at the next intersection when they were several lanes over.

Is it entitlement? Or do people in Maryland just tend to have their heads up their rears? I couldn’t figure it out but the vibe there is so different than it was when I was growing up there (in the 70’s and 80’s) and so different from Virginia. How do people stomach living there these days?

Yeah I’m sure all of this happened in your one day in Maryland.

I live in Rockville and frequent Bethesda and the surrounding areas. Today on Rockville Pike was the first time I have seen a panhandler in a while.

I see panhandlers in Montgomery county. Who doesn’t see them? Just saw one today with sign saying he had 2 children off of Democracy near the high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s always started by by people from poorer, less educated state of Virginia. They are frantic, desperate and seething.

Yep. Maryland and DC people don’t even notice the other side of their river. They never start this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richest and most educated state in the country.

Virginia can’t stop it’s inferiority complex seething spamming.

Massachusetts is laughing at the first statement.

Perfect . Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always started by by people from poorer, less educated state of Virginia. They are frantic, desperate and seething.

Yep. Maryland and DC people don’t even notice the other side of their river. They never start this nonsense.

When you’re richer and more educated than Virginia and it’s on the other side of a huge river from Maryland and DC why would anybody start a nasty thread about Virginia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always started by by people from poorer, less educated state of Virginia. They are frantic, desperate and seething.

Yep. Maryland and DC people don’t even notice the other side of their river. They never start this nonsense.

When you’re richer and more educated than Virginia and it’s on the other side of a huge river from Maryland and DC why would anybody start a nasty thread about Virginia?

When you are as stupid as you are, why would you post comments?

[Anonymous]

A good overview of what’s wrong with Maryland, although the “we’re richer, we’re smarter and we own the Potomac River!!!” buffoons on this thread give me quite the chuckle…

https://www.mdpolicy.org/research/detail/maryland-loses-ground-in-business-climate-ranking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good overview of what’s wrong with Maryland, although the “we’re richer, we’re smarter and we own the Potomac River!!!” buffoons on this thread give me quite the chuckle…

https://www.mdpolicy.org/research/detail/maryland-loses-ground-in-business-climate-ranking

I guess it’s better to be poorer, less educated and have great falls park staring at Md’s Great Falls plus crossing bridges and staring across rivers at Md’s gift and baby DC plus every pro sporting event or major entertainment event .


Not

[Anonymous]

Columbia MD is ranked one of the best places to live.

Panhandlers and homeless exist in areas that have a hcol and not enough housing for lower income people; and where the police don't round up the homeless and put them in prison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
-panhandlers at every side of all the major intersections. I’m shocked Montgomery county allows that.

Oh it gets better. The Council proposed issuing permits to those "seeking donations" at intersections, so they could regulate them and limit them to roads with speed limits up to 45mph (is anyone panhandling on highways anyway?). I think it failed to pass.

Didn't look too good if they were pushing "Pedestrian Zero" to cut pedestrian deaths, while encouraging people to panhandle in the road.

The panhandlers in Bethesda are at:
Democracy @ 270 exit
Democracy @ Old Georgetown (multiple directions)
355 @ 495 exit, going towards NIH (this may technically be Rockville)
Connecticut Ave @ 495 exit (multiple directions) though today they were selling flowers instead of the usual begging.

[Anonymous]

Virginia is getting a serious but t kicking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is getting a serious but t kicking

They start fights

… then they find out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Newsflash: people on bikes have EXACTLY the same rights to drive on the road as you do. Why is it outrageous that they have 1/3 of the lanes? Safe bike lanes should be physically separated from car lanes, not just by paint on the pavement. The day you said you saw no one on the road it was very cold and windy out. Those lanes were installed after a young boy on a bike fell in front of a car on Old Georgetown Road and was killed. Sorry if it is inconvenient for you to spend a few extra minutes (LITERALLY) to get to your next store or restaurant.

There is already a dedicated bike path parallel to Old Georgetown -- the Bethesda Trolley Trail.

The boy who fell in front of a car was riding on the sidewalk, and swerved to avoid an obstruction (trash can, I believe) on the sidewalk and fell into the street. The driver of the striking vehicle was not charged. While tragic, this hardly seems justification for removing a lane of travel each way for vehicle use. [Ok, I realize there's a huge thread on DCUM about this.]

[Anonymous]

Virginia—Guns, Youngkin, Confederate flag, Tech bros
Maryland—Lacrosse, Moore, Sports, Old Bay, Pharma/Healthcare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Newsflash: people on bikes have EXACTLY the same rights to drive on the road as you do. Why is it outrageous that they have 1/3 of the lanes? Safe bike lanes should be physically separated from car lanes, not just by paint on the pavement. The day you said you saw no one on the road it was very cold and windy out. Those lanes were installed after a young boy on a bike fell in front of a car on Old Georgetown Road and was killed. Sorry if it is inconvenient for you to spend a few extra minutes (LITERALLY) to get to your next store or restaurant.

There is already a dedicated bike path parallel to Old Georgetown -- the Bethesda Trolley Trail.

The boy who fell in front of a car was riding on the sidewalk, and swerved to avoid an obstruction (trash can, I believe) on the sidewalk and fell into the street. The driver of the striking vehicle was not charged. While tragic, this hardly seems justification for removing a lane of travel each way for vehicle use. [Ok, I realize there's a huge thread on DCUM about this.]

Sadly it was two boys who both died on their bikes on Old Georgetown.