just up the pike

Affordability seems only tangentially related to t...

2012-02-06T11:50:17.462-05:00

Affordability seems only tangentially related to the issue. Both within Bethesda and downtown Silver Spring (and throughout DC and NoVa) we see extremely low vacancy rates despite high costs. The real problem is that MoCo only offers a couple of walkable, urban areas that attract Millennials. I'm completely confident that the thousands of new units in DTSS will be filled quickly, ditto for Bethesda, "NoBe", and any other areas the county decides to properly and effectively zone and invest in.

The problem (both with the affordability issue and the shrinking Millennial issue) is that MoCo needs to add more urban-esque areas and units. Millennials want to live in MoCo, they just want to live in DTSS or DTSS-like places and not the middle of nowhere. The county council needs to do more to effect change quickly and decisively otherwise NoVa's going to suck up all the low-hanging, disposable, Millennial income and MoCo will be stuck with only retired boomers on a fixed incoming.

My wife and I are both MCPS teachers, just under 3...

2012-02-06T11:24:06.616-05:00

My wife and I are both MCPS teachers, just under 30, and our family income is just a hair above the median income for the county.
However we cannot afford any house that is either nice, or near anything reasonably walkable. I am happy where I live, but it took a lot of looking to find my house.

The point is despite making more money than 50% of the county we had to choose an older home that is not near anything interesting. I can see why young folks would want to move somewhere else since all the “hip” places are well out of their price range.

It’s a shame because we always talk about these building more walk able neighborhoods, but there priced so high that most of the counties residents could never afford to live there.

I moved to downtown Silver Spring 11 yrs ago from ...

2012-02-06T10:36:12.793-05:00

I moved to downtown Silver Spring 11 yrs ago from across the country. A friend, who lived in a neighborhood nearby, said it was up and coming. The rent was affordable and huge, although the building wasn't fancy AT ALL. Living there for 6 yrs I fell in love with Silver Spring and MoCo, but the rent went up and up and up. I was lucky to have moved in when I did. Now I couldn't and wouldn't pay the rent for that apartment. And had I not lived there initially though, I would have never purchased a home with my husband in South Four Corners. My husband works in VA and I work in DC, while our home is metro and beltway accessible, there were lots of locations that would have shortened our commutes. But we both love Silver Spring and choose it. As you have said over and over, had I not lived in that apartment, we would not be where we are at now. MoCo needs to make areas that are affordable and desirable to young people if they want them stay and grow in the community. No question.

>>And it would've helped if the county h...

2012-02-05T23:01:35.556-05:00

>>And it would've helped if the county hadn't just condemned the Corpse Fortress, a Silver Spring punk house ... and instead given its residents a chance to bring the building up to code first.<<

Huh? The residents were renters and that is the landlord's responsibility to pay to have the building be at least up to code and safe to inhabit. From what I understand from older neighbors in that area, the landlord had been given lots of notice and warnings to make it right over the past years/decades.

I was at the meeting and these are a few things I ...

2012-02-05T15:31:15.342-05:00

I was at the meeting and these are a few things I got from it.

First, the grade separation of the Georgia Ave. and Randolph Rd. intersection will start in 2014 to be completed in 2016. Georgia Ave. will remain at grade level, and there will not be a highway interchange. Four lanes of Randolph Rd. will pass beneath it. There will continue to be a light on Georgia Ave. with pedestrian crosswalks and left turns between Georgia and Randolph.

The Privacy World redevelopment is still in the works (though with a different developer). The traffic impact study will be completed Feb. 23 with a public hearing on March 5. My impression is that most of the attendees liked the idea of the additional retail it will bring.

Also it was my impression that most of the attendees would like to see the Glenmont shopping center turned into a mixed use walkable village/town center with at least some increase in density. They want more and better retail/entertainment options and better pedestrian access to both Metro and retail. There is however no consensus on how much additional density should be included.

The storefront that was once Phantasmagoria on Elk...

2012-02-03T18:29:03.024-05:00

The storefront that was once Phantasmagoria on Elkin Street is now vacant. Went to shows there a whole bunch in the late 90's.

First and foremost: either reopen that Glenmont KF...

2012-02-03T08:50:35.837-05:00

First and foremost: either reopen that Glenmont KFC or tear it down. The building in its current state is an eyesore!

That intersection is a nightmare. Just because you...

2012-02-02T17:20:59.085-05:00

That intersection is a nightmare. Just because you don't drive doesn't mean other people don't HAVE to drive. That intersection is dangerous for pedestrians and cars and is only contributing to global warming with cars waiting at that intersection for a half hour. BUILD THE OVER PASS! Glenmont will never be a downtown silver spring and a lot of what is in Glenmont SERVES the immediate community just fine. No one will want to move to Glenmont if the HORRIBLE OUTDATED traffic patterns remain as congested as they are.

@Woody We have just thirteen Metro stations in Mo...

2012-02-02T13:24:21.538-05:00

@Woody

We have just thirteen Metro stations in Montgomery County, and not taking advantage of that would be a tremendous waste of time and resources. It's especially awful if people who already live within walking distance of Glenmont Metro can't safely walk there because of improvements meant to make drivers' lives easier.

Even if Glenmont's parking garages are full, that station still has one of the lowest ridership levels of any station in the county and Metro as a whole, and the answer isn't just to bring more cars there. You can have a station that can serve park-and-ride traffic while doing other things. Silver Spring does just that - AND they're able to use Metro to attract housing, shops and businesses that provide tax revenues for the county. A lot of public funds will be spent on the parking garage and interchange in Glenmont, but it's unlikely that MoCo will see much of a return for it.

Not every neighborhood near a metro station is goi...

2012-02-02T12:51:09.202-05:00

Not every neighborhood near a metro station is going to be turned into a "walkable community." As one end of the Red Line the Glenmont station's most important function is to be so accessible that people will park their cars there and ride the Metro (or BRT when it arrives) to work instead of driving. It seems a little odd that people are so concerned that small merchants will be driven out of Wheaton by redevelopment there but are ready to sacrifice a major shopping area in Glenmont.

Any updates on this? I would love another Wheaton...

2012-02-01T08:59:06.839-05:00

Any updates on this? I would love another Wheaton bar, and the drawings and beer plan seem promising.

@jag, Eronn I'm very excited about Falkland C...

2012-01-31T14:12:45.485-05:00

@jag, Eronn

I'm very excited about Falkland Chase. I don't know too much about its current status, but county planning director Rollin Stanley recently wrote about it. I actually interviewed the architect and developer about it a while back and never finished the post. I really need to dust that off.

@Robert

That's really cool! I didn't know that Rachel Carson lived in Woodside Park.

@dp

I'm not sure who designed the park, but I'm guessing it was someone from SB. Does anyone out there know?

Who designed the park?

2012-01-31T12:55:48.467-05:00

Who designed the park?

Rachael Carson lived even closer to downtown Silve...

2012-01-31T12:02:05.654-05:00

Rachael Carson lived even closer to downtown Silver Spring before moving to White Oak. In 1938 and 1939 she lived at 904 Highland Drive in Woodside Park. She was working as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the time.

The last update from the Falkland Chase website yo...

2012-01-31T11:01:06.239-05:00

The last update from the Falkland Chase website you linked there is from November 2010. What are the chances it will actually come to fruition?

Really exciting - these 3 new builds under constru...

2012-01-31T10:45:35.059-05:00

Really exciting - these 3 new builds under construction all look great. In fact, as far as i can tell, all the new builds currently under construction in dTSS are much, much better than the junk that went up in 2006 (not that that's a very high bar at all). The real estate crash had at least one benefit for the area - developers slowed down, thought a little bit, and now are building higher quality, urban builds. Hopefully this is a trend that continues with the next round of projects to come off the board (Studio Plaza, Falkland Chase, etc.).

I'm assuming the route to the Takoma metro wou...

2012-01-29T18:10:01.505-05:00

I'm assuming the route to the Takoma metro would mean using Cedar St. and Piney Branch. Piney Branch is plenty wide to accommodate a streetcar. It would only be on Cedar for a couple blocks but I think they would have to eliminate on street parking between 4th and 6th but that wouldn't be too bad. I think they should build to both Takoma and Silver Spring but as Montgomery County to pay half the bill of it the extension from Piney Branch to Silver Spring.

Presumably the savings -- gas, car, time -- would ...

2012-01-27T08:29:50.177-05:00

Presumably the savings -- gas, car, time -- would pay for the higher rent. All the urban living advocates I know tell me that living in a city saves you more than it costs because of the ability to walk everywhere, the short commute, etc, etc.

If you shop locally and rarely drive, you'll save a few hundred dollars a month, plus dozens of hours of time, which is why urban living is cost effective. Consider: If you shave 90 minutes off your commuting time and can walk to work, and you value your personal time at just $20/hr, you save $600 a month. Not driving is $120 a month in gas, and probably as much in wear and tear on your car, which you probably don't even need anyway, so you can ditch the $200/mo car payment, $50/mo insurance, and so forth (though Zipcar rentals and metro fares for social outings will add up, so we'll call your car savings only $100/mo). Now you're $820/mo richer.

Most of that is in saved time, not actual money -- only $220 is money). If you use your new time effectively, you can use it to either find savings elsewhere (cook your own meals to save money for lunch and dinner), or make money (side business).

My SIL has a small 1br, just three blocks from the Capitol building, that costs under $1500/mo utilities included. The difference between a Columbia 1br and that is more than made up by the savings of living in the city.

It's not just 20-somethings. There's also...

2012-01-26T15:30:33.998-05:00

It's not just 20-somethings. There's also a limited amount of housing for middle aged folks with moderate incomes, especially singles. I'd like to see a broader range of housing options for everyone.

The problem with subsidies is that they tend to split the housing market into very low end and very high end, as developers try to offset the subsidized housing with extremely expensive units. People in the middle who don't qualify for subsidies tend to be priced out of the market.

I just read through some of the of the comments. I...

2012-01-26T15:24:51.275-05:00

I just read through some of the of the comments. It really is remarkable how many people assume you're calling for subsidies given the total absence of call for such (or even set asides or other less direct mechanisms) from your article or the comments.

some people in the comments refer to regulatory fa...

2012-01-26T11:47:09.151-05:00

some people in the comments refer to regulatory failures. The issue is a lot more nuanced and complicated.

The way zoning was set up (especially through the model zoning codes promulgated by the US Dept. of Commerce in the 1920s) was to segregate (and racially segregate) housing by type.

Combine that with market forces which are naturally going to focus on producing the most economically profitable housing, the housing production system overproduces certain types of housing and underproduces other types.

If zoning codes had called for mixing housing types with a framework and formula, maybe things would be different.

But not having regulation likely wouldn't have produced any different a situation, because the market forces would have produced similar results--overproduction of the most profitable type(s) of housing at the expense of variety and meeting the needs of multiple segments of the market.

So there weren't many comments calling for aff...

2012-01-26T11:32:36.660-05:00

So there weren't many comments calling for affordable housing via subsidies? Interesting.

I'd guess that would reflect a policy shift in group 3. Groups 1 and 2 don't really see a problem so I doubt that they are the traditional affordable housing advocates.

A clarification: http://www.justupthepike.com/2012...

2012-01-26T11:05:28.691-05:00

A clarification:
http://www.justupthepike.com/2012/01/millennials-affordable-housing.html

@ms. mindless

I think you answered your own question. You live in a small space. I live in a small space. Most of my friends live in small spaces, be they rented rooms or studio or one-bedroom apartments. And I don't know anyone my age, save for maybe Mark Zuckerberg, who's living in a big house.

Dan, another thing you have me wondering about is ...

2012-01-25T23:16:15.485-05:00

Dan, another thing you have me wondering about is how many millenials actually want to live in these greener, smaller dwellings (granny flats, studios, etc.)? I would have loved to buy a granny flat. Hell, the house I did end up buying is the size of one; but I wonder if that would really be attractive to most.

People in this region still seem to be completely obsessed with space. From teardown bungalows near downtown Bethesda that have been rebuilt into grotesque faux-Craftsman McMansions to the "eco-conscious" blairs boasting about having the "largest floor plans in the area". Are we (millenials) really going to give up all of our stuff and move into granny flats?

@ms. mindless I don't see how your examples r...

2012-01-25T21:51:06.572-05:00

@ms. mindless

I don't see how your examples really apply to this situation. Of course things are more expensive now - that's inflation. But the rise in housing prices in the DC area have outpaced inflation, meaning the cost of living is greater relative to income. It's in the county's interest to ensure that its workforce (not just Millennials, but everyone) can live in the county, keeping their spending dollars (and tax dollars) in house. It's in the county's interest that its residents don't have to drive 20 miles to work or even 2 miles to get a gallon of milk, thus reducing congestion. Thus, it's worthwhile to encourage dense, urban development in select parts of the county (like Silver Spring), drawing people who are already interested in places like that, while increasing the housing stock and lowering prices for all.

I didn't say I "have a right" to live in a place like Columbia Heights. (I'm not sure what you're getting at with "police tape," but clearly people place a value on living there, even with the perception of crime.) But I think it's prudent for the county to make it easier to build here, in the interest of drawing and retaining future workers with a more affordable housing stock. If you can't afford to live here, you'll either commute in from another part of the region, burdening our roads while taking your tax dollars out of the county. Or you'll choose to live in another part of the country altogether, depriving the DC area of workers. (Some might see that as a good thing. I disagree.)

Just because the status quo exists doesn't mean that it's the way things are supposed to be.