College Park Flats

It looks like families are starting to move in. Most of the parking in the neighborhood from the tradesmen completing the development has gone back to normal.

College Park Flats is a housing unit, that opened a few weeks ago. It sits on the site of three old rundown, crime infested motels. At one time, they have been basically no-frills, chain motel accommodations, for travelers on US-1. After the 2008 crash, they started going downhill. They turned into drug dens. It was good riddance. A developer corporation from Rockville, MD, purchased the properties, with the intention of turning the site into affordable housing, for individuals and families, making between 50% and 80% of the average median income for our area, which is around $96,000 a year. It sounds to me, that the target income range, is like just about everyone else in the neighborhood. These are the families that Montgomery County successfully kept out of their lily-white, upper middle class neighborhoods, while they preach Density, Equity, and Inclusion. Don’t forget the Suburban, with the “Save The Rainforest” and exclusive private school bumper stickers.

There were opposing opinions about the development. I was for it. We need more housing in the DC area. You can’t keep pushing the working classes further and further out from the city’s core. I attended some of the meetings, that the developer presented to the City Council, and the general public. Sometimes, the dialog became quite heated. Some of the old timers around here, were dead against it. Then again, they didn’t like what happened to the motels, as they disintegrated into crime-infested shit holes. For now, they are keeping quiet.

There were a few of us, that saw them as well-needed working class and middle class housing. That’s what we got. I’m not seeing any problems, as working and lower middle class families are moving into the complex. There is no more traffic on Route-1 than usual. You get the usual bottleneck in the center of town during rush hour, but that was there, long before the new complex. There is a lot of other construction going on along Route-1 too. My section of PG County is starting to urbanize. I’m more than pleased.

What I’m seeing, are a bunch of working and lower middle class families, moving into a working/lower middle class neighborhood. Whoopie shit. They are just like everyone else around here. It doesn’t matter if they are Hispanic, Black, or White, they or I should say we, all basically come from similar backgrounds. The neighborhood I grew up in, in Connecticut was similar.

In my Connecticut neighborhood we had teachers, small business owners, contractors, and corporate lawyers, living in the same suburban, Levittown-style housing development. My neighborhood here in College Park, MD, has teachers, small business owners, lots of tradesmen and contractors, a couple of cops, and I’m sure, there area a few corporate or government lawyers, somewhere in the vicinity. I’m a retired Air Force Senior Master Sergeant. We enlisted personnel, are the military’s blue collar, working class. My wife is a retired secretary. That’s the pink collar equivalent of blue collar.

Just about every house has a Ford F-150, a Chevy Silverado, or a similar pickup truck in the driveway. There are also quite a few panel vans. However, I’m also seeing quite a few hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and EVs sitting next to those work trucks too. Yes, work trucks. None of them are jacked up, and until the owners wash them, they are pretty dirty. They are work trucks, not jerk trucks. Those trucks are not cheap either. Ford F-150 Raptors, price in the six-figures. What do we drive? My wife has a Subaru Forrester. I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan. With the seats folded down, I can transport a whole band’s equipment, which is why I bought it in the first place. That’s my work truck.

A couple of my neighbors leave for work in the middle of the night. I see them around 3am when I first walk my dogs. One them has someone pick them up every early morning. I walk right by the car waiting to pick him up. I’ve seen another neighbor leave for work around 4am, who lives around the corner. They guy that delivers the papers, comes around about 2:30am. The work day starts in the middle of the night, for many in the working classes.

Along with the working class families, I’m also seeing an increase in lower middle class professionals like teachers, social workers, who are at the lower salary end of the Professional Managerial Class (PMC). That’s because this part of Prince George’s County, is still barely affordable. Barely! You can get a nice, old house for the high $400Ks or low $500Ks. The same houses in Montgomery County, would go for $700K and up. I have a feeling that the new development will take a little of the pressure off the supply of homes, for the housing market. The new development is rentals, but rentals are still housing.

College Park is a middle-ring suburb of Washington, DC. It’s definitely suburbia, and it’s starting to urbanize. There is a lot of mixed-use construction going on along Route-1. An old strip shopping center, along with the townies “watering hole,” Town Hall, which was a bar/liquor store were demolished. There is now construction of a mixed-use development being built on that old site. I’m hoping that with the new density being built, it will mean more frequent bus service. Whenever possible, I’ll opt for the bus rather than driving. The older I get, the less driving I want to do. That’s why I like density.

I’m glad that someone decided to build more housing for the middle classes. You can’t just have “luxury” apartment, where a one-bedroom rents for over $2,000 a month. Most financial guidelines state, that housing shouldn’t exceed 30% of your income. I’m from the old school. I say 20%. I’m not sure where College Park Flats fits into that equation, but it’s a good start toward building housing tailored toward those who keep things running in the middle of the night, and fix your toilet. I’m hoping that more places like this start being built, both in the burbs and in the city itself. We need more middle class housing, in order to have a good, stable, middle class “anchor,” the anchor that keeps the city running, despite all its problems. Built more places like College Park Flats, and you will help built that middle class.