What effect do you think the Purple Line will have on College Park housing in general?
One main concern that College Park residents may have to worry about is the possibility of rapid gentrification in the area. There is already an effort to revitalize downtown College Park and develop East Campus - could this extend to other neighborhoods in College Park
In Donovan Rypkema's article "The Oversimplification of Gentrification", he defines gentrification as reinvestment, increased home ownership, increased commercial activity, higher taxes, and higher rents. There are some potentially negative effects unrelated to economics; gentrification can change the character of a neighborhood.
The creation of a new metro line would make commuting easier from a lot of neighborhoods, especially Langley Park and Riverdale, areas immediately surrounding College Park without metro stops. Having a metro close-by is extremely desirable for those who work in the Washington D.C. metro area. The creation of the purple line combined with other revitalization efforts could definitely result in gentrification, which would mean more middle-class and upper-middle-class residents moving in and possibly the displacement of working class families who will no longer be able to afford to live in College Park.
Basically, considering the presence of redevelopment, revitalization, and the construction of the Purple Line, do you think College Park and its surrounding areas will gentrify? Do you think this would be good for College Park?
3 comments:
I think since there is already a stop in College Park on the green line, that bringing the purple line won't gentrify the area too drastically.
Holly has a good point, however as more development is taking place... (even just another metro line) property values and property taxes are going to increase. Welcome to what PG county has become. I grew up in PG county and can remember whent here was a 100 acre turf farm. Now I see house piled on top of house going for in the millions. It's PG County people, what are you thinking? creating another line is just trying to make people spend more and more money. Sure it's great since people will be driving less, but I don't know how necessary this really is... it's just cutting down travel time, are we all really in that big of a hurry?
The creation of another metro line will undoubtedly bring some gentrification to the area. However, the differences in destination between the purple and green lines will have a large impact on its severity. If the purple line runs through wealthier areas than the green line, it is more likely that wealthier people will move into its surrounding area. However, if there is no economic disparity between the lines, or if the purple line runs through poorer areas, then it is more likely that there will just be a general influx of people.
Post a Comment