Turning Silver Spring Into a Giant Pile of Dog ish
By Silver Springer • Oct 2nd, 2006 • Category: Uncategorized
This is why I’m not so keen on adding residential, you get as much good as you do bad. I stepped in some dog droppings the other day as I made my way past the new Silverton condominiums. As soon as that building opened for occupancy I’ve noticed an increasing number of dog owners walking around and not picking up the little “gifts” mans best friend has left behind. I’m getting the feeling some residents think they’re in Poolesville, Kentlands, or some other rural\suburban subdivision. Perhaps they’ll start calling the cows home too?
I would think they moved here because they appreciate the urban environment cause it’s only gong to get more dense. First it’s the dog poop then next they’ll complain about the high rise buildings and how they’re “out of character with the neighborhood” . That kind of mentality is not going to work in downtown Silver Spring. Like they say in College Park, “Act like you know”.
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This attracts rats, too.
There are a bunch of people now walking their dogs in the landscaping at the NOAA buildings on E-W Hwy (including the dirt around the tree that run down along the road). It’s lovely to be sitting out by the wave pond eating lunch while someone pauses beside you to let their dog squat, then walks away without picking it up.
Can you really call Kentlands “rural/suburban”? It’s probably as dense - if not denser - than a lot of the residential neighborhoods surrounding Downtown.
I’ve gone over this before if you recall. I’m not falling for the “new urbanism†marketing trick. Put whatever label you want on it but Kentlands is really no better than the average subdivision. Pushing some single family detached homes a little closer together is not urban.
It’s a master planned one-man show with a sea of parking and no jobs. It is very auto centric where you still have to drive to do everything.
Anything over five stories is taboo and encourages the sprawl you see there. Now they are sprawling even further with lake lands and soon the GE complex.
The thing is so damn large it’s like ten subdivisions in one which defeats the purpose. I don’t get the appeal.
I agree with Silver Springer. The Kentlands it is an exceptionally well-planned, executed and manicured suburb. It is in no way urban (nor does it have any potential to eventually be) and it is still a sea of homogeniety.
The appeal, I believe, is that families buy into the new urbanism product because many are seeking the feel of an “urban lifestyle” without what they perceive as the inherent problems: street noise, parking limitations, neighbors of considerably lower socio-economic status, and God forbid, the homeless.
The new urbanist neighborhoods are charming, but in a saccharin-sweet way…much like Disney. It’s fun, it’s clean and everyone leaves happy, but in the end it’s all artificial.
The folks in Shepherd Park (the DC neighborhood just below SS) are complaining on their list serv about SS high rise dwellers walked their dogs down there and leaving poop on their sidewalks, yards, etc. That is just ill. Shep Park is a gorgeous area - if you have a poop-factory, clean up after it. And yes, we don’t need more rats in SS downtown either.
The wave pool is great!
If you listen to Andreas Duany, the G-fathr of New Urbanism, it was about taking the good from neighborhoods like G-town (density, walkability) and transplanting it in rural areas. Kentlands, isn’t walkable and as SSer pointed out, one is still a slave to the auto-mobile…it lacks social diversity, although there is a semblance of architectural diversity…
I am a resident of the silverton and I also have a dog, which I pick up after. I completely agree that folks need to pick up after their pets. DO I like picking up poop? Of course not, but it is respectful to everyone in the community to pick up the poo. So, if you have a dog and aren’t picking it up, please start!