Wegmans Comes to Prince George's County

Today, October 24, at 7:00AM, marks the opening of the newest Wegmans.  It is located in the newly developed Woodmore Towne Centre off of 495 (Exit 17) and 202 in Lanham, Maryland.

The people of Prince George's County, MD, a largely African-American suburb of Washington, DC, are excited about this highly anticipated new grocery store along with the other retail outlets that will be coming to the area soon, including Costco and a JC Penney (I'd prefer a Bloomie's or Saks but that's better than nothing).  Best Buy opened the last week of September, which was much needed after the closure of Circuit City in 2008. 

Growing up in Prince George's County, my parents were always forced to shop elsewhere, mainly across the bridge in Virginia, to find department stores and supermarkets that were of a higher quality than those offered to residents of the county.  Now, many years later we are finally getting something no other surrounding area has, Wegmans, and everyone is excited. 

While a new grocery store may not seem like much, Prince George's County has been without for so long it's nice to see we are finally being afforded the same opportunities as other affluent communities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

To read the press release for the Wegmans Woodmore opening, click here.  To learn more about the Woodmore Towne Center development project, click here.

If you aren't familiar with Wegmans here's a little blurb I pulled from their website.

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., is a 77-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The family-owned company, founded in 1916, is widely recognized as an industry innovator. For 13 consecutive years, it has ranked high on the FORTUNE magazine’s list of “The 100 Best Companies to Work for,” placing #3 in 2010. 

Wegmans

9001 McHugh Drive

Lanham, MD 20706
240.487.5400

Paid Volunteer Opportunities in July

I received the email below and thought I would share.  They are looking for PAID, yes I said PAID, volunteers.  See the details below.


Counters with the Space Use Project (volunteers ages 18 and up) will help Prince George's Department of Parks and Recreation better understand how all of the spaces and rooms in community centers, senior centers, and nature centers are being used.

At 10 am, 2 pm and 8 pm on each day from July 11 to July 24, 2010, Counters with the Space Use Project will count and document the number of patrons using every room at one or two assigned facilities. Volunteers who complete 100% of their assigned counts and submit the documentation on time will receive a $100 gift card. Training is required and will be held on June 24, 10 am to noon. Background checks are required. This opportunity will be available again from October 17 to October 30, 2010.

Interested individuals can sign up to volunteer at https://ec.volunteernow.com/recruiter/index.php?class=OppSearchResults&recruiterID=1059&interest=3995.

Visit http://www.pgparks.com/ for more information. For additional information, contact Teresa Gardner-Williams at (301) 864-6957, x23 or teresa.gardner-w@pgparks.com.

Moving On

I've been back in the Washington, D.C. area since April 2007. When I was searching for a new condo, I was planning to move to either Northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, Crystal City) and Montgomery County (Bethesda, Silver Spring). Growing up in Prince George's County, I was familiar with the area but knew that I didn't want to move even remotely close to the city where I grew up. It's a nice community, or at least it was, for families but isn't really a place for young, single people.

So after looking for a while, I ended up buying a place in Prince George's County after all.  It was cool at first until I realized there is no diversity whatsoever.  I've always lived places where there was a mix of people. The closest I came to living around all Brown people was when I lived in NY, but the brown faces consisted of Af-Ams, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and other Hispanics.  Don't get me wrong, I love my people (sometimes :-)) but the area where I live now leaves much to be desired.

The people are rude. I'd see my next door neighbor and she wouldn't speak. Me being the person I am, I like to kill 'em with kindness, so I'd go out of my way to speak, it took months to finally get a half smile from her. Is it really that big of a deal to speak to your next door neighbor? Since then she's moved and the man who owns the condo next to mine has had a string of horrible tenants who seem to be used to living more in Section 8 housing than in a normal condo.  They have no respect when it comes to playing their music, even had one who used to play a conga drum at night. They'd fight and yell in the hallway.  When someone comes to pick them up, instead of walking to the door they'd honk the horn all times of night.  I'd never have peace in my own home.  Fortunately, they leave and it's gotten a little better.  I've never lived in the projects but I could imagine this was what it would be like.

Every time I go to the trash I end up picking up litter because people drop all types of garbage on the ground and don't even have the decency to pick it up. I'm not used to people not taking ownership of where they live, even if they are renters. When I did live in apartments (with more diverse neighbors), I never saw people who had such a blatant disregard for where they lived.  My condo association sends out monthly newsletters but I'm sure the people who are the culprits don't even read them.

They are disrespectful. As I sat in the waiting room of my local NTB, a young couple came in with a little boy who couldn't have been more than 18 months old. The father was talking loud and using every expletive he could think of and half the time he said these things while holding the baby. It got to a point where I got up, shot him a look and sat back down.  I'm nobody's Mother but I've learned from the best of them how to give someone a piercing look to make them be quiet.

I don't know if these people just don't care or if it's because no one’s told them what's inappropriate from what's not. The waiting from was full of older people who just sat there and didn't say a word.  Any one of them could have asked the guy to watch his mouth but they just sat there oblivious to it all and didn't open their mouths.

Every time I take the Metro, which isn't that often, I dread sitting near any teenagers. Those kids, who 95% of the time are Black, get on and start acting a fool. They curse, use vulgar language and have no consideration for those who are subjected to hearing them.  They'll curse in front of someone who could be their Grandmother and don't even care. It makes me sick and I'm tired of it.

Next fall, I'm determined to rent out my place and move. I'm not sure where yet but we'll see. I can't take being in an environment where people have no concern for anyone but themselves. People like that are dangerous.  My days in Prince George's County are coming to an end.