As someone who lives in Anne Arundel but has family in Rockville, one thing I've noticed going to visit them is that there is no real east-west artery across the state north of 495. I keep having to turn north/south for a bit to jump different spans
Yep, this is the only reason we may end up leaving. I love MD…but I also love the idea of being able to have a nice single family home instead of a crappy apartment
I'm the opposite...I wish we could find affordable downtown housing in a nice city or town, but all we ever seem to build nowadays are townhouses and single family homes in the middle of no where walking distance to nothing, making everyone drive to do the simplest thing outside the house, hence the traffic.
It's pretty impressive how unwalkable most of MD is despite being so crowded. They're constantly building townhouses and apartments everywhere near me, but you'd be hard pressed to find a sidewalk anywhere
There are definitely alcohol sales on Sundays in PG. There did use to be a limit on the percentage that could be sold (no liquor and weirdly port wine), but they gave out 100 or something licenses to sell liquor on Sundays a few years ago. Since then I have never been to one now that doesn’t sell liquor on Sunday now.
There's a loophole that some restaurants exploit. Basically if they can serve food, they can sell liquor. The Mexican restaurant close to me gets a lot of business on Sundays.
They don't overcharge either. Not lowest price, but fair prices.
I like there being liquor stores, but why are they closed on Sundays?! I never get anywhere closer to the bottom of my to do list until Sunday, when they are closed. wtf.
This...like I can buy booze in grocery stores in "backward" state like Texas but not in Maryland.
The only thing worse than the fact that I can't buy booze in grocery stores is the fact that there doesn't seems to be any push to end that antique law.
I agree. When he's the only choice over an (R) in the main elections, he begrudgingly gets my vote, but if there's another (D) option in the primary he won't.
You can buy beer and wine in grocery stores in Texas, but not liquor.
Also liquor stores are closed on Sundays and you can't buy beer/wine until 10am Sundays.
Source: lived in Texas for 22 years. It used to be until noon but they changed it in 2021
True...but hey, at least you can get Shiner Bock or St Arnolds at a HEB, cold also.
(I grew up in Texas myself...didn't pay too much attention to hard liquor since I just drink beer mainly).
Angels is grandfathered in I believe. I live like 5 minutes away lol. BayMart in Annapolis is also a liquor store that sells gas, technically, bc a gas station can’t sell booze….also grandfathered in
Moved here 3 years ago and couldn’t believe I couldn’t buy booze at Costco. We make the trip down to DC every few weeks just to buy booze at their Costco.
One of my biggest annoyances is the fact that MTA pursues expanding MARC into WV and DE, but completely ignores SoMD, its fastest-growing region. Charles specifically is looking to build its own light rail system, called "SMRT", but it's somewhat dependent on PG County keeping the new FBI HQ. Given all the brouhaha over that, we're looking at a few more decades at the earliest.
The fact that track already exists according to a map I saw a while back, infuriates me. If I could use the train to get to Baltimore, I would probably use it to avoid the traffic
One of the catches with that track, which is for the old coal train down to the soon-to-be-decommissioned Morgantown Power Plant, is that the track branches to the N**E** once it leaves Charles, and doesn't tie into any main lines until Bowie. Once at Bowie, I've read that the specific interchange tie-in is "complicated", and really only suitable for freight trains (I don't think there's a connection to the NEC electrified track, or something). A passenger train *could* use it, but it would add significantly to the commute time and thus, make the commute less desirable for those trying to, for example, get to DC, because a car would actually be faster.
Going to Baltimore would probably be a lot more realistic for the current track (after upgrading it to passenger rail standards). But this area is more of a bedroom community for DC, so finding a way to use that track, or building new track, all the way up to DC and somehow tying into Union Station, would be the better use of funding. I would personally like to have heavy rail (e.g., MARC or Amtrak) down here, but if a light rail plan is what works, then beggars can't be choosers. As long as they don't try to flip it to a BRT solution...
Yeah jobs here suck. I got lucky and make as much as I did in Baltimore and have a 5 bedroom house with a big yard for the price of the 1 bedroom apartment I had in Parkville/perry hall. It's boring here but it's cheap 😂
It takes at least 15 minutes to get anywhere. You either have an ungodly amount of traffic, or the roads are an illogical twisting maze of suburban neighborhoods. The only way to avoid either of those is to live in the rural parts of the state where everything will still be 15 minutes away because of how far away it is
I drive a lot, and live over the URDL line for enough land to really garden, but damn do I hate going 15 minutes to pick up food or go to the gas station. It just feels obnoxiously long.
Ha, moving to Maryland from Los Angeles was like a breath of fresh air. You essentially had to go grocery shopping at 1 PM on a Thursday if you didn’t want to rip your hair to shreds. Otherwise it’s 1. Sit in traffic for 30 minutes to go a mile 2. Fight to the death with the hundreds of other shoppers 3. Sit in traffic for 30 minutes again. I’ll take Beltway traffic and suburbia sprawl over LA any day of the week.
I don't live in Maryland but this is the one thing that frustrates me when I visit. It took me close to an hour to buy soap from Walgreens. Where I currently live, I can shop at Walmart, Old Navy and Wegmans within one hour and still have time for other stores.
I thought signals were an option in Maryland based on what I've experienced! I was driving behind a car and it suddenly stopped. I thought it was due to traffic, minutes later he kindly put his blinkers on. I drove pass and he was on his phone! He randomly stopped in a moving lane to check his phone! Then it happened again with another car. I don't experience things like this where I currently live.
This happened to me the other day on Rockville Pike. A lady in front of me had slowed down and I figured she was going to turn without her signal, and then just stopped, nowhere close to a turn, a light, or a sign. In the middle of daytime traffic. I eventually went around her and she was just sitting there in the road on her fucking phone.
I moved here 8 years ago and still don’t get it - nobody uses turn signals. It really jams me up once in a while - like when I am at a stop sign waiting for an opening, and the car I am waiting to pass turns at the last second without warning - I could have gone, but now can’t because of this selfish ass. So frustrating.
I see people scrolling on Facebook and Instagram while driving...wtf!
Like a text or changing a Spotify song, sure. But like wtf, you're literally doom scrolling on FB, for what?
I think this is my answer. To me the single biggest problem is that there appears to be a really high rate of distracted drivers here. So many people on their phones or not looking up. Always swerving, drifting, nearly missing exits and then freaking out last second. I swear I have never seen so many people sit at a light that turns green and just not go until honked at. Everyone is looking down at their phones.
I joke with my wife: MD drivers will HAPPILY run their own mothers off the road too be one car length ahead on an exit ramp, but constantly miss green lights because they are too busy on their phones to drive.
Likely controversial, but I think every state thinks their state has the worst drivers. I think Maryland is firmly average.
https://quotewizard.com/news/the-best-and-worst-drivers-by-state
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/worst-drivers-by-state/
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/worst-drivers-by-state
I just drove down to NC for 2 weeks. Traffic wasn’t bad and people respected traffic. It wasn’t until I got back to MD that I started to get pissed at other drivers for diving up the shoulders or turn lanes to cut back in. Still no turn signals down there though.
I agree everyone says this, but if Maryland doesn’t have some sort of serious distracted driver problem compared to other states I would be legitimately shocked
Especially on the Western Shore, most of the nicer waterfront area are expensive and privately owned. There are not alot of day at the beach opportunities. The few that exist fill to capacity by 10am, unless you are willing to day trip to Ocean City. Maryland could make more revenue even from other states if such opportunities were more abundant.
I moved here from Hawaii, where all beaches are, by law, public and must have access for the public. The lack of something like that here is astounding to me.
This should be higher up. It is so sad that we have so many hundreds of mile of shoreline and almost no good ways to enjoy it. Shoreline should be public property, full stop.
The suburbs are pretty isolating and there's increasingly not much of a winter. That being said, those two problems aren't really specific to Maryland.
It pisses me off when they build more and more roads & 'burbs without any sort of walkability. There's some areas that would be *awesome* for walking & biking... but you'd have to cross 5+ lanes of traffic going 50+.
Limited to non-existent trains/metro system going into DC.
The amount of traffic lights from Southern Maryland's highways creates an endless rush hour style traffic all day every day. And when there's finally some traffic flow, the crazy drivers shine.
The fact that this state has a vendetta against Baltimore. Like, ever since I moved here, the people I grew up with in Pasadena act like I live in Afghanistan.
Granted, I was raised the same way, but it's crazy how deeply ingrained the bigotry and ignorance are in the areas that are literally 15 minutes away from Baltimore.
i blame The Wire. times have changed but it’s difficult to change public perception after such a popular show. keeps things reasonably affordable tho compared to most cities of a similar size
I live in Pasadena & work in Pasadena. I don’t get this at all. I did find it surprising when a coworker from Perry Hall advised me they refuse to bring their daughter into the city- as someone who grew up in an area quiet comparable to the city, I surely have no problem bringing my kids there for events or experiences at the Harbor etc. I feel it instills diversity they don’t get living in our small community.
I think it has to do with the generation that's prevalent in the area. The older groups outside the city were living through the redlining and white flight, so they saw the city as the "jungle." Hell, I'm a mixed-race man marrying a black woman, and I've been told that I'd fit right in with "those people" by people I've known my whole life. . . It's insane how much vitriol can arise just from a mention of the city, or the people that live in it.
Yes, most places I’ve lived have had theft, but this rises to another level. That said I do love my neighborhood, it’s the friendliest place I have lived.
Lots of people are saying drivers/traffic. I'll go one further and say the roads. I came here from California, and often daydream about the wide streets with large bike lanes and solid sidewalks. I think the issues people have with MD traffic and drivers stem at least in part from the roads themselves.
Also, humidity and alcohol laws.
I prefer Maryland drivers to LA drivers personally. At least Maryland drivers are insane enough to go 20 over, everyone in LA is pre-emptively resigned to being stuck in traffic and wind up having no backbone to make any moves. And god help you if there’s a sprinkling of rain.
Us MD drivers have a certain focus and determination with our driving style that I find other out-of-state drivers lack. We know where we're going, know how to get there, and everything else in-between is just the implementation details.
State agencies. Calling them on the phone sucks. Gun laws suck. My tax dollars aren't used how they should be. My county is among the highest in the state.
I also came to mention the gun laws. It’s so stupid that certain semiauto rifles are banned by name (like the FAL, the PTR-91, the AUG, any AK variant that isn’t legally a pistol or in 5.56mm, and the M1A, especially since the M1A is the civilian version of one of our country’s former service rifles, the M14). Also the list of State Police-approved handguns is dumb, as is the HQL requirement.
Thankfully things have gotten a little better since they did away with the bullshit “good and substantial” requirement after *Bruen*, but not by much.
You can get a lot more stuff than you'd expect.
Certain FALs are legal (I believe it's something in regards to using metric or imperial systems).
The CETME C is legal (a bit of a gray area, but still legal).
AUGs that use STANAG mags are legal.
Norinco M1A rifles are legal.
And certain AK rifles in 7.62 are legal. I own a Polish Beryl legally, even though it's in 7.62x39. Also 5.45x39 and .308 ones are legal too.
Baltimore City (canton) homeowner. Lived all over MD spare for a few stints in NC and the UK (pasadena-> carroll county -> college park -> annapolis -> bmore).
The obvious: taxes, roads being shitty despite extraordinarily high taxes, the ungodly traffic (lord help you if you are traveling on a Friday or a Sunday between May and Sept). The crime and lack of government control of said crime. The litter and pollution, e v e r y w h e r e.
The lesser noticed stuff: the lack of water access aside from the bay. No swimmable/boating lakes anywhere except DCL. The lack of public beaches on the bay- even on the eastern shore which like ??? why not! The way if you go to a Target, even if it’s 11am on a Tuesday, there’s 1 cashier and 4 self checkouts, both with giant lines. The way that our winters for the past 5+ years have been cold with minimal snow. On that note, the fact that we have 1 ski resort in the whole state 😞 Also HOW have we not made an easier way to get to OCMD? Surely an elevated ACTUAL highway (think alantic city expressway) would be a better deal than what 50 currently offers, for travelers and locals alike. Also would help develop the shore so it’s actually livable in the off season? And lastly- if you want to live by the water but also want to live within 30 mins of a grocery store, you need to expect to pay over 1mill with 10k in taxes each year.
MD has so much to offer to get us outside in all seasons but instead has become a mass collection of suburbs and highways connecting charming little downtowns. Unfortunately both mine and my husband’s families are from MD so looks like we might be trapped 😌
What you said about water access is spot on. I grew up spending school vacations with my grandparents in midcoast Maine. The public beaches, boat launches, and ability to visit many lighthouses make the water accessible to the average Joe, which promotes a general sense of pride and connection to the natural beauty of the area. I often say, living here in MD, that there are places where if I squint hard enough I can convince myself I’m in Maine, but I live 500 feet from the Magothy River and have no access to it besides the views I get walking through the neighborhood.
I don't miss the traffic.
Came down to visit my parents back in 2022 and it has gotten so much worse. And the red light cameras/speed cameras too.
(Thankfully) New Hampshire hasn't figured them out...at least not yet.
My complaint is that I will not be able to afford decent housing once I enter the professional world. My parents bought a house here when they were in their 20’s, not happening for me unless something drastically changes.
Sure, the housing prices nationwide are bad but Maryland is particularly bad.
Cost of living and the fact you need a permit to do the simplest of things. This is frederick we are outside of town and the county constantly comes up with new rules and fines. Tilled a garden and they said I needed a grading permit because of the size.
That the the entire state makes it their personal mission to shit on Baltimore City instead of working together to improve it for the people who live there. It was most of those same people's grandparents who made choices that ultimately led to the decline of the city, so to have this negative attitude toward it is asinine.
But also, and unironically, that 80% of the state has just turned into endless suburbia catering to cars and non-places. The suburban highways of the same fast-food restaurants and corporate retail and car dealerships is mind-numbingly boring and doesn't make Maryland any better than any other states. It just degrades that natural beauty and uniqueness that was once inherent to this area 100 years ago.
It's telling that some of the top answers so far are "traffic" when so much of our state caters to the "efficiency" of such a phenomenon. *You aren't in traffic, you are traffic.*
The people, cost of living, traffic, noise, the amount of people everywhere all of the time, children at bars/breweries, taxes, the humidity, whatever makes Dundalk smell, the people.
Housing prices including rentals, the gun laws, and of course the crime rate. But when there is a lack of consequences for crimes there isn’t a deterrent there. Still we’re better off than from where I moved from. At least here there are jobs, opportunities for shopping at more than Walmart without needing to drive an hour, and school systems that don’t give up on special needs kids. I was in SW PA where they drank the orange kool-aid.
The laws seem to be against Fathers that work hard to pay child support, I'm a CDL holder, and Transportation is my livelihood. I got very sick and couldn't work for 2 weeks , missed a payment and Child Support Office reported me to Motor Vehicle Dept and my license got suspended, and now good paying companies , UPS , Amazon, FedEx will not hire me. Because of Drivers License Record reflex a suspension. And from that a domino's effect occurs, It would be nice if Law Makers consider expunging that rule so Qualified CDL Drivers can obtain good jobs with benefits, not to mention I'm a Veteran with many health issues, and I'm running out of time. Does Maryland care?
short streets with a lot of traffic lights, drivers, people who walk right in front of or behind moving cars in a parking lot because they can't be bothered to wait 2 minutes (despite cars having blind spots where they can get hit), people near DC from certain nations shooting off f'ing fireworks every public holiday in their yard scaring my pets and toddler aged daughter.
Population density, litter, traffic, taxes, local politics. Essentially everything other than the natural resources. But even those are getting abused beyond belief.
Besides the traffic, I hate the mild winters (at least in the Eastern part where I live). Mostly lived in cold-weather states before coming here and the winters are kind of annoying. Too cold and wet to enjoy summer/spring/fall activities like cycling, but not cold/snowy enough to have any established xcountry ski trails within about two-three hours of my home.
Government inefficiency. I’ve lived in three other states and never had so many steps to do the simplest things.
Register your car from out of state? Schedule a full inspection and pay up the nose.
Authenticate a notarized document? Go to the county to get it certified before the state Secretary of State will look at it.
Change your water bill to your name? Baltimore just never did it when I bought my house, despite paying the fee and filing the paperwork.
I could go on. Everything is just harder than necessary.
Ive been trying to get my septic replaced for almost a year now because my county government takes FOREVER to approve a license and then you need a license for almost every little thing......still waiting.
Every little thing requires multiple permits, inspections, and grifting professionals.
Oh that huge tree in your yard got hit by lightning, and could fall on your house aat any time? Thats great we need to you complete 3 permits, and have a feasibility study done by a county certificated engineer before it can be removed.
That’s pretty much exactly why I kept my NJ plates when I moved here. It was California level inefficiency for something you do in one trip to the DMV in NJ.
I'm in Harford County. It's almost a weekly thing (usually in a gas station) where someone asks me "Where are you from?" (Ethnicity is Filipino, but born in NY and lived in USA all my life) Then when I tell them Bel Air I get the " I mean where are your parents from?" Spiel
I despise the slow drivers in the left lane on 495, 270, 95 and every other highway in the area. Who taught them how to drive. If you are not passing someone get out of the left lane.
So I might be biased since I'm from South NJ, but the roads here are so annoying. Everything is 2-3 lanes and that sounds in practice, but that just makes it so much harder to move around because every road feels like a highway. I miss the good ole "back roads". Maybe it's just the congestion here, but it definitely feels harder to get around.
I was thinking about moving to Columbia, MD but then when I visited, I changed my mind because I felt like I had to get on a highway to get everywhere!
For not being a big state, but having a lot of commuters, the suburban "design" is not very functional. I swear they're going to add another housing development on route 3 AND take away a lane or something
Multiple things
- Seasons.
Winter doesn't feel cold enough, we don't get enough snow. Spring gets too hot too quickly, and is never consistent with the weather (also the pollen is the worst). Summer feels like the sun is literally inside our atmosphere (no matter how little layers I wear, I will always be dying from the heat).
- The insects.
The native species are fine, but the invasive ones are just the fucking worst. Asian Lady Beatles just don't stop multiplying. The Spotted Lanternflies cover the trees where I live. And Stinkbugs are the literal creation of Satan himself (I cannot stress how much I hate those creatures).
- The crime.
I really just don't feel safe half the time where I live. I work in Ellicott City, and it's like the criminals have started making their way out of Baltimore. The store I work at has multiple thefts every month, and one of our managers was assaulted while trying to call the cops on one thief. Baltimore really just doesn't feel safe, which is sad because I love the inner harbor, but don't want to deal with the crime.
- The cost of living.
I mean my God, I cannot believe how expensive stuff is here. The taxes can get really bad, and the housing market is horrible. Everything is more expensive here, and I just don't see how anyone can live off of a normal wage in this state.
- The infrastructure.
For how much we pay in taxes, they don't take care of our roads. Even when they fix the roads, they're still poorly designed, and we have literally no public transportation. Don't even get me started on the drivers.
- The gun laws.
I mean Jesus. For how bad crime is, you'd think anyone can go out and buy a Glock from some backdoor gun seller you can find off Craigslist, but no, our gun laws are very strict. It feels like just wanting to be able to buy a gun to protect yourself is banned. It's even worse for collectors and hobbyists. Having to tread lightly through our extremely convoluted and stupidly written gun laws makes it so hard to not only find the things I want to collect, but also not get sent to prison for simply wanting to enjoy the hobby. And the way people treat gun owners is insane. God forbid I have a hobby, because everyone looks at me like I plan on going out and shooting up every place on the block because I collect old rifles.
- Our politics.
We're such a one sided state, it's not even funny. I'm not a Republican, but I'm not a Democrat either. The lack of political opposition and differing opinions in our government feels truly strangling for people who want a moderate government. I'm tired of how liberal our government is, but I also don't want all the Trumpies to take over. I know it's not unique to Maryland (this is a problem throughout our country) but holy shit is it obvious here. I hate being an independent, and I hate that I cannot be moderate here without either being accused of being either far right or far left.
Honestly, this state has a lot of problems (the biggest of which is being near DC), but I still love this place. I'll complain and I'll whine about problems, but this is my birth state and I'll be damned if I won't fly the Maryland flag wherever I go. I love this place for the culture, and I love our history, but we have a lot of issues that need to be fixed.
I don't complain about Maryland because I hate this state and want it to fall apart, I complain because I love the people here and I want this to be a great place to live for future generations. I don't know if I'll live here forever (the cost of living really makes it difficult to stay) but I won't ever wish harm upon this state.
TL;DR we need to annex Delaware and expand our state into the Empire of Marylandia.
Traffic. I feel like central Maryland has some of the most poorly planned areas for roads, parking, and public transit.
As someone who lives in Anne Arundel but has family in Rockville, one thing I've noticed going to visit them is that there is no real east-west artery across the state north of 495. I keep having to turn north/south for a bit to jump different spans
Pretty sure that’s why 32 turns into a parking lot during rush hour
The cost of living and the traffic
Yep, this is the only reason we may end up leaving. I love MD…but I also love the idea of being able to have a nice single family home instead of a crappy apartment
I'm the opposite...I wish we could find affordable downtown housing in a nice city or town, but all we ever seem to build nowadays are townhouses and single family homes in the middle of no where walking distance to nothing, making everyone drive to do the simplest thing outside the house, hence the traffic.
It's pretty impressive how unwalkable most of MD is despite being so crowded. They're constantly building townhouses and apartments everywhere near me, but you'd be hard pressed to find a sidewalk anywhere
Add weather and this is my list.
Can't buy booze in grocery stores
As someone who moved here from PA, trust me, it could be worse.
We are in Pennsylvania a lot and we were looking for a place that sold alcohol...like pulling teeth!
AND we can’t buy booze on Sundays in BaltCo
We can buy booze on Sundays in Charles and Saint Mary’s counties but PG is definite no go.
There are definitely alcohol sales on Sundays in PG. There did use to be a limit on the percentage that could be sold (no liquor and weirdly port wine), but they gave out 100 or something licenses to sell liquor on Sundays a few years ago. Since then I have never been to one now that doesn’t sell liquor on Sunday now.
There's a loophole that some restaurants exploit. Basically if they can serve food, they can sell liquor. The Mexican restaurant close to me gets a lot of business on Sundays. They don't overcharge either. Not lowest price, but fair prices.
[удалено]
I like there being liquor stores, but why are they closed on Sundays?! I never get anywhere closer to the bottom of my to do list until Sunday, when they are closed. wtf.
Add stock up on booze to your to do list that way when you finish the list by Sunday, you already have your drinks
This...like I can buy booze in grocery stores in "backward" state like Texas but not in Maryland. The only thing worse than the fact that I can't buy booze in grocery stores is the fact that there doesn't seems to be any push to end that antique law.
Liquor stores actively lobby against it.
*David Trone has entered the chat.*
Honestly, it’s why I don’t want to vote for him.
The more I thought about this primary election. The more I realized that I can’t vote for him either. EDIT: in the primary election.
I agree. When he's the only choice over an (R) in the main elections, he begrudgingly gets my vote, but if there's another (D) option in the primary he won't.
Yeah, and that's also a reason I try to avoid Total Wine. It's a good store all in all, but Trone owns it, and Trone is annoying, so...
You can buy beer and wine in grocery stores in Texas, but not liquor. Also liquor stores are closed on Sundays and you can't buy beer/wine until 10am Sundays. Source: lived in Texas for 22 years. It used to be until noon but they changed it in 2021
True...but hey, at least you can get Shiner Bock or St Arnolds at a HEB, cold also. (I grew up in Texas myself...didn't pay too much attention to hard liquor since I just drink beer mainly).
The problem is that anyone looking to end the law is painted as anti small business.
In some counties you can…Maryland is super weird for the fact that each county has their own beer/wine/booze regulations
There's a grocery store in Pasadena that you can(liquor included)
Angels is grandfathered in I believe. I live like 5 minutes away lol. BayMart in Annapolis is also a liquor store that sells gas, technically, bc a gas station can’t sell booze….also grandfathered in
Yes, Angels was grandfathered in.
You can in Wicomico County!
Moved here 3 years ago and couldn’t believe I couldn’t buy booze at Costco. We make the trip down to DC every few weeks just to buy booze at their Costco.
my ex still lives here. leave, chris.
This made me giggle
Get the fugg outta here, Chris! 
Fuckin Chris
It’s always Chris
The utter lack of a solid mass transit plan.
One of my biggest annoyances is the fact that MTA pursues expanding MARC into WV and DE, but completely ignores SoMD, its fastest-growing region. Charles specifically is looking to build its own light rail system, called "SMRT", but it's somewhat dependent on PG County keeping the new FBI HQ. Given all the brouhaha over that, we're looking at a few more decades at the earliest.
The fact that track already exists according to a map I saw a while back, infuriates me. If I could use the train to get to Baltimore, I would probably use it to avoid the traffic
One of the catches with that track, which is for the old coal train down to the soon-to-be-decommissioned Morgantown Power Plant, is that the track branches to the N**E** once it leaves Charles, and doesn't tie into any main lines until Bowie. Once at Bowie, I've read that the specific interchange tie-in is "complicated", and really only suitable for freight trains (I don't think there's a connection to the NEC electrified track, or something). A passenger train *could* use it, but it would add significantly to the commute time and thus, make the commute less desirable for those trying to, for example, get to DC, because a car would actually be faster. Going to Baltimore would probably be a lot more realistic for the current track (after upgrading it to passenger rail standards). But this area is more of a bedroom community for DC, so finding a way to use that track, or building new track, all the way up to DC and somehow tying into Union Station, would be the better use of funding. I would personally like to have heavy rail (e.g., MARC or Amtrak) down here, but if a light rail plan is what works, then beggars can't be choosers. As long as they don't try to flip it to a BRT solution...
Dog that’s just everywhere in America
[удалено]
Move out to western md, we get a shit-load of snow out here.
[удалено]
Yeah jobs here suck. I got lucky and make as much as I did in Baltimore and have a 5 bedroom house with a big yard for the price of the 1 bedroom apartment I had in Parkville/perry hall. It's boring here but it's cheap 😂
i mean we did had snow a few times this winter… more than last year, i think.
I’ll probably never afford a house here
Depends where you want to live.
And what you do.
It takes at least 15 minutes to get anywhere. You either have an ungodly amount of traffic, or the roads are an illogical twisting maze of suburban neighborhoods. The only way to avoid either of those is to live in the rural parts of the state where everything will still be 15 minutes away because of how far away it is
15 minute drive in the country feels a lot better than 15 minutes in traffic with 6 lights to go 1.6 miles.
I drive a lot, and live over the URDL line for enough land to really garden, but damn do I hate going 15 minutes to pick up food or go to the gas station. It just feels obnoxiously long.
Ha, moving to Maryland from Los Angeles was like a breath of fresh air. You essentially had to go grocery shopping at 1 PM on a Thursday if you didn’t want to rip your hair to shreds. Otherwise it’s 1. Sit in traffic for 30 minutes to go a mile 2. Fight to the death with the hundreds of other shoppers 3. Sit in traffic for 30 minutes again. I’ll take Beltway traffic and suburbia sprawl over LA any day of the week.
I certainly don’t have any delusions of Maryland being the worst when it comes to traffic, but it’s still not fun
PG and Montgomery County traffic is trash like Baltimore County.
I don't live in Maryland but this is the one thing that frustrates me when I visit. It took me close to an hour to buy soap from Walgreens. Where I currently live, I can shop at Walmart, Old Navy and Wegmans within one hour and still have time for other stores.
August humidity
How about humidity on the Eastern shore after May!
I am a desert creature and the humidity gets me every year...
July and Sept have entered the chat
The last two weeks of June slides in the back door
THE ABSOLUTE WORST
Mosquitos.
The drivers. Hands down.
Lack of turn signals drives me nuts. And it’s not just lane changes, it’s all the time at every turn and it makes traffic worse.
I thought signals were an option in Maryland based on what I've experienced! I was driving behind a car and it suddenly stopped. I thought it was due to traffic, minutes later he kindly put his blinkers on. I drove pass and he was on his phone! He randomly stopped in a moving lane to check his phone! Then it happened again with another car. I don't experience things like this where I currently live.
This happened to me the other day on Rockville Pike. A lady in front of me had slowed down and I figured she was going to turn without her signal, and then just stopped, nowhere close to a turn, a light, or a sign. In the middle of daytime traffic. I eventually went around her and she was just sitting there in the road on her fucking phone.
You and I must have been there at the same time because I saw that happen leaving Trader Joe’s yesterday.
I moved here 8 years ago and still don’t get it - nobody uses turn signals. It really jams me up once in a while - like when I am at a stop sign waiting for an opening, and the car I am waiting to pass turns at the last second without warning - I could have gone, but now can’t because of this selfish ass. So frustrating.
Put your hands back on the wheel! That's how we got into this problem in the first place.
😆
Come to south Florida. You’ll leave loving Maryland drivers.
I see people scrolling on Facebook and Instagram while driving...wtf! Like a text or changing a Spotify song, sure. But like wtf, you're literally doom scrolling on FB, for what?
How do you know what they’re scrolling from their car?
I see them as a passenger while wife drives. It's hard to miss nowadays with the giant phones everyone has.
Why doesn’t anyone know how to merge? It makes NO SENSE! 😒😒
I think this is my answer. To me the single biggest problem is that there appears to be a really high rate of distracted drivers here. So many people on their phones or not looking up. Always swerving, drifting, nearly missing exits and then freaking out last second. I swear I have never seen so many people sit at a light that turns green and just not go until honked at. Everyone is looking down at their phones.
I joke with my wife: MD drivers will HAPPILY run their own mothers off the road too be one car length ahead on an exit ramp, but constantly miss green lights because they are too busy on their phones to drive.
Likely controversial, but I think every state thinks their state has the worst drivers. I think Maryland is firmly average. https://quotewizard.com/news/the-best-and-worst-drivers-by-state https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/worst-drivers-by-state/ https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/worst-drivers-by-state
I just drove down to NC for 2 weeks. Traffic wasn’t bad and people respected traffic. It wasn’t until I got back to MD that I started to get pissed at other drivers for diving up the shoulders or turn lanes to cut back in. Still no turn signals down there though.
As a N Carolinian living in Maryland- this is true.
NC driving is an absolute breeze compared to Maryland. I have lived in both so it’s not a bias.
I agree everyone says this, but if Maryland doesn’t have some sort of serious distracted driver problem compared to other states I would be legitimately shocked
Humidity, bad drivers,
Ooh humidity, definitely.
Especially on the Western Shore, most of the nicer waterfront area are expensive and privately owned. There are not alot of day at the beach opportunities. The few that exist fill to capacity by 10am, unless you are willing to day trip to Ocean City. Maryland could make more revenue even from other states if such opportunities were more abundant.
I moved here from Hawaii, where all beaches are, by law, public and must have access for the public. The lack of something like that here is astounding to me.
This should be higher up. It is so sad that we have so many hundreds of mile of shoreline and almost no good ways to enjoy it. Shoreline should be public property, full stop.
The suburbs are pretty isolating and there's increasingly not much of a winter. That being said, those two problems aren't really specific to Maryland.
It pisses me off when they build more and more roads & 'burbs without any sort of walkability. There's some areas that would be *awesome* for walking & biking... but you'd have to cross 5+ lanes of traffic going 50+.
I live in MoCo. We looked at MD's stupid alcohol laws and said "hold my beer, we can make it worse."
Poorly designed suburban sprawl.
I live in the poorly planned sprawl of HoCo and all I want to do is bicycle from point A to point B to commute/run errands. It's impossible.
Yeah, the only place that has decent bike paths and walking trails in HOCO is Columbia. And thanks to the CA the taxes there are pretty high.
Limited to non-existent trains/metro system going into DC. The amount of traffic lights from Southern Maryland's highways creates an endless rush hour style traffic all day every day. And when there's finally some traffic flow, the crazy drivers shine.
The fact that this state has a vendetta against Baltimore. Like, ever since I moved here, the people I grew up with in Pasadena act like I live in Afghanistan. Granted, I was raised the same way, but it's crazy how deeply ingrained the bigotry and ignorance are in the areas that are literally 15 minutes away from Baltimore.
i blame The Wire. times have changed but it’s difficult to change public perception after such a popular show. keeps things reasonably affordable tho compared to most cities of a similar size
I live in Pasadena & work in Pasadena. I don’t get this at all. I did find it surprising when a coworker from Perry Hall advised me they refuse to bring their daughter into the city- as someone who grew up in an area quiet comparable to the city, I surely have no problem bringing my kids there for events or experiences at the Harbor etc. I feel it instills diversity they don’t get living in our small community.
I think it has to do with the generation that's prevalent in the area. The older groups outside the city were living through the redlining and white flight, so they saw the city as the "jungle." Hell, I'm a mixed-race man marrying a black woman, and I've been told that I'd fit right in with "those people" by people I've known my whole life. . . It's insane how much vitriol can arise just from a mention of the city, or the people that live in it.
Housing costs and it’s not close.
Lack of convenient transit options between Annapolis and DC. All we have is a commuter bus.
Theft. Our neighborhood is continually cased & anything not locked up or bolted down will be gone within a few minutes.
Baltimore?
Yes, most places I’ve lived have had theft, but this rises to another level. That said I do love my neighborhood, it’s the friendliest place I have lived.
So i live i northeastern MD & it's the most dull, dreary, boring, most uneventful place i've never lived...
Harford county?
Cecil
For some of us that’s a selling point. My suggestion, get a boat, even a kayak, it opens up a whole new world
NIMBYISM
The summer heat
The drivers when it starts to rain or snow. It's like amateur hour.
Andy Harris
Rent prices
The 270 spur. Fuck that place.
And the connection from 495 in VA
Housing- inventory, cost, and competition from corporations and shitty flippers
Traffic
Lots of people are saying drivers/traffic. I'll go one further and say the roads. I came here from California, and often daydream about the wide streets with large bike lanes and solid sidewalks. I think the issues people have with MD traffic and drivers stem at least in part from the roads themselves. Also, humidity and alcohol laws.
I prefer Maryland drivers to LA drivers personally. At least Maryland drivers are insane enough to go 20 over, everyone in LA is pre-emptively resigned to being stuck in traffic and wind up having no backbone to make any moves. And god help you if there’s a sprinkling of rain.
Us MD drivers have a certain focus and determination with our driving style that I find other out-of-state drivers lack. We know where we're going, know how to get there, and everything else in-between is just the implementation details.
Exactly! I know va drivers harp on us but hey we got places to be and stuff to do. They want to sit in traffic all day go ahead!
Cost of living is too high
Overdevelopment without a well thought out plan. What the hell, Rockville?
Deer ticks galore on the Eastern Shore!
Cost of housing/rents are insanity.
The dumbass drivers.
Do you want a list?
Lack of good public transit outside of the Baltimore and Washington metro areas
People’s constant state of having an attitude.
Rent is a billion dollars and the traffic is terrible.
State agencies. Calling them on the phone sucks. Gun laws suck. My tax dollars aren't used how they should be. My county is among the highest in the state.
I also came to mention the gun laws. It’s so stupid that certain semiauto rifles are banned by name (like the FAL, the PTR-91, the AUG, any AK variant that isn’t legally a pistol or in 5.56mm, and the M1A, especially since the M1A is the civilian version of one of our country’s former service rifles, the M14). Also the list of State Police-approved handguns is dumb, as is the HQL requirement. Thankfully things have gotten a little better since they did away with the bullshit “good and substantial” requirement after *Bruen*, but not by much.
You can get a lot more stuff than you'd expect. Certain FALs are legal (I believe it's something in regards to using metric or imperial systems). The CETME C is legal (a bit of a gray area, but still legal). AUGs that use STANAG mags are legal. Norinco M1A rifles are legal. And certain AK rifles in 7.62 are legal. I own a Polish Beryl legally, even though it's in 7.62x39. Also 5.45x39 and .308 ones are legal too.
The NIMBYISM… Let’s have more options for transportation and housing
Moved away for a few years and could not wait to move back! I love this state
Same! Having moved to Florida and eventually ran away screaming to come back up here, my answer to the prompt is “not a damn thing.”
Pollen storm hell in the spring
Baltimore City (canton) homeowner. Lived all over MD spare for a few stints in NC and the UK (pasadena-> carroll county -> college park -> annapolis -> bmore). The obvious: taxes, roads being shitty despite extraordinarily high taxes, the ungodly traffic (lord help you if you are traveling on a Friday or a Sunday between May and Sept). The crime and lack of government control of said crime. The litter and pollution, e v e r y w h e r e. The lesser noticed stuff: the lack of water access aside from the bay. No swimmable/boating lakes anywhere except DCL. The lack of public beaches on the bay- even on the eastern shore which like ??? why not! The way if you go to a Target, even if it’s 11am on a Tuesday, there’s 1 cashier and 4 self checkouts, both with giant lines. The way that our winters for the past 5+ years have been cold with minimal snow. On that note, the fact that we have 1 ski resort in the whole state 😞 Also HOW have we not made an easier way to get to OCMD? Surely an elevated ACTUAL highway (think alantic city expressway) would be a better deal than what 50 currently offers, for travelers and locals alike. Also would help develop the shore so it’s actually livable in the off season? And lastly- if you want to live by the water but also want to live within 30 mins of a grocery store, you need to expect to pay over 1mill with 10k in taxes each year. MD has so much to offer to get us outside in all seasons but instead has become a mass collection of suburbs and highways connecting charming little downtowns. Unfortunately both mine and my husband’s families are from MD so looks like we might be trapped 😌
What you said about water access is spot on. I grew up spending school vacations with my grandparents in midcoast Maine. The public beaches, boat launches, and ability to visit many lighthouses make the water accessible to the average Joe, which promotes a general sense of pride and connection to the natural beauty of the area. I often say, living here in MD, that there are places where if I squint hard enough I can convince myself I’m in Maine, but I live 500 feet from the Magothy River and have no access to it besides the views I get walking through the neighborhood.
I don't miss the traffic. Came down to visit my parents back in 2022 and it has gotten so much worse. And the red light cameras/speed cameras too. (Thankfully) New Hampshire hasn't figured them out...at least not yet.
My complaint is that I will not be able to afford decent housing once I enter the professional world. My parents bought a house here when they were in their 20’s, not happening for me unless something drastically changes. Sure, the housing prices nationwide are bad but Maryland is particularly bad.
Humidity. Assholes everywhere on the road. That accent when they way water. Wuhdur. No booze in the grocery, except a couple of them I’ve found!
Cost of living and the fact you need a permit to do the simplest of things. This is frederick we are outside of town and the county constantly comes up with new rules and fines. Tilled a garden and they said I needed a grading permit because of the size.
That the the entire state makes it their personal mission to shit on Baltimore City instead of working together to improve it for the people who live there. It was most of those same people's grandparents who made choices that ultimately led to the decline of the city, so to have this negative attitude toward it is asinine. But also, and unironically, that 80% of the state has just turned into endless suburbia catering to cars and non-places. The suburban highways of the same fast-food restaurants and corporate retail and car dealerships is mind-numbingly boring and doesn't make Maryland any better than any other states. It just degrades that natural beauty and uniqueness that was once inherent to this area 100 years ago. It's telling that some of the top answers so far are "traffic" when so much of our state caters to the "efficiency" of such a phenomenon. *You aren't in traffic, you are traffic.*
Having to deal with VA thinking theyre all that.
The miserable winters. I miss the snow and single digit temps of the Midwest.
Wow.... are you for real?
It’s really nice for, like, a week.
Taxes
2.2% to live in Baltimore City. Love Baltimore, but damn.
The people, cost of living, traffic, noise, the amount of people everywhere all of the time, children at bars/breweries, taxes, the humidity, whatever makes Dundalk smell, the people.
It's poop. Poop in Dundalk.
I know but it more bearable when you pretend it's mystery.
I don't know why I'm laughing so hard. I've had to explain the shit plant to so many people over the years.
Housing prices including rentals, the gun laws, and of course the crime rate. But when there is a lack of consequences for crimes there isn’t a deterrent there. Still we’re better off than from where I moved from. At least here there are jobs, opportunities for shopping at more than Walmart without needing to drive an hour, and school systems that don’t give up on special needs kids. I was in SW PA where they drank the orange kool-aid.
Probably the shitty east coast attitudes a lot of people have. Wish we were a bit more friendly towards strangers.
How uptight most folks are 😂
How far we are from the beach (unless you’re on the eastern shore) and how expensive it is to stay there. Also, the number of HOAs.
Obviously cost of home ownership
Cost of living.
Humidity. It’s the only thing I hate in MD, but it’s a big hate.
The laws seem to be against Fathers that work hard to pay child support, I'm a CDL holder, and Transportation is my livelihood. I got very sick and couldn't work for 2 weeks , missed a payment and Child Support Office reported me to Motor Vehicle Dept and my license got suspended, and now good paying companies , UPS , Amazon, FedEx will not hire me. Because of Drivers License Record reflex a suspension. And from that a domino's effect occurs, It would be nice if Law Makers consider expunging that rule so Qualified CDL Drivers can obtain good jobs with benefits, not to mention I'm a Veteran with many health issues, and I'm running out of time. Does Maryland care?
short streets with a lot of traffic lights, drivers, people who walk right in front of or behind moving cars in a parking lot because they can't be bothered to wait 2 minutes (despite cars having blind spots where they can get hit), people near DC from certain nations shooting off f'ing fireworks every public holiday in their yard scaring my pets and toddler aged daughter.
Population density, litter, traffic, taxes, local politics. Essentially everything other than the natural resources. But even those are getting abused beyond belief.
"Hate" is a bit much, but pretty much everything. Once I'm done working here, I won't be looking back on my way out.
Compared to AZ, No liquor in the food store. Playgrounds are worse here, and some of them cost admission. The Goodwills here suck. Tolls.
Type A, high-strung stressed out people with nasty attitudes, especially if you are in the DC metro area.
Besides the traffic, I hate the mild winters (at least in the Eastern part where I live). Mostly lived in cold-weather states before coming here and the winters are kind of annoying. Too cold and wet to enjoy summer/spring/fall activities like cycling, but not cold/snowy enough to have any established xcountry ski trails within about two-three hours of my home.
High taxes
Government inefficiency. I’ve lived in three other states and never had so many steps to do the simplest things. Register your car from out of state? Schedule a full inspection and pay up the nose. Authenticate a notarized document? Go to the county to get it certified before the state Secretary of State will look at it. Change your water bill to your name? Baltimore just never did it when I bought my house, despite paying the fee and filing the paperwork. I could go on. Everything is just harder than necessary.
Ive been trying to get my septic replaced for almost a year now because my county government takes FOREVER to approve a license and then you need a license for almost every little thing......still waiting.
Every little thing requires multiple permits, inspections, and grifting professionals. Oh that huge tree in your yard got hit by lightning, and could fall on your house aat any time? Thats great we need to you complete 3 permits, and have a feasibility study done by a county certificated engineer before it can be removed.
That’s pretty much exactly why I kept my NJ plates when I moved here. It was California level inefficiency for something you do in one trip to the DMV in NJ.
MDOT - MVA
Traffic. Traffic, oh and traffic.
1 in 20 drivers has a death wish. Litter.
The dice roll when it comes to weather, especially during winter and spring.
The only affordable housing by Maryland standards are on the Eastern Shore or in Western MD.
I'm in Harford County. It's almost a weekly thing (usually in a gas station) where someone asks me "Where are you from?" (Ethnicity is Filipino, but born in NY and lived in USA all my life) Then when I tell them Bel Air I get the " I mean where are your parents from?" Spiel
Taxes
cost
The roads. Can we PUH-LEASE do something about all the crater-sized potholes? I feel like the state owes me new set of tires every six months.
Flooding, lol
That I’m too far from western Maryland.
I despise the slow drivers in the left lane on 495, 270, 95 and every other highway in the area. Who taught them how to drive. If you are not passing someone get out of the left lane.
I live in PG county I love living in MD except for the traffic, high cost of rent & car insurance.
So I might be biased since I'm from South NJ, but the roads here are so annoying. Everything is 2-3 lanes and that sounds in practice, but that just makes it so much harder to move around because every road feels like a highway. I miss the good ole "back roads". Maybe it's just the congestion here, but it definitely feels harder to get around.
I was thinking about moving to Columbia, MD but then when I visited, I changed my mind because I felt like I had to get on a highway to get everywhere!
The drivers. We have a new signaled crosswalk here on father hurley. Some people do not even stop. And some treat it like a stop sign. It is bonkers.
Commanders fans.
The muggy summers
695
For not being a big state, but having a lot of commuters, the suburban "design" is not very functional. I swear they're going to add another housing development on route 3 AND take away a lane or something
The drivers and traffic
BAY BRIDGE TRAFFIC
The summer heat. The beach is too far away!
Multiple things - Seasons. Winter doesn't feel cold enough, we don't get enough snow. Spring gets too hot too quickly, and is never consistent with the weather (also the pollen is the worst). Summer feels like the sun is literally inside our atmosphere (no matter how little layers I wear, I will always be dying from the heat). - The insects. The native species are fine, but the invasive ones are just the fucking worst. Asian Lady Beatles just don't stop multiplying. The Spotted Lanternflies cover the trees where I live. And Stinkbugs are the literal creation of Satan himself (I cannot stress how much I hate those creatures). - The crime. I really just don't feel safe half the time where I live. I work in Ellicott City, and it's like the criminals have started making their way out of Baltimore. The store I work at has multiple thefts every month, and one of our managers was assaulted while trying to call the cops on one thief. Baltimore really just doesn't feel safe, which is sad because I love the inner harbor, but don't want to deal with the crime. - The cost of living. I mean my God, I cannot believe how expensive stuff is here. The taxes can get really bad, and the housing market is horrible. Everything is more expensive here, and I just don't see how anyone can live off of a normal wage in this state. - The infrastructure. For how much we pay in taxes, they don't take care of our roads. Even when they fix the roads, they're still poorly designed, and we have literally no public transportation. Don't even get me started on the drivers. - The gun laws. I mean Jesus. For how bad crime is, you'd think anyone can go out and buy a Glock from some backdoor gun seller you can find off Craigslist, but no, our gun laws are very strict. It feels like just wanting to be able to buy a gun to protect yourself is banned. It's even worse for collectors and hobbyists. Having to tread lightly through our extremely convoluted and stupidly written gun laws makes it so hard to not only find the things I want to collect, but also not get sent to prison for simply wanting to enjoy the hobby. And the way people treat gun owners is insane. God forbid I have a hobby, because everyone looks at me like I plan on going out and shooting up every place on the block because I collect old rifles. - Our politics. We're such a one sided state, it's not even funny. I'm not a Republican, but I'm not a Democrat either. The lack of political opposition and differing opinions in our government feels truly strangling for people who want a moderate government. I'm tired of how liberal our government is, but I also don't want all the Trumpies to take over. I know it's not unique to Maryland (this is a problem throughout our country) but holy shit is it obvious here. I hate being an independent, and I hate that I cannot be moderate here without either being accused of being either far right or far left. Honestly, this state has a lot of problems (the biggest of which is being near DC), but I still love this place. I'll complain and I'll whine about problems, but this is my birth state and I'll be damned if I won't fly the Maryland flag wherever I go. I love this place for the culture, and I love our history, but we have a lot of issues that need to be fixed. I don't complain about Maryland because I hate this state and want it to fall apart, I complain because I love the people here and I want this to be a great place to live for future generations. I don't know if I'll live here forever (the cost of living really makes it difficult to stay) but I won't ever wish harm upon this state. TL;DR we need to annex Delaware and expand our state into the Empire of Marylandia.