Maryland Small Town Interest

Yesterday I gave a talk at the Maryland/DC NAIOP Chapter. It was a great group with lots of interest in the area. Several of the members talked of their work with small towns, relating both the joys and challenges of their efforts.

I had one member who conveyed to me his strong interest to go out to a very small town in Virginia and use some of the information in my book to help with development efforts in that community. I’m gratified when I see this type of interest sparked in small towns.

David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times, wrote a column in yesterday’s paper about the decentralization of America. Here is what he is observing of these locations, “I didn’t adequately describe the oxymoronic attraction these places have for millions of people. On the other hand, people move to exurbs because they want some order in their lives. They leave places with arduous commutes, backbreaking mortgages, broken families and stressed social structures and they head for towns with ample living space, intact families, child-friendly public culture and intensely enforced social equality. That’s bourgeois….They are Mayberrys with BlackBerrys.”

I continue to be intrigued by the interest in small towns, even when I’m in large areas like Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. There really is a growing interest in the agurbs®.