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Business
Capital Gazette Communications
Published
11/30/09
During World War II and the decades that followed, the rough-and-tumble, mile-long strip of shops, liquor stores and bars along Route 175 in north Odenton, affectionately known as "Boomtown," beckoned soldiers stationed across the road at Fort George G. Meade. 
Shannon Lee Zirkle — The Capital
Small shops and restaurants, many of them offering Chinese food, sprouted up in the Boomtown commercial district soon after the Vietnam War. A year ago, county exec Leopold and other community leaders promised to clean up Boomtown. With the new development stalling, officials and businesses are finding there is not much they can do. Take a drive down Annapolis Road to see the current condition of Boomstown.
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But Boomtown's current dilapidated state of boarded-up buildings and perpetual seediness doesn't fit the standards of a modern community hoping to put its best foot forward as Fort Meade expands. A year ago, community leaders, led by County Executive John R. Leopold, stood in front of some now-shuttered bars and promised to clean up the area. One of the...
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Boomtown rehab - 2009-12-01 11:42:47
I've lived in Odenton for 16 years and have witnessed the steady decline of the strip along 175. It makes me glad that I relocated out of Seven Oaks to an older neighborhood farther away (but still in Odenton), away from the abandoned buildings and roped off lots. If there are no historic buildings to be preserved then the old, abandoned, hopelessly non-inhabitable buildings should be torn down to prevent the proliferation of vermin, both the animal and human kind. Just removing the old buildings and growing some grass (like they did when they tore down the abandoned apartments near the Fort Meade gate at Reece Road) would improve the curb appeal and give the existing, successful businesses owners a place they can be proud of instead of having their shop near an oriental restaurant that has sat vacant for 16 years. Homeowners could give directions to their house that don't include "turn at the boarded up dunkin donuts". I may live in a duplex now but at least I don't have to look at the condition of Boomtown as I turn into my brand new home in Seven Oaks.
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