Can Later Bar Hours and 'Noise Areas' Make a D.C. Suburb Hip?

As urban areas across the country compete for those coveted young professionals, "unhip" suburbs have a particularly tough challenge. In Montgomery County, MD, a taskforce has issued its recommendations for addressing this challenge.

October 24, 2013, 11am PDT | Jonathan Nettler | @nettsj

"Later closing times for bars, relaxation of noise ordinances and a 'concierge' service to help new businesses maneuver the Montgomery County bureaucracy are among the proposals of a task force charged with lifting the hipness quotient of a place many millennials find bland and inhospitable," reports Bill Turque.

"For six months, the 21-member group has discussed tweaking public policy to make the county — specifically Silver Spring, Bethesda, Wheaton, Rockville and Germantown — competitive with places such as the District and Arlington County as destinations for the young. Panel members hope that its series of 33 proposals, finalized at a meeting Monday evening, will let a thousand food trucks, brew pubs and live music venues bloom."

Full Story:

Montgomery considers lifting hipness quotient with later bar hours, ‘noise areas’

Published on Monday, October 21, 2013 in The Washington Post