Bethesda or McLean?

[Anonymous]

The greater proximity to more jobs and access to a wider range of strong university options will continue to make McLean more desirable than Bethesda. Whether Maryland drivers suck or Tysons is not walkable simply doesn’t count for much in comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Makes more sense to compare Tysons and Montgomery Mall both of which are on the outskirts. Obviously Tysons is better. Rarely do people from VA crossover to MD for shopping

My kids go to school in MD. (We live in McLean) Several of my friends who live in Potomac come to McLean for shopping, they say it's just as fast or faster than going to a store there, and the ones in Potomac are bad.

For the record, I mean Giant, Lidl, Safeway, Harris Teeter, that sort of thing. Coming here for Tysons/Galleria is kind of a given, it's a lot bigger than Montg. Mall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg. I grew up in Bethesda. I just looked at a map and it turns out that which I always thought was McLean is actually Lyon Village and if I had tried to put Tyson’s Corner on a map I would have guessed way, way south of where it actually is. It’s wild what your brain builds when you just learn how to get places on roads but don’t ever look at a map, lol.

Anyway it’s all the same OP don’t worry about it. I like Bethesda better because that’s where I lived. Most people want to be near family or a job or a school. You can just pick a place if none of that matters. Visit both and find a house. No biggie.

You sound like a complete moron. You grew up in Bethesda and drive west on the beltway to Tyson’s and you thought it was south? Lyon village isn’t anywhere near the beltway.

I don’t think I drove to Tyson’s more than three times in my life and my brain just placed it lower. Idk I think I passed it on the toll road and thought it was something else. Brains are weird.

Especially when you have one that doesn't appear to function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes more sense to compare Tysons and Montgomery Mall both of which are on the outskirts. Obviously Tysons is better. Rarely do people from VA crossover to MD for shopping

My kids go to school in MD. (We live in McLean) Several of my friends who live in Potomac come to McLean for shopping, they say it's just as fast or faster than going to a store there, and the ones in Potomac are bad.

For the record, I mean Giant, Lidl, Safeway, Harris Teeter, that sort of thing. Coming here for Tysons/Galleria is kind of a given, it's a lot bigger than Montg. Mall.

Out of curiosity, is having to cross over to Maryland daily for school difficult in terms of traffic and timing? There seem to be good options in Maryland and I've heard Potomac School is very competitive to get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does McLean have a downtown area with shopping and restaurants like Bethesda has?

It has a very small downtown, not as big as Bethesda. It has a few restaurants, but not as much as other nearby towns. You can drive to the Tysons area in about 5 or 10 minutes. The PP is right that the older residents are blocking any improvements to the downtown. They don’t want McLean to become a “destination” that would increase traffic.

I think the issue is a bit more complex than that, and isn't limited to older residents (although I'm not sure what you are defining as older, so maybe).

Nobody wants downtown McLean to turn into Rosslyn/Tysons/ Ballston, which is what the developers want. The infrastructure is lacking to support something like that, and there is certainly no need for or sense in retail shopping, which is already readily available. The majority of people who moved to McLean, be it 3, 5, 10 or 15 yrs ago did so largely for location and the lack of high density housing. So no, most don't want that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Makes more sense to compare Tysons and Montgomery Mall both of which are on the outskirts. Obviously Tysons is better. Rarely do people from VA crossover to MD for shopping

My kids go to school in MD. (We live in McLean) Several of my friends who live in Potomac come to McLean for shopping, they say it's just as fast or faster than going to a store there, and the ones in Potomac are bad.

For the record, I mean Giant, Lidl, Safeway, Harris Teeter, that sort of thing. Coming here for Tysons/Galleria is kind of a given, it's a lot bigger than Montg. Mall.

Out of curiosity, is having to cross over to Maryland daily for school difficult in terms of traffic and timing? There seem to be good options in Maryland and I've heard Potomac School is very competitive to get into.

If you were going to drive to MD daily to pick up kids at school (3-530pm) then yes. Not so much for 3, but anytime after that. The roads are gridlocked with people who live in MD and work in VA, with a sprinkling of people who have kids in MD but live in VA. The majoriy of the schools have buses, so it becomes a non issue since they are coming back here against traffic with the kids. Or if the kids are older (like mine) they drive themselves and don't have any traffic problems.

[Anonymous]

They’re both equally as nice, but since I’m biased, I’ll say Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does McLean have a downtown area with shopping and restaurants like Bethesda has?

It has a very small downtown, not as big as Bethesda. It has a few restaurants, but not as much as other nearby towns. You can drive to the Tysons area in about 5 or 10 minutes. The PP is right that the older residents are blocking any improvements to the downtown. They don’t want McLean to become a “destination” that would increase traffic.

I think the issue is a bit more complex than that, and isn't limited to older residents (although I'm not sure what you are defining as older, so maybe).

Nobody wants downtown McLean to turn into Rosslyn/Tysons/ Ballston, which is what the developers want. The infrastructure is lacking to support something like that, and there is certainly no need for or sense in retail shopping, which is already readily available. The majority of people who moved to McLean, be it 3, 5, 10 or 15 yrs ago did so largely for location and the lack of high density housing. So no, most don't want that.

I know a lot of parents of school aged kids in McLean, and they don’t want high density housing, but everyone complains about the aging retail buildings and poor visual appeal of the downtown. People who attend the development meetings say that it’s mainly senior citizens that block any new development. There was a plan to revitalize the Giant shopping center but I don’t know what happened with that.

[Anonymous]

In regards to downtown Bethesda, see this thread https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/983343.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are a minority, McLean is better. Bethesda is too white. As a minority, I researched this a lot before moving to McLean. Of course, if you are white then it doesn’t matter.

When did you move to McLean? Ten years ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends. Are you a country club type? If so, Bethesda.
Do you make over $500k? If so, McLean.
Does paying taxes on your car bother you? If so, Bethesda
Does paying 50% more in state income tax bother you? If so, McLean
Do you want to send your kids to private school? If so, Bethesda
Do you want to drive through miserable traffic and stop at a red right every block? If not, then McLean.

Lol. You are acting like that person didn’t have a VA axe to grind. VA people ate MD and MD people hate VA. One state was the seat of the confederacy and does not believe in regulation - and it shows as you drive around. The other state is MD.
Hi in response to these questions:
Are you a country club type? Not really
Do you make over $500k? Yes (combined HHI)
Does paying 50% more in state income tax bother you? Depends how much difference between the two states?
Do you want to send your kids to private school? If the privates are significantly better, than would consider
Do you want to drive through miserable traffic and stop at a red right every block? I heard this is the case everywhere in the DC suburbs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The greater proximity to more jobs and access to a wider range of strong university options will continue to make McLean more desirable than Bethesda. Whether Maryland drivers suck or Tysons is not walkable simply doesn’t count for much in comparison.

This is the most pompous post I've read on here, lol.

I live in McLean, but you need to get over yourself, lady.

[Anonymous]

Planning is in place for the revitalization of McLean. https://www.fcrevite.org/mclean/design-guidelines

[Anonymous]

Bethesda is for latte sipping elitist liberals who are very spiteful people. McLean is for more down to earth rich folks who could give two craps about politics aside from how it affects their taxes. I live in Shaw in DC but would pick McLean over Bethesda all day. And this is coming from someone who grew up in Chevy Chase…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On average McLean seems to have gotten a good bit more expensive than Bethesda - the prices there are more aligned with Chevy Chase than Bethesda. Assume this is because NoVa has so many jobs so McLean is the sweet spot between jobs in DC and jobs in NoVa.

But it’s really the state university options in VA that give McLean the edge.

Maybe the higher prices in McLean reflect the lower tax rates relative to Bethesda…

~ thoughts?