Why do you live in the DC area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate it here. Can’t wait to move.

Mostly Type-A strivers and mean-spirited, cold people,

No sense of hometown / no city pride,

Transient (everyone leaves)

Summers are miserably hot,

Mosquitoes and ticks everywhere

Winters cold and gray with barely any snow,

Crumbling infrastructure,

Deteriorating school system

Skyrocketing crime

Incompetent local government

Whole area stinks of weed.

We are only here for our .gov jobs.

What does this have to do with the OP? The question was, why do you live here, not what do you hate about living here?

I see now that you posted at the very bottom the why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious what brought you here or keeps you here. What do you like about it, and what do you hate?

I have since moved but loved:
The food scene
The spring scenery
The free activities/museums/etc
The ease of meeting new people because everyone seemed to be a transplant

I did not love:
The cookie-cutter feel of so many suburbs -- felt manufactured
Distance to ocean or other recreation -- no real charming destinations nearby
The "what do you do?" government/noncreative vibe

Work brought me here, I stay because of the large Black UMC population and related amenities. I love the cultural arts scene, the music scene, the many POC medical professionals, the three airports.

I don't love the winters. I really hate being cold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I moved here because I was an Honors Program hire at DOJ out of law school.

I've never loved it. Still here 20 years later because I met my spouse, and spouse was born here, loves it here, all of their friends are here, and they are still at DOJ. I miss Chicago, which is where I spent a lot of time before law school. Spouse hates the cold, so that's not an option.

I do like that we have a house on the Shenandoah River that is only about 2 hours away, and the beach is also about 2 hours away from DC (although we never go). I do like that there is so much opportunity here work-wise.

Hate the high COL; how transient lots of people are and how that effects neighborhoods; the weird, pathetic, striving; the lack of culture (compared to other places I've lived anyway); how basic everyone is -- at least in this suburban hell I'm in at the moment.

So weird, but I know who you are.

if this is true, you're a creep for even admitting this.

They included a ton of very specific information. So I'm creepy because they were easily recognizable? It's not like they confessed to murder or anything.

[Anonymous]

I did it for the nookie

[Anonymous]

I moved here because I fell in love with DC on a high school trip. I loved the Metro, the museums, the National Mall, and the intelligent/nerdy vibe of people. I grew up in a small, lower-income town and the opportunities in DC just astounded me.
I still feel that sense of wonderment sometimes in DC, which is partially why I'm still here. I also have a great job that doesn't exist in most other areas of the country. My kids have been exposed to lots of cultural experiences, and my husband's family is nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate it here. Can’t wait to move.

Mostly Type-A strivers and mean-spirited, cold people,

No sense of hometown / no city pride,

Transient (everyone leaves)

Summers are miserably hot,

Mosquitoes and ticks everywhere

Winters cold and gray with barely any snow,

Crumbling infrastructure,

Deteriorating school system

Skyrocketing crime

Incompetent local government

Whole area stinks of weed.

We are only here for our .gov jobs.

What does this have to do with the OP? The question was, why do you live here, not what do you hate about living here?

Hmmmm.

What keeps YOU here, PP, is obviously not your poor reading comprehension. Since you struggle with it, I’ll help you out.

OP asked:

“Curious what brought you here or keeps you here. What do you like about it, and what do you hate?”

Try harder next time, PP. Or maybe go back home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hate it here. Can’t wait to move.

Mostly Type-A strivers and mean-spirited, cold people,

No sense of hometown / no city pride,

Transient (everyone leaves)

Summers are miserably hot,

Mosquitoes and ticks everywhere

Winters cold and gray with barely any snow,

Crumbling infrastructure,

Deteriorating school system

Skyrocketing crime

Incompetent local government

Whole area stinks of weed.

We are only here for our .gov jobs.

Move. No reason for you to stay. Head to Texas where the power grid companies don't have to provide service. Yeah the Texas legislature approved that one. Or Missouri or Florida or Mississippi or Oklahoma or omg Tennessee where pedos from Maryland can move and have their records expunged.

Did you miss the part about why we are still here? Our jobs. They do not exist elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Born and raised here. Wasn’t ready to leave home for college so went to Georgetown. Job offer was in DC. So I built my adult life here. My parents still lived here until they passed away.

[Anonymous]

Grew up in Montgomery county. Went to school in VA (UVA) and came back to live in Arlington like half my graduating class. Bought a condo, met my husband (who’s lived in NOVA his entire life) and plan on eventually having and raising kids here.

And work in federal govt. consulting so for me, my job kind of ties me to the area especially with the cutting back of remote work.