Columbia Heights with Kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boy oh boy. What has happened to Columbia Heights!?? I finally had the opportunity to drive my kids into school and it’s nothing but homeless drunken looking people outside at 8am. What is going on? Furthermore, trash everywhere! What is the ANC or city government doing about this? I couldn’t believe my eyes.

What would you like them to do? They don’t have magic wands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you elaborate more? Do you believe there more crime in this neighborhood than other areas in D.C.? And, what neighborhoods would you consider with kids?

Columbia Heights has more crime in NW DC than any other NW neighborhood. Look at the MPD crime heat map.

Everyone's tolerance is different but personally, I would not move there with a kid. If you want to be close to your kid's school, I second Mount Pleasant. Petworth, Adams Morgan, Crestwood, 16th St. Heights, possibly others depending on your budget and other things on your wish list and what you're willing to compromise on.

I'm not the OP but I had never heard of this map so I googled. Unless I'm reading it wrong, Bloomingdale actually has the most crime in NW.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We're in Columbia Heights with a one year old and one on the way and we LOVE it. You can't throw a rock without hitting a playground - the Girard St playground in particular we really love, but there are literally three others just a few blocks from our house. There's also Meridian Hill Park, which doesn't have a playground, but is such a great scene - always tons of people out in nice weather, musicians, picnics, a real community vibe. Plenty of grocery stores, I think, but we're lazy so we just get our groceries delivered. It's very walkable - we don't have a car and it's great - tons of bus lines and the metro is right here, plus really everything you need is in walking distance. It's also one of the few truly diverse parts of DC - racially and economically. Yes, crime is a bit higher here than in the rest of NW DC, but we feel perfectly safe walking around, with or without our kid, after dark (although now that it's summer he's in bed before dark!) People are friendly.

And, while certainly, people are free to make their own determinations about safety and their own comfort level, I would keep in mind that while this website is called "DC Urban Moms" it has a large suburban contingent, and skews rather wealthy, and that may impact the responses you get on threads like these.

This website also has a lot of people who have lived in Columbia Heights and then moved from Columbia Heights, sometimes to the suburbs but often also to other parts of DC (not just UNW), once they have kids.

Maybe. But they mostly moved away because they think the schools are too brown for their kids, not because of "crime."

Why is it so impossible for some people to believe that white folks are concerned about crime and academics but NOT race? Do you really think wealthy white folks would happily keep their kids in a school filled with violent white trash meth heads?

Because I’ve heard enough other parents get concerned about “the demographics of the upper elementary grades”. I’m sure that’s of course not you - I don’t even know who you are. But it’s a theme here in DC.

I lived in DC for quite some time and never heard that. The concerns were always about test scores. If reading, math, and science scores went down as grades went on, parents looked for a way out. Not once did I ever hear a parent complain about the racial makeup of any school. I'm sure it happens, but that's not my experience and I think it's warped that this is just an assumed motivation for all white parents.

NP - people probably don't complain about it, but they make decisions based on it.

How do you know that? Are you inside their heads? I don’t think it’s healthy or accurate to assume people are racist without evidence.

My DD isn’t white and I’m glad her school is so diverse, but I would consider a different school if I thought the quality of the school decreased or became insufficient - even if it meant leaving to attend a “whiter” school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy oh boy. What has happened to Columbia Heights!?? I finally had the opportunity to drive my kids into school and it’s nothing but homeless drunken looking people outside at 8am. What is going on? Furthermore, trash everywhere! What is the ANC or city government doing about this? I couldn’t believe my eyes.

What would you like them to do? They don’t have magic wands.

So you're telling me nothing can be done? Surely the trash can be picked up. This is done downtown daily by the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boy oh boy. What has happened to Columbia Heights!?? I finally had the opportunity to drive my kids into school and it’s nothing but homeless drunken looking people outside at 8am. What is going on? Furthermore, trash everywhere! What is the ANC or city government doing about this? I couldn’t believe my eyes.

What would you like them to do? They don’t have magic wands.

So you're telling me nothing can be done? Surely the trash can be picked up. This is done downtown daily by the city.

If that’s all you want that’s easy. Just vote yes for increasing your taxes to pay for it. Downtown has a BID that businesses are required to pay into and that funds improvements. Columbia Heights does not have one and will likely never have one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in Columbia Heights with a one year old and one on the way and we LOVE it. You can't throw a rock without hitting a playground - the Girard St playground in particular we really love, but there are literally three others just a few blocks from our house. There's also Meridian Hill Park, which doesn't have a playground, but is such a great scene - always tons of people out in nice weather, musicians, picnics, a real community vibe. Plenty of grocery stores, I think, but we're lazy so we just get our groceries delivered. It's very walkable - we don't have a car and it's great - tons of bus lines and the metro is right here, plus really everything you need is in walking distance. It's also one of the few truly diverse parts of DC - racially and economically. Yes, crime is a bit higher here than in the rest of NW DC, but we feel perfectly safe walking around, with or without our kid, after dark (although now that it's summer he's in bed before dark!) People are friendly.

And, while certainly, people are free to make their own determinations about safety and their own comfort level, I would keep in mind that while this website is called "DC Urban Moms" it has a large suburban contingent, and skews rather wealthy, and that may impact the responses you get on threads like these.

This! We've lived in Columbia Heights with two small children for the last 7 years. Kids love all of the playgrounds, we have super friendly neighbors on our block, and feel safe walking around the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

I was really tempted with more house for the buck in Columbia Heights but eventually decided against raising my kids there. It didn’t feel right for us. Your mileage may vary.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It’s fine when your kids are little and you accompany them everywhere, but once they are 8 or 9 you’ll want to be in an area where they can run about in a neighborhood with other kids. And definitely when they are a tween/young tween. If you want to stay in DC my picks are Chevy Chase DC, Crestwood, AU park, Shepard Park & Colonial Village. CCDC is my top pick because there are so many kids and they ride bikes around unaccompanied, hang out at Broad Branch Market, Lafayette Playground, etc. I wish we had moved there When kids were young.

You've picked every white neighborhood in the city. Says a lot about you.

DP. Is shepherd park a white neighborhood now? I must be getting old.

I'd add Mt Pleasant or even to that list and it isn't all white either. Parts of Brookland and Michigan Park are pretty nice too,

[Anonymous]

Has OP chimed in? I'm wondering what School she is sending her kids too and how old they are.

CH and petworth are great for YOUNG kids. If you just got married... are thinking about having a kid, are pregnant or just had a kid... move on in. By the time your oldest kids 7 you will move on out. It's the DC migration pattern --- live downtown in your lower 20s, move uptown when you are ready for a fam, move west of the park or the burbs once your kid hits 2nd grade.

Chrime is an issue, but the real challenge isn't the chrime is that your kids have aged out of kiddie pools in your tiny yard and playgrounds and have moved on to playdates, travel soccer and bike riding.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP, I also forgot to add that by the time your kid is 7 you have accepted your fate that you aren't cool anymore and no longer use any of the urban amenities you once did...

[Anonymous]

Lots of wealthy folks live in Manhattan and send kids to schools, different lifestyle than suburbs and kids are better off.

[Anonymous]

We lived in CoHi for nearly 15 years, the last 4 with a baby/toddler. We loved the convenience for a long time, we didn’t have a car until the final 6 months when DH got a job out in Reston…then Covid hit and we found ourselves working from home,(a nice 2 bedroom in the heart of Columbia Heights, literally across from Target), with a preschooler at home and not at his great DCPS PreK…and we moved to a house in Silver Spring. Honestly, the rising crime played a part a part in the decision. It got really old. It’s also extremely noisy, with no stop sirens etc…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has OP chimed in? I'm wondering what School she is sending her kids too and how old they are.

CH and petworth are great for YOUNG kids. If you just got married... are thinking about having a kid, are pregnant or just had a kid... move on in. By the time your oldest kids 7 you will move on out. It's the DC migration pattern --- live downtown in your lower 20s, move uptown when you are ready for a fam, move west of the park or the burbs once your kid hits 2nd grade.

Chrime is an issue, but the real challenge isn't the chrime is that your kids have aged out of kiddie pools in your tiny yard and playgrounds and have moved on to playdates, travel soccer and bike riding.

This will be us in the next 1-2 year. Where did you move? I still cannot decide, since we cannot afford Bethesda, which will be my first choice.

[Anonymous]

I moved to DC from NYC and lived in CoHi for a handful of years (moved in with then-bf, now-DH, who lived there a handful more). It started sliding downhill around the time we left in 2015, and is noticeably worse now. The homeless/shiftless contingent at the plaza and around the Metro went from "kind of there" to "aggressively catcalling" to now "frequent shootouts." We moved north to Brightwood and our parks are way better than Columbia Heights' parks. Walkable brunch places? Not so much.

[Anonymous]

I moved out of CH back in 2010 pre-kids. Now that I have kids, I'd pick Mt Pleasant over CH.