Why does everyone love Vienna so much?

[Anonymous]

Mere mortals with HHI of 150k can afford to live there and send their kids to public schools with good reputations.

I lived in South Arlington's lesser neighborhoods, and there's worse things than a 30 minute commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
we live in vienna. don't particularly like the people, who i find snobby, especially at meadow lane park, but dh has a 45 min commute to dc door-to-door. the restaurants suck, but it's not a bad drive to areas with much better selection. i love being able to find service providers [auto repair, doctors] who have been here for decades and have a reputation for trustworthiness because their families are part of the community.

I like the restaurants in Vienna, but you cannot count on a 45 minute door-to-door commute to DC from Vienna unless you either live on top of the Vienna Metro or avoid rush hour entirely. Don't know anything about Meadow Lane Park. People in Vienna can be clique-y, but never really thought they were "snobby."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ew. Vienna? Suburbs really suck. Give me upper NW or Bethesda/CC at the furthest but if you work in DC why oh why would you want to live out there? Character is as bland as day old beer.

My hubby works in DC but i work in Reston -- you want me to live in DC and commute to Reston each day???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mere mortals with HHI of 150k can afford to live there and send their kids to public schools with good reputations.

I lived in South Arlington's lesser neighborhoods, and there's worse things than a 30 minute commute.

i love south arlington, it's awesome. It's not that ghetto!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mere mortals with HHI of 150k can afford to live there and send their kids to public schools with good reputations.

I lived in South Arlington's lesser neighborhoods, and there's worse things than a 30 minute commute.

i love south arlington, it's awesome. It's not that ghetto!

Where in South Arlington? I lived in Parkway, near 395/Glebe. I'd rate that as slightly better than the areas along Columbia Pike west of Four Mile Run Drive. Not really the best place for a family, especially if one's spouse is used to growing up on a 1/4 acre lot in the suburbs.

If you live in Alcova Heights, Aurora Heights, Arlington Ridge, or along Columbia Pike east of Courthouse, you're probably just fine.

[Anonymous]

I love Vienna for a lot of reasons that others have posted-good schools, great restaurants, good service at stores/restaurants, it's pretty, has an upscale feel, everything is close by. However, we don't find it as friendly as others have mentioned on this post. People I've met in Vienna seem like the typical Washingtonian.

[Anonymous]

People continue to promote Vienna to keep the re-sale value of their homes higher than other areas. I think the town is overrated.

Supposedly Madison HS has a problem with drugs in the school.

[Anonymous]

Two problems with 9:28: 1) madison is not known to have a significant drug problem, and in fact is one of the top hs in fcps, and 2) Vienna real estate is comparable to other regions, when you factor in proximity to metro, etc. It is true that Vienna is more than Burke, but Burke is further out. Vienna is less than falls church or McLean, because it is further out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People continue to promote Vienna to keep the re-sale value of their homes higher than other areas. I think the town is overrated.

Supposedly Madison HS has a problem with drugs in the school.

So according to you, is there never any point in asking people if they like their town because they will always self promote?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People continue to promote Vienna to keep the re-sale value of their homes higher than other areas. I think the town is overrated.

Supposedly Madison HS has a problem with drugs in the school.

I think it's fair to say that Vienna has an unusually large number of people who post about their town on message boards and internet forums. A lot of them live, or lived, in the Town of Vienna. You could call them fans or you could call them cheerleaders - your choice. Either way, it's silly to think they can really have much of an impact on housing prices, which reflect a host of variables.

As to Madison's "problem with drugs," you're kidding yourself if you don't think there are drugs at any local public or private school. What happened at Madison a year or so ago was that a group of parents felt the administration wasn't taking their concerns seriously and demanded a public meeting. You could look at this as evidence of a problem, or you could say that it's a good thing when a community cares enough to want to address it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Ideal for commuting. DH works downtown

This is NOT a selling point for Vienna! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE living in Vienna, but I work downtown and the commute is truly awful. It's an hour each way on a GOOD day - either by car or by Metro (and my office is near the Orange Line so I don't even have to change trains). Spending 2 hrs/day commuting by Metro sucks - then add in being pregnant and routinely getting stuck in cars with no A/C during one of the hottest summers on record and it's intolerable. The commute is far from ideal.

ITO. We lived in Vienna but eventually moved to McLean because DH was tired of the commute to downtown DC by car or Metro. It is a very family-friendly place and I'd recommend it highly to those working in Northern Virginia, but people thinking of living in Vienna and working in DC should make sure they can put up with a long commute for an extended period.

It's only an hour each way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never met an impressive professional who leaves work at 4 p.m.

I don't care how "impressive" you think I am. I'll just keep earning my $200K and going home.

[Anonymous]

Now McLean is really overrated.

[Anonymous]

Depends on what stage of life you are in. I'm from South Europe and lived in NW DC for many years as a single woman and cohabiting with my now husband. It was awesome and we had a lot of fun. When we had our son, priorities changed. We were not looking for the best night bars any more. We were looking for: good schools, a great variety of classes offered from the county, highly educated people, great sense of community and good services. All of these we now have in Vienna. DC is still my favorite place to hang out with my friends and I do so often because G'Town, the Monuments and Dupont are all about 25 minutes away. My son goes to one of the 5-6 Montessori schools nearby. They organize International Children's Day Parade instead of Halloween because children are a mix of 15+ nationalities. It's an awesome place to raise a family if you want to enjoy life and not go bankrupt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheaper than McLean!

Further from DC! With considerably worse traffic!

But a nice town with much to offer!

I work in Tysons. We take the metro when we go downtown. See? No problem.