Has anyone decided to give up on DCPS and move to Virginia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The snark isn't necessary. The PP may be suggesting that if you're only looking at the total number of children in the city (as the Post article does) you're not seeing the underlying shift in economic circumstances, nor how they will ripple through the school system.

Oh, good heavens! Don't scare snarky PP away with nuance. This is pretty obvious if you think about it for more than thirty seconds, but it's so much easier to be snotty.

There's nothing even remotely obvious about how the changing economic circumstances of some DC residents will "ripple through the school system." At this point, it's a crap shoot.

So long as the number of well-heeled in DC who send their kids to public schools remains substantially lower than the number living in DC with 2-year-olds, the ripple effect may be very shallow. Most of the noise is from people who are trying to convince others to stay in DC because it's in their personal financial interests that they do so. Other people remain stubbornly resistent, however, to using their kids to advance someone else's agenda.

This is a town, after all, where Adrien Fenty and Michelle Rhee were sent packing in short order. So why is it "pretty obvious" to hope that crappy DC schools will be transformed into Boston Latin and Hunter College in a few years.

And yet...try as you might, you cannot deny the hard evidence of the last census. E pur si muove...

OFFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But the question (a total sideline from the topic) is whether the realtor's statements re the schools are racist. Uninformed yes, but racist? Are suburban residents that are scared of the big city racists or just idiots?

Sadly, a little bit of both. I too have coworkers that commute as far as WV and look down their noses on DC residents thinking it's nothing but a butch of hoodlums and Marion Berry style crackheads. Unfortunately, a lot of it stems from racial stereotypes. Racist probably isn't the right term, more like prejudice.

It goes both ways. I think they're a bunch of hilljack, inbred rednecks.

Hilljack. That might be an IPhone auto-type error, but I like it!

And thus, another urban dictionary term was born...

Nope - that was intentional. Elitist, mean and snotty, but intentional. I should be ashamed of myself . . . but I'm not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The snark isn't necessary. The PP may be suggesting that if you're only looking at the total number of children in the city (as the Post article does) you're not seeing the underlying shift in economic circumstances, nor how they will ripple through the school system.

Oh, good heavens! Don't scare snarky PP away with nuance. This is pretty obvious if you think about it for more than thirty seconds, but it's so much easier to be snotty.

There's nothing even remotely obvious about how the changing economic circumstances of some DC residents will "ripple through the school system." At this point, it's a crap shoot.

So long as the number of well-heeled in DC who send their kids to public schools remains substantially lower than the number living in DC with 2-year-olds, the ripple effect may be very shallow. Most of the noise is from people who are trying to convince others to stay in DC because it's in their personal financial interests that they do so. Other people remain stubbornly resistent, however, to using their kids to advance someone else's agenda.

This is a town, after all, where Adrien Fenty and Michelle Rhee were sent packing in short order. So why is it "pretty obvious" to hope that crappy DC schools will be transformed into Boston Latin and Hunter College in a few years.

And yet...try as you might, you cannot deny the hard evidence of the last census. E pur si muove...

OFFS.

?? What is "OFFS" supposed to mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Trinidad poster....also, do realize this, as I did: it is only a minor proportion of DC proper area that has urban delights like stylish restaurants, bars, libraries, parks, retail and food stores within walking distance. You can live in DC outside of expensive desirable areas and have to ride a bus for an hour to get to a library or a nearest bar, and it won't be all that. So outside of desirable areas life in DC can be just as isolated and culturally barren as in the burbs, without redeeming value of the burbs.

And that is, ironically, also true of the poshest parts of DC like upper-upper Northwest - they are basically suburban areas in DC zip codes, nothing walkable or easy-reach about them. I would live there in a heartbeat, but no hopes of ever affording more than a closet worth of space there

And how do you think "isolated and culturally barren" areas of the city become less so? Yes, civic investment, social programs, good city planning and families there getting more means or else families with means moving there in greater numbers.

It is.community and community activism and interdependence and tolerance. Hard work, but the resulting urban delights that come about in some cases result in the best damn quality of life you'll find anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And how do you think "isolated and culturally barren" areas of the city become less so? Yes, civic investment, social programs, good city planning and families there getting more means or else families with means moving there in greater numbers.

It is.community and community activism and interdependence and tolerance. Hard work, but the resulting urban delights that come about in some cases result in the best damn quality of life you'll find anywhere.

Let me guess - I bet you'd be at least as happy with families of means moving there in greater numbers as with the families there getting more means.

It really sounds like God's work you have planned.

[Anonymous]

Well, I figured I did my part by staying in Trinidad for four years, you know. Let someone else throw themselves at that particular altar now. I'm not getting any younger and I don't feel bad about being intolerant to drug dealers down the block or people getting shot on the next street over - all of which happened during my stint. Do you seriously want me to be overjoyed about raising my son in the middle of this and treat it at some kind of social experiment?

I still own that place and pay taxes on it, so let them take this money and do whatever they want with making the neighborhood livable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And how do you think "isolated and culturally barren" areas of the city become less so? Yes, civic investment, social programs, good city planning and families there getting more means or else families with means moving there in greater numbers.

It is.community and community activism and interdependence and tolerance. Hard work, but the resulting urban delights that come about in some cases result in the best damn quality of life you'll find anywhere.

Let me guess - I bet you'd be at least as happy with families of means moving there in greater numbers as with the families there getting more means.

It really sounds like God's work you have planned.

Judgmental much? Cuz only you have the high ground on morality, right?, you know what evil lurks in the hearts of others. If only we could all share your enlightened view of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, I figured I did my part by staying in Trinidad for four years, you know. Let someone else throw themselves at that particular altar now. I'm not getting any younger and I don't feel bad about being intolerant to drug dealers down the block or people getting shot on the next street over - all of which happened during my stint. Do you seriously want me to be overjoyed about raising my son in the middle of this and treat it at some kind of social experiment?

I still own that place and pay taxes on it, so let them take this money and do whatever they want with making the neighborhood livable.

You don't have to justify yourself to me, sister. Good for you, hanging in for 4 years. Raise your DS as you like. Peace.

[Anonymous]

Anyone seriously considering this question (Leaving DC for VA) needs to understand that many of these posts are overgeneralizations. Just because you live in the burbs doesn't mean you have a long commute or that you drive everywhere.

I moved to the burbs and drive less than I did before - I used to drive my kids to school because it was a little far to walk and not safe for biking since Pennsylvania avenue is a major thoroughfare for commuters and we had to cross it. My kids both walk to school now -and to parks, pools, tennis lessons. My commute to Capitol Hill takes 25 minutes in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And yet...try as you might, you cannot deny the hard evidence of the last census. E pur si muove...

The hard evidence of the last census was that the number of school-age children in the District had declined. It wasn't exactly an endorsement of DCPS by any stretch.

Fewer large, poor families. Yes, that's actually a good sign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And how do you think "isolated and culturally barren" areas of the city become less so? Yes, civic investment, social programs, good city planning and families there getting more means or else families with means moving there in greater numbers.

It is.community and community activism and interdependence and tolerance. Hard work, but the resulting urban delights that come about in some cases result in the best damn quality of life you'll find anywhere.

Let me guess - I bet you'd be at least as happy with families of means moving there in greater numbers as with the families there getting more means.

It really sounds like God's work you have planned.

PP is safely ensconced in Reston, and is weeping *real* tears at the prospect of those less fortunate not getting the things they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone seriously considering this question (Leaving DC for VA) needs to understand that many of these posts are overgeneralizations. Just because you live in the burbs doesn't mean you have a long commute or that you drive everywhere.

I moved to the burbs and drive less than I did before - I used to drive my kids to school because it was a little far to walk and not safe for biking since Pennsylvania avenue is a major thoroughfare for commuters and we had to cross it. My kids both walk to school now -and to parks, pools, tennis lessons. My commute to Capitol Hill takes 25 minutes in the morning.

Yay! Score one for Applebee's!

[Anonymous]

And for the IHOP in Columbia Heights!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And for the IHOP in Columbia Heights!

Columbia Heights. Big box stores and armed robberies in one convenient location. And you don't even have to use your car since it's on the Green Line!

[Anonymous]

As a side note on restaurants, DC does have it on the stylish ones, however, it's curious to note that the best ethnic restaurants are in suburbia along with scores of ethnic grocery stores (Korean, Thai, some Indian, Latin, Vietnamese, Eden Center). So if it's ethnic diversity in gastronomic matters that you want, you can find it in the burbs and not DC.