We all do. This is DC Urban Moms and Dads. DC is the most soulless city in North America. |
+1 |
+1 Vienna actually has sidewalks, and worthwhile destinations, unlike most of Northern VA. |
And Westover is just a little strip. |
Please. All the moms hang out at Caffe Amouri and they drive to get there. Apart from that it is typical suburbia full of chains along a heavily trafficked commuter road that is not pedestrian friendly. |
It’s true that Vienna does not make the grade for extremely walkable. But Clarendon DOES make the grade for extremely expensive. Vienna has walkable areas, great schools, metro, green space, friendly people lots of families. But DC is pretty far away. There is so much to do with families that hiking off to DC seems less important. Alexandria seems to have a lot of problems however much people love it. Trade offs. |
| Maybe OP should try Bethesda? |
| We could walk to cafe Amouri, the grocery, the bank, the park, the metro, the gym, church street. But why? There’s plenty of parking. |
Well, at least there aren't any chains in the city. |
Vienna is three zip codes: 22180 (28K pop), 22182 (15K pop), 22182 (29K). That's about 72,000 people in total. Those who actually walk to things in Vienna consist of a few thousand people in 22180 who live close to the main drag, Maple Avenue, which is the name for busy Route 123 in Vienna (it's Ox Road in Fairfax, Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax, and Dolley Madison Blvd in McLean). These people are over-represented on DCUM; they exaggerate how much they walk to feel better about living 20 miles from DC; and their experiences are in no way representative of most Vienna residents. And even then they are mostly walking to stores in strip malls that have cars pulling in and out of Maple to park. Clarendon has something closer to an urban grid, and Old Town Alexandria absolutely has an urban grid. Del Ray also is more walkable because Mt. Vernon Avenue doesn't have anywhere near the same volume of cars as Route 123. |
| I drive around Vienna every day (handicapped). Lots and lots of people walking everywhere. But it’s just not walkable! |
+2 Pick your strip mall. |
| Del Ray is the neighborhood that you are looking for. |
Generally agree with this but being 20 miles away from DC is not too bad if one doesn’t need to commute to DC for work. I guess many here work in NOVA |
| Yeah, NOVA has 3 major employment centers in it; Tyson's, the Arlington Rosslyn-Ballston-Crystal City hub, and the Dulles Tech Corridor. The spreading out of these jobs is partly why real estate is so expensive across NOVA |