Detailed reasons for why you wouldn't live in Prince Georges County...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every terrible thing that can be found in PG County can be found in DC, whether it's bad local schools, no good stores and restaurants within walking distance, crime, and so on......

And in Virginia. South Fairfax County off of Route 1 would rival parts of PG and DC for the worst in crime and crappy schools.

Number of homicides in ffx county in 2017=18
Number of homicides in PG county in 2017=80

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fine dining in Brookland? Really?

Brookland's Finest
Brookland Pint
Nest (stretching since that's really Woodridge)
Menomale and its new shop (although it's really in Edgewood)
Busboys (which is in Hyattsville too)
Silver something or other on 12th Street
Ethiopian place on 12th

Here let me fix this for you



Brookland's Finest (Fantastic!)
Brookland Pint(Good)
Nest (stretching since that's really Woodridge) (Have not tried it yet)
Menomale and its new shop (That is Brookland...there is a big ol sign welcoming you to Brookland right before you get to it)
Busboys (which is in Hyattsville too) (True)
Silver something or other on 12th Street (I think you mean STEELE PLATE which is very good)
Ethiopian place on 12th (Askale Cafe)
Primrose (French Restaurant)
Masala's Story (Indian restaurant opened by the owners of Indigo in Cap Hill)
Tastemakers(Food incubator/Mess Hall) (Technically this may be considered Edgewood because it is over the bridge, not exactly sure)
Momo Yakitori (Japanese restaurant which is actually in Woodridge)
Calabash Tea Bar and Cafe (in Brookland opening in May)
Pop Up on 12th Street (Pop up restaurant fordifferent chefs to showcase their food (very cool)

There are more...Come visit, since you have not visited in a while!!

[Anonymous]

It's not a detailed (or necessarily 'good') reason but I just think there is no cache to that name/area. When you say you live there, no one will be jealous. Location is key for me.

[Anonymous]

Great thread OP. We live in MoCo, but plan on buying in 2020. Originally we planned on staying here in MoCo but as I look at the offerings here in the county I am less and less impressed. DH and I are considering PG County (sending our kids to private) or Howard County.

In my opinion, the people with the MOST options in MoCo are the wealthy or the poor. Middle class folks have to move further and further out. It's very frustrating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a resident of PG County- having moved here from NOVA. I don't really understand all the negativity surrounding PG County at all. First, Maryland as a state is more diverse and liberal than VA- which we greatly appreciated. The commute from our neighborhood into DC or Bethesda is a cinch- either by rail or car. Our commute from Pentagon City on the blue line downtown was god-awful... trains were always packed and delayed, and the summer tourists are disgusting. Then there's the good part of Arlington that is a concrete jungle- complete lack of green space. It is the complete opposite in MD... there are so many public parks, with real playgrounds and space and splash parks, etc. Homes in University Park are beautiful, same as Arts District Hyattsville, and Historic District of Hyattsville.
The only thing that stinks is the high property tax rate... but we aren't moving back to NOVA just to save 2k/yr on property taxes.
I should also mention... public schools in PG are NOT all bad. And Prince Georges has some very nice private schools that don't reach 30k a year.

PG County is as black (64%) as Fairfax County is white (67%). I infer you think Fairfax County is not diverse. This doesn’t track.

[Anonymous]

Another person who grew up in Bethesda, lived in DC in her 20s and moved to Hyattsville area. I love our house, and having a smaller mortgage has really changed our career/family options for the better compared to trying to get into Takoma Park or Silver Spring. The community is lovely, diverse and safe. And we have everything we need close by. The worst inconvenience is that the Whole Foods doesn't sell wine. I look forward to a few more walkable restaurants. As for the schools, I imagine the ES will be just fine by the time we get there, and MS/HS are something we'll deal with when we get there. You never know what type of kids you'll get anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every terrible thing that can be found in PG County can be found in DC, whether it's bad local schools, no good stores and restaurants within walking distance, crime, and so on......

And in Virginia. South Fairfax County off of Route 1 would rival parts of PG and DC for the worst in crime and crappy schools.

Number of homicides in ffx county in 2017=18
Number of homicides in PG county in 2017=80

Same.

The worst high school in Fairfax, Mount Vernon, is better than every single high school in PG except its magnet, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Roosevelt would be below average in Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Seems like a high amount of corruption in PGC, also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every terrible thing that can be found in PG County can be found in DC, whether it's bad local schools, no good stores and restaurants within walking distance, crime, and so on......

And in Virginia. South Fairfax County off of Route 1 would rival parts of PG and DC for the worst in crime and crappy schools.

Number of homicides in ffx county in 2017=18
Number of homicides in PG county in 2017=80

Same.

The worst high school in Fairfax, Mount Vernon, is better than every single high school in PG except its magnet, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Roosevelt would be below average in Fairfax.

Yeah but am I crazy that this doesn't seem like a huge deal to me? Most of the kids overlap in achievement, right? I understand a really dysfunctional school is bad, but super high achieving schools have their own cultural problems ime. I assume the elementary school will be adequate and then we'll have to make decisions based on the kid we have and their preferences and talents. Plus, when the kids are young, I'll have more time to supplement their schools/be involved with them because I won't have to work as much to get by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every terrible thing that can be found in PG County can be found in DC, whether it's bad local schools, no good stores and restaurants within walking distance, crime, and so on......

And in Virginia. South Fairfax County off of Route 1 would rival parts of PG and DC for the worst in crime and crappy schools.

Number of homicides in ffx county in 2017=18
Number of homicides in PG county in 2017=80

Same.

Here is the problem. PG county crime is highly concentrated in those parts of the county that are inside the beltway. That part of the county is barely 10% of the county. Outside the beltway, the crime rate is very similar to MoCo or NoVa. Take a look at the map on this site:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/local/homicides/

Click the [-] button in the upper right once, so you can see the county limits. Cover up the ring inside the beltway and tell me that the map of PG County outside the beltway doesn't look virtually the same as the other counties outside the beltway.

The point of this is that so many people who know nothing about PG county keep spouting off about high crime. If you live anywhere in the county outside the beltway (90% of the county), then you'll see crime rates no different than the other beltway counties. That 10% of the county inside the beltway accounts for over 70% of the violent crimes county-wide. The comment about high crime is an oversimplification that stigmatizes the entire county for a small region.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every terrible thing that can be found in PG County can be found in DC, whether it's bad local schools, no good stores and restaurants within walking distance, crime, and so on......

And in Virginia. South Fairfax County off of Route 1 would rival parts of PG and DC for the worst in crime and crappy schools.

Number of homicides in ffx county in 2017=18
Number of homicides in PG county in 2017=80

Same.

The worst high school in Fairfax, Mount Vernon, is better than every single high school in PG except its magnet, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Roosevelt would be below average in Fairfax.

Yeah but am I crazy that this doesn't seem like a huge deal to me? Most of the kids overlap in achievement, right? I understand a really dysfunctional school is bad, but super high achieving schools have their own cultural problems ime. I assume the elementary school will be adequate and then we'll have to make decisions based on the kid we have and their preferences and talents. Plus, when the kids are young, I'll have more time to supplement their schools/be involved with them because I won't have to work as much to get by.

Are you a different poster? Because it would take a lot of chutzpah to make the erroneous claim that the schools in southern Fairfax are as “crappy” as those in PG and then, when corrected, turn around and suggest it doesn’t matter.

PG has some nice areas. It’s cheaper because there just aren’t many jobs there and people don’t want to live in suburbs with poor schools. It kind of defeats the point. There will always be a few areas that attract a diverse range of residents, but most of the better-educated, higher-income folks will bail on the public schools, if they send their kids there at all, by middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every terrible thing that can be found in PG County can be found in DC, whether it's bad local schools, no good stores and restaurants within walking distance, crime, and so on......

And in Virginia. South Fairfax County off of Route 1 would rival parts of PG and DC for the worst in crime and crappy schools.

Number of homicides in ffx county in 2017=18
Number of homicides in PG county in 2017=80

Same.

The worst high school in Fairfax, Mount Vernon, is better than every single high school in PG except its magnet, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Roosevelt would be below average in Fairfax.

Yeah but am I crazy that this doesn't seem like a huge deal to me? Most of the kids overlap in achievement, right? I understand a really dysfunctional school is bad, but super high achieving schools have their own cultural problems ime. I assume the elementary school will be adequate and then we'll have to make decisions based on the kid we have and their preferences and talents. Plus, when the kids are young, I'll have more time to supplement their schools/be involved with them because I won't have to work as much to get by.

Are you a different poster? Because it would take a lot of chutzpah to make the erroneous claim that the schools in southern Fairfax are as “crappy” as those in PG and then, when corrected, turn around and suggest it doesn’t matter.

PG has some nice areas. It’s cheaper because there just aren’t many jobs there and people don’t want to live in suburbs with poor schools. It kind of defeats the point. There will always be a few areas that attract a diverse range of residents, but most of the better-educated, higher-income folks will bail on the public schools, if they send their kids there at all, by middle school.

No, I am new and I barely know where Fairfax is, I am sure it is lovely.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you are still reading this here are my two cents.

I am an Asian women, married to another Asian man. We have lived in PG County since 2010, we are leaving as our older of two children is starting KG and we are zoned to Hyattsville Elementary. We have our children in local daycare (they are plenty of affordable and impressive options in the county), we applied to the Friends School and turned down a slot. Since we both work in the city, neither of us wanted to commit to driving there til our children finish the 8th grade, and high school options are limited (Roosevelt is really the only public option. We were not interested in St. Jeromes (many ppl will point out this is an affordable option). Tution at the Friends school is $19,500K for KG.

We have never made any friends in Hyattsville, white ppl stick to themselves, same goes for other minorities. Ppl are very granola, it can get annoying, esp bc I learned granola and friendly don't go hand in hand in Hyattsville.

I love the walkability, I feel safe (we have an alarm system), but yes we see sketchy things all the time. You can't get packages delivered to your door, there is HUGE theft issue. I was at the Shoppers at Bladendburg last weekend with my 5 year old and I saw a man day drinking in his car.

There are also a lot of white ppl who look like stereotypical Trump supporters somewhere in the South (I personally find them a little scary as well).

Hyattsville and other parts of PG County seem super tempting, lower prices homes, easy access to the DC, but at the end of the day the taxes are super high and you have terrible schools. It's not worth the trade off, and once you are actually in the position to decide on private schools or moving, the math for us worked out to move.

[Anonymous]

The elementary schools in PG will not be getting better anytime soon. They are overcrowded, the county politicians are greedy and corrupt.

[ArlGal7]

Wow, yall are racist.

I grew up in Prince Georges County and currently live in Arlington. The only reason my husband and I live in Arlington is the commute to both of our jobs, and we really love our neighborhood. But honestly, not much difference between the 2 places other than the ratio of racial diversity. Arlington is probably 70% white, 30% everything else and PGC is probably 70% black and 30% everything else.. so same, just flipped.

Arlington seems more beneficial to younger couples with disposable income because there are more places to go (and more yuppie/buppie things to do), but PGC is more family oriented... because let us be real, when you have a toddler and an infant you aren't worried about what beer is on tap at the local brewery.

All depends on priorities, and for us, its the commute and direct access to things we like to do. When we have a kid, that might change and we both might get new jobs to live closer to PGC.

Don't let all the hate people spew on here deter you from getting great bang for your buck and having a similar quality of life that youd have in any DMV suburb (Fairfax, MoCo, PG, Arlington).

Signed,

Been there, Done that... Both places are fine.