s/o of s/o Has anyone ever moved from close in MD to DC?

[Anonymous]

New Orleans is a wonderful place, really. The people are amazing. But, it is very dangerous. Do you not remember all the terrible post-Katrina stuff about the floods being a good thing becasue the area needed to be "cleansed" of sin? Obvi this was coming from wackadoo evangelaicals, but I saw a lot of this stuff make it to mainstream media. It can feel Third Worl down there.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not the PP, but the disadvantages for me were: crime, unresponsive local government, no federal representation, high taxes and did I mention the unresponsive local government. I had my car broken into in DC and when I called I was told they wouldn't send anyone out, and I could do my report over the phone. I had the same thing happen about a year later in the city of Falls Church and the police came out looked over the car made a full report and apologized for making me wait 20 min for them to respond. I don't live in Fall Church anymore but I miss having that level of service from local government.

So let's see: 1) crime, 2) unresponsive local government; 3) no fed rep; 4) high taxes.

1) Your car was broken into in DC; your car was broken into in Falls Church. 2) When you reported this major crime in DC, the dispatcher told you you could get a crime report for insurance purposes over the phone. When you did it in VA, the police came out and gave you a big hug to make you feel better. 3) Don't really care, given the politicians VA usually elects, I'll take my DC Councilmember any day. 4) Taxes in DC are actually not particularly high compared to MD and VA. In fact, for many upper-middle income taxpayers, there's a lower overall tax burden than in MD and about the same as VA.

Not sure when you moved out, but I'm actually pretty impressed by the level of DC services; certainly better in many respects than what I experienced in Rockville.

When I cite crime, I'm not talking about my car getting broken into. That is the price of living in a metroplitan area. The crime I move away from, admittedly some years ago, was in Mt. Pleasant and involved a mid-day fire fight like from the wild west. I've never experiance anything like it, and I grew up in New Orleans and New York City. It was a crazy time. I hear its a lot better, but I'm very leary of moving back. I actually loved it for the most part, its the most suburban city I've ever lived in, with trees and parks everywhere. If the services are truly better its the best of both worlds, but I'm going to let others test the waters before I move back. I've already risked my neck once and I'm not interested in doing it again for a city that seem to have a
real love/hate relationship with professional families moving in.

I'm going to have to call you out. As someone who grew up in New Orleans and goes back regularly but now lives in upper NW DC there is no comparison of the 2. You either lived in the Quarter like a tourist or you're spreading misinformation. New Orleans is scary, you always drive with your doors locked and look around. Even in the more populated areas there have always been stories of people putting spikes down on the street to cause flats. You never stop at night. Garbage can go weeks with out being picked up, the cops take their sweet time to come. Crime constantly happens everywhere, i mean everywhere, and such vicious violent random crime as well. They don't rob you, they kill and rob you. Nola could teach DC how to run an inept government, there is not a single public I would send my kid to, the Catholic schools down there dominate like the Big 3 up here. Streetlights are constantly out, women are always advised even in the day to stay in 2s..I could go on and on, versus my life here in Upper NW (and I grew up and my parents live in a similar neighborhood) where I've left my GPS on the windshield for weeks on end, my neighbors with 4 Ivy league degrees btwn them send their kids to public, services are efficient, i love our local DPR parks etc. But I love Nola, and I miss it every day.

Holy crap. I was going to ask if that was pre-katrina, but then I saw you said that you grew up there so I assume the answer is yes. I grew up in Queens and thought it was kind of rough, but what you describe sounds really bad. Do you really miss that kind of atmosphere?

This is pre-Katrina, post-K the city became a wasteland, dare I say it had third world infrastructure (understandably so) for a long time. With all that being said, I loved it, loved growing up there, the people, the ambiance, the vibe, the food, it is just a great town, that just has a lot of problems.

[Anonymous]

We moved from Silver Spring to Dupont, and then from Dupont to Cleveland Park. I'm sticking with DC. My commute is 20 min, I can walk to grocery stores, restaurants, library, movie theater. We have tons of free amenities both downtown and in the neighborhoods. I don't need a car. The streets are always lively and there are lots of people around.