Is Arlington the Best Place to Live in the DC Area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Downtown FCC is probably the most walkable area in DC. Route 7 goes down the middle of it but only at 30 mph. Other parts of Arlington and DC that are "walkable" have cars zooming around too fast for my comfort.

Ugh, but all the construction. I am not looking forward to the traffic and noise and awful chain stores that are coming in to all these new high rise complexes being built in the next few years. It's ruining the charm of the little city. Can't really call us little anymore with all this development, honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here it comes, OP. 14 pages of people telling you that Arlington SUCKS and place XYZ is far superior.

FWIW, I live in the Westover part of Arlington and I really like it. I've also lived in Shirlington and Ballston. I liked those spots too. It's expensive because it's the closest place to DC. Some of the neighborhoods are ugly and people say that the schools are going downhill, but I think people just like to complain or rationalize expensive decisions they've already made.

Best of luck!

The schools have never been great and yes it's ugly and full of strip malls.

Quelle Horreur! A strip mall!

That strip mall has my District Taco in it. Watch yourself.

I lived in that neighborhood (Tara-Leeway) for several years and I think Westover is super cute and charming (we spent a lot of time at the beer garden and Lost Dog) but the Lee-Harrison area is kind of depressing (although I did love District Taco and Taqueria Pablano, LOL). That said, we are an inter-racial couple and I couldn't help but notice I was frequently one of the, if not THE, only minorities pretty much everywhere we went (except for people working in restaurants). I grew up being one of two minority children in my grade K-12 and I didn't want my children to be subjected to that life, so we moved a little further out to Fairfax County and the difference in amount of diversity is unreal! My kids go to a highly rated ES that is minority white and it makes me really happy!! I understand that this may not be your concern if you are not a minority or married to a minority, but it was really important for us for our child to not be surrounded by one homogenous group of people, so we moved out of north arlington when we had kids. Arlington is really nice, and very convenient if you work in DC, but definitely not diverse.*

*Note that south arlington is far more diverse than the northern half of the county but it's mostly hispanic, whereas fairfax county ALSO has really large asian, south asian, african, and middle eastern communities.

This must have been particularly galling for you because Arlington has been encouraging the fast gentrification of the nearby Halls Hill and High View Park, a long time African American community. Twenty five years ago you could have sent your bi-racial children to the majority African American Glebe ES but now it is a segregated white school like all North Arlington elementary schools.

You do know that not all minorities are African-American, right?

Correct. When I wrote that I assumed that you were either Chinese, Korean, or Indian because you said that you were one of two minority kids in your school. Since you want diversity, I was simply pointing out that an area near Tara-Leeway Heights that was once diverse is not longer diverse as it has gentrified. I thought by diversity you meant you would be comfortable with African Americans, but it seems not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gotta love the posts that talk about embracing diversity while bashing places as too white.

[Anonymous]

Here’s the thing, you won’t end up walking to stuff as much as you think and you will hardly ever take the metro because metro sucks. The best part about Arlington is that the commute into DC is easy, but the houses are so small for now expensive they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing, you won’t end up walking to stuff as much as you think and you will hardly ever take the metro because metro sucks. The best part about Arlington is that the commute into DC is easy, but the houses are so small for now expensive they are.

The best part is everything is close - whether you walk or drive. You can walk to pick up a few things from TJs. You can walk to parks or dog park. Most activities are all within 5-15 min.

My personal fav...kids can walk to see their friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing, you won’t end up walking to stuff as much as you think and you will hardly ever take the metro because metro sucks. The best part about Arlington is that the commute into DC is easy, but the houses are so small for now expensive they are.

I dunno. We’ve lived in Arlington for years and there’s plenty of weekends that we don’t drive because we’re able to walk to so much. Agree that the metro sucks, and any sane person on the orange line would just grab a cheaper Uber into the city for a group of three or more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The major draw of DC as a city is that it is medium-density, walkable, and has many high paying jobs. You can live in the city and not own a car but still don't have to be in that sort of suffocating, NYC level density. If you must live the life of detached SFH, look at close-in northwest (Cleveland park, glover, etc.). There is really no major benefit of being in Arlington over any other semi walkable suburban area. Walkability in Arlington is not the same as walkability in, say, Cambridge. It's mostly a lie. Yes there are sidewalks, but very few people have the ability to actually walk to the grocery store for a daily shop.

I can and do walk to three different grocery stores (giant, WF and Trader Joe's) in Arlington. Lots of people can walk to a grocery store in Arlington. I see tons of people walking home from Trader Joe's in my neighborhood.

Yes, some have that ability. But indeed that number is very low. Basically just lyon village, lyon park, and then houses that happen to be within half mile of a grocery store.

Quincy Park North checking in, we have 2 Giants, a Safeway, WF, TJ within 1/2 mile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The major draw of DC as a city is that it is medium-density, walkable, and has many high paying jobs. You can live in the city and not own a car but still don't have to be in that sort of suffocating, NYC level density. If you must live the life of detached SFH, look at close-in northwest (Cleveland park, glover, etc.). There is really no major benefit of being in Arlington over any other semi walkable suburban area. Walkability in Arlington is not the same as walkability in, say, Cambridge. It's mostly a lie. Yes there are sidewalks, but very few people have the ability to actually walk to the grocery store for a daily shop.

I can and do walk to three different grocery stores (giant, WF and Trader Joe's) in Arlington. Lots of people can walk to a grocery store in Arlington. I see tons of people walking home from Trader Joe's in my neighborhood.

Yes, some have that ability. But indeed that number is very low. Basically just lyon village, lyon park, and then houses that happen to be within half mile of a grocery store.

Quincy Park North checking in, we have 2 Giants, a Safeway, WF, TJ within 1/2 mile.

How many groceries do you need????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The major draw of DC as a city is that it is medium-density, walkable, and has many high paying jobs. You can live in the city and not own a car but still don't have to be in that sort of suffocating, NYC level density. If you must live the life of detached SFH, look at close-in northwest (Cleveland park, glover, etc.). There is really no major benefit of being in Arlington over any other semi walkable suburban area. Walkability in Arlington is not the same as walkability in, say, Cambridge. It's mostly a lie. Yes there are sidewalks, but very few people have the ability to actually walk to the grocery store for a daily shop.

I can and do walk to three different grocery stores (giant, WF and Trader Joe's) in Arlington. Lots of people can walk to a grocery store in Arlington. I see tons of people walking home from Trader Joe's in my neighborhood.

Yes, some have that ability. But indeed that number is very low. Basically just lyon village, lyon park, and then houses that happen to be within half mile of a grocery store.

Quincy Park North checking in, we have 2 Giants, a Safeway, WF, TJ within 1/2 mile.

How many groceries do you need????

Not that many, but spouse likes Giant, I like Safeway, we all like Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods for special occasions.

[Anonymous]

Based on some of the comments, have you thought at all about DC itself - Capitol Hill, maybe SW, maybe Navy Yard? DC neighborhoods tend to have a much more suburban town in the city feeling to them than a lot of other big cities. Easier to take advantage of the museums and certain other city offerings. It may not necessarily be all that much more expensive than the close in suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here it comes, OP. 14 pages of people telling you that Arlington SUCKS and place XYZ is far superior.

FWIW, I live in the Westover part of Arlington and I really like it. I've also lived in Shirlington and Ballston. I liked those spots too. It's expensive because it's the closest place to DC. Some of the neighborhoods are ugly and people say that the schools are going downhill, but I think people just like to complain or rationalize expensive decisions they've already made.

Best of luck!

Only got to 11 pages of Arlington sucks posts.

[Anonymous]

I’m sure you can specify a set of criteria for which Arlington would be the best match. Having said that, it’s not as attractive a location as Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Great Falls, McLean, or Potomac, and on average the houses in Arlington are less expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, West Springfield by far

Why do you say that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, West Springfield by far

Why do you say that?

NP but west springfield has a reputation for being racially diverse (though not economically diverse). WS high has the smallest achievement gap between black and white students. It also is a very friendly place. If you are a UMC/MC POC seeking a white picket fence place where you feel welcome, there is no better place than WS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, West Springfield by far

Why do you say that?

NP but west springfield has a reputation for being racially diverse (though not economically diverse). WS high has the smallest achievement gap between black and white students. It also is a very friendly place. If you are a UMC/MC POC seeking a white picket fence place where you feel welcome, there is no better place than WS.

Probably more UMC for new arrivals. Used to be more MC.