Relocating to DC...what's life like?

[Anonymous]

I think you will eventually leave DC for a close by suburb, but you won't be persuaded otherwise. This is NOT London, New York, etc. Not a glamorous city. It was actually a really edgy city until 15 or so years ago. I just think you will be disappointed. But surely it's got to be better than Minnesota. I'd take DC any day if those were the options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you will eventually leave DC for a close by suburb, but you won't be persuaded otherwise. This is NOT London, New York, etc. Not a glamorous city. It was actually a really edgy city until 15 or so years ago. I just think you will be disappointed. But surely it's got to be better than Minnesota. I'd take DC any day if those were the options.

This is very true. Most of the boring NPR transplant types ruined it and gentrified absolutely everything. Sad. Such boring people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you will eventually leave DC for a close by suburb, but you won't be persuaded otherwise. This is NOT London, New York, etc. Not a glamorous city. It was actually a really edgy city until 15 or so years ago. I just think you will be disappointed. But surely it's got to be better than Minnesota. I'd take DC any day if those were the options.

She lives in Wisconsin. Learn some geography. And I’ve lived on both places for years, and Wisconsin wins over DC for quality of life any day. Maybe you should see more of the country you live in before making ignorant assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

LOVE this post. I'm in Dupont with kids and it is shocking to me no one before you has mentioned any of these neighborhoods and the DC experience you could have. I am a transplant (from NYC for whatever that's worth, and I've lived in 8+ major capitol cities overseas) and I have a LOT of what OP is describing living here. All of these recs are for a suburban-like experience, but that's not what I'm getting OP is looking for. The, "you'll HAVE to keep your car!" comment struck me as particularly false. I think Capitol Hill is a good recommendation, but I'd also look at the highlighted above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

LOVE this post. I'm in Dupont with kids and it is shocking to me no one before you has mentioned any of these neighborhoods and the DC experience you could have. I am a transplant (from NYC for whatever that's worth, and I've lived in 8+ major capitol cities overseas) and I have a LOT of what OP is describing living here. All of these recs are for a suburban-like experience, but that's not what I'm getting OP is looking for. The, "you'll HAVE to keep your car!" comment struck me as particularly false. I think Capitol Hill is a good recommendation, but I'd also look at the highlighted above.

How do you know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1 to all of this. If you can afford to live in Dupont/Logan/Shaw, the walkable/bikeable quality f life is fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

LOVE this post. I'm in Dupont with kids and it is shocking to me no one before you has mentioned any of these neighborhoods and the DC experience you could have. I am a transplant (from NYC for whatever that's worth, and I've lived in 8+ major capitol cities overseas) and I have a LOT of what OP is describing living here. All of these recs are for a suburban-like experience, but that's not what I'm getting OP is looking for. The, "you'll HAVE to keep your car!" comment struck me as particularly false. I think Capitol Hill is a good recommendation, but I'd also look at the highlighted above.

How do you know this?

Because it's the 21st century and there's a whole big non-white world out there. The earlier your kids are exposed to it, the better off they're going to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1 to all of this. If you can afford to live in Dupont/Logan/Shaw, the walkable/bikeable quality f life is fantastic.

I agree with this suggestion BUT don’t entirely understand why OP needs to relocate to a completely different part of the country. Surely there are urban walkable neighborhoods in Chicago? Why uproot your family and move again? It takes years to put down roots. OP mentions she has moved countless times with is a red flag to me. These types are often looking for the move to solve problems that it never does.

OP - sounds like you dislike the suburbs and driving around. I get it. Simply move to a neighborhood nearby where you have greater walkability. You can avoid relocating to a different part of the US.

[Anonymous]

I love DC and I’ve lived in NYC and multiple international cities. The architecture is beautiful, the height restriction lends a tranquil quality, the access to culture for free is amazing between the museums and the embassy events, it’s much cleaner than NYC or Paris, and there are so many genuinely interesting people here. Rock Creek Park beats Central Park any day.

My personal favorite neighborhoods are Kalorama and Cleveland Park but I can’t afford them. I also absolutely love 16th Street Heights, Logan Circle, Mount Pleasant, Takoma, and Petworth. University Heights/Brookland has charming parts too. I’m not a huge fan of Dupont but to each their own.

Most people who post on this forum do not actually spend any time in DC, they do not leave northern Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1 to all of this. If you can afford to live in Dupont/Logan/Shaw, the walkable/bikeable quality f life is fantastic.

I agree with this suggestion BUT don’t entirely understand why OP needs to relocate to a completely different part of the country. Surely there are urban walkable neighborhoods in Chicago? Why uproot your family and move again? It takes years to put down roots. OP mentions she has moved countless times with is a red flag to me. These types are often looking for the move to solve problems that it never does.

OP - sounds like you dislike the suburbs and driving around. I get it. Simply move to a neighborhood nearby where you have greater walkability. You can avoid relocating to a different part of the US.

Yes, the Milwaukee area (not Chicago) where OP lives has plenty of the types of neighborhoods you describe. New Berlin, where she currently lives, is about as suburban as it gets. She should check out the East Side of Milwaukee, Shorewood, or Whitefish Bay before moving halfway across the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you will eventually leave DC for a close by suburb, but you won't be persuaded otherwise. This is NOT London, New York, etc. Not a glamorous city. It was actually a really edgy city until 15 or so years ago. I just think you will be disappointed. But surely it's got to be better than Minnesota. I'd take DC any day if those were the options.

This is very true. Most of the boring NPR transplant types ruined it and gentrified absolutely everything. Sad. Such boring people

DC hasn't been anything close to 'edgy' since the late 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

Yes, living in a $1.8 million Logan Circle townhouse is the “real DC experience.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NWDC is friendly and a great place to raise kids, especially if you want them to have a sense of confidence in navigating cities as they grow into adolescence. A great mix of interesting people. I love living here. Good luck with your move!

+1 Also, people come and go a lot, which can be a drawback for young kids; then again mine now have friends all over the world since they made the effort to keep in touch. But I've also seen how easily the kids learn to meet new people and fold them into the group since they do it every school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this thread with interest.

Not one poster so far has recommended that you move into the heart of the city and put your elementary school aged children in one of the downtown schools and give you and them any exposure to real city living and diversity. For $1.8 million you could buy a very nice rowhome in Logan Circle or Shaw or Dupont. You could walk to absolutely everything. You could stoop on your front porch and meet your neighbors. You could put your kids in schools where there's real socioeconomic and racial diversity. In short, you could have a real DC experience.

The NW neighborhoods that other posters are recommending are for all practical purposes suburbs -- and rich ones at that. There was a firestorm on this website a few months ago after a couple of researchers at Brookings studied DCUM postings and concluded that it perpetuated segregation in the DC public school system by steering parents towards the richest and whitest schools in the city. What I'm seeing here is Exhibit A.

Take a chance, OP. You're smart, educated, and being a SAHM have time to watch over things and get involved. Your kids would thrive in a more diverse environment than what these folks have been pushing on you and be so much better off for it. Don't move to DC just to wall your kids off into the vanilla experience that DCUM is pushing on you.

+1

-1 It sounds like you have a stereeotyped image of the schools in NW and not actual experience of Murch, Eaton, Hearst, and Mann.