Moving from NYC to DC suburbs...tell me why you like the DC suburbs

[Anonymous]

Lotta craziness in this thread.

OP, I saw your message that you are moving here for work and you & your husband want to raise your kids (future kids?) in the suburbs.

There are lots of great places to raise kids in the DC suburbs. And unlike the west coast suburb I grew up in, there are so many amazing things to do in DC which is super easy to get to on the weekends.

To help figure out which suburb you might want to live in, what is it you love about NYC the most? Walkability to places? Great restaurants?

I will say one thing that DC suburbs have over many other suburbs (maybe not NYC suburbs) is that the people here tend to be interesting and there's a lot of foreigners. So for all the grief about how the suburbs are so lily-white, in my kids' Northern Virginia classrooms, about a third of their classes are non-white, and there is a lot of diversity within that third. Many are from other countries and their parents are here working at the World Bank, embassies, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not read many of these pages. But, OP, have you looked into Falls Church City? Great neighborhood, schools, with walkability to town.

Note, you will pay more for a smaller house in Falls Church City precisely because of the great, small school system. The high school has a graduating class of 200, everyone knows each other, it's a tight knit community, but what you can buy here is less than you could get in many other Northern Virginia suburbs.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the burbs here and would never go back. Sorry. Public schools are good in the rich neighborhoods. Just manage your housing expectations accordingly. The district is great.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you haven't already bought in the suburbs, don't do it. You'll be miserable unless you live in a place like parts of Arlington and Alexandria.

If you move to a place like Reston or McLean, you will be miserable OP.

But what about the public schools being way better in a place like McLean? Unfortunately it just seems like the more city-like areas (or DC proper) gave bad public schools.

The public schools in McLean and Great Falls are the best in the state. Great Falls is rural and spread out but parts of McLean are walkable and there is easy Metro access.

I don’t understand people who think walkable to to anything in McLean is a benefit? They truly must never have lived in a city or like cities? It sounds awful to have the only things walking distance be soulless strip malls or a mush mash of little places surrounded by parking lots. It’s not the actual dry cleaner or coffee place that i yearn for, it’s the running into friends while walking all over, the variety of places, charm of the area, multiple options to sit outside, walking distance to parks, etc. and a real sense of community. We moved from the UWS to upper nw. While it was walkable to playgrounds and the library, it still felt isolated. We ended up moving again to old town, Alexandria and it feels a lot like the UWS. While we have cars and it’s easy to drive to the airport or beach or whatever, we pretty much walk everywhere. We go to the playgrounds and run into friends, there are lots of community events, the kids walk to sports, etc. The elementary school is excellent but we chose private for after that, although friends who stayed in public swear that it’s good as long as you’re in the gifted and talented classes

+1

Well, to be fair, once the Chesterbrook shopping center is fixed up, matters will improve.

It is kinda hideous and surprisingly so, considering the $$$ of the area. Friends from Winnetka, IL and Birmingham, MI have been shocked by McLean’s lack of high end shopping centers compared to what they have at home. Some things in “flyover country” can be very nice compared to what we’ve got.

I’ve been to Bloomfield, MI and sure it’s nice but come on, you actually want to live there as opposed to close to all the stuff that DC offers?

I don’t know what Winnetka IL is but same comment as above.

What does DC offer that is so special other than some museums people visit once a year?

I love DC, but I’m laughing at the ignorance of people who don’t know the US beyond a handful of places. DC has nice museums, but to act as if they are on par with some of those in other global capital cities shows how little knowledge some of these posters have. I have many well-traveled colleagues in Europe and Asia. If you ask them where they want to visit in the US, DC seldom makes the list. If you ask them about their favorite museums in the world, maybe 1 in 20 will mention something like Air and Space. If you ask about their favorite museums in the US, you are more likely to hear them mention museums in NY, Chicago. It’s perfectly valid to love DC, but understand many people here and around the world do not have the same love we have for the city.

+1

True, because the posters who claim "world class (whatever)" about DC have actually rarely resided in other places, sadly.

Wait, why are we talking about other global capital cities now? I’ve been all over Europe and a few places in Asia and never said DC was better.

I’m just saying so you actually want to live in Bloomfield, MI? DC is a large city and has a lot going on. Give me any city (NY, SF, Chicago etc) and I’d rather live in those areas than in a small town. That’s just me.

People on DCUM regularly, outwardly look down on Chicago, so it’s funny you mention that. Which is hilarious from an international perspective because DC is several notches below Chicago in terms of awareness, interest, and cultural importance.

+1

Just one example.

-2

International guy here...and DC ranks much much higher than Chicago in everything. A lot of DC references are known worldwide, and I'm struggling to think of one re. Chicago. The Bulls I guess!

Half my family is in Germany, my in laws are Italian. None of them want to visit DC (but they do, since we live here). They want to go to the National Parks, San Francisco, Chicago, NY, Boston. We occasionally host friends of theirs passing through DC -and they treat DC as a quick stop, not a destination.

Duh, they already have visited DC several times so they are looking for new places. From that list all make sense...except Chicago.

Every European family I know would think Orlando, Miami or LA (or DC) before even realizing Chicago exists.

I’m the PP you replied “Duh” to. My European family had one DC visit that lasted a week. Since then, we meet up in other places in the U.S., or they stop through briefly. They don’t care for DC very much…doesn’t bother me because we like to travel, and are happy to have a reason (a meet up) to visit other places. You do realize it’s okay for people not to like what you like, don’t you?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you haven't already bought in the suburbs, don't do it. You'll be miserable unless you live in a place like parts of Arlington and Alexandria.

If you move to a place like Reston or McLean, you will be miserable OP.

But what about the public schools being way better in a place like McLean? Unfortunately it just seems like the more city-like areas (or DC proper) gave bad public schools.

The public schools in McLean and Great Falls are the best in the state. Great Falls is rural and spread out but parts of McLean are walkable and there is easy Metro access.

I don’t understand people who think walkable to to anything in McLean is a benefit? They truly must never have lived in a city or like cities? It sounds awful to have the only things walking distance be soulless strip malls or a mush mash of little places surrounded by parking lots. It’s not the actual dry cleaner or coffee place that i yearn for, it’s the running into friends while walking all over, the variety of places, charm of the area, multiple options to sit outside, walking distance to parks, etc. and a real sense of community. We moved from the UWS to upper nw. While it was walkable to playgrounds and the library, it still felt isolated. We ended up moving again to old town, Alexandria and it feels a lot like the UWS. While we have cars and it’s easy to drive to the airport or beach or whatever, we pretty much walk everywhere. We go to the playgrounds and run into friends, there are lots of community events, the kids walk to sports, etc. The elementary school is excellent but we chose private for after that, although friends who stayed in public swear that it’s good as long as you’re in the gifted and talented classes

+1

Well, to be fair, once the Chesterbrook shopping center is fixed up, matters will improve.

It is kinda hideous and surprisingly so, considering the $$$ of the area. Friends from Winnetka, IL and Birmingham, MI have been shocked by McLean’s lack of high end shopping centers compared to what they have at home. Some things in “flyover country” can be very nice compared to what we’ve got.

I’ve been to Bloomfield, MI and sure it’s nice but come on, you actually want to live there as opposed to close to all the stuff that DC offers?

I don’t know what Winnetka IL is but same comment as above.

What does DC offer that is so special other than some museums people visit once a year?

I love DC, but I’m laughing at the ignorance of people who don’t know the US beyond a handful of places. DC has nice museums, but to act as if they are on par with some of those in other global capital cities shows how little knowledge some of these posters have. I have many well-traveled colleagues in Europe and Asia. If you ask them where they want to visit in the US, DC seldom makes the list. If you ask them about their favorite museums in the world, maybe 1 in 20 will mention something like Air and Space. If you ask about their favorite museums in the US, you are more likely to hear them mention museums in NY, Chicago. It’s perfectly valid to love DC, but understand many people here and around the world do not have the same love we have for the city.

+1

True, because the posters who claim "world class (whatever)" about DC have actually rarely resided in other places, sadly.

Wait, why are we talking about other global capital cities now? I’ve been all over Europe and a few places in Asia and never said DC was better.

I’m just saying so you actually want to live in Bloomfield, MI? DC is a large city and has a lot going on. Give me any city (NY, SF, Chicago etc) and I’d rather live in those areas than in a small town. That’s just me.

People on DCUM regularly, outwardly look down on Chicago, so it’s funny you mention that. Which is hilarious from an international perspective because DC is several notches below Chicago in terms of awareness, interest, and cultural importance.

+1

Just one example.

-2

International guy here...and DC ranks much much higher than Chicago in everything. A lot of DC references are known worldwide, and I'm struggling to think of one re. Chicago. The Bulls I guess!

Half my family is in Germany, my in laws are Italian. None of them want to visit DC (but they do, since we live here). They want to go to the National Parks, San Francisco, Chicago, NY, Boston. We occasionally host friends of theirs passing through DC -and they treat DC as a quick stop, not a destination.

Duh, they already have visited DC several times so they are looking for new places. From that list all make sense...except Chicago.

Every European family I know would think Orlando, Miami or LA (or DC) before even realizing Chicago exists.

I have nothing against chicago but why is it culturally significant? What do people go to see?

Nothingness.

Some random PP earlier tried to say everyone would rather visit Chicago over DC, which I found quite strange.

Chicago blows DC out of the water on just about everything, well except the number of boring lawyers and policy wonks.

[Anonymous]

Chicago is better than DC May-Augusta. But, since you have to live there the other months too, it’s a frozen tundra of despair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is better than DC May-Augusta. But, since you have to live there the other months too, it’s a frozen tundra of despair.

“Frozen tundra of despair?” Whatever you want to believe, drama queen.

[Anonymous]

Chicago is white supremacist country. NO GO!

[Anonymous]

Chicago is such a poor land that they don't even have their own forum so crazy boosters have to come to DCum...

Go home boys

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is such a poor land that they don't even have their own forum so crazy boosters have to come to DCum...

Go home boys

Not enough overprivileged, smug, stuck up harpies with a superiority complex, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is such a poor land that they don't even have their own forum so crazy boosters have to come to DCum...

Go home boys

Not enough overprivileged, smug, stuck up harpies with a superiority complex, I guess.

More like a frozen sh*thole with rampant shootings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is such a poor land that they don't even have their own forum so crazy boosters have to come to DCum...

Go home boys

Not enough overprivileged, smug, stuck up harpies with a superiority complex, I guess.

More like a frozen sh*thole with rampant shootings.

Very attractive for war tourism agencies. I hear millions of Russians can't wait to join the fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is such a poor land that they don't even have their own forum so crazy boosters have to come to DCum...

Go home boys

Not enough overprivileged, smug, stuck up harpies with a superiority complex, I guess.

More like a frozen sh*thole with rampant shootings.

Very attractive for war tourism agencies. I hear millions of Russians can't wait to join the fun.

And DC is crime free and always has amazing weather.

[Anonymous]

Why not get an apartment in DC instead of living in the suburbs?

Elementary schools are great in some wards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not get an apartment in DC instead of living in the suburbs?

Elementary schools are great in some wards.

Same poster. Used to live in NW DC (apartment) and bought a house in a rural area in Maryland. I grew up in the closer in DMV suburbs.

I love this area. The diversity cannot be beat. There are some wonderfully smart people around here. The local economy and job opportunities are unmatched for my industry.

Multiple counties have pretty good school systems.