Do you think the Pimmit Hills area will eventually become upscale?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PH is so controversial. I want to love it because it's close to WFC metro but I'm hesitating buying there. My spouse is opposed to PH due to what he associates it with when he was growing up in the late 80s early 90s nearby in a more affluent area. In his mind PH=My name is Earl residents (to exaggerate a tad). I'm the one trying to sell PH for its location and value, but no use. So you'll get people like me, then others still set in their old views. If there are enough people like my spouse, PH will need another 20- 30 years for some perceptions to change.

If you look at the other side of the neighborhood the silver line stop is within walking distance is set to have some redevelopment which will produce more walkable amenities.

Per Google Maps, it's over a mile and 30 minutes or more to walk to the nearest Silver Line station from the western part of Pimmit Hills. If you want a 15-minute walk that's less than a mile, look at the Hunting Ridge development in McLean, on the other side of Magarity Road from Pimmit Hills and also close to the Commons development that eventually may be redeveloped.

The side near McLean metro is less than a mile and unless you are extremely out of shape it should take 15-20 minutes to walk it. New development for the silver will occur starting in the mclean commons which is a stones throw from PH.

I've walked to the silver line metro from a house a block from Margharity. It takes almost 30 min. Similarly, my friend who bought in PH off Margharity 1.3 miles away first dreamed of walking to metro but he ended up driving to the silver line because the 1.3 miles took 27 minutes to walk. Go figure. I think only a half mile is walkable. Who wants to add 40-50 min of RT commute time just to be able to hypothetically walk to Mclean metro or any metro? Plus the parking lot there is temporary. I don't get why the new stations didn't get parking (except Reston and way west).

As I said, I don't think it's an easy or short walk anywhere from PH, but 30 minutes is an overkill.

This is kind of a long thread. Where did you say before that it's "not an easy or short walk anywhere from PH"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If there's any "oversize presence of a particular ethnicity" at either Marshall or Falls Church, it's the white population at Marshall, and you know it. Falls Church is a more diverse school than Marshall, period.

And you can keep repeating that it's a "fact" that "Marshall is a better school than FCHS" all you want, but Falls Church may be a better environment for some students than Marshall. And, even if it weren't, it wouldn't mean that FCHS deserves the type of insults that people trying to convince others that PH is a chill place keep doling out.

I guess it doesn't occur to you that white people can come from many countries of the world. You probably see them as a homogenous chunk of humanity. That also is on you. Neither Marshall nor PH want for diversity,

It's not an insult to say Marshall is better than FCHS. I don't think I ever insulted it, so you can save your wrath for someone who does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If there's any "oversize presence of a particular ethnicity" at either Marshall or Falls Church, it's the white population at Marshall, and you know it. Falls Church is a more diverse school than Marshall, period.

And you can keep repeating that it's a "fact" that "Marshall is a better school than FCHS" all you want, but Falls Church may be a better environment for some students than Marshall. And, even if it weren't, it wouldn't mean that FCHS deserves the type of insults that people trying to convince others that PH is a chill place keep doling out.

I guess it doesn't occur to you that white people can come from many countries of the world. You probably see them as a homogenous chunk of humanity. That also is on you. Neither Marshall nor PH want for diversity,

It's not an insult to say Marshall is better than FCHS. I don't think I ever insulted it, so you can save your wrath for someone who does.

By any measure of diversity employed by county, state or federal officials, Falls Church is more diverse than Marshall. If you want to stick your head in the sand and pretend otherwise, that's on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is kind of a long thread. Where did you say before that it's "not an easy or short walk anywhere from PH"?

At 16.25 below:

"That's an overstatement. I live a block away from Magarity and it takes me 20 minutes of casual walking.

But it must be said that no residential development is really in a CLOSE walking distance to McLean station. The Gates of McLean is about the only community I can think of. Everything else is a hike. I mean, it's walkable but it's not a short walk. "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If there's any "oversize presence of a particular ethnicity" at either Marshall or Falls Church, it's the white population at Marshall, and you know it. Falls Church is a more diverse school than Marshall, period.

And you can keep repeating that it's a "fact" that "Marshall is a better school than FCHS" all you want, but Falls Church may be a better environment for some students than Marshall. And, even if it weren't, it wouldn't mean that FCHS deserves the type of insults that people trying to convince others that PH is a chill place keep doling out.

I guess it doesn't occur to you that white people can come from many countries of the world. You probably see them as a homogenous chunk of humanity. That also is on you. Neither Marshall nor PH want for diversity,

It's not an insult to say Marshall is better than FCHS. I don't think I ever insulted it, so you can save your wrath for someone who does.

By any measure of diversity employed by county, state or federal officials, Falls Church is more diverse than Marshall. If you want to stick your head in the sand and pretend otherwise, that's on you.

Diversity is not a pass/fail criteria. It's possible to be less diverse than FCHS and still diverse enough. Marshall is hardly lily-white. It's a diverse school by any measure. Is it possible to be EVEN MORE diverse? Sure. But parents don't really look for diversity in isolation, do they?

What about this? "FCHS is more diverse than Marshall. Marshall is also very diverse, but FCHS is even more so. Marshall is also much better academically." Happy?

I am not really sure why you are hammering this point down, other than a weird desire to find something, anything in which FCHS excels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Using words like "high-end" or "upscale" to talk about Pimmit Hills (past, present or future) seems to send people into a frenzy. I'd just drop the adjectives and suggest that Pimmit Hills fills a niche. It's in a close-in location zoned for good schools. You cannot find new single-family homes in the Yorktown, W-L, George Mason, Langley, McLean or Madison districts for under a million. You can in Pimmit Hills. You can't find such homes elsewhere in the Marshall district for under a million, either. So expect more new construction in the $900K - $ 1 million range, and some builders trying to push into the million-plus category.

No one is going to raze the entire neighborhood, any more than they will parts of Arlington or McLean that have a mix of homes. Arlington will continue to be more convenient for DC commuters, and McLean will continue to have more expensive, larger homes. But, just as in those areas, the housing mix in Pimmit Hills will over time include a higher percentage of more expensive properties. The new homes will start to have more polished exteriors, and the people looking for cheap teardowns/new builds will shift towards other areas, such as Falls Church/22042.

+1. Pimmit Hills has a great location. I'd love to live there (I live in DC at the moment).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is kind of a long thread. Where did you say before that it's "not an easy or short walk anywhere from PH"?

At 16.25 below:

"That's an overstatement. I live a block away from Magarity and it takes me 20 minutes of casual walking.

But it must be said that no residential development is really in a CLOSE walking distance to McLean station. The Gates of McLean is about the only community I can think of. Everything else is a hike. I mean, it's walkable but it's not a short walk. "

The Hunting Ridge development (townhouses/single-family homes) and the apartments off Anderson on the other side of Magarity are probably about as convenient to the new station as the Gates of McLean apartment complex. Not a short walk, but certainly loser to the McLean station than Pimmit Hills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If there's any "oversize presence of a particular ethnicity" at either Marshall or Falls Church, it's the white population at Marshall, and you know it. Falls Church is a more diverse school than Marshall, period.

And you can keep repeating that it's a "fact" that "Marshall is a better school than FCHS" all you want, but Falls Church may be a better environment for some students than Marshall. And, even if it weren't, it wouldn't mean that FCHS deserves the type of insults that people trying to convince others that PH is a chill place keep doling out.

I guess it doesn't occur to you that white people can come from many countries of the world. You probably see them as a homogenous chunk of humanity. That also is on you. Neither Marshall nor PH want for diversity,

It's not an insult to say Marshall is better than FCHS. I don't think I ever insulted it, so you can save your wrath for someone who does.

By any measure of diversity employed by county, state or federal officials, Falls Church is more diverse than Marshall. If you want to stick your head in the sand and pretend otherwise, that's on you.

Diversity is not a pass/fail criteria. It's possible to be less diverse than FCHS and still diverse enough. Marshall is hardly lily-white. It's a diverse school by any measure. Is it possible to be EVEN MORE diverse? Sure. But parents don't really look for diversity in isolation, do they?

What about this? "FCHS is more diverse than Marshall. Marshall is also very diverse, but FCHS is even more so. Marshall is also much better academically." Happy?

I am not really sure why you are hammering this point down, other than a weird desire to find something, anything in which FCHS excels.

What's most striking is your insistence on having the last word.

I don't think Marshall is much better academically than FCHS. For example, if you want AP courses, you're stuck at Marshall, whereas FCHS offers over two dozen AP courses.

If you just want to regurgitate standardized test scores, then Marshall comes out ahead, which is what you'd expect given the greater SES diversity at FCHS. Whether an individual student would do better at Marshall than at FCHS is an open question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is kind of a long thread. Where did you say before that it's "not an easy or short walk anywhere from PH"?

At 16.25 below:

"That's an overstatement. I live a block away from Magarity and it takes me 20 minutes of casual walking.

But it must be said that no residential development is really in a CLOSE walking distance to McLean station. The Gates of McLean is about the only community I can think of. Everything else is a hike. I mean, it's walkable but it's not a short walk. "

The Hunting Ridge development (townhouses/single-family homes) and the apartments off Anderson on the other side of Magarity are probably about as convenient to the new station as the Gates of McLean apartment complex. Not a short walk, but certainly loser to the McLean station than Pimmit Hills.

Yes. It's not a very short walk but by suburban standards, it's doable. I have to confess that I never understood why more parking wasn't provided for that station. No one LIVES close enough to McLean station to walk, ok, very few people do. I heard someone say that this station was built for the convenience of those commuting to work, not for the convenience of those who live here. I guess it's a valid point.

We've also found a shortcut through the MITRE campus. Tsss...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What's most striking is your insistence on having the last word.

I don't think Marshall is much better academically than FCHS. For example, if you want AP courses, you're stuck at Marshall, whereas FCHS offers over two dozen AP courses.

If you just want to regurgitate standardized test scores, then Marshall comes out ahead, which is what you'd expect given the greater SES diversity at FCHS. Whether an individual student would do better at Marshall than at FCHS is an open question.

What's even more striking is your ignorance.

If you want AP courses and are zoned for Marshall, you simply go to McLean High. Yes you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What's most striking is your insistence on having the last word.

I don't think Marshall is much better academically than FCHS. For example, if you want AP courses, you're stuck at Marshall, whereas FCHS offers over two dozen AP courses.

If you just want to regurgitate standardized test scores, then Marshall comes out ahead, which is what you'd expect given the greater SES diversity at FCHS. Whether an individual student would do better at Marshall than at FCHS is an open question.

What's even more striking is your ignorance.

If you want AP courses and are zoned for Marshall, you simply go to McLean High. Yes you can.

Well, of course, assuming McLean is the closest AP school (which isn't the case for everyone at Marshall) and it's not closed to transfers, but you're on your own when it comes to transportation, unless you can get permission to ride a McLean bus.

The point, however, is that FCHS has some rigorous academic offerings that Marshall simply does not offer, so I wouldn't be so quick to call Marshall "better."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What's most striking is your insistence on having the last word.

I don't think Marshall is much better academically than FCHS. For example, if you want AP courses, you're stuck at Marshall, whereas FCHS offers over two dozen AP courses.

If you just want to regurgitate standardized test scores, then Marshall comes out ahead, which is what you'd expect given the greater SES diversity at FCHS. Whether an individual student would do better at Marshall than at FCHS is an open question.

What's even more striking is your ignorance.

If you want AP courses and are zoned for Marshall, you simply go to McLean High. Yes you can.

Well, of course, assuming McLean is the closest AP school (which isn't the case for everyone at Marshall) and it's not closed to transfers, but you're on your own when it comes to transportation, unless you can get permission to ride a McLean bus.

The point, however, is that FCHS has some rigorous academic offerings that Marshall simply does not offer, so I wouldn't be so quick to call Marshall "better."

The point is that you lied when you said "if you want AP, you're stuck at Marshall". No one is stuck. You're backpedaling.

Marshall has the IB program and the STEM academy. In fact, Marshall got more pupil placement than McLean last year. You're really grasping to find something to make FCHS look good despite poor scores. I sympathize. It's not easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What's most striking is your insistence on having the last word.

I don't think Marshall is much better academically than FCHS. For example, if you want AP courses, you're stuck at Marshall, whereas FCHS offers over two dozen AP courses.

If you just want to regurgitate standardized test scores, then Marshall comes out ahead, which is what you'd expect given the greater SES diversity at FCHS. Whether an individual student would do better at Marshall than at FCHS is an open question.

What's even more striking is your ignorance.

If you want AP courses and are zoned for Marshall, you simply go to McLean High. Yes you can.

Well, of course, assuming McLean is the closest AP school (which isn't the case for everyone at Marshall) and it's not closed to transfers, but you're on your own when it comes to transportation, unless you can get permission to ride a McLean bus.

The point, however, is that FCHS has some rigorous academic offerings that Marshall simply does not offer, so I wouldn't be so quick to call Marshall "better."

The point is that you lied when you said "if you want AP, you're stuck at Marshall". No one is stuck. You're backpedaling.

Marshall has the IB program and the STEM academy. In fact, Marshall got more pupil placement than McLean last year. You're really grasping to find something to make FCHS look good despite poor scores. I sympathize. It's not easy.

No. If you can't arrange for transportation, or pupil place into the AP school you have decided you would prefer to Marshall, you are indeed "stuck" there. To use your language, that's just a fact. But, again, the point is that there are academic programs at FCHS that do not exist at Marshall, and vice versa. They are different, and it's not particularly meaningful to make a general statement that one is better than the other.

As for the number of pupil placements, Marshall is the closest IB school to students at numerous AP schools in Fairfax County (much of the Falls Church, McLean, Langley, and Madison districts). In comparison, McLean has a long border with Falls Church City and Arlington County and is near only one IB school in the county - Marshall. So you'd expect Marshall to get more pupil placements than McLean, and it typically does. Of course, even with the high volume of pupil placements to Marshall, SAT scores at Langley and McLean remain higher, for the same reasons that SAT scores at Marshall are higher than those at Falls Church.

FCHS doesn't need me to grasp on its behalf to have plenty of positive news (and, yes, our family does have some first-hand experience with the school and students who go there):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/falls-church-high-sees-major-gains-in-sat-scores/2014/11/02/df6d7c82-612b-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html?hpid=z4

http://www.fcps.edu/FallsChurchHS/documents/news/FCHS%202014%20Stats%20and%20Facts.pdf

http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2608

When you cut through all the crap, the point that really ought to come across is that there are many decent choices for people in this area, when it comes to both schools and neighborhoods. PH definitely could be a good choice for some people. But I don't know why some people who live in PH today think it's so important to assert that their schools are "better" than ones just a few miles away. Maybe it's because the neighborhood is generally considered visually unappealing, so people need to keep reassuring themselves that the trade-offs are worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
No. If you can't arrange for transportation, or pupil place into the AP school you have decided you would prefer to Marshall, you are indeed "stuck" there. To use your language, that's just a fact.

That's like saying, "and you're deaf, you can't hear music. That's a fact." You didn't qualify your "stuck" statement with any conditions like transportation or decision to stay at Marshall. You said "they are stuck." That's not true. Arranging transportation or pupil placement just aren't insurmountable obstacles you'd like to pretend they are.

Anonymous wrote:
When you cut through all the crap, the point that really ought to come across is that there are many decent choices for people in this area, when it comes to both schools and neighborhoods. PH definitely could be a good choice for some people. But I don't know why some people who live in PH today think it's so important to assert that their schools are "better" than ones just a few miles away. Maybe it's because the neighborhood is generally considered visually unappealing, so people need to keep reassuring themselves that the trade-offs are worth it?

That's because their schools are better. You throw around things like "diversity" and "unique offerings" to obscure an elephant in the room. That elephant in the room is that SAT and test scores are much lower at FCPS than at Marshall. These schools aren't just a little apart when it comes to scores. They are very, very far apart. This distinction is not meaningless, and you're trying to pretend that it is. People in this area use school quality as one of the top factors in their real estate decisions. It makes you look dishonest when you pretend that differences among schools don't mean anything and that one is just as good as the other - if you squint your eyes just right. These schools rank differently, and people use school rankings to inform their house purchasing decisions. In fact, many purchasers will accept a smaller or less renovated property in exchange for good location and good schools.

PH is not beautiful. Neither is 22042. None of them is Spring Valley or Kent. It's certainly possible to find an area as un-beautiful as PH the size of PH within 22042 (which is a much bigger area).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What's most striking is your insistence on having the last word.

I don't think Marshall is much better academically than FCHS. For example, if you want AP courses, you're stuck at Marshall, whereas FCHS offers over two dozen AP courses.

If you just want to regurgitate standardized test scores, then Marshall comes out ahead, which is what you'd expect given the greater SES diversity at FCHS. Whether an individual student would do better at Marshall than at FCHS is an open question.

What's even more striking is your ignorance.

If you want AP courses and are zoned for Marshall, you simply go to McLean High. Yes you can.

Well, of course, assuming McLean is the closest AP school (which isn't the case for everyone at Marshall) and it's not closed to transfers, but you're on your own when it comes to transportation, unless you can get permission to ride a McLean bus.

The point, however, is that FCHS has some rigorous academic offerings that Marshall simply does not offer, so I wouldn't be so quick to call Marshall "better."

The point is that you lied when you said "if you want AP, you're stuck at Marshall". No one is stuck. You're backpedaling.

Marshall has the IB program and the STEM academy. In fact, Marshall got more pupil placement than McLean last year. You're really grasping to find something to make FCHS look good despite poor scores. I sympathize. It's not easy.

No. If you can't arrange for transportation, or pupil place into the AP school you have decided you would prefer to Marshall, you are indeed "stuck" there. To use your language, that's just a fact. But, again, the point is that there are academic programs at FCHS that do not exist at Marshall, and vice versa. They are different, and it's not particularly meaningful to make a general statement that one is better than the other.

As for the number of pupil placements, Marshall is the closest IB school to students at numerous AP schools in Fairfax County (much of the Falls Church, McLean, Langley, and Madison districts). In comparison, McLean has a long border with Falls Church City and Arlington County and is near only one IB school in the county - Marshall. So you'd expect Marshall to get more pupil placements than McLean, and it typically does. Of course, even with the high volume of pupil placements to Marshall, SAT scores at Langley and McLean remain higher, for the same reasons that SAT scores at Marshall are higher than those at Falls Church.

FCHS doesn't need me to grasp on its behalf to have plenty of positive news (and, yes, our family does have some first-hand experience with the school and students who go there):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/falls-church-high-sees-major-gains-in-sat-scores/2014/11/02/df6d7c82-612b-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html?hpid=z4

http://www.fcps.edu/FallsChurchHS/documents/news/FCHS%202014%20Stats%20and%20Facts.pdf

http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2608

When you cut through all the crap, the point that really ought to come across is that there are many decent choices for people in this area, when it comes to both schools and neighborhoods. PH definitely could be a good choice for some people. But I don't know why some people who live in PH today think it's so important to assert that their schools are "better" than ones just a few miles away. Maybe it's because the neighborhood is generally considered visually unappealing, so people need to keep reassuring themselves that the trade-offs are worth it?

How is this even relevant, wtf is wrong with this person.