Why so much hate with EOTP vs WOTP parents

[Anonymous]

Those are 3 nice areas. Go with your gut.

[Anonymous]

Those are nice areas. All three solid schools so it should come down to which house you like the best.

[Anonymous]

I moved to NW DC from NYC. I thought I was suffocating. It felt very, very suburban. I ended up moving to Capitol Hill where I was much happier.

Points for NWDC- definitely better schools and a better high school feeder plan. Like dramatically better middle/high schools.

Points against- you're either driving forever or on the train forever if you work for most federal agencies. The subway here blows. Almost everything is driving distance in NW DC. If you're a minority you might feel uncomfortable (I did). No one is very friendly. I made lots of friends (I'm a friendly person), but it's not like NYC where you introduce yourself to other parents at the park.

Points For EOTP (really Capitol Hill)- more diverse, closer to downtown, nicer, friendlier Neighborhoods, much more walkable. You are close to the Smithsonian. Lots more active moms/dads groups like moms on the hill (MOTH).

Points against- terrible schools in some areas, bad middle/high schools throughout

There is crime all over DC. This was a shock to me coming from NYC because crime wasn't so much a part of life as it is here. People in Ward 3 claim it's less of an issue, but that's a lie. The metro SUCKS. Driving here sucks too.

[Anonymous]

Forgot to mention that we got in a fabulous charter that I preferred over any DCPS. These are hard to get into so I wouldn't bank on getting in. I would hold off buying until you go through the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. we are looking in Barnaby Woods, American U area, and Portal Estates (zoned as Shepherd Park). I am saying my options of Lafayette, Shepherd, and Janney. All 3 filter into Deal.

Those are all very, very suburban areas. Be prepared for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This may not be popular to say, but DC was a Southern and very segregated city. The park was a huge part of the racial dividing line. The city has also gentrified tremendously in the last 10 years and entire neighborhoods have shifted in terms of socio-economics and race. Some of these biased opinions are directly related to sections of the city that were predominantly African-American in the recent or even distant past. I would ignore the comments and live where you feel the most comfortable.

This is the real issue I think. The park used to be the racial dividing line. It would be a little hard for me to hear comment like "it's a jungle out there" referring to the historically black side of the line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC schools suck so it doesn't matter

Everyone goes crazy competing for lottery spots in elementary school and there are no good middle or high school options anywhere

Most people move out of the city or go private

Yes, there are zero children attending public school in DC over age of 10 .... oh wait. Mine are, and they are not alone in the overcrowded school buildings.

[Anonymous]

People are always saying the Hill is so diverse but where are the Asians? I hardly see any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC schools suck so it doesn't matter

Everyone goes crazy competing for lottery spots in elementary school and there are no good middle or high school options anywhere

Most people move out of the city or go private

Yes, there are zero children attending public school in DC over age of 10 .... oh wait. Mine are, and they are not alone in the overcrowded school buildings.

Are most of the kids in their class under 10? I thought social promotion still existed in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I moved to NW DC from NYC. I thought I was suffocating. It felt very, very suburban. I ended up moving to Capitol Hill where I was much happier.

Points for NWDC- definitely better schools and a better high school feeder plan. Like dramatically better middle/high schools.

Points against- you're either driving forever or on the train forever if you work for most federal agencies. The subway here blows. Almost everything is driving distance in NW DC. If you're a minority you might feel uncomfortable (I did). No one is very friendly. I made lots of friends (I'm a friendly person), but it's not like NYC where you introduce yourself to other parents at the park.

Points For EOTP (really Capitol Hill)- more diverse, closer to downtown, nicer, friendlier Neighborhoods, much more walkable. You are close to the Smithsonian. Lots more active moms/dads groups like moms on the hill (MOTH).

Points against- terrible schools in some areas, bad middle/high schools throughout

There is crime all over DC. This was a shock to me coming from NYC because crime wasn't so much a part of life as it is here. People in Ward 3 claim it's less of an issue, but that's a lie. The metro SUCKS. Driving here sucks too.

Huh? I live in NWDC and take a metro 5 stops to my federal job. I walk to tons of stuff. Maybe not the Smithsonian, but I can walk to the zoo, hike Rock Creek, etc. not to mention a movie theater, a library, restaurants and bars.

RE friendliness, we've met lots of friends in our neighborhood. Meanwhile, I have friends who live on the Hill for years who know like 3 people on their block.

Please let's not generalize and give the OP false information.

[Anonymous]

I think most WOTP parents are pretty reasonable but are fed up with overcrowded Deal an Wilson. The boundaries/feeders are are joke and should have been more drastically reduced in 2014. That breads some resentment. Oh, and also fed up with the sanctamonious EOTP crowd who make fun of "upper caucasia", but then turn right around and send their kids to charter or lottery into WOTP schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most WOTP parents are pretty reasonable but are fed up with overcrowded Deal an Wilson. The boundaries/feeders are are joke and should have been more drastically reduced in 2014. That breads some resentment. Oh, and also fed up with the sanctamonious EOTP crowd who make fun of "upper caucasia", but then turn right around and send their kids to charter or lottery into WOTP schools.

Does anyone actually use the term "Upper Caucasia" in real life? I first saw the term when I was researching areas for our home search a few years ago--it was in an online article from a local news outlet. Never heard anyone actually say it (and I live EOTP).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This may not be popular to say, but DC was a Southern and very segregated city. The park was a huge part of the racial dividing line. The city has also gentrified tremendously in the last 10 years and entire neighborhoods have shifted in terms of socio-economics and race. Some of these biased opinions are directly related to sections of the city that were predominantly African-American in the recent or even distant past. I would ignore the comments and live where you feel the most comfortable.

This is the real issue I think. The park used to be the racial dividing line. It would be a little hard for me to hear comment like "it's a jungle out there" referring to the historically black side of the line.

And from what I've read of the history of the park it was deliberately constructed as a racial barrier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This may not be popular to say, but DC was a Southern and very segregated city. The park was a huge part of the racial dividing line. The city has also gentrified tremendously in the last 10 years and entire neighborhoods have shifted in terms of socio-economics and race. Some of these biased opinions are directly related to sections of the city that were predominantly African-American in the recent or even distant past. I would ignore the comments and live where you feel the most comfortable.

This is the real issue I think. The park used to be the racial dividing line. It would be a little hard for me to hear comment like "it's a jungle out there" referring to the historically black side of the line.

And from what I've read of the history of the park it was deliberately constructed as a racial barrier.

So then it is old people saying this crap? Most people I know moved here from somewhere else and don't know anything about that, so certainly do not carry with them that kind of historical baggage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
And from what I've read of the history of the park it was deliberately constructed as a racial barrier.

That's simply incorrect. Rock Creek Park was established by Congress in 1890. At that point almost nothing in DC was built north of Florida Avenue (formerly Boundary Street because it was the border of the "Washington City" limits), because of the geographic difficulties posed by the hills north of Florida. There was nobody to segregate other than a few country homes.

The reality is that the black population in DC was relatively large up through 1940/50, but still never more than 30% of the city population. There were very specific neighborhoods that were legally segregated, and it was very difficult for black residents to move outside of them- Shaw, Logan Circle, Bloomingdale, Park View, Pleasant Plains, Truxton Circle, Georgetown, north Dupont, and a few others. Good map here:

http://dclibrary.org/node/47157

Those neighborhoods were very dense, much like the segregated parts of other cities. Once legal segregation ended, the black population started to spread out, and at the same time, the boom of the postwar suburbs attracted whites from neighborhoods like Columbia Heights, Petworth, Anacostia (yes, historic Anacostia was 100% white under segregation). So from 1950 to 1970 you have this massive shift as many of these EOTP neighborhoods flip very quickly from white to black. And the city population plummeted as whites moved out, and thus became "Chocolate City". But the geographic barrier of Rock Creek Park definitely played a part in whites staying there in larger numbers, although they definitely opted out of DCPS more and more up until the mid/late-90s. But by that point Rock Creek Park wasn't a legal barrier, just a psychological one.

Then, of course, you had the migration of many middle class blacks outside of the city that started en masse in the late 70s/early 80s. That contributed even more to the population decline and exodus from DCPS.