Thoughts on Columbia, MD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago we moved to Columbia to be closer to my husband's job.
I hated it. Thankfully we were only renting. We broke the lease after being there for 40 days. (Had to pay $$$$ for breaking lease) and then we moved back to Chevy Chase/Bethesda area.

Columbia is a very integrated area. If you aren't used to seeing a lot of different races living in the same neighborhood together, you probably do need to go back to Chevy Chase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago we moved to Columbia to be closer to my husband's job.
I hated it. Thankfully we were only renting. We broke the lease after being there for 40 days. (Had to pay $$$$ for breaking lease) and then we moved back to Chevy Chase/Bethesda area.

What was the problem? Columbia has many different areas with different flavors. It sounds like you didn't even give it a chance.

Yeah, either PP moved without doing any research and ended up in an apartment in Steven's Forest, or they're just a snob, which is probably the case if they bailed for their beloved Chevy Chase after a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Baltimore doesn't view Columbia as one of its suburbs.

It's a stepchild, unloved by both Baltimore and DC

I did hear a HoCo planning professional say that roughly 1/3 of Columbia residents work in the DC area, another 1/3 in the Baltimore area and the remaining 1/3 in Columbia itself.

That is entirely untrue. It is a Baltimore suburb and is well loved by many people from Baltimore (who cares about DC ). Columbia and Howard County routinely make national lists on the best places to live.

+1 Columbia also has a Whole Foods and a Wegmans now.

I grew up in Columbia and never heard of it referred to or thought of it as a Baltimore suburb. Parents worked in DC, Baltimore, and Columbia itself at different points. I really liked growing up in Columbia!

Well, it's definitely suburban and it's closer to Baltimore than Washington.

Only a little. With current rush hour traffic, Baltimore about a hour away and DC an hour and a half. Was probably half that for both when Columbia was first developed in the 70's.

Right, but if you're working in Columbia you aren't driving into either one during rush hour. During non rush hour, Baltimore is significantly closer than DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore doesn't view Columbia as one of its suburbs.

It's a stepchild, unloved by both Baltimore and DC

I did hear a HoCo planning professional say that roughly 1/3 of Columbia residents work in the DC area, another 1/3 in the Baltimore area and the remaining 1/3 in Columbia itself.

That is entirely untrue. It is a Baltimore suburb and is well loved by many people from Baltimore (who cares about DC ). Columbia and Howard County routinely make national lists on the best places to live.

+1 Columbia also has a Whole Foods and a Wegmans now.

I grew up in Columbia and never heard of it referred to or thought of it as a Baltimore suburb. Parents worked in DC, Baltimore, and Columbia itself at different points. I really liked growing up in Columbia!

Well, it's definitely suburban and it's closer to Baltimore than Washington.

Only a little. With current rush hour traffic, Baltimore about a hour away and DC an hour and a half. Was probably half that for both when Columbia was first developed in the 70's.

+1. I just don't think of it as close enough to either to be a suburb of a city. It's a suburb, for sure, but just kinda floating out in suburb land.

It's 20 miles to Baltimore. By that logic, Fairfax County isn't the suburbs of DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago we moved to Columbia to be closer to my husband's job.
I hated it. Thankfully we were only renting. We broke the lease after being there for 40 days. (Had to pay $$$$ for breaking lease) and then we moved back to Chevy Chase/Bethesda area.

Columbia is a very integrated area. If you aren't used to seeing a lot of different races living in the same neighborhood together, you probably do need to go back to Chevy Chase.

Agreed. The stated goal of the designer of Columbia is that a CEO could live next to a janitor. They valued economic diversity whereas CC had covenants to prevent Jews and AAs from living there. Maybe that's what they're looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore doesn't view Columbia as one of its suburbs.

It's a stepchild, unloved by both Baltimore and DC

I did hear a HoCo planning professional say that roughly 1/3 of Columbia residents work in the DC area, another 1/3 in the Baltimore area and the remaining 1/3 in Columbia itself.

That is entirely untrue. It is a Baltimore suburb and is well loved by many people from Baltimore (who cares about DC ). Columbia and Howard County routinely make national lists on the best places to live.

+1 Columbia also has a Whole Foods and a Wegmans now.

I grew up in Columbia and never heard of it referred to or thought of it as a Baltimore suburb. Parents worked in DC, Baltimore, and Columbia itself at different points. I really liked growing up in Columbia!

Well, it's definitely suburban and it's closer to Baltimore than Washington.

Only a little. With current rush hour traffic, Baltimore about a hour away and DC an hour and a half. Was probably half that for both when Columbia was first developed in the 70's.

+1. I just don't think of it as close enough to either to be a suburb of a city. It's a suburb, for sure, but just kinda floating out in suburb land.

It's 20 miles to Baltimore. By that logic, Fairfax County isn't the suburbs of DC.

It's just a different area. Fairfax/MoCo/PG etc. revolve around DC in a way that Columbia doesn't revolve around Baltimore. It's not just about distance. It's about where people work and spend their free time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore doesn't view Columbia as one of its suburbs.

It's a stepchild, unloved by both Baltimore and DC

I did hear a HoCo planning professional say that roughly 1/3 of Columbia residents work in the DC area, another 1/3 in the Baltimore area and the remaining 1/3 in Columbia itself.

That is entirely untrue. It is a Baltimore suburb and is well loved by many people from Baltimore (who cares about DC ). Columbia and Howard County routinely make national lists on the best places to live.

+1 Columbia also has a Whole Foods and a Wegmans now.

I grew up in Columbia and never heard of it referred to or thought of it as a Baltimore suburb. Parents worked in DC, Baltimore, and Columbia itself at different points. I really liked growing up in Columbia!

Well, it's definitely suburban and it's closer to Baltimore than Washington.

Only a little. With current rush hour traffic, Baltimore about a hour away and DC an hour and a half. Was probably half that for both when Columbia was first developed in the 70's.

Right, but if you're working in Columbia you aren't driving into either one during rush hour. During non rush hour, Baltimore is significantly closer than DC.

Technically, I believe by the mileage it is half way. It certainly isn't a suburb of either.

[Anonymous]

Via Google, it's 21.5 miles to Baltimore and 31.5 miles to DC. On a weekend, it's an easy 20 minute drive up 95 to the inner harbor. It's about 45 minutes to downtown DC (but obviously longer if you use Metro). It's clearly a central location (by design) but if you have to drive to a city, Baltimore is much easier. The only reason I ever head to DC is the Smithsonian. I go to Baltimore all the time. However, there are plenty of people who commute to both places daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few years ago we moved to Columbia to be closer to my husband's job.
I hated it. Thankfully we were only renting. We broke the lease after being there for 40 days. (Had to pay $$$$ for breaking lease) and then we moved back to Chevy Chase/Bethesda area.

What was the problem? Columbia has many different areas with different flavors. It sounds like you didn't even give it a chance.

Yeah, either PP moved without doing any research and ended up in an apartment in Steven's Forest, or they're just a snob, which is probably the case if they bailed for their beloved Chevy Chase after a month.

I spent a few good years of my youth in an apartment in Steven's Forest (went to Steven's forest elementary). We used to walk to the shopping center and go to the Giant. Then we moved to Owen Brown. I loved it!

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Baltimore and Columbia was never on anyone's radar. We never went to Columbia for the shopping or the mall (that would have been Towson or Owings Mills or even White Marsh). No one talked about Columbia. You occasionally met people who lived in Columbia but it was "out there" in a different land, quite unlike Cockeysville or Hunt Valley which were much more integrated with Baltimore itself. The other Baltimore suburbs in Baltimore County and even Anne Arundel and Harford Counties were always much more part of the metro area than Columbia. Even Ellicott City is somewhat accepted as a Baltimore suburb more than Columbia.

Part of the problem may have to do with the geographic isolation of Columbia. There's no direct road from Columbia to Baltimore (unlike I83 connecting the northern suburbs to downtown) and the Patapsco Valley State Park also buffers Howard County from Baltimore County with minimal linkage between the two. That helps fuel the sense that Columbia wasn't a proper part of Baltimore. Columbia, being a new master planned community, didn't attract many Baltimore families so few people in Baltimore had relatives or cousins who moved out to Columbia (unlike Towson, for example).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore doesn't view Columbia as one of its suburbs.

It's a stepchild, unloved by both Baltimore and DC

I did hear a HoCo planning professional say that roughly 1/3 of Columbia residents work in the DC area, another 1/3 in the Baltimore area and the remaining 1/3 in Columbia itself.

That is entirely untrue. It is a Baltimore suburb and is well loved by many people from Baltimore (who cares about DC ). Columbia and Howard County routinely make national lists on the best places to live.

[Anonymous]

Schools are not good. Look at Baltimore privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools are not good. Look at Baltimore privates.

Seriously? I'm a product of public schools in Columbia. I thought they were great and I didn't even go to the fancier ones. I have three Ivy League degrees. Worked for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Via Google, it's 21.5 miles to Baltimore and 31.5 miles to DC. On a weekend, it's an easy 20 minute drive up 95 to the inner harbor. It's about 45 minutes to downtown DC (but obviously longer if you use Metro). It's clearly a central location (by design) but if you have to drive to a city, Baltimore is much easier. The only reason I ever head to DC is the Smithsonian. I go to Baltimore all the time. However, there are plenty of people who commute to both places daily.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Baltimore and Columbia was never on anyone's radar. We never went to Columbia for the shopping or the mall (that would have been Towson or Owings Mills or even White Marsh). No one talked about Columbia. You occasionally met people who lived in Columbia but it was "out there" in a different land, quite unlike Cockeysville or Hunt Valley which were much more integrated with Baltimore itself. The other Baltimore suburbs in Baltimore County and even Anne Arundel and Harford Counties were always much more part of the metro area than Columbia. Even Ellicott City is somewhat accepted as a Baltimore suburb more than Columbia.

Part of the problem may have to do with the geographic isolation of Columbia. There's no direct road from Columbia to Baltimore (unlike I83 connecting the northern suburbs to downtown) and the Patapsco Valley State Park also buffers Howard County from Baltimore County with minimal linkage between the two. That helps fuel the sense that Columbia wasn't a proper part of Baltimore. Columbia, being a new master planned community, didn't attract many Baltimore families so few people in Baltimore had relatives or cousins who moved out to Columbia (unlike Towson, for example).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baltimore doesn't view Columbia as one of its suburbs.

It's a stepchild, unloved by both Baltimore and DC

I did hear a HoCo planning professional say that roughly 1/3 of Columbia residents work in the DC area, another 1/3 in the Baltimore area and the remaining 1/3 in Columbia itself.

That is entirely untrue. It is a Baltimore suburb and is well loved by many people from Baltimore (who cares about DC ). Columbia and Howard County routinely make national lists on the best places to live.

Also from Baltimore and we frequently went to Columbia so again YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools are not good. Look at Baltimore privates.

Now you are just making shit up.