The ones who got caught, you mean. Take a closer look at your friends and relatives -- that's who is more likely than a stranger to molest your kid. |
The reason most people aren't molested by strangers is because most people don't live around a bunch of strangers who are molesters packed into a dense area - hence OP intelligently asking and skeptical about moving kids into that area. |
You are hysterical. |
I would rent in Columbia Heights if you had to and it was time-limited. It is dangerous though and there are many shootings in the 13th street / Columbia Rd / Fairmont area. Petworth is not better though. Kennedy has shootings almost weekly. Young, woke parents will try to convince themselves otherwise because they like being in the city and don't want to commute. We live in an area that many would say is "family-friendly" in DC. Houses are going for 1 million dollars and we hear gunshots many a night. Including one night being awoken by 15 gunshots right in front of our house. |
This X100. I'm a DC native born and raised here and don't see how folks are flocking to Petworth let alone Columbia heights, but that's just me. I live in Brightwood and while we may have an occasional shooting, it's no where near the other areas. |
Ah, it's always the parents of the one year olds who know so much... |
It’s fine when your kids are little and you accompany them everywhere, but once they are 8 or 9 you’ll want to be in an area where they can run about in a neighborhood with other kids. And definitely when they are a tween/young tween. If you want to stay in DC my picks are Chevy Chase DC, Crestwood, AU park, Shepard Park & Colonial Village. CCDC is my top pick because there are so many kids and they ride bikes around unaccompanied, hang out at Broad Branch Market, Lafayette Playground, etc. I wish we had moved there When kids were young. |
You've picked every white neighborhood in the city. Says a lot about you. |
DP. Is shepherd park a white neighborhood now? I must be getting old. |
we just left north Columbia heights/west petworth. We loved many things about the neighborhood--lots of young kids, very walkable to not only commerce but amenities--public pool, public library, playgrounds.
That said, we had two brushes with shootings--one near the rec center and another near our charter school (which is not in petworth, it was in NE) where the school had to be placed on lockdown. We had our car broken into and packages stolen. We had people come into our backyard in the night and try to get into our house. We also had a super small yard. So we decamped for the burbs. |
If you are only to rent for short time, CH should be okay. But I wouldn't plan on staying long-term if you have kids. We have lived in the area for nearly a decade. When we first moved here the area was nicer. We enjoyed walking to Target and the playgrounds and the area felt safe. That is not the case anymore. The number of daytime shootings has increased. The plaza near Target is really gross. It is dirty and during the day filled with drunk men. There are empty storefronts. My children hate going there now. They are old enough to use the metro but don't want to because of the atmosphere near the metro.
There seems little interest in trying to reduce crime or clean up the area. Maybe if some new businesses move into the area things might improve |
Well I'm glad you were able to find humor in the topic of child molestation. Says a lot about you! |
I truly loved living in Columbia Heights. It's so convenient, has a ton of amenities, and a great community feel. However, the crime has been going up. We moved out in 2019 because there was a shooting on our street in broad daylight and a bullet went through our front window. We just didn't feel safe living there anymore. Obviously, use your judgement but that was our experience. |
This. We aren't talking about the occasional stolen package. It's shootings and harder crime. |
Columbia Heights lacks sufficient green space which would make it what I would consider to be a "good neighborhood" for kids. As a former resident it is not really a good "kid neighborhood". It is moreso a good neighborhood for your 20-30 somethings. Some of these younger people have kids, but the vast majority do not or move out once their kids start walking. |