Chevy Chase, DC v. Takoma Park, MD
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Anonymous
| Looking to buy home. We have 2 young kids, under 6. Which is better investment, more convenient, better schools etc? Coming from Seattle and not too familiar w the area. Does your $ go further in one v. The other? |
Anonymous
| In dc you must do private |
Anonymous
No you must not if you live in ccdc. Carry on |
Anonymous
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I would say CCDC is a little more convenient, but that might be because it's closer to me. To answer for you, we'd need to know "convenient to what" (where are your commute(s) going to be to?).
Your money will go farther in TP, which is a bit more crunchy-granola vs. CCDC, which is a bit more affluent. I agree at the elementary school level the schools will be very comparable-- that might or might not also be true in upper grades. |
Anonymous
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Do you like to have a congressman and senators to represent you in the house and senate? Then you should probably move to Takoma Park, MD. There are no voting congressmen and senators in DC, something that many people from outside the area do not know.
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Anonymous
this is not true, I bought in CCDC because I wanted to send my kids to good public schools and we are happy with our choice. one of our kids also won a spot in a very sought after dual language charter school, and I am not sure if you have schools like that in Takoma MD |
Anonymous
| Takoma Park MD is part of MoCo schools, and therefore kids have access (through lottery or application) to a number of magnets including language immersion in Spanish, French or Chinese. |
Anonymous
MCPS has a number of immersion elementary schools. |
Anonymous
| Chevy chase over any other place. |
Anonymous
| Tp has metro, ccdc has only irregular bus access. Tp has viable public school through high school. You will hear differing opinions over whether elementary is viable. Nothing after that is an option in DC. Money will go a little farther in tp given it is farther from the core and has less desirable areas as neighbors. |
Anonymous
sorry but this is ridiculous. CCDC is zoned for Lafayette and Murch and Janney as elemetary schools, Deal as middle school and Wilson as high-school (plus you can apply to charters as anybody else in the city and there are very good options from el. to high school level). you can go private if you want, but you don't have to. Takoma MD may be good too or even better (I don't live there so I don't know), but saing that schools in CCDC as not viable is really stupid. as for access, I live in CCDC and take the metro every day to work. a good part of CCDC is in walking distance to the metro (it takes about 12 minute to reach FH metro to me, and I am east of Connecticut). yes, if you live in Barnaby Woods then you don't walk to much and the only bus is the E6, but where I live I have within two blocks the stops for the L1 and L2 on Connecticut and the E2, E4 and E6 bus (and I take the bus only if I am lazy, because I can easily walk to the metro). I work downtown and I actually bike to work every day from April to October. also, in walking distance in CCDC there are a lot of businesses, movie theaters (FH and the Avalon theater), grocery stores, places like Politics and Prose. when we bought we chose CCDC because with two kids and a family of 4, we could do with only one car (which my DH needs because he works in the middle on nowhere in Rockville). |
Anonymous
| OP - have you visited both neighborhoods? We just bought in TKPK because on our first visit (and many follow-up visits), we loved the "vibe," especially the historic district, the little main street, the co-op and the several playgrounds that we spent a lot of time at. We will be just a stone's throw from the Takoma Metro, which is on the red line and goes right downtown, where I work. We lived in San Francisco for many, many years, and really got the crunchy vibe. |
Anonymous
| OP that is like saying, should we live in Beverly Hills or Encino? Really different! |
Anonymous
Parts of TP are walkable to the Takoma metro. Parts of CCDC are walkable to Friendship Heights. In both areas there are parts where you'll need to take a bus to metro (partially depending on what you consider "walkable"). CCDC has lower crime, so late at night the metro might seem like a more realistic option. TP's public elementary is more diverse than Lafayette or Janney, and more economically diverse than Murch. This bring lower test scores (although it's hard to compare) but also smaller class sizes. Montgomery County definitely has the more carefully thought out curriculum, although it can also be less imaginative than the curriculum in the Upper NW schools where teachers have more freedom. In reality people are generally pretty happy with Murch, Lafayette, and Janney, and are also happy with Takoma Park Elementary and Piney Branch which is where the 3rd through 5th graders go. In Middle school, both Takoma Park Middle and Deal have good reputations and are sought after options. Montgomery County has significantly more arts and more PE in middle school than DCPS, which was important to me but may not be important to you. TPMS houses the gifted math/science program which is very hard to get into, DC does not have a similar option. Blair and Wilson are both big, diverse, comprehensive high schools. They can be exciting places to get a fantastic education, and they can be overwhelming and an easy place for a kid to get lost. It all depends on your kid. Kids in both areas also have the option of attending some magnet programs, both through the Down County Consortium, or through the DCPS test in programs (Ellington, Banneker, Walls, McKinley). I'd give MCPS a slight edge in schools. Diversity early on is important to me, and I think that the more scripted curriculum MCPS uses provides a little protection against bad teachers although clearly not total. In middle school, MCPS has more arts and PE which I like, and I like some of the test in options in MCPS better than the equivalent in DC. However it's a slight edge. Both are solid systems, very doable for most kids, but can be overwhelming for kids who are more vulnerable. As far as neighborhood, both have similar suburban semi-walkable feels, but TP is much more "crunchy" and earthy. TP is also closer to areas like Downtown Silver Spring, the Arts District in Hyattsville, etc . . . Chances are if you lived in TP your day to day life would have more diversity and, IMO, richness. CCDC is more homogenous, both within the community itself, but also in the places that CCDC people tend to go for extracurriculars, and restaurants and shopping that are outside of their walking zone. On the other hand, the places that CCDC residents go are probably a little higher quality, and carry a higher price. There are definitely more affordable options in TP than CCDC, and if you were to spend the same in both areas, you'd probably get a "cooler" more historic house with more features and space in TP than in CCDC. I've lived in both, and I'd choose TP, but it's not an open and shut case. The differences are ones of taste and priorities, not ones where one is definitely better than the other. |
Anonymous
| Unless you are working in Hyattsville or Adelphi I can't imagine how TP is more convenient. For sure if you are planning to sell in next 5 years CC DC is a better investment. I am not knowledgeable regrading the schools. |