Let's get real - what are the "desirable" parts of South Arlington
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Anonymous
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Let me just be frank. I want a safe neighborhood with good schools for my family (I have an almost one year old and hope to have another) and South Arlington is within our price range. I know there are some parts of South Arlington that have a lot of crime, some schools that are not rated as well as others, and some flat out ugly parts. I don't want to live in those parts, I want to live somewhere with other young affluent families. I can't afford North Arlington (again, I'm being frank), but like Arlington over all, so South Arlington it is. I'm not white, for what it's worth, I'm Asian. Diversity is fine, but I don't want my kid to be an English speaking minority in her school.
Do you have any neighborhood recommendations? (And yes, I'm prepared for people to flame me, and I will ignore them, like I said, I'm being honest, frank, and real. No tiptoeing.) Thanks! |
Anonymous
Asians are supposed to be smart. Surely you can research this on your own. |
Anonymous
Probably why they would be in North Arlington or McLean |
Anonymous
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Arlington Heights is the neighborhood east of Glebe Rd, south of Rt 50, north of columbia Pike and west of Walter Reed. It is pretty much exactly what you have described. The elementary school is Patrick Henry and we have lots of friends that go here and absolutely LOVE the school.
Alcova Heights is the neighborhood just to the west side of Glebe between George Mason. Fabulous neighborhood. wider streets than Arlington Heights with some bigger lots. Teaming with young families. The elementary school is Barcroft. Lots of families love the school and the students do well, but their is a large portion of the school that is spanish speaking. Barcroft: jump over George Mason. Once again full of young families with kids some great houses. Barcroft is your school again. Douglas Park is just south of Alcova Heights. Another strong community for families. Randolf Elementary is not as stong as the other schools. Those are my top 4 neighborhoods in South Arlington that are a great place to live without the North Arlington price. We opted for Alcova Heights since we planned to do Catholic School regardless of location. Happy hunting! |
Anonymous
And of course, there is Arlington Ridge, home to Supreme Court justices and Senators, with its own exit off 395. |
Anonymous
I did a career fair at Carlin Springs elementary once. for the 3 hours I was there, I swear I saw perhaps 10 white kids. The rest were brown. But in response to one of your points, all the browns spoke English well so your kid may be minority but they all speak English. |
Anonymous
| Pentagon City? |
Anonymous
| The Barcroft neighborhood - that feeds into Barcroft Elementary - is a wonderful neighborhood. Especially, the numbered and named streets around Taylor and Wakefield Streets. Tons of families with kids, annual 4th of July fair, Barcroft Community House, walking trails close by and central location. However, you have to be comfortable with an elementary school that is at least 60% Hispanic. The school's resources are amazing, and kindergarten class ratios are low. Our child had 14 kids in his class with a teacher and teacher's aide. |
Anonymous
| Do all the neighborhoods feed into wakefield |
Anonymous
| do you want a SFH or a townhouse? If a townhouse you sound like Fairlington. |
Anonymous
| OP South Arlington is underrepresented on this board so you may not get many responses. We love it. Our elementary school is Patrick Henry. We live near Arlington Heights. People are down to earth and there is a lot of diversity. I am white and my husband is Asian. The diversity isn't just Hispanics, there are Asians, east Asians, White, Ethiopian etcetera. Our friends live in Arlington Ridge which is very nice . |
Anonymous
TROLL!!! If you are really Asian, remind yourself that's the exact same reaction (white) people had when your parents (or whenever your first generation was) moved next door. FYI the Chinese Exclusion Act was the core of US immigration law until WWII and the civil rights era. |
Anonymous
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If you look at the crime reports, I think a lot of the crime in South Arlington is happening near Glebe Rd and probably Columbia Pike. I don't think it's unusual for crime to happen near the major roads. (you see the same pattern in North.)
When we were looking, we decided against Arlington Ridge and Aurora Hills because we couldn't afford much there and they were kind of farther south. Beautiful homes, though, and Oakridge seems to be popular. (and crowded.) We looked mostly in Alcova Heights, Barcroft, Arlington Heights and Penrose - nice close-in neighborhoods, nice houses, schools that my friends have recommended. We also saw a few cute houses in Douglas Park but I didn't know anyone who could speak about Randolph ES. Carlin Springs has a pretty high majority of hispanic kids and very few caucasians or Asians. The caucasian families I know in that boundary chose immersion, magnet or Campbell instead of the neighborhood school. |
Anonymous
| We live in Alcova Heights and love it. Our kids are in elementary school and go to Campbell. It's a fantastic school. There are lots of young families in our neighborhood. It's great to be able to walk to the Pike as well. |
Anonymous
| We just put a contract on a house in Douglas Park. Currently we live in a condo that would feed into Barcroft. I admit that I am a little nervous about Randolph, but we do know a few families with kids there. Considering the number of babies in Douglas Park we are hoping the make-up of the school will shift slightly in the next few years (but know we can't count on it and it's a gamble). We are fine with having a very diverse student body and our child (who is white) being a minority, but we also don't want her to be the only kid in her income bracket in her class just because that makes for a weird dynamic...We strongly believe in supporting neighborhood schools though and plan to take a chance on Randolph no matter what. |