Moving to Petworth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the El Haynes area safe? My daughter is supposed to go there from moco for a soccer game. I’m a little worried about her traveling to that part of DC given the crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the El Haynes area safe? My daughter is supposed to go there from moco for a soccer game. I’m a little worried about her traveling to that part of DC given the crime.

It's a valid question. That area (where I bought a house in the early 2000s) was drastically safer 5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

you'll be fine. I live there. You might get some stroller traffic from folks going to the farmers market.

[Anonymous]

I mean, if you're trying to buy weed at 3am or a 7th-12th grader who wants to start a fight you may have problems.

The rest of us? Pretty rare to see any issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, if you're trying to buy weed at 3am or a 7th-12th grader who wants to start a fight you may have problems.

The rest of us? Pretty rare to see any issues.

DCUM doesn't understand this and thinks everywhere WOTP is ruled by gangs of superpredators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the El Haynes area safe? My daughter is supposed to go there from moco for a soccer game. I’m a little worried about her traveling to that part of DC given the crime.

It's a valid question. That area (where I bought a house in the early 2000s) was drastically safer 5 years ago.

Drastically? We’ve lived blocks from there for 15 years. It’s not drastically different than either 5 or 10 years ago. Check out the mobs of families on Sherman Circle.

[Anonymous]

My kids go to El Haynes, it is very safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the El Haynes area safe? My daughter is supposed to go there from moco for a soccer game. I’m a little worried about her traveling to that part of DC given the crime.

It's a valid question. That area (where I bought a house in the early 2000s) was drastically safer 5 years ago.

Drastically? We’ve lived blocks from there for 15 years. It’s not drastically different than either 5 or 10 years ago. Check out the mobs of families on Sherman Circle.

I live a little farther north and regularly walk right past EL Haynes to the library. I’ve never felt unsafe on Kansas Ave except sometimes with aggressive drivers. I have lived here for ten years and it doesn’t feel less safe.

[Anonymous]

Nope, would definately not choose Petworth area if OP is looking for safe. Far from it.

[Anonymous]

I think there is a lot of truth to what’s been written on this thread for the Petworth area near the Kansas and Georgia intersection, and definitely further south.

However, we moved to the northern Petworth area(a little north of Sherman Circle) in 2014 and feel like it is a very different experience. You lose the walkability (though there are buses) but you gain a lot of community. Many of the side streets have a ton of kids and feel quite safe (or as safe as anywhere in a city).

We have a 7 and 9 year old and they know everyone on our street, with a lot of evening play in the front yards and alleys. There is a lot of racial and socioeconomic diversity, and many young families and intergenerational families that have been in the area for awhile. There are also a number of childless DC professionals who move to the area to get a good house close to downtowns.

Interestingly, it is not just families with babies, there are more and more late elementary families (though many if not most of those families that we know, including us, are in DCI feeder schools - I agree the McFarland feeder is a challenge). Every year there is more and more visible community, including elaborate Halloween trick or treat nights, parties at Sherman circle, and block parties.

We really love our street and feel quite happy and no plans to move. It helps that we were lucky and bought long enough ago that we could afford a rowhouse with a big backyard- those are harder to find and now can go for $1m+.

I acknowledge that there were things we lucked out on including the timing we bought, our neighbors, and our charter school, but don’t sleep on northern petworth. Not every street is a gem but those that are are truly special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there is a lot of truth to what’s been written on this thread for the Petworth area near the Kansas and Georgia intersection, and definitely further south.

However, we moved to the northern Petworth area(a little north of Sherman Circle) in 2014 and feel like it is a very different experience. You lose the walkability (though there are buses) but you gain a lot of community. Many of the side streets have a ton of kids and feel quite safe (or as safe as anywhere in a city).

We have a 7 and 9 year old and they know everyone on our street, with a lot of evening play in the front yards and alleys. There is a lot of racial and socioeconomic diversity, and many young families and intergenerational families that have been in the area for awhile. There are also a number of childless DC professionals who move to the area to get a good house close to downtowns.

Interestingly, it is not just families with babies, there are more and more late elementary families (though many if not most of those families that we know, including us, are in DCI feeder schools - I agree the McFarland feeder is a challenge). Every year there is more and more visible community, including elaborate Halloween trick or treat nights, parties at Sherman circle, and block parties.

We really love our street and feel quite happy and no plans to move. It helps that we were lucky and bought long enough ago that we could afford a rowhouse with a big backyard- those are harder to find and now can go for $1m+.

I acknowledge that there were things we lucked out on including the timing we bought, our neighbors, and our charter school, but don’t sleep on northern petworth. Not every street is a gem but those that are are truly special.

What would you have done had you not lucked out on your charter school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there is a lot of truth to what’s been written on this thread for the Petworth area near the Kansas and Georgia intersection, and definitely further south.

However, we moved to the northern Petworth area(a little north of Sherman Circle) in 2014 and feel like it is a very different experience. You lose the walkability (though there are buses) but you gain a lot of community. Many of the side streets have a ton of kids and feel quite safe (or as safe as anywhere in a city).

We have a 7 and 9 year old and they know everyone on our street, with a lot of evening play in the front yards and alleys. There is a lot of racial and socioeconomic diversity, and many young families and intergenerational families that have been in the area for awhile. There are also a number of childless DC professionals who move to the area to get a good house close to downtowns.

Interestingly, it is not just families with babies, there are more and more late elementary families (though many if not most of those families that we know, including us, are in DCI feeder schools - I agree the McFarland feeder is a challenge). Every year there is more and more visible community, including elaborate Halloween trick or treat nights, parties at Sherman circle, and block parties.

We really love our street and feel quite happy and no plans to move. It helps that we were lucky and bought long enough ago that we could afford a rowhouse with a big backyard- those are harder to find and now can go for $1m+.

I acknowledge that there were things we lucked out on including the timing we bought, our neighbors, and our charter school, but don’t sleep on northern petworth. Not every street is a gem but those that are are truly special.

What would you have done had you not lucked out on your charter school?

I don’t know how I would answer this as an individual, because we were never in our inbound school. But my husband was wary about our inbound school and I am sure he wouldn’t have been happy with the kids being there past pre-k4.

So truthfully, I don’t know. We are not enamored by the suburbs (we love our neighborhood and it feels like all of our friends with bigger houses just have bigger messes to clean). Probably we would’ve moved to either a small house west of the park, or Takoma Park. Maybe we would’ve tried private but I’m not sure we could’ve afford it.

[Anonymous]

We’re also in the neighborhood at Powell OOB and never “won” the lottery. Though to be clear for others, we had good enough lottery numbers to get into more than one DCI feeder in lower elementary, we just didn’t want to switch at that point for a variety of reasons.

Most families get into a DCI feeder if they want it. Particularly since MV and Stokes clear waitlists, there are pathways available if you want them. Inspired Teaching, EL Haynes, and Cap City are also middle school pathways some families choose.

Other families keep lotterying for certain schools (Deal feeders, O-A, etc) and get increasingly worried as time goes on. Or commute to Hyde-Addison every day.

Fewer families plan to move for middle school once their oldest reaches sixth. I hear about this with DCI feeder families too, so not exclusive to DCPS lottery losers.

Still fewer try out their IB middle school, usually MacFarland or Wells. Many switch after sixth grade. My kids aren’t in middle school yet (middle and upper elementary, so it’s friends’ older siblings I hear about), so less clear on how or where they go after trying their IB.

Truly though, there are enough DCI feeder seats for everyone if you can hold out until K-2nd grade. But without a DCI guarantee anymore, I’m guessing you’ll see fewer 4th and 5th grade moves specifically for the feed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there is a lot of truth to what’s been written on this thread for the Petworth area near the Kansas and Georgia intersection, and definitely further south.

However, we moved to the northern Petworth area(a little north of Sherman Circle) in 2014 and feel like it is a very different experience. You lose the walkability (though there are buses) but you gain a lot of community. Many of the side streets have a ton of kids and feel quite safe (or as safe as anywhere in a city).

We have a 7 and 9 year old and they know everyone on our street, with a lot of evening play in the front yards and alleys. There is a lot of racial and socioeconomic diversity, and many young families and intergenerational families that have been in the area for awhile. There are also a number of childless DC professionals who move to the area to get a good house close to downtowns.

Interestingly, it is not just families with babies, there are more and more late elementary families (though many if not most of those families that we know, including us, are in DCI feeder schools - I agree the McFarland feeder is a challenge). Every year there is more and more visible community, including elaborate Halloween trick or treat nights, parties at Sherman circle, and block parties.

We really love our street and feel quite happy and no plans to move. It helps that we were lucky and bought long enough ago that we could afford a rowhouse with a big backyard- those are harder to find and now can go for $1m+.

I acknowledge that there were things we lucked out on including the timing we bought, our neighbors, and our charter school, but don’t sleep on northern petworth. Not every street is a gem but those that are are truly special.

What would you have done had you not lucked out on your charter school?

I don’t know how I would answer this as an individual, because we were never in our inbound school. But my husband was wary about our inbound school and I am sure he wouldn’t have been happy with the kids being there past pre-k4.

So truthfully, I don’t know. We are not enamored by the suburbs (we love our neighborhood and it feels like all of our friends with bigger houses just have bigger messes to clean). Probably we would’ve moved to either a small house west of the park, or Takoma Park. Maybe we would’ve tried private but I’m not sure we could’ve afford it.

So you would have left Petworth.

That's Petworth in a nutshell: The people with options who are randomly assigned a good DCPS number stay. Or the people who can afford private and are fine with the neighborhood's negatives stay. The people with options who don't get a good number and can't afford $40k/year for private cash out and leave.

This is not a knock against you. But it's also an illustration of Petworth's very low ceiling, and an illustration of why people will be having this same conversation 20 years from now.

[Anonymous]

You’re talking about something that’s common. It’s more common among the DCUM set but far from universal.