Is Manassas really that bad?

[Anonymous]

I go to Manasseh for work sometimes, it’s pretty bad. I’d prefer Woodbridge or Herndon.

[Anonymous]

Manassas is basically run down. There is the occasional armed robbery and bad guy vs bad guy homicide, but nowhere near as bad as the hood. If you can't afford to move closer in (centreville, fairfax,etc), the Gainesville/Bristow area is much nicer than most of Manassas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I go to Manasseh for work sometimes, it’s pretty bad. I’d prefer Woodbridge or Herndon.

Yikes. Now that is saying something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I go to Manasseh for work sometimes, it’s pretty bad. I’d prefer Woodbridge or Herndon.

Yikes. Now that is saying something.

I’m not even sure wher Manasseh is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I go to Manasseh for work sometimes, it’s pretty bad. I’d prefer Woodbridge or Herndon.

Yikes. Now that is saying something.

I’m not even sure wher Manasseh is!

You know, Manasseh, where Cartman is originally from.



(Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)

[Anonymous]

Swift is headquartered in Manasas with highly paid jobs. I honestly think they have one if the better burger kings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Swift is headquartered in Manasas with highly paid jobs. I honestly think they have one if the better burger kings

I hate that there are so few Burger Kings in northern Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Manassas has always attracted a lot of hate, and I feel a lot of it is misplaced. It has drastically, drastically changed in the past couple of decades. Today, minorities are in the majority. One thing that has not changed is the friendliness of the folk who live there. It's walkable, has nice restaurants, has a charming old town section, a really cute train station with really cute commuter trains that roll through the old town section. Seriously, it doesn't have more strip malls than Arlington. It has a huge Hispanic immigrant population, and they don't know how to take care of their homes, unfortunately, so their neighborhoods tend to get run down. I've seen what are supposed to be scenic ponds in their communities, full of floating garbage. That's probably the one major reason why Manassas gets such a bad rap. Personally, I love the older sections of Manassas, and I love the friendliness of the community.

[Anonymous]

Weird thread back from the dead. I’m pretty sure the OP is long gone four years ago. I lived in Manassas for several years. The schools suck. They are truly awful. The worst. Aside from that, the main negative is commute. It’s horrible. Wake up at 4:00, leave at 5:00 get somewhere at 6:00 so that you can leave work at 2:30 and only take an hour and a half to get home instead of 2-2.5 hrs. Terrible. I’ve seen the description “soul sucking commute” in this forum a lot. A would sucking commute is a delight compared to the Manassas commute.

It’s cheap, it does have that going for it. It’s affordable for basically anyone. Someone mentioned upthread that housing doesn’t appreciate quickly and that’s true. It’s not all negatives though. People are nice and very friendly. It’s very safe. I never once felt unsafe. There is some petty crime like anywhere but not really anything you need to worry about. There are an oddly high number of 7-11’s.

I wouldn’t recommend people move to Manassas unless they’re looking for cheap housing while moving up the ladder and can deal with the commute for a couple of years (and have no kids). I wouldn’t recommend buying in Manassas for anyone unless they plan on using private schools and have a job very close by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband is a manassas city police officer. He does not want to live in manassas, shop in manassas, eat in manassas or BE in manassas other than the hours he is at work. It is definitely THAT bad. Try Bristow, Gainesville or Warrenton. Especially the last-much more bang for your buck. But the commute can be brutal.

+1. I live in Bristow/Gainesville. If you can flex your hours, it's not so bad. On the road by 6. We've been pleased w the people and the schools. We even have a Wegmans

What time do you get home?

[Anonymous]

This is interesting as someone who's lived in Manassas for 22 years. I raised my kids there and moved there after a horrific divorce that screwed me financially.

I worked nights at the local hospital (and weekends) as a RN (and then a Nurse Practitioner) while I raised my two kids. They were to OP high school and yes, the school wasn't as wealthy as the community where we lived when they were in elementary (McLean) but it was safe and the teachers really seemed great across the board. Yes, it's diverse. Yes, a lot of people in our community worked blue collar jobs and many worked two jobs each. Beyond petty crime, it's very safe. The serious crimes involve criminals hurting criminals, basically. Yes, there were aunts and uncles who shared their homes with each other. Yes, there were multigenerational homes. And yes, the issues of working class poverty is a reality here.

But I would say the community is supportive. People in our (older) neighborhood watched out for each other. And I really dispute the whole idea about not taking care of their homes comment -- my neighbors, many of whom did landscaping across NOVA -- really did keep their yards neat. The issue that people might complain about is that there are a lot of cars and expanded driveways and that's because well...multiple adults in a family live in the home.

If anything, I would say my kids went through a bit of culture shock in college...being white, they weren't used to the amount of class and racial segregation at UVA and Emory.

I actually am thankful places like my town exist in this area. Not everyone can afford to spend the $ to live in fairfax to have a bit of space, a yard, and some peace. I bought my home for 120K in 1998. It's a nice single level ranch and has a 1/3 of an acre wooded lot. And yes, it's worth more now (maybe 350K?) but I don't care. It's paid off, my taxes are low and I intend to age in place in my community until I can no longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard the word "ghetto" used to reflect a place unless it was meant to be demeaning to people of color.

This sentence. Jews are not people of color and ghetto doesn't always refer to colored folks

Particularly the student ghetto's in college towns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is interesting as someone who's lived in Manassas for 22 years. I raised my kids there and moved there after a horrific divorce that screwed me financially.

I worked nights at the local hospital (and weekends) as a RN (and then a Nurse Practitioner) while I raised my two kids. They were to OP high school and yes, the school wasn't as wealthy as the community where we lived when they were in elementary (McLean) but it was safe and the teachers really seemed great across the board. Yes, it's diverse. Yes, a lot of people in our community worked blue collar jobs and many worked two jobs each. Beyond petty crime, it's very safe. The serious crimes involve criminals hurting criminals, basically. Yes, there were aunts and uncles who shared their homes with each other. Yes, there were multigenerational homes. And yes, the issues of working class poverty is a reality here.

But I would say the community is supportive. People in our (older) neighborhood watched out for each other. And I really dispute the whole idea about not taking care of their homes comment -- my neighbors, many of whom did landscaping across NOVA -- really did keep their yards neat. The issue that people might complain about is that there are a lot of cars and expanded driveways and that's because well...multiple adults in a family live in the home.

If anything, I would say my kids went through a bit of culture shock in college...being white, they weren't used to the amount of class and racial segregation at UVA and Emory.

I actually am thankful places like my town exist in this area. Not everyone can afford to spend the $ to live in fairfax to have a bit of space, a yard, and some peace. I bought my home for 120K in 1998. It's a nice single level ranch and has a 1/3 of an acre wooded lot. And yes, it's worth more now (maybe 350K?) but I don't care. It's paid off, my taxes are low and I intend to age in place in my community until I can no longer.

^^^Only good reply in this whole thread

[Anonymous]

When you kids get asked where they grew up and answer they grew up in a Man’s Ass will be priceless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Manassas has always attracted a lot of hate, and I feel a lot of it is misplaced. It has drastically, drastically changed in the past couple of decades. Today, minorities are in the majority. One thing that has not changed is the friendliness of the folk who live there. It's walkable, has nice restaurants, has a charming old town section, a really cute train station with really cute commuter trains that roll through the old town section. Seriously, it doesn't have more strip malls than Arlington. It has a huge Hispanic immigrant population, and they don't know how to take care of their homes, unfortunately, so their neighborhoods tend to get run down. I've seen what are supposed to be scenic ponds in their communities, full of floating garbage. That's probably the one major reason why Manassas gets such a bad rap. Personally, I love the older sections of Manassas, and I love the friendliness of the community.

Well, you made a very convincing argument...