Moving from NYC Burbs to MD/DC/NOVA - Biracial Family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Then you've never set foot in crestwood, shepherd park or the farthest east part of ccdc/20015 by the Park. Or colonial village. Where do you even live?

But, op, none of these District neighborhoods with an abundance (majority) of high SES AA households is great for an Arlington commute. And none are walkable like town center Maplewood.

Actually taking Rock Creek, you can be in Arlington in no time. The section between Kringle and the zoo will open by summer, making it even easier from Crestwood.

[Anonymous]

We are also a mixed race family and moved to Del Ray from Ft Greene Brooklyn 5 years ago. Commute to courthouse will be a breeze (15-20 min drive). It was a lovely place to live and while it is technically diverse you won't see many non-while hanging out on the Avenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Crestwood is.

Shepherd Park too.

So is Colonial Village (across from Shepherd Park). We have quite a few biracial couples. 2 on my street alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Then you've never set foot in crestwood, shepherd park or the farthest east part of ccdc/20015 by the Park. Or colonial village. Where do you even live?

But, op, none of these District neighborhoods with an abundance (majority) of high SES AA households is great for an Arlington commute. And none are walkable like town center Maplewood.

When the park is open, they aren't bad though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Crestwood is.

Shepherd Park too.

So is Colonial Village (across from Shepherd Park). We have quite a few biracial couples. 2 on my street alone.

Yes we live in shepherd park and it's easily 50% upper income AA. Schools are great and some parts are very walkable (we live walking distance to Takoma metro). Metro commute to Union station is not bad at all but I'd be concerned with arlington commute for next few years while rock creek park is under construction. It's a great trade off with access to two major bus lines, walkability to Takoma Park, Silver Spring, farmers market, parks, libraries, dog park, rock creek trails, bars, restaurants but your Arlington commute will be 40 minutes. I do the commute to VA and haven't been too affected with RCP closing. On the way home, I take Rock Creek past Kennedy Center until zoo then take CT Ave up to Nebraska/Military. Takes 35-40 minutes if I leave by 4:30, up to 50 if I leave after 5.

OP, when you say biracial, do you mean interracial or are you both biracial? Not that it matters but I was curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takoma park is too far. Check out south Arlington. 22202, 22206 and 22204. I was in Shirlington (google village at Shirlington) for their annual kids trick or treat, and there were tons of biracial families. Arlington is pretty liberal too.

Also check out 22205. Also keep in mind that your real estate taxes will be much lower here, about 1% of the home price.

I'd stay away from arlington 22207 as their elem schools are almost all white.

I'd stay away from north Arlington in general. Vote left, live right phoniness.

+1

South Arlington's schools are fine. But that which you can not Google, the locals do not know. LOL. Not a lot of Asians for this reason. Since you asked. Always consider your source during research, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takoma park is too far. Check out south Arlington. 22202, 22206 and 22204. I was in Shirlington (google village at Shirlington) for their annual kids trick or treat, and there were tons of biracial families. Arlington is pretty liberal too.

Also check out 22205. Also keep in mind that your real estate taxes will be much lower here, about 1% of the home price.

I'd stay away from arlington 22207 as their elem schools are almost all white.

I'd stay away from north Arlington in general. Vote left, live right phoniness.

+1

South Arlington's schools are fine. But that which you can not Google, the locals do not know. LOL. Not a lot of Asians for this reason. Since you asked. Always consider your source during research, OP.

South Arlington schools aren't as good as Maplewood schools like Columbia HS, nor do you have similar access to privates. Better-educated Asians avoid them, so the Asian students who do attend them actually bring the scores down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takoma park is too far. Check out south Arlington. 22202, 22206 and 22204. I was in Shirlington (google village at Shirlington) for their annual kids trick or treat, and there were tons of biracial families. Arlington is pretty liberal too.

Also check out 22205. Also keep in mind that your real estate taxes will be much lower here, about 1% of the home price.

I'd stay away from arlington 22207 as their elem schools are almost all white.

I'd stay away from north Arlington in general. Vote left, live right phoniness.

+1

South Arlington's schools are fine. But that which you can not Google, the locals do not know. LOL. Not a lot of Asians for this reason. Since you asked. Always consider your source during research, OP.

South Arlington schools aren't as good as Maplewood schools like Columbia HS, nor do you have similar access to privates. Better-educated Asians avoid them, so the Asian students who do attend them actually bring the scores down.

OP is not Asian. Read first, post second you bigot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider Del Ray or Rosemont in the City of Alexandria.

Don't listen to those who would suggest Arlington. North Arlington is the whitest part of NoVa and very segregated; South Arlington is seriously unattractive. Coming from a cute town like Maplewood, you would wake up every morning and think you'd moved to a bad neighborhood in Union or Rahway.

Parts of south Arlington are unattractive, as are parts of north Arlington. It helps to compare apples to apples. Arlington Ridge in south Arlington is just as nice as Country Club Hills in north Arlington. And closer to Metro, too. Aurora Highlands is very similar in housing stock to Ashton Heights/Lyon Park. Alcova Heights/Arlington Heights are equivalent to Madison Manor. And a large part of Barcroft is nicer than most of Arlington Forest (which spans both N and S). In general, Arlington's housing stock is seriously lackluster, especially compared to a place like Maplewood, NJ. But there are some neighborhoods that have lovely, older architecturally interesting homes alongside newer builds (which are nice, but maybe not what OP is looking for). It's not all ugly brick ranchers, though there are plenty of those.

OP, as others have noted, if you are looking for racial/ethnic diversity, you will be hard-pressed to find it in most north Arlington neighborhoods and schools. South Arlington is more racially/ethnically/economically diverse, as are the schools. If you want to be close to transit, you could do that in either part of Arlington. And there are neighborhoods that are walkable to shopping, libraries, community centers, etc. in many parts of Arlington. But nothing that looks like the downtown of Maplewood. And the urban parts of Arlington do not resemble Brooklyn at all. But we've been very pleased with the public schools here in south Arlington.

I think if you lived in DC, a commute to Arlington would be doable, but not from MD. That would be brutal. There are many neighborhoods in DC that better resemble both Brooklyn and Maplewood. And I think DCPS in most neighborhoods PP's have mentioned are fine, and the free Pre-K is a pretty big incentive. We chose Arlington for slightly lower taxes and a more favorable commute (at the time I was commuting within Arlington and my husband was splitting time between Fairfax and DC, near McPherson Sq). We started out renting and then bought once we'd settled on a neighborhood we loved (and still love). But I think we would have been happy in DC, too.

Good luck with your move!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takoma park is too far. Check out south Arlington. 22202, 22206 and 22204. I was in Shirlington (google village at Shirlington) for their annual kids trick or treat, and there were tons of biracial families. Arlington is pretty liberal too.

Also check out 22205. Also keep in mind that your real estate taxes will be much lower here, about 1% of the home price.

I'd stay away from arlington 22207 as their elem schools are almost all white.

I'd stay away from north Arlington in general. Vote left, live right phoniness.

That would rule out about 90% of the area's neighborhoods!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would consider Del Ray or Rosemont in the City of Alexandria.

Don't listen to those who would suggest Arlington. North Arlington is the whitest part of NoVa and very segregated; South Arlington is seriously unattractive. Coming from a cute town like Maplewood, you would wake up every morning and think you'd moved to a bad neighborhood in Union or Rahway.

Parts of south Arlington are unattractive, as are parts of north Arlington. It helps to compare apples to apples. Arlington Ridge in south Arlington is just as nice as Country Club Hills in north Arlington. And closer to Metro, too. Aurora Highlands is very similar in housing stock to Ashton Heights/Lyon Park. Alcova Heights/Arlington Heights are equivalent to Madison Manor. And a large part of Barcroft is nicer than most of Arlington Forest (which spans both N and S). In general, Arlington's housing stock is seriously lackluster, especially compared to a place like Maplewood, NJ. But there are some neighborhoods that have lovely, older architecturally interesting homes alongside newer builds (which are nice, but maybe not what OP is looking for). It's not all ugly brick ranchers, though there are plenty of those.

OP, as others have noted, if you are looking for racial/ethnic diversity, you will be hard-pressed to find it in most north Arlington neighborhoods and schools. South Arlington is more racially/ethnically/economically diverse, as are the schools. If you want to be close to transit, you could do that in either part of Arlington. And there are neighborhoods that are walkable to shopping, libraries, community centers, etc. in many parts of Arlington. But nothing that looks like the downtown of Maplewood. And the urban parts of Arlington do not resemble Brooklyn at all. But we've been very pleased with the public schools here in south Arlington.

I think if you lived in DC, a commute to Arlington would be doable, but not from MD. That would be brutal. There are many neighborhoods in DC that better resemble both Brooklyn and Maplewood. And I think DCPS in most neighborhoods PP's have mentioned are fine, and the free Pre-K is a pretty big incentive. We chose Arlington for slightly lower taxes and a more favorable commute (at the time I was commuting within Arlington and my husband was splitting time between Fairfax and DC, near McPherson Sq). We started out renting and then bought once we'd settled on a neighborhood we loved (and still love). But I think we would have been happy in DC, too.

Good luck with your move!

Great post. What neighborhood are you in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would consider Del Ray or Rosemont in the City of Alexandria.

Don't listen to those who would suggest Arlington. North Arlington is the whitest part of NoVa and very segregated; South Arlington is seriously unattractive. Coming from a cute town like Maplewood, you would wake up every morning and think you'd moved to a bad neighborhood in Union or Rahway.

Parts of south Arlington are unattractive, as are parts of north Arlington. It helps to compare apples to apples. Arlington Ridge in south Arlington is just as nice as Country Club Hills in north Arlington. And closer to Metro, too. Aurora Highlands is very similar in housing stock to Ashton Heights/Lyon Park. Alcova Heights/Arlington Heights are equivalent to Madison Manor. And a large part of Barcroft is nicer than most of Arlington Forest (which spans both N and S). In general, Arlington's housing stock is seriously lackluster, especially compared to a place like Maplewood, NJ. But there are some neighborhoods that have lovely, older architecturally interesting homes alongside newer builds (which are nice, but maybe not what OP is looking for). It's not all ugly brick ranchers, though there are plenty of those.

OP, as others have noted, if you are looking for racial/ethnic diversity, you will be hard-pressed to find it in most north Arlington neighborhoods and schools. South Arlington is more racially/ethnically/economically diverse, as are the schools. If you want to be close to transit, you could do that in either part of Arlington. And there are neighborhoods that are walkable to shopping, libraries, community centers, etc. in many parts of Arlington. But nothing that looks like the downtown of Maplewood. And the urban parts of Arlington do not resemble Brooklyn at all. But we've been very pleased with the public schools here in south Arlington.

I think if you lived in DC, a commute to Arlington would be doable, but not from MD. That would be brutal. There are many neighborhoods in DC that better resemble both Brooklyn and Maplewood. And I think DCPS in most neighborhoods PP's have mentioned are fine, and the free Pre-K is a pretty big incentive. We chose Arlington for slightly lower taxes and a more favorable commute (at the time I was commuting within Arlington and my husband was splitting time between Fairfax and DC, near McPherson Sq). We started out renting and then bought once we'd settled on a neighborhood we loved (and still love). But I think we would have been happy in DC, too.

Good luck with your move!

Part of this post--the neighborhood comparisons--sounds like rationalization. I laughed.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, we are a mixed race couple and, given that you're coming from NYC, I recommend that you stay in DC. I would suggest looking at Glover Park in DC. Close enough to VA and within your budget, plus rentals are available. Decent public school. Wouldn't recommend going straight to the DC burbs from NYC/Brooklyn.

Lots of mixed couples of pretty much every combo are in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, we are a mixed race couple and, given that you're coming from NYC, I recommend that you stay in DC. I would suggest looking at Glover Park in DC. Close enough to VA and within your budget, plus rentals are available. Decent public school. Wouldn't recommend going straight to the DC burbs from NYC/Brooklyn.

Lots of mixed couples of pretty much every combo are in DC.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Takoma park is too far. Check out south Arlington. 22202, 22206 and 22204. I was in Shirlington (google village at Shirlington) for their annual kids trick or treat, and there were tons of biracial families. Arlington is pretty liberal too.

Also check out 22205. Also keep in mind that your real estate taxes will be much lower here, about 1% of the home price.

I'd stay away from arlington 22207 as their elem schools are almost all white.

I'd stay away from north Arlington in general. Vote left, live right phoniness.

It's called democracy. Atleast they vote, unlike some lazys who don't vote but likes to lecture others.

OP is looking for the Goldielocks zone. 10% AA/upper SES. MD or DC might be her best bet.