Moving to Petworth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

True! I was more responding to the issues of crime and community that were flagged early than I was the schools. You are right that we probably would have moved once our kids hit second grade had we not gotten into our school BUT it would have been begrudgingly and not because of crime or community.

The earlier threads made it sound like all of petworth was unsafe and not good for families - there are definitely streets in southern petworth that are not great, but again: the residential streets can be a truly wonderful place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I disagree with this statement. I am in southern Petworth, inbounds for Bruce Monroe, and most of the kids on the surrounding blocks go to school inbounds for at least Elementary school. I've lived here for close to 20 years, feel very safe, and very lucky that my kids have had the opportunity to grow-up in a walkable, diverse community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I disagree with this statement. I am in southern Petworth, inbounds for Bruce Monroe, and most of the kids on the surrounding blocks go to school inbounds for at least Elementary school[/b]. I've lived here for close to 20 years, feel very safe, and very lucky that my kids have had the opportunity to grow-up in a walkable, diverse community.

This is not true. Data do not support this statement. I can look up the data if you want to see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I disagree with this statement. I am in southern Petworth, inbounds for Bruce Monroe, and most of the kids on the surrounding blocks go to school inbounds for at least Elementary school[/b]. I've lived here for close to 20 years, feel very safe, and very lucky that my kids have had the opportunity to grow-up in a walkable, diverse community.

This is not true. Data do not support this statement. I can look up the data if you want to see it.

Well, apparently I don’t know how to select text from my phone. I was talking about your statement of most kids go to IB schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I disagree with this statement. I am in southern Petworth, inbounds for Bruce Monroe, and most of the kids on the surrounding blocks go to school inbounds for at least Elementary school[/b]. I've lived here for close to 20 years, feel very safe, and very lucky that my kids have had the opportunity to grow-up in a walkable, diverse community.

This is not true. Data do not support this statement. I can look up the data if you want to see it.

Well, apparently I don’t know how to select text from my phone. I was talking about your statement of most kids go to IB schools.

Here is the data:

https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/page_content/attachments/SY2122_Public%20School%20Enrollments%20per%20DCPS%20Boundary_0.xlsx

Bruce Monroe has 26% IB participation rate.

Powell has 39 % IB participation rate.

Barnard has 30 % IB participation rate.

[Anonymous]

The thing is that it doesn't really take "lucking out" to get into a charter school anymore. You can get into MV, Stokes, IT, ELH, and others. Particularly in southern Petworth, it is really quick and easy to commute to Brookland for a charter school. Families at the neighborhood schools are there because they are actively choosing their neighborhood schools over those charters. Historically families have used the fifth grade lottery to try for Latin or Basis, with DCI feeders as a backup if they are bilingual. Without a DCI guarantee anymore, it will be interesting to see what those families do when they reach middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing is that it doesn't really take "lucking out" to get into a charter school anymore. You can get into MV, Stokes, IT, ELH, and others. Particularly in southern Petworth, it is really quick and easy to commute to Brookland for a charter school. Families at the neighborhood schools are there because they are actively choosing their neighborhood schools over those charters. Historically families have used the fifth grade lottery to try for Latin or Basis, with DCI feeders as a backup if they are bilingual. Without a DCI guarantee anymore, it will be interesting to see what those families do when they reach middle school.

Have you seen this? https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1205577.page

Getting into Latin or Basis isn’t guaranteed either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is that it doesn't really take "lucking out" to get into a charter school anymore. You can get into MV, Stokes, IT, ELH, and others. Particularly in southern Petworth, it is really quick and easy to commute to Brookland for a charter school. Families at the neighborhood schools are there because they are actively choosing their neighborhood schools over those charters. Historically families have used the fifth grade lottery to try for Latin or Basis, with DCI feeders as a backup if they are bilingual. Without a DCI guarantee anymore, it will be interesting to see what those families do when they reach middle school.

Have you seen this? https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1205577.page

Getting into Latin or Basis isn’t guaranteed either.

Absolutely, which is why it will be interesting to see how things shift when neither Latin/Basis nor DCI is a guarantee. If you've made it to third or fourth grade in Petworth, you don't WANT to move or you would have done it back in K or 1st. But once DCI families start striking out and scrambling, I'm guessing the "switch to DCB/MV/Stokes for fifth to secure the DCI feed" option will become much less appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is that it doesn't really take "lucking out" to get into a charter school anymore. You can get into MV, Stokes, IT, ELH, and others. Particularly in southern Petworth, it is really quick and easy to commute to Brookland for a charter school. Families at the neighborhood schools are there because they are actively choosing their neighborhood schools over those charters. Historically families have used the fifth grade lottery to try for Latin or Basis, with DCI feeders as a backup if they are bilingual. Without a DCI guarantee anymore, it will be interesting to see what those families do when they reach middle school.

Have you seen this? https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1205577.page

Getting into Latin or Basis isn’t guaranteed either.

Absolutely, which is why it will be interesting to see how things shift when neither Latin/Basis nor DCI is a guarantee. If you've made it to third or fourth grade in Petworth, you don't WANT to move or you would have done it back in K or 1st. But once DCI families start striking out and scrambling, I'm guessing the "switch to DCB/MV/Stokes for fifth to secure the DCI feed" option will become much less appealing.

The overwhelming majority of families move out of Petworth in early elementary. Most don’t stay past.

Now that it is even more competitive to get into Latin and Basis and impossible to DCI if you are not in a feeder, even more families will move out in early elementary.

[Anonymous]

Can only speak for our family, but we’ve lived in Petworth for 12+ years. We love it. Our kids are at LAMB and DCI.

Lots on here about the challenges with schools, which I get. We have neighbors at McFarland who are happy, but I don’t know if it would have worked for us.

That being said this thread started with a single mom of a young child- to which I say: Petworth is the perfect place for raising young kids. Lots of community, lots of support, and as safe as anywhere in DC (our best petworth friends moved to tenleytown for “safety” and were robbed walking home from the metro!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can only speak for our family, but we’ve lived in Petworth for 12+ years. We love it. Our kids are at LAMB and DCI.

Lots on here about the challenges with schools, which I get. We have neighbors at McFarland who are happy, but I don’t know if it would have worked for us.

That being said this thread started with a single mom of a young child- to which I say: Petworth is the perfect place for raising young kids. Lots of community, lots of support, and as safe as anywhere in DC (our best petworth friends moved to tenleytown for “safety” and were robbed walking home from the metro!).

I get being a cheerleader for your neighborhood, but this is just patently untrue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can only speak for our family, but we’ve lived in Petworth for 12+ years. We love it. Our kids are at LAMB and DCI.

Lots on here about the challenges with schools, which I get. We have neighbors at McFarland who are happy, but I don’t know if it would have worked for us.

That being said this thread started with a single mom of a young child- to which I say: Petworth is the perfect place for raising young kids. Lots of community, lots of support, and as safe as anywhere in DC (our best petworth friends moved to tenleytown for “safety” and were robbed walking home from the metro!).

I get being a cheerleader for your neighborhood, but this is just patently untrue.

+1. Seriously. Crime in the area of Columbia Heights and Petworth is very high. Lots of gangs, drugs, shooting. Is laughable that PP thinks it’s safer than upper NW just because her friend got robbed there. Anecdotal doesn’t disprove data.

I would not consider Petworth OP over much better areas overall but especially if you are thinking long term past lower elementary.

[Anonymous]

I lived in petworth years ago but haven’t been back in a few years. Out of curiosity I looked at the DC crime map to see how bad the crime had gotten. Looks like there is huge variation across the neighborhood. So while it is not fair to say it is as safe as most areas in NW, there are pretty big swaths that are just as safe as lots of other neighborhoods recommended on here (at least statistically).

I think there are 2 reasons for the disconnect in views on this thread:
1. People lump petworth/Columbia heights/park view together. The crime stats on Columbia Heights and Parkview are not good. Southern Petworth bleeds into Parkview and the crime stats show. Northern Petworth looks pretty different. Their stats are closer to Capitol Hill, Mount Pleasant, 16th street heights. So you could have 2 people who both live in Petworth with very different experiences of crime and both would be right.

2. Petworth is not for everyone, crime aside. If you like the feel of the suburbs or NW, you probably will find Petworth too rough around the edges. It’s quirky, diverse, and loud. Some people find that a feature, others find that a bug. It’s not what I would call a peaceful neighborhood, but it’s got a lot of heart and spunk. The last time I was there was for petworth porchfest and it was awesome. But up to you and your individual choices on whether that’s a place where you want to raise a family.