help this Marylander understand the "other side"
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Anonymous
| I used to love Olive Garden, the one in Waldorf, MD. |
Anonymous
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Taking this post seriously rather than trying to fan the flames --
I lived in DC from 1994-1998, then the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area from 1998-2010 (in a condo on the Bethesda-Chevy Chase border, not in the super-ritzy part). We moved to Fairfax City in 2010. I previously felt the same way as OP about NoVa. I found it confusing and unappealing and basically never crossed the river unless I was going to Tyson's. Then we started looking at housing prices and schools after my daughters were born. I really, really wanted to move to Takoma Park, but we were priced out by the extremely high property and locality taxes. Plus a friend who is a MoCo cop warned us about MS-13 gang activity in bordering Langley Park. My husband grew up in the Vienna-Fairfax area, so we started looking out there. We found a house in our price range, in a good school district, with much lower property taxes. The commute to DC is longer but not a deal breaker. I notice several major differences. There is diversity in Fairfax, but as PPs have noted, it tends to be Arab/Persian/Asian rather than Latino and AA. People also generally are much nicer and do not have the B-CC snootiness we came to hate -- I grew up in the South, so this is a big plus for me. Our neighborhood is more conservative than where we were in MoCo, with lots of Romney and Allen yard signs, and there seems to be a larger military contingent here. And we are near St. Leo's, one of the more conservative Catholic churches, which also is a big change (my husband grew up liberal Catholic, I am Episcopalian). I can't really speak about McLean/Arlington/Clarendon/other parts of FFX County. Generally, I like it and think we made a good move for our family, particularly when we go to the playground and don't feel scrutinized for our clothing and stroller choices. That said, I don't feel like we quite "fit" in Fairfax. My husband and I haven't really clicked with any of our neighbors, which I fully admit might be due to our shared introversion. I still suspect that we would have an easier time making friends and finding like-minded peers had we moved to Takoma Park, and I still look at real estate listings -- and then realize the same factors that led us to Fairfax still exist. |
Anonymous
| I am not ashamed to admit that I used to eat at Olive Garden quite a bit. I don't anymore, but only because there are so many other places to choose from in a small radius. And again, most of them are chains (Joe's Crab Shack, Bonefish, Uncle Julio's, PF Chang's among others), which is not the end of the world. I'm not taking my child to the fancy place you go for a special date night, you know? |
Anonymous
| Born and raised in SE, DC (and not the good part). Now live in PG County (Upper Marlboro). Love the city, but would never live there. Also HATE the gentrification going on. Would also (hopefully) never live in Virginia..strikes me as a backwards, racist and Republican state. I also would never live in any other county in MD (except maybe Charles County and that's pushing it). |
Anonymous
that's just RoVA. NoVA is rather moderate. Arlington was completely run by Dems at least when I worked for the Board. And Fairfax is pretty evenly split. Now, as you start getting into PWC and Loudoun, things start getting somewhat more conservative. Please don't judge all of VA on our idiotic state government. |
Anonymous
Also don't quite feel comfortable in NoVA. Not enough AAs. |
Anonymous
| You were born and raised and still live here?!? I find that strange... not because you live in MD but I don't know anyone, friends, colleagues, etc. who have done this. Sounds kind of nice... |
Anonymous
yes, please do not move to Virginia. thanks in advance. |
Anonymous
in a metro area of 5MM, you don't think people grow up here and stay here? |
Anonymous
But I do judge the state of Virginia by its state government. Were I to move there, that government would dictate how I live, what I could do and not do. It would dictate my friends' ability to marry people of the same gender, my rights to terminate a pregnancy, my neighbors' rights to carry concealed weapons. The list goes on. |
Anonymous
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Well, I was born and raised in Rockville. Went to college in DC. Finally decided it was time to move away and went to NY for grad school. Upon graduation, best job offer I got was in DC so I came back. But I moved to VA. Now, I have kids and because of the private school I selected and DHs commute, we just moved back to Rockville.
Here's what I can say--I lived in the Mantua district of FFX. People are high strung, but so am I so, so it worked out okay. I find people in Rockville have less attention to detail and I get very frustrated with the lack of communication and lack of information. For example, in FFX, dance schedules and recitals were published in August for the following May. To detail oriented...for some, but for me it worked. Our dance studio in Rockville hasn't even begun to think about the recital. People seem to be more friendly in FFX than in Rockville. Of course taxes in MD are higher than in VA. Car registration was ridiculous. Buying the house in MD and prepaying real estates taxes for 6 months sent my closing costs through the roof. But otherwise, the areas are pretty similar. Each has a nice walking/shopping area. We all get the same national chains. Although Wegman's is closer to FFX then the one in Columbia. I hear one is supposed to open in Germantown though. As a state, VA is more conservative than MD. But FFX and Mont. Cty are pretty similar. Some of my HS friends are still here so for the past 20 years, I've been driving from VA to MD to visit them. Now I have great friends in VA and I drive across the bridge to visit them. But only on the weekends after I check that the beltway isn't going to be closed for HOT lane work. |
Anonymous
Yep, my family is here. I prefer being close to family, so never considered moving away. MD is as far as I'll go (unless I strike it rich). BTW, there are tons of places where families live for generations. DC is a bit of a "transplant city", but it happens. |
Anonymous
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Would anyone agree that in Maryland, there are larger differences between the way areas are viewed? For instance, people label the type of person who would live in Rockville as someone different than the type of person who would live in Bethesda? Or The type of person in Langley Park vs. Takoma Park.
I see less of this when people talk about Northern Virginia. There are not the same comments put on people from Alexandria vs. People in Arlington. |
Anonymous
Fair enough. More asians and hispanics than AAs, that is true. Although, we have had AA neighbors/friends in several neighborhoods. Just not many enclaves, from what I can tell. |
Anonymous
Fair enough. At the state level, VA bugs the crap out of me. I would gladly separate from RoVA if we could. From a practical standpoint for commuting, though, living in VA makes the most sense for us. I'd move closer to my relatives in MoCo and Howard if I could, but I'm not going to make our daily lives horrific because of the state laws I disagree with. But, what do I know? I almost moved to TEXAS to be closer to family. At least it was Austin 
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