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

[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!

Short version: South Arlington has some nice pockets, but overall it is more like Union or Elizabeth than Maplewood. That goes for the schools as well.

You won't find anything like Maplewood or Montclair in NoVa. Takoma Park and parts of Silver Spring in Maryland would come closest, along with Shepherd Park in DC and Del Ray in Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can find what you are looking for in population in Colonial Village, Shepherd park or Takoma, but it's more suburban and the commutes will suck. You may way to check out Southwest Waterfront, at least for the short-term. Lots of diversity, in both race and income. More middle/upper middle AAs over here than on the Hill. Commutes to both Courthouse and Union Station would be relatively easy. Crime is low in most areas. Lots of families, especially younger kids. Parents are working on the IB school to make it a better option, to the point where the preK classes have now gotten popular. Lots of green space and near the water - not much around right now for shops or restaurants, but there will be a lot more options when the first phase of the Wharf opens in a year.

Agree about looking at SW - it's one of the city neighborhoods like Crestwood and Colonial Village that has tended to have a big UMC black community. I'd look to rent in the older coop/condo communities though (many have townhouses as well as medium rise buildings) because the newer buildings seem like they're more transient 20 somethings and are tiny. It's a very friendly chat with your neighbors in line at Safeway and on the metro platform type neighborhood. And commute to Arlington is an easy metro or bike ride to Arlington and Union Stn both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Okay, sure Donald. All of south Arlington is a hellhole.

[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.

What about the Fort Hunt area? Very cute neighborhood and just outside the beltway

[Anonymous]

I'm a big Takoma Park and DTSS booster, but that commute would be a nightmare for the person going to Virginia. The Union Station commute would be easy, but the VA commute would suck. Ditto Shepherd Park and Colonial Village, which check all of your boxes (diverse, upper class AA families, beautiful homes).

You may have answered this, but how committed are you to public school? Are you planning more kids? With that commute, and a biracial family, I'd look at someplace like Cheverly and just commit to private/parochial after 5th grade.

[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.

Biracial is not the word most of you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Biracial is not the word most of you are looking for.

Lol! An Shepherd Park resident who actually is biracial. We'll blame it on OP, since she led with this.

[Anonymous]

You really need to look at the Hill. If you've lived in Brooklyn you're not afraid of walking so you could end up with a walk to Union Station and another to the orange/silver/blue for the commute to Courthouse. It's a wonderful community for families with plenty of walkable stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You really need to look at the Hill. If you've lived in Brooklyn you're not afraid of walking so you could end up with a walk to Union Station and another to the orange/silver/blue for the commute to Courthouse. It's a wonderful community for families with plenty of walkable stuff.

Higher crime than where OP would have lived in Brooklyn. OP moved from the city to Maplewood- a charming safe small town in Essex Cty NJ near Millburn and the Oranges. OP got a typical small GOOD NJ school district. Maybe 5 schools in the entire district and OP would never have to think about charter school lottery, redistricting from Wilson [if in DC], S Arlington's -Alexandria school issues, etc. So Takoma Park is a bad commute for work but OP and Montco MD has income tax so OP could comfortably live in N Arlington, parts near Mclean or Mclean or City of Falls Church.

For people who lived in those little NJ towns with school districts dealing with the BS of MCPS/FCPS/DC etc is annoying at best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello - my husband and I (biracial late 30's AA/White) are looking to move to the DC/NOVA/MD area from NYC. We have a 3 month old daughter and are relocating due to me taking a new position. My job will be based near the courthouse area of Arlington and he will be working by Union Station. The question is where to live. We have a budget up to 900k to buy for the interim but would like to rent in a diverse area with a walkable downtown that will be comfortable for our family. For example we lived in Brooklyn for years then moved to Maplewood, NJ before our DD was born.
I hear good things about Takoma Park/Silver Spring Maryland but worry the commute would be too much. I would like to use the metro to get to work (the old NY'er in me).
Any advice would be great. And by diverse I mean yes all ethnicities but at least 10% AA middle/upper class.

Petworth. You can take Green/Yellow Lines at Petworth station to Orange Lines at L'Enfant and your husband can transfer to the Red Line at Fort Totten. For 900K you would have a bunch of housing options in the neighborhood. It's super diverse and new restaurants and retail are popping up all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really need to look at the Hill. If you've lived in Brooklyn you're not afraid of walking so you could end up with a walk to Union Station and another to the orange/silver/blue for the commute to Courthouse. It's a wonderful community for families with plenty of walkable stuff.

Higher crime than where OP would have lived in Brooklyn. OP moved from the city to Maplewood- a charming safe small town in Essex Cty NJ near Millburn and the Oranges. OP got a typical small GOOD NJ school district. Maybe 5 schools in the entire district and OP would never have to think about charter school lottery, redistricting from Wilson [if in DC], S Arlington's -Alexandria school issues, etc. So Takoma Park is a bad commute for work but OP and Montco MD has income tax so OP could comfortably live in N Arlington, parts near Mclean or Mclean or City of Falls Church.

For people who lived in those little NJ towns with school districts dealing with the BS of MCPS/FCPS/DC etc is annoying at best.

I don't think that any taxes that MD could put forth even come close to what these people are paying. My relatives have a $1.2 million home in Maplewood -- which is absolutely beautiful. However, they currently pay $36,000 in annual property taxes. All of that for a high school that gets a great schools rating of 5 out of 10. My own kids go to Wilson so not knocking Columbia High School (which is quite similar to Wilson in many respects) but Maplewood is not some kind of educational nirvana that OP could never approximate here in the DC metro area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello - my husband and I (biracial late 30's AA/White) are looking to move to the DC/NOVA/MD area from NYC. We have a 3 month old daughter and are relocating due to me taking a new position. My job will be based near the courthouse area of Arlington and he will be working by Union Station. The question is where to live. We have a budget up to 900k to buy for the interim but would like to rent in a diverse area with a walkable downtown that will be comfortable for our family. For example we lived in Brooklyn for years then moved to Maplewood, NJ before our DD was born.
I hear good things about Takoma Park/Silver Spring Maryland but worry the commute would be too much. I would like to use the metro to get to work (the old NY'er in me).
Any advice would be great. And by diverse I mean yes all ethnicities but at least 10% AA middle/upper class.

Petworth. You can take Green/Yellow Lines at Petworth station to Orange Lines at L'Enfant and your husband can transfer to the Red Line at Fort Totten. For 900K you would have a bunch of housing options in the neighborhood. It's super diverse and new restaurants and retail are popping up all the time.

That's a hella commute for both. I stand by my earlier recommendation of renting on Capitol Hill through the early years.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in Shepherd Park, dtss, and takoma and they are definitely what you're looking for? But the commute. Don't kill yourselves for the commute, especially with an infant.

In your shoes, I would do sw or Delray. Sw, one of the older condo communities, rent a townhouse and see if you like it. We looked down there, and geographically it didn't work for us, but I really liked it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Shepherd Park, dtss, and takoma and they are definitely what you're looking for? But the commute. Don't kill yourselves for the commute, especially with an infant.

In your shoes, I would do sw or Delray. Sw, one of the older condo communities, rent a townhouse and see if you like it. We looked down there, and geographically it didn't work for us, but I really liked it.

Delray? SW? Doesn't OP want good schools? Also Delray to Union Station is not much better than Takoma/Sheperd Park to Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Capitol hill sounds like it might suit you best but 900k isn't going to get you much. As for schools, the cap hill schools are getting better everyday and a lot of the folks on the hill send their kids, even white kids, to the public schools. The 900k limit might push you a little further east of the hill, north is still a little pricey. You could try bloomingdale also but once again 900k could have you in a house that needs some work