Roll Call: Prince Georges parents, are any of you on DCUM? Raise your hands

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:taking into account all of the major pros and cons (which to me include cost of living, quality and access of public education at all levels, crime rate and quality of public services), I just don't see how anyone can choose to live in PG County over Fairfax County. But clearly reasonable people can disagree.

Many people would get too much stress from the commute (if they work in MD)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I saw one person mention Hope Academy in Landover. Has anybody else tried this? I didn't know about it when I had to choose a middle school for my children.

We have 2 kids at New Hope (also live in PG County.) Our kids are in elementary school there, so I can't speak about middle school, but we've been very happy. We find the parents all very friendly and down to earth - and we know many of them even though DH and I work FT and aren't very involved with PTA/etc. My DD has 18 kids in her class. The facilities aren't beautiful (ala Montgomery privates) but it is clean and cheerful. Tuition is about $9k (give or take.) We're very happy there and will have our kids there for the foreseeable future.

(I know there is concern because it started out as a Unification school, but my kids have both had teachers that are Unificationist and we have had no issues/concerns. We are a pretty secular family, but are comfortable with talking about God and general prayers. We feel they are teaching values vs. religion.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mount Rainierite here. Longtime DCUM poster. I won't argue there's nothing wrong with the county, but it is oftentimes unjustly maligned with a very broad and frankly offensive racist and classist brush. So I get a little defensive. I like where I live.

Where in Prince George's would you not live?

[Anonymous]

Glen Ellen is very nice and underpriced.

[Anonymous]

I remember when I moved to the DC area. I could not understand why people did not live in PG county. Then, the lawyer at my closing, who himself lived in PG, said "oh, its because of the forced busing". He was the only one willing to say it out loud. I decided, like him, that this would not discourage me from living in such a nice place with so little traffic, so much open land (due to the agriculture center and Goddard), such reasonably priced housing and such nice people. And the busing was ended several years later.

[Anonymous]

Fort Washington waterfront resident. We have a child now and are debating staying and going private or moving to a better district and paying 3 times as much for less house/land. Local private options top out at 15k a year max or we have Alexandria or DC options at 25k+. Hearing about classroom sizes increasing and redistricting doesn't make buying a home for great public options seem to be an automatic decision. If I pay triple for some basic crib and find we prefer private I would be wishing we had stayed in PG. In addition, we love living amongst diverse professionals who share our values though living here also comes with living in close proximity to an element that does not and all that comes with that including a lack of options for certain services I have to constantly go to Alexandria for. That gets annoying to have to constantly go elsewhere for things you want to do or buy because the area businesses cater to a stereotypical lowest common denominator.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County is more diverse than PG County. The majority "race" is a lower percentage, and higher percentages of Asian (much higher) and Latino.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:taking into account all of the major pros and cons (which to me include cost of living, quality and access of public education at all levels, crime rate and quality of public services), I just don't see how anyone can choose to live in PG County over Fairfax County. But clearly reasonable people can disagree.

Does cost of living include cost of house? Because I don't think I could find a house anywhere in Fairfax County that is close to what we paid for our house in Cheverly. Walking to metro, nice neighborhood, wonderful neighbors. My three kids are all in public schools here and are getting an excellent education; certainly better than what I received growing up. I'm sure we could find this all in Fairfax County too, but we couldn't have done it on just one salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember when I moved to the DC area. I could not understand why people did not live in PG county. Then, the lawyer at my closing, who himself lived in PG, said "oh, its because of the forced busing". He was the only one willing to say it out loud. I decided, like him, that this would not discourage me from living in such a nice place with so little traffic, so much open land (due to the agriculture center and Goddard), such reasonably priced housing and such nice people. And the busing was ended several years later.

In all honesty, there's also more crime here than in other areas. Our police do not have the best reputation, much of it deserved. Shopping isn't great (but we do have a Wegmans!) and not a lot of restaurants.

And there are a lot of African Americans who live here. Some people are just racist, or uncomfortable being in the minority.

[Anonymous]

I was unwilling to live in Virginia and couldn't afford anything metro-accessible in Montgomery County, so we ended up here in PG. I like being on this side of the city for all the reasons people mentioned about green space and cost of living. Also, honestly, I like living in a majority-black area: it makes me feel like I'm back in Chicago or Philly, two places I lived as a child and young adult and really enjoyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was unwilling to live in Virginia and couldn't afford anything metro-accessible in Montgomery County, so we ended up here in PG. I like being on this side of the city for all the reasons people mentioned about green space and cost of living. Also, honestly, I like living in a majority-black area: it makes me feel like I'm back in Chicago or Philly, two places I lived as a child and young adult and really enjoyed.

Why would you be "unwilling" to live in virginia? And why place importance on the color of your neighbor's skin? Odd.

[Anonymous]

Born and raised in DC. Now live in Upper Marlboro, MD. Am not interested in living in MoCo or NoVA (shudder), so PG is the place for me!

[Anonymous]

The Mount Rainierite here again. Not sure if you're asking me in an offhanded way about where I think the crime is. I wouldn't live anywhere I couldn't walk to public transportation or to get groceries. Just part of my personal criteria. I also moved here in part because I already had friends here, and I made new ones when I got here. I like that it's a close in, older, gridded suburb that is close to where I work. I feel very rooted and involved in my community. I just really, really like it here. The county my community happens to be in is incidental.

[Anonymous]

Also, it's frankly very fortunate that I like Mt. Rainier, because I can't afford to move (single parent in non-profit sector). Lol.

[Anonymous]

Cheverly poster here. We love it here, we do, for all the reasons previously mentioned. But schools are a huge concern. I would be lying if I didn't admit that it seems silly not to sacrifice a bit and pick up and move a county over, where the schools are stellar by comparison. And then I start my populist rant against myself. I'm a big proponent of public schools and think every kid has the right to a quality education. If I want to see PG schools improve, shouldn't I send my child to school here, get involved and work to make the school better? But then comes the part that makes me feel enormous guilt -- I don't want my child to be a guinea pig. Involved parents are hugely important, but there are so many factors beyond our control that can make or break a kid's education.. sigh. It's all really upsetting.