Am I understanding Falls Church City right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I can walk in less than 10 min to multiple parks, restaurants, bars, FedEx, CVS, 2 Starbucks, Harris Teeter, 2 breweries, 2 barber shops, dry cleaning, kids indoor play spaces and I'm probably forgetting ones! It's an awesome place to live.

Thank you. This is the kind of info I am looking for. Would you say middle school kids can wander about meeting friends after school or weekends (within reason)?

My middle schooler and their friends are cheerfully feral once school is out. They bounce around the community center gym and teen space, parks and sport courts, food options, and whatever games (rec, pickup, high school) are being played. All in all, it’s a very safe place to develop some basic street smarts and public behavior norms. I frequently get reports from other parents that they saw DC out and about, which helps me reinforce lessons like “The grocery store is not a playground.”

Please keep reinforcing that. It’s a huge problem in that Falls Plaza shopping center. Some middle school boys almost knocked me over yesterday at Giant. School had just gotten out and four boys were in the store and one of them was yelling “Just give me a dollar” over and over and then they started whipping their backpacks at each other, laughing and yelling. If one had hit me, which they almost did, I would have made them very, very sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To add to the above info, Meridian HS, the school for Falls Church City is the smallest high school in Northern Virginia. So if you want to save some money, the public schools from middle through high school are very small.

The only smaller public school is HB Woodlawn in Arlington (grades 6-12 and about 70 students a grade), but entry is by lottery only, and the waitlist is hundreds of students long.

I live in Arlington so no firsthand experience, but I’ve heard FCC schools referred to as basically a “public private.” But you pay tuition in the form of housing and property taxes. Which is why posters are saying to give the public schools a glance if you’re considering living there, but otherwise don’t pay the premium only to go with Catholic school.

I think a lot of the kids at St. James come from surrounding areas where the public schools aren’t as highly rated as opposed to within FCC but that is totally my anecdotal knowledge. Perhaps someone whose kids attend there could say otherwise.

I know Catholics in FCC that send their kids to St. James.

We are among those Catholics that live in FCC and send our children to Saint James (and yes there are a large number of us). We started out in the FCC public schools (having purchased in FCC because of the schools’ reputation) but did not have a good experience so switched to Saint James and have absolutely loved the school and the accompanying close knit community.

I do regret that we paid FCC housing prices for a school system we ended up not using, but on the other hand not sure that we would have gotten slots at Saint James without priority as residents within the parish boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Wait, are you not going to have a car at all? That is a huge mistake. With kids you are going to need one regardless of how walkable the area you live in. Your kids are going to do various activities (especially on weekends) that will mean you are driving or take 60-90 minutes to get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have lived in FCC for about 10 years. I wouldn’t describe it as “walkable.” I walk my dogs every day and have to navigate streets with no sidewalks. We don’t walk to local restaurants etc, we drive. We do walk the 15 mins to the WFC metro to commute downtown for work (although I drive to the metro if weather is bad).The “main drag” — Broad St, aka Route 7 — is a very busy street.

St James is a very large church with an active community. I’ve attended a few services and it is a beautiful church. Their school is very convenient for anyone wanting Catholic school in Falls Church, but bear in mind that you need to think about passing up such good public schools. People pay the premium to live in FCC because of the good public schools. Also bear in mind that a lot of what you might think is FCC is actually Fairfax County, but those schools are good too. I don’t think it makes sense to pay to live here if you are going to send your kids to private school.

I think the Eastern part of FCC closer to Arlington/EFC is more walkable. Lots of sidewalks near me and easy to get to places like State Theater, Northside Social, the new Whole Foods development, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I can walk in less than 10 min to multiple parks, restaurants, bars, FedEx, CVS, 2 Starbucks, Harris Teeter, 2 breweries, 2 barber shops, dry cleaning, kids indoor play spaces and I'm probably forgetting ones! It's an awesome place to live.

Thank you. This is the kind of info I am looking for. Would you say middle school kids can wander about meeting friends after school or weekends (within reason)?

My middle schooler and their friends are cheerfully feral once school is out. They bounce around the community center gym and teen space, parks and sport courts, food options, and whatever games (rec, pickup, high school) are being played. All in all, it’s a very safe place to develop some basic street smarts and public behavior norms. I frequently get reports from other parents that they saw DC out and about, which helps me reinforce lessons like “The grocery store is not a playground.”

Please keep reinforcing that. It’s a huge problem in that Falls Plaza shopping center. Some middle school boys almost knocked me over yesterday at Giant. School had just gotten out and four boys were in the store and one of them was yelling “Just give me a dollar” over and over and then they started whipping their backpacks at each other, laughing and yelling. If one had hit me, which they almost did, I would have made them very, very sorry.

The FCC kids behave atrociously at that whole strip mall. Feral is right but not cheerful. They are a menace and I wish their parents taught them better. I have seen the same behavior in FCC restaurants- the kids behave so badly and parents find it cute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, are you not going to have a car at all? That is a huge mistake. With kids you are going to need one regardless of how walkable the area you live in. Your kids are going to do various activities (especially on weekends) that will mean you are driving or take 60-90 minutes to get there.

OP here. Yes we plan to get a car, but wanted to replicate what we do now where we only need the car on weekends, and only occassionally during the weekdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be careful with "walkability" in this area. Get a google map and zoom in. Most places that are billed as walkable do not have any sidewalks so you are in the street. Coming from abroad you may not be aware of this. Real walkability was crucial to me and I ended up in Bethesda/CC.

Which areas are called “walkable” but don’t have sidewalks?

Both FCC and the areas near Westover, both with proximity to EFC metro, are similar in having spotty sidewalks. The shopping areas have sidewalks, but not all of the neighborhoods.

The areas in Arlington near St Agnes have sidewalks

I’m surprised you’d say spotty sidewalks near westover. We live there and I can’t think of a street without sidewalks. Op I think FCC will have a lot of what you’re looking for, though you may have to drive a little more than now. Westover is similar and the kids walk/bike around after school, we walk up to eat or go to the library, pick up quick errands like Walgreens. But I do still have to drive to karate for example on a weeknight. And I drive to my workout class, for example. Our kids are smaller so we also put them on the back of our cargo bike and take them around that way but that is harder in the winter when it’s dark earlier.

[Anonymous]

FCC is far. Arl is better and even Bethesda as a central location. I hate going to FCC. It's nice but you're separated from other places. Arl is more centrally located and you will enjoy the culture of walking more as I find there stores/food better.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know how “Catholic” you are, but the Diocese of Arlington (includes FCC) is notoriously conservative. Might be a factor for you if you come from a more liberal tradition. You can read up on it on the religious forums.

Otherwise, FCC is as close to small town feel as you can get inside the Beltway. I lived on the West End for a number of years and could walk pretty much anywhere - Metro, shops, schools, dining, parade, etc. The city is fairly flat compared to Arlington and the W&OD trail makes it easy to get around on foot and especially by bike. Services are very good and very responsive.

As far as racial makeup, if you are Asian or some shade of lighter brown, you’ll find people that look like you. Money talks. But I swear whenever I see someone pulled over on Broad Street, it’s always a black driver. It stands out because FCC holds itself out as being very progressive. I’d defer to an actual black person to provide their lived experience but in my observation, there really aren’t that many around.

[Anonymous]

It really is an acquired taste. FCC has always given me the creeps, mostly because racism is so deeply baked into its DNA, yet people never stop talking about the small-town feel (which I’ve never picked up on when there) and all the State Department employees living there (as if they are the only ones welcome there, or there aren’t State Department people living elsewhere). It just tries very hard to be something it isn’t.

It does have a nice farmers’ market.

[Anonymous]

FCC is a significantly farther commute than Arlington.

Also, Make sure when you search for houses you are looking at ones in the city of Falls Church and not the Fairfax County part of Falls Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCC is a significantly farther commute than Arlington.

Also, Make sure when you search for houses you are looking at ones in the city of Falls Church and not the Fairfax County part of Falls Church.

O for 2.

FCC literally borders Arlington. How could it be a significantly longer commute.

And some Falls Church neighborhoods in Fairfax County are nicer and zoned for higher regarded schools than in FCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how “Catholic” you are, but the Diocese of Arlington (includes FCC) is notoriously conservative. Might be a factor for you if you come from a more liberal tradition. You can read up on it on the religious forums.

Otherwise, FCC is as close to small town feel as you can get inside the Beltway. I lived on the West End for a number of years and could walk pretty much anywhere - Metro, shops, schools, dining, parade, etc. The city is fairly flat compared to Arlington and the W&OD trail makes it easy to get around on foot and especially by bike. Services are very good and very responsive.

As far as racial makeup, if you are Asian or some shade of lighter brown, you’ll find people that look like you. Money talks. But I swear whenever I see someone pulled over on Broad Street, it’s always a black driver. It stands out because FCC holds itself out as being very progressive. I’d defer to an actual black person to provide their lived experience but in my observation, there really aren’t that many around.

I've lived within 2 blocks of Broad St and driven on it virtually every day for over 10 years and I've literally never seen anyone pulled over. They don't police speed or traffic at all on Broad St.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how “Catholic” you are, but the Diocese of Arlington (includes FCC) is notoriously conservative. Might be a factor for you if you come from a more liberal tradition. You can read up on it on the religious forums.

Otherwise, FCC is as close to small town feel as you can get inside the Beltway. I lived on the West End for a number of years and could walk pretty much anywhere - Metro, shops, schools, dining, parade, etc. The city is fairly flat compared to Arlington and the W&OD trail makes it easy to get around on foot and especially by bike. Services are very good and very responsive.

As far as racial makeup, if you are Asian or some shade of lighter brown, you’ll find people that look like you. Money talks. But I swear whenever I see someone pulled over on Broad Street, it’s always a black driver. It stands out because FCC holds itself out as being very progressive. I’d defer to an actual black person to provide their lived experience but in my observation, there really aren’t that many around.

There are very few Asians in FCC. Whenever I eat out there, I am the only non-white person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I can walk in less than 10 min to multiple parks, restaurants, bars, FedEx, CVS, 2 Starbucks, Harris Teeter, 2 breweries, 2 barber shops, dry cleaning, kids indoor play spaces and I'm probably forgetting ones! It's an awesome place to live.

Thank you. This is the kind of info I am looking for. Would you say middle school kids can wander about meeting friends after school or weekends (within reason)?

My middle schooler and their friends are cheerfully feral once school is out. They bounce around the community center gym and teen space, parks and sport courts, food options, and whatever games (rec, pickup, high school) are being played. All in all, it’s a very safe place to develop some basic street smarts and public behavior norms. I frequently get reports from other parents that they saw DC out and about, which helps me reinforce lessons like “The grocery store is not a playground.”

Please keep reinforcing that. It’s a huge problem in that Falls Plaza shopping center. Some middle school boys almost knocked me over yesterday at Giant. School had just gotten out and four boys were in the store and one of them was yelling “Just give me a dollar” over and over and then they started whipping their backpacks at each other, laughing and yelling. If one had hit me, which they almost did, I would have made them very, very sorry.

The FCC kids behave atrociously at that whole strip mall. Feral is right but not cheerful. They are a menace and I wish their parents taught them better. I have seen the same behavior in FCC restaurants- the kids behave so badly and parents find it cute.

+1

It's not remotely cute.