What is the value added proposition for living in the District?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:--Short commute so more time with family
--Walkable to shops, restaurants, amenities, parks, etc.
--Great neighbors from all different backgrounds
--Easy access to museums, sporting events, culture, music, history, etc.
--Character
--Most of our friends live within a 10-minute walk

I lived in NW (Dupont, then moved to the "burbs" of Cleveland Park and Woodley Park) for fifteen years. I was like many on this board, who looked down on people who lived in Maryland or Virginia, much less *gasp* outside the beltway. Then I moved to close-in Virginia, and realized what a fool I'd been -- I have an as short, if not shorter, commute, all of the amenities listed above (I live about the same distance from the metro as I did in DC), and do not have to pay extra taxes to a ridiculously corrupt, inept city government (just a mildly stupid city government). The little secret is that the commute from NW DC is not that great, unless you live in Woodley or Cleveland Park right near Connecticut and work around Farrugut North (which I did, at one time), and that's on a good day. When I worked near Capitol Hill, the commute was a nightmare of gridlock (and the traffic is worse now than when I was doing it). If I took the Metro, I had to change trains, so it wasn't any faster. One immutable law of Washington is that everyone lies about the length of their commute, and that includes folks (outside of the category listed above) who say their commute from NW is "20 minutes." Yeah, it is -- at midnight.

I so agree with this - re: length of the commute. I lived in DC for five years and it ALWAYS took me at least 30-40 minutes to get home, whether I caught the metro or drove. And this was with me living and working in NW DC. Now, I live in the burbs of Maryland and it takes me an hour and 10 min. to get to work usually. I do hate driving but I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new neighborhood, my beautiful corner lot, that there is parking readily available whenever I go the store and and the fact that my child will be going to school in a school district that is ranked as the second best district in Montgomery County. When I was single I could have lived in DC forever though - it is perfect if your only obligation is yourself.

Pretty funny that they only other-centered thing you mentioned was that your child has a nice public school to attend--something many, many DC parents on this board also have. Everything else is "ample parking" and "big house". It'd be nice--if you're going to slam every DC resident with kids, and on a board called 'DC Urban Moms' no less--if you were to point out a few examples of this self-centeredness we're all suffering from. Heh.