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[quote=Anonymous]I live in Historic Hyattsville and love it. I didn’t like living in DC until moving here. Now I happily see myself staying in the area long term. There’s real community here, with regular events and activities going on. I know my neighbors, three of them have keys to my house, I can always drum up a forgotten ingredient from someone at the last minute. People are normal and nice, not DC neurotic and competetive.

We have all the essential amenities in the area; most everything I need is in a 1-2 mile radius. Costco is the furthest away that I travel and the one in DC is a 13 min drive from my house. I can easily walk to a variety of restaurants, great coffee, multiple yoga studios, used book stores, etc. We have a choice of grocery stores at multiple price points (multiple ethnic grocery stores, Aldi, Safeway, Yes, and Whole Foods are all within 1-2 miles of the historic Distric). The bike paths are both functional and fun - there are safe routes to the metro as well as to trails connecting DC area routes for long weekend rides.

I routinely walk home from the metro at night and haven’t had problems, though I must admit to staying  hyper alert and sticking to high car traffic routes. But I went to college in NYC and believe that streets with less foot traffic are less safe than heavily trafficked streets in general. Car break-ins seems to be the most common issue in the Historic District, but folks often report that they had left their car doors unlocked, so there’s that... I think more serious crime may happen in some parts of the City. I would recommend reaching out to the police for more info. I asked once during a police open house and was told of a few hotspots in apartment conplexes near the fringe of city limits. I can’t remember the specifics though, and haven’t had problems.

If you buy in the City of Hyattsville, there’s a great parents group that is very well organized. (Note you have to live in city limits to join. They are sticklers about that.) The group has a super handy resource guide they’re routinely updating. When we had our kid, we relied on their compilation of area daycares to find a place that we’ve been very pleased with. Day care options run the gamut from small home day cares to larger federally-affiliated centers, with prices ranging from 1100-1700/month for infants. Also lots of folks do nanny shares.

There’s been a baby boom going on, so the local elementary school is overcrowded, and the facilities are in need of updating. The elementary school is supposedly at the top of county lists for renovations. It seems to me that folks (and I’m talking mainly about the over educated upper middle class DCUM types) seem to try to get into the county’s well regarded specialty schools first, but those who wind up at the local elementary school seem happy with the school. It has a very active PTA. There are also a few affordable private school options that are popular. Even the non Catholic schools cost a fraction of what DC area private schools typically cost.

Taxes are high, and they’ve been going up as property values have increased. Assessments are every three years, and the jumps have been significant as the neighborhood has recovered from the housing  crisis, which did hit the neighborhood hard. They’re higher in the City of Hyattsville because we pay city taxes in addition to county and state taxes. I wholeheartedly pay the city taxes since it’s clear what I’m getting from them - very responsive local government, excellent services, a police force, additional programming for at risk populations like the elderly and youth. Totally worth it. I have no idea what I’m getting out of my county taxes, but the city is a nice buffer between the (lack of) county services. Maryland does have a statewide law that limits how much you annual taxes can increase, even if property values or taxes increase. That’s been helpful.[/quote]

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