Reply to What's the vibe in University Park (MD)?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Apologies for the repost, but this question got lost in the great DCUM meltdown.  We are focusing our spring home search on University Park, MD, because it checks the big boxes--good housing stock, proximity to green space, convenient for both our commutes, and we have a school situation that works for us.  So I'm just wondering about the general vibe.  Is it a friendly and welcoming place?  Do kids from different schools (public/private/magnets) play together?  Will I make mom friends?  Are there sports/pool/clubs/etc.?  Would love to hear any impressions![/quote]

I live in UP and have for about 5 years.

UP itself has very small town vibe to it.  There are town events for Easter, Halloween, Christmas tree lighting, and Fourth of July parade.  All of these are very low-key.  For example, the Fourth of July consists of a group of people congregating at the Town Hall and walking down main road to the town green for a pinic, while some other people watch the procession.  They do movies in the summer on the town green.  I live in section of town that goes big for Halloween.  I think we went through about 1,200 pieces of candy this year, because it draws some of the other neighborhoods in.  The police block off some of the roads for a couple hours while the kids scurry about in what feels like a block party that covers a few blocks and maybe 50 houses or so.  But when we lived 6 blocks away (still in UP), I think we had like maybe 25 kids all night.

My kids are younger, but I don't see a ton of division between those at publics vs private.  The area has a number of kids at UPES, a few special publics (Chavez immersion, Glen Arden G&T), Friends Community School, and Saint Jerome.  I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that I know about.

Mom friends- I want to say yes.  We made a ton of friends just visiting the local playground and tot lot.  Though I don't want to overpromise if you have older elementary kids, because I don't know about coming to a new community with set friends.  I will say that I think generally people in the nieghborhood are friendly. I know the name of basically everyone that lives on our block, though part of that it due to an extremely extroverted child.  Neighbors have loaned me tools, took in packages when we were away on vacation, and who have generally indulged by talkative child.  This winter our holiday trip was extended thanks to Southwest Airlines, and our neighbors (who had volunteered to watch for packages when we dropped off Christmas cookies) got stuck hauling in a fairly large number of packages as family members had sent gifts to arrive after we returned.  In terms of the people you will meet here, I think most are college-educated professionals.  Some professors, some Greenbelt NASA folks, fair number of Feds, but also some artists and skilled trades workers.  Not sure what it is like when the kids get older, but I haven't encountered much of the overly intense parents who are trying turn thier kid into a bonzai tree in a shape pleasing to select Ivy League schools.

Prince George's Parks and Rec has a ton of opportunities, but we haven't explored the catalog much because our kids are still young.  Our first sport expierence was soccer and it was a very laid back, vibe in the pre-school arena.  I know kids involved in scouts and ballet.  I also know that there is a cricket league that plays or practices near the elementary school.  The town has tennis courts and I believe a camp that has some affiilations with JTCC, which I've heard is a big deal in the tennis world, but I don't know anything about tennis so could be totally wrong.  There is also an ice rink less than 10 minutes away in college park (not at the university).   They just built the new library across Adelphi Road and are supposed to be replacing the community center with a massive upgrade, if your kids are young.  Most of the families I know are members at the Adelphi pool and I know some do swim lessons at UMD too.

I will say that not many houses come up for sale in the area, but they are generally comfortably below the $900,000- $1M price point, though there are certainly some options in that price range.  Property taxes are high, but town services have generally been effective in my limited expierence.  [b]There are basically two local real estate teams that handle like 80% of the transactions around town, so just be aware of that.[/b]  We rented in the area for almost 2 years while we were house hunting.  It feels like a neighborhood where you see kids riding their bikes to a friend's house.

But you can't live just in UP.  It's too small and has absolutely no businesses. Fortunatly, you can walk to a number of ammenites like a library, movie theater, metro, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Safeway, and a dozen restaruants. To me, I think there has been substantial amount of investment, particuarly in College Park.  Within the last ten (or so) years, they have built five new groccery stores within a mile of town (Safeway, Lidl, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Yes! Organic Market).  Additionally, almost all of Route 1 above East West Highway is under construction for luxury apartment buildings and most of the "Hyattsville" around the mall metro has sprouted new townhouses.  There is good food in the area 2Fifty BBQ, NW Chinese, Franklins, Pizza Paradiso, but not fine dining.  I also feel like the traffic is less suffocating than the Bethesda/Rockville/Tyson's.  As for greater crime discussion that invariably invades any discussion of Prince George's county, I can say that I've never had a problem.  And I seriously doubt it's because I've intimidated anyone of who might be interested in committing a crime.  I go to the Mall referenced here, but only because there is a Target.  The rest is kind of rundown, but I think that is generally true of most malls these days.  Still, I don't think it is particularly any more dangerous than Gallery Place.  UP is nice, but within a few miles there are areas where crime is a greater concern.  The town newsletter publishes a crime report from the UP police.  It's not empty, but it's not like there are regular shootings or roving gangs stalking seniors walking their retrivers.  My sense is that most of the crime is car break-ins and theft.
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