Reply to For Westchester New York Transplants Which neighborhoods are most similar in NoVA and MD?

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Reply to "For Westchester New York Transplants Which neighborhoods are most similar in NoVA and MD?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up in New Canaan, CT, went to college in the Boston area, have a sister in Newton and one in Montclair, NJ, so I've got my bona fides with respect to Tri-State and Southern New England suburbs.  I've lived in the DC area for 25 years, and have raised a family in a very friendly neighborhood in Chevy Chase (MD).  OP, even if you could afford to pay twice as much as your budget allows, you're not going to find what you're looking for here.  There are two key reasons:

1) The suburbs here don't have downtown areas that have evolved over 100 years with a mix of locally-owned, long-lived and much-loved restaurants and stores at different price points.  "Downtown Bethesda" is not the same thing -- it's like an outdoor mall.

2) The public school systems in this area are huge and many more suburban kids go to private school here than is typical in the NY and Boston suburbs.  That means you don't get the same level of community involvement and cohesiveness.  Even in my super-friendly neighborhood, after elementary school, the kids all split up to go to lots of different schools.  If your kids go to private school after elementary (as mine did), their friends will live all over the DMV.

Don't get me wrong -- it's not awful here.  Washington is an interesting place to live if you practice law or work in journalism or politics (that's what brought us here).  But, if you don't have a compelling career-related reason to come here, I would urge you to consider whether you can avoid moving.   [/quote]

Ok, but let’s be clear: the reason more people go to private schools here is because the county-based school districts aren’t as segregated as the NE town-based districts. There’s no reason to not go to public school in Greenwich, CT, when UMC white people don’t have to deal with any poors in their district.

Also, my suburban community has a lovely array of locally-owned restaurants and shops. So don’t generalize.[/quote]

Town-based districts come with really high school taxes.  That’s why they don’t send kids to private schools in those communities- they live there specifically for the schools and pay $20k or more a year in taxes to be there.

And yes, there are locally owned shops and restaurants, but they’re not arranged around a Main Street like they are in the Northeast.  It’s just not the same.  [/quote]

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