Reply to Did you move from a dense, urban part of DC to a quieter part?

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[quote=Anonymous]We moved from Columbia Heights/Petworth border to Shepherd Park.

Main driver on moving was the school situation. Two little kids, struck out twice with lottery. In-boundary school (Raymond) was not one anyone on this board would have ever touched at the time - and still probably not. Secondary driver was having more space - a yard for the kids to burn off energy all day without having to go to the playground every time.

Major downsides after moving were giving up walkability. We had a grocery store and metro within a block, which was amazing. Several good bars within 5 blocks, and a few kid friendly restaurants to walk to, plus the library. When we considered these things,

We live on a more walkable end of Shepherd Park, so still have a few decent amenities we can walk to - but the distance is greater. Our closest good ones are Denizens (brewery) and Moorenkos (ice cream shop), both within kid-walkable distance. Spouse does the 15 min walk to metro, kids will sometimes do the 10-15 min walk to the library. We definitely drive more places than we used to.

The sense of community is still there - it's just different. The fact that most kids are in the neighborhood school means that we have a bigger peer group of fellow parents across the neighborhood, whereas in Petworth we only really knew our block - but everyone on it. We have similar amounts of ethnic and age diversity, which is nice.

The big thing we noticed right away (not to sound like a pearl clutcher) was what a nicer environment it was. No more trash and chicken bones on the street, no more drug dealers on the corner, no more kids smoking weed at the playground. Having a yard in a safe neighborhood is a HUGE difference. We can feel good about having the kids play out back with enough room and stuff to entertain them while we get stuff done in the house. The extra distance to downtown core is a bit of a bummer - but expansion of interesting dining options into Petworth & Columbia Heights helps reduce the impact, as it's still a short drive/uber there than to somewhere like Shaw or Chinatown. Peace of mind of a decent elementary school and a guaranteed path through MS and HS is great. Not playing the lottery is great. Being close enough to our school so that the kids walk every day is great.

So yeah, you'll feel like a sell out for leaving "the city," but you can still maintain your shred of city pride by paying District taxes ;)[/quote]

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