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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sigh, maybe we're just disagreeing on the definition of snobby. Yes, Severna Park suburbia with strip malls but when we lived in DC we would have to drive up to an hour into the suburbs to find any kid-centric businesses. Now 5 minutes away I have a toy store, a music store, their taekwando lessons, a great library, a children's book store, Froyo House and Rita's, a ton of kid-friendly restaurants, their neighborhood pool, and their school in walking distance. Not to mention our boat and six kayaks at the community dock down the street. Where I lived in DC with a walk score of 95 we literally had no kid friendly businesses and had to drive out to the burbs for almost everything. The kids went to a charter school I had to drive them to, that had no path to high school.

Here in Serverna Park we don't have great dining (except I love The Point Crabhouse) but I can easily get to Annapolis and I regularly go to DC to see friends (not during rush hour - it's 45 min); my sister's place in Baltimore by the Inner Harbor is 30 min.

As to snobbiness - here's a sampling of neighbor professions: NSA (management), IT consultant, nonprofit management, construction small business owner, airline pilot, airline mechanic, Baltimore City school teacher, Severna Park schoolteacher, software engineer, bank commercial lending, lawyer, business consultant, active military (multiple), retired military, feds (Homeland Security, USDA), NSA (security and administrative), construction manager, nurses, DC firefighter, clothing small business owner, florist. At least 1/4 are in blue collar or trades jobs. My husband is the construction small business owner and is in heaven compared to DC where there were very few blue collar people. He talks all the time about how much more down to earth it is here.

Again, YMMV but for us the great parts have been our very affordable house compared to DC (yes I get it is expensive compared to Pasadena or other places), access to the water, super beautiful area, access to great schools and kid friendly activities, and yes, very friendly people.[/quote]

I think the difference between us is that I’m an Anne Arundel County native, whereas you sound like a DC native. You probably grew up seeing elitism and classism that was much worse than Severna Park, whereas I grew up in the SP area, and it was the most elitist and classist suburb around when I was growing up. Still though, I’ve lived in DC, Anne Arundel, Montgomery, and Arlington, so I know that there’s a difference between the wealth in Severna Park and the wealth in the elite suburbs of the DC area. I’d still voucher that Severna Park would be considered an affluent and prosperous suburb even for DC area standards. It has a median household income of $151,969. Bethesda, in comparison, has a median household income of $172,873. That’s not a large difference. Severna Park is in the Baltimore metro area, and it *is* the Bethesda of the Baltimore metro area. For the Baltimore metro area, Severna Park is one of the most affluent, elite, and prestigious suburbs that you can get. Though there’s still some blue-collar people in Severna Park, they’re decreasing in number over time. The new people moving into SP work white-collar jobs in Fort Meade, DC (like yourself), Baltimore, and Columbia. Even ranchers and split levels not unlike the kind you find in Glen Burnie are being snatched up for $600k+ because of the demand to be in the Severna Park school district and the prestige associated with having a Severna Park address.

Unlike the other affluent suburbs in Anne Arundel which are more new money—such as Crofton, Davidsonville, Crownsville, Odenton, Millersville, Riva, and Gambrills, Severna Park and Arnold are old money suburbs and have always been historically oriented as affluent suburbs of Baltimore and Annapolis since they were first built out. Thus, the Severna Park and Broadneck areas have a certain prestige that the other affluent Anne Arundel suburbs don’t. Davidsonville may be full of multi-million dollar McMansions now and have an even higher income than Severna Park, but it’s not as prestigious as Severna Park because it was known for being country bumpkin for all of its history before the 1990s.

It is the prestige of having a Severna Park address and sending kids to highly-coveted Severna Park public schools that make a lot of SP residents snobby, not their jobs. Even many blue-collar Parkies participate in this snobbery for those reasons. There have been numerous examples of incidents that demonstrate the strong aversion many SP residents have to people who aren’t from SP, and their desire to keep their schools and communities exclusive to whites and people with higher income levels. Seriously, I’ve even heard SP residents make snide comments about people in Crofton, Cape St Claire, and Odenton, let alone places like Pasadena, Glen Burnie, Linthicum, and Severn.

It’s still a very nice area to raise kids, one of the best in the Baltimore metro area and probably even the state of Maryland, putting commute times aside. But like any other area, Severna Park does have problems. Theirs happen to be associated with classism, snobbery, and exclusion of “outsiders.” Severna Park HS wouldn’t have been the focal point of a study on suicides in affluent suburbs if it didn’t have a problem with these issues. [/quote]

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