Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't care about schools, any part of Columbia is great. Merriweather has a ton of options to eat out now. Columbia has a vast trail system to run and HoCo striders is great if your looking for a group. Commute to Baltimore is not bad, but the closer you get to Baltimore, the further you get from DC. If you care about schools, I'd look in the River Hill or Centennial school districts. Marriotts ridge is a good school too, but its in the boonies for those that need to commute.

Nonsense, the schools in Columbia are good as well. You just named the three high schools in HoCo with the lowest number of students from poor families. And yeah, living in Columbia and sending your kids to Atholton > living in the Marriotts Ridge district in some cheap McMansion next to cow poop smelling farmland and being 1 hr+ from civilization.

Funny. I always thought Columbia had really crappy badly built housing. The stuff built by Rouse in the 70s and 80s is aging badly. Ellicott City and Clarksville is a notable step up.

Columbia doesn't have the best schools in HoCo = straight from the mouth of the head of planning at Howard County government to me at a conference.

OP would be better moving to either downtown Baltimore or staying in DC and commuting. Not clear where the offices are for her or her spouse as they make all the difference.

First of all, River Hill HS *is* a Columbia school. River Hill is a neighborhood in Columbia, and about 1/8 of high schoolers in Columbia attend RHHS. Clarksville is a mere zip-code, and some parts of it fall under Columbia--River Hill being one of those parts. Second of all, Atholton HS is easily one of the best high schools in HoCo, and it is located in Columbia. Atholton ranks higher than both Mount Hebron and Howard High Schools, both of which are in Ellicott City. It's not too far behind Centennial either, the crown jewel school of EC. Probably 1/3 of Columbia teens attend either RHHS or Atholton, and plenty more are zoned for Howard HS in EC. To say that Columbia has bad schools is ridiculous. Even the lower ranked schools in HoCo are better than schools in many other counties, and the only difference is that they have higher FARMS. Hammond HS is ranked low among HoCo schools, yet they send the most students to ivy-league universities.

We will have to disagree with neighborhoods as well. People who live in developments near cow shit in cheaply built $1.3M homes with brick fronts and ugly vinyl sides have no place to look down upon the only people in Howard County who live in semi-walkable neighborhoods near civilization and amenities. Maple Lawn and Columbia are the only areas in HoCo with redeeming characteristics, and Columbia will only get even better with the downtown plans in the future. There is nothing redeeming about the housing in Clarksville. Clarksville, Glenelg, and Marriottsville are just exurb number 23747383884 in the DMV where people who can't afford Potomac or Bethesda go to get a cheap McMansion. It's another Olney, Davidsonville, Clarksburg, Boyds, Ijamsville, Gambrills, Mt. Airy, Monrovia, Laytonsville, etc. There is nothing unique or redeeming about it at all, and in two decades, it will peak just like Potomac did (Bethesda is more popular now). Columbia has a music scene, several nice parks, nice neighborhoods, walkability, etc that make it more unique compared to other suburbs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't care about schools, any part of Columbia is great. Merriweather has a ton of options to eat out now. Columbia has a vast trail system to run and HoCo striders is great if your looking for a group. Commute to Baltimore is not bad, but the closer you get to Baltimore, the further you get from DC. If you care about schools, I'd look in the River Hill or Centennial school districts. Marriotts ridge is a good school too, but its in the boonies for those that need to commute.

Nonsense, the schools in Columbia are good as well. You just named the three high schools in HoCo with the lowest number of students from poor families. And yeah, living in Columbia and sending your kids to Atholton > living in the Marriotts Ridge district in some cheap McMansion next to cow poop smelling farmland and being 1 hr+ from civilization.

Funny. I always thought Columbia had really crappy badly built housing. The stuff built by Rouse in the 70s and 80s is aging badly. Ellicott City and Clarksville is a notable step up.

Columbia doesn't have the best schools in HoCo = straight from the mouth of the head of planning at Howard County government to me at a conference.

OP would be better moving to either downtown Baltimore or staying in DC and commuting. Not clear where the offices are for her or her spouse as they make all the difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't care about schools, any part of Columbia is great. Merriweather has a ton of options to eat out now. Columbia has a vast trail system to run and HoCo striders is great if your looking for a group. Commute to Baltimore is not bad, but the closer you get to Baltimore, the further you get from DC. If you care about schools, I'd look in the River Hill or Centennial school districts. Marriotts ridge is a good school too, but its in the boonies for those that need to commute.

Nonsense, the schools in Columbia are good as well. You just named the three high schools in HoCo with the lowest number of students from poor families. And yeah, living in Columbia and sending your kids to Atholton > living in the Marriotts Ridge district in some cheap McMansion next to cow poop smelling farmland and being 1 hr+ from civilization.

Anonymous wrote:Maple Lawn would be one place to consider.

And there are a number of places that are close to the Columbia Town Center and the lakefront businesses that would work. There are a number of apartments and condos on the loop right outside the mall, so you can walk over to the mall area to dine and shop.

There are places in Hanover, MD that are walking distance to the Arundel Mills mall and all of the restaurants and businesses surrounding the mall. Just be warned that this also includes the casino there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you be more specific about where the "closer to Baltimore" and closer to DC" locations are? Look at MARC and commuter bus routes because I'd give different advice depending on which highways and which bus and commuter train lines you'd potentially be using.

https://www.mta.maryland.gov/transit-maps

Anonymous wrote:If you don't care about schools, any part of Columbia is great. Merriweather has a ton of options to eat out now. Columbia has a vast trail system to run and HoCo striders is great if your looking for a group. Commute to Baltimore is not bad, but the closer you get to Baltimore, the further you get from DC. If you care about schools, I'd look in the River Hill or Centennial school districts. Marriotts ridge is a good school too, but its in the boonies for those that need to commute.

Anonymous wrote:Can you be more specific about where the "closer to Baltimore" and closer to DC" locations are? Look at MARC and commuter bus routes because I'd give different advice depending on which highways and which bus and commuter train lines you'd potentially be using.