Anonymous wrote:This area is pretty rapidly gentrifying. It depends how you feel about being a first mover and getting into an area that is still rough but improving. We bought on the NE side of the Hill in 2003. It was still a little rough then and we had trouble with petty crime (car break-ins, once our house was broken into) but nothing violent. There used to be people who loitered on stoops and there was more trash on the ground than I wanted. However, we got a huge house with two car parking for a really reasonable price. Flash forward ten years and our house has doubled in value, the neighborhood is very safe, there are tons of kids and the local school is pretty strong, lots of new restaurants and shops, etc. Basically, it is a great neighborhood. I think that Trinidad is on a similar trajectory and it all depends on whether or not you want to be there through the transition years. We didn't have kids until this year (not that we intended to wait quite that long) but I would have been comfortable with kids in the neighborhood five years ago. It is all about personal taste and personal comfort level with things not being upscale for a few years.

Anonymous wrote:9:00, I assume you weren't inconvenienced much by the police cordons?

I'd have said the same thing about the Parkway neighborhood of South Arlington a decade ago. I mean, I was able to shrug off flophouses and a drug bust across the street ... I suspect if I'd have been met with Arlington PD cordons that'd be too much for me.

Or maybe you can ask the young family that bought from us, did $20k of renovations to the place and then moved in less than a year.

I did clearly say "regular DCPS". Which of the ones you mention are "regular DCPS schools" where you don't have to pass a test, win a lottery, etc.?

Maury looks like a regular DCPS school but for some reason it gets a 5 on Greatschools, OTOH it is under 50% FARMS, so maybe it's the ES version of "Yale or Jail." Be interesting to know where they go after there, though.

Tyler is a '4' on Greatschools, 62% FARMS ... maybe not as bad as other DCPS elementaries but not quite there yet.

OP, maybe you'll luck out and you'll get a nice older long-term resident couple on one side that'll even agree to babysit occasionally, and a couple of younger families will agree to stick around. Or maybe you'll move in next to an older woman whose grandson has no discernible income yet drives a nice car.

Anonymous wrote:No, and no. You can find crime maps on MPD's website. Also look at schools' test scores for what would be your in-bound neighborhood school to see if that would be do-able for you if you don't do well in charter and out-of-boundary lotteries. Most DC schools aren't very good, but some neighborhoods that are safer and not horribly expensive are Michigan Park, North Michigan Park, Lamond-Riggs/Riggs Park, Brookland, and Petworth.

A couple years ago MPD put roadblocks up around Trinidad in response to a lot of shootings.

After you look at crime maps, walk around the neighborhoods you're thinking of on a Friday or Saturday evening when it's nice out. See if you feel creeped out or like you could comfortably live there.