We looked for diversity, access to higher education and the overall "feel" of NOVA. It seems like NOVA has a grander plan and MD was a hodpodge of communities and infrastructure.

Anonymous wrote:VA is the land of strip malls - it's depressing.

Rockville Pike is the biggest clusterfuck of traffic and strip malls in the region.

Lower taxes, closer to the NC beaches, college choices, more knowledge of the good public schools.

8:26 again:
(7) No PEPCO.

After lots of research, we chose Fairfax County after living in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase area for almost 12 years. Here's why:
(1) Lower taxes (for the record, I am a Dem). We were priced out of many places in MoCo -- when we were looking, we would think we could afford a house only to calculate the monthly payments and discover it was unaffordable because of state, county, and locality taxes. Even though we pay lower taxes in Fairfax, we have excellent municipal services, trach collection, schools, etc.
(2) Related to this, the fiscal management in Fairfax County and Virginia seems to be better. MoCo finances are a disaster.
(3) People are just plain nicer where we live. I found many (not all, certainly) people in Bethesda to be snobby, wealth-focused, and not interested in you unless you could not advance their interests in some way. I don't find that in Fairfax, even though there clearly is money here. I have never felt scrutinized for my stroller and fashion choices, which I definitely did in Bethesda.
(4) Drinking water is cleaner (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/12/AR2009121202136.html).
(5) For those with comments about the Confederacy, have you been to NoVa lately? It is extremely diverse. My neighborhood includes white, AA, and Asian families. By contrast, my Bethesda neightborhood was all white.
(6) My vote counts.

VA is the land of strip malls - it's depressing.

There are lots of threads on VA vs. MD if you do a search. It's a personal preference and people feel strongly one way or another.

1) lower taxes
2) I honestly think it is more strongly middle class... pretty much all of vienna, oakton, the true middle class areas are all nice... not like moco where olney and silverspring areas can be really sketchy.
3) better public university options
4) overall stronger schools IMO

We live in VA ONLY because it is closer to work. Most of my extended family in the area lives in MD, and I would love to be closer to them. I'm happy that NoVA is bluer than the rest of the state, but current state politics piss me off. Now, if we stay in the area, obviously VA higher ed is better. I just don't think there is THAT much of a diference between the 2, so I could happily live in either state.

Honestly, I don't see why every thread here is a pissing match. One mention of D.C. and people fly off the handle.

I don't live in Virginia, not because it "sucks," but because the traffic is bad and the housing is too expensive for me right now. There are lots of parts of NOVA where I imagine I'd be perfectly happy, and I'm sure there are lots of parts of MD where I'd be unhappy.

Just can't bring myself to live in the Confederacy. So Maryland it is.

We chose VA because it's closer to work, I believe the schools are better, and the taxes are much lower.

I grew up in Chevy Chase, and my parents still can't believe I moved to VA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So anyone who posts anything not "germane" to a thread is a "nasty bitch" ? Whoa. I guess that's DCUM for you. The hatred for DC proper is so visceral; I don't get it.

Aren't there plenty of threads about DC proper? Why hijack one that's not about DC? Is staying on topic that difficult? I don't get it, either.

There was ONE post about DC. That was enough to get people's reactionary hackles up. It snowballed from there into profanity. People could have ignored it.

Anonymous wrote:

So anyone who posts anything not "germane" to a thread is a "nasty bitch" ? Whoa. I guess that's DCUM for you. The hatred for DC proper is so visceral; I don't get it.

Aren't there plenty of threads about DC proper? Why hijack one that's not about DC? Is staying on topic that difficult? I don't get it, either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We stayed in DC. Can walk to work if need be; otherwise just hop a bus to downtown. No real commute. Can walk to Whole Foods, the hardware store, restaurants. The beltway? What's that?

Your opinion was not solicited on this thread. Are you a product of DCPS who graduated without learning to read?

You are a nasty bitch. I would assume that DC would be included considered the proximity. Not the PP.

No, the nasty bitch is the DC poster who wants everyone to know she's never on the Beltway and walks to Whole Foods, even though it's not at all germane to the thread. Not the PP, either.

DC's only considered in the "proximity" when you're out of town and other people ask where you live. Then you can say, "Washington, DC." Otherwise, if you really live in DC, you're excommunicated by the suburbanites. You're a non-starter.