We live in Takoma Park, DH commutes to downtown Bethesda on EW Highway and it really only takes 20 mins if he leaves no later than 8:15. It gets worse a bit later in the AM. But TP is so convenient for so many places and is such a wonderful place to live that the commute is not that big of a deal.

For me, it takes only 10 min to get from North Kensington to Farragut West. But I have a helicopter.

We live in North Kensington and love it. We are walkable to downtown Kensington, Wheaton metro (which doesn't sound as important to you), and numerous parks. The area is super family friendly and we love our neighbors.

I think you won't lose with either of these, it may just come down to the best property. We searched SS, North Bethesda, and Kensington. We landed in Kensington and couldn't be happier. I'm a huge promoter of Kensington. We enjoy the diversity of the area...and despite a pp poster's snarky comments, we are not "guilty white folk"...we are a mixed race family and almost all of our friends in the area are as well. We also appreciate the socio-economic diversity of the area.

I can't speak to the drive, but I actually commute by bike to Bethesda. Kensington is great for this.

I'm the op and by"that environment" I meant more the wealth than the racial/cultural diversity issue. We live now in a neighborhood next to the more wealthy neighborhood and the high schoolers drive better cars than we do and my husband's a physician. I

agree about the traffic he would drive there early and return random times so we will have to work it out when we visit.

Kakamy wrote:14:51 and 16:29 My husband is half Koren, but I'm white. And we live in South Texas, so depending on what you count as diversity we have friends who are mexican-american, african-canadian, belgian, korean and same sex partners. Even if we could afford Bethesda I wouldn't want my children in that environment. I can find many posts online that talk about excessive bullying at those schools. I want a school that is very mixed racially, safe/minimal bullying (of course) and SES, I would take that over a school with high test scores any day.

Also, Texas sucks for public education. So I imagine any school in Montgomery County is going to be a major step up.

I appreciate all the traffic information. I think that is the biggest hurdling block for my husband and where to live at this point. Come on purple line, although I think they were talking about that when we moved away in 2001.

Are you the OP? If you are, you might do a bit more research. BCC's current student body is 57 percent white; 15 percent African American; 17 percent Hispanic; 6 percent Asian. If you don't want your children in "that environment" you don't want them in America. And I don't know where you're reading these online posts about bullying in Bethesda, but I live in the BCC district and send my kids to elementary school here, and I've never heard about bullying problems. And I've never heard anyone suggest that bullying is a bigger problem at BCC or any of the Bethesda area schools than elsewhere in this region.

In any case, you really need to experience the traffic to know where to live. You should probably rent somewhere to get a sense of what is tolerable for you. Washingtonians are notoriously unreliable about their commute times - I have friends who swear it takes them 20 minutes to get downtown from their outer suburban homes, while my husband would tell you his 30 minute commute on Conn Ave is the most excruciating form of torture even though it doesn't hold a candle to the beltway. We live near NIH on a street that gets a ton of commuter traffic, and I can tell you that all the shortcuts people are recommending are nightmarish in their own ways as well. If you can visit try a few practice commutes and it will help you make an informed decision.

TP is "a slog to the Beltway?" News to me. I dash up New Hampshire in 10 minutes tops to the Beltway.

s. Woodside to Walter reed is 10.

I'm not sure this poster realizes that Walter Reed has moved.

OP, Takoma Park is a wonderful community, and it is very convenient to downtown Silver Spring and downtown DC, but it is difficult to get to any other job center besides those from there. It is a slog to the beltway and the beltway is very congested going west in the morning. And East-West Highway averages about 10 mph when you count traffic, stop signs, traffic lights, etc.

Kakamy wrote:14:51 and 16:29 My husband is half Koren, but I'm white. And we live in South Texas, so depending on what you count as diversity we have friends who are mexican-american, african-canadian, belgian, korean and same sex partners. Even if we could afford Bethesda I wouldn't want my children in that environment. I can find many posts online that talk about excessive bullying at those schools. I want a school that is very mixed racially, safe/minimal bullying (of course) and SES, I would take that over a school with high test scores any day.

Also, Texas sucks for public education. So I imagine any school in Montgomery County is going to be a major step up.

I appreciate all the traffic information. I think that is the biggest hurdling block for my husband and where to live at this point. Come on purple line, although I think they were talking about that when we moved away in 2001.

They were talking about it 20 years before that.

14:51 and 16:29 My husband is half Koren, but I'm white. And we live in South Texas, so depending on what you count as diversity we have friends who are mexican-american, african-canadian, belgian, korean and same sex partners. Even if we could afford Bethesda I wouldn't want my children in that environment. I can find many posts online that talk about excessive bullying at those schools. I want a school that is very mixed racially, safe/minimal bullying (of course) and SES, I would take that over a school with high test scores any day.

Also, Texas sucks for public education. So I imagine any school in Montgomery County is going to be a major step up.

I appreciate all the traffic information. I think that is the biggest hurdling block for my husband and where to live at this point. Come on purple line, although I think they were talking about that when we moved away in 2001.

If you are thinking ahead to high school, B-CC, Whitman, Churchill, Walter Johnson and maybe Wooton, have the best reputations except for the 2 magnet programs at Blair and the one at Richard Montgomery.

Anonymous wrote:Takoma park to Woodside is 5 minutes. Woodside to Walter reed is 10. You're only on EW until jones mill, usulally not that bad. As with every place around here it will occasionally be awful due to accidents, etc.

Seriously? We lived in wood side and it was 15 min, maybe more, to TP. We hardly ever went bc it was such a pain. And then EW hwy was unpredictable but could be rotten.

Anonymous wrote:diversity

always coming out of the mouths of white folks feeling "guilty" or playing it too PC

I'd love to see your kids' playmates. How diverse is that group?

Just b/c they're in school with other races/other SES levels doesn't mean they're hanging out.

Why do you assume OP is white?

I guess it depends upon where you are headed in Bethesda. From TKPK, another way to go is Aspen through Rock Creek Park, then Beach.

Takoma park to Woodside is 5 minutes. Woodside to Walter reed is 10. You're only on EW until jones mill, usulally not that bad. As with every place around here it will occasionally be awful due to accidents, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From Takoma Park, you just take East-West Hwy (410) to Bethesda. Until we get the Purple Line...

"Just"! The problem is the traffic on East-West Hwy is terrible, and there aren't a lot of alternatives.

+1 this commute is horrible.