Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's beautiful but I would worry about the poison

Agree. There was an article about it awhile back and the rates of cancer and other ailments are really alarming when compared to the national averages. Why chance it.

This to the nth degree. And I would hate to knowingly expose my kids to an increased possibility of cancer. Agree that the houses are beautiful (on the outside at least!), but I would always feel uneasy. And then, if you or someone in your family did get sick, you would always wonder what exposure tipped them over the edge. Clearly, at those prices, there are many people who have a much higher risk tolerance than I, but one really cannot say that those who don't choose to take the risk are crazed.

But if your soil test comes up clean, what's the concern then? I'm assuming the neighborhood is on city water (as opposed to well), right?

Here is the finding

A 2007 Hopkins study found a lower-than-average occurrence of cancer in the neighborhood. But compared with the demographically similar Chevy Chase community, Spring Valley had more cases of arsenic-related conditions that affect the kidney, lungs, skin and bladder.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/spring-valley-residents-still-harbor-health-concerns-despite-new-hopkins-study/2011/12/07/gIQA3uuDoO_story.html

You do know that you can read the primary documents instead of a newspaper article (from an intern (literally)), right? What is written may be a faithful representation of the data, but I'd prefer to draw my conclusions from the stuff written by the doctors, epidemiologists, toxicologists and statisticians conducting the surveys. It is all publicly available.

Here's the most-updated report: http://www.jhsph.edu/offices-and-services/practice-and-training/projects/_documents/Summary-Report-July2013.pdf
It is less than one year old, so very recent.

Key quotes from the executive summary (pp. 4-5):
"Community health in the Spring Valley and Chevy Chase areas continues to be very good. Rates for all of the 15 major causes of mortality in the Spring Valley area were lower than in the US overall. Rates for 14 of the 15 top causes of death were lower in the Chevy Chase area than in the US overall; the mortality rate for heart diseases in Chevy Chase was slightly higher than the US rate. Statistical differences between Spring Valley and Chevy Chase mortality rates were noted for heart disease, accidents and homicides;
with Spring Valley mortality rates lower than Chevy Chase for all three."

"Incidence and mortality rates of the selected cancers were also very similar when comparing the study areas. Only one statistical difference was found in the analysis of incidence and mortality of selected cancers in the study areas: the incidence of lymphoma in the 2005
-2009 period is higher in Spring Valley than in Chevy Chase." (page 5)

The report indicates an increasing trend for lung and bronchus mortality in Spring Valley. The trend is statistically significant. It further indicates that the trends in Chevy Chase for lung and bronchus mortality and for lymphoma mortality are increasing. The report doesn't indicated whether the Chevy Chase findings are statistically significant, or whether there is a statistically significant difference in trend between Spring Valley and Chevy Chase. (page 5)

It's human nature to try to find a cause of every malady. History is replete with examples. But life is complicated and there are rarely identifiable causes for sickness. I'm not saying that we should stop trying to identify causes, but we might want to acknowledge the limits of our n=1 experiences, or at least be skeptical of people trying for form policy on the basis of theirs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's beautiful but I would worry about the poison

Agree. There was an article about it awhile back and the rates of cancer and other ailments are really alarming when compared to the national averages. Why chance it.

This to the nth degree. And I would hate to knowingly expose my kids to an increased possibility of cancer. Agree that the houses are beautiful (on the outside at least!), but I would always feel uneasy. And then, if you or someone in your family did get sick, you would always wonder what exposure tipped them over the edge. Clearly, at those prices, there are many people who have a much higher risk tolerance than I, but one really cannot say that those who don't choose to take the risk are crazed.

But if your soil test comes up clean, what's the concern then? I'm assuming the neighborhood is on city water (as opposed to well), right?

Here is the finding

A 2007 Hopkins study found a lower-than-average occurrence of cancer in the neighborhood. But compared with the demographically similar Chevy Chase community, Spring Valley had more cases of arsenic-related conditions that affect the kidney, lungs, skin and bladder.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/spring-valley-residents-still-harbor-health-concerns-despite-new-hopkins-study/2011/12/07/gIQA3uuDoO_story.html

Anonymous wrote:The issues with places like spring valley and mantua where chemical and other spills occurred a while a go is the issue of recent findings. If there weren't any recent findings people would be more comfortable but they keep finding things every few years.

If you look here, there is still ongoing activity so it's very fresh in people's minds

http://www.epa.gov/reg3hscd/npl/DCD983971136.htm

The issues with places like spring valley and mantua where chemical and other spills occurred a while a go is the issue of recent findings. If there weren't any recent findings people would be more comfortable but they keep finding things every few years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anybody want to buy there? Expensive, poison in the ground, and you don't see a person in the street - only dead people seem to live there.

Are you the same person who posts this sort of thing every year? I don't understand your motives. Perhaps you're an AU Park realtor? Or you have a long-standing feud with a Spring Valley resident?

Please fill us in, OP! I'm intrigued about what motivates someone to keep doing this.

OP. No, I haven't posted this before. Just wonder why Spring Valley is so expensive while, at least to me, it seems so unattractive. As said, a dead place. Con mortuis in lingua mortua.

I used to live in AU Park - a world of difference; we moved as, unfortunately, the space became too small for the growing family, and looked at Spring Valley. We soon decided it's lousy value for money and ended up in CCDC. No comparison.

I reckon Spring Valley is the Potomac for people who don't want to drive that far.

Oh, I take it all back. You clearly have a very informed opinion from the three listings you decided to visit.

Have you ever read about ski towns in the Rockies? I'm looking to buy a vacation rental and could use your expert knowledge on which town is best. I don't want to make a mistake and buy in an unattractive area.

By the way, Latin doesn't make you sound smart. It makes you sound pompous. Suum cuique.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anybody want to buy there? Expensive, poison in the ground, and you don't see a person in the street - only dead people seem to live there.

Are you the same person who posts this sort of thing every year? I don't understand your motives. Perhaps you're an AU Park realtor? Or you have a long-standing feud with a Spring Valley resident?

Please fill us in, OP! I'm intrigued about what motivates someone to keep doing this.

OP. No, I haven't posted this before. Just wonder why Spring Valley is so expensive while, at least to me, it seems so unattractive. As said, a dead place. Con mortuis in lingua mortua.

I used to live in AU Park - a world of difference; we moved as, unfortunately, the space became too small for the growing family, and looked at Spring Valley. We soon decided it's lousy value for money and ended up in CCDC. No comparison.

I reckon Spring Valley is the Potomac for people who don't want to drive that far.

I was going to say the same about 16th street.I've never seen people coming or going or in front of their houses when driving to SS.Haven't seen 1 in 15 years.these people must be busy doing something other than being at home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anybody want to buy there? Expensive, poison in the ground, and you don't see a person in the street - only dead people seem to live there.

Are you the same person who posts this sort of thing every year? I don't understand your motives. Perhaps you're an AU Park realtor? Or you have a long-standing feud with a Spring Valley resident?

Please fill us in, OP! I'm intrigued about what motivates someone to keep doing this.

I wondered the same thing when I saw the title of this thread. Signed, an AU Park resident who couldn't afford Spring Valley but thinks it is lovely.

Anonymous wrote:Why would anybody want to buy there? Expensive, poison in the ground, and you don't see a person in the street - only dead people seem to live there.

Are you the same person who posts this sort of thing every year? I don't understand your motives. Perhaps you're an AU Park realtor? Or you have a long-standing feud with a Spring Valley resident?

Please fill us in, OP! I'm intrigued about what motivates someone to keep doing this.

Why not just move to McLean or Bethesda, these aren't really city living and the commute would be the same to job centers.

Anonymous wrote:It's beautiful. The houses are spacious. We chose FH over Spring Valley because of the possibility of contamination. It may be overblown, but we wanted to err on the side of caution because we had extremely young children at time of purchase.

What's FH? Foxhall?

It's beautiful. The houses are spacious. We chose FH over Spring Valley because of the possibility of contamination. It may be overblown, but we wanted to err on the side of caution because we had extremely young children at time of purchase.

I bet all the people posting mean things about spring valley could never afford to live there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's beautiful but I would worry about the poison

Agree. There was an article about it awhile back and the rates of cancer and other ailments are really alarming when compared to the national averages. Why chance it.

This to the nth degree. And I would hate to knowingly expose my kids to an increased possibility of cancer. Agree that the houses are beautiful (on the outside at least!), but I would always feel uneasy. And then, if you or someone in your family did get sick, you would always wonder what exposure tipped them over the edge. Clearly, at those prices, there are many people who have a much higher risk tolerance than I, but one really cannot say that those who don't choose to take the risk are crazed.

But if your soil test comes up clean, what's the concern then? I'm assuming the neighborhood is on city water (as opposed to well), right?

Hey, my friends just bought that house. It's really an amazing house! I can't wait to be nvited to their parties. .