Belle Haven is overrated and gross.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The city of Alexandria was built on the backs of slaves. Old town was a major port for the slave trade industry.

Classy.

Uh, every major port city in the entire world was built with enslaved labor. Are you 11 or just woefully uneducated?

Including New York City, where 20% of the population was enslaved. People forget that slavery wasn’t outlawed in the northern US until 1827.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1VK1TM/#:~:text=In%20New%20York%20City%2C%20where,all%20built%20using%20slave%20labour.

Anonymous wrote:My take as someone who grew up in Bethesda / Chevy Chase and now lives in Alexandria but in the Fairfax County part of Alexandria — live in the Fairfax county part of Alexandria lol. I personally think Alexandria area is the best place to live factoring in cost, charm, architecture, and just overall vibe, but I wouldn’t want to live in the city of Alexandria because the politicians are clowns and they are essentially 100% focused on pandering to poor people and immigrants. As a result of this pandering, the schools are now trash, the roads have potholes, there is crime and “affordable housing”, and neighborhoods that aren’t even near the water flood. Just not worth contributing tax money to that sinking ship. I live in Belle Haven so I get all the benefits of Alexandria without being involved in it personally.

We lived in Old Town for 15 years and loved it, but moved to Belle Haven for all the reasons you describe. A huge percentage of people in Belle Haven moved there from Old Town (and send their kids to private school, so it isn’t the schools that made them move).

I firmly believe most of the Alexandria 'haters', especially when it comes to Del Ray, are actually real estate agents in Arlington trying to to drum up business. They're scared about how quickly Alexandria became more desirable than Arlington.

I cannot think of a better place to be raising our kids than our Alexandria neighborhood. I am serious. We use the public schools. Go to church here. Are involved in the community. We are a former military family that kind of stumbled into living here, and I am thankful almost every day.
Do I think there are a million things that could be better - yes. The schools. The governance. The obsession with development of condos. But, at the end of the day I get to walk my dog and chat with my neighbors. Forge wonderful friendships with fellow working professional moms. Let my kids go out to play and just tell them what time to be home. Have amazing neighbors. Let the teenagers just have a curfew and chat with them when they get home from either the movies, hanging out in Del Ray/Old Town, or playing basketball at one of the neighborhood schools. We had lived many places, and I did not think places like our Alexandria neighborhood really existed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like another PP, my kids went to public schools K-12 in ACPS. They wound up at UVA and William & Mary.

When you have one large high school, two things happen:
1. The concentration of resources means that there is an incredible amount of resources: tons of AP classes but also lots of electives.
2. You have a greater awareness of the full range of American teenagers. There are struggling kids across the country, in every jurisdiction. Sometimes they are intentionally segregated away from the people living the typical DCUM life.

My kids' "exposure" to this broader span of reality did not negatively impact their trajectory. If anything, I think they enter adulthood with more awareness than those that live within a narrow band.

Also, I live in a nice neighborhood in the West End. Yes, those exist in Alexandria beyond Del Ray and Old Town.

I don't think this city is perfect by any means, but the level of rage displayed on this thread is... odd.

I usually don't bother with the Alexandria City posts, because there are people who very angry about the city and just want me to believe I am a fool living here with a family. I look around at my neighbors who along with me have children in the schools. We all seem like normal people with good jobs living in nice enough housing and wonder what is wrong with us. What potential harm are we doing to our children who are doing well at the schools and friends of many socioeconomic levels, races, and nationalities. We see older kids in our neighborhood graduate from the high school and go to good colleges, get jobs, and a few of them are even able to buy houses in the city or off the parkway in Fairfax/Alexandria.

I just wonder why if Alexandria is so horrible why hasn't everyone figured it out and moved.

I suspect the posters here can be divided into two groups. Those who pay attention to the local news (or receive local crime alerts from their Ring camera) and those who do not. You do you.

I am aware of the complete lack of crime where I actually live. I also don’t follow the election BS or any “news.” My life is rad AF. You should stop doom scrolling or move away from the pocket of drug dealers.

Typo - you are uninformed. I previously thought a lot of things were fine when I shared your approach. The mayoral candidates are running with crime reduction being a top priority. This isn’t fake news.

Here’s an Alexandria Gov crime link for when you’re ready to take responsibility for your safety. If you prefer not to “doom scroll,” you can search by neighborhood/address/date range: https://apps.alexandriava.gov/CrimeReport/?_gl=1*b9mx6l*_ga*MTIzODAwOTEwNC4xNzEzMTg0Nzg4*_ga_249CRKJTTH*MTcxNDkwNDA2MS44LjAuMTcxNDkwNDA2Ny4wLjAuMA.

Thanks for reminding me about that searchable database. It confirmed exactly what I suspected. A lot of petty crime and breaking into unlocked vehicles.

As for my personal safety, I have zero concerns. Nobody is dumb enough to break into a home in my neighborhood. The only time that happened within the last 5 years it was a tweaker on meth, and the police showed up in about 3 minutes. That happened to be statistically one of the homeowners without a weapon.

If you want to clutch your pearls when a drug dealer gets tossed under a playground with a columbian necktie, go right ahead. I am not going to get overly stressed out about it because I happen to not be a drug dealer. I also travel outside the bubble of the DC area to places in the US and outside the US that are far more "dangerous" than the hellscape that is Alexandria. Its amazing I make it back every time somehow.

Anonymous wrote:The city of Alexandria was built on the backs of slaves. Old town was a major port for the slave trade industry.

Classy.

No shiit, sherloick.

Who do you think built most of the major roads and railways around the world? Hell, Dubai's "modernity" is built on still-existing slavery from Asia and Africa.

Anonymous wrote:The city of Alexandria was built on the backs of slaves. Old town was a major port for the slave trade industry.

Classy.

Uh, every major port city in the entire world was built with enslaved labor. Are you 11 or just woefully uneducated?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like another PP, my kids went to public schools K-12 in ACPS. They wound up at UVA and William & Mary.

When you have one large high school, two things happen:
1. The concentration of resources means that there is an incredible amount of resources: tons of AP classes but also lots of electives.
2. You have a greater awareness of the full range of American teenagers. There are struggling kids across the country, in every jurisdiction. Sometimes they are intentionally segregated away from the people living the typical DCUM life.

My kids' "exposure" to this broader span of reality did not negatively impact their trajectory. If anything, I think they enter adulthood with more awareness than those that live within a narrow band.

Also, I live in a nice neighborhood in the West End. Yes, those exist in Alexandria beyond Del Ray and Old Town.

I don't think this city is perfect by any means, but the level of rage displayed on this thread is... odd.

I usually don't bother with the Alexandria City posts, because there are people who very angry about the city and just want me to believe I am a fool living here with a family. I look around at my neighbors who along with me have children in the schools. We all seem like normal people with good jobs living in nice enough housing and wonder what is wrong with us. What potential harm are we doing to our children who are doing well at the schools and friends of many socioeconomic levels, races, and nationalities. We see older kids in our neighborhood graduate from the high school and go to good colleges, get jobs, and a few of them are even able to buy houses in the city or off the parkway in Fairfax/Alexandria.

I just wonder why if Alexandria is so horrible why hasn't everyone figured it out and moved.

I suspect the posters here can be divided into two groups. Those who pay attention to the local news (or receive local crime alerts from their Ring camera) and those who do not. You do you.

I am aware of the complete lack of crime where I actually live. I also don’t follow the election BS or any “news.” My life is rad AF. You should stop doom scrolling or move away from the pocket of drug dealers.

Typo - you are uninformed. I previously thought a lot of things were fine when I shared your approach. The mayoral candidates are running with crime reduction being a top priority. This isn’t fake news.

Here’s an Alexandria Gov crime link for when you’re ready to take responsibility for your safety. If you prefer not to “doom scroll,” you can search by neighborhood/address/date range: https://apps.alexandriava.gov/CrimeReport/?_gl=1*b9mx6l*_ga*MTIzODAwOTEwNC4xNzEzMTg0Nzg4*_ga_249CRKJTTH*MTcxNDkwNDA2MS44LjAuMTcxNDkwNDA2Ny4wLjAuMA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like another PP, my kids went to public schools K-12 in ACPS. They wound up at UVA and William & Mary.

When you have one large high school, two things happen:
1. The concentration of resources means that there is an incredible amount of resources: tons of AP classes but also lots of electives.
2. You have a greater awareness of the full range of American teenagers. There are struggling kids across the country, in every jurisdiction. Sometimes they are intentionally segregated away from the people living the typical DCUM life.

My kids' "exposure" to this broader span of reality did not negatively impact their trajectory. If anything, I think they enter adulthood with more awareness than those that live within a narrow band.

Also, I live in a nice neighborhood in the West End. Yes, those exist in Alexandria beyond Del Ray and Old Town.

I don't think this city is perfect by any means, but the level of rage displayed on this thread is... odd.

I usually don't bother with the Alexandria City posts, because there are people who very angry about the city and just want me to believe I am a fool living here with a family. I look around at my neighbors who along with me have children in the schools. We all seem like normal people with good jobs living in nice enough housing and wonder what is wrong with us. What potential harm are we doing to our children who are doing well at the schools and friends of many socioeconomic levels, races, and nationalities. We see older kids in our neighborhood graduate from the high school and go to good colleges, get jobs, and a few of them are even able to buy houses in the city or off the parkway in Fairfax/Alexandria.

I just wonder why if Alexandria is so horrible why hasn't everyone figured it out and moved.

I suspect the posters here can be divided into two groups. Those who pay attention to the local news (or receive local crime alerts from their Ring camera) and those who do not. You do you.

I am aware of the complete lack of crime where I actually live. I also don’t follow the election BS or any “news.” My life is rad AF. You should stop doom scrolling or move away from the pocket of drug dealers.

Anonymous wrote:The city of Alexandria was built on the backs of slaves. Old town was a major port for the slave trade industry.

Classy.

This is not a thing anyone cares about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The market suggests that Alexandria is very desirable as prices are high and demand is strong. So for the doubters, maybe visit, walk around, and try to see what you’re missing. If you still don’t get it, that’s fine. But this thread contains posts from people whose sole source of info about Alexandria seems to be typing “Alexandria crime” into google. It’s like all the people talking about how terrible DC is yet when I go out on weekends, every restaurant is full, there are people everywhere, and everyone is enjoying themselves.

The "doubters?!?!" WE LIVE HERE. HELLO! Don't you get it WE LIVE HERE AND IT SUCKS. I'M MOVING AS SOON AS I CAN.

Sorry you are so angry. If you own, sell now and just rent in your preferred location. Prices are sky high so you should do very well. You can even put the proceeds from the sale in a money market fund paying 5.5%, and that will probably pay most of the rent in wherever you move to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like another PP, my kids went to public schools K-12 in ACPS. They wound up at UVA and William & Mary.

When you have one large high school, two things happen:
1. The concentration of resources means that there is an incredible amount of resources: tons of AP classes but also lots of electives.
2. You have a greater awareness of the full range of American teenagers. There are struggling kids across the country, in every jurisdiction. Sometimes they are intentionally segregated away from the people living the typical DCUM life.

My kids' "exposure" to this broader span of reality did not negatively impact their trajectory. If anything, I think they enter adulthood with more awareness than those that live within a narrow band.

Also, I live in a nice neighborhood in the West End. Yes, those exist in Alexandria beyond Del Ray and Old Town.

I don't think this city is perfect by any means, but the level of rage displayed on this thread is... odd.

I usually don't bother with the Alexandria City posts, because there are people who very angry about the city and just want me to believe I am a fool living here with a family. I look around at my neighbors who along with me have children in the schools. We all seem like normal people with good jobs living in nice enough housing and wonder what is wrong with us. What potential harm are we doing to our children who are doing well at the schools and friends of many socioeconomic levels, races, and nationalities. We see older kids in our neighborhood graduate from the high school and go to good colleges, get jobs, and a few of them are even able to buy houses in the city or off the parkway in Fairfax/Alexandria.

I just wonder why if Alexandria is so horrible why hasn't everyone figured it out and moved.

I suspect the posters here can be divided into two groups. Those who pay attention to the local news (or receive local crime alerts from their Ring camera) and those who do not. You do you.

Anonymous wrote:Individuals are entitled to their opinions but the market says it’s a place a lot of people want to be.

Home prices wouldn’t be what they are in Alexandria city if it was undesirable.

That said, the vibe is very different from one neighborhood to the next.

Close. What the housing prices are actually saying is that DC crime has gotten too high to stay and people still want to be close to their jobs. That’s about it.

It’s a their loss is our win kind of scenario.

Anonymous wrote:The city of Alexandria was built on the backs of slaves. Old town was a major port for the slave trade industry.

Classy.

That is correct and Arlington was part of Alexandria when the slave trade occurred. Georgetown had the largest slave market and Georgetown, including the university, was built on the backs of slaves, including those who were sold by the university to that more buildings could be built. Alexandria was occupied by the Union troops during the Civil War and Fort Ward had watchtowers looking into the countryside for Confederate troops. A house still stands in our neighborhood that a hospital for Union troops.

The White House, the Capitol and early federal buildings were built on the backs of slaves. If you are in a snit about slavery in Alexandria, you better be in a snit about your first president who owned slaves which he freed but his lovely wife, Martha, did not free her slaves. She gave them to her son for his Arlington Plantation. One of the slaves at Arlington was impregnated by Martha's son and bore a child who would become her white sister's maid. The white sister went on to marry Robert E. Lee and was thrown out Arlington Plantation when the Union made her taxes so high she could not pay them. She fled to Richmond and Arlington became a cemetery for - first Union soldiers killed in the Civil War -- then those enslaved at Arlington Plantation. The maid married into a family of free blacks who became prominent black educators in Arlington and Arlington's public school admin building is name after her family. Meanwhile, everything public property in Arlington bearing the name "Lee" is being renamed while the maid's name lives on.

So you don't think people should live in Alexandria because it had a slave port? Tell me about a part of the United States where people were not exploited?