Ok, one last piece of data - I found a great site, CrimeReports.com where you can get a map of all types of crime in any area. Here is what I got for homicides in DC in the past few months. It pretty much supports what I have been saying…
My wife walks home from the metro often. Regarding the laptop or ipod, I wouldn’t leave those items out in plain sight in any neighborhood.
I would also contest the map from above - we have lived on Capitol Hill for 10 years, and just bought a house on 17th and Mass SE (Barney Circle, basically the Hill). I walk to Union Station for all my Red Line needs, but I do have the orange/blue very close by, and I have never felt unsafe, even as a young single mother. These neighborhoods tend to be less “developed” but all that means is that people have been here a long time - they are established, and generally quite racially mixed. There are lots of english basement apartments that you can rent fairly reasonably - I would highly recommend my former management company, Yarmouth Management (www.yarmouthm.com) which specialises in the Hill but also works all over the city. Eastern Market was recently voted one of the top neighborhoods in the country - right smack in the middle of one of those red circles. PM me if you have any questions - I went to AU, too, but it was a long time ago. They do run a shuttle 24/7 to the Tenlytown metro stop.
AR
Oh, and as for the homicide map - if you zoom in to the neighborhood level you will get a much more accurate view of what’s going on in the city. The east side of the Hill buts up against Anacostia and PG county, which is where the majority of the “bad stuff” is going on. There is a big river between “us” and “them”, and it really limits spillover violent crime. We have all the usual crime problems in urban environments, in my experience mostly vehicle break-ins and purse snatching, with the occasional mugging. DC is a very block-to-block city, so be sure to walk around where you think you want to live, at all times of day or night, and look closely at the street traffic, the noise level, proximity to schools etc. My new neighborhood is only 3 blocks in the “wrong” direction from my current apartment (across from the Fed Chairman’s townhouse) and it has a lower incidence of all kinds of reported crimes.
AR
No need to dance around the issue; the areas nyctea scandiaca circled are mostly black neighborhoods, with the exception of parts of Capitol Hill.
I lived on the “black” side of Capitol Hill for a year and a half. People were at best indifferent to me (white guy) and often openly hostile. I tried, I mean I really tried to make the best of it, but the bottom line is that it just wasn’t worth it, though YMMV wildly.
DC is the most segregated city I’ve ever seen, with the possible exception of Boston. Many blacks in DC have a nasty attitude towards whites, some of it historically deservedly so. I just don’t like being looked upon as the face of oppression every.fucking.day, personally, and I’m not one of those squeamish suburbanites, either.
If you’re into playing urban pioneer, it’s fine, I guess. ::shrugs::
Huh. I’ve taken the green line between College Park and downtown many times and it’s never even given me a moment’s pause. I guess this is one of those YMMV things! I’d have no qualms about living on the Hill or near Eastern Market, either.
Editing to add: I’m female, if that matters.
FYI - There has been quite substantial development in Silver Spring in the 6+ years we’ve been here. They are in the final stages of the development plan - construction work is currently being done on a civic building and outdoor plaza/ice skating rink.
I live in one of the red zones as well, and while I like my neighborhood, I wouldn’t recommend it to someone new to the area. I would live in a safer, easier neighborhood before moving to Petworth or my neighborhood (Near Northeast).
That being said, Eastern Market and Union Station are about as safe as it gets in the District. The Eastern Market is blocks and blocks from anything shady, and has a lot of amenities. The Eastern Market is about as gentrified as it gets by this point.
The sad fact is that you will have violent crime anywhere in the District. You have a lot of muggings in Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights which are in the safe zone outlined by nyctea scandiaca.
I wouldn’t leave anything of value sitting out in an unsecured location, but I wouldn’t do that in suburbs either.
If you can, try to find an apartment in River Place Coop in Rosslyn. The units are individually owned and there are always apartments available at various price points. The rents are cheaper than anything in the neighborhood and the location is phenomenal. You can walk to Georgetown in fifteen minutes and there is a metro station two short blocks away. There is a grocery within walking distance and restaurants within walking distance.
I work in the NOAA complex, which is right next to the MARC and Metro stations. I’ve seen all the newer stuff they are putting in. I didn’t know they were putting in a skating rink, but I have seen the new civic building going in and I wish they had left that little “park” alone. I’ve known a couple of people who’ve lived in the Blairs, they didn’t seem like the best places to live, but I haven’t been in one in a long time so things could have changed. They also were quite pricey a few years ago, over $1000 for a studio, but things could have changed.
One could live pretty well in the downtown Silver Spring area, but I would think it would be a bit pricey for students, and it is a bit far for a lot of the schools. There do seem to be a lot of odd people around though, which makes for some great lunch time walks.
WTF? Really? :dubious:
I won’t argue with you that DC can be very segregated, but the notion that many blacks have a nasty attitude towards white is pretty misguided. I (a white guy) live in the Petworth neighborhood, and have lived in the same house since 1986, save for a few years when I was in college. For a while there we were the only white faces on the block and we never had any trouble racial or otherwise. I would opine that those of you who are scared of the so called “black” neighborhoods refrain from giving advice that would scare off people looking for a decently priced house in a good neighborhood. Get out of Georgetown for a while.
While you may have had a positive experience in that regard, it is anecdotal at best, and has more to do with you living there since 1986 than your race.
I was never the least bit frightened, for I’m a big guy and can take care of myself, and I hate Georgetown (or at least what it has become). Reverse racism quite plainly observably exists in DC. I’m glad you’ve had a positive experience, but someone who’s never been there is not going to be able to discern where the pockets of friendly are. I’ve lived here almost 20 years.
Bravo!
The one caveat I would mention to the OP is that you have to know yourself. If you don’t want to live in a Black neighborhood, you probably shouldn’t. Some people can’t deal with what that generally entails (ie. being a minority, etc.). But, know that you will be paying more for a lack of diversity, and what is often no more that a perception of safety.
OK, I think you nailed what I was trying to say. It’s very hard to talk about race without people from the “don’t ever bring up race” crowd crying racist or something. It really had to do with being in the extreme minority and being isolated from good shopping/restaurants, etc., that was what made it less than ideal for me. I actually came out of the experience with more sympathy for minorities because the shoe was on the other foot.
The skating rink will be directly in front of the civic building - it’ll be a plaza during the non-winter months. But I, too, would have preferred that they leave the astroturf! It made a great place to hang out and people watch and let the kids run on summer evenings. Maybe the plaza will serve the same function.
Well, yeah, if you discount that since March 2001, there have been three murders in Adams Morgan, 1 or 2 near Dupont (maybe more Farragut North), and zero on what most people would call Capitol Hill. Even Brookland has about the same number of murders as Adams Morgan during that time.
One reason that map is so skewed is that it appears that Arlington County, VA police do not send data to the website so there are not data for the area southwest of DC.
Clearly all of our experiences vary widely and probably for just as many if not more reasons. In my experience, the suburbs in VA seem nicer than MD. At least those areas which have abundant housing available for rent, rather than own. (In my experience.) However, it is a VERY expensive area all around. (In my experience.) Some of the far outlying Virginia counties, where the cost of living is cheaper, have commuter train access to the city which a lot of people use. (In my experience.) Most of the stops are at Metro stations, form what I understand. I know of a few new places in the city that are currently being built that are supposed to be green, but I’m not sure when they are to be completed, and from what I can tell they will likely be very expensive and somewhat upscale.
As far as biking, which the OP mentioned, I don’t fell like DC is very accessible by bike from MD or VA. (In my experience.) However, the counties which are directly adjacent to the city do have decent bus service that is pretty cheap. (In my experience.) There is Metrobus, which is found in DC, MD, and VA. Then there are buses that are only in VA, and only in MD. They do transfer to the others though. (In my experience.)
Clearly, YMMV.
Regarding the discussion about diversity, Arlington - which as you know if my favorite area - is very diverse. There are especially a lot of Latino immigrants, and it’s certainly not lily white - I see African American people all the time, as well as plenty of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indian people. So my recommendations have nothing to do with race.
But An Arky is right - DC itself if a very segregated city. Basically any neighborhood east of the Anacostia River is probably 99.9% African American. There is a lot of gang and drug-related violence in these areas. I don’t know why it is, but it is.
FWIW, Georgetown University has a shuttle bus that runs from GU to the Montgomery Mall (Bethesda, near intersection of 270 and 495). Easy enough to drive to and free commuter parking. Gives you time to nap (or whatever) on the way. I’m sure GU has information on the schedule and frequency.
I live in Arlington too, and the rent prices have gone down a little bit in the past few months, but will probably go back up in the summer which is when more people move around. The cheapest areas to live seem to be near the East Falls Church metro (near the Westover neighborhood which borders Falls Church) and south of Rte 50 near Columbia Pike. South Arlington (south of rte 50) is very heavily latino (go to Pike Pizza for the best saltenas) which makes people nervous, but the crime rate here is pretty low.
Arlington is a very well developed area to live in if you don’t have a car - the bus system is good and it seems like most of the apartment communities are within walking distance of grocery stores/shopping centers.
I’m a single mom of two girls and I have to say, I feel most unsafe when we take the metro way out to Franconia/Springfield at night. But that’s mainly because it’s way the heck out in the middle of nowhere.