when your choice is $850k+ for a townhouse, $500k for a 2-bd condo, or the ghetto... people in DC would probably beg to differ with your assessment. on the flip side, i'm not complaining about my commute, i generally like riding the subway in the morning compared to being in my car so while a tad long, its not bad.
Well, living in Alexandria City, I am still glad I don't have to deal with a commute at all. I work from home, but I could make more money if I changed jobs, but that would mean commuting in DC area traffic, so I am happy not changing jobs. We live in this close (inside the beltway) and my wife still gripes about her commute into DC. It is less than 15 minutes non-rush and anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes rush. She might start paying the toll on the I-395 HOV lanes when they make them toll, although it is kind of pissing her off because she uses them coming home now (after the 6PM HOV cutoff). Now, if I could just figure out a way to keep the damn kids off my lawn and out of my mailbox that would fix most of what I don't like about this place. The little cretins cut through my corner lot on their way home from middle school and if I don't go out and get my mail before they come by, they steal my mail. Even then they mess with the mailbox flag, leave trash or food in my mailbox and all over my lawn. I actually don't mind kids and 95% of them are good, but that other 5% are turning me into a grumpy old man.
We were across from the Wegmans, gated community, so not totally Hoodbridge. Even then I was only commuting 3 days a week, bike on HOV was 30-40 min each way. Now only 2 days a week from Winchester, but the bus ride is almost 2 hours each way.
The bus ride was one of the questions we were looking for answers on. You using mass transport or one of those "nice" buses?
I just love reading about you guys bitching about your commutes. I used to drive 20 miles to work and occasionally not pass a car in either direction....used to sing the lyrics to green acres all the way...
If I lived any closer to my job i'd seriously run the risk of either getting shot or my wife and daughters getting raped,both of which we survived a few attempts of each. There is a reason some people dont live 5 minutes from their jobs.......especially if your job is in a ghetto area and the county in which the company is based has become overrun with ghetto cops and politicians.
There are too many reasons to list why NoVA sucks. Unfortunately, there are also jobs in this area that don't exist anywhere else.
I could live any place with an international airport and do my job but my wife is 14th street so I'm stuck. For now.
Damn, so you guys wouldn't recommend moving to the Leesburg/Purcellville area? I have a job offer out there that I'm seriously considering, but it's not a done deal yet. My other option is just outside of Boston which I'm not a huge fan off. I would be commuting to the Sterling/Dulles areas. My wife and I are heading out there the first week of January to see if we like the area.
Sterling is okay, go for Chantilly to live. Purceville is weirdo hippyland. Leesburg is okay but you'll pay a f@ckton in tolls for the toll road. Really, it's no worse than anyplace else, you just make more here (and spend more for housing).
Man, if you think traffic in ATL is bad...you should go check out Chitcago, Dallas. I'll take ATL anyday over those two parking lots.
Did them both and that's amateur hour. I really think LA is the worst just because no one moves and they don't care that they aren't. Atl is just opposite land. The right lane is the fast lane, the middle is passing and the left is the slow and dodging couches, buckets of paint and ladders lane.
ATL is getting worse because the GDOT has pretty much stated publicly it's Lexus (toll) lanes or nothing from now on. The divide between the rest of the state and the left leaning city is a vast insurmountable chasm of ideology tainted with closet racism, NIMBYisms, and legitimate concerns about public corruption. We're doomed to get worse until these insufferable politicians get over themselves and utter dirty words like "public transit" and "commuter rail". Overall a lack of regional leadership has fed into the over Balkanization of the metro area. Rant over, dungeon avoided, the end.
Why would he need to pay tolls? I've lived in Loudoun most of my life and never used the Greenway. No need to even use the Dulles Toll Rd, used it a few times when I could do it for free. No tolls required to get around town. The only bad part of Leesburg is the ghetto within the bypass, other areas are fine.