Columbia - Feels fake (Baltimore, Ellicott City: HOA fees, low crime, neighborhood)

[tpeach03]

I agree to an extent. I moved to Columbia from Rockville about 4 years ago because the price of housing was less and I liked the school system for my daughter. I couldn't afford a townhouse in Rockville, but I could in Columbia. That being said it took a LONG while for me to get used to the area. It wasn't my style, very 80's, and alot of restaurant chains. I find myself today saying all the time 'I wish there was more' in terms of unique dining. I'm not a huge fan of the area, and personally would never live here if it weren't for my daughter. She's now been here for 4 years, going into middle school soon and has developed all her friends. I do find it to be very nice for families, and there are plenty of things to do. Nice lakes, less traffic, pretty nice people, nice county camp system.. BUT I will be moving as soon as she's in college and out of the house! :-)

Oh and about the crime.. well crime is everywhere, I don't know a city, neighborhood that doesn't have it. There is not a place in Columbia that I have ever felt uncomforatable nor a place where I wouldn't venture. It's not violent here at all.

[HFeder]

The first planned community was Radburn - near Fairlawn, New Jersey...much like Columbia only I personally like Columbia better having lived in both places.
I really enjoy the planned community. I love the paths, the open space..the fact that my neighbors can't leave their Christmas lights up all year round or have obnoxious lawn ornaments or toilet bowl planters!

[Juanvald]

I grew up in Columbia and thought it was a great place to be a kid. My neighborhood was full of kids and there were so many places you could get to by using the bike paths. Also, plenty of open spaces to play baseball or football. My friends and I rode our bikes all over town and I never felt unsafe. This was during the 90s. Oh and I lived on the border between Owen Brown/Oakland Mills and people consider that the ghetto of Columbia. The apts around the Oakland Mills Village Center are definitely suspect, but we rode our bikes past them all the time on the way to the mall and never had any troubles. I would love to raise my kids there, but we now live in an absolutely gorgeous house in Raleigh NC and in a great neighborhood. There is no way I could afford a house like this in Columbia and Im not willing to downgrade. So we are happy to stay in NC and start a family here.

Also, I don't think Columbia is fake at all. Maybe I am biased. But I would take Columbia over any other town in MD.

[chesapeake83]

To people complaining about the lack of unique restaurants and culture in Columbia, I have to say: get in your car and drive 15 miles to Baltimore, or 20 miles to DC. We live in a large, urban, metropolitan area, and if you can't find entertainment in DC and Baltimore, than you may just be too picky.

If you don't want to drive 20-30 minutes, there are some non-chain restaurants in Columbia/Ellicott City. Indian, sushi, Japanese steakhouse, seafood restaurants to name a few are all represented in Columbia/EC. There are also international ingredients in Columbia grocery stores if you want to make your own unique dinner.

Columbia offers a quiet place to rest, safe place to raise a family, and convenience to major highways that will take you to all the urban amenities that one would like to enjoy. It would be nice if there were better public trans to DC but that would make it easier for rifraf to travel to Columbia, so I will just drive my car where I want to go and won't complain.

[sodaking663rd]

There's no denying Columbia is a nice little town but I don't think the word charm comes to mind when describing it. It is safe, clean, uppity, organized and stuffy. Call me trashy but I don't like how everything is hidden. Even the gas stations look nice...eh I'm not impressed.

[oneofthethree]

I also would take Columbia over any town in maryland. The schools are on point, many jobs, in between everything, amenities, neat. But only with money. If you did not exactly live in some of the worse apartments of oakland mills, or long reach, wilde lake, owen brown, you don't know. I did for 8 years. This is not the place to live. I was on multiple occasions physically assaulted, robbed, and dealt w/ too many drug dealers and gangs. It's not Baltimore City, but why not put out the extra money to enjoy Columbia to the fullest ? Go to The Verona at Oakland Mills Apartment Ratings, Reviews, Map, Rents, and other Columbia apartments for rent from ApartmentRatings.com, look at that, and the surrounding complexes in close proximity. I don't make these things up. I came from NY, we moved there thinkin everything would be nice but it was not. The majority of the rest of Coliumbia was nice, but not where I lived. If you would consider any part of the bad parts of PG county a "ghetto" than consider these small apt. complexes the same thing. But it is not the city, so it is still nicer. And people think it is bad now it was worse in the 90's. Don't believe that 100% of any place is good, there are even parts of places like Bethesda and Potomac which aren't all that. Everywhere you go you get what you pay for.

And Columbia being fake is all opinion. It doesn't really matter when baltimore, dc, and everywhere else is close by. Live somewhere that you like the best w/ a combination of fitting your budget best, and you should be happy.

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by Juanvald

I grew up in Columbia and thought it was a great place to be a kid. My neighborhood was full of kids and there were so many places you could get to by using the bike paths. Also, plenty of open spaces to play baseball or football. My friends and I rode our bikes all over town and I never felt unsafe. This was during the 90s. Oh and I lived on the border between Owen Brown/Oakland Mills and people consider that the ghetto of Columbia. The apts around the Oakland Mills Village Center are definitely suspect, but we rode our bikes past them all the time on the way to the mall and never had any troubles. I would love to raise my kids there, but we now live in an absolutely gorgeous house in Raleigh NC and in a great neighborhood. There is no way I could afford a house like this in Columbia and Im not willing to downgrade. So we are happy to stay in NC and start a family here.

Also, I don't think Columbia is fake at all. Maybe I am biased. But I would take Columbia over any other town in MD.

transplant power. Which has more future upside Columbia or where you live in Raleigh?

[oneofthethree]

With Columbia making plans to become more like a real "city" and dowtown preparations, I hear a lot of talk. There are people who say it will be the next "Manhattan", and people who see a lot of relocation from projects in the city and say it will become the next "Baltimore". Obviuosly with the way it was built it probably will not become a Manhattan or Baltimore. But I do see a very bright future, an upside. Maybe not for longtime residents who may lose the smalltown feel, but for the money that can be made from it. If you go to montgomery county and see places like chevy chase, rockville, etc..... a lot of these suburbs have parts that feel like the city. I was driving out of dowtown DC the other day and could not tell the difference between when I left DC and moved in to Chevy Chase. Pretty much I could see Columbia becoming just like any other city really, just like some other suburbs have somewhat done. There may be a mixture of good and bad neighborhoods, but it might still hold it's diversity, have a nice geographical location, more jobs & schools, and finally have some of it's own "culture". Then maybe it will no longer feel......Fake haha.
Maybe like a Silver Spring, with a higher population??? I don't know, we'll see.

[taconis]

I lived in columbia for a year and always wondered what sort of recreational drugs the planners were on when they named the neighborhood streets....Blue February Way? Geesh

[TinkChic79]

Columbia is a basic, boring, tacky town with no nothing! No opportunities, no entertainment, no fashion, no hype, no action, no happiness, no peace, no excitement, noooo nothing!!! Why don't we just call it Columboring? I've been in that area for over the last decade and a half and not a darn thing has changed. Everything is just getting older and uglier. It is DULL.


P.S. It has the most suckiest schools on Earth.