Gainesville? (Great Falls: homes, construction, schools)

[stpickrell]

Gainesville is 88.77% White, 6.80% African-American, 0.23% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.53% Other, 1.26% multi-racial, and 3.77% Hispanic (of any race). So yeah, Christine thinking she'd walked into

By comparison, Ashburn: The ethnic groups were White (71%), Asian/Pacific Islander (14%), African American (8%), Hispanic (7%), and Other race (7%)

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by stpickrell

Gainesville is 88.77% White, 6.80% African-American, 0.23% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.53% Other, 1.26% multi-racial, and 3.77% Hispanic (of any race). So yeah, Christine thinking she'd walked into

By comparison, Ashburn: The ethnic groups were White (71%), Asian/Pacific Islander (14%), African American (8%), Hispanic (7%), and Other race (7%)

Geez, 88.7%. That's fairly high.

[spleuchan]

Originally Posted by stpickrell

Gainesville is 88.77% White, 6.80% African-American, 0.23% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.53% Other, 1.26% multi-racial, and 3.77% Hispanic (of any race). So yeah, Christine thinking she'd walked into

By comparison, Ashburn: The ethnic groups were White (71%), Asian/Pacific Islander (14%), African American (8%), Hispanic (7%), and Other race (7%)

I'm curious where you get your stats from (and what year they are from). City-data (2009) shows:
White alone - 6,760 (58.9%)
Asian alone - 1,776 (15.5%)
Black alone - 1,316 (11.5%)
Hispanic - 1,175 (10.2%)
Two or more races - 408 (3.6%)
American Indian alone - 22 (0.2%)
Other race alone - 20 (0.2%)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 4 (0.03%)

City Data shows in 2000 it was 86.6% white, but that was right before/at the beginning of the construction boom.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

Geez, 88.7%. That's fairly high.

I despise the political forums so I won't be going there. Thanks though for the earlier suggestion. And sorry you feel I have an axe to grind as I don't believe I do. I just wonder why race even needed to be brought up in this conversation at all?

[Candicem]

I don't think my husband would want to go much further than Gainesville. He was already iffy to the idea just because he works in Great Falls and I work in Reston, so compared to where we are now, it would add to our driving time. The good thing for him though is that he works from 10pm to 6am so he doesn't have to worry about rush hour. I have to be at work at 8am, so I would have to leave pretty early. I think if for some reason Gainesville doesn't work out for us, then we would just have to pay a little more for another town home complex (also new Ryan homes) in South Riding.

[spleuchan]

Originally Posted by Candicem

I don't think my husband would want to go much further than Gainesville. He was already iffy to the idea just because he works in Great Falls and I work in Reston, so compared to where we are now, it would add to our driving time. The good thing for him though is that he works from 10pm to 6am so he doesn't have to worry about rush hour. I have to be at work at 8am, so I would have to leave pretty early. I think if for some reason Gainesville doesn't work out for us, then we would just have to pay a little more for another town home complex (also new Ryan homes) in South Riding.

I don't know your situation exactly, but if it were me and I planned on keeping the job in Reston for a while, I'd probably try to see if I could make South Riding work; however, there are a lot of preschools in the gainesville/haymarket/manassas area, so if you thought you might try to change to teach at a school closer to gainesville than I might go with gainesville.

[Middlin]

I've lived in Bristow since 2003 and the demographic for the area is definitely parents with ES aged children. Bristow has 7 ES's in a 6 mile radius so that says something about the demographics.

I don't know much about the Gainesville schools, but from an academic and makeup of the school population they are very good schools and would compare well with SR

Just so you are aware, the 29/Linton Hall construction will last until 2015. If you have driven through there you can see the ramps being built over 29 which will improve the flow of traffic on 29 a great deal. In the mean time, anyone traveling that route will experience some issues for quite awhile. Somerset does have a exit in the back of the neighborhood that you can wind through to Haymarket and get around that intersection.... but nice to be forewarned.

Honestly, if I was looking now and worked outside of the area, I would seriously consider anything off Heritage Hunt first. There is Piedmont and a couple of others.

I am partial to the Gainesville/Bristow area on the same side as Atlas Walk. That shopping center meets about 90% of my needs and it's convenient to be on that side of 29. Of course if you're in Somerset you are close to Wegman's and some restaurants.

Also, if you think you might teach preschool in the area, there are a number of them just off Linton Hall. Winwood, Minnieland, Kindercare, a Montessori school to name a few.

I like South Riding and have friends and family that live there, but just b/c it's closer in miles, doesn't mean tons faster to get where you're going. Yes, Route 50 is being widend, but they continue to build and once the Arcola center gets built out, 606 will be even worse. My point is, you need to weigh your pain and gain and where you're willing to do trade off's.

[Candicem]

Middlin, that's all very true. Which is why we are looking into it now and doing our research Lots of things to look into now and think about. I currently work at a montessori school, but I have also worked in a non montessori school before also so I have experience in both, so I can really go anywhere with that. I'm not too worried about myself. Also again, my husband doesn't have to worry about high traffic times because of his shift.
Thank you!

[Middlin]

One thing to keep in mind is that the ES in this area start quite late (9:00 am) with buses coming from 8:25 to 8:40. If you work outside of this area and your husband was running late at work... you might have issues with when you need to leave and when your husband gets home.

[HereinVA]

Originally Posted by Candicem

Middlin, that's all very true. Which is why we are looking into it now and doing our research Lots of things to look into now and think about. I currently work at a montessori school, but I have also worked in a non montessori school before also so I have experience in both, so I can really go anywhere with that. I'm not too worried about myself. Also again, my husband doesn't have to worry about high traffic times because of his shift.
Thank you!

have you looked at the townhomes in Victory Lakes (Bristow). They are in the final phase now. I think someone earlier in the thread mentioned some other townhomes they are building off of Sudley Manor, just outside of Victory Lakes...there is a Montessori preschool (Bristow Montessori) very close by as well. A few great running trails here as well