Manassas! Had low expectations, but it didn't match them. (Reston: houses, neighborhood)

[yamota]

the one thing really about Manassas that I could live without is the traffic on Sudley rd.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

But Oxon Hills wouldn't have better schools, right? I haven't heard of Prince William having good schools, but I think it's negative seems to be more based on the fact that someone is living so close to the superior Fairfax County schools without benefitting directly from them.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oxon Hill schools are not good. Prince George's County schools as a whole are not good. To be honest, having either been in or research schools in both systems, Prince William County's worst schools are middle of the pack in Prince George's County. Unfortunately having a lot ESOL students move there doesn't help, which is probably another motivation for PWC to enforce those laws. Prince William County Schools are very good but yes they are overshadowed by Fairfax. The only major difference between the two schools are the demographics. Fairfax is much more affluent and that honestly probably has a big impact on school performance. Of course there are some pockets of bad schools in PWC, but places like Bristow, Lake Ridge, Haymarket and Gainesville have the great schools.

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

The interesting thing about those laws, is that they seem to basically be the same as anywhere else. It's always illegal to be illegal, but most laws prevent authorities from solely profiling a person just because they are Latino. So it doesn't sound much different.

Maybe just the hoopla that the media was making made some of the community spread out. Either that or the U.S. continues to attract Latino immigrants in large numbers, and they are just growing throughout everywhere.

Well there are laws that have been written, but this nation has, in my opinion, done a poor job addressing immigration. Prince William County put an emphasis on making sure every arrest had a immigration status check attached to it. At first, they were doing it on just suspicion rather than actual crime, but that is just a no-no. That is where the controversy started. Now they do it by arrest, which if you think about it isn't really that unusual, but I guess they are emphasizing it more than other places (i.e. Arlington County).

[mcleanexec]

Best thing about Mannassas is Jiffy Lube live.

After that.......

[jillybean720]

I lived in Manassas when I first moved to the area in late 2004. I lived just off of Liberia (near the Walmart), and I really didn't mind the area at all. Just like pretty much any city around here, there are good neighborhoods and, umm, less good neighborhoods. I currently live in Sterling and could say the same.

Originally Posted by mcleanexec

Best thing about Mannassas is Jiffy Lube live.

I thought that was Gainesville.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by jillybean720

I lived in Manassas when I first moved to the area in late 2004. I lived just off of Liberia (near the Walmart), and I really didn't mind the area at all. Just like pretty much any city around here, there are good neighborhoods and, umm, less good neighborhoods. I currently live in Sterling and could say the same.

I thought that was Gainesville.

It's actually Bristow.

[Dazed&Confused]

Originally Posted by yamota

the one thing really about Manassas that I could live without is the traffic on Sudley rd.

LOL! Good point. It sometimes takes a while just to get through all the lights, especially if you time them wrong. OTOH, I live here and work here, so the traffic on Sudley doesn't bother me. On a bad day, it takes me 8 minutes to get to work. I'll take that over 90 minutes on I66 any day.

[jillybean720]

Originally Posted by pgtitans

It's actually Bristow.

Well, there ya go. Still not Manassas :P

[yamota]

well, wherever Jiffy Lube Live is, if there's a show there, I avoid the area like the plague

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by pgtitans

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oxon Hill schools are not good. Prince George's County schools as a whole are not good. To be honest, having either been in or research schools in both systems, Prince William County's worst schools are middle of the pack in Prince George's County. Unfortunately having a lot ESOL students move there doesn't help, which is probably another motivation for PWC to enforce those laws. Prince William County Schools are very good but yes they are overshadowed by Fairfax. The only major difference between the two schools are the demographics. Fairfax is much more affluent and that honestly probably has a big impact on school performance. Of course there are some pockets of bad schools in PWC, but places like Bristow, Lake Ridge, Haymarket and Gainesville have the great schools

IIRC, the Oxon Hill schools aren't even among the good schools in Prince George's -- I'd be A-ok with Eleanor Roosevelt (College Park), and would at least give Bowie a chance.

Oxon Hill HS is in the middle of the test score pack and Potomac is actually THE lowest scoring HS in Prince George's (Greatschools uses the Maryland equivalent of the SOL tests to do its number ratings.)

I remember a couple years ago I helped collate a list of schools by average SAT scores. Freedom-Woodbridge had a score in the middle of the Prince George's pack. Every other Prince William school -- even Gar-Field and Potomac -- outscored all but Eleanor Roosevelt.

Osbourn HS gets a '1' on Greatschools, which means it is one of the worst-scoring high schools in the entire Commonwealth. By comparison, no other school in Northern Virginia gets that rating. Not Freedom, not Gar-Field, not Wakefield, not T.C. Williams. These ratings are *not* subject and are based on standardized test scores.

OTOH, it does seem according to C-D's crime index that cirme is not that terrible in Manassas. DC suburbs of Maryland are a little below the nation's average, but the Virginia suburbs are positively Stepford in comparison, so that Manassas just looks bad. I suspect most if not all people here won't have their kids rolling with MS-13 -- I don't know if Hispanic kids get any harassment for not being in a gang or not.

[HereinVA]

Originally Posted by yamota

well, wherever Jiffy Lube Live is, if there's a show there, I avoid the area like the plague

I've lived in Bristow for 6 years, and can honestly say I've never had any major issues with traffic. It's pretty easy to avoid those roads, if you want to. What I love is on concert nights, I can take a walk around my neighborhood and hear the concerts playing!