Where to live in Prince William County that is not ghetto?

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

I find it interesting that people always throw out Bailey’s Crossroads or Culmore as eye sores (I lived adjacent to them myself when first arriving in NoVa), when they look the same as anything else along Columbia Pike in Arlington. The only difference I see from Columbia Pike and Leesburg Pike and Columbia Pike at Wilson Blvd for example is that Bailey’s has more Hispanic people (and North Africans).

All areas have a mix of housing styles. Even where I came from in Texas which is largely huge masterplanned communities, they still have a combination of SFH of various price points and apartments plus strip centers.

What am I missing?

Nothing. You're missing nothing. It's the exact same phenomenon in the suburbs of major metropolitan areas across the United States. Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Southern California, South Florida, are all similar in this regard.

[robbobobbo]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

I mean the 99% recent Central American immigrant inhabited apartment complexes that are spread across this region. Its not something you’d necessarily expect on the East Coast.

But of course no larger region is without its “bad areas”. But I think you cant ignore the way this area has shifted from a mix of wealthy DC suburbia and rural hinterlands to a urban-suburban mix more reminiscent of Northern NJ than traditional suburbia. The push of the neo-yuppie movement into the cities has basically forced the poor servant class into exurban areas with low cost housing available. Its gentrified cities and created oddities of poor immigrant quarters with crime etc in towns well outside the inner metropolitan areas.

Most of those Central American-populated "barrios" are apartment buildings that used to have working class renters who were white, Vietnamese, Korean, etc and were in NoVA at the time I moved to Fairfax County in 1975, so I don't know what you mean by the "shift" unless you're going way, way back. But you're not going way back, because you state the shift is due to a neo-yuppie movement moving back into DC, which is a recent phenomenon.

Route 1, North Kings Hwy, Rose Hill, Beacon Hill, Hybla Valley, etc. had plenty of 3-level garden apartments back then (as did many other parts of Northern Virginia), and such apartments were often rented by people who didn't have the means to buy the stereotypical single family house in a subdivision. As inner-Beltway and close-to-Beltway housing has grown more expensive, it's true that the working class, with many immigrants among them, have spread farther out into exurbs, but immigrant communities and lower economic class communities are not new to Northern Virginia at all.

[robbobobbo]

Originally Posted by ParadiseKendra

Everyone who’s responded so far assumed that ghetto meant ethnically diverse (which is odd). But going back to what ghetto actually means, I know exactly what you mean about is the area a dive.

You made a good point that someone who asks to avoid a "ghetto" area probably wants to avoid a place that's a dive, that is, of low economic quality, shabby, with higher crime, etc, and they don't mean a place characterized by ethnic diversity (although there are such posters).

But then you mistakenly characterize "ghetto" as meaning a place of growing density in population, businesses, and homes.

Originally Posted by ParadiseKendra

...sadly, developers are coming into PWC and quickly building ugly square boxed condos and bringing in more fast food restaurants and chains. Northern Virginia is sadly experiencing a real ghettofication phase. At this point, I wouldn’t move here at all until we reclaim the charm of our area. I’ve lived here all my life and I love the area, but I can tell you that it’s become a complete dive, and very unlivable.

It sounds like you dislike the development and increase in population and traffic that's gone on over the past decades. Fine, but that's not ghettofication. Boxy condos are ugly to you, but that doesn't make a place a dive. "Unliveable" is purely your subjective reaction because you dislike density and development and prefer things to be more spread out.

Your follow-up comments about the area going downhill are belied by the economic growth and vitality the area has experienced over the years.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

Its code for middle-class neighborhoods in SFH developments. Thats what Id expect to see in a typical suburban town.

This area is packed with multi-unit housing of varying density and quality, often just placed in the landscape without apparent rhyme or reason. The Baileys Crossroads area for example is ugly as sin but so is much of the stretch of the major thoroughfares out into and past Fairfax.

It creates this weird hybrid sprawl where a declining strip mall with nail salons etc is a street over from a handful of old SFHs and then some empty lots and trees next to a massive condo tower. Its unattractive for sure.

Are you going to answer my question from post #37?

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by robbobobbo

Most of those Central American-populated "barrios" are apartment buildings that used to have working class renters who were white, Vietnamese, Korean, etc and were in NoVA at the time I moved to Fairfax County in 1975, so I don't know what you mean by the "shift" unless you're going way, way back. But you're not going way back, because you state the shift is due to a neo-yuppie movement moving back into DC, which is a recent phenomenon.

Route 1, North Kings Hwy, Rose Hill, Beacon Hill, Hybla Valley, etc. had plenty of 3-level garden apartments back then (as did many other parts of Northern Virginia), and such apartments were often rented by people who didn't have the means to buy the stereotypical single family house in a subdivision. As inner-Beltway and close-to-Beltway housing has grown more expensive, it's true that the working class, with many immigrants among them, have spread farther out into exurbs, but immigrant communities and lower economic class communities are not new to Northern Virginia at all.

While all of what you say is true to some extent, and I wasn't here in the 70s, but it's pretty damn obvious that there is more density now in NoVa than ever. After all the combined population of the region a has increased by what like over a million people in the last 30 years with significant increases even in inner areas like Arlington and Alexandria?

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Are you going to answer my question from post #37?

There's several such complexes around Seven Corners, Bailey's and around Columbia Pike, there's also some around Springfield and Annandale, around the Dulles Access Rd, in and in Manassas (unless Georgetown South has changed a ton recently). I'm sure there's more.


Now I have no idea how recently the folks there immigrated, what I'm saying is that they don't appear to be particularly integrated in American society. And just for the record, I'm an immigrant myself.

[Vernum]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

There's several such complexes around Seven Corners, Bailey's and around Columbia Pike, there's also some around Springfield and Annandale, around the Dulles Access Rd, in and in Manassas (unless Georgetown South has changed a ton recently). I'm sure there's more.


Now I have no idea how recently the folks there immigrated, what I'm saying is that they don't appear to be particularly integrated in American society. And just for the record, I'm an immigrant myself.

Great input. My family on my mother's side is from Korea. Growing up my parents put a huge emphasis on American culture, like fairs, shows, and did a lot to help support my social life (like sleep overs and birthday parties) so I always had a lot of American friends, even though our immediate community was Asian.