Vienna - Info (Reston, Annandale, Oakton: condos, how much, houses)

[normie]

Originally Posted by neighborhoodfind

BTW, my income taxes in Virginia are higher than they would be in California.

That's interesting, mine aren't. I own property in both California and NOVA, and I pay taxes in both states. I'm very familiar with the price a community pays to build those walkable retail areas. Sometimes they're a boon to a community, but not always.

To be fair, part of the reason you're not receiving a warm reaction is because you want a town redesigned to fit your tastes, and you don't even live there. You just drove through it once and you're ready to pass judgement. If you had said you've lived in Vienna a few years, paid taxes there, and (ideally) were active with the community, especially the local chamber of commerce... then I'd be more interested.

But since you're just moving here, looking for a place to live, it seems like the smart thing to do is to find a place that already meets your tastes.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Fern435

Is it necessary to bring Santa Barbara, California into a Vienna, Virginia thread? The OP said nothing about coastal California communities with mountain views. She asked about Vienna, Virginia. What does Santa Barbara have to do with this?

Rambling and presumptuous.

You want presumptuous? A person who drives through a town once and then decides that the people who live there need to drop everything and spend their taxes to redesign the town just to suit her personal taste is my idea of presumptuous.

Since you're curious, I mentioned Santa Barbara because the OP wanted the taxpayers to tear up the current stores and build a cutesy walkable mall so she could feel comfortable moving here. I'd suggest some place closer that has malls like that, but I don't know them personally. Old Town Alexandria, maybe, but I don't know much about that area. I do know Santa Barbara personally and I think she would like it there.

As a person who knows SB I can tell you I do not want to see Vienna turned into a place like that. It's a very expensive project, it becomes difficult to quickly drive over to a local store and shop, and these walkable malls don't always help the local economy.

[Fern435]

Originally Posted by normie

To me, it sounds like the OP wants to live in a place like Santa Barbara. And I agree, Santa Barbara is a lovely place for people who want to park in pricey garages and then walk several blocks to shop at over priced gift shops and eat at over priced cafes. If you need to live near DC, Old Town Alexandria is like that, too. Go live there, if that's what you're seeking.


I'm glad to welcome you to Virginia. But if you really want to live in Santa Barbara, why not move there? Wait, let me guess--you can't get a job there and it's extremely expensive and taxes are insane (because they spend their tax money building projects like this). Maybe the reason Virginia has jobs and lower taxes is we don't need to make every town look like Santa Barbara.

Normie, the OP never mentioned Santa Barbara. You did. Your pat little "And I agree, Santa Barbara is a lovely place...." is you agreeing with a topic you raised YOURSELF.

Maybe you should do another post on showing good manners in Virginia and then read them yourself. You have a classic way of spinning things like you know all about EVERYTHING, like so many other people around here.

To the OP: Vienna is a much-cherished community for city-data posters, as you've discovered. Dumping on Reston, Springfield and Prince William Co. is fine, but don't criticize Vienna or McLean!

[lchoro]

The problem with trying to make Maple Avenue (123) the center of a walkable village is that the people in Vienna don't want high density development on Maple Avenue. That's what the Tysons Corner redevelopment is for. If you want to live in that kind of place now, move to Arlington.

[Tone509]

neighborhoodfind,

You've inadvertently rubbed a sore spot for some posters here as there have been a spate of new and potential residents who made critical suggestions before spending quality time getting to know the area.

Falls Church is not so far away from Vienna. If I recall correctly, Broad Street might have some of the pedestrian-friendly atmosphere you're looking for, especially around its interesection with West Street.

Otherwise, I agree with the other suggestions of Old Town Alexandria and various neighborhoods in Arlington. Leesburg, Manassas and Fredericksburg are more distant options to consider.

[normie]

Thank you Tone. I agree, the OP probably didn't realize this is a sore topic for some of us old timers. When you live in a transitional area, it becomes a problem. People are always moving in, then the first thing they want to do is change the place. They vote for expensive new projects--and then they move away again, leaving the oldtimers to pay the bills and deal with changes they may not have wanted in the first place. Believe it or not, a lot of people like Vienna the way it is, that's why they live there.

But the biggest problem is that people like me don't want to get stuck with the bill. Which means there's a solution that could make everyone happy. If there truly are so many people who want a pedestrian mall with cutesy stores, then get together with those people and buy up one of those strip malls you hate so much.

If you get a group of people to do this, you can each open cafes, gift shoppes, stylish boutiques, whatever you think Vienna needs. Be sure to cement over your parking lot to make your own pedestrian area. You'll be sure to get lots more customers that way.

Since this idea is "easy" and has such a demand, you'll soon make big bucks. Then you can buy more and more strip malls all the way down the street. Once you've shown the town what a success this operation can be, they'll probably go along with the idea and either close a stretch of road or build pedestrian bridges.

This way you'll get the pedestrian malls you desire and people like me won't have to foot the bill. It's a win-win solution.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Fern435

Dumping on Reston, Springfield and Prince William Co. is fine, but don't criticize Vienna or McLean!

For the record, it is not fine for people who are moving here to dump on Reston, Springfield, Prince William County, or any other area that they have not actually spent time living in.

[neighborhoodfind]

Alexandria is beautiful but the schools aren't good. I do like the Vienna area, don't get me wrong. But as I indicated earlier, I was a tad disappointed that it didn't have more of a walkable central core. I do get the feeling though that it is area that will improve over time.

My income taxes would be less in CA because we're living on 1 income currently. At some point our taxes would become higher in CA. I believe their tax rates are more progressive than in VA.

[TechlawyerinPG]

Originally Posted by normie

For the record, it is not fine for people who are moving here to dump on Reston, Springfield, Prince William County, or any other area that they have not actually spent time living in.

I wish that applied to Ft. Washington, Maryland and Prince Georges County in general.

[ScranBarre]

The original poster touched upon a nerve that had only just very recently healed when I, ScranBarre, stormed onto here in a huff expressing my frustrations that I couldn't find any affordable mixed-use/walkable areas with proximity to my exurban office park, angering many people who like having their vehicles attached to their hips at all times. What I learned this past weekend, which was my first visit to Northern Virginia, is that you're going to have to sacrifice some of your potential happiness in order to live in NoVA. You can't truly "have it all." Most of Northern Virginia developed at a time when urban planners were moronic enough to view driving in machines powered by depleting fossil fuels as being sustainable for the long-term instead of being seriously jeopardized if and when peak oil is to occur, at which point many automobile-oriented developments would become obsolete as people looked for alternatives to driving with escalating fuel prices. You can't fault NoVA because prior generations were clueless; hell, it wasn't that long ago that popular actors/actresses were expected to smoke cigarettes in movies because the long-term health ramifications of this were unknown at the time. Are we going to blame actors/actresses of the 1950s for people who choose to start smoking in 2009?

I found a decent compromise myself. I'm not going to be 100% happy in my new digs, but such is life. I'll just make do with what I have, realizing that in exchange for a rewarding career opportunity on the fast-track to professional success I'm not going to be "thrilled" about my living options. From my new 1-bedroom flat I'll be a half-mile walk from the Reston Town Center, about a mile's walk to Lake Anne, and not much further of a walk from my office. North Shore Drive doesn't have sidewalks in my neighborhood, which puzzled and saddened me, but it is actually better on your joints anyways to be trampling through neatly-manicured lawns and flowerbeds as you run for exercise, telling the resulting angry property owners who shake fists at you as you pass that they should have installed sidewalks like MOST American communities if they didn't want their precious green lawns and prized petunias infringed upon by pedestrians.

The problem with NoVA is that many of us are moving here expecting the region to be as pedestrian-friendly as areas from whence we came, and it is most certainly not in many instances. In my area, which was recently ranked as having the second-worst "job sprawl" in the nation, there are still plenty of affordable, walkable, and mixed-use communities that can be enjoyed by everyone whereas in NoVA that's exclusively for the well-heeled, as the rarity of such environments drove up property values in these areas to unattainable levels for most younger people. NoVA grew up with the automobile, and as the automobile dies its eventual agonizing death in a few decades, the region WILL adapt at the appropriate time for people to enjoy hover-cars, solar-powered Segways, or whatever else our brilliant transportation researches come up with. I've stopped judging the area for its love affair with urban sprawl because I realize that not many people in the region have backgrounds in urban planning and can't foresee that their children/grandchildren are going to have serious issues in 30-40 years if present land usage policies in the region continue.

Many people will just continue to hop into their Suburbans and drive to Applebee's and Wal-Mart because this is what is most familiar to them. That's fine. It is a "free country" after all. However, I've spoken with MANY people who agree with my mindset that we need to start planning NOW for life AFTER the automobile. Can someone now living in most suburban/exurban parts of NoVA walk to most daily needs for if and when cars become obsolete? I'd urge some of you to take this on a test run. Try to access all of your needs WITHOUT using your SUV for a week. I can guarantee that most of you would feel totally isolated, clueless, and helpless. That's fine for now, but what is going to happen if and when gas prices TRIPLE or QUADRUPLE in 2012 due to some sort of fuel shortage crisis? What is your contingency plan if you can't AFFORD to "get there from here?"

Once again this is NOT intended to be offensive, and I'm sorry to predict that several of you are going to reply with "If you don't like it, then GITTT out?!," but if some of us don't pose these serious questions NOW, then will they EVER come to the forefront of some of your minds? People in today's society need to STOP worrying about "me, me, me" and worry about "us, us, us."