San Diego to West Chester. (Philadelphia, Washington: affordable houses, job transfer, neighborhood)

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by Bass9

I am Bass9's wife and I am insulted by the comments Leighland has made about the Philadelphia area. I grew up in that area and I don't consider myself to be rude or obnoxious.

This is starting to get interesting

[rainrock]

I like Leighland. I respect her for being both adventurous and speaking her mind/experiences and having no qualms whatsoever about offending Philadelphians. However she has a habit of stereotyping Philadelphia(a metro area of 6 Million people) with either the ultra conservative,pretentious,uppity Mainline crowd; or the crass,gritty,audacious, in your face easterner.

The Mainline crowd is what 100,000 people 150,000 tops? The more agressive city/ inner ring suburbs account for maybe 2 M people? That still leaves close to 4 M people living in this area that are normal laid back middle/upper middle class people just trying to enjoy their lives without an agenda.

[Tone509]

As Jerry Springer might say, "Be good to yourselves and each other."

[Bwads31]

I think West Chester is great. Nice/quaint downtown that has restaurants, bars, art gallery's etc. It also has a very good school district, and people who are involved in their community.
Also you commented about the beach. West Chester is not too far from the beach maybe about 2 hours.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by Bass9

What do you mean by "good church"?

I met a ton of awesome people through church in SD. Thought it might work for you too.

[HI2PA]

Hey Bass9,

I just moved out here from Honolulu about 8 months ago. I grew up in S.D, lived in O.C. (Laguna and Newport Beach), and started my family in Monterey.
We moved out here because of my wife's medical residency. People here are really down to earth--with the exception of the Mainline, at least from what I hear--not what I have experienced--at all.

There are a lot of things to do and the area is absolutely beautiful--and this is coming from someone who has lived all of his life in beautiful places. The downside: WINTER! Everyone keep telling me that this past winter has been mild, but brah, I certainly didn't think so!

Perhaps I'll eventually acclimate, I'm sure. But if you love and are used to being outdoors then 6 months out of the year here just sucks! You're dog won't even want to go out to do his business!

But again, it is a really nice place, at least in the western suburbs. I believe it is truly a great place to raise a family. Just make sure to plan a couple of sunny vacations elsewhere during the winter months or expect depression!!--I'm not kidding!

Good Luck!

[HI2PA]

Oh, and the school's are great, too! The school districts take pride in the education that they provide to your children. My 5 y.o. daughter loves it here and she went to one of the best private schools in Hawaii.

Take care!

[Inside Man]

People on the Main Line act normally.

[Love Cobb]

Hey I went to college, lived and worked on the mainline, Villanova Univ and lived with a wonderful family in Radner during the summer. In all I was out there about 7 years and they were fine people, Go Wildcats!!

[J&A'sMOM]

Interesting string?? What's the deal w/ the mainline. We live in CT now - may move summer of 2009 and I've been looking at Lower Merion school dist area which I think is the mainline and it all looks very nice to me on the computer. How are the people? Houses look awesome - what areas would you all suggest for a family w/ 4 & 6 year olds. Need awesome schools with good programs for boy w/ ADD. House budger around $750k -1M?