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I'm looking escape California. Having to ask for a straw at a restaurant was the straw that broke the camel's back. Pun intended.
I've been to DC a long time ago when I was young so I don't remember much but street viewing and I can already tell I'd probably enjoy it.
I was street viewing Georgetown and downtown and the streets look great. Amazing architecture and vibrancy.
This is a what a street in LA looks like:
Spoiler
yes, looks like war torn Beirut
can you imagine being the major of this city? what an absolute embarrassment.
Hey LA mayor, what have you accomplished in your career? - shows photo above - cringe.
Compare that to this:
My question is, what are the negatives of DC besides traffic and cost of living?
Do you have issues with homeless?
Will I need to ask for a straw at the trendy corner restaurant?
Will I be stabbed if I wear my #MAGA hat?
How do people get around? Car? Is it easy to find parking?
Eh is this some kind of joke? D.C. is 90% Democrat, the surrounding inner suburbs basically as well. Due to the obsession with politics in this area, you may not find a bigger population of active, avid Trump haters anywhere else in the country. This is ground zero for anti-Trump sentiment.
Homelessness is an issue and you ll see them, but not as bad as LA. Too cold in winter, too humid in summertime. Not a great place for outdoor living.
If they havent copied LA’s rule on straws yet, they will eventually. As mentioned this is about as blue an area as you ll ever see.
Conservatives around here have two choices - restrict themselves to the small bubble of conservative organizations or go native. Note that there are also a lot of NeverTrump Republicans here, so a MAGA hat may not go down well even in the conservative social scene in D.C.
All in all it seems like just about worst place in America for a conservative Californian to move to if they want to escape L.A.’s liberalism. And to be honest, given how much worse the climate is in D.C. its probably not a great place for any Californian really.
New to the area myself, but have been coming here a lot for work for a number of years.
I know a good number of republicans in DC but there are, without a doubt, much more democrats. It may be the field that I work in but I dont think the split is even close to being 90/10, - its more like 70/30 at worst (again it may have just been my surroundings, areas etc (I also speak of parts of NoVa, - dont know anything about Maryland). I hear 90% did vote for Clinton overall). All that to say, I think the split is heavily dependent on which part of town you are speaking about.
This is a highly educated and very classy city/population relative to pretty much any other cities in the US (I am speaking of the overall average and in relative terms, - there are good and bad parts to every city/population).
Metro is what most people generally use to get around. Georgetown is great but there is a lot more areas sinimar to it but with a more relaxed vibe. 14th street, 17th, DuPont, Cleveland Park,etc etc I don’t think homelessness is as worse than other cities.
It’s an inclusive, friendly city. Lots of people don’t like trump. But who cares? I see maga hats daily (tourist).
I can’t think of many negatives. I will say the cost of living is worth it.
liberals have been fuming with rage for the last year, year and a half or so, it's really not healthy to be around them, no matter what your political beliefs are
New to the area myself, but have been coming here a lot for work for a number of years.
I know a good number of republicans in DC but there are, without a doubt, much more democrats. It may be the field that I work in but I dont think the split is even close to being 90/10, - its more like 70/30 at worst (again it may have just been my surroundings, areas etc (I also speak of parts of NoVa, - dont know anything about Maryland). I hear 90% did vote for Clinton overall). All that to say, I think the split is heavily dependent on which part of town you are speaking about.
This is a highly educated and very classy city/population relative to pretty much any other cities in the US (I am speaking of the overall average and in relative terms, - there are good and bad parts to every city/population).
There are more Republicans in the Virginia suburbs especially once you get into outer FFX and Loudoun, but in DC itself, Arlington, Alexandria and the built up parts of FFX in VA, as well as MoCo and PG in MD youd be hard pressed to find many at all. Arlington politics which i am most familiar with are the type where the regular liberal Democrat gets called a bigot by some neophyte “progressive” singing from AOC’s song-sheet.
The only people with MAGA hats ive ever seen are 15-16 year old kids on school trips who buy them at the souvenir shops. And one black guy at a bus stop in NW. Unusual enough to make a note of it.
I'm looking escape California. Having to ask for a straw at a restaurant was the straw that broke the camel's back. Pun intended.
I've been to DC a long time ago when I was young so I don't remember much but street viewing and I can already tell I'd probably enjoy it.
I was street viewing Georgetown and downtown and the streets look great. Amazing architecture and vibrancy.
This is a what a street in LA looks like:
Spoiler
yes, looks like war torn Beirut
can you imagine being the major of this city? what an absolute embarrassment.
Hey LA mayor, what have you accomplished in your career? - shows photo above - cringe.
Compare that to this:
My question is, what are the negatives of DC besides traffic and cost of living?
Do you have issues with homeless?
Will I need to ask for a straw at the trendy corner restaurant?
Will I be stabbed if I wear my #MAGA hat?
How do people get around? Car? Is it easy to find parking?
Curious to know.
I actually moved from Downtown LA to DC. Sometimes I miss the mountains and climate, but DC is definitely lightyears better if you appreciate mass transit, walkable streets, and good urban design. You can get to the ocean and mountains with a drive here, but it's not the same as the California lifestyle where you can go hiking up a mountain on a whim.
Homelessness definitely less noticeable here than in LA (LA is probably among the worst places in the US for that, so it's no surprise). In general DC is a lot more polished and clean than LA, which is both a plus and a minus (sometimes I miss the LA grit, even if I detest its built environment). DC is highly educated and very very white collar, which is a different vibe than cities like LA which have some blue collar mixed in.
But DC is decidedly liberal, if not moreso than LA. I can't imagine seeing someone wearing a Trump hat aside from on the tourist areas like the National Mall where the locals avoid anyhow. You would definitely be ostracized in any of the actual DC neighborhoods. Like others said, even though there are some conservatives in DC, those are your Bush era educated pro-business conservatives, not the Tea Party Trump types. It's more liberal than LA, but not quite the insane leftist reactionary liberalism of SF or Marin County, for example. It's more of a practical liberalism, I think partially owing to many practitioners and policymakers residing in DC.
Basically, move to DC if you like the urban environment more than suburban LA, if you like a more city lifestyle and like using mass transit and walking places. Don't move here if you want to avoid dirty looks for a MAGA hat, this won't be the place for you then.
There are more Republicans in the Virginia suburbs especially once you get into outer FFX and Loudoun, but in DC itself, Arlington, Alexandria and the built up parts of FFX in VA, as well as MoCo and PG in MD youd be hard pressed to find many at all. Arlington politics which i am most familiar with are the type where the regular liberal Democrat gets called a bigot by some neophyte “progressive” singing from AOC’s song-sheet.
The only people with MAGA hats ive ever seen are 15-16 year old kids on school trips who buy them at the souvenir shops. And one black guy at a bus stop in NW. Unusual enough to make a note of it.
I've lived in Arlington for almost 15 years and don't agree with this at all- there are a few AOC types that ranted about Amazon HQ2 (and lost big time) but most Arlingtonians are very moderate Democrats. I will agree there aren't many conservatives around but we are far from the far left types in the Bay Area, parts of LA, NYC or Takoma Park, Md.
As far as DC proper- it's a big city built around politics (although its become much more than that)- most large cities and inner suburbs lean or are liberal but you will still be able to find conservative crowds as well. I will caution you though- the MAGA hat won't likely go over well even in conservative DC crowds. If that is your preference you might want to head more towards Dallas or Houston or smaller cities such as Tulsa, Little Rock or Birmingham.
Last edited by NOVAmtneer82; 05-09-2019 at 09:23 PM..
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