Alexandria City or Alexandria part of FFX? (Annandale, Jefferson: neighborhoods, buyer)

[DCbuyer]

I was curious to know the preference of living for people working at Mark Center and the NSF heardquarter at the Hoffman Center. (Not considering Old town as it's too expensive)

I am more familiar with schools in FFX--Annandale high is a decent, albeit not a top tier one in FFX. However Thomas Jefferson is close-by.

Traffic--I suppose they are pretty close?

Retail--weekend traffic to Tysons should be fairly easy--but how's the facility nearby for daily purchase?

Housing prices--should people expect to get similar products at same price?

Environment--any opinion?

[choff5]

Originally Posted by DCbuyer

I was curious to know the preference of living for people working at Mark Center and the NSF heardquarter at the Hoffman Center. (Not considering Old town as it's too expensive)

I am more familiar with schools in FFX--Annandale high is a decent, albeit not a top tier one in FFX. However Thomas Jefferson is close-by.

Traffic--I suppose they are pretty close?

Retail--weekend traffic to Tysons should be fairly easy--but how's the facility nearby for daily purchase?

Housing prices--should people expect to get similar products at same price?

Environment--any opinion?

If you're asking about the Alexandria part of FFX Co. then I'm not sure how familair you are with the schools. Annandale HS is in Annadale. TJ is Science/Tech magnet by application only. The high schools with Alexandria addresses are Edison, Mt. Vernon, West Potomac, and Hayfield. Many people make sure they are in FFX Co. for the schools opposed to the City of Alexandria.

I know others can help you with the other questions.

[cully]

And perhaps I should then add don't confuse the City of Fairfax with Fairfax Co.

[choff5]

Originally Posted by cully

And perhaps I should then add don't confuse the City of Fairfax with Fairfax Co.

In that case when it comes to the school system it doesn't matter too much as the city schools are run by the county. My guess is a lot of people don't even realize that the City of Fairfax actually has its own school superintendent and school board.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by choff5

In that case when it comes to the school system it doesn't matter too much as the city schools are run by the county. My guess is a lot of people don't even realize that the City of Fairfax actually has its own school superintendent and school board.

Wait, what? What schools do they run? I have never heard of that.

[Grsz11]

Originally Posted by marie5v

Wait, what? What schools do they run? I have never heard of that.

Fairfax City itself is responsible for the physical property of its schools (Fairfax High, Lainer Middle) but they are operated by Fairfax County. I'm not sure what the superintendent is responsible for, but that seems like a huge waste of money.

City of Fairfax Schools

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by DCbuyer

I was curious to know the preference of living for people working at Mark Center and the NSF heardquarter at the Hoffman Center. (Not considering Old town as it's too expensive)

I am more familiar with schools in FFX--Annandale high is a decent, albeit not a top tier one in FFX. However Thomas Jefferson is close-by.

Traffic--I suppose they are pretty close?

Retail--weekend traffic to Tysons should be fairly easy--but how's the facility nearby for daily purchase?

Housing prices--should people expect to get similar products at same price?

Environment--any opinion?

I work at the aforementioned correctional facility (Mark Center). If you're ruling out Old Town or Rosemont/Beverly Hills (which are almost as expensive), then I see no real point to living in Alexandria City. Bad schools, and if your kid is smart enough to get into TJ, he/she can't, because the city won't let them. The high schools in the Fairfax part of Alexandria are better than TC Williams; I would rather my kid go to JEB Stuart than TC Williams.

Also, my opinion of the non-expensive parts of Alexandria is that they're really divey, with the exception of those parts just south of Old Town. But Landmark, Eisenhower, Edsall Road--yuck. Give me Annandale any day. But that's me.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

I work at the aforementioned correctional facility (Mark Center). If you're ruling out Old Town or Rosemont/Beverly Hills (which are almost as expensive), then I see no real point to living in Alexandria City. Bad schools, and if your kid is smart enough to get into TJ, he/she can't, because the city won't let them. The high schools in the Fairfax part of Alexandria are better than TC Williams; I would rather my kid go to JEB Stuart than TC Williams.

Also, my opinion of the non-expensive parts of Alexandria is that they're really divey, with the exception of those parts just south of Old Town. But Landmark, Eisenhower, Edsall Road--yuck. Give me Annandale any day. But that's me.

The parts of Fairfax County with Alexandria addresses cover a lot of territory (more, in fact, than the entire City of Alexandria) and a lot of price ranges. The one constant is that the schools, at least at the middle and high school levels, will have more socio-economic diversity than schools in the county further north and west.

I'm not sure what you have in mind when you refer to the "non-expensive parts of Alexandria." There's a lot out there besides Landmark and Eisenhower (City of Alexandria) or the areas off Edsall Road (mostly Fairfax County, although Edsall crosses into the City of Alexandria). Just by way of example, some of the areas in the Alexandria part of Fairfax County that aren't super-expensive, but which I've always thought are very nice are Dowden Terrace (Stuart HS district), Wilton Woods (Edison HS district), Kingstowne (Edison/Hayfield HS districts), the neighborhoods off Telegraph Road heading towards Fort Belvoir (Hayfield HS district), and Hollin Hills (West Potomac HS district). I'm sure there are others as well. They are very suburban, so they might not appeal to everyone, but they aren't "really divey," either.