Missing Northern Virginia a Bit (Reston, McLean: middle-class, house, school)

[pcity]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

The roads, while woefully too narrow to handle the current (let alone future) population, were largely devoid of flaws. Since moving to Pittsburgh I've spent over $1,000 on fixing pothole-related damages to my vehicles, and the city will not reimburse you because it's mired within a financial crisis. I can't recall EVER hitting a pothole during my travels in Reston, Herndon, McLean, Tysons Corner, Vienna, Chantilly, Centreville, Sterling, Ashburn, Brambleton, South Riding, Leesburg, Great Falls, Fairfax/Fair Oaks/Fair Lakes, Burke, Springfield, and surrounding areas.

Unfortunately this is not the case this year. The winter did a number on our streets and potholes are everywhere.

Nevertheless this beauty is destroyed due to the third-world-like mish-mash of utilities dangling overhead and strung haphazardly across our streets between aging utility poles. In Reston you could drive down the street and truly feel as if you were in a natural oasis in some areas because its utilities were pretty much universally subterranean. It was also this way in many surrounding jurisdictions. Here we have to contend with these ugly wires everywhere because, you guessed it, there's once again no money in any budgets to correct this.

This is more a function of when the neighborhoods here were built than anything else. Older neighborhoods here still have above-ground power lines. Newer ones have underground lines. It's just that there are a lot more newer neighborhoods than older ones in NoVA. The issue of above-ground power lines comes up every time there are heavy winds here- no one is actually seriously proposing to bury them because there are similar issues with budgets here.

While I hated how unabashedly urban sp-r--a---w----l-----e------d the area was through decades of inept political leadership and developers lining corrupt pockets

Similar to the power lines thing, it's more an issue of when the area was built up than anything else. Every area that grew from the 70's through the early 00's grew through sprawl. NoVA grew more than most areas during that time and so it has more sprawl than most areas. It's only in the past few years that transit-oriented development has been embraced on a large scale, and that is true for just about everywhere in the US, not just here. The one exception to that is Arlington, which had the foresight to develop around its Metro stations way before it became trendy to do so.

[Midwest_Madame]

Wake up! You were right the first time! NOVA is not a great place to live. It sounds like your problem is that you're stuck on the east coast. Pittsburgh is too similar to Baltimore, or so I've heard. Maybe you should try your luck in the Midwest!

[FindingZen]

It's good to see that time has given you some perspective and a certain level of appreciation for your time in NOVA. No place is "perfect" but all one can do is make the best of one's situation; from what you shared in this thread, you seem to be more able to do so in Pittsburgh. You may find out as the years go on that your tastes change or evolve. Perhaps in a decade or three, the idea of a suburban cul de sac may even hold some appeal to you.

[gibbsnm]

Originally Posted by Midwest_Madame

Wake up! You were right the first time! NOVA is not a great place to live. It sounds like your problem is that you're stuck on the east coast. Pittsburgh is too similar to Baltimore, or so I've heard. Maybe you should try your luck in the Midwest!

Why are your posts always so negative? We get it, you don't like the DC area. So now that that has been established, how do you plan to change your situation? Are you going to move back to the midwest? If that's not feasible, do you plan to simply remain miserable for the entire duration of your stay in this area? At the end of the day, no city/state/region is perfect. At some point, we just have to find a way to be somewhat happy where we are, even if we're not living in our ideal location. I speak from experience. I lived in a state that I didn't particularly like for several years. I had to be there because of my job at the time. I didn't like it, but I made the best of it. I plotted my exit strategy because I knew that I wanted to return to the DC area. That was my goal. It took me a few years, but I did it. In the meantime, while I was still living in that state I didn't like, I tried to find something positive about my situation so that I wasn't constantly focusing on the negative. If you continue to dwell on the negative, that is all you will see and it will be reflected back to you. I find it hard to believe that there isn't one single good thing in your life at this moment in "awful" NOVA that you can't be grateful or happy about. Even small changes will help. You can try by not bashing NOVA and the east coast every chance you get on this forum. When you feel the urge to do that, direct that energy into something more positive, creative, or productive. That alone would be a step in the right direction.

[e2ksj3]

I agree with you on most of the points you mentioned. The cost of living, traffic, & sprawl are def negatives of the region but location, amenities, & job market is definitely. Pittsburgh also has it's advantages/disadvangtes along with any other place.

I wonder have you ever considered trying to live abroad? My ex is European so when he moved back to Europe I had a chance to visit a few times & I think it maybe what you truly are looking for. They have great architecture, culture, excellent transit, & from what I've seen in my travels in Germany it is pretty clean with low crime. It's an urbanist dream! The cost of living is a little high but no where near DC or NYC depending on where you go. I thought about going there & leaving NoVa but just for a few years. I don't know if I could go for good being that far from my parents, but would love the experience. Best luck to you on wherever you go. :-)

[Midwest_Madame]

Originally Posted by gibbsnm

Why are your posts always so negative? We get it, you don't like the DC area. So now that that has been established, how do you plan to change your situation? Are you going to move back to the midwest? If that's not feasible, do you plan to simply remain miserable for the entire duration of your stay in this area? At the end of the day, no city/state/region is perfect. At some point, we just have to find a way to be somewhat happy where we are, even if we're not living in our ideal location. I speak from experience. I lived in a state that I didn't particularly like for several years. I had to be there because of my job at the time. I didn't like it, but I made the best of it. I plotted my exit strategy because I knew that I wanted to return to the DC area. That was my goal. It took me a few years, but I did it. In the meantime, while I was still living in that state I didn't like, I tried to find something positive about my situation so that I wasn't constantly focusing on the negative. If you continue to dwell on the negative, that is all you will see and it will be reflected back to you. I find it hard to believe that there isn't one single good thing in your life at this moment in "awful" NOVA that you can't be grateful or happy about. Even small changes will help. You can try by not bashing NOVA and the east coast every chance you get on this forum. When you feel the urge to do that, direct that energy into something more positive, creative, or productive. That alone would be a step in the right direction.

While I am grateful that you took the grown up approach (without bashing me too much)
I'm obviously not this "negative" in real life lol
I am definitely planning to move out as soon as possible but its quite hard to get used to things being inverted. Where I'm from the whole standard of things is different. Even down to driving etiquette and service in restaurants. I went from warm greetings in stores at home to being ignored in stores here when I needed help or almost being in serious car accidents here simply because no one cares about others. These are small, but they add up to a lot of stress. I cannot figure out how anyone can be okay with the incredibly rude behavior here day after day.
I hate how people talk about the DC area like it so great and how much opportunity is and it is the OPPOSITE.
In any case, I'll take what little I've learned from my internships here and leave. Until then, I think I do have the right to share my experiences and opinion on this area.
And thanks for taking time to notice my posts (Although I am definitely not the only one who shares their "negative" (but very honest) opinion about this place).

[The Dissenter]

SCR, glad you have a little healthier perspective on your time in NoVA. I know you won't move back like I did but nothing wrong with remembering the good of any experience. I would not move back to Louisville again but I hated not being there for the Derby the last two years. Plus, I miss Indi's chicken.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

-Convenience. While Fairfax County itself was a traffic nightmare if I wanted to "escape" for a weekday day-trip or for a weekend getaway my options were nearly limitless. I headed to Winchester (and even further into the country to Romney, WV on occasion) to clear my mind with some friendlier faces and fresh mountain air. Luray Caverns, Charlottesville, Richmond, King's Dominion, Harper's Ferry/Shepherdstown, The District, Warrenton, Culpeper, Annapolis, Baltimore, Frederick, Gettysburg, PA Amish Country/Lancaster, Hershey, Philadelphia, Williamsburg/Yorktown/Jamestown, and much more were all within either a day-trip or overnight trip away distance-wise. From Pittsburgh our options within a comparable 3-hour or so radius? Cleveland, Laurel Highlands, Erie, Buffalo, Columbus. Everything else within this radius is largely either backwater Appalachia, depressing dying Industrial-era towns, or a veritable "no-man's land". It's a long trek to The District, Baltimore, Finger Lakes, Cedar Point, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Philadelphia, or anything else that's really "worthwhile".

That's interesting, as a person who is equally attracted to the Washington DC area and Pittsburgh.

A few years back, I was able to drive around rural PA, and while many of those old towns are quite photogenic on skyscraper and such, when I actually visited them, there were more than enough little factors that made me lose any romantic interest in ever living in them.

I loved Pittsburgh, of course. Surprisingly to me, I also found I quite liked Philadelphia, which I did not expect. I was quite surprised that other cities in PA didn't appeal to me at all. I think if I were to live in Pittsburgh, I'd probably seldom take 'road trips'. I'd probably just be one of those guys who spends the majority of his time in Pittsburgh, except for major road trips out of the region altogether.

The DC Area, there is just so much variety. Mountains, ocean, MD/VA, up to Philadelphia/New York/Boston, down to Richmond/Raleigh, etc. Baltimore & DC & Annapolis themselves hold a lot of interest. Plus, most likely because of the high cost of living in Metro DC, it seems that all those other towns for a 100 miles out, have all received some financial spill-over of wealth coming out of DC as well. It's an interesting region.

Completely different places, but I'm equally interested in both. Glad to see this post!

[yamota]

Who are you again?

[Ralyks]

"Lackof sports enthusiasm."

I moved to Texas from NOVA last year. GOD how I miss that one.

But it's not just that. I miss the intellectual climate of NOVA in general. I miss talking about substantial things as a matter of course.

I had friendly neighbors in NOVA and good friends and a good church, so I never got the idea of NOVA being stand-offish. But I don't miss the traffic or the cost of living or the career focus.

In NOVA, the first question I got asked when I met someone new was, "What do you do for a living?"

In Texas, it's - "What sports do your kids play?"