Manassas Park (Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Dale City: crime, houses, safe area)

[rw2006]

What's Manassas Park like?

[stacylee926]

Lower income, blue collar type families. Lots of 1960's - 1970's housing.
When locals think of Manassas Park it is not good.

There is a subdivision there that was built right next to the sewage plant - really bad.

[seldomseen]

Just move to the likes of Bristow, Gainesville, and Haymarket...Mananass has many nice areas, however, you will probably not want to live in Mananass Park area if you have the monies not to.

[stacylee926]

I see you live in Chesapeake.... Manassas Park looks good on paper because it might have more affordable housing as far as NoVa goes, but it is not a very safe area.

I can't even compare it to anywhere here (I lived in Centreville for 9 years and Manassas Park is the neighboring county - only 4 miles from my house).
It is not as bad as the worst part of Portsmouth - it is just different bad. How can I say this nicely.......
it is very West Virginia rednecky..... Not farmer types, like here - different.
Crime and drugs were just bad there.

[dullnboring]

I can't quite think of the right words to describe it but Manassas Park, well, it just sort of sucks.

It's a tiny place, only about two square miles with 10,000 people, no real traditional downtown, and just a bunch of randomly strewn auto-body shops, gas stations, fast food restaurants, etc. strewn along Route 28. It's just sort of grungy and trashy looking. Like one big truck stop. There's a definite blue-collar vibe. Prince William County used to have a very redneck reputation, but that's been sort of pushed out in recent years due to housing costs pushing many people from elsewhere further and further out, but Manassas Park still has a bit of that element to it.

It's not crime central or horrific by any means, but it doesn't have a great reputation. Put it this way, on the radio the other day, they were busting on Manassas, making all sorts of jokes about it being full of rednecks and backwards, when a bunch of callers from Manassas called in to take offense and then THEY started making fun of Manassas Park saying basically the same things that others were saying about Manassas which caused the DJ to say "you know it's bad if the people from MANASSAS are making fun of you".

[Love2LiveNCities]

Originally Posted by rw2006

What's Manassas Park like?

I live in Manassas more toward Dale City back in the woods, Manassas park is a very crowded small house and lots of little run down places going on. Its not the best place in PW not even as far as schools. Prince Williams best are definitely Haymarket, Gainsville, Nokesville, Brentsville and Independent Hill all not built up...yet. But still very close to everything

[p_kellyscott]

I live in Manassas Park, in the Blooms Crossing subdivision, right by General Ridge Golf Course and 2 miles north of Hwy 28. That section of MP is new since mid-90's. My husband is a Senior VP of a major corporation and we live in a house that's about 5,000 Sq. Ft. Most of our neighbors are professionals. We bought there because the MP VRE train station is a mile away.

I understand why you'd all say bad things about MP because the lower area is pretty rough. But, please be careful with all your stereo-typing!

[Nancy in Nokomis]

There you go! In have me all sorts of professionals living in beautiful, huge newer houses in Manassas - not all of Manassas is run down.

[SCtoNC]

For those of us who lived in Manassas before there was anything near Bloom's Crossing and Manassas Drive ended at the VRE station when VRE didn't exist, the real Manassas Park does not have 5000 sq ft homes! After all, the High School was an old warehouse for many years!

That part of town past the VRE where Signal View Drive is and where Blooms' Crossing, General's Ridge, etc. have landed is unfortunate in being called Manassas Park because people who grew up in the area would assume that you are rednecky, live in a cracker-box and have cars up on blocks. The homes in the new sections are gorgeous and it's unfortunate that they couldn't call it Manassas, since it's so close to the County line.

I'm sorry that the other lady felt stereo-typed, but anyone who lived in that area for many years would not be caught telling anyone that their house is in Manassas Park. I'd tell them Signal Hill before I'd ever say Manassas Park. It's like saying you live in the poor section of town. The houses down the other side of Manassas Drive (the little cracker boxes) are all that MP was until they extended Manassas Drive and put in Signal View Dr. in the last 7-8 years - and if you imagine that, you can understand why people would think you are a redneck, blue collar, etc. if you live in "The Park".

[knopfler]

There are some very nice little neighborhoods in Manassas Park that are East of Route 28 (i.e. you turn R onto Manassas Drive from 28 when headed northbound). I'd stay clear of the rest of the city, though.