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We like the walkable character, public transportation, local shops, diversity, proximity to all Atlanta has to offer, etc of Decatur, GA. Does DC have an equivalent? Thanks!
There are several walk-able neighborhoods with public transit in an around DC. Mentioning Decateur means very little, and honestly, Atlanta really is a second rate city compared to DC in terms of walkability and transit access. So please keep this in mind, the DC area has significantly more walkable communities than Atlanta, with significantly better transit, IN GENERAL. So lets say walkable subrubs with good public transit access....Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Alexandria, Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Arlington, and pretty much the entire city of DC west of the the river.
I don't think you grasp how much of the DC area inside the beltway is walkable.
I kinda feel like it might be Hyattsville, MD (the actual CITY not the surrounding neighborhoods with the Hyattsville zip code) if you're looking into DC's more urban suburbs. H-Ville City is also both Metro (our version of MARTA but slightly older and much more extensive in the subway and bus department) accessible and MARC (Maryland's commuter rail) accessible too with a growing number of small businesses and chains along Baltimore Avenue (US Route 1) and around University Town Center as well as an arts district. It's also pretty diverse as well with a population that's 35% Black, 34% Hispanic, 33% Caucasian/White, 21% Other, 4% Two or More Races, 4% Asian, and more than 1% Native American according to the 2010 census. Hyattsville City can have a few rough spots like the small area on its north side where the housing projects and most of the office buildings are but for the most part, it's a pretty nice blue collar/working class to mid-middle class leafy semi-urban suburb with an strong amount of subtle grit. It has a pretty solid number of small to medium-sized 1930s/40s era red brick and wooden homes with porches and/or small yards along with large apartment complexes and new contemporary residential construction.
I kinda feel like it might be Hyattsville, MD (the actual CITY not the surrounding neighborhoods with the Hyattsville zip code) if you're looking into DC's more urban suburbs. H-Ville City is also both Metro (our version of MARTA but slightly older and much more extensive in the subway and bus department) accessible and MARC (Maryland's commuter rail) accessible too with a growing number of small businesses and chains along Baltimore Avenue (US Route 1) and around University Town Center as well as an arts district. It's also pretty diverse as well with a population that's 35% Black, 34% Hispanic, 33% Caucasian/White, 21% Other, 4% Two or More Races, 4% Asian, and more than 1% Native American according to the 2010 census. Hyattsville City can have a few rough spots like the small area on its north side where the housing projects and most of the office buildings are but for the most part, it's a pretty nice blue collar/working class to mid-middle class leafy semi-urban suburb with an strong amount of subtle grit. It has a pretty solid number of small to medium-sized 1930s/40s era red brick and wooden homes with porches and/or small yards along with large apartment complexes and new contemporary residential construction.
As I was buying my house in the Hyattsville area, my wife and I started to think maybe we should move to Atlanta. Parts of Decatur, Kirkwood, Little Five Points, etc were the areas we thought felt most like the areas we liked in suburban DC. Those areas were priced a lot like DC too so we shut that down and eventually found in the Hyattsville area.
From my perspective, and similar to DistrictSonic above, I think Decatur resembles a lot of the Maryland suburbs outside of Washington DC inside of 495 and west of 295 plus parts of Alexandria and Arlington. I'd pinpoint Takoma Park as the closest with Silver Spring coming 2nd. You've got the hills, trees, old homes, transit, shops, etc. Bethesda and Chevy Chase are more like bigger versions of Virginia Highlands with a lot more new commercial development. Rockville is more like Atlanta outside of their own beltway, Dunwoody, Roswell type area. Still, DC is far more walkable than Atlanta in general, shops will be plentiful in most neighborhoods near a metro, many homes and buildings will have plenty of character, and diversity will be almost everywhere inside of the beltway.
Last edited by DoughLow805; 12-21-2015 at 04:46 PM..
Comparing ATL to DC is an insult to DC. It's like comparing DC to NYC.......
Disagree. You wouldn't know how good DC is without comparing it to a lousy place like Atlanta.
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