Comparing the burbs

[POPSTAINKING 0]

With livn three hours from Chicago, and I've got relatives who live in Carol Stream, Chicago's suburbs are amazing.

[DOXXP29 5]

Comparing Chicago and environs to D.C. is seriously comparing apples and oranges. Chicago is a "real" city, where D.C. is a big government town. From my visits to Chicago, the suburbs are vastly different and encompass a much wider range of variation than D.C.'s. D.C. has NO industry. The suburbs are pretty much a circle around the city with Virginia having the more upper class, although Montgomery in Md. has it's share. P.G. in Maryland is mostly working class where it borders the city moving out through the beltway. Beyond the beltway is mostly middle class getting higher in wealth the farther out you go. Another thing about D.C. i that the suburbs are much more transient due to the nature of the government jobs and the abundance of military. Racially the counties are somewhat segregated with P.G. being predominantly African American, Fairfax being mostly white and Montgomery being the most ethnically mixed. Since transportation here is pretty sketchy, development has embraced the subway lines with higher wealth corridors having been built once the subway system got established. Suburban sprawls runs rampant here and got ridiculously out of control in the '90's, especially in Virginia. Since the borders of D.C. are relatively small compared with Chicago's, there was no choice but to move out and away. You can be an hour or two away from D.C and still be considered to be in the D.C. suburbs. I haven't been to Chicago in a few years, so I'm not really familiar with what's happening out there now. Last I saw, you didn't have anywhere near the overdevelopment or the transportation insanity that we have here.

[sritacco 0]

DOXX you basically hit the nail on the head.  The only thing I'd disagree with is that Northern Virginia, even though on avg. more wealthy then MD or DC, is also very diverse.  Fairfax county being on of most diverse county's in the country.

There is a lot of poor developing happening across the whole area (i.e., towne centers everywhere you turn, poor mass transit, gentrification, and cookie cutter sub-developments) but there are also some things that have been well done.  For instance the Clarendon redevelopment, plans for the Columbia Pike Corridor redevelopment, Bethesda, Silver Spring, and also old town Alexandria.

Mass Transit in the area needs improvement but there have been positive changes to how people interact in the suburbs near to dc.  The outer suburbs (fairfax, gaithersburg, Loudon cnty) is a whole different story.

[Sticksboi05 2]

Northern Virginia is very diverse. In race and wealth. The Washington suburbs have alot to offer in attractions. DC's main suburbs are serviced by Metro but past the beltway mass transit sucks. Yes, poor development but also outstanding redevelopment (note Ballston Rosslyn Corridor). Metro is now expanding to Dulles airport which will be HUGE in developing that corridor and easing traffic. It will also stop at Tyson's Corner. We'll see how that plays out.

You all constantly assume all DC is is government. It has the same things as other cities. Downtown DC has loads of entertainment. It is the 3rd largest downtown in America in terms of office space. It has it's own historical neighborhoods and happenings etc like every other city (ie Adams Morgan, Tenleytown, U Street etc.)