Safe/clean/quiet areas of Manassas or similar? (Fairfax, Dunn Loring: HOA, home)

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

Guys, I think we all know Manassas kinda sucks - people with money and options generally don't live there. The actual real estate choices of real people have a way of 'filtering' out the rose-tinted glass narratives.


But with that being said, some people don't have a ton of good options and there is merit in identifying the least bad option of the bad options.

We do? Parts of it for certain. Just like many places in the DC Metro area. Would I live in Coverstone, Irongate and some other areas? No. But I lived in Deer Park back in the early 80's for a bit and for an old apt complex it was a good place to live. I owned a home off Lake Jackson near Hastings Dr and raised my kids there and they went to M. City schools. Both got very good educations. Yes, a large number of Hispanics have come in but this actually started back in the early 80's with the construction boom in the western end of the county. Are there illegals there? Of course there are but in reality I met many good ones in my years as a police officer there who were trying to do the right thing and live as good citizens. I do prefer where I live now as it is a much slower pace of life and I am surrounded by farms and much less traffic. But Manassas is not as bad as some make it out to be as long as you choose wisely where to live which is something you do here, Las Vegas, NY and so on. Of course if you have some darker brown skin it would be wise to steer clear of Hal.

[NOVA_guy]

I read the other day on Inside Nova about the police in PWC and Manassas joining in solidarity with protestors... as much as both localities get talked about negatively on here, I think they have a pretty good police force IMO and they don't get the credit they deserve for that. Especially considering PWC and Manassas have a high minority population and you very seldom, if ever, hear about issues between the communities and police.

[Bigfoot424]

PWCPD has been nationally recognized for many years. The CALEA Accreditation was something PWC did many years when very few agencies ever dreamed of pursuing it. It keeps the agency on its toes as this has to be renewed every so often. Read the last paragraph on this article.

https://www.pwcgov.org/government/de...editation.aspx

[NOVA_guy]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

PWCPD has been nationally recognized for many years. The CALEA Accreditation was something PWC did many years when very few agencies ever dreamed of pursuing it. It keeps the agency on its toes as this has to be renewed every so often. Read the last paragraph on this article.

https://www.pwcgov.org/government/de...editation.aspx

Oh, wow. It doesn't surprise me though.

This forum can be negative at times especially with anything Manassas or PWC related, it'd be nice to see people sometimes focus on the positive.

[Hal Roach]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

We do? Parts of it for certain. Just like many places in the DC Metro area. Would I live in Coverstone, Irongate and some other areas? No. But I lived in Deer Park back in the early 80's for a bit and for an old apt complex it was a good place to live. I owned a home off Lake Jackson near Hastings Dr and raised my kids there and they went to M. City schools. Both got very good educations. Yes, a large number of Hispanics have come in but this actually started back in the early 80's with the construction boom in the western end of the county. Are there illegals there? Of course there are but in reality I met many good ones in my years as a police officer there who were trying to do the right thing and live as good citizens. I do prefer where I live now as it is a much slower pace of life and I am surrounded by farms and much less traffic. But Manassas is not as bad as some make it out to be as long as you choose wisely where to live which is something you do here, Las Vegas, NY and so on. Of course if you have some darker brown skin it would be wise to steer clear of Hal.

What a pantload...first off, I am the only Caucasian in a 571 unit condo building. And now you believe felons should not be held accountable for federal crimes, because they have reinvented themselves as drywall installers? That's not how it works. I am happy for the African couple (Nigerian), who bought my parent's house. They were the only ones with a whopping 5% down. I am outraged that there are two boarding houses, and two large families splitting a third, on their 12 house cul-de-sac. Do you think they bothered getting a permit to convert the basement, adding a walk-out, and creating a bunch of traffic in the side yard? Except the one year, when values were cut in half (actually 470k to 210k), taxes went up every year and were close to 5000 per year. The local elementary is horrible, junior high is worse, and the high school does have some achievers and good sports, but they are vastly out numbered by criminals, two and three years older than their grade level peers. Year in, and year out, same problems, same places, same do nothing response, mixed in with a dose of small town cronyism...all in the name of "diversity." How many times did the K9s sweep the schools? Never, amidst obvious dangerous drug problems.

[Bigfoot424]

LOL. You've lost it Hal.

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by NOVA_guy

Oh, wow. It doesn't surprise me though.

This forum can be negative at times especially with anything Manassas or PWC related, it'd be nice to see people sometimes focus on the positive.

It is also important though to communicate every side of the area to people inquiring about it. You need to know how to place an area in terms of house values, crime, schools etc. to make an educated decision on what prices are fair and whether you want to live there in the first place.

[chazas]

Sorry for resurrecting another old post, but this thread is full of garbage. City of Manassas is a great place to live. I spent decades in NW DC and in the orange line corridor in Arlington. In many respects this is the nicest of them. Anyone who wants to know what it’s ACTUALLY like in City of Manassas can reach out to me.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by chazas

Sorry for resurrecting another old post, but this thread is full of garbage. City of Manassas is a great place to live. I spent decades in NW DC and in the orange line corridor in Arlington. In many respects this is the nicest of them. Anyone who wants to know what it’s ACTUALLY like in City of Manassas can reach out to me.

In comparison to other locations Manassas City is nice. But it also has its issues meaning underperforming schools and so on. As now a former resident of PWC and Manassas City for 42 years I also believe I know Manassas well. While I would not put any neighborhood in M City on the scale of places located in DC and so on it doesn't mean it's a great place to live. For many years Georgetown South would rival any DC neighborhood for sale of crack cocaine.

[chazas]

So much of that is older news, though. My good friend, who just got elected to the city council, is from Georgetown South where he has been an HOA officer for years. Been on a nice trajectory for a while. Another good friend is on the school board, they’re working hard too - a lot of school “ratings” end up based on socio-economic status. Old Town, which I understand for decades was a ghost town, is thriving even through COVID. I find dealing with a small and personable city government awesomely refreshing - once you’ve been here for a bit, everyone knows you.

Too each their own, but to me the only major drawbacks are the commute from DC (likely to be much less of an issue post-COVID with increased telecommuting) and traffic on 28.