Posted on 01/27/2016 2:34:30 PM PST by Olog-hai
Few neighborhoods can match the perks of Adams Morgan in Washington, D.C. - a reality that reflects a broader problem for the U.S. housing market.
Residents of Adams Morgan enjoy a bevy of bars, restaurants, exercise studios and shopping, just steps from their row houses and condo buildings. Home values are reasonable relative to neighborhood incomes. And in general, the area schools rate as better than average nationally.
Across the country, just 14 percent of neighborhoods manage to be at once affordably priced, walkable and near decent schools. And many of those neighborhoods exist in only two cities: Washington and Seattle, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by the real estate brokerage Redfin. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I love my neighborhood. Lots of kids who play or ride their bikes in the streets, schools nearby, lots of fathers out in the evening playing ball with the kids. No condos or row houses, no bars, shops, restaurants, stores or exercise businesses within walking distance. Want those things, don’t move here or have a car. And we are in Texas, not DC or Seattle.
I got lucky. My kids walked to school. And one of my grandchildren will too (one lives with us). The article is correct, neighborhood no longer affordable for most people. Wasn't always like that. For me and my wife, we wanted to avoid commuting and stayed close to the city where our jobs were. Our siblings moved far away to flee the city. Joke was on them. Crime fled here and went to the suburbs. As costs rose here, many cashed out and fled. There are no gangs here, very little if any crime. Lots of great shopping, eating and public transportation in short walking distance. Our siblings have to deal with gangs, police sirens, shootings, car jackings, etc. Their neighborhoods went down, although affordable. Ours improved and prices skyrocketed.
Elementary school one block away, middle school about five blocks, high school about ten blocks, all walkable and safe. Plus highly rated in the state. But unaffordable to many young couples, $800G to $1M. It is a big problem.
Because few of us want "walkable" if we are not hipsters and few hipsters care about "good schools" because they do not have children.
Lack of demand.
Blame the federal judges who engaged in a huge, failed, social experiment that destroyed urban school systems, and resulted in ethnic cleansing of whites.
So far as I can tell, Zillow and Trulia define “walkability” as “being close to supermarkets and shopping” rather than “safe.”
They do here, if the weather is warm enough.
The government mandates that my elementary school is filled with bussed illegals and the poor, so it’s not an environment that is conducive to learning, or even safe.
Thus I must pay over 10k a year to insulate my child.
Why do I even pay taxes?
Especially when agencies such as the IRS are unconstitutional. Where does the executive branch have any constitutional authority to collect taxes?
I don’t see how the Congress even had any authority to establish the Treasury Department (1789), thus handing off its constitutional authority in that sphere to the POTUS.
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