Salaries and Firms - DC

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
So, by that standard, DC has hot singles. smart and moneyed.

I don't delude myself that they're hot. The money is compensation for non-hotness.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
So, by that standard, DC has hot singles. smart and moneyed.

Now those singles can have hot donuts. According to today's Washington Post, Krispy Kreme is opening a store in the former Dupont Circle Benetton.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Since the last question fell on deaf ears:

In the Malvo case, the defense has introduced testimony from an "expert" that Malvo says he did not shoot the person, but rather that it was Muhammed. Now, how is this allowed without waiving a 5th amendment right? Basically, Malvo gets to introduce his side of the story, through a putative expert, without being subject to cross-examination.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Anyone feel it?

[Annawan23]

thinking about moving over to your neck of the woods for a govt job, federal style, and i have a few questions that maybe you people can help me with

maryland or virginia? with small kids, i'm figuring the district is not really an option on a govt salary, and i hear montgomery county has good schools

what's the commute like? freinds tell me to look at bethesda or potomac or silver spring, but i can't tell whether i'll have the scratch to live there and how the commute into the district works

what else do i need to know?

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Annawan23
thinking about moving over to your neck of the woods for a govt job, federal style, and i have a few questions that maybe you people can help me with

maryland or virginia? with small kids, i'm figuring the district is not really an option on a govt salary, and i hear montgomery county has good schools

what's the commute like? freinds tell me to look at bethesda or potomac or silver spring, but i can't tell whether i'll have the scratch to live there and how the commute into the district works

what else do i need to know?

Might as well start up this debate . . .

Quick summary. 1) check washingtonianmag.com they had a recent write-up comparing the tax burdens and cost-of-living in each. Short answer: DC has higher income tax; Va. and MD higher prop. tax. 2) commutes suck everywhere. they're more palatable if you are near metro. but near metro means more expensive (also, fed. gov't employees get a metro subsidy--it's free up to a certain amount, maybe $100/month). 3) schools in DC suck for the most part, except in the expensive areas of town. Montgomery and parts of Va. both have very good schools too. 4) prices are high everywhere--it's too hard to be more specific about where to find value.

Here's the link to the tax article from Washingtonian:

http://www.washingtonian.com/schools/besttaxdeals.html

[Annawan23]

Originally posted by Working Man
Here's the link to the tax article from Washingtonian:

http://www.washingtonian.com/schools/besttaxdeals.html

thanks for the link. for people who live outside DC and work there, do they pretty much drive in? or drive to the subway and ride in? or can you get cheap parking in DC?

[Annawan23]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Might as well start up this debate . . .

Quick summary. 1) check washingtonianmag.com they had a recent write-up comparing the tax burdens and cost-of-living in each. Short answer: DC has higher income tax; Va. and MD higher prop. tax. 2) commutes suck everywhere. they're more palatable if you are near metro. but near metro means more expensive (also, fed. gov't employees get a metro subsidy--it's free up to a certain amount, maybe $100/month). 3) schools in DC suck for the most part, except in the expensive areas of town. Montgomery and parts of Va. both have very good schools too. 4) prices are high everywhere--it's too hard to be more specific about where to find value.

i've heard that there are some good elementary schools in DC, but i can't figure out how to tell which ones are any good

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Annawan23
thanks for the link. for people who live outside DC and work there, do they pretty much drive in? or drive to the subway and ride in? or can you get cheap parking in DC?

Parking at/near most downtown law firms is likely to run $200/month, with a monthly pass. $15-20/day otherwise. If you drive to the subway, you have to get there early, because the parking fills up.

Commuting generally sucks here.

As for schools, check washingtonpost.com. they had test scores. As a more general matter, if the school is located north and west of rock creek park, it's likely to be okay. if east/south--terrible.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

the Washington DC-Arlington County-Fairfax County-City of Alexandria-City of Falls Church-Mongomery County-Prince George's County Metropolitan Area Transit Authority:

We have picked a name for our new station: New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University Station.

We have also decided to add another name to other stations: the name "Penn Quarter" to the Archives-Navy Memorial Station, on the Yellow and Green lines, and the name "Brentwood" to the Rhode Island Avenue Station, on the Red Line.

link

JFC. They won't be able to announce the next station in the time between stations pretty soon. What happened to sticking to one name that reflects most closely the location, rather than a fucking rainbow coalition of names that iincludes every point that's closer to the given metro station than any other station?

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
the Washington DC-Arlington County-Fairfax County-City of Alexandria-City of Falls Church-Mongomery County-Prince George's County Metropolitan Area Transit Authority:

We have picked a name for our new station: New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University Station.

We have also decided to add another name to other stations: the name "Penn Quarter" to the Archives-Navy Memorial Station, on the Yellow and Green lines, and the name "Brentwood" to the Rhode Island Avenue Station, on the Red Line.

link

I recall that the board's disdain for long names was the lead objection to renaming the the Ronald Reagan Nat'l Airport station. They seem to have gotten past that. The other objection was the cost. Funny that they have no problem forking over the $100,000 each for new signage to add Penn Quarter or Brentwood names. Let me see: $100,000 to have the name of the station reflect the name of the airport it's located at is too much; $200,000 to add the name of a neighborhood that you'd likely have to take a cab to get to after getting off the train, no problem.

Thanks, Chief. That one post put the brakes on my train of thought that I might like to return to the DC area.

-epF

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Ex_post_Festo
I recall that the board's disdain for long names was the lead objection to renaming the the Ronald Reagan Nat'l Airport station. They seem to have gotten past that. The other objection was the cost. Funny that they have no problem forking over the $100,000 each for new signage to add Penn Quarter or Brentwood names. Let me see: $100,000 to have the name of the station reflect the name of the airport it's located at is too much; $200,000 to add the name of a neighborhood that you'd likely have to take a cab to get to after getting off the train, no problem.

Thanks, Chief. That one post put the brakes on my train of thought that I might like to return to the DC area.

-epF

I forget the exact details, but the Reagan airport thing went beyond Metro. Each locality gets the rights to approve the name, and Arlington county (where the airport is) refused to spend the money. Meanwhile, Bob Barr, who at the time was the chairman of the relevant committee that oversaw Metro (maybe the DC committee, and maybe not barr), was hell-bent on having it renamed. So he held up appropriations bills and hauled the metro boss before his committee to berate him. ultimately there was some behind-the-scenes negotiation that allowed the renaming through arlington dropping its objection.

My real issue is that a lot of the names do nothing to describe the location. What is "Penn Quarter"? I doubt 90% of DCers could tell you where that is. What does it add to the description? Station names have gone from being easy locators to complex political statements (see, e.g., U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo). Does telling me all the sights at a given station really help me locate it? I think not.

[dubhousing]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Station names have gone from being easy locators to complex political statements (see, e.g., U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo). Does telling me all the sights at a given station really help me locate it? I think not.

Its even worse in the suburbs. Just look at the Orange Line which now starts at Vienna/Fairfax and passes through such descriptively named stations as Dunn Lorning/Merrifield, West Falls Church/VT-UVA, Ballston/Marymount University, and Virginia Square/GMU on its way to the city. I'm just waiting for them to rename Rosslyn something like Rosslyn/Georgetown to equal Dunn Lorning/Merrifeild or Vienna/Fairfax in descriptiveness.

[dubhousing]

Originally posted by Annawan23
what else do i need to know?

Auto insurance rates in Virginia are way lower than in Maryland assuming you have a good driving record.

Virginia currently has one of the best public college and university systems in the country.

Best commute will be living walking distance to a Metro station or your workplace. Barring that, driving to a Metro station and parking and paying Metro fare is cheaper than driving into downtown DC and parking. Especially because as a government employee you should get a transportation benefit that will pay for the Metro fare. The exception will be is if as a government employee you get free parking. Even then, it will probably be easier to take Metro.

Income taxes in Virginia are way lower than in Maryland and DC. Virginia also currently has a lower sales tax. Overall, I think that Virginia has an overall lower cost of living than Maryland or DC, even though housing prices tend to be higher in Virginia.