For a family with small children, I would say Columbia. Columbia has so many programs for children, parks and tot lots throughout the neighborhoods, walking trails, etc etc.. The association with a family is so cost effective if you are a Columbia resident and they have 25or so pools in the summer, many of which have great areas for younger kids. I raised my child in Columbia when they were young and it was excellent.

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Wow, this is quite an extensive list! I’ll definitely take a look at everything you’ve suggested and talk with my neighbors about these issues too. Not sure how widely known they are, but it’s important to stay informed! Thanks so much!!!

Anyone ever just throw the ticket away or demand the state produce evidence who was driving since it’s not your job to incriminate yourself?

All over the fuckin place never drive in Columbia

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Thank you so much for documenting this! Im not as aware of local issues as I would like, but the lack of transparency and use of HOA funds is quite concerning. Is there any further reading that you’d recommend to better understand the situation? And is there anything Columbia residents can do to encourage transparency??

Interesting thanks. And if I have any luck myself, I'll post here.

Yeah, but only one recommendation so far. A while back, I got a list from the Tile Shop, like 4 local guys who install tile, not full companies with that overhead. I lost that list, but I think I may swing by and ask for a copy again. I feel like there is a stack just sitting near the registers.

The timing of this thread ha. Was trying to track down a reliable and affordable one myself.

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Thank you so much for documenting all of this. It's such a valuable asset for the community to stay informed without having to watch hours of meetings. I really appreciate you.

Do you know if there has been any mention of what the potential ethics violations are? I know there is at least some involvement of Alan Klein given that he was removed from the board before getting voted back in. That seems like a major contributing factor to what is going on with the board and Lakey, but I was wondering if there was any actual info on what Klein did.

One plus of Columbia not noted above is many (not all) of the power lines are buried and you avoid issues with power loss that we saw this past week. I think an exception would be areas like Allview, etc, so not everywhere in Columbia.

Thank you for this comment! I can’t stand when people call schools better or worse based on who attends them. It’s pure test scores and socioeconomics. I also prefer to be in one of these schools over a school with a more homogeneous socioeconomic population.

In your next car throw an apple AirTag under one of the seats. $20 feee car tracker.

You might be able to take commuter bus to a metro station, then ride on silver line to Tyson’s Corner.

I would try to adjust hours to avoid traffic as much as possible. Go in early and leave early. Or go in late and leave late. As long as you catch your main meetings

Luckily I’m typically off rush hour. Work a lot of 10-6, some 12-8 and even some 5-1. Usually around 55 minutes each way. Those 5am drives are about 44 minutes though. A bad drive is 1.25-1.5 hours.

It is definitely crazy. People are leaving because of it but what can we do. As long as I can keep my status remote, I would be happy. And yes my original plan was to go in once a month or come in for those all hand meetings or larger team meetings or important bigger projects. Just to show face. Unfortunately. That I can do. As long as it stays like that! Haha

Yeah I think getting into DC is much easier or more accessible than getting to nova! I wish they had similar options for nova, that would be a game changer!

Oh wow that’s a lot! How long on average is your commute to get there?!

Right!!! It’s crazy. I am remote thankfully, but for some reason they think it’s easy for me to come in. And that I should be coming in more often. I was able to be full time remote and hopefully it will stay that way but the company is going to be hybrid, 3 days a week in office, so I hope it doesn’t become an issue.

I commute to DC 4-6 times a week, thankfully it’s to Georgetown so it’s not terrible as I can avoid downtown and major highways (Also means Marc/metro not a realistic option). But it’s not the best… I can theoretically do 80+% of my job remote but I’m in charge and I just need to be there. Hopefully I can work towards keeping it on the 4 day side most often.

The idea that we in Columbia can commute to Tyson’s or further for work is insane. It’s not many miles but all those hours in traffic is wild. Ask your employer for relocation assistance or allow remote work.

I go into dc once a week, much better than going to Tysons Corner. I’ve been experimenting with the different routes. Columbia fortunately does have multiple commuting options, including the commuter bus which people don’t talk enough about, it’s a great service that can take you straight to DC from Colombia non stop. But regardless of commute option, I definitely wouldn’t want to do it every day…once a week is enough for me.