Arlington Missing Middle

[Anonymous]

I had to laugh at this article. While I don’t disagree with its premise, that it was written by a Sidwell and Northwestern grad (facts that she conveniently leaves out of the article) detracts from its credibility. Yea, she can’t afford to live in Arlington as a recent journalism grad. But her rich parents could. Not exactly a Man Bites Dog story.

[Anonymous]

Sorry here’s the link:

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/10/30/arlington-virginia-missing-middle-housing-zoning/

[Anonymous]

“ attended elementary and middle schools ranked among Virginia’s best, with a financially, racially, and ethnically diverse student body. At my middle school’s International Night, where students would bring food that represented their culture, the entire gym would be filled with the enticing smell of pupusas, samosas, and injera.”

Yet the parents couldn’t move her to Sidwell fast enough lol.

[Anonymous]

She lost me with “ Everyone deserves to grow up in a place like Arlington—walkable, transit oriented, full of interesting restaurants and stores, diverse, and with great schools and nice parks.”

There aren’t enough of these places in the United States. Sure more localities should adopt the planning that has made Arlington successful. But I don’t think there is any inherent right to live in such a place. And let’s be real, her family clearly has money and it sounds like her parents still live in Arlington. So she may inherit property here someday.

[Anonymous]

I was born a few months later in Fairfax County, because Arlington’s hospital wouldn’t take my parents’ insurance (a fact I resent with Leslie Knope-ian fervor), but other than that slight snafu, I grew up a proud resident.

Me, an Arlingtonian who was born in Arlington but didn't grow up here at all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She lost me with “ Everyone deserves to grow up in a place like Arlington—walkable, transit oriented, full of interesting restaurants and stores, diverse, and with great schools and nice parks.”

There aren’t enough of these places in the United States. Sure more localities should adopt the planning that has made Arlington successful. But I don’t think there is any inherent right to live in such a place. And let’s be real, her family clearly has money and it sounds like her parents still live in Arlington. So she may inherit property here someday.

She forgot white. Which is the real reason Arlington and Loudon are the only two acceptable options for people like her.

[Anonymous]

Why didn’t she mention that her parents had money or that she didn’t stick around Arlington for high school?

[Anonymous]

Why can’t she buy a condo? That’s what I did when I was 27. I properly laddered by way into a house at age 43, having worked a career, saving money and putting 20 percent down. I bough last year btw, not 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

I wonder where her parents stand on this issue? Surely their Lyon Village home has quadrupled in value. Are they pushing for duplexes in their 'hood?

[Anonymous]

Is this her dad?

https://www.multihousingnews.com/matt-birenbaum-joins-avalonbay-as-executive-vice-president-of-corporate-strategy/

If so, she should have disclosed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder where her parents stand on this issue? Surely their Lyon Village home has quadrupled in value. Are they pushing for duplexes in their 'hood?

In 1998, her parents bought their Lyon Park (not Lyon Village) house for $456,000. They sold it a few years ago for $1,155,000 and then built a McMansion in Lyon Park that is assessed for $1,900,000. Her parents are typical Lyon Park libs, so they may think MM is just peachy.

A few years from now the writer will be posting on DCUM that her parents “gifted” her $500k as a down payment for a house in McLean because Arlington is too dense with all the MM housing


Meanwhile, the writer is being lionized on the Nova YIMBY site as the poor little kid who can’t buy in her old hood at age 25.

I don’t know who is running the PR for the YIMBYs but this girl and the one in WaPo story are less than sympathetic. This writer is going to roasted in the Washingtonian comment section worse than the WaPo poster girl for MM housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this her dad?

https://www.multihousingnews.com/matt-birenbaum-joins-avalonbay-as-executive-vice-president-of-corporate-strategy/

If so, she should have disclosed it.

Yes, it's her father. See this guest list indicating a guest of hers named "Matt"

https://admin.alumni.northwestern.edu/s/1479/02-naa/16/interior_no-utility.aspx?sid=1479&gid=89&pgid=23622&cid=39164&fid=39163

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this her dad?

https://www.multihousingnews.com/matt-birenbaum-joins-avalonbay-as-executive-vice-president-of-corporate-strategy/

If so, she should have disclosed it.

Yep. She should at least get a free rental

Now Google her mother, Ilona.

[Anonymous]

Her dad is a developer of multifamily housing?! You can't make this stuff up. How did the Washingtonian publish her nonsense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t she buy a condo? That’s what I did when I was 27. I properly laddered by way into a house at age 43, having worked a career, saving money and putting 20 percent down. I bough last year btw, not 20 years ago.

Puhleeze! She is a YIMBY and they think any home older than 40 years should be razed. She can probably only afford an older condo, like the ones at Cambridge Court next to her much vaunted elementary school.