Arlington "missing middle"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It will very quickly bring the price down on the houses surrounding a newly built multi-unit building.

Exactly. I know a few people who got scared off from buying in Arlington because of MM and chose FCC and McLean instead.

[Anonymous]

Eh. I live near Rocklands in Virginia Square. We have SFHs, duplexes, multiplexes, and apartment buildings all on the same square block. We are fine and living here is great. Not sure why people are so pissed off. Most of Arlington near the rosslyn-ballston corridor is already dense and we have vibrant neighborhoods with diverse housing options.

[Anonymous]

Adding density will strain already strained resources. Schools, parking, traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington - we are only liberal when we could put up a yard sign or add a frame to our FB profile

What’s liberal about wanting an 8-Plex in backyard?

The fear among people in N Arlington is that not white people will move in and/or poor people
who won’t how to act in a neighborhood. I am not kidding either - several older white women
have posted this kind of thing on NextDoor under their real names

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington - we are only liberal when we could put up a yard sign or add a frame to our FB profile

What’s liberal about wanting an 8-Plex in backyard?

The fear among people in N Arlington is that not white people will move in and/or poor people
who won’t how to act in a neighborhood. I am not kidding either - several older white women
have posted this kind of thing on NextDoor under their real names

No it’s solely about over crowded schools, over crowded roads filled with street parking, park programs already fill up in seconds, we are at capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington - we are only liberal when we could put up a yard sign or add a frame to our FB profile

What’s liberal about wanting an 8-Plex in backyard?

The fear among people in N Arlington is that not white people will move in and/or poor people
who won’t how to act in a neighborhood. I am not kidding either - several older white women
have posted this kind of thing on NextDoor under their real names

I guess they bought into the narrative that this housing will be "affordable." It's going to have to be people able to pay 500K+ for a 1 bedroom unit, and escalating from there. So they certainly won't be poor people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I live near Rocklands in Virginia Square. We have SFHs, duplexes, multiplexes, and apartment buildings all on the same square block. We are fine and living here is great. Not sure why people are so pissed off. Most of Arlington near the rosslyn-ballston corridor is already dense and we have vibrant neighborhoods with diverse housing options.

reasonable take

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I live near Rocklands in Virginia Square. We have SFHs, duplexes, multiplexes, and apartment buildings all on the same square block. We are fine and living here is great. Not sure why people are so pissed off. Most of Arlington near the rosslyn-ballston corridor is already dense and we have vibrant neighborhoods with diverse housing options.

reasonable take

It’s fine because you live near transit and many bus lines.

Up in 22207, half of those multiplex units will end up a group home with 5 cars parked on the street.

Schools are at capacity. Rec centers and parks and fields are in constant demand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I live near Rocklands in Virginia Square. We have SFHs, duplexes, multiplexes, and apartment buildings all on the same square block. We are fine and living here is great. Not sure why people are so pissed off. Most of Arlington near the rosslyn-ballston corridor is already dense and we have vibrant neighborhoods with diverse housing options.

Those of us who chose to live in a quieter Part of the county are very opposed to this. I know many people like it, but I would never want to live in the Roslyn/Ballston corridor. Too busy and loud for my taste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington - we are only liberal when we could put up a yard sign or add a frame to our FB profile

What’s liberal about wanting an 8-Plex in backyard?

The fear among people in N Arlington is that not white people will move in and/or poor people
who won’t how to act in a neighborhood. I am not kidding either - several older white women
have posted this kind of thing on NextDoor under their real names

That’s ridiculous. Who do you thinks going to be buying a $1 million duplex? Or a 750k 8- Plex? There’s not gonna be a mass exodus from South Arlington. Teachers still aren’t gonna be able to afford that. The intent is good, but the plan is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington doesn’t want a middle class.

North Arlington (looking at you, Lyon Park) wants to be rich people only, and they want their domestic help living in South Arlington.


There’s no room for the rest of you peasants.

Lyon park?? LP straddles south arlington.

It’s the large lots in 22207/22213 where these monstrosities would go, and those homeowners are pissed!

I live in 22207, and not everyone is pissed. But the pissed homeowners are very loud.

That's the basic summary. The opponents are loud, but it turns out that plenty of people support the missing middle proposal.

I'm also really tired of people who oppose new market-rate housing (purportedly) because it's not affordable for poor people, and also oppose new affordable housing (purportedly) out of concern for lack of services for the poor people who would live there. That's just opposing new housing, period.

[Anonymous]

The term "missing middle" is so deceptive. It is a clever name to make the proposal sound like something to help the middle class, but getting people to buy expensive condos and townhomes does not help the middle class (SFHs are actually the biggest driver of wealth). It should really just be called the "increase density" proposal. But that would make it too painfully obvious what the goal is; better to deceive people to get what you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I live near Rocklands in Virginia Square. We have SFHs, duplexes, multiplexes, and apartment buildings all on the same square block. We are fine and living here is great. Not sure why people are so pissed off. Most of Arlington near the rosslyn-ballston corridor is already dense and we have vibrant neighborhoods with diverse housing options.

That’s great for you that you prefer a denser neighborhood. I have friends in dense parts of DC as well that love it. They would never dream of moving to Westover or Maywood or any other similar place.

Those of us that deliberately chose non-dense neighborhoods even those with smaller and older homes did so because we don’t want that lifestyle. I like being surrounded by other homes and yards and not having the street filled with cars. That’s not racist, it’s not classist. It’s a lifestyle preference. And yes, as soon as a neighbor sells and their home is replaced by a 6 or 8 plex I will absolutely lose a ton of equity in my own home so this impacts my financial future as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term "missing middle" is so deceptive. It is a clever name to make the proposal sound like something to help the middle class, but getting people to buy expensive condos and townhomes does not help the middle class (SFHs are actually the biggest driver of wealth). It should really just be called the "increase density" proposal. But that would make it too painfully obvious what the goal is; better to deceive people to get what you want.

It's a clever name that points out there's a whole range of housing types that are not allowed to be built, and are therefore missing.

Does it help the middle class to make more housing types more available and more affordable for the middle class in more areas? I think it does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh. I live near Rocklands in Virginia Square. We have SFHs, duplexes, multiplexes, and apartment buildings all on the same square block. We are fine and living here is great. Not sure why people are so pissed off. Most of Arlington near the rosslyn-ballston corridor is already dense and we have vibrant neighborhoods with diverse housing options.

That’s great for you that you prefer a denser neighborhood. I have friends in dense parts of DC as well that love it. They would never dream of moving to Westover or Maywood or any other similar place.

Those of us that deliberately chose non-dense neighborhoods even those with smaller and older homes did so because we don’t want that lifestyle. I like being surrounded by other homes and yards and not having the street filled with cars. That’s not racist, it’s not classist. It’s a lifestyle preference. And yes, as soon as a neighbor sells and their home is replaced by a 6 or 8 plex I will absolutely lose a ton of equity in my own home so this impacts my financial future as well.

If your neighbor's 1-unit building is replaced by a 6-unit or 8-unit building, your property value will increase.