APS Superintendent High School Overcrowding Plan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at Jennie Dean park on Four Mile Run? Already has lighted fields and parking, and the land/businesses adjacent could be taken via eminent domain. Those buildings are nothing special. And it's in S Arlington, which is where the need is. It's not perfect geographically as it's a little more than a mile from Wakefield, but no site is perfect.

Flood Plain issues. APS will not build a school there, ever. Came out during the SAWG process.

How about clear out all the crap where the bus depot/trades center is off Arlington Mill Dr and make that a school site? You have to decentralize that stuff, but who cares? That site is huge.

They can't really decentralize the bulk of that operation (they maintain the vehicles there) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to have vehicle maintenance and vehicle storage and offices in three (or more) different places. They are going to have to have some satellite locations for some materials storage anyhow--the space on Arlington Mill isn't even big enough. At any rate, DES, like everything else in Arlington, is a victim of the county's success in being a great community. More people = more school buses, more ART buses, more police cars to store and maintain. Better service levels = more park maintenance vehicles, more trail maintenance vehicles, more plows to store and maintain. Higher environmental goals = bigger mulch/brush piles, bigger tankers to capture wastewater during repairs, more space to better manage materials inventory/reduce waste. And so on and so forth. This is why parents need to pay attention to county issues and not just the schools. Any "solution" that solves a school problem but creates a county problem is going to be dismissed out of hand, yet we spend so much time talking about them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at Jennie Dean park on Four Mile Run? Already has lighted fields and parking, and the land/businesses adjacent could be taken via eminent domain. Those buildings are nothing special. And it's in S Arlington, which is where the need is. It's not perfect geographically as it's a little more than a mile from Wakefield, but no site is perfect.

Flood Plain issues. APS will not build a school there, ever. Came out during the SAWG process.

How about clear out all the crap where the bus depot/trades center is off Arlington Mill Dr and make that a school site? You have to decentralize that stuff, but who cares? That site is huge.

They can't really decentralize the bulk of that operation (they maintain the vehicles there) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to have vehicle maintenance and vehicle storage and offices in three (or more) different places. They are going to have to have some satellite locations for some materials storage anyhow--the space on Arlington Mill isn't even big enough. At any rate, DES, like everything else in Arlington, is a victim of the county's success in being a great community. More people = more school buses, more ART buses, more police cars to store and maintain. Better service levels = more park maintenance vehicles, more trail maintenance vehicles, more plows to store and maintain. Higher environmental goals = bigger mulch/brush piles, bigger tankers to capture wastewater during repairs, more space to better manage materials inventory/reduce waste. And so on and so forth. This is why parents need to pay attention to county issues and not just the schools. Any "solution" that solves a school problem but creates a county problem is going to be dismissed out of hand, yet we spend so much time talking about them!

I think you don't realize that parents are sick of this self-congratulatory crap about Arlington being a victim of its own success. It's a victim of bad planning and poor coordination between APS and the county board.

You may not be willing to admit it yet, but school problems are, by definition, county problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at Jennie Dean park on Four Mile Run? Already has lighted fields and parking, and the land/businesses adjacent could be taken via eminent domain. Those buildings are nothing special. And it's in S Arlington, which is where the need is. It's not perfect geographically as it's a little more than a mile from Wakefield, but no site is perfect.

Flood Plain issues. APS will not build a school there, ever. Came out during the SAWG process.

How about clear out all the crap where the bus depot/trades center is off Arlington Mill Dr and make that a school site? You have to decentralize that stuff, but who cares? That site is huge.

They can't really decentralize the bulk of that operation (they maintain the vehicles there) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to have vehicle maintenance and vehicle storage and offices in three (or more) different places. They are going to have to have some satellite locations for some materials storage anyhow--the space on Arlington Mill isn't even big enough. At any rate, DES, like everything else in Arlington, is a victim of the county's success in being a great community. More people = more school buses, more ART buses, more police cars to store and maintain. Better service levels = more park maintenance vehicles, more trail maintenance vehicles, more plows to store and maintain. Higher environmental goals = bigger mulch/brush piles, bigger tankers to capture wastewater during repairs, more space to better manage materials inventory/reduce waste. And so on and so forth. This is why parents need to pay attention to county issues and not just the schools. Any "solution" that solves a school problem but creates a county problem is going to be dismissed out of hand, yet we spend so much time talking about them!

I think you don't realize that parents are sick of this self-congratulatory crap about Arlington being a victim of its own success. It's a victim of bad planning and poor coordination between APS and the county board.

You may not be willing to admit it yet, but school problems are, by definition, county problems.

This. I get that it's a small county, with limited space. But the reality is that there is no place, anywhere in Arlington, to build a school that won't somehow "create problems" for some other interest group in the county. Traffic or loss of some green space or loss of county-owned community space or increased taxes or simply opportunity cost (once you take it for a school you can't use for some other purpose).

Do I think we should build schools in such a way that the associated "problems" are minimized? Absolutely. Is there a way to avoid those problems entirely? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at Jennie Dean park on Four Mile Run? Already has lighted fields and parking, and the land/businesses adjacent could be taken via eminent domain. Those buildings are nothing special. And it's in S Arlington, which is where the need is. It's not perfect geographically as it's a little more than a mile from Wakefield, but no site is perfect.

Flood Plain issues. APS will not build a school there, ever. Came out during the SAWG process.

How about clear out all the crap where the bus depot/trades center is off Arlington Mill Dr and make that a school site? You have to decentralize that stuff, but who cares? That site is huge.

They can't really decentralize the bulk of that operation (they maintain the vehicles there) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to have vehicle maintenance and vehicle storage and offices in three (or more) different places. They are going to have to have some satellite locations for some materials storage anyhow--the space on Arlington Mill isn't even big enough. At any rate, DES, like everything else in Arlington, is a victim of the county's success in being a great community. More people = more school buses, more ART buses, more police cars to store and maintain. Better service levels = more park maintenance vehicles, more trail maintenance vehicles, more plows to store and maintain. Higher environmental goals = bigger mulch/brush piles, bigger tankers to capture wastewater during repairs, more space to better manage materials inventory/reduce waste. And so on and so forth. This is why parents need to pay attention to county issues and not just the schools. Any "solution" that solves a school problem but creates a county problem is going to be dismissed out of hand, yet we spend so much time talking about them!

I think you don't realize that parents are sick of this self-congratulatory crap about Arlington being a victim of its own success. It's a victim of bad planning and poor coordination between APS and the county board.

You may not be willing to admit it yet, but school problems are, by definition, county problems.

This. I get that it's a small county, with limited space. But the reality is that there is no place, anywhere in Arlington, to build a school that won't somehow "create problems" for some other interest group in the county. Traffic or loss of some green space or loss of county-owned community space or increased taxes or simply opportunity cost (once you take it for a school you can't use for some other purpose).

Do I think we should build schools in such a way that the associated "problems" are minimized? Absolutely. Is there a way to avoid those problems entirely? No.

I wrote the above and agree completely--we can't avoid these problems, and school problems are by definition county problems. I just think it's a waste of time when people offer up these "why don't they just X" ideas. We can never "just X" anything--there are always tradeoffs, but it seems like at every CIP meeting and every budget meeting and every community meeting, half the time gets spent debunking the same dead-end ideas. Then we have to have some huge community process to move every single project forward (Wilson School, new south Arlington elementary, Fire Station #8) because everyone in the community digs in to their narrow positions and our leaders won't lead the way to a balanced solution--they wait until everyone else has fumbled their way there and then they rubber stamp it. Its ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I wrote the above and agree completely--we can't avoid these problems, and school problems are by definition county problems. I just think it's a waste of time when people offer up these "why don't they just X" ideas. We can never "just X" anything--there are always tradeoffs, but it seems like at every CIP meeting and every budget meeting and every community meeting, half the time gets spent debunking the same dead-end ideas. Then we have to have some huge community process to move every single project forward (Wilson School, new south Arlington elementary, Fire Station #8) because everyone in the community digs in to their narrow positions and our leaders won't lead the way to a balanced solution--they wait until everyone else has fumbled their way there and then they rubber stamp it. Its ridiculous.

I love you. Would you be interested in taking over as benevolent dictator, at least until most Arlingtonians have some remote idea of what "compromise" means? (Hint for the rest of you: It does not mean getting almost everything you ask for, then asking for more things that have occurred to you since.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at Jennie Dean park on Four Mile Run? Already has lighted fields and parking, and the land/businesses adjacent could be taken via eminent domain. Those buildings are nothing special. And it's in S Arlington, which is where the need is. It's not perfect geographically as it's a little more than a mile from Wakefield, but no site is perfect.

Flood Plain issues. APS will not build a school there, ever. Came out during the SAWG process.

How about clear out all the crap where the bus depot/trades center is off Arlington Mill Dr and make that a school site? You have to decentralize that stuff, but who cares? That site is huge.

They can't really decentralize the bulk of that operation (they maintain the vehicles there) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to have vehicle maintenance and vehicle storage and offices in three (or more) different places. They are going to have to have some satellite locations for some materials storage anyhow--the space on Arlington Mill isn't even big enough. At any rate, DES, like everything else in Arlington, is a victim of the county's success in being a great community. More people = more school buses, more ART buses, more police cars to store and maintain. Better service levels = more park maintenance vehicles, more trail maintenance vehicles, more plows to store and maintain. Higher environmental goals = bigger mulch/brush piles, bigger tankers to capture wastewater during repairs, more space to better manage materials inventory/reduce waste. And so on and so forth. This is why parents need to pay attention to county issues and not just the schools. Any "solution" that solves a school problem but creates a county problem is going to be dismissed out of hand, yet we spend so much time talking about them!

I think you don't realize that parents are sick of this self-congratulatory crap about Arlington being a victim of its own success. It's a victim of bad planning and poor coordination between APS and the county board.

You may not be willing to admit it yet, but school problems are, by definition, county problems.

This. I get that it's a small county, with limited space. But the reality is that there is no place, anywhere in Arlington, to build a school that won't somehow "create problems" for some other interest group in the county. Traffic or loss of some green space or loss of county-owned community space or increased taxes or simply opportunity cost (once you take it for a school you can't use for some other purpose).

Do I think we should build schools in such a way that the associated "problems" are minimized? Absolutely. Is there a way to avoid those problems entirely? No.

I wrote the above and agree completely--we can't avoid these problems, and school problems are by definition county problems. I just think it's a waste of time when people offer up these "why don't they just X" ideas. We can never "just X" anything--there are always tradeoffs, but it seems like at every CIP meeting and every budget meeting and every community meeting, half the time gets spent debunking the same dead-end ideas. Then we have to have some huge community process to move every single project forward (Wilson School, new south Arlington elementary, Fire Station #8) because everyone in the community digs in to their narrow positions and our leaders won't lead the way to a balanced solution--they wait until everyone else has fumbled their way there and then they rubber stamp it. Its ridiculous.

I wrote the post about not being able to avoid problems. I see we are in complete agreement. Can I nominate you to head up a community group on this issue? We can be the "let's be reasonable" group. I promise to attend every meeting. And bring you coffee.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with the benevolent dictator person (and the above posters as well). In a county where some, what, 80% of households do not have school-age children, we do ourselves a disservice in assuming that every un- or under-used parcel of land in the county is available for a school. I have 2 very young kids, and believe me- I am very, very worried about school capacity issues. But we have to at least acknowledge that the majority of people in Arlington don't think schools are the top priority.

I am on our neighborhood board and I can tell you, some of it is boring, a lot of it is a giant pain for someone who works full time outside the home and has 2 kids, but it is really, really important to get involved. Before I did, I did not realize how much the County Board looks to these neighborhood associations and advisory boards for input in making decisions about all kinds of things, particularly land use. And I frankly did not realize the extent to which the boards and advisory committees are dominated by people in their 60's. Very nice people, but...different priorities. The School Board can only make use of property made available to it by the County Board, and we're all best served by getting and staying involved in the process generally. We're not going to achieve any truly effective solutions if we wait to react to whatever piecemeal proposal the County/School Board throws out that affects your neighborhood or school.

I'm heartened by the fact that there are a few people on here who want to start writing to the County Board NOW about using the VHC parcel for a school. Now is the time to start getting involved. Seriously, talk to your neighbors too. I can't tell you how many people have moved to my neighborhood with babies, preschoolers, etc, and have no idea that any of this is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at Jennie Dean park on Four Mile Run? Already has lighted fields and parking, and the land/businesses adjacent could be taken via eminent domain. Those buildings are nothing special. And it's in S Arlington, which is where the need is. It's not perfect geographically as it's a little more than a mile from Wakefield, but no site is perfect.

Flood Plain issues. APS will not build a school there, ever. Came out during the SAWG process.

How about clear out all the crap where the bus depot/trades center is off Arlington Mill Dr and make that a school site? You have to decentralize that stuff, but who cares? That site is huge.

They can't really decentralize the bulk of that operation (they maintain the vehicles there) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to have vehicle maintenance and vehicle storage and offices in three (or more) different places. They are going to have to have some satellite locations for some materials storage anyhow--the space on Arlington Mill isn't even big enough. At any rate, DES, like everything else in Arlington, is a victim of the county's success in being a great community. More people = more school buses, more ART buses, more police cars to store and maintain. Better service levels = more park maintenance vehicles, more trail maintenance vehicles, more plows to store and maintain. Higher environmental goals = bigger mulch/brush piles, bigger tankers to capture wastewater during repairs, more space to better manage materials inventory/reduce waste. And so on and so forth. This is why parents need to pay attention to county issues and not just the schools. Any "solution" that solves a school problem but creates a county problem is going to be dismissed out of hand, yet we spend so much time talking about them!

I think you don't realize that parents are sick of this self-congratulatory crap about Arlington being a victim of its own success. It's a victim of bad planning and poor coordination between APS and the county board.

You may not be willing to admit it yet, but school problems are, by definition, county problems.

This. I get that it's a small county, with limited space. But the reality is that there is no place, anywhere in Arlington, to build a school that won't somehow "create problems" for some other interest group in the county. Traffic or loss of some green space or loss of county-owned community space or increased taxes or simply opportunity cost (once you take it for a school you can't use for some other purpose).

Do I think we should build schools in such a way that the associated "problems" are minimized? Absolutely. Is there a way to avoid those problems entirely? No.

I wrote the above and agree completely--we can't avoid these problems, and school problems are by definition county problems. I just think it's a waste of time when people offer up these "why don't they just X" ideas. We can never "just X" anything--there are always tradeoffs, but it seems like at every CIP meeting and every budget meeting and every community meeting, half the time gets spent debunking the same dead-end ideas. Then we have to have some huge community process to move every single project forward (Wilson School, new south Arlington elementary, Fire Station #8) because everyone in the community digs in to their narrow positions and our leaders won't lead the way to a balanced solution--they wait until everyone else has fumbled their way there and then they rubber stamp it. Its ridiculous.

I wrote the post about not being able to avoid problems. I see we are in complete agreement. Can I nominate you to head up a community group on this issue? We can be the "let's be reasonable" group. I promise to attend every meeting. And bring you coffee.

You have to be a masochist to lead a community group in Arlington. And have a hell of a poker face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with the benevolent dictator person (and the above posters as well). In a county where some, what, 80% of households do not have school-age children, we do ourselves a disservice in assuming that every un- or under-used parcel of land in the county is available for a school. I have 2 very young kids, and believe me- I am very, very worried about school capacity issues. But we have to at least acknowledge that the majority of people in Arlington don't think schools are the top priority.

I am on our neighborhood board and I can tell you, some of it is boring, a lot of it is a giant pain for someone who works full time outside the home and has 2 kids, but it is really, really important to get involved. Before I did, I did not realize how much the County Board looks to these neighborhood associations and advisory boards for input in making decisions about all kinds of things, particularly land use. And I frankly did not realize the extent to which the boards and advisory committees are dominated by people in their 60's. Very nice people, but...different priorities. The School Board can only make use of property made available to it by the County Board, and we're all best served by getting and staying involved in the process generally. We're not going to achieve any truly effective solutions if we wait to react to whatever piecemeal proposal the County/School Board throws out that affects your neighborhood or school.

I'm heartened by the fact that there are a few people on here who want to start writing to the County Board NOW about using the VHC parcel for a school. Now is the time to start getting involved. Seriously, talk to your neighbors too. I can't tell you how many people have moved to my neighborhood with babies, preschoolers, etc, and have no idea that any of this is going on.

I'm not on MONA, but is there any discussion over there of any of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with the benevolent dictator person (and the above posters as well). In a county where some, what, 80% of households do not have school-age children, we do ourselves a disservice in assuming that every un- or under-used parcel of land in the county is available for a school. I have 2 very young kids, and believe me- I am very, very worried about school capacity issues. But we have to at least acknowledge that the majority of people in Arlington don't think schools are the top priority.

I am on our neighborhood board and I can tell you, some of it is boring, a lot of it is a giant pain for someone who works full time outside the home and has 2 kids, but it is really, really important to get involved. Before I did, I did not realize how much the County Board looks to these neighborhood associations and advisory boards for input in making decisions about all kinds of things, particularly land use. And I frankly did not realize the extent to which the boards and advisory committees are dominated by people in their 60's. Very nice people, but...different priorities. The School Board can only make use of property made available to it by the County Board, and we're all best served by getting and staying involved in the process generally. We're not going to achieve any truly effective solutions if we wait to react to whatever piecemeal proposal the County/School Board throws out that affects your neighborhood or school.

I'm heartened by the fact that there are a few people on here who want to start writing to the County Board NOW about using the VHC parcel for a school. Now is the time to start getting involved. Seriously, talk to your neighbors too. I can't tell you how many people have moved to my neighborhood with babies, preschoolers, etc, and have no idea that any of this is going on.

I'm not on MONA, but is there any discussion over there of any of this?

I haven't seen anything. I do, however, think that the most meaningful input re that parcel of land will come from people who live near it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with the benevolent dictator person (and the above posters as well). In a county where some, what, 80% of households do not have school-age children, we do ourselves a disservice in assuming that every un- or under-used parcel of land in the county is available for a school. I have 2 very young kids, and believe me- I am very, very worried about school capacity issues. But we have to at least acknowledge that the majority of people in Arlington don't think schools are the top priority.

I am on our neighborhood board and I can tell you, some of it is boring, a lot of it is a giant pain for someone who works full time outside the home and has 2 kids, but it is really, really important to get involved. Before I did, I did not realize how much the County Board looks to these neighborhood associations and advisory boards for input in making decisions about all kinds of things, particularly land use. And I frankly did not realize the extent to which the boards and advisory committees are dominated by people in their 60's. Very nice people, but...different priorities. The School Board can only make use of property made available to it by the County Board, and we're all best served by getting and staying involved in the process generally. We're not going to achieve any truly effective solutions if we wait to react to whatever piecemeal proposal the County/School Board throws out that affects your neighborhood or school.

I'm heartened by the fact that there are a few people on here who want to start writing to the County Board NOW about using the VHC parcel for a school. Now is the time to start getting involved. Seriously, talk to your neighbors too. I can't tell you how many people have moved to my neighborhood with babies, preschoolers, etc, and have no idea that any of this is going on.

I'm not on MONA, but is there any discussion over there of any of this?

I haven't seen anything. I do, however, think that the most meaningful input re that parcel of land will come from people who live near it.

Just to be clear, the parcel that they might build a school on is in south Arlington (where the VHC urgent care center is now, off Carlin Springs). The county is considering trading a county parcel on George Mason next to the big hospital property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with the benevolent dictator person (and the above posters as well). In a county where some, what, 80% of households do not have school-age children, we do ourselves a disservice in assuming that every un- or under-used parcel of land in the county is available for a school. I have 2 very young kids, and believe me- I am very, very worried about school capacity issues. But we have to at least acknowledge that the majority of people in Arlington don't think schools are the top priority.

I am on our neighborhood board and I can tell you, some of it is boring, a lot of it is a giant pain for someone who works full time outside the home and has 2 kids, but it is really, really important to get involved. Before I did, I did not realize how much the County Board looks to these neighborhood associations and advisory boards for input in making decisions about all kinds of things, particularly land use. And I frankly did not realize the extent to which the boards and advisory committees are dominated by people in their 60's. Very nice people, but...different priorities. The School Board can only make use of property made available to it by the County Board, and we're all best served by getting and staying involved in the process generally. We're not going to achieve any truly effective solutions if we wait to react to whatever piecemeal proposal the County/School Board throws out that affects your neighborhood or school.

I'm heartened by the fact that there are a few people on here who want to start writing to the County Board NOW about using the VHC parcel for a school. Now is the time to start getting involved. Seriously, talk to your neighbors too. I can't tell you how many people have moved to my neighborhood with babies, preschoolers, etc, and have no idea that any of this is going on.

I'm not on MONA, but is there any discussion over there of any of this?

I haven't seen anything. I do, however, think that the most meaningful input re that parcel of land will come from people who live near it.

Just to be clear, the parcel that they might build a school on is in south Arlington (where the VHC urgent care center is now, off Carlin Springs). The county is considering trading a county parcel on George Mason next to the big hospital property.

^^ sorry, you knew that, you were saying that's why its less of an issue for MONA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with the benevolent dictator person (and the above posters as well). In a county where some, what, 80% of households do not have school-age children, we do ourselves a disservice in assuming that every un- or under-used parcel of land in the county is available for a school. I have 2 very young kids, and believe me- I am very, very worried about school capacity issues. But we have to at least acknowledge that the majority of people in Arlington don't think schools are the top priority.

I am on our neighborhood board and I can tell you, some of it is boring, a lot of it is a giant pain for someone who works full time outside the home and has 2 kids, but it is really, really important to get involved. Before I did, I did not realize how much the County Board looks to these neighborhood associations and advisory boards for input in making decisions about all kinds of things, particularly land use. And I frankly did not realize the extent to which the boards and advisory committees are dominated by people in their 60's. Very nice people, but...different priorities. The School Board can only make use of property made available to it by the County Board, and we're all best served by getting and staying involved in the process generally. We're not going to achieve any truly effective solutions if we wait to react to whatever piecemeal proposal the County/School Board throws out that affects your neighborhood or school.

I'm heartened by the fact that there are a few people on here who want to start writing to the County Board NOW about using the VHC parcel for a school. Now is the time to start getting involved. Seriously, talk to your neighbors too. I can't tell you how many people have moved to my neighborhood with babies, preschoolers, etc, and have no idea that any of this is going on.

I'm not on MONA, but is there any discussion over there of any of this?

I haven't seen anything. I do, however, think that the most meaningful input re that parcel of land will come from people who live near it.

Just to be clear, the parcel that they might build a school on is in south Arlington (where the VHC urgent care center is now, off Carlin Springs). The county is considering trading a county parcel on George Mason next to the big hospital property.

Right, I know. What I meant, but didn't write out, is that it seems like the most valuable input will come from people who live near the parcel. Because the parcel is in south Arlington, that's probably not going to include very many people on MONA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Right, I know. What I meant, but didn't write out, is that it seems like the most valuable input will come from people who live near the parcel. Because the parcel is in south Arlington, that's probably not going to include very many people on MONA.

Imagine, if you can, a world in which the long-term needs of Arlington County and APS are considered as whole, not piecemeal, with available resources presented at the same time so all groups (parents, the elderly, the young and sporty, the low income, and all the other members of the community, complete with competing AND overlapping needs) could see what the tradeoffs for various decisions are. If you build a high-rise school here, it leaves the park here untouched. If you put a middle-school here, where do you put the senior center? The high school? The art center?

If people had to think about everything at once, maybe you wouldn't have a situation in which people shout down a solution because they don't want (or do want) something to happen in their neighborhood. Something is going to happen in every neighborhood. What does the most good for the largest number at the best cost?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Right, I know. What I meant, but didn't write out, is that it seems like the most valuable input will come from people who live near the parcel. Because the parcel is in south Arlington, that's probably not going to include very many people on MONA.

Imagine, if you can, a world in which the long-term needs of Arlington County and APS are considered as whole, not piecemeal, with available resources presented at the same time so all groups (parents, the elderly, the young and sporty, the low income, and all the other members of the community, complete with competing AND overlapping needs) could see what the tradeoffs for various decisions are. If you build a high-rise school here, it leaves the park here untouched. If you put a middle-school here, where do you put the senior center? The high school? The art center?

If people had to think about everything at once, maybe you wouldn't have a situation in which people shout down a solution because they don't want (or do want) something to happen in their neighborhood. Something is going to happen in every neighborhood. What does the most good for the largest number at the best cost?

I'm not sure what you're responding to. I wrote a bit above that about the fact that I'm on my neighborhood's board, and that it's important to understand that the vast majority of Arlington households do not have school aged kids at all. My point was that parents can't simply expect to lay claim to any available parcel of land.

I don't disagree with your aspirations for the planning process. I think the county has attempted to move toward more holistic planning in, for example, the Lee Highway roundtables they put together recently. However, I can tell you from recent experience, when there is a specific land use proposal on the table, the County Board staff wants to hear from people who live near that land parcel. And so I what I was trying to say is that if there are parents who live near the Carlin Springs parcel who want to see it used for a school, and who could articulate the positive effect such a school would have on their part of the community, that will be perhaps more persuasive than input from me, a north Arlington resident, saying "please put a school over there."