Biden wants RTO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is Biden’s commercial real estate donor class.

It's more than that. DC is going to face a massive property tax shortfall if office buildings get revalued downward by 50%. CRE pays property tax rates that are 2x of DC homeowners.

It will start a services cut-tax hike spiral on the remaining residents if CRE takes a big haircut. It will be Democratic-voting big cities that will face the brunt of these revenue shortfalls. Crime will go up, schools will get worse, poverty alleviation programs get eliminated, etc.

My kid is in DPR summer camp right now at our local park. It's an amazing program and costs me $150 for two weeks for 8am-6pm daily care + all food covered. It's safe, fun, and has a good curriculum of play + art + learning. It's dirt cheap and he has fun. If CRE gets revalued down by 50%, that summer camp option gets eliminated. Or it goes up in price so much that poor and MC DC families can't afford it.

I live in Arlington and even the county run camps are easily $350-500/week and then often more for extended hours. So I am now supposed to come into DC to buy a sandwich and coffee so you can have your subsidized camp? Are you serious?

Sorry, but it’s not my job as a VA resident to make sure your locality can provide you with $75/week childcare.

Move to DC and you can have these nice things too. We paid income tax to DC as DINKS for over a decade before our kids arrived. Hell yes I’m getting my money back with free PK3/PK4, cheap summer camps, subsidized aftercare, etc. My wife - private sector worker in DC - got paid leave from the DC government when we had our most recent baby to the tune of $1K/week for eight weeks.

We paid into it for a long time to the tune of six figures. Why shouldn’t we get back what we contributed to our city?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

But it’s all about you? Worth noting that I wasn’t even talking about my own personal challenges—more so those of my colleagues who cannot afford the commute and childcare on federal pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They’re not talking about returning to office all 5 days of the week. Why is everyone losing their $hit over this?

I'm not losing my $hit, it is very frustrating, given that I have scheduled my kids' multiple therapies around thinking that I would only have to commute two days per pay period (if I am at home I can either use about an hour, vs. about 3 hours of leave, or do it in the early evening, since I have no commute). Now I may have to try to unwind that or pay someone to take them to them as scheduled. It definitely doesn't reflect appreciation for all of the extra hours I have put in for this job, and the work-related travel I already do, which takes me away from my family during non-business hours. I'm likely not quitting the job over it, but it's not a good thing for me or my kids.

What did you do before 2020? My kids were young before telework existed, and I had to use a lot of my leave for those types of things. It's nice to save your leave for just "fun" stuff, but this is life with kids.

It's this type of privilege that pisses the rest of the country off about Feds.

Well I had to use my own sick/annual leave and LWOP for my pregnancies, but I’m glad that my coworkers having babies now get paid parental leave. I truly don’t understand this who attitude of calling anyone privileged who expects better work/life balance than you had.

I’m personally glad that a silver lining of shut downs is that workers finally realized they don’t have to live their lives using their PTO to compensate for their long commutes in order to receive medical care and that they’ve been given flexibility to better balance these needs so they can actually take a vacation.

I’m sorry that you view doing fun stuff as a “privilege” for working parents.

Yeah lots of feds, who earn up to 39 days off a year and get 11 paid holidays a year, can’t take vacations….

Who gets 39 days? Top is 26.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

LOL. Actually it is all about me first and foremost. If I don’t look out for number one, who will.

Well the government is doing the same thing--doing what it thinks is best for the government and country as a whole.

DP. So you’re telling me you like government now? Something about your posts tells me you’re full of crap. You just don’t want liberals moving into your neck of the woods. They might vote for things that actually help poor people.

Yes, I like government. Your claim about my "wants" (not wanting liberals (I don't even use that word, I don't put people into a box) moving to an area and not caring about poor people) is inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

These places were not empty before govies came to live in them, if the govies were not living in the homes they bought, others would be living in them. So what you saying doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They’re not talking about returning to office all 5 days of the week. Why is everyone losing their $hit over this?

I'm not losing my $hit, it is very frustrating, given that I have scheduled my kids' multiple therapies around thinking that I would only have to commute two days per pay period (if I am at home I can either use about an hour, vs. about 3 hours of leave, or do it in the early evening, since I have no commute). Now I may have to try to unwind that or pay someone to take them to them as scheduled. It definitely doesn't reflect appreciation for all of the extra hours I have put in for this job, and the work-related travel I already do, which takes me away from my family during non-business hours. I'm likely not quitting the job over it, but it's not a good thing for me or my kids.

What did you do before 2020? My kids were young before telework existed, and I had to use a lot of my leave for those types of things. It's nice to save your leave for just "fun" stuff, but this is life with kids.

It's this type of privilege that pisses the rest of the country off about Feds.

Well I had to use my own sick/annual leave and LWOP for my pregnancies, but I’m glad that my coworkers having babies now get paid parental leave. I truly don’t understand this who attitude of calling anyone privileged who expects better work/life balance than you had.

I’m personally glad that a silver lining of shut downs is that workers finally realized they don’t have to live their lives using their PTO to compensate for their long commutes in order to receive medical care and that they’ve been given flexibility to better balance these needs so they can actually take a vacation.

I’m sorry that you view doing fun stuff as a “privilege” for working parents.

Yeah lots of feds, who earn up to 39 days off a year and get 11 paid holidays a year, can’t take vacations….

Who gets 39 days? Top is 26.

Annual accrued = 26
Sick accrued = 13
26 + 13 = 39

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

These places were not empty before govies came to live in them, if the govies were not living in the homes they bought, others would be living in them. So what you saying doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, they were. The amount of development I’ve seen an hour outside of DC in Va is staggering. New housing everywhere. With it, more jobs and services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

These places were not empty before govies came to live in them, if the govies were not living in the homes they bought, others would be living in them. So what you saying doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, they were. The amount of development I’ve seen an hour outside of DC in Va is staggering. New housing everywhere. With it, more jobs and services.

Ha ha you don't know what new housing developments do to a community, they do not add to a community coffers, in fact, they require schools to be built, more water/untility services to be built and maintained, more roads, etc. Not saying housing developments are bad, people needs places to live, but dual income households on DC locality pay moving anywhere and everywhere makes old and new home expensive, without adding value to a community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

These places were not empty before govies came to live in them, if the govies were not living in the homes they bought, others would be living in them. So what you saying doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, they were. The amount of development I’ve seen an hour outside of DC in Va is staggering. New housing everywhere. With it, more jobs and services.

Ha ha you don't know what new housing developments do to a community, they do not add to a community coffers, in fact, they require schools to be built, more water/untility services to be built and maintained, more roads, etc. Not saying housing developments are bad, people needs places to live, but dual income households on DC locality pay moving anywhere and everywhere makes old and new home expensive, without adding value to a community.

Absolute hogwash. You get higher revenues to pay for the extra services and suddenly you find that when you need to see a doctor there’s one within a 10 minute drive. Weird how that works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

These places were not empty before govies came to live in them, if the govies were not living in the homes they bought, others would be living in them. So what you saying doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, they were. The amount of development I’ve seen an hour outside of DC in Va is staggering. New housing everywhere. With it, more jobs and services.

Ha ha you don't know what new housing developments do to a community, they do not add to a community coffers, in fact, they require schools to be built, more water/untility services to be built and maintained, more roads, etc. Not saying housing developments are bad, people needs places to live, but dual income households on DC locality pay moving anywhere and everywhere makes old and new home expensive, without adding value to a community.

This is bad? Sounds like a lot of jobs! And services! Brought to you buy the US taxpayers to boot. People who buy houses generally pay property taxes, you know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

These places were not empty before govies came to live in them, if the govies were not living in the homes they bought, others would be living in them. So what you saying doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, they were. The amount of development I’ve seen an hour outside of DC in Va is staggering. New housing everywhere. With it, more jobs and services.

Ha ha you don't know what new housing developments do to a community, they do not add to a community coffers, in fact, they require schools to be built, more water/untility services to be built and maintained, more roads, etc. Not saying housing developments are bad, people needs places to live, but dual income households on DC locality pay moving anywhere and everywhere makes old and new home expensive, without adding value to a community.

I live in Frederick and I don't know any dual fed households commuting to DC, although I'm sure there are some. The families I know either have one fed and one person staying home with kids, or working locally in a service/education/medical type job (like my spouse), or two feds but one of them works somewhere like Fort Detrick or Harpers Ferry. This was the case pre-covid too. When one of you works in Frederick, and one of you works in DC, living in Frederick and having the DC commuter look out for a local job makes WAY more sense than the reverse. We're all just doing the best we can.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Another thing no one is talking about is the effect that RTO will have on real estate values and development. People moved further away from DC, homes are being built to satisfy that demand for more affordable places to live and raise a family. New business sprung up in places that were deserted a few years ago.

Say feds need to RTO back to 2020 levels—what happens to those outer burbs and developments (that tend to vote for republicans)?

The economics of WFH are not simple and saying we need to keep DC dry cleaners in business at the expense of other communities and families, is not a good look.

Productivity is up despite the usual anti-WFH people claiming it’s not.

I’m happy to go into the office, because I bought my house near the beltway a long time ago when it was more affordable. The commute still sucks, but I make an okay wage and I don’t have kids in daycare. I don’t see how junior employees with kids can make it work anymore. Costs for childcare and education are just astronomical and wages are not increasing for feds. Feds had an effective 1.5% pay CUT last year after inflation. They don’t need another hit. I just don’t get it all.

Fed WFH made housing much more expensive in places far beyond the beltway, where non feds, or even feds who work in facilities in those areas cannot afford homes in those areas--ask me how I know. So now housing is expensive close to DC and all up and down the east coast and possibly beyond. This change has only benefited feds who work from home. I know, that is all who you care about, but other people have other concerns. It is not all about you.

Housing prices going up in areas where you already own land is not a bad thing. Those people have been selling out, developing, and making bank—not the feds who are buying the housing. But you can thank them for the increased services your area is getting due to the increased tax base, maybe you could vote for politicians that support building affordable units with any new development. That model has worked in many places.

Long commutes because of unaffordable housing has been the norm for a while, sounds like you thought you were immune?

why would people with bigger paychecks bring more services to an area? The two do not correlate at all. The people who work at the "services" now cannot afford a home in thea area, a separate issue.

Government Services like more police, firefighters, teachers, hospitals etc??? Hellloooo in there. The things taxes pay for that make places easier to live in?

These places were not empty before govies came to live in them, if the govies were not living in the homes they bought, others would be living in them. So what you saying doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, they were. The amount of development I’ve seen an hour outside of DC in Va is staggering. New housing everywhere. With it, more jobs and services.

Ha ha you don't know what new housing developments do to a community, they do not add to a community coffers, in fact, they require schools to be built, more water/untility services to be built and maintained, more roads, etc. Not saying housing developments are bad, people needs places to live, but dual income households on DC locality pay moving anywhere and everywhere makes old and new home expensive, without adding value to a community.

This is bad? Sounds like a lot of jobs! And services! Brought to you buy the US taxpayers to boot. People who buy houses generally pay property taxes, you know?

Well, the problem is more of a community planning one - new housing requires all this infrastructure, but doesn't pay for it, and land gets bought up WAY too fast to site more elementary schools, etc. But I don't think this is a problem on the demand side, people need places to live, this has to do with zoning and permitting and comprehensive planning. This is pretty outside the RTO discussion.

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Anonymous wrote:I think it is Biden’s commercial real estate donor class.

It's more than that. DC is going to face a massive property tax shortfall if office buildings get revalued downward by 50%. CRE pays property tax rates that are 2x of DC homeowners.

It will start a services cut-tax hike spiral on the remaining residents if CRE takes a big haircut. It will be Democratic-voting big cities that will face the brunt of these revenue shortfalls. Crime will go up, schools will get worse, poverty alleviation programs get eliminated, etc.

My kid is in DPR summer camp right now at our local park. It's an amazing program and costs me $150 for two weeks for 8am-6pm daily care + all food covered. It's safe, fun, and has a good curriculum of play + art + learning. It's dirt cheap and he has fun. If CRE gets revalued down by 50%, that summer camp option gets eliminated. Or it goes up in price so much that poor and MC DC families can't afford it.

I live in Arlington and even the county run camps are easily $350-500/week and then often more for extended hours. So I am now supposed to come into DC to buy a sandwich and coffee so you can have your subsidized camp? Are you serious?

Sorry, but it’s not my job as a VA resident to make sure your locality can provide you with $75/week childcare.

Move to DC and you can have these nice things too. We paid income tax to DC as DINKS for over a decade before our kids arrived. Hell yes I’m getting my money back with free PK3/PK4, cheap summer camps, subsidized aftercare, etc. My wife - private sector worker in DC - got paid leave from the DC government when we had our most recent baby to the tune of $1K/week for eight weeks.

We paid into it for a long time to the tune of six figures. Why shouldn’t we get back what we contributed to our city

You are absolutely welcome to get back what you paid in your taxes. But that’s not what the PP said. The PP wants people to be forced to come spend money in DC so that she can take advantage of other people’s income.