Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Lyon Village Shopping Center (Italian Store, etc.) is also really, really nice now since the renovation.

I guess it must have been even worse before the renovation, but the Lyon Village Shopping Center is a plain-old strip-mall, with a big parking lot in front and no walkable connection to the real Lyon Village neighborhood because of the high-traffic Lee Highway and said big parking lot. It is isolated between Spout Run, Lee Highway and 66 and looks like a 1950's suburban nightmare.

Hopefully this can be tore down soon and replaced with high density apartments with retail, like in the Clarendon and Courthouse areas.

I agree. It's really no different from before the renovation. There is nothing "really nice" about that shopping center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The kids who are not fluent in English learn the language fast and become bilingual. One study in Britain found bilingual kids to be smarter than their monolingual peers.
And poor households are not single parent households, that seems to be an urban legend.
I would say densely populated area = more kids in school, lower property value = less money for schools

Student body is not the determining factor, it matters, but not enough to explain the difference. Just say the inequality of American school system. To label kids as dumb and parents as wayward single moms is offensive

Student body is one of the biggest determining factors. Plenty of studies on this. Once you get a large low income population in a school, there chances that scores will be high or even good, go down significantly.

Anyone that has visited or worked in London know that actual Brits are the minority. Huge magnet city for educated workers from continental Europe, Asia, Africa and even n/s America. Their children, who go private and are monolingual are a far cry from a low income, uneducated, unskilled immigrant family who have many babies and purposely let their tourist visa expire. That population (illegal or asylum) in England resides on the outskirts and is quite different from our Hispanic population.

What is low skilled, uneducated, low income?
People with phd's can be low income
uneducated? Every country has a school system, if they are from the former eastern Europe communist countries they might be better educated than the English
unskilled? I think that is very vague, very few are unskilled
But you do have people with nursing degrees cleaning floors, the hoops they have to go through is a pain. And that is not the only profession

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people living in 22207 aren't living the same lifestyle as you, although you'd really, really like to think so. "Greatschools.com" doesn't quite begin to cover it.

That's probably true. No metro there. No sidewalks either.

Are you for real? There are sidewalks all over 22207. Sidewalks are what distinguish Arlington from the neighborhoods over the Fairfax County line. And a large area of 22207 is walkable to the Ballston Metro or ART bus routes to the Metro. You can also walk to the strip malls on Lee Highway from 22207.

I grew up in 22207 and sidewalks in my neighborhood off Military were spotty at best. Similarly, several of the neighborhoods where my friends lived either did not have sidewalks or had spotty on again off again sidewalks. I'm not saying the rest of Arlington is any better (although I do currently live in a neighborhood in another Arlington zip that does have sidewalks AND wide streets).

True, but 22207 is huge. It borders Ballston on side which is very walkable. 22207 along Lee Hwy is also walkable to shops and bus lines.

[Anonymous]

Why I live in Alexandria but work in Arlington.
Arlington used to be a great city and county, but now it isn't
20 years from now it will implode under the weight of the drywall from BCN new builts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why I live in Alexandria but work in Arlington.
Arlington used to be a great city and county, but now it isn't
20 years from now it will implode under the weight of the drywall from BCN new builts.

Sadly I fear this. One of the most beautiful streets in Donaldson Run is being run over by these new builds. A couple very large 1930s colonials in keeping with the neighborhood character was demolished for a couple of the new "craftsmans" on steroids that are all the rage. Another old colonial in Country Club Hills will bite the dust soon also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Lyon Village Shopping Center (Italian Store, etc.) is also really, really nice now since the renovation.

I guess it must have been even worse before the renovation, but the Lyon Village Shopping Center is a plain-old strip-mall, with a big parking lot in front and no walkable connection to the real Lyon Village neighborhood because of the high-traffic Lee Highway and said big parking lot. It is isolated between Spout Run, Lee Highway and 66 and looks like a 1950's suburban nightmare.

Hopefully this can be tore down soon and replaced with high density apartments with retail, like in the Clarendon and Courthouse areas.

I agree. It's really no different from before the renovation. There is nothing "really nice" about that shopping center.

Well, shopping centers are not meant to be "destination" events. I just care if the stores are nice and I can access them - either in foot if they're close, or have enough parking if they're not. While I think some of the ones o. lee Highway are kind of shabby, at least most of the, still have some independent stores and not the bland mass market shops.

[Anonymous]

North arlington = first world problems
South arlington = third world problems

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:North arlington = first world problems
South arlington = third world problems

North arlington = north america
South arlington = south america

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people living in 22207 aren't living the same lifestyle as you, although you'd really, really like to think so. "Greatschools.com" doesn't quite begin to cover it.

That's probably true. No metro there. No sidewalks either.

Are you for real? There are sidewalks all over 22207. Sidewalks are what distinguish Arlington from the neighborhoods over the Fairfax County line. And a large area of 22207 is walkable to the Ballston Metro or ART bus routes to the Metro. You can also walk to the strip malls on Lee Highway from 22207.

I grew up in 22207 and sidewalks in my neighborhood off Military were spotty at best. Similarly, several of the neighborhoods where my friends lived either did not have sidewalks or had spotty on again off again sidewalks. I'm not saying the rest of Arlington is any better (although I do currently live in a neighborhood in another Arlington zip that does have sidewalks AND wide streets).

True, but 22207 is huge. It borders Ballston on side which is very walkable. 22207 along Lee Hwy is also walkable to shops and bus lines.

It does border north side of Ballston but still at least 4-5 blocks from Metro. In any event, I was talking about sidewalks in the neighborhoods and think the PP was too. Obviously sidewalks have been included in the more dense areas in Metro corridor and along the major secondary roads but there are many neighborhoods that don't have them consistently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The kids who are not fluent in English learn the language fast and become bilingual. One study in Britain found bilingual kids to be smarter than their monolingual peers.
And poor households are not single parent households, that seems to be an urban legend.
I would say densely populated area = more kids in school, lower property value = less money for schools

Student body is not the determining factor, it matters, but not enough to explain the difference. Just say the inequality of American school system. To label kids as dumb and parents as wayward single moms is offensive

Student body is one of the biggest determining factors. Plenty of studies on this. Once you get a large low income population in a school, there chances that scores will be high or even good, go down significantly.

Anyone that has visited or worked in London know that actual Brits are the minority. Huge magnet city for educated workers from continental Europe, Asia, Africa and even n/s America. Their children, who go private and are monolingual are a far cry from a low income, uneducated, unskilled immigrant family who have many babies and purposely let their tourist visa expire. That population (illegal or asylum) in England resides on the outskirts and is quite different from our Hispanic population.

I wonder if it even occurs to you that your centerpiece argument is a contradiction in terms. Children of educated workers from Europe, Asia and Africa who are attending private schools in London are monolingual? HUH???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and I'm so sick of it too.

You 'divide' people are pretty fucking ridiculous. Arlington is the smallest county self-governing county in the US. I live in Clarendon and I am in and out of both South and North Arlington almost daily. I have friends in both places. In fact--half the time I can't tell exactly whether I am on N or S.

There are probably only 1 or 2 total schools I'd avoid. There are great neighborhoods on both sides.

Give it a rest.

+100000

Signed, another Arlington resident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently drove down Columbia Pike.

I noticed there is a lot of building and improvements going on.

The problem they are going to have is that it's not possible to keep up the "blended" approach they are trying out.

I saw many new businesses and some remodeled businesses that just don't seem to "fit". You can't slap an ethnic store into an area that is trying to "upscale" if the ethnic store's goal is too cram as much stuff into their space as possible, to not worry about presentation or marketing. Also, my experience as a white American going into any ethnic store or business in the Columbia Pike/S.Arlington area has uniformly been very poor. These businesses are really only catering to a select niche and are not looking to expand their market. Their mistake of course but it also doesn't work in an area that is trying to attract customers as well as residents.

I know there is always a big outcry about losing diversity, etc but there needs to be a reality check. Ethnic stores are fine and great as long as the goal of those stores is too actually a wide customer base. Trying to attract a very small niche audience doesn't help the business or the neighborhood.

LOL. These kind of drives can be so illuminating. ...almost as enlightening as when I used to be able to see Russia from my backyard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and I'm so sick of it too.

You 'divide' people are pretty fucking ridiculous. Arlington is the smallest county self-governing county in the US. I live in Clarendon and I am in and out of both South and North Arlington almost daily. I have friends in both places. In fact--half the time I can't tell exactly whether I am on N or S.

There are probably only 1 or 2 total schools I'd avoid. There are great neighborhoods on both sides.

Give it a rest.

+100000

Signed, another Arlington resident.

You do get the fact that there is an actual, real physical divide btw the two as well as an actual economic divide also right? It's not just some ideological thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and I'm so sick of it too.

You 'divide' people are pretty fucking ridiculous. Arlington is the smallest county self-governing county in the US. I live in Clarendon and I am in and out of both South and North Arlington almost daily. I have friends in both places. In fact--half the time I can't tell exactly whether I am on N or S.

There are probably only 1 or 2 total schools I'd avoid. There are great neighborhoods on both sides.

Give it a rest.

+100000

Signed, another Arlington resident.

You do get the fact that there is an actual, real physical divide btw the two as well as an actual economic divide also right? It's not just some ideological thing.

No, there is no real physical divide. I walk and drive across almost daily. You are being ridiculous.
You got the Berlin Wall in your head. Tear it down! Take a step across and throw some flowers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and I'm so sick of it too.

You 'divide' people are pretty fucking ridiculous. Arlington is the smallest county self-governing county in the US. I live in Clarendon and I am in and out of both South and North Arlington almost daily. I have friends in both places. In fact--half the time I can't tell exactly whether I am on N or S.

There are probably only 1 or 2 total schools I'd avoid. There are great neighborhoods on both sides.

Give it a rest.

+100000

Signed, another Arlington resident.

You do get the fact that there is an actual, real physical divide btw the two as well as an actual economic divide also right? It's not just some ideological thing.

No, there is no real physical divide. I walk and drive across almost daily. You are being ridiculous.
You got the Berlin Wall in your head. Tear it down! Take a step across and throw some flowers.

It would take quite a few steps and a fairly strong arm. Route 50 is a fairly wide and noticeable highway in the county. But I suppose we could all close our eyes and pretend it doesn't exist.