Giving up on North Arligton... Is South Arlington going to improve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm, in theory you could just informally decide to put everything along the west Pike. On the other hand, Cabrini-Green and north Old Town Alexandria can attest to the wisdom of concentrating all your poverty in one neck of the woods...

North Old Town was never anything like Cabrini Green. I lived in Chicago when CG existed - did you? It was 15,000 people, and buildings much taller than anything on Columbia Pike (let alone the two story buildings in the Old Town projects)

Why are AH opponents so dishonest?

As for Old Town, it began to gentrify nicely while the projects were still there. The city redeveloped them because it needed the money from the land, not because they were holding back Old Town.

The only dishonestly here is from the affordable housing lobby, putting their agenda above everyone's best interests.

They are simply supporting their values. The dishonesty is implying that Old Town Alexandria is like Cabrini Green.

[Anonymous]

Op, I did not bother to read the whole thread, but I am a huge S Arlington believer. The street car cancellation was a downer, but the proximity to DC is SO appealing. The real thing holding it back is school rankings. Can you imagine if S Arlington had schools that were just a little better? It would explode. As more money and more people come into the area, it is only a matter of time. Really, where else can you get a decent priced home in a nice neighborhood with that kind of proximity to DC?

[Anonymous]

I agree that the only thing keeping many parts of south Arlington from thriving are the schools. I have a solution.

Turn claremont into a neighborhood school. Change the boundaries to take some abingdon students, and abingdon can take some oak ridge. Then, have claremont take all the kids on the south side of the pike. That would free up space at both randolf and barcroft. And help even out some of the demographics.

Build s new Spanish immersion, perhaps at TJ, that is accessible to everyone in the boundary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I did not bother to read the whole thread, but I am a huge S Arlington believer. The street car cancellation was a downer, but the proximity to DC is SO appealing. The real thing holding it back is school rankings. Can you imagine if S Arlington had schools that were just a little better? It would explode. As more money and more people come into the area, it is only a matter of time. Really, where else can you get a decent priced home in a nice neighborhood with that kind of proximity to DC?

Schools would need to be better and the housing stock would need a significant upgrade. You can start to see improvements in the multi-family housing near Penrose, but the single-family housing is fairly spotty throughout S. Arl. Proximity to DC only gets you so far with subpar schools and housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, I did not bother to read the whole thread, but I am a huge S Arlington believer. The street car cancellation was a downer, but the proximity to DC is SO appealing. The real thing holding it back is school rankings. Can you imagine if S Arlington had schools that were just a little better? It would explode. As more money and more people come into the area, it is only a matter of time. Really, where else can you get a decent priced home in a nice neighborhood with that kind of proximity to DC?

Also south Arlington has no metro, that is another problem, no incentive for development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the only thing keeping many parts of south Arlington from thriving are the schools. I have a solution.

Turn claremont into a neighborhood school. Change the boundaries to take some abingdon students, and abingdon can take some oak ridge. Then, have claremont take all the kids on the south side of the pike. That would free up space at both randolf and barcroft. And help even out some of the demographics.

Build s new Spanish immersion, perhaps at TJ, that is accessible to everyone in the boundary.

Follow up question on your proposal - who would feed into claremont?

[Anonymous]

Like I say above, take a lot of kids from abingdon, some from Barcroft south of the pike. Maybe even some from randolf. All the borders would shift because right now abingdon has a huge boundary zone. What is good about that idea is that since abingdon is already expanding and renovating, it could take some kids from oak ridge, those that are on the far western edge. Oak ridge is super crowded, and I understand why those parents don't want to cross 395, but it might work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like I say above, take a lot of kids from abingdon, some from Barcroft south of the pike. Maybe even some from randolf. All the borders would shift because right now abingdon has a huge boundary zone. What is good about that idea is that since abingdon is already expanding and renovating, it could take some kids from oak ridge, those that are on the far western edge. Oak ridge is super crowded, and I understand why those parents don't want to cross 395, but it might work.

Simmer down Sally. That's not what you said. You said "have claremont take all of the kids south of the pike". I wasn't attacking, I was asking for clarification.

Not sure if this was previously posted http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/110/040715_SB_Retreat_Presentation%20-Final.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like I say above, take a lot of kids from abingdon, some from Barcroft south of the pike. Maybe even some from randolf. All the borders would shift because right now abingdon has a huge boundary zone. What is good about that idea is that since abingdon is already expanding and renovating, it could take some kids from oak ridge, those that are on the far western edge. Oak ridge is super crowded, and I understand why those parents don't want to cross 395, but it might work.

They would put Oakridge kids at Drew or Hoffman-Boston before they'd send them to Abingdon, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Also south Arlington has no metro, that is another problem, no incentive for development.

Parts of South Arlington has metro. Crystal city and Pentagon City.

[Anonymous]

How about we leave south Arlington as it is. Why do people want to move in and change what other enjoy. It like dating and trying to change the person. If you want go to north Arlington and leave some adorable places please.

[Anonymous]

Simmer down Sally? Who was simmering.... Just multi taking and happy to clarify.

[Anonymous]

Well, the thing is that south arlington is changing. And maybe some people don't think it is in the best interests of everyone who lives there. Nothing wrong with making sure kids have the best chance to succeed. North Arlington kids certainly a have that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about we leave south Arlington as it is. Why do people want to move in and change what other enjoy. It like dating and trying to change the person. If you want go to north Arlington and leave some adorable places please.

The thing is, the county board isn't letting things stay as is. And they aren't looking at the impact on the schools when they approve more housing.

[Anonymous]

Well, there s lot of people that have had it with the county's lack of consideration about schools so hopefully that will change.