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

[Anonymous]

South Arlington does have metro. It has Pentagon, Pentagon City and Crystal City right in South Arlington. It also has proximity to most of the North Arlington metro stations. Saying South Arlington is failing compared to North Arlington because of lack of Metro access is silly. I live 2 miles from Ballston metro and 2 miles from EFC. I looked at a couple dozen houses in South Arlington that were closer to a metro station. (in North Arlington.) Those houses also had better bus access to DC and metro than 90% of the houses in North Arlington do. South Arlington also tends to have better access to 395, which is a key commuting route to DC.

Affordable housing is going into South Arlington for three reasons. (1) there may be more open land there. (2) the land is cheaper to purchase than it would be in North Arlington. Taxpayers care about such things, or they should. (3) it is stupid to take expensive land out of the property tax base, vs. taking cheap land out of the property tax base. If you take $5M of land and devote it to affordable housing, the cost to the taxpayers is higher than if you take $3M of land out of the tax base for the same purpose. Again, this is a net loss to taxpayers. The same taxpayers who voted down the streetcar as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Do some of you realize that if the schools in South Arlington were exactly as highly-ranked as those in North Arlington, most of you complainers wouldn't be able to afford South Arlington either? South Arlington is close to DC - in some cases, closer than North Arlington. The prices are lower primarily because of the perceived differences in the schools. If there were no perceived differences, you all would be looking in Fairfax or Alexandria. Where you would have the same issue. Because the close-in schools in Falls Church and Alexandria are more convenient for commuting - but the homes are cheaper because of the demographics of their students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:South Arlington does have metro. It has Pentagon, Pentagon City and Crystal City right in South Arlington. It also has proximity to most of the North Arlington metro stations. Saying South Arlington is failing compared to North Arlington because of lack of Metro access is silly. I live 2 miles from Ballston metro and 2 miles from EFC. I looked at a couple dozen houses in South Arlington that were closer to a metro station. (in North Arlington.) Those houses also had better bus access to DC and metro than 90% of the houses in North Arlington do. South Arlington also tends to have better access to 395, which is a key commuting route to DC.

Affordable housing is going into South Arlington for three reasons. (1) there may be more open land there. (2) the land is cheaper to purchase than it would be in North Arlington. Taxpayers care about such things, or they should. (3) it is stupid to take expensive land out of the property tax base, vs. taking cheap land out of the property tax base. If you take $5M of land and devote it to affordable housing, the cost to the taxpayers is higher than if you take $3M of land out of the tax base for the same purpose. Again, this is a net loss to taxpayers. The same taxpayers who voted down the streetcar as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Do some of you realize that if the schools in South Arlington were exactly as highly-ranked as those in North Arlington, most of you complainers wouldn't be able to afford South Arlington either? South Arlington is close to DC - in some cases, closer than North Arlington. The prices are lower primarily because of the perceived differences in the schools. If there were no perceived differences, you all would be looking in Fairfax or Alexandria. Where you would have the same issue. Because the close-in schools in Falls Church and Alexandria are more convenient for commuting - but the homes are cheaper because of the demographics of their students.

Thanks Captain Obvious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:South Arlington does have metro. It has Pentagon, Pentagon City and Crystal City right in South Arlington. It also has proximity to most of the North Arlington metro stations. Saying South Arlington is failing compared to North Arlington because of lack of Metro access is silly. I live 2 miles from Ballston metro and 2 miles from EFC. I looked at a couple dozen houses in South Arlington that were closer to a metro station. (in North Arlington.) Those houses also had better bus access to DC and metro than 90% of the houses in North Arlington do. South Arlington also tends to have better access to 395, which is a key commuting route to DC.

Affordable housing is going into South Arlington for three reasons. (1) there may be more open land there. (2) the land is cheaper to purchase than it would be in North Arlington. Taxpayers care about such things, or they should. (3) it is stupid to take expensive land out of the property tax base, vs. taking cheap land out of the property tax base. If you take $5M of land and devote it to affordable housing, the cost to the taxpayers is higher than if you take $3M of land out of the tax base for the same purpose. Again, this is a net loss to taxpayers. The same taxpayers who voted down the streetcar as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Do some of you realize that if the schools in South Arlington were exactly as highly-ranked as those in North Arlington, most of you complainers wouldn't be able to afford South Arlington either? South Arlington is close to DC - in some cases, closer than North Arlington. The prices are lower primarily because of the perceived differences in the schools. If there were no perceived differences, you all would be looking in Fairfax or Alexandria. Where you would have the same issue. Because the close-in schools in Falls Church and Alexandria are more convenient for commuting - but the homes are cheaper because of the demographics of their students.

I was very happy with the quality of schools when we bought in s arl. I'm not ok with the poor planning and lack of infrastructure that is becoming the norm.

[Anonymous]

People are complaining in s arlington not because of the status quo. We all know there are more poorer kids on s arlington. The issue is that government policy is making it worse, not better. Without government intervention, the market would probably make south arlington as expensive as north Arlington over time. This whole concept that it is "cheaper" for the tax payers to build government subsidized housing in south Arlington is a fallacy And is not considering the hidden costs. the detrimental impact on a child's right to an education in this nation is also a cost that is not calculated into this decision. Nor is the loss of two revenue from neighboring areas. Nor is crime.

People are getting tired of county policies that harm some county residents and not others. If the whole county supposedly supporters government subsidized low income housing, then all county residents get to share in educating the children and impact on property values.

[Anonymous]

After the recent shooting in the North Arlington affordable housing complex, I doubt the North will accept more affordable housing and will continue to ship it south.

[Anonymous]

It was a domestic dispute, not gang or anything. Those Happen anywhere, but you are right

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are complaining in s arlington not because of the status quo. We all know there are more poorer kids on s arlington. The issue is that government policy is making it worse, not better. Without government intervention, the market would probably make south arlington as expensive as north Arlington over time. This whole concept that it is "cheaper" for the tax payers to build government subsidized housing in south Arlington is a fallacy And is not considering the hidden costs. the detrimental impact on a child's right to an education in this nation is also a cost that is not calculated into this decision. Nor is the loss of two revenue from neighboring areas. Nor is crime.

People are getting tired of county policies that harm some county residents and not others. If the whole county supposedly supporters government subsidized low income housing, then all county residents get to share in educating the children and impact on property values.

Thank you. Very well said. I hope you will try to make the meeting at Arlington Mill Community Center on May 27th at 7:30.

[Anonymous]

^^pm