South Arlington and North Arlington Schools

[Anonymous]

I just assume mcMenamin will continue the trend of preserving the interests of north arlington. So, for example, if he has to compromise by voting in some form of AH, he'll make sure it doesn't touch N Arlington. Just consider what it means to vote in the conservative candidate when you live in the under served, under represented, less influential, and less wealthy part of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just assume mcMenamin will continue the trend of preserving the interests of north arlington. So, for example, if he has to compromise by voting in some form of AH, he'll make sure it doesn't touch N Arlington. Just consider what it means to vote in the conservative candidate when you live in the under served, under represented, less influential, and less wealthy part of the county.

Well, voting for super liberals hasn't served south Arlington home owners very well either. Doing the same thing over and over isnt going to get us a different result. Voting for coo coo dems gave us a lot of promises and a bunch of crap.
The master plan was voted on, but it hasn't been funded.

[Anonymous]

The SAWG gave their presentation last night.

They are recommending the TJ site. The same place the SB wanted last year. You know - when Mary Hynes pronounced that we should all just be crowded a little longer...
They also suggested Patrick Henry elementary move there and the Montessori program at Drew be moved to Patrick Henry's current building, leaving Drew exclusively a neighborhood schools.
Then they will redraw all the boundaries...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused by the talk about mcMenamin. He may not support spending for AH, but from what I can gather, he doesn't support much spending at all. N Arlington is generally doing fine and I imagine South Arlington (and the already overcrowded schools) have the most to lose if we end up with a board that refuses to spend. Do you think it's going to result in faster and better construction of schools in South Arlington? Lots of investment to alleviate overcrowding? I just don't see it.

Well, he's running on a platform to shift investment towards schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused by the talk about mcMenamin. He may not support spending for AH, but from what I can gather, he doesn't support much spending at all. N Arlington is generally doing fine and I imagine South Arlington (and the already overcrowded schools) have the most to lose if we end up with a board that refuses to spend. Do you think it's going to result in faster and better construction of schools in South Arlington? Lots of investment to alleviate overcrowding? I just don't see it.

Well, he's running on a platform to shift investment towards schools.

When I heard him speak, that is exactly what he said. Schools should be the first priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Why does he need endorsement from a political party?
Can't he be independent?

I'd write in Greg Greeley.
I mean really, what's the point? Why is only one person running?

He could, but he would be effectively eliminating himself as a member of the Arlington Democrats. You run without their endorsement, you are no longer one of them. So once he's no longer working for the Federal government, he couldn't run as a Democrat. And if you aren't running as a Democrat in Arlington, you probably won't win (JV was a rare exception).

If you run as a Democrat, the county Democrats will back you no matter how unqualified you are. (I don't think that's different from how other parties in other localities operate, but I wouldn't like it there, either. It's just . . . these are supposed to be my people, and I feel really alienated from them.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused by the talk about mcMenamin. He may not support spending for AH, but from what I can gather, he doesn't support much spending at all. N Arlington is generally doing fine and I imagine South Arlington (and the already overcrowded schools) have the most to lose if we end up with a board that refuses to spend. Do you think it's going to result in faster and better construction of schools in South Arlington? Lots of investment to alleviate overcrowding? I just don't see it.

Well, he's running on a platform to shift investment towards schools.

When I heard him speak, that is exactly what he said. Schools should be the first priority.

When you reduce spending across the board, even if you prioritize schools over other things you're still ending up with less. I guess the question is whether less AH results in a net benefit for the schools even if it comes at the price of less spending on schools. Maybe it does?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused by the talk about mcMenamin. He may not support spending for AH, but from what I can gather, he doesn't support much spending at all. N Arlington is generally doing fine and I imagine South Arlington (and the already overcrowded schools) have the most to lose if we end up with a board that refuses to spend. Do you think it's going to result in faster and better construction of schools in South Arlington? Lots of investment to alleviate overcrowding? I just don't see it.

Well, he's running on a platform to shift investment towards schools.

When I heard him speak, that is exactly what he said. Schools should be the first priority.

When you reduce spending across the board, even if you prioritize schools over other things you're still ending up with less. I guess the question is whether less AH results in a net benefit for the schools even if it comes at the price of less spending on schools. Maybe it does?

I am absolutely willing to gamble on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused by the talk about mcMenamin. He may not support spending for AH, but from what I can gather, he doesn't support much spending at all. N Arlington is generally doing fine and I imagine South Arlington (and the already overcrowded schools) have the most to lose if we end up with a board that refuses to spend. Do you think it's going to result in faster and better construction of schools in South Arlington? Lots of investment to alleviate overcrowding? I just don't see it.

Well, he's running on a platform to shift investment towards schools.

When I heard him speak, that is exactly what he said. Schools should be the first priority.

When you reduce spending across the board, even if you prioritize schools over other things you're still ending up with less. I guess the question is whether less AH results in a net benefit for the schools even if it comes at the price of less spending on schools. Maybe it does?

I am absolutely willing to gamble on that.

We spend 20k per student. The most in the DC area. That is highly unlikely to change. I understand why one would think intuitively about politics and follow traditional national trends, by it really just doesn't apply here. Is he conservative? Sure. Does that mean he wants to slash the budget, give eveyone guns, and keep the women of Arlington from having a say about there reproductive rights? NO!
If this guy was running elsewhere in the country, he'd probably be a democrat.
What else can he do to south Arlington that hasn't already been done?
Our neighbors worked with the democrats for almost 15 years crafting the Columbia Pike Revitalization Plan. We agreed to more density, and more affordable housing in exchange for ungraded transportation and infrastructure. We were sold that if we agreed to mandated AH in new construction ( that no other part of ARLINGTON HAS) , we'd get the street car and all of the revenue and gentrification that came along with it. Whether you agreed with the street car or not, it doesn't change the crap sandwhich we were left holding when those spineless fuckers backed out of the deal.
Of course It's still full steam ahead on all of the density, and concentrated poverty....
And maybe we'll get ... Better.... Bus service ...
MAYBE! They don't even know how that is going to happen, let alone solve the problems they are continuing to create by adding more and more people.
The board won't shut up about wanting to attract businesses to the Pike- well, the retail space at Arlington Mill is still empty. Why? Because businesses don't operate in areas without expendable income, decent transportation or ample parking.
I'd be thrilled to be left alone and left the market sort it out!
Never in my life have I uttered those words.
I'm a liberal, but our local group are off the rails.
Affordable housing is a huge problem facing our county, but the Arlington democrats don't have a good answer for it. Unless you think that answer is more segregated schools, no transportation, subsidized housing built on our parks, and rooming houses jammed into sfh neighborhoods.
Having 2 SLIGHTLY conservative dudes on the board isn't going to bring the tea party to Arlington. It might however bring some balance to the echo chamber.


Bullet vote for Mike.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone link to a speech or press article or some actual evidence that McM supports not cramming more affordable housing on the pike? There is NOTHING about his stance on affordable housing on his website.

I'm also interested in anything saying he thinks we should continue to spend $20K/year per student.

Most of what's on this board in favor of him is just word of mouth from totally anonymous people, so I don't understand why people are so eager to rely on it.

[Anonymous]

Same PP. Actually this ArlNOW article has a pretty fair amount of coverage on the candidates' different positions on affordable housing: https://www.arlnow.com/2015/10/05/county-board-candidates-split-over-affordable-housing-vow-to-fix-arlington-way/

"The County Board candidates all announced varying degrees of support for increasing affordable housing in Arlington, but disagreed on the best way to implement it during a candidate forum held by Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement Sunday evening.

“Everyone’s in favor of everything, and that’s the balancing act in this community,” said independent candidate Mike McMenamin.

"'The county needs to focus on geographic distribution of affordable housing units, said McMenamin, who has previously said affordable housing is not one of his priorities. The county should also go back and address its 2003 targets for the amount of affordable units, which it only met twice, he added.

McMenamin, who does not support the Affordable Housing Master Plan passed by the County Board last month, said that the County Board needs to look at how to add affordable housing and address school capacity, without sacrificing parkland for more affordable housing units or more schools. Finding the money to support all of these plans is also a challenge, he added.

[Anonymous]

^^^ thank you for posting this. Honestly, this information isn't a secret. ARLNoW has done plenty of coverage.
This isn't a conspiracy.
His views are pretty main stream.

[Anonymous]

You're welcome . . . but he should put something about his affordable housing position on his website. Not everyone has the time or inclination to google for candidate names and issues like I just did, honestly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're welcome . . . but he should put something about his affordable housing position on his website. Not everyone has the time or inclination to google for candidate names and issues like I just did, honestly.

You're probably right about that.
I wonder if it's intentional. It seems like it's really not on his radar. He's really worried about water mains. Like really. Which, is fine. No one likes having their water cut off. It seems to happen every week to people in my neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

So let's assume that some amount of additional AH is unavoidable ( and I think this is a fair assumption). Where do you think McM will vote to put it? I just don't think he has put himself out there as a big a South booster, so please don't be surprised if he caves in favor of the North when there's a tough choice to be made (such as where to situate AH or school investments).