What to do about Affordable Housing in Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No public will to tackle the big problem it will generate: who is responsible for removing it, how do you clean up the yards where it was located, some people want to keep it.

Is it that little cinder block wall on n 17th Rd? It's tiny?

[Anonymous]

Why on earth would you pay the least productive, most importunate, and dangerous group of people in your community to STAY? If anything, you should pay that group to LEAVE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would you pay the least productive, most importunate, and dangerous group of people in your community to STAY? If anything, you should pay that group to LEAVE.

They aren't being paid to stay. That's a huge leap in logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would you pay the least productive, most importunate, and dangerous group of people in your community to STAY? If anything, you should pay that group to LEAVE.

They aren't being paid to stay. That's a huge leap in logic.

Using tax dollars to subsidize the dregs of society is paying them to stay. If the county drew a hard line they would move on to the next handout kind of place like Mo county.

[Anonymous]

I think its disheartening to hear that the AHs don't house the people you hope, but it does sound like it helps some people who need it, like the of single parents working two jobs. I'm sure there are some cheats, but hopefully, that system helps more needy people than enabling cheats. That said, I don't live terribly far from the West end of the Pike, and I wouldn't want more of Arlington Mill's problems either. I cringe to think of how the APC build will go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think its disheartening to hear that the AHs don't house the people you hope, but it does sound like it helps some people who need it, like the of single parents working two jobs. I'm sure there are some cheats, but hopefully, that system helps more needy people than enabling cheats. That said, I don't live terribly far from the West end of the Pike, and I wouldn't want more of Arlington Mill's problems either. I cringe to think of how the APC build will go.

APC?

[Anonymous]

So, I just checked out the locations of affordable housing near me and I'm pretty much sandwiched between two large AH complexes (N. Arlington near the Ballston/Buckingham area). You know how it's impacted my life? It hasn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I wish you'd stop conflating honest and well-deserved criticisms with the anti-AH-in-principle screed. We are not the same posters, and we're not the same people in real life.

And the irony is, you are conflating me with another poster here. That is a problem with anon message boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I encountered two members of the Arlington County Council this morning in my upper end North Arlington neighborhood. One was campaigning for the other. I wasn't aware about the affordable housing issue until I read this thread yesterday. I asked them what they thought about it. I have never seen two people try to get away from me so quickly. She thrust her campaign material at me and he said "we have a lot of ground to cover today." and off they went. Doesn't sound like it is something council wants to discuss

Haha, of course not. The way affordable housing works in Arlington is like this: there is a small group that is HIGHLY supportive of it. Think professional service providers, AH developers, and community activists like VOICE (the group that advocated converting public parks into AH complexes). They are highly informed on the AH issue, and personally benefit from it.

There is a much larger group that is reflexively sympathetic but have less information on AH and how much the County spends on it. This is the bulk of the Arlington Democratic base, who are the bulk of Arlington voters.

All the AH crowd has to do is not do anything to piss off these lower information voters. That means minimal information, general platitudes in press releases, and repeated claims that AH is about keeping Arlington teachers/firefighters/cops living in Arlington. It's not true, but it sounds good and is enough to keep AH funded.

There MIGHT be enough for a turn around today. People still remember VOICE's ridiculous proposal to build affordable housing on County parks, and the inevitable fight over the Virginia Hospital Center Complex between building schools vs AH there will get this in front of the voters in a real way.

By park, you mean the parking lot of a County Rec Center, correct? The level of dishonesty of AH opponents is infuriating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its disheartening to hear that the AHs don't house the people you hope, but it does sound like it helps some people who need it, like the of single parents working two jobs. I'm sure there are some cheats, but hopefully, that system helps more needy people than enabling cheats. That said, I don't live terribly far from the West end of the Pike, and I wouldn't want more of Arlington Mill's problems either. I cringe to think of how the APC build will go.

APC?

Sorry, Arlington Presbyterian Church on Columbia Pike. It's going to become AH. I think it will be called Gilliam Place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, I just checked out the locations of affordable housing near me and I'm pretty much sandwiched between two large AH complexes (N. Arlington near the Ballston/Buckingham area). You know how it's impacted my life? It hasn't.

Of course not. That area has seen sweeping gebtrification with the development of highend townhomes/condos.
Why don't you ask people living near Arlington Mill how they've been impacted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its disheartening to hear that the AHs don't house the people you hope, but it does sound like it helps some people who need it, like the of single parents working two jobs. I'm sure there are some cheats, but hopefully, that system helps more needy people than enabling cheats. That said, I don't live terribly far from the West end of the Pike, and I wouldn't want more of Arlington Mill's problems either. I cringe to think of how the APC build will go.

APC?

Sorry, Arlington Presbyterian Church on Columbia Pike. It's going to become AH. I think it will be called Gilliam Place.

That project sucks, but hopefully it will be the only one. It's also geared toward seniors. The majority of units are 1 bedroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, I just checked out the locations of affordable housing near me and I'm pretty much sandwiched between two large AH complexes (N. Arlington near the Ballston/Buckingham area). You know how it's impacted my life? It hasn't.

I used to think like that, but then I became aware of the projected overcrowding in the arlington public schools, particulalry the HS. Do we know how many units will be more than 2 bedrooms? This kind of growth without adequately addressing school space issues is irresponsible!

[Anonymous]

By park, you mean the parking lot of a County Rec Center, correct? The level of dishonesty of AH opponents is infuriating.


No. We know exactly what we mean. We don't it on a parking lot, over a rec center... We don't want it anywhere near, around, or on the park. You lost. Get over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

By park, you mean the parking lot of a County Rec Center, correct? The level of dishonesty of AH opponents is infuriating.

No. We know exactly what we mean. We don't it on a parking lot, over a rec center... We don't want it anywhere near, around, or on the park. You lost. Get over it.

I am not suggesting that the decision be reversed. I am suggesting that your statement that VOICE wants to '"build AH on parks" is incorrect, and probably dishonest.