Reply to APS Engage Update Pre-CIP Report

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have  never understood the obsession with walkable schools.  My kids have gone to both walkable and non-walkable.  Particularly in elementary school, getting bused is awesome.  Great community at the bus stop.  I built more neighborhood community doing that than being a walker. Very convenient in the mornings in particular if you work.  My kids loved the bus.  Walkable schools when they're young and need to be accompanied on the walk and you're on the outer part of the walkable area is a pain in the ass.

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+1
I'll let you in on a secret, though:  it isn't about being able to walk to school. It's about being entitled to whatever you want, where you want it, when you want it, how you want it. And, more critically, what you don't want and what you purposely planned and paid to avoid. It just sounds nicer under the banners of "walkability" and "efficiency."[/quote]

Transportation costs money, wastes time, and is bad for the environment. “Car free diet”, remember?

Just a few short years ago the county was complaining about a shortage of bus drivers and reducing bus costs. Now they want to force buses and cars all over the county. Specifically, on to hilly roads with poor line of sight, built 70 years ago and not fit for the purpose. People have died on Little Falls Street within sight of Nottingham. We only just got 4 way stops, and only after much complaining. I guess that’s entitlement for you, that we don’t want our community members dying in pedestrian incidents.

It’s a neighborhood area that needs less cut through traffic, not more. And APS hasn’t said boo about that in all 200+ pages of its “analysis”.

I guess that’s entitlement to you. Sorry you have lower standards. Some of us expect better for the money spent. [/quote]

This past year several elementary schools were forced to move up their start time to 7:50am due to the bus shortage.  A shortage of drivers and reducing bus costs is an ongoing issue and it makes zero sense for APS to exacerbate this problem.

My kids' bus stop has no sidewalks.  Most of the kids have to walk home from there along a street with no sidewalks.  The street goes up a hill, around a curve, and has signs reminding drivers there is a blind curve and drivers can't see over the top of the hill. But yea, lets sent the elementary school kids down this road every day.

South Arlington already has too much cut through traffic.  I'm not saying North Arlington should get bad things to even things out, but a lot of what North Arlington complains about already is reality for South Arlington.

As for posters saying there is no space for new schools, there used to be a time schools would be built on part of the playground one year, and then the kids moved in the next year.  There was a North Arlington school (maybe Taylor) I visited this past year.  I was shocked by how much green space was around it. 
 Plenty for another school to be built on.  How many other elementary schools have large parks next to them?  Probably none in south Arlington, but I have been very surprised how much construction has been happening in south Arlington the past 10 years or so.  I'd think if it was a space issue [b]Arlington could have built where all of the new construction is happening in south arlington, any time in the past decade.[/quote][/b]

Not if they don’t own the land and can’t afford to buy it.[/quote]

Arlington collects a lot in property taxes and spends a huge amount.  This is a planning issue, not a cash issue.  There have been several new schools in recent memory (Discovery, Hamm, Cardinal, Fleet).  APS planning is short sighted and that costs more in the end.  I think this is the third boundary change I've been aware of and my kid isn't even out of elementary school yet.  [/quote]

Arlington County, not APS,collects taxes. There’s a set percentage that they give to APS and not a penny more, regardless of the circumstances. When enrollment declined in the 1970s-1990s, APS sold school sites to the County, and they’re now used for other community purposes, such as Community centers or the Arts center. Arlington will not consider returning any properties to APS and the cost of land is so high that APS has been forced to build only on land it already owns. All the projects you’ve mentioned were built on APS land, and sometimes that’s not in the ideal location for where the growth is, or it’s within the walk zone(s) of already existing schools. You should be angry with the COUNTY, not APS.  APS is not their priority. The board members are pretty clear about that and they win anyway, so the majority of Arlingtonians disagree that APS needs anything more that it gets right now.

[/quote]

Fair points.  I'll clarify.  APS, and APS parents, need to advocate more effectively to the county to provide or sell county land to APS.  Arlington county has a lot of money.  There is a long standing history of the Arlington county entities NOT communicating and instead working as if one doesn't impact the other.  That is likely part of the problem here too.

However, I'll also say that APS crying "poor" doesn't hold water because I've seen APS bonds on the ballot so clearly they don't have to rely on just whatever the county gives them.  APS should create a holistic, logical boundary proposal for elementary, middle, and high school based on solid data, show where the one or two new schools need to be built, how much they would get from selling land from schools that are no longer needed (prime missing middle development opportunity), and the shortfall needed?  Then compare that with the cost of inadequate short term adjustments they keep making and see which one costs less?  Put that before the community.  I'd bet the longer term plan that actually solves problems would be more cost effective vs the adjustments they keep making that don't solve problems and ignore population growth.[/quote]

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