Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For pete's sake, stop calling these people nutters. WTF is wrong with you? They are citizens who disagree with your opinion of what to do with the land where they live. Have some respect and argue the issues. Do you think name calling improves the quality of discourse here?

And for the record, there were two people arguing the Glen Carlyn POV, a man and a woman, both of whom are perfectly nice people with reasons for what they argued.

OK, fine, they're not nutters. But the man last night, especially, took up valuable time last night at the end of the meeting to shout points he had already made earlier in the evening.

The Arlington Way seems to have become -- and the School Board chair isn't going to be providing leadership out of this -- that you don't have to listen to opposing viewpoints, that you don't have to compromise, and that if someone disagrees with you, it's because they need to hear what you said again.

Those people may be perfectly nice in other situation, and the woman was at least civil, but neither seemed to understand that everyone is going to have to sacrifice something they want to make sure we're meeting all the needs of the community, and they didn't seem to have any solutions, only complaints.

Are you sure? They solutions they offered to me were to pick one of the other two options, or to put some of the other land options back in rather than the Kenmore one, which according to them wasn't even supposed to be on the table until the School Board changed their mind at the last minute and reordered the list to include it.

Furthermore, here YOU are talking about sacrificing for the greater good, but the Kenmore plan YOU AND I are offering as a solution to this problem doesn't inconvenience me (or you, I'd hazard) one bit. Oh sure, my kid is already inconvenienced by general APS nonsense, but this particular plan doesn't make my options smaller. For this family, it cuts down their green space, it seems sure to increase their already terrible traffic situation which is from what I'm hearing already the worst in the County but nobody seems interested enough to help them. AND there seems a good chance that the promises of redistricting to achieve equity aren't really going to work out as many of us are wanting, AND by the way you might not get a stadium or a pool, and if you do it won't be for another 20 years maybe, but hey please make some sacrifices so us Northern folks won't be overly inconvenienced!

Don't you see that you have become the thing you seem to most despise about the Arlington Way -- you are making your points about sacrifice and the greater good over and over without listening to how ACTUALLY INEQUITABLE things will be for the people who will go to Kenmore. But you just keep making them because you're sure you're right. Just say it again and we will all agree with you, even the nutters.

Where I'm standing, you are probably a parent who thinks Yorktown traffic is worse than anywhere else (which is clearly wrong) and who thinks Yorktown shouldn't be asked to relieve the W-L situation even though W-L has 2,300 and Yorktown has 1,600 (which is also clearly wrong). We are all in our own little bubbles, the trick is to see outside of them into other people's bubbles.

Anonymous wrote:Nobody in North Arlington seems to know why people in South Arlington hate the Kenmore idea. I'm sorry, but North Arlington people on my team, doesn't that give you pause a bit?

Did you hear Lois at the meeting last night saying a 4th Comprehensive probably wouldn't get a full football field or a pool? If we were putting a school like that in North Arlington, you think parents would sit for that?

The School Board came up with these 3 options of Kenmore, the Ed Center, and Arlington Tech space, but apparently there had been two others that were nixed because a high school would have been located too close to an elementary school. But that's essentially what Kenmore will be left with EVEN IF the middle school is eventually moved out of that space, which there is no immediate plan to do, meaning that there will be 3 schools basically on top of one another. Don't we care about that issue just as much if it's in the south?

It's all good and well of you to say to take the parking spaces out so high schoolers won't drive, but I don't see you rushing to take them out of W-L or Yorktown. So there is more inequity.

Is it true that there are no/few bike racks at Kenmore because traffic is so nuts that they don't want to encourage bike riding since it will result in accidents?

It is rich for people in the North to keep talking about "the greater good" when they are not being asked to sacrifice their parks and their amenities. I am one of those people in the North who is pro-Kenmore as a fourth site! But we can't keep dismissing the actual concerns of the people who live in the affected area! Did any of us go to the Glen Carlyn meeting to hear what those concerns were? No! WTF is wrong with us?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For pete's sake, stop calling these people nutters. WTF is wrong with you? They are citizens who disagree with your opinion of what to do with the land where they live. Have some respect and argue the issues. Do you think name calling improves the quality of discourse here?

And for the record, there were two people arguing the Glen Carlyn POV, a man and a woman, both of whom are perfectly nice people with reasons for what they argued.

OK, fine, they're not nutters. But the man last night, especially, took up valuable time last night at the end of the meeting to shout points he had already made earlier in the evening.

The Arlington Way seems to have become -- and the School Board chair isn't going to be providing leadership out of this -- that you don't have to listen to opposing viewpoints, that you don't have to compromise, and that if someone disagrees with you, it's because they need to hear what you said again.

Those people may be perfectly nice in other situation, and the woman was at least civil, but neither seemed to understand that everyone is going to have to sacrifice something they want to make sure we're meeting all the needs of the community, and they didn't seem to have any solutions, only complaints.

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I don't understand: what is the *affirmative* case for putting those seats at the Ed Center? I understand the Kenmore site has a lot of drawbacks. For all the reasons stated, it seems like the least bad of some pretty questionable options. But, am I missing why NVD and others affirmatively think the Ed Center is a *good* idea? Or do they just view it as a less bad option than Kenmore?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I don't understand: what is the *affirmative* case for putting those seats at the Ed Center? I understand the Kenmore site has a lot of drawbacks. For all the reasons stated, it seems like the least bad of some pretty questionable options. But, am I missing why NVD and others affirmatively think the Ed Center is a *good* idea? Or do they just view it as a less bad option than Kenmore?

Because we own the property
Because it's centrally located
Because NVD decided, and none shall dissent

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For pete's sake, stop calling these people nutters. WTF is wrong with you? They are citizens who disagree with your opinion of what to do with the land where they live. Have some respect and argue the issues. Do you think name calling improves the quality of discourse here?

And for the record, there were two people arguing the Glen Carlyn POV, a man and a woman, both of whom are perfectly nice people with reasons for what they argued.

OK, fine, they're not nutters. But the man last night, especially, took up valuable time last night at the end of the meeting to shout points he had already made earlier in the evening.

The Arlington Way seems to have become -- and the School Board chair isn't going to be providing leadership out of this -- that you don't have to listen to opposing viewpoints, that you don't have to compromise, and that if someone disagrees with you, it's because they need to hear what you said again.

Those people may be perfectly nice in other situation, and the woman was at least civil, but neither seemed to understand that everyone is going to have to sacrifice something they want to make sure we're meeting all the needs of the community, and they didn't seem to have any solutions, only complaints.

Anonymous wrote:Here's what I don't understand: what is the *affirmative* case for putting those seats at the Ed Center? I understand the Kenmore site has a lot of drawbacks. For all the reasons stated, it seems like the least bad of some pretty questionable options. But, am I missing why NVD and others affirmatively think the Ed Center is a *good* idea? Or do they just view it as a less bad option than Kenmore?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is the Lois I am thinking of, she is a smart and objective thinker trying to solve a problem without letting her personal situation get in the way. I wish we had more school board members like that.

I don't live in Glen Carlyn, but my kid goes to Campbell so I am regularly in the area. Yes, there is open land there, because there are already schools there using the space. In fact, there are over 1500 students currently there. So, rather than have 4k students at WL, lets have 3800 at Kenmore. Let's back traffic up on to route 50, the already gridlocked major commuting route that will take most of the 66 traffic once it is a hot lane. And let's crowd K-12 literally on to one block, take away access to outdoor activities and let the poorest families in the county live through a construction zone. Look at the boundaries of where a Kenmore HS would likely be. The new school would take families from the area of the county with THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF POVERTY IN THE COUNTY (thank you county board and developers for that). And, guess what, the county has an official policy to add thousands of more affordable housing units in that area! It would take from the central and west end of columbia pike, which is almost entirely committed affordable housing and market rate affordable housing. All of those kids currently go to kemore and WL. Don't think for a second all those north arlington parents currently on the western boundary of WL and YT won't fight tooth and nail to keep their kids out of that new HS. And, thanks to the school board's latest WL boundary change, that would leave almost zero diversity at WL. The result, WL and YT are rich white schools. New school and Wakefield are title I schools.

Hello resegregation.

The plan would be to at least move the MS. Maybe the ES too.

Anonymous wrote:The NIMBY last night was a man not woman but he was very upset and yelling over people.

I don't at all want to dismiss the neighborhood's concerns. But let's get the math straight. 1500 + 1300 = 2800, not 3800. It's still a lot of kids, yes, but not as many as are being proposed for WL. More like the same number that will be at WL in a couple of years just with the overcrowding.

Anonymous wrote:If this is the Lois I am thinking of, she is a smart and objective thinker trying to solve a problem without letting her personal situation get in the way. I wish we had more school board members like that.

I don't live in Glen Carlyn, but my kid goes to Campbell so I am regularly in the area. Yes, there is open land there, because there are already schools there using the space. In fact, there are over 1500 students currently there. So, rather than have 4k students at WL, lets have 3800 at Kenmore. Let's back traffic up on to route 50, the already gridlocked major commuting route that will take most of the 66 traffic once it is a hot lane. And let's crowd K-12 literally on to one block, take away access to outdoor activities and let the poorest families in the county live through a construction zone. Look at the boundaries of where a Kenmore HS would likely be. The new school would take families from the area of the county with THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF POVERTY IN THE COUNTY (thank you county board and developers for that). And, guess what, the county has an official policy to add thousands of more affordable housing units in that area! It would take from the central and west end of columbia pike, which is almost entirely committed affordable housing and market rate affordable housing. All of those kids currently go to kemore and WL. Don't think for a second all those north arlington parents currently on the western boundary of WL and YT won't fight tooth and nail to keep their kids out of that new HS. And, thanks to the school board's latest WL boundary change, that would leave almost zero diversity at WL. The result, WL and YT are rich white schools. New school and Wakefield are title I schools.

Hello resegregation.

Anonymous wrote:For pete's sake, stop calling these people nutters. WTF is wrong with you? They are citizens who disagree with your opinion of what to do with the land where they live. Have some respect and argue the issues. Do you think name calling improves the quality of discourse here?

And for the record, there were two people arguing the Glen Carlyn POV, a man and a woman, both of whom are perfectly nice people with reasons for what they argued.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The Glen Carlyn resident there last night was very loud and vocal about how against Kenmore they are. .

That lady is a nutter. She's the NIMBY of all NIMBY's. She's been busy for YEARS trying to block schools being built in that area. Her own reasons for objecting to a school are purely selfish, but there are some legitimate concerns (not hers) that other neighbors have about student safety with so many walkers in that area. It would take a lot to make this area safe enough for the current walking students as well new HS students who would be walkers. Frankly, I wish they'd address some of these issues now, and not wait for an accident to happen or another school to be built.

The nutter lady posted above, I think (I hope -- please let there not be two of them). The loud person at last night's meeting was a man.

And I see how the new Kenmore HS could end up with an unbalanced demographic mix, but maybe this time the School Board will have grown a spine to deal with Arlington Forest parents.