Anonymous wrote:Over on the school boards (on DCUM) there is a lot of anger about density and its impact on schools in the south. But the sentiment that seems to accompany many of those posts is that we should put all the AH in the north and should set out to deliberately raise FARMS rates in the N. Arlington schools. So when I see the posters talk about how you need to bullet vote for Mcmenamin (sp?), I can't help wonder if as a resident of N. Arlington I should just stick with the dems because he's going to fulfill some sort of vindictive agenda advocated by the angry parents in the South to shift all the burdens S arlington always complains about to the north!

It's not a vindictive agenda. Having more FARMS kids in the North Arlingtons schools (which is where my kids are, we're a Nottingham family) isn't a punishment, and I hope people wouldn't view it that way. It's more a recognition of the increased challenges faced by many FARMS students that typically aren't faced by students from higher-income families, and the increased burden that puts on schools with a disproportionate share of FARMS students. I don't think the quality of my kids' education at Nottingham would suffer if the FARMS rate was bumped from 3% to 13% (13% is just an arbitrary figure, not based on anything concrete or a statement that I wouldn't accept a higher FARMS rate as well), but that could make a difference for both the kids who moved to Nottingham and the kids who stay at the South Arlington schools but whose schools a little more breathing room and aren't so tapped out on resources. Further, no one is talking about shifting all of the low-income housing to North Arlington, that would be impossible given the current distribution. It's simply talking about spreading the low-income housing out in a more balanced fashion that keeps any area from being overburdened.

I have my reservations about some of the proposals for locating low-income housing in North Arlington (a week or two ago I was raked over the coals in the VA schools forum for expressing concern about whether the county will bring sufficient resources like increased public transit coverage to North Arlington to accommodate increased low-income housing), but let's not pretend that the current structure is working just fine and doesn't need to be reevaluated.

BTW even I don't support building all AH housing complexes in the north. I think mixed housing is the best way to bring in a mix that includes AH but also benefits the middle class. FWIW.

McMenamin hasn't at all said that he just wants to put AH in the north, or shift AH there. That's all being said by posters like me, who has seen the FARMs rates of schools in the south and can't believe the dems are talking about squeezing even more AH on the pike.

I live in the north, btw.

I don't think what I want is going to happen in terms of getting more AH in the north because northern land seems very expensive. However, at least voting in McMenamin might stop the master plan to built a whole lot more AH in the south and doom those schools.

Over on the school boards (on DCUM) there is a lot of anger about density and its impact on schools in the south. But the sentiment that seems to accompany many of those posts is that we should put all the AH in the north and should set out to deliberately raise FARMS rates in the N. Arlington schools. So when I see the posters talk about how you need to bullet vote for Mcmenamin (sp?), I can't help wonder if as a resident of N. Arlington I should just stick with the dems because he's going to fulfill some sort of vindictive agenda advocated by the angry parents in the South to shift all the burdens S arlington always complains about to the north!

Anonymous wrote:I think McMenamin is against widening the already existing structure for 66, but might favor adding another lane without further widening the structure and impacting parkland etc.

Yep- basically what he's said.

He's the only one who will have an conversation about what increased low income density and school performance.

I think McMenamin is against widening the already existing structure for 66, but might favor adding another lane without further widening the structure and impacting parkland etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 I could really use a one-sheet summary right now. All the candidate websites sound like buzzword buzzword mumbo jumbo to me.

Democrats - Dorsey and Cristol
Continue with status quo
Affordable housing is the top priority. Which translates into turning Columbia pike into a ghetto and pulling more resources from north Arlington to pay for it.

Independent- McMenamin
Office vacancy rate big problem
Affordable housing is important but not the top priority- shouldn't be built on parkland. Should not be concentrated.

Audrey Clement - kinda anti development

McMenamin wants to widen 66 though, right?

I don't think he wants to. i think dems are trying to say that. He was concerned about traffic pushed onto neighborhood roads when tolls happen. At least when I spoke to him. Fwiw- I live in south Arlington and am not impacted directly - so he wasn't just telling me what I wanted to hear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 I could really use a one-sheet summary right now. All the candidate websites sound like buzzword buzzword mumbo jumbo to me.

Democrats - Dorsey and Cristol
Continue with status quo
Affordable housing is the top priority. Which translates into turning Columbia pike into a ghetto and pulling more resources from north Arlington to pay for it.

Independent- McMenamin
Office vacancy rate big problem
Affordable housing is important but not the top priority- shouldn't be built on parkland. Should not be concentrated.

Audrey Clement - kinda anti development

McMenamin wants to widen 66 though, right?

Anonymous wrote:+1 I could really use a one-sheet summary right now. All the candidate websites sound like buzzword buzzword mumbo jumbo to me.

Democrats - Dorsey and Cristol
Continue with status quo
Affordable housing is the top priority. Which translates into turning Columbia pike into a ghetto and pulling more resources from north Arlington to pay for it.

Independent- McMenamin
Office vacancy rate big problem
Affordable housing is important but not the top priority- shouldn't be built on parkland. Should not be concentrated.

Audrey Clement - kinda anti development

Anonymous wrote:Also, who is B. A. “Brooklyn” Kinlay and why doesn't this person even have a working website?

She's so clearly not a serious candidate, I didn't even bother trying to track down her positions before voting for Reid Goldstein.

I don't care if McMenamin a republican in independent clothing. He wants strong schools and preserved parklands, and he does NOT want more affordable housing shoved into South Arlington. Seriously, check out the FARMs percentages in South Arlington: http://www.apsva.us/Page/1113

What do you think sticking even more affordable housing into those areas is going to do when many of them don't have the resources to deal with the FARMs kids they already have?

McMenamin supports mixed housing instead of all-affordable-housing-complexes, which spreads things around a little.

Also, who is B. A. “Brooklyn” Kinlay and why doesn't this person even have a working website?

+1 I could really use a one-sheet summary right now. All the candidate websites sound like buzzword buzzword mumbo jumbo to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know the issue that should be bothering everyone...

Public land for public good.
The democrats are in favor of putting affordable housing on what is already scarce park land, that we have in
This county.
They've tried to walk it back, but it is what it is.

If you want a more moderate board:
Vote for Mike McMenamin.
I say this as a life long democrat. I fear it is the only way the Arlington democratic establishment will get it through their heads that we don't want projects built on what is supposed to be land benefiting all.

Never in a million years. He's a Republican.

Great open mind you've got there. Do you think the Democrats are leading the county down the right path and that we've had great successes over the last 5-10 years?

Anonymous wrote:If you want to know the issue that should be bothering everyone...

Public land for public good.
The democrats are in favor of putting affordable housing on what is already scarce park land, that we have in
This county.
They've tried to walk it back, but it is what it is.

If you want a more moderate board:
Vote for Mike McMenamin.
I say this as a life long democrat. I fear it is the only way the Arlington democratic establishment will get it through their heads that we don't want projects built on what is supposed to be land benefiting all.

+1 life long Democrat here and I did a bullet vote for Mike. I'm so done with the Arlington Democrats.