Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree with the performance liberalism, but neighborhood friendliness depends on your neighborhood. I live in south Arlington and I love it, but I've heard horror stories about north Arlington.
It depends on your street! I moved 2 blocks and found friends and a community after 5 years of polite smiles and waves, but no real conversations. We’re in “central” Arlington.
What the heck is central Arlington??!
Rt 50
Nope, not a thing.
Generally there is North Arlington and South Arlington, with Route 50 the dividing line, but some will use the term central Arlington to try and distance themselves from the perception of North Arlington. Think Glebe ES or Lyon Park as opposed to Jamestown ES or Country Club Hills.
Native here and that is not a common term at all.
Agree its not a common term but I would say Ballston (Glebe ES, Ashlawn ES) are not south or north Arlington.
Then you are wrong. Anything north of Route 50 is North Arlington and everything south of Rt. 50 is South Arlington. You may perceive yourself as too good for South Arlington and not good enough for North Arlington and try to develop a different identity.
You are missing the point entirely. It’s not about not being good enough for North Arlington but rather trying to put a bit of distance between oneself and the most obnoxious strivers in North Arlington, especially north of Langston.
Way at the tippy top is the worst. North North Arlington. Huckabee territory.![]()
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree with the performance liberalism, but neighborhood friendliness depends on your neighborhood. I live in south Arlington and I love it, but I've heard horror stories about north Arlington.
It depends on your street! I moved 2 blocks and found friends and a community after 5 years of polite smiles and waves, but no real conversations. We’re in “central” Arlington.
What the heck is central Arlington??!
Rt 50
Nope, not a thing.
Generally there is North Arlington and South Arlington, with Route 50 the dividing line, but some will use the term central Arlington to try and distance themselves from the perception of North Arlington. Think Glebe ES or Lyon Park as opposed to Jamestown ES or Country Club Hills.
Native here and that is not a common term at all.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:For work reasons, we moved to Arlington last year from a fairly middle-class neighborhood of Loudoun County. We are the only Black family in our new neighborhood, and we were the only Black family in our old neighborhood. In Loudoun, we were friends with most of the neighbors on our block, our kids were invited to birthday parties, etc. We probably didn't share the political views of at least some of our neighbors but it never really came up. In Arlington, many of the homes - not ours -- are quite expensive, with fancy cars in the driveway. Many of the homes have Black Lives Matter and similar signs. Yet we have found, without exception, that the neighbors want nothing to do with us. It's a very insulated, cliquish community, and the moms generally act like they are still in high school. Once, while waiting to pick up my kids at the bus, I was asked which family I work for. This entire place has a phony kind of liberalism that is just awful.
That sucks…. but honestly - what were you expecting? Your neighbors are just being themselves. That’s who they are. You had better neighbors in Ashburn, even though many of them probably voted for Trump. I’m sorry you had to live this to learn it, but hopefully the next place will be better. Good luck.
The "true colors of Arlington have emerged in the Missing Middle fiasco. I support Missing Middle housing because I think different housing types are need in the County. But the sanctimonious pronouncement from some Arlington liberal that it will provide more affordable housing, create diverse neighborhoods, and make Arlington a more neatsie keen Democratic stronghold are ridiculous. The cheapest duplex will be $1M and the cheapest unit in a triplex will be $500,000. This type of housing is currently available but not in the single family neighborhoods of North Arlington. Why, I asked, can't the people buy an existing townhouses or condo? Well, a young white man was honest enough to respond that he wanted to get his kids into a "good" North Arlington school rather than the schools around the Metro Stations between Rosslyn and Ballston. What were the "good" schools, I asked. His response: the five predominantly white elementary schools in North Arlington. So they want to enhance segregated neighborhoods rather than their alleged goals.
Then there are the people who live in the single family neighborhoods who are worried that their property values will go down and don't want to live with people who want to further the segregation of the neighborhoods.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree with the performance liberalism, but neighborhood friendliness depends on your neighborhood. I live in south Arlington and I love it, but I've heard horror stories about north Arlington.
It depends on your street! I moved 2 blocks and found friends and a community after 5 years of polite smiles and waves, but no real conversations. We’re in “central” Arlington.
What the heck is central Arlington??!
Rt 50
Nope, not a thing.
Generally there is North Arlington and South Arlington, with Route 50 the dividing line, but some will use the term central Arlington to try and distance themselves from the perception of North Arlington. Think Glebe ES or Lyon Park as opposed to Jamestown ES or Country Club Hills.
Native here and that is not a common term at all.
Agree its not a common term but I would say Ballston (Glebe ES, Ashlawn ES) are not south or north Arlington.
Then you are wrong. Anything north of Route 50 is North Arlington and everything south of Rt. 50 is South Arlington. You may perceive yourself as too good for South Arlington and not good enough for North Arlington and try to develop a different identity.
You are missing the point entirely. It’s not about not being good enough for North Arlington but rather trying to put a bit of distance between oneself and the most obnoxious strivers in North Arlington, especially north of Langston.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree with the performance liberalism, but neighborhood friendliness depends on your neighborhood. I live in south Arlington and I love it, but I've heard horror stories about north Arlington.
It depends on your street! I moved 2 blocks and found friends and a community after 5 years of polite smiles and waves, but no real conversations. We’re in “central” Arlington.
What the heck is central Arlington??!
Rt 50
Nope, not a thing.
Generally there is North Arlington and South Arlington, with Route 50 the dividing line, but some will use the term central Arlington to try and distance themselves from the perception of North Arlington. Think Glebe ES or Lyon Park as opposed to Jamestown ES or Country Club Hills.
Native here and that is not a common term at all.
Agree its not a common term but I would say Ballston (Glebe ES, Ashlawn ES) are not south or north Arlington.
Then you are wrong. Anything north of Route 50 is North Arlington and everything south of Rt. 50 is South Arlington. You may perceive yourself as too good for South Arlington and not good enough for North Arlington and try to develop a different identity.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP I am African American and was raised in a once predominantly black neighborhood in North Arlington and most of my siblings and parents have moved from Arlington in the last ten years because it is no longer the Arlington we loved. During the pandemic we pulled our last two children out of Arlington schools because we saw it as an opportunity to get them away from the bullying that was never ending in their predominantly white North Arlington school. Their private school has a wide range of racial and economic diversity and the way Arlington school were I grew up. The moms at our neighborhood school gave me a wide berth because someone described me as "an angry black woman" when I questioned a school board member about the re-districting that would turn our neighborhood walking school into a bus school.
When my older children were in elementary school, the moms were nicer but I began to see the change as more new homes were built in our neighborhood. The birthday party invitations stopped and I heard from one mom another mother could not explain the presence of our child to her parents.
We both have businesses in Arlington and are making plans to sell them earlier than expected. If Missing Middle goes through the County will become even more white and more affluent, especially in the North. We have finally reached the point that we don't care about leaving Arlington because it is no longer the place we love.
Missing Middle Housing (MMH) relates to housing stock between Single Family Homes (zoned R-6) and apartment/condo complexes, the 2 through 8 unit properties that you just don't see much of in Arlington. Duplexes, three-deckers and side-by-side triplexes, 4-plexes, etc. Note the vociferous opposition to the concept comes from SFH's in the 22207 area code (north of Langston Blvd) plus Lyon Village. These households in 22207 plus Lyon Village reflect a lot of land (relative to Arlington) and money, but not so many actual people. These are also the people who would by far be most likely to treat OP so poorly, if OP is real and not a troll.
At present developers max out the structure they build on a SFH lot, right up to the setbacks and as tall as possible. With R-6 restricted to SFH's, you get the new structures containing one household, and as few as one person living there. With the zoning change County staff recommends, any structure must conform to the same setbacks and height restrictions on R-6 lots. So you would have the same structure built, but now it would contain multiple households. How many? Whatever makes the most economic sense for the developer. Frequently that would still be the SFH, but it may very well be multiple units within that structure. With MMH, there's a chance that buyer/s who would shelter two or more households can outbid the person who would do a tear-down to build themselves a maximum-sized SFH. Sometimes it would be one entity creating a MMH on that same lot and in the same building size, where multiple tenants pay rent. Or it could be a small number of condos within the MMH structure. But you'd be able to have people of more modest means, either by paying rent or purchasing outright, who band together to outbid the prospective SFH owner.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:For work reasons, we moved to Arlington last year from a fairly middle-class neighborhood of Loudoun County. We are the only Black family in our new neighborhood, and we were the only Black family in our old neighborhood. In Loudoun, we were friends with most of the neighbors on our block, our kids were invited to birthday parties, etc. We probably didn't share the political views of at least some of our neighbors but it never really came up. In Arlington, many of the homes - not ours -- are quite expensive, with fancy cars in the driveway. Many of the homes have Black Lives Matter and similar signs. Yet we have found, without exception, that the neighbors want nothing to do with us. It's a very insulated, cliquish community, and the moms generally act like they are still in high school. Once, while waiting to pick up my kids at the bus, I was asked which family I work for. This entire place has a phony kind of liberalism that is just awful.
That sucks…. but honestly - what were you expecting? Your neighbors are just being themselves. That’s who they are. You had better neighbors in Ashburn, even though many of them probably voted for Trump. I’m sorry you had to live this to learn it, but hopefully the next place will be better. Good luck.
Anonymous wrote:OP I am African American and was raised in a once predominantly black neighborhood in North Arlington and most of my siblings and parents have moved from Arlington in the last ten years because it is no longer the Arlington we loved. During the pandemic we pulled our last two children out of Arlington schools because we saw it as an opportunity to get them away from the bullying that was never ending in their predominantly white North Arlington school. Their private school has a wide range of racial and economic diversity and the way Arlington school were I grew up. The moms at our neighborhood school gave me a wide berth because someone described me as "an angry black woman" when I questioned a school board member about the re-districting that would turn our neighborhood walking school into a bus school.
When my older children were in elementary school, the moms were nicer but I began to see the change as more new homes were built in our neighborhood. The birthday party invitations stopped and I heard from one mom another mother could not explain the presence of our child to her parents.
We both have businesses in Arlington and are making plans to sell them earlier than expected. If Missing Middle goes through the County will become even more white and more affluent, especially in the North. We have finally reached the point that we don't care about leaving Arlington because it is no longer the place we love.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree with the performance liberalism, but neighborhood friendliness depends on your neighborhood. I live in south Arlington and I love it, but I've heard horror stories about north Arlington.
It depends on your street! I moved 2 blocks and found friends and a community after 5 years of polite smiles and waves, but no real conversations. We’re in “central” Arlington.
What the heck is central Arlington??!
Rt 50
Nope, not a thing.
Generally there is North Arlington and South Arlington, with Route 50 the dividing line, but some will use the term central Arlington to try and distance themselves from the perception of North Arlington. Think Glebe ES or Lyon Park as opposed to Jamestown ES or Country Club Hills.
Native here and that is not a common term at all.
Agree its not a common term but I would say Ballston (Glebe ES, Ashlawn ES) are not south or north Arlington.
Anonymous wrote:For work reasons, we moved to Arlington last year from a fairly middle-class neighborhood of Loudoun County. We are the only Black family in our new neighborhood, and we were the only Black family in our old neighborhood. In Loudoun, we were friends with most of the neighbors on our block, our kids were invited to birthday parties, etc. We probably didn't share the political views of at least some of our neighbors but it never really came up. In Arlington, many of the homes - not ours -- are quite expensive, with fancy cars in the driveway. Many of the homes have Black Lives Matter and similar signs. Yet we have found, without exception, that the neighbors want nothing to do with us. It's a very insulated, cliquish community, and the moms generally act like they are still in high school. Once, while waiting to pick up my kids at the bus, I was asked which family I work for. This entire place has a phony kind of liberalism that is just awful.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree with the performance liberalism, but neighborhood friendliness depends on your neighborhood. I live in south Arlington and I love it, but I've heard horror stories about north Arlington.
It depends on your street! I moved 2 blocks and found friends and a community after 5 years of polite smiles and waves, but no real conversations. We’re in “central” Arlington.
What the heck is central Arlington??!
Rt 50
Nope, not a thing.
Generally there is North Arlington and South Arlington, with Route 50 the dividing line, but some will use the term central Arlington to try and distance themselves from the perception of North Arlington. Think Glebe ES or Lyon Park as opposed to Jamestown ES or Country Club Hills.
Native here and that is not a common term at all.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:A wild ride in this thread to see liberal white women explain to black women why their experiences were not real.
I just re-read the thread. One person denies what happened to OP is real and that person identified themselves as a POC.
I don’t think Arlington is particularly inclusive of anyone, btw.
This has some All Lives Matter vibes.
Would it make you feel better if I said that I believe OP has had this experience, it may in fact be worse because they are a POc, and that I don’t think Arlington is a particularly inclusive place for anyone?
Come on, OP is an obvious troll.
+1
As a long time resident of Arlington, no way this happened. In fact, they would bend over backwards to welcome them to prove how woke they are. Sorry OP, but you badly failed with this attempt.
News flash: Your lived experience does not reflect the lived experiences of all 230,000+ people who call Arlington home. You're one person. The county is a lot larger than you. If someone's lived experience does not jive with yours, why not give that person the benefit of the doubt, and the respect of listening and asking questions? Maybe you'll (shock) actually learn something and broaden your perspective! Simply saying "no way this happened" only shows how narrow-minded and naïve you are.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Agree with the performance liberalism, but neighborhood friendliness depends on your neighborhood. I live in south Arlington and I love it, but I've heard horror stories about north Arlington.
It depends on your street! I moved 2 blocks and found friends and a community after 5 years of polite smiles and waves, but no real conversations. We’re in “central” Arlington.
What the heck is central Arlington??!
Rt 50
Nope, not a thing.
Generally there is North Arlington and South Arlington, with Route 50 the dividing line, but some will use the term central Arlington to try and distance themselves from the perception of North Arlington. Think Glebe ES or Lyon Park as opposed to Jamestown ES or Country Club Hills.