Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 10:03     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Prediction. The high schools will all have new boundaries in a couple years. Expect half of the W-L boundary to fill up the half-empty, new Wakefield building. And Yorktown neighborhoods will move to W-L. This whole S vs. N Arlington debate will end in dramatic fashion, and most families will be very happy. There won't exactly be demographic parity, but the reputation of Wakefield will improve.
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 10:00     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Tysons and pimmit have better schools than ms13 los south arlington
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 09:47     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:Much of S. Arlington developed in response to the construction of the Pentagon. A lot of apartments along and close to Columbia Pike were constructed to house younger, often single, clerical workers, telephone operators and the like who worked at the Pentagon. Other neighborhoods such as Penrose and Arlington Heights were developed to house young officers. You will see similar styles of housing in any older military base in the Notheast. As people moved away from the outdated apartments in the 1960s and 1970s to newer housing stock (including a lot of the new apartments and townhouses built in Shirlington after the Army Corps of Engineers controlled flooding in Four Mile Run), the older rental apartments became home to the new waves of Central American emigres, Ethiopians and Eritreans. The Ethiopian Development Council which once helped only Ethiopian refugees now helps refugees including the many from the middle east now moving in the Pike corridor. Children of these emigrees and the long time African American population -- many of whom live in two original Freeman Villages near the Army Navy Country Club -- do not perform as well in school as the children of highly educated people who can afford to live in other parts of Arlington. For example, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia's grandfather probably did not attend a high performing school, but he bought into the American dream just as the South Arlington people have, and look what his progeny has done.

Good info to know. Thank you
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 09:08     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
I'm just impressed that this thread made it to page 7 without someone mentioning Pimmit Hills or Mosaic District. Well done, all you bickering wenches!
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 08:13     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
North Arlington blends into mclean and is an easy hop over scenic Chainbridge into DC. Beautiful neighborhoods and surroundings. South Arlington blends into highways, commercial, etc. Nothing special.

All of my observations exclude what i consider City arlington- Ballston, Pentagon City etc.
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 08:05     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know people in south arlington who keep getting things stolen from their back yard. I never have to worry about that in north arlington.


Plus, every house in N. Arlington comes with a unicorn and a rainbow.


This is true. The rainbows were especially brilliant last night after the rain. My unicorn was so happy she shat gold bricks, which I deposited into my brokerage account.

Signed, CC Hills resident.
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 08:02     Subject: Re:Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's all about the schools. North Arlington schools are much better, so people who can afford to choose to live there. The population then becomes segregated by income.


Backwards. Schools are segregated by income, and higher income kids do better on standardized tests, so schools look "better." Quality of schools themselves is the same across the county.



Quality of the curriculum is the same. You'd be hard press to argue school quality itself is uniform. School quality is about a lot more than test scores.
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 07:52     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

NYC is the capital of the world (or something like it). Arlington is... pretty much nobody except locals knows what it is. You like to dwell on minuscule differences between S and N Arlington but then you get upset at the mere mention of many orders of magnitude greater difference. Talk about being a big fish in a miniature pond.


Here's the difference between me and you. I'm in a city I enjoy, responding to a question on a DC-oriented board that actually relates to DC. You're clearly bitter (and a self-described poor person, otherwise you'd be living in your perceived mecca) and unhappy, wishing/dreaming/hoping that everyone agrees with you that NYC "is the capital of the world" (what a joke) and can't comprehend a conversation that doesn't involve said comparison. Your overblown views on Manhattan suggest that you're the one with the problem, not me. I'm not a "big fish" in any pond - there are certainly far wealthier and more important people than me in both Arlington and, certainly, in Washington, D.C. (You know, last i hard - the president of the United States lives here.) You, however, are a pathetic fish in any pond. Can't afford Manhattan, likely can't afford DC either, and clearly can't accept that. Good luck catching the $1 Bolt Bus back up to Penn Station.


Wow, you know me so well! Here is the thing, since you obviously care: most of the year, I live in a big city in Europe. I absolutely wouldn't live anywhere else. Even there, though, NYC considered the capital of the world. That has nothing to do with what I think about it (I lived there for almost a decade and love it) just a fact. And DC is just kind of a smallish town with a lot of monuments. I don't resent it, but that's because I don't have to spend too much time here.
Anonymous
Post 06/29/2013 00:53     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Much of S. Arlington developed in response to the construction of the Pentagon. A lot of apartments along and close to Columbia Pike were constructed to house younger, often single, clerical workers, telephone operators and the like who worked at the Pentagon. Other neighborhoods such as Penrose and Arlington Heights were developed to house young officers. You will see similar styles of housing in any older military base in the Notheast. As people moved away from the outdated apartments in the 1960s and 1970s to newer housing stock (including a lot of the new apartments and townhouses built in Shirlington after the Army Corps of Engineers controlled flooding in Four Mile Run), the older rental apartments became home to the new waves of Central American emigres, Ethiopians and Eritreans. The Ethiopian Development Council which once helped only Ethiopian refugees now helps refugees including the many from the middle east now moving in the Pike corridor. Children of these emigrees and the long time African American population -- many of whom live in two original Freeman Villages near the Army Navy Country Club -- do not perform as well in school as the children of highly educated people who can afford to live in other parts of Arlington. For example, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia's grandfather probably did not attend a high performing school, but he bought into the American dream just as the South Arlington people have, and look what his progeny has done.
Anonymous
Post 06/28/2013 23:42     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:North Arlington has more white people, South Arlington has more brown people. It's a race and money thing. End of story.
Is there anyone on DCUM who isn't white?

If this is indeed true, thank you for your honesty. We're moving from the southwest so 'brown people' are the least of my worries. I'm more of afraid of traffic and the high concentration of people in the area.


What is your specific concern about the traffic? I find it at any time much better than DC!

Oh I just meant the traffic concerning the whole area including DC


Oh, OK, yes, traffic in the area in general is bad, especially all the major interstates at rush hour and bridges into or out of DC, etc. Thankfully, I found when we moved here, that I can get around within all of Arlington any time of day without any trouble at all.

This is wonderful news. Thanks for sharing!
Anonymous
Post 06/28/2013 22:38     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:North Arlington has more white people, South Arlington has more brown people. It's a race and money thing. End of story.
Is there anyone on DCUM who isn't white?

If this is indeed true, thank you for your honesty. We're moving from the southwest so 'brown people' are the least of my worries. I'm more of afraid of traffic and the high concentration of people in the area.


What is your specific concern about the traffic? I find it at any time much better than DC!

Oh I just meant the traffic concerning the whole area including DC


Oh, OK, yes, traffic in the area in general is bad, especially all the major interstates at rush hour and bridges into or out of DC, etc. Thankfully, I found when we moved here, that I can get around within all of Arlington any time of day without any trouble at all.
Anonymous
Post 06/28/2013 22:29     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:Arlington almost made a record for no homicides but then in sooth arlington a store owner was shot to death in a robbery last year
....murdered by a criminal who was a DC resident, and had committed a similar crime in DC where the victim store owner survived. Yet the DC police had been unable to identify or catch the guy! Arlington police got him within TWO WEEKS!!!
Arlington PD is the best!
Anonymous
Post 06/28/2013 22:23     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:

NYC is the capital of the world (or something like it). Arlington is... pretty much nobody except locals knows what it is. You like to dwell on minuscule differences between S and N Arlington but then you get upset at the mere mention of many orders of magnitude greater difference. Talk about being a big fish in a miniature pond.


Here's the difference between me and you. I'm in a city I enjoy, responding to a question on a DC-oriented board that actually relates to DC. You're clearly bitter (and a self-described poor person, otherwise you'd be living in your perceived mecca) and unhappy, wishing/dreaming/hoping that everyone agrees with you that NYC "is the capital of the world" (what a joke) and can't comprehend a conversation that doesn't involve said comparison. Your overblown views on Manhattan suggest that you're the one with the problem, not me. I'm not a "big fish" in any pond - there are certainly far wealthier and more important people than me in both Arlington and, certainly, in Washington, D.C. (You know, last i hard - the president of the United States lives here.) You, however, are a pathetic fish in any pond. Can't afford Manhattan, likely can't afford DC either, and clearly can't accept that. Good luck catching the $1 Bolt Bus back up to Penn Station.
Anonymous
Post 06/28/2013 22:17     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:OP, traffic is the same between N and S Arlington. If there is a diffference, it's marginal. Same with crowding. N. Arlington is a wealthier area, and it is one of the few places where there's a concentration of those nice 1910's - 1930's classic bungalows in the area. And people love them, there aren't very many of them, so the area is more expensive. S. Arlington neighborhoods like Penrose, Arlington Heights, Alcova Heights and Barcroft are all very nice. Good luck!

+1
Anonymous
Post 06/28/2013 22:17     Subject: Can somebody please exain why South Arlington is considered inferior to North Arlington?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:What kind of question is this ...

Tell me why south central la is inferior to hollywood

Tell me why southeast anacostia dc is inferior to georgetown

Tell me why trenton new jersey is inferior to manhattan


No, it's more like Silver Spring v. Rockville. South Arlington isn't as bad as these examples, and North Arlington isn't as good. (Hollywood, btw? Do you mean Beverly Hills? Still wrong.)


And North Arlington is hardly Manhattan. it's much closer to Trenton though not sure what S. A. would be.


Yes, when I drive through the multi-million dollar homes around N. Arlington, the first thing that comes to mind is Trenton, New Jersey. (And Manhattan is hardly livable, so I'd suggest any wealthy suburb would be a step above.) Good lord, some of you are idiots - our New York-centric friends first and foremost.

OP, here's the bottom line: N. Arlington is wealthier than S. Arlington. If you like living in a bubble - income-wise, ethnically, and culturally, N. Arlington would be a better fit for you. If you want more diversity, S. Arlington is a better bet. Both are close to DC, and both have pockets that are nicer and less nice. The schools in N. Arlington are considered better mainly because the schools are less socio-economically diverse, which generally tends to mean more highly motivated/ primed to succeed kids.

And this brings me to my last point: someone earlier posted that people in the North part of town need to feel superior b/c they buy into expensive zipcodes. That's sort of a circuitous argument: people want to live in what they perceive as better neighborhoods, so they pay more money to do so. It's not really a difficult concept to get. This is how some suburbs become wealthier and some become less wealthy. It's how some school districts rise and others fall. Etc. etc. This happens everywhere, not just in NoVa, and not just in DC.


Manhattan is extremely livable if you have $$$$. But of course, you don't, so somehow N Arlington, to you, is more appealing . it's not really a difficult concept to get, as you would it it.


Yes, yet another NYC poseur posing as a Rockefeller slumming on DCUM. Please, lady. Go back to your apartment and ramen noodles, with your inflated sense of your hometown. No one here gives a shit.


NYC is the capital of the world (or something like it). Arlington is... pretty much nobody except locals knows what it is. You like to dwell on minuscule differences between S and N Arlington but then you get upset at the mere mention of many orders of magnitude greater difference. Talk about being a big fish in a miniature pond.