Dear Matt, Congratulations on buying your first single-family house in North Arlington! I was super thrilled that you chose to buy a single-family house, but whew, $1.75M?! I can't swing that — but I see that the house next to yours is assessed for only $894k and the one across the street is assessed at $1.14M – these, I can do. Now I'm super excited about the missing middle because it is so expensive to
Arlington is going hard at the Missing Middle (MM) initiative. It's not because it will provide affordable housing – that myth was debunked relatively early. It's not for the environment because there's no way that with more properties going up that it would be better for the environment. It isn't about being more inclusive because there are no programs associated with the MM that would make sure that the impacts were spread throughout Arlington or
If you take a drive along S. George Mason Dr. it will make you really sad. Alcova Heights park is in the process of demolition. The county has decided that it needed to remove over 60 healthy trees and already the shade and coolness that attracted so many to our park will find that the tree canopy has been annihilated along with the natural feel of the property just to do some things as simple
Is the ‘Arlington Way' Too Narrow to Include All Residents? Some Say ‘Yes' I came across this Arlnow article https://www.arlnow.com/2021/10/05/is-the-arlington-way-too-narrow-to-include-all-residents-some-say-yes/ about how better and more inclusive public engagement is needed. But I really question this. The real issue is not more engagement but whether the County actually listens to any of the input at all, especially if it doesn't already match their predetermined outcomes. The answer from a growing number of people across the County
The Arlington county board has once again displayed a lack of thoughtfulness, preparation, and financial prudence in their quest for equity and inclusion. On March 2, the board hosted Mitch Landrieu for a special work session to talk about achieving racial equity in Arlington through budgeting. “The more you get into it and look at things, it's clear there's more we need to do to ensure equity and that the government's working for everyone,” Arlington
(This was submitted to TheArlingtonWay, “to serve as a record of what the County Manager is willing to do to subvert the facts and steer processes.” ) On January 28 [2019], County Manager mark schwartz released his statement on the Public Spaces Master Plan (PSMP). This widely published statement fails to address the widespread substantive criticism of the PSMP methodology and results. The Manager's statement also contains numerous erroneous assertions which have prompted both Parks4everyone
Earlier this year, arlington county Manager Mark Schwartz made a public apology for a major road disruption on Columbia Pike, affecting businesses and angering residents, who were never told of the work. Only after a public uproar and media reports, did he make an apology. It's dumbfounding that notifying the public about disruptions to infrastructure impacting businesses and residents would be a difficult task. But it seems that is case for Mark Schwartz. A Columbia
Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz rarely misses an opportunity to place his personal short-term agenda ahead of Arlington's long-term strategic interests. But a November 12 memorandum that Schwartz sent to the County Board reaches a new low even for small-minded Schwartz. Background Over 1,825 days ago, the Community Facilities Study Group recommended that Arlington adopt a long-term public facilities plan locating new school seats and other new public facilities like parks, fire stations, and stormwater
This article appeared in InsideNova Letter: Arlington government again tries to marginalize Green Valley | Letters To Editor | insidenova.com Editor: There is a new road map for the “Arlington Way.” The county has been paving this path for some time, but it came careening through the Green Valley community on Sept. 15, when the County Board voted 5-0 to instruct us on what we may or may not discuss about a multi-million-dollar public project.
How to “add” more parks, while residents simultaneously lose access to green space. It was a curious thing when the Public Spaces Master Plan suggested adding in an average of 3 acres of parkland per year to keep up with the pace of a growing population, only to see that zero money was allocated on any of the County's budget to do so. When lots the size of a quarter acre sell for over a