Hi Yupette,
Despite what you may have seen and heard from the County Board tonight, the Howard Manor Apartments gentrification charade was in the works for months. The tenants are victims of another of Zimmerman's pet developers, this one specializes in making lots of money from kicking out tenants from older apartment buildings and receiving huge subsidies for making the renovated buildings "affordable". The tenants only found out about the plans last night. The charade was so transparent that a couple County Board members were actually laughing. Not funny to the tenants, some of whom have have been living at Howard Manor Apartments for more than a decade.
This is a preview of what Zimmerman has in store for the entire Columbia Pike corridor - older rental apartments are not homes for middle-class Arlingtonians, but "redevelopment opportunities" for out-of-state developers.
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23 comments:
Zimmerman and the County Board could care less about anyone who is renting an apartment in an older building. Tonight's charade proved it.
The County Board has zero interest in a win-win solution, allowing the older apartment buildings to go co-op.
The tenants of Howard Manor are cheerleaders for "Smart Growth" and are the the young people you WANT to have in your neighborhood.
I will never never vote for any County Board incumbent.
I would say that every rental property in Arlington is a "redevelopment opportunity" after the stunt the County Board pulled on the Howard Manor tenants.
Did someone say "one party government"? Republicans Wayne Kubicki and Bob Atkins were in the County Board Room waiting to talk about the budget and they were visibly annoyed at being delayed by the Howard Manor charade.
It's obvious that the County Board, County Staff, the developer, tenant-landlord commission, and everyone else with prior knowledge of the Howard Manor project conspired to keep information from the tenants.
Last night proved that the County Board and the County employees who serve them are rotten people.
Why are the Howard Manor tenants who earn $50,000 a year being gentrified out? Because they're not Yuppies.
The County Board is so rotten that, after voting 5-0 to gentrify Howard Manor, they lectured the tenants about their need to be aware of and follow exactly the developer's and County's various re-location procedures, after spending months rehearsing for last night's charade performance and deliberately keeping the tenants ignorant about what was going on.
Why do you think Fenty was kicked out of office last year? He also wanted to remove everyone who is not earning $100,000 per year out of D.C.
It's true. Barbara Favola hates the poor and middle class and wants them out of Arlington. That came through loud and clear last night.
What the County Board wants is pool of uneducated household servants (e.g., Wakefield HS dropouts) who are pre-screened for docile behavior living in subsidized rental housing and working for the Yuppie Elite. You can't have that and have an educated middle class living in market rate affordable apartments.
Worse are the Arlington Republicans who don't care whether their kids can afford to live in the county where they grew up and rubber stamp the County Board's budget for it's bloated bureaucracy.
Howard Manor Apartments are excellent middle income market rate rental housing that serve multiple needs. Most of the tenants move in, stay a couple years, then move on, up, away.
The "affordable" subsidized apartments that will replace Howard Manor's market rate apartments will ensure there is a stable pool of low-wage workers available for employment as household, fast food, and other workers for Yuppie Arlington, starting with the County Board's own household servants.
Arlington County provides a good package of mental health benefits to its employees. Chris Zimmerman should start using his.
Let's see, family that owns Howard Manor Apartments no longer lives in Arlington, developer is a DC corporation, County Planning Staff don't live in Arlington, County Attorney doesn't live in Arlington, County Manager doesn't live in Arlington. Have I left anyone out?
County Board Clerk who coordinates all the resegregation through gentrification meetings doesn't live in Arlington.
Arlington Republican Party...WHAT Arlington Republican Party? Arlington's two leading Republicans sat fuming about being delayed in their rubber stamping of the County Board's bloated budget while the debate raged about market-rate affordable housing vs. government-subsidized affordable housing.
I thought Republicans don't want more government subsidized housing. Kubicki and Atkins should have been jumping for joy listening to the tenants oppose government control of their apartment buildings.
Zimmerman and the County Board are wackos. They should be falling all over themselves to make the young progressive adults who spoke up for their diverse rental community in Howard Manor the next generation of Arlington's Democratic leadership. Instead, they are handing over Arlington to the REITs who cater to the know-nothing do-nothing Hedocrats.
It appears the income range of persons and families allowed to live in Howard Manor will be $25,000 to $46,000 per year.
Zimmerman and the County Board owe Howard Manor residents a huge apology.
Next generation of Democratic leadership? They're busy planning their annual Young Yuppiecrat dating event.
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