Wednesday, April 22, 2015

APS, Special Interests, Will Control County Government Next Year



Hey Yupette,

Want to give you a heads up. If you thought this year's Budget process was insipid, wait until next year where there will likely be two new County Board Members with children enrolled in Arlington Public Schools.Then there's Libby Garvey, who's running for re-election and won't say no to anything or anybody. The tough fiscal decisions have been made about the Pike streetcar, Artisphere, and so on. Time for more tax-borrow-spend.

So look for the two new County Board members, together with Libby Garvey and Jay Fisette, to give in to all but the most outrageous demands by APS and the for-profit and non-profit special interests. For example, look for a 50-50 revenue split between the County and APS. Look for joint decisions to be made behind closed doors by the County Board and School Board about which neighborhoods will get new Taj Mahal schools. Look for more VIP Smart Growth boosters to retire to places a hundred miles from the nearest New Urbanism.

I'm not optimistic about the independence of the County's new Independent Internal Auditor, who will have to obtain approval from a committee before he or she audits anything.

It's nice that our elected VIPs want to bring some new and different economic development here, but the sad fact is that Arlington is just too expensive a place to do business and will become more expensive.

Thanks for your blog.

Terri,

22203

44 comments:

Old Dem said...

Deja Vu the Rust Belt, circa 1975, where Hynes, Fisette, Garvey, and many other Arlington VIPs grew up.

Their Limo-Liberal and Rockefeller-Scranton-Romney parents essentially abandoned as unsustainable (because of their extravagant tax-borrow-spend policies and urban renewal ideology) public, private, non-profit infrastructure which they had constructed at tremendous expense and then retired to the Sun Belt, leaving the hippies to carry on.

Fast forward to the Government Belt in 2015, where thanks to our Limo-Liberal leadership, we've become similarly unsustainable because of their extravagant taxing, borrowing, and spending and their successor to urban renewal - new urbanism. Now the Limo-Liberal VIPs who pushed new urbanism are retiring, leaving the future and our County (an expensive mess) to the hipsters.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Hynes, Garvey, and Fisette were college students in 1975 and certainly were aware of what was occurring in the Rust Belt.

Anonymous said...

Their immediate predecessors, Barbara Favola and Chris Zimmerman, grew up in New York and Connecticut.

Anonymous said...

Old Dem, when I left the Coast Guard after 3 years and moved back to live with my parents while I looked for work there were no entry-level jobs to be found. That was in Cleveland in 1976.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, be happy. They are contacting Chinese businesspersons and bringing them over here to visit Arlington on junkets.

Richmond Guy said...

What's the matter with you Democrats? I thought the First Hipster was always visiting Arlington for this and that event. Why don't you ask him for a favor, like relocating NASA from Greenbelt to Crystal City?

Anonymous said...

It gets worse. Last Planning Commission meeting the Democrat-dominated Planning Commission revised site plan review procedures to replace citizen members with representatives from special interest groups.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they will ask the First Yuppie after Barbara Mikulski retires.

Anonymous said...

Same thing when I got out of the Army in 1974 and returned to Pittsburgh.

Anonymous said...

Limo Liberals? No. Really You can't mean Mary Mondale Hynes, from Minneapolis.

Quiao Liong said...

We would be happy to invest in Arlington's Dark Fiber technology. Please email the technical specification to: usaitinvestment@peoplesliberationarmy.ca

Anonymous said...

Yes, it will be a 50-50 APS-County revenue split, especially if Dorsey and Lander are on the County Board.

Anonymous said...

Take a trip to beautiful New York State. The source of the state's wealth, manufacturing, left long ago but the state is stuck with expensive Rockefeller-era bureaucracies, especially education, to the point that high taxes have completely stymied economic growth.

Anonymous said...

Yes. Arlington is at the point of becoming another Falls Church where the school system dictates how much is spent on what.

Anonymous said...

I'm voting for Audrey Clement. Listen to her speak at School Board and County Board meetings. She's the only one of the candidates who's fiscally responsible. The others want to make Arlington like Falls Church when it comes to spending -- anything left over from the school system is divided up among special interests.

Anonymous said...

I believe the Census Bureau. People are moving out of Arlington because it's just too expensive to live here.

Anonymous said...

James Lander was asked at one of the County Board budget work sessions what (if anything) he's planning to do about the 400 APS students where neither parent is an Arlington resident and the students are allowed to attend Arlington schools illegally. No response.

Anonymous said...

This has been going on for decades. Parents move out of the County and their children are allowed to continue attending Arlington schools until they graduate.

Anonymous said...

APS can't even be honest about the cost per K-12 student. It's more than $21,000 per year.

Anonymous said...

High Tech start up companies locating in Arlington? Where the weather is terrible 6 months a year (Dec-Feb and Jun-Aug) and an "affordable" 1-bedroom apartment costs $1600 / month? And local taxes will increase 4% to 5% per year for the next 5 years? Am I as a small business owner supposed to be impressed?

Anonymous said...

AT BEST our taxes will go up 4-5% per year for the next 5 years.

Anonymous said...

Consensus is the the VIPs who control Arlington want the County to become a luxury enclave. Don't want to pay the taxes and fees required for a wide variety of upscale programs and services, move to Roanoke.

Anonymous said...

Meaning our taxes will be peed away for the next generation of extravagant programs and projects for the Limo Liberal Elite.

Anonymous said...

Taxes peed away? As in a massive taxpayer-funded PR campaign to make everyone ride bicycles in Winter?

Mary Mondale Hynes said...

Don't like Arlington's wasteful and extravagant public school system where there's a special program for every student? Move to Dale City.

Anonymous said...

APS special program for every student? Why stop at one? Check out the two Democrats running for School Board.

Anonymous said...

Heard at the School Board meeting last night -- A.Y. is correct, APS is going for a 50-50 revenue split with the County for FY 17.

Anonymous said...

What? Your not on a car-free diet? Gee, good thing you have not been pointed out for reeducation/replacement by one of the body snatchers.

Anonymous said...

Oh, County spends $3 million / year promoting the Car Free Diet. People who inflict the Car Free Diet P.R. on us commute to 2100 Clarendon Blvd., one per SUV.

2100 said...

They also spend hours every work day posting comments to ArlNow.

Anonymous said...

Only way Rust Belt states attract new business is through taxpayer funded corporate welfare for periods ranging from 10-20 years. Once the corporate welfare payments end the recipients almost always relocate. Or do the next worst thing, keep some small part of the facility once used for manufacturing as a warehouse.

Anonymous said...

Do to Crystal City what the Rust Belt cities are doing...tear down old office buildings that will never be occupied again.

Anonymous said...

Can't do that, County needs the tax revenue to build the next generation of vanity projects.

Anonymous said...

Title of this post should read: "V.I.P.s Who Don't Live in Arlington Will Control County Government Next Year, Together With the Local Limo-Liberal Elite".

Anonymous said...

Audrey Clement for County Board.

Anonymous said...

Gold plated school buses? Check out Reid Goldstein's and Sharon Dorsey's respective agendas for APS.

Anonymous said...

Arlington is a wonderful place to live...if you live in a tear-down McMansion in 22207, have $300,000 - $400,000 in yearly disposable income, and your interests are sports, entertainment, and recreation.

Anonymous said...

Yes, that's EXACTLY what they're doing -- removing everyone and anything that isn't upscale and trendy.

Want to have a chair re-upholstered? Drive to Alexandria. Need a new battery installed in your cordless drill? Drive to Alexandria. Or, have a small businessperson drive to your home from where the business is located, in Alexandria.

Arlington is so anti-small business it's frightening. Next small businesses on their agenda for removal are in Shirlington-Nauck and in the Lee Highway corridor.

Anonymous said...

Urban Renewal 1965 = underclass removal

New Urbanism 1995 = middle class removal

Urban Hipsterism 2015 = upper middle class removal

Anonymous said...

Always room for more bars and restaurants in Arlington.

Anonymous said...

What happens when REITs and law firms control the chamber of commerce.

Anonymous said...

NONE of the CB Members will say NO to any special interest. NONE of the SB Members will say NO to any special interest parent group.

Anonymous said...

Sharon Dorsey + Reid Goldstein = APS PTA Wish List

Anonymous said...

Sharon Dorsey + Reid Goldstein = Same Old + Same Old