Abingdon School Neighbors are outraged about the time and money APS has so far wasted designing Abingdon School's boutique parking lots and SUV turn-arounds for Abingdon PTA parents, Staff, and Teachers -- at least $2 million over 8 months and most likely a lot more. So much time and money has been wasted on parking lots that APS's Facilities and Operations Staff and its architectural firm had to redesign the school to eliminate much new infrastructure inside the renovated and expanded school.
As approved by the School Board at it's last meeting, the schematic design for Abingdon is a bare-bones renovation and expansion costing just over $30 million. You can see for yourselves at apsva.us/moreseats/abingdon and go to the April 21st Building Level Advisory Committee meeting presentation. APS's Facilities and Operations Staff admitted to the School Board at its April 23rd meeting that a significant schematic redesign of Abingdon School was necessary because of cost escalations over the months when boutique parking was being designed and debated.
Moreover, according to conversations with APS employees, huge amounts of time and money were expended on designing parking and vehicle turn-arounds to Abingdon SUV Soccer Parents' specifications. Abingdon School Teachers, Staff, and PTA so controlled the Abingdon design process that transportation to and from the school AM and PM is designed to allow maximum convenience for parents dropping off and picking up their children, with school buses running almost empty.
Who were instrumental in facilitating the aforementioned Abingdon School "planning"? School Board Chair and County Board candidate James Lander, and County Board candidate Christian Dorsey, who was placed on the Abingdon Building Level Planning Committee by Lander to facilitate boutique parking.
It gets worse. APS is well-aware that Arlington Economic Development's quest to attract tens of thousands of Millennials to Arlington will likely push Arlington Public Schools' student population over 35,000 by 2025.
So the relocatables will stay and new schools and additions will be constructed on the Thomas Jefferson Middle School campus, and on a dozen sites elsewhere. And the APS-County revenue split will be more than 50% to APS.
As we at AY see it, the extravagant waste of tax dollars by APS on Abingdon "planning" amounts to de facto misuse of public funds. Neither James Lander nor Christian Dorsey should be elected to anything, let alone the County Board.
Cindy
38 comments:
This is the stripped down building we get for our kids? For $30 million? Time to Dump the Democrats and elect non-partisan Independents to the School Board and County Board!
Audrey Clement and Mike McMinimen for County Board !!!
Make that "over 40,000 by 2025".
I can't help but think the bloggers and commenters here are a small group who do not want to pay for anyone else. I'm sure you believe you're not against progress and good things, you just don't think you have to pay for anyone else anymore.
Would you rather the children go away and schools closed? Then more money directed toward your own pet interests, like buses to the grocery store?
I'm truly sorry if you feel the world is passing you by and that you are being marginalized in Arlington. But my guess is you would feel that way in any community that isn't simply you living alone somewhere in the forest.
Abingdon teachers, staff, and PTA spent huge amounts of time fighting over building a dozen parking spaces on campus vs. parking a hundred feet off campus.
Also, no police enforcement of stop signs and speed limits by the police allowed near Abingdon School.
Lander and Dorsey have promoted this behavior.
Why not have school buses take residents to the grocery store, since PTA parents want to drive their kids to school in SUVs?
More from the Elitist McMansion $#!+ who want everyone to ride $3,000 bicycles to the grocery store in January.
Go post on ArlNow with the on-the-job retirees at 2100 Clarendon Blvd and 1426 Quincy Street who cater to your every extravagant want.
Abingdon parents should be outraged that the non-resident Abingdon teachers and staff and the SUV Cheerleader PTA Mommies, facilitated by Dorsey and Lander, wasted so much money on boutique parking that a huge amount of amenities had to be stripped out of the building to bring the building within construction budget. But don't believe me, go to the April 23rd School Board meeting at apsva.us and listen to Scott Prisco.
Same SUV PTA Cheerleader Mommies who drive through the neighborhood ignoring stop signs and driving 40 mph while texting after dropping off little Muffy at Abingdon?
The exterior of the building, depicted above, had to be redesigned because so much money was wasted on parking.
Even APS school buses run stop signs and speed through the neighborhood.
Next surprise for Abingdon School neighbors...the relocatable will not be removed and another relocatable will likely be added after the renovation and expansion is complete.
Check out Item 13 on the County Board's agenda tomorrow....renewal of the shared parking agreement at Ashlawn School.
My sister lives on Arlington Ridge. James Lander drives his SUV just like the other PTA Soccer Mommies and Daddies
Abingdon School neighbors want as much money to go into the school building's infrastructure as possible and as little spent on boutique parking as possible. We were constantly overruled by the non-resident Abingdon teachers and staff, and PTA parents who drive their children to school. We are appalled that so much time and money has been wasted, appears it's much more than $2 million.
Don't expect anything from the Arlington Police Department. First of all they don't live in Arlington and don't care. Second, they spend all their time during the week keeping 'undesirables' out of trendy neighborhoods. And third, they spend all their time on weekends making millions in overtime from parenting Millennial pub crawlers in the B-R Corridor.
Where did the $30 million go? For consultants' and architects' fees?
More like $5 million has been wasted.
This is the best APS's Modernist architects could design in a neighborhood full of residential buildings that resemble Georgian manor homes?
Have you ever met a Modernist architect who didn't want to tear down an old ugly Modernist building and replace it with a even uglier new Modernist building?
APS is spending more for school buses in its FY 16 budget.
Data collected for 'planning' multi-modal transportation for Abingdon School were collected from parents, teachers, and staff running stop signs and speeding through the neighborhood around Abingdon School.
What is Arlington becoming? Another Falls Church where the city government is completely controlled by SUV Soccer Parents who control the school system, facilitated by the city's Democratic Machine and the city's Democratic newspaper?
Christian Dorsey drives through Fairlington like the other SUV Soccer Parents.
Christian Dorsey is pretty busy making deals to purchase more gentrification "affordable housing". So not surprising he's texting while driving 40 mph through Fairlington.
Same McMansion Mommies run the PTAs in North Arlington and expect APS to cater to every whim.
"living alone somewhere in the forest"? In fact, the New Urbanist plan (and Arlington's New Urbanist planners are Fairfax County residents from Annandale, Burke, McLean, Springfield, etc.) is to make Abingdon School a multi-jurisdiction sports, recreation, and activity center, together with the South Fairlington Regional Sports, Recreation, and Activity Center.
Where did the $30 million go? The schematic design for Abingdon School looks like something that would be designed for a a destitute county in the Rust Belt with a ZZZ bond rating.
FYI, Arlington's First Nanny, aka Mr. Knowitall, Scott McCaffrey, lives 100 yards from Abingdon School.
Neighbors who live adjacent to Abingdon School will pay $8500 this year in condo fees + real estate taxes to live in tiny townhouses that were once actually affordable.
Why should 60-somethings and 70-somethings who have increasing healthcare expenses every year have to pay for $2+ million boutique parking lots?
The Fairlington Civic Association, controlled by the Arlington Democratic Committee, played a large role in facilitating boutique parking at the expense of enhanced school building infrastructure.
Dump the Democrats who have turned over decision-making for our County to non-residents who don't live here, pay taxes here, or suffer the consequences of their bad planning and bad decisions and take their big paychecks to their Fairfax County suburbs where they keep voting for Fairfax County Supervisors like Penny Gross who keep the Fairfax County suburbs (Annandale, Lake Barcroft, Sleepy Hollow) suburban.
Reid Goldstein was annointed by the Zimmercrats and PTA McMansion Mommies yesterday and will carry on with the same old same old on the School Board.
He is clueless about what has occurred at Abingdon.
Anyone else noticed that the first half of school board meetings is about awards the APS's PR Team obtained for APS and the second half of school board meetings is parents complaining about longstanding problems with basic teaching?
I stopped believing anything that comes out of James Lander's mouth years ago. What a jive turkey.
Christian Dorsey is running for County Board so he can make millions from real estate deals involving so-called "affordable housing".
What are they going to do with 20,000 more Millennials breeding like rabbits? Pack them and their 2 kids and 3 pets into 2-bedroom apartments and condos?
As for relocatables, there's going to be many more of them.
James Lander a jive turkey? Try talking with Peter Fallon.
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