A.Y. contributors attended last evening's County Board Candidate Forum, sponsored by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. Event was held at the Rosslyn Hyatt and moderated by Scott Brodbeck, who publishes the ArlNow blog.
The clear winner was Independent candidate Audrey Clement, the only candidate who articulated what she would specifically do when elected to County Board, attend to basic public infrastructure first, provide immediate tax relief, preserve existing affordable housing by having the County directly intervene to save affordable apartment buildings like those being demolished in Westover.
County Board Chair Libby Garvey essentially asked for another 4 years on the County Board to "get it right this time". Whatever problems occurred in the past were the fault of the previous County Board majority (Tejada, Hynes and Fisette). As an example of what the County Board is doing right, Libby pointed to last Saturday's County Board meeting when, after hours of discussion, the County Board approved a driveway rather than a grassy pervious surface for Stratford School. In fact, the County Board caved to pressure from upscale well-organized SUV soccer parents who want to drive their kids to and from Stratford.
The other Democratic candidate, Erik Gutshall, was positively scary with his prescriptions for fixing the "missing middle" between single family homes and high rise apartments and condos. These consist of tearing down existing single-family homes along arterials (including Westover Village) and replacing them with in-fill condominiums and apartment buildings on small parcels of land. He also encourages the "repurposing" of single family homes into boarding houses. Like his supporters, Chris Zimmerman, Paulie Ferguson, and others who live in exclusive neighborhoods, Erik's own Lyon Park neighborhood is off-limits to missing middle re-purposing.
We looked for a report about the forum in ArlNow this morning and were surprised when we didn't see one. Maybe it's just as well, because at least a hundred nasty comments would have also appeared about Audrey.
Cindy
44 comments:
If Chris Zimmerman and Paulie Ferguson want to be on the County Board again, why don't they run for County Board?
Meanwhile, in Lyon Park, Washington Boulevard is crumbling and older homes along Washington Boulevard are being torn down and replaced by McMansions.
Erik Gut$hall is a Chri$ Zimmerman - $mart Growth America puppet.
Scott Brodbeck is another local media chamber of commerce booster, so what can you expect?
Fillmore Street and Pershing Drive are also crumbling -- Go Erik.
Arlington's "future" according to Erik Gutshall....No more family-friendly places like Westover Village. More cribs for more millennials instead.
Erik Gutshall is tied to Smart Growth IV - The Single Family Home Invasion
Car Free Diet = More Cars for Millennials + More SUVs for Soccer Parents.
Complete Streets: Your residential street becomes a complete neighborhood sports and recreation 'activity area'.
Intelligent Growth Two Step: Step 1 - Dump Erik in June. Step 2 - Dump Libby in November.
Erik, Zimmy, et. al. have to keep inflating the Smart Growth bubble, no matter what the future consequences.
I concur. Erik's prescription for alleviating overcrowding in Arlington is: More Cribs for Millennials.
Patricia Sullivan (Post), Scott McCaffrey (Inside Nova). Scott Brodbeck (ArlNow) are all Chamber of Commerce Skanks.
Want to know who Smart Growth's First Skank in Arlington is? Katie Roche.
When does my street get repaved?
Anyone else see any discussion about street repaving as a priority during this afternoon's CB CIP presentation?
I'm sending a message to the biketards who are sponsoring Bike to Work Day and telling them there's no way I will ride my bicycle until the streets are repaved.
Bicycle fanatics should be demanding accelerated street repaving.
Audrey emphasized she will make maintaining and upgrading basic public infrastructure her first priority when elected.
So, three County Board members, a Post reporter, a Connection reporter, a bunch of corporate VIPs, and some VIP County residents attended this event. Is this the only place the event was reported?
"Missing Middle" aka "More Cribs for More Millennials"
ArlNow is by and for Smart Growth Boosters, Chamber of Commerce Boosters, Country Club Republicans, Limo Liberals, Realtors, Gourmet Groupies, and County Bureaucrats pumping up or dumping on some project or program.
So...Media showed up...saw that Clement won....decided the event wasn't newsworthy.
I was surprised to learn that Audrey Clement is 67 years old and works full-time writing software apps.
Minus 10 to Scott Brodbeck.
What can you expect when ArlNow mixes news with infomercials?
It looks like everyone already beat me to the punch about the streets needing re-paving and millenials. Is there anything else I can complain about instead? I don't like change.
Scott Brodbeck finally featured the forum in ArlNow this morning. As usual, Audrey Clement was treated like a nuisance rather than acknowledged as the candidate who performed the best.
Too many people are being packed into one tiny County.
People, do not, DO NOT ride a bicycle to work tomorrow unless you check out the route carefully. Way too much broken pavenement and potholes.
Scott Brobeck is one of a dozen influential people responsible for promoting the complete urbanization of Arlington. He's also a shill for Chris Zimmerman and Smart Growth America.
Where are the bicyclists who are the first group that would benefit from well-maintained streets?
I'm 26-years old and have shared a Ballston apartment with a classmate from UVA for 18 months. Millennials are being conned into living in a corridor that is anything but "vibrant". The streets need repaving, the sidewalks need fixing, and the major social events are working out at Gold's Gym and drinking at various places and events. All the single women who are heterosexual seem to want to do is get married and then get pregnant right away.
I saw the monuments, visited the White House, etc., when I was a teenager. The bar crawl and street festival scene (like the Taste of Arlington last weekend) has gotten really old. I can't wait to put in 2 years with my current employer and then I am outta Arlington. It was a big mistake to move here. So-called Smart Growth is making the bar owners and real estate promoters rich, but has done zero for my overall quality of life.
Keep inflating the Millennial residential real estate bubble. See what happens.
County keeps purchasing older 3-bedroom 2-bath rambler homes for $700,000 and up and converting them into vacant lots for "open space".
County PR machine plus local media shills completely brainwash millennials and almost everyone else about vibrant smart growth.
Scott Brodbeck has made millions over the last five years from hyping Smart Growth with the goal of jamming tens of thousands more Millennials into Arlington.
@Rob - if you can't navigate a meaningful existence living near DC with all it's amenities in the prime of your relative youth then chances are you won't be happy anywhere. But, what can you do - life is hard as a cynic. I don't think there is any 'con' in the millennial migration to Arlington. I'd say your overall quality of life isn't so bad compared to the rest of the world.
Arlington is fked. Same old and more of the same. Work...Work Out...Party. Dude, I'm not in the rest of the World. I and my roommate are paying $2,300 in rent and the view out the windows is of a vibrant used car lot, which is bigger and nastier than when I moved in. Plus the fking women here are married, gay, or crazy. I know where I'm moving to in 6 months and it's far away from vibrant smart growth.
Hotel California, your buds at ArlNow are calling.
Yes blame the county because you made a poor choice in living arrangements, can't get a girlfriend or think of ANYTHING to do other than party or work out. If it weren't for Arlington holding you back, I'm sure you would be happy...
Rob. Hotel California is texting from the Seventh Floor of 2100 Clarendon Blvd.
Advice: Move to where the Smart Growth Boosters live. Ashton Heights. Quiet streets. Suburban social life.
Agree...Arlington is fked. Wait until the next recession, due in about 6 months, when the price of regular gas hits $4 per gallon.
Hillary will just start another war to stave off a Recession.
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