Thanks for supporting Arlington's middle class in your blog. The demolition of affordable older rental apartments off N. Kensington was the last straw. We are all going to be gentrified out of Westover by a bunch of Democratic Machine fat cats who are getting super rich by kicking anyone who doesn't earn at least $85,000 out of Westover and out of Arlington. All the current County Board and the various so-called "planning" bureaucrats do is make secret give-away deals with their corporate cronies. APAH, AHC and the so-called "housing non-profits" are a bunch of poverty pimps who are getting rich off poor people. Former County Board member Chris Zimmerman and his Smart Growth America gang want to totally urbanize Arlington and they're in an all-out effort to have Zimmerman's puppet, Erik Gutshall, elected to the County Board.
If you care about Westover's future, please attend the "Save Westover" meeting next Tuesday. And vote for our neighbor, Westover resident Audrey Clement, for County Board on November 8th.
Thanks again for this blog.
Larry, N. 10th Street
84 comments:
Gutshall is endorsed by the Machine Democrats who, together with Zimmerman, gentrified the middle class out of Arlington. Remember Paulie Ferguson?
Affordable housing in Arlington? Bunch of bloated housing bureaucracies getting rich from NOT building affordable housing.
Doesn't it bother anyone that so-called affordable housing is a hugely expensive mess and you have competing organizations that are supposed to drive costs down? Instead, when every Yellow Dog Democrat affiliated with a housing bureaucracy is paid off with tax dollars the affordable apartment units end up costing close to $400,000 each.
You forgot to mention Barbara Favola who despised affordable housing and didn't want any affordable units anywhere when she was on the County Board.
County Board Democrats (Favola, Fisette, Ferguson) said NO to new affordable housing soon after they were first elected, 20 years ago. Meaning, no new affordable housing in the B-R corridor, no new affordable housing in Shirlington, no new affordable housing in Potomac Yards.
It reached the point, about 8 years ago, where the County Board majority voted against a site plan where affordable work-live apartment units were to be included in a mixed-use site plan for Courthouse-Rosslyn.
Big share of the blame goes to J. Walter 'Nada' Tejada. This guy was, is, and always will be as big a BSer to working class and middle class Latinos and Latinas as Barack Obama was, is, and always will be to working class and middle class African-Americans.
Second that. New affordable housing that was actually affordable to the middle class was the last priority of County Board Democrats elected after 1995.
Where is the criticism from the African-American community regarding Barack Obama's and Eric Holder's complete lack of sensitivity about the African-American community's actual needs since 2009?
Agree: Erik Gutshall is Chis Zimmerman's aka Smart Growth America's Puppet. Every Arlington resdential neighborhood is a New Urbanist redevelopment opportunity.
Reality Check: How did we get to an 'affordable housing' program in Arlington that completely excludes students, interns, seniors, and low-wage workers who earn 30% of AMI?
Ask Chri$ Zimmerman and his puppet Erik Gut$hall.
How about a posting about how Erik Gutshall is planning to set up a pay-to-play for 'domestic housing services' once he's on the County Board?
Pretty sad to see people desperately cling to their subsidized housing. Too many takers, not enough makers in this County.
Subsidized? Like the Democratic fat cats who control the housing corporations?
Subsidized? Every time AHC bought an 8-unit apartment building in Westover (e.g., 9th Street) the rents immediately went up $250 per month.
Latest news - the poverty pimps want to make deals with private condo communities to lend the homeowners associations money for upgrades to the buildings and property in return for allowing Millennials who earn 80% of area median income to buy AHC-subsidized units way below market value. So AHC wants to become a lien holder on your condo. Where do AHC, APAH, etc., get the money to do that? From the profits they make from their mega-deals, e.g. from Arlington Presbyterian Church on the Pike. From the profits they make on their rents to people who make up to $90,000 per year and still get to live in an 'affordable' apartment.
Worst by far is Jay Fisette. Wants Rosslyn to be "Neverland on the Potomac" with no one living in Rosslyn who earns less than $100,000 per year. Consistently voted against constructing new affordable housing in the almost-20 years he's been on the County Board, e.g., in Potomac Yards.
Agree. Affordable housing programs in Arlington are a disgrace. People earning $30,000 / year, or the County's so-called 'living wage' of $14.50 per hour don't even qualify. Programs are set up to benefit fat cat yellow dog Democrats.
Plenty of fat cat Democrat deal makers who are corporate and non-profit welfare takers in the County.
LOL...Affordable Housing...What a HUGE Charade. The bloated housing bureaucracies just held a "Let Us Prey" meeting at Arlington Universalist Church to discuss new affordable housing scams.
Then there are the media shills for the affordable housing corporate-nonprofit rip off -- Washington Post, Inside Nova-Sun Gazette, ArlNow.
We can end the affordable housing mega scam - Elect Westover Resident Audrey Clement to the County Board on November 8th.
Affordable housing pimps and hoes are now redefining people who will quality for "affordable housing" to include anyone who earns from $85,000 to $130,000. If you're a college student, senior living on social security, are working for $10 per hour, or are an unpaid or minimally-paid intern you still don't qualify.
Yellow Dog Democrats who control everything will put pressure on the Yellow Dog Democrats who control the civic associations and condo associations to agree to allow below market rate condo units for Millennials.
Let me guess -- "Non-Profit Human Services Facilitator for Persons with Low Incomes" Christian Dorsey will be appointed to Chair the "Affordable Condos for Millennials Committee".
Does anyone have a photo of Jay Fisette's luxury retirement estate on the Treasure Coast of Florida? I want to see how much social and economic distance he put between himself and what he inflicts on others.
What's the difference between the Post, Inside Nova and ArlNow?
Post is a Chamber of Commerce Booster
Inside Nova is a Mega Chamber of Commerce Booster
ArlNow is a Super Chamber of Commerce Booster
Meanwhile, my residential street is still crumbling.
Affordable apartments? Ask yourselves why there is a "need" for 241 parking spaces for 257 apartments (155 supposedly affordable) at the Berkeley on South Glebe Road when the Berkeley is across the street from a huge shopping plaza and within walking distance of schools and outdoor recreation.
Why the same old same old and worse? People who make all the decisions are either non-residents or live in luxury enclaves inside the County. So they suffer no consequences.
Anyone else notice that "affordable" is constantly being revised upward as a percentage of area media income?
What is the cost of building huge parking garages under the so-called affordable apartment buildings?
Top three Democratic decision makers Warner, Kaine, and Beyer have a combined wealth of at least $2 billion.
Having completely fked up Arlington's rental housing market AHC, APAH, want to have a go at the home ownership market, meaning competing with Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae, VA, and conventional financial institution mortgage lenders.
Wait till you see what AHIF does to the condo associations.
This is what we get from one-party government for the past 35 years.
Why only blame the PlutoCrats? Do a Web search on: John Vihstadt Krooth and Altman
Why not just make everyone up to 200% of area median income eligible for 'affordable housing'. Include McMansions as 'affordable'.
Giving more tax dollars to a laundry list of 'affordable housing' organizations is like giving more contributions to a laundry list of 'childhood cancer' charities.
Your quiet residential neighborhood* is Chris Zimmerman's and Erik Gutshall's redevelopment opportunity.
*their own quiet residential neighborhoods are off-limits to Smart Growth
I shudder to think what could happen if CPHD, AHC, APAH, VOICE, and other fat cat housing bureaucracies replete with massive cronyism and conflicts of interest get involved in the single-family and condo housing markets, competing with FHA, FNMA, GNMA, VA, and banks.
Maybe the County Board should seek legal advice from outside legal counsel, like an L. Street law firm that specializes in affordable housing mega-deals.
Thanks for this blog. I visited ArlNow this afternoon and the 'Weekend Discussion' is idiotic, as usual.
Suggestion for County to hire outside legal counsel for future affordable housing mega deals: DC law firm Krooth and Altman. Check them out on the Web.
Stand by for a standing room only meeting on Tuesday.
Thanks for this -- local media are shills for smart growth and their real purpose is to distract us from what's actually important in our lives.
Local media? Like ArlNow?
Can't have Westover being family-friendly when Millennials need another neighborhood to work-workout-party.
What will happen as the result of this meeting? A Blue Ribbon Committee will be appointed by the County Board chaired by Chris Zimmerman of Smart Growth America.
Yes. Committee will recommend that the County retain the services of planning consultants Dover-Kohl to develop a vibrant "form based code" for Washington Blvd. between Clarendon and East Falls Church.
Who or whom is/are sponsoring this meeting?
Erik Gutshall stated during the Chamber of Commerce candidates's forum that he's in favor of Westover4 being completely redeveloped.
So what are the VIPs who may attend this meeting on Tuesday gonna say? They've been inflicting massive urbanization on neighborhood after neighborhood for more than 20 years. New Urbanism has spawned huge planning, housing, transportation bureaucracies that are dedicated to packing as many people and vehicles of all types into about 10 square miles of Arlington. Do you really think the VIPs who attend the meeting are gonna say: "Hey, let's just do a store by store modernization of Westover Village, like what the owner of The Italian Store did and keep Westover family-friendly"? No way.
How about the VIPs declaring Arlington County is built-out and implementing an immediate 50% reduction is the bloated CPHD-DES bureaucracies at 2100 Clarendaon Blvd.?
Meeting was organized by the Arlington Green Party.
New Urbanism is a hammer. Every neighborhood is a nail.
Meeting was organized by John Reeder, Chair of the Arlington Green Party.
Chris Zimmerman and his puppet Erik Gutshall are a couple of pay-to-play skanks who are so deep in the pockets of the developers they are drowning in loose change.
Big turn out expected. Everyone has had enough of Smart Growth.
Then there are the Smart Growth skanks who control the Post, ArlNow, and Inside Nova-Sun Gazette.
ArlNow can kiss my Italian ass since they blacklisted anyone who bemoans the death of the middle class in Arlington. (Also I'm concerned that the Post and ArlNow consider $85,000 "middle class.") I will be sure to post notice of this meeting in my building; there are a couple elderly people and at least a couple of low income families. What will happen to them we bounce to "greener pastures" in the 'burbs? They certainly can't afford to do so. SmartGrowth might have devoured and destroyed most of Arlington, and I'm not even hopeful that old-school Westover can save itself, but they should at least hear from the last family-friendly community in Arlington. Look, my husband and I are 31 years old, we can't wait to buy a home, settle down, and start our family. We wanted to do it in Westover, but Arlington no longer shares our vision and goals. I know it's fun to rail against Millennials on here - and I do so myself, frequently - but most of us are earning between $45,000 and $70,000. It's good money but not great money, especially here. The cost of living is absurd and wages cant compete with inflation. None of us can afford homes. We can barely afford our student loan payments. And yet, we do, and we stay afloat. We want the same things our parents wanted (for the most part), and by virtue of being born between 1981 and 1988, we are borked. I'm sorry. Yes, many Millennials - mostly those Bush babies born after 1990 - love to get their party on between working for the "man" and swiping left on Tindr... but many of us just want to put in our eight hours at the office, have a not-hellish commute home, and spend time with our families in a modest home in a nice neighborhood. We want to pay reasonable taxes and attend PTA meetings and civic association meetings and contribute to the community. We don't need or want McMansions or luxury units on a postage stamp. And there is nothing wrong with wanting easy access to public transit - such as the bus. And we like living in a walkable community. That doesn't make us selfish. Most of us are real live adults now. We don't live in NeverNeverLand. Just think how crushing it is to realize that your kids will probably never a) live better than you; and b) even live as well as you. But we want to have kids anyway because biology is a powerful ting. Most Millennials in Westover are young professionals... we don't rage, we don't party, we don't bar crawl... we love our community, but we can't stay here. Who can afford to? I guess we will be moving out to Fairfax or Loudoun, and taking our education, tax dollars, and good will with us. And I know, Arlington doesn't care, and they don't need us or our selfish "Boomer wannabe" attitudes, because they have lobbyists and realtors and foreign investors to make up for us... But someday, they will run out of 25 year olds who are crazy enough to tolerate three roommates to fill those luxury apartments in the Frathole Corridor from B-R, and they won't be able to find anyone stupid enough to fill them. The rent is too damn high. The bubble will pop in 5 - 10 years. And then all Arlington will have is a gondola to Georgetown and their Clarendon pub crawls. (Also, what happened in Georgetown is eerily prescient... the old guard in Georgetown retreated, and now it's just another chain store hell hole. With one bus route. And a circulator. That's why no one thinks it's cool anymore.) I'm sure none of you here care either, but thanks for letting this 31 year old vent... I'm dreading turning into my mother in the suburbs, but it was going to happen sooner or later, right? It's not so bad, right?
This is occurring in a County that purchases $820,000 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch homes adjacent to parks and tears them down to create vacant lots.
What's appalling is that members of the County Board over the past 15 years (Zimmerman, Tejada, Favola, Ferguson, Fisette) who pushed Smart Growth all live in neighborhoods off-limits to Smart Growth. As do the non-resident Smart Growth developers, attorneys, consultants, etc.
County's so-called "Planning Staff" who work with developers to inflict more Smart Growth on Arlington don't live in Arlington.
Erik Gutshall promotes "missing middle" housing, but lives in a million dollar home in Lyon Park, where 3-bedroom 2-bath homes are being torn down for McMansions. Erik is Chris Zimmerman and Smart Growth America's surrogate. Erik has already promised that Westover will be mix-use redeveloped if he's on the County Board.
Scott Brodbeck who publishes ArlNow pushes Smart Growth but lives in Fairlington. Same as Scott McCaffrey, Editor of the Sun Gazette.
Yes, it's going to get crazier and crazier until the bubble bursts in 5 years.
Then there's Arlington Magazine.
Then there's Chair of the Arlington Green Party John Reeder who rants against New Urbanism but lives in an upscale Leeway-Overlea neighborhood with the County's Limo Liberals and Country Club Republicans.
Next big mess will be a $200 million Convention Center in Potomac Yards, to be vetted after the $40 million Longbridge swimming pools, which will be used by more non-residents than residents, are approved.
Want to find a nice still-affordable neighborhood to move to? Do a White Pages look up the names of County Staff who do the Smart Growth planning and see where in Fairfax County they live.
Watch for Erik to become involved in 'pay to play' regarding house and home related services for VIPs who are looking for approvals from County Government.
Middle Class is being redefined to include anyone who earns 80% to 120% of area median income (as defined by HUD) or $85,000 to $130,000 per year.
When I sign on to MSN and AOL I keep seeing features like: "Best Places for 20-somethings to Live Now". Arlington isn't on the list. Cities like Columbus Ohio are.
Arlington is receiving progressively lower grades for "livability". Cost of living is high and increasing, traffic is a mess and getting worse, weather extremes are becoming more common, public infrastructure upgrades can't keep up with population growth.
What's needed: Stop approving any more Smart Growth. Start approving modernization of existing buildings, e.g., as occurred with The Italian Store in Westover Village.
I would like to know who Erik Gutshall's clients are and how many come before the County Board seeking approval for something.
CPHD, AHC, and other housing organizations had ample opportunity to buy affordable apartment buildings and open space in Westover. They chose not to. Who to blame? Same Yellow Dog Democrats who also refused to build affordable housing in Potomac Yards, Shirlington, and the B-R Corridor 15 years ago.
Then there is Arlington's "intellectual" climate: Revivals of 40 year old Stephen Sondheim musicals at the taxpayer subsidized Signature, 40 Year old episodes of third rate British comedies on PBS, 20 year old episodes of "Car Guys" on NPR.
Agree. Just redefine those eligible for "affordable" housing to include any household with twice the area's annual median income, or about $220,000 / year.
Yes. AHC, APAH, and other housing non-profits could have purchased ALL the old garden apartments in Westover still privately owned but instead engaged in complex and expensive deal making for $300,000 per-unit renovations and $400,000 per unit new construction.
You forgot wild animals in remote wilderness areas being shot and killed by "environmentalists" on the National Geographic Channel and History Channel.
So 'affordable' means affordable to households with incomes of $40,000 to $130,000?
I'm voting for Libby Garvey on June 14th. You should too.
Stop externalizing all your problems. If you can't afford living here than get a higher paying job or leave and live somewhere cheaper. Arlington is a top-10 wealthy county in the country, things will be expensive, its not rocket science. No one cares about your problems.
Another Urban Village Idiot from 2100 Clarendon Blvd., 7th Floor, heard from. Lives in Fairfax County on a classic suburban cul de sac neighborhood, totally off-limits to Smart Growth.
Hotel California and the rest of them are fing PIGS who feed off the middle class.
Smart Growth greedy pigs from the Post, Arl Now, Inside Nova completely ignored the standing room only meeting in Westover yesterday.
ArlNow featured an auto accident in an Alexandria shopping plaza yesterday.
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