As long as you're at it, what about Arlington's transportation mess? Who's to blame? Start with the last three Democrats appointed to the WMATA Board -- Chris Zimmerman, Mary Hynes, and Christian Dorsey. More than a decade of "Don't Worry. Be Happy" while Metrorail went from terrible to horrible. Continuous massive construction in Metrorail corridors, but Metrorail was never designed to operate in a high density urban environment. It's a two-track system. Consequently, Metrorail is a bottomless money pit.
So what would Erik Gutshall do about it? Same as he's done on the Planning Commission -- more density, more unaffordable housing via AHIF gifts to developers and non-profits. Erik will also make a fortune building apartments that are actually affordable...in single family homes and townhomes, will defer to County Staff who won't live in Arlington no matter how much they are paid, keep raising taxes to pay for his and the other PlutoCrats' Smart Growth addiction, and gridlock the County with a more car, more bicycle, more pedestrian diet. Look at what a mess Erik and the Planning Commission made of Rosslyn. No one was happy except the developers who received corporate welfare from Smart Growth addicts like Erik. Same is occurring in Ballston.
Bottom line -- we can't afford any more Democrats on the County Board.
Ken, 22205
34 comments:
Has anyone been on Washington Blvd between Glebe Road and East Falls Church at rush hours? And that's without I-66 being toll and without Erik making over every other McMansion in the Wilson Blvd. - Washington Blvd. - Lee Highway corridor into an apartment building.
Every week something else goes wrong at Metrorail. Why are we giving them any more tax revenue in the hope that things will someday, somehow, improve?
Erik Gutshall is just like the reat. He will use tax dollars for patronage to his pet Democrats and for Smart Growth giveaways to pet non-profits and for-profits.
All made possible by the greedy skanks who own the local media.
Arlington County's recently-selected Minister of Smart Growth Propaganda lives on Washington Blvd. in Westover. If she doesn't care if Westover becomes a gridlocked mess do you think she will care about what happens to your neighborhood?
Greedy skanks? Internet Explorer blocks my Windows 10 laptop from accessing the Inside Nova news blog - too much spam.
How many more over-55 VIP Dems who made the County the mess it is are gonna retire, like Jay. to an enclave that's banned Smart Growth?
What has Christian Dorsey actually accomplished while he's been on the WMATA Board?
I agree that Erik will be C.Z. on steroids when it comes to promoting Smart Growth.
Where did the County's previous Minister of Smart Growth Propaganda, Diana Sun, retire to?
It would be worse, much worse, with Erik Gutshall on the County Board. He has 3 children attending APS and, like all the other APS Soccer Parents, no amount of money APS can spend on schools, school activities, and school sports is too much.
Anyone know where in N.C. former VIP Community Leader Jim Pebley retired to?
We could have a great circulator bus-van system today if the Dems hadn't wasted so much time and money on streetcars and gondolas.
I am keeping close track of home sale prices in my residential neighborhood which is adjacent to mixed-use residential-commercial. If the neighborhood is infilled to the extent the Smart Growth addicts want, with massive up-zoning, there is no way anyone will pay a premium price to live near a zoo. At that point I and my neighbors will have cause for a class action lawsuit against County Government.
There is no reason why double-deck buses can't be in service on the Pike. Clearance of the Wash. Blvd / Pike underpass is more than 17 feet.
How do Erik Gutshall's $12 per hour employees transport themselves to Arlington?
Where has Mr. Smart Growth aka Chris Zimnmerman retired to?
He lives in Douglas Park.
I find myself in the unaccustomed position of defending Chris Zimmerman. And Mary Hynes and Christian Dorsey. Actually not so unaccustomed to defending Christian Dorsey, I am a Christian Dorsey fan.
Mr Zimmerman has put a fair amount of effort into trying to rehabilitate his reputation, after Metro deteriorated so badly while he was on the Metro Board - see the two articles available at:
https://www.arlnow.com/2015/10/19/zimmerman-metro-breakdowns-were-foreseeable/ and
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metro-sank-into-crisis-despite-decades-of-warnings/2016/04/24/1c4db91c-0736-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html?utm_term=.0cfadf1e11e8. And I am convinced that he, and Mary Hynes after him, were lonely voices in the wilderness on the Metro Board trying to convince the others that maintenance was urgent. The rest of them largely ignored Mr Zimmerman - by the time Mrs Hynes was on the Board things were breaking down and impossible to ignore, and she was on the side of doing the work to fix it, as has been Christian Dorsey. During the Zimmerman period, the Board as a whole was having fun building extensions of the lines, and things kept working, and Board members are generally people for whom it is a nice addition to other political responsibilities rather than their central occupation, so they ate the seed corn. So they ignored him. He maybe could have made more noise about the slow-moving disaster the rest of the Metro Board was creating, but on balance I think he (and Mrs Hynes, and now Christian Dorsey) have tried to do the right thing.
Mr Zimmerman’s, and Mrs Hynes’, big transportation failure was their Ahab-like determination to put a trolley onto Columbia Pike. This was not going to be a transportation improvement: it was going to run in traffic on the congested road, was going to provide very little additional capacity beyond what could be provided by improved buses (which could and should, as has been noted here at Yupette, include double deckers). It was pure developer bait, and in my view would not have succeeded even at that as potential renters would have discovered how little increased utility the trolley provided.
I expect that Mr. Gutshall will be elected, and that Christian Dorsey will remain the Board’s representative to the Metro Board. So the way to judge Mr. Gutshall on transportation issues will be most importantly on whether he works creatively to improve transit on the Pike.Dave Schutz
More Yellow Dog Democrat Skank Ward Heeler PR propaganda. Every week another life-threatening incident on Metrorial, ranging from derailments to 120 degrees in Metrorail stations because the AC has been broken for years. That's in 2017. If Hynes and Zimmerman though things were so bad they should have resigned from WMATA's Board.
Erik Gutshall is going to make a fortune converting basements to workforce / student apartments for everyone who earns between $0 and $50,000 / year and who wants to live in Arlington.
Chris Zimmerman is seldom seen in Douglas Park and is rumored to be living in Farfromsmartgrowth, NC
Thirty five years of these Democrat pieces of s*** and their lies. ENOUGH !!! Zimmerman, Hynes, and Dorsey should be charged with either manslaughter or criminal negligence based on their incompetence on the WMATA Board.
Then there's the unsafe $90 million gondola that the yellow dog Dems are lying about.
No reason why state-of-the-art hybrid double deck buses can't be on the Pike except the Yellow Dog Skanks who control everything, with invaluable assistance from the local media, want a gondola in Rosslyn instead.
Double deck buses are everywhere in the area of DC that borders Virginia.
Erik Gutshall has ruined Ballston with over-development while he's been on the Planning Commission and he will ruin every single-family home neighborhood in Arlington with accessory apartments if we are foolish enough to elect him to the County Board.
Erik Gutshall was a Lyon Park civic association VIP for years. Result? Streets that needed repaving 10 years ago and third world street lighting.
More pub crawls in Clarendon. Can you believe this s***?
Take your yellow dog doo-doo back to ArlNow, Dave.
Erik Gutshall and the other Zimmy clones are out to make Arlington into Disney World on the Potomac.
When Zimmerman was on the WMATA Board he was no different than the rest in deferring critical maintenance and upgrades in favor of flashy gadgets like displays on the trains. The trackbeds under the trains were crumbling.
We've been controlled by a 1-party machine for 35 years. What can you expect?
Who is Charles McCullough and why does he want to run for County Board?
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