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Morning Notes

by ARLnow.com | March 8, 2013 at 9:00 am | 1,564 views | 66 Comments

Spring Forward This Weekend — Daylight Saving Time starts this weekend. Clocks should “spring forward” one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday. [Yahoo]

Condo Residents Still Oppose Homeless Shelter – Arlington County has failed to allay the fears of Woodbury Heights Condominium residents, who still oppose the opening of a new year-round homeless shelter on their block in Courthouse. A vocal group of residents spoke out at an Arlington Planning Commission meeting last night. [Patch]

Fiorina to Participate in AED Event — Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has just been added to a panel discussion of “empathy in business,” organized by Arlington Economic Development and George Mason University. The event is taking place from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 at Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd). [Arlington Economic Development]

Flickr pool photo by Sunday Money

Geoff

Those Woodbury Residents are probably afraid that the homeless dudes are gonna hook up with there wives while they are at work. Calm down, let the homeless live with the general public, it’s going to be very nice
- G Clifford Prout
  
  Homeless shelters should be in South Arlington and not in upscale North Arlington.
  - Jeff
    
    Clifford the Cuckold is nervous.
    - ArlingtonWay
      
      Gotta love Arlington. Kill yourself to put together three or four hundred thousand or more for a condo in nice neighborhood. A bunch of politicians put you underwater for life by putting a homeless shelter on your block. And, not only are you upside down for a decade or two, you have to listen to snotty comments on ArlNow about how you are some kind of selfish monster because you think the shelter should be somewhere else. Hey, it’s the Arlington Way.
      - novasteve
        
        Feel good moments uber alles. Once it’s built find out how the county is treating the “residents” there for voting purposes.
      - Sell it already
        
        Any condo owner concerned with value should’ve jettisoned that property as soon as it became apparent that ARLCo was going to go through with it. Sure you’d loose money in agent and closing fees to do an “even swap” with another property in the area, but I think it would pale in comparison to the loss in value once that shelter gets up and running.
      - novasteve
        
        I’m thinking the board thinks it will gain more voters from the shelter than it will alienate from neighbors.
      - drax
        
        You think alot of whacky things.
      - drax
        
        Yes, the homeless are well-known as a politically powerful force that many politicians have pandered to in order to win elections. Sure, steve.
      - novasteve
        
        Every vote counts when you buy votes to preserve your rule.
      - kalashnikev
        
        Yes, because once they “fix” the addresses of a good chunk of the DC Bum population in Arlington, they can start getting 94.8% of the vote instead of 86.4%…
      - drax
        
        Kev and steve actually believe this stuff. They really believe that the Board members think, and think they need to, get more votes out of the homeless population than they will lose in the rest of the population by building this shelter. They actually believe that.
      - Homer J. Simpson
        
        “It’s funny because it’s true!”
      - jackson
        
        They don’t NEED more votes, Steve. the republican candidates do.
      - kalashnikev
        
        The fight is not over yet.
      - kalashnikev
        
        Worse yet- imagine stacking your money over years in hopes of one day making the move to a nicer neighborhood, all the while paying a portion of a Poor Person’s “affordable housing” rent *and* room-and-board for a Bum to live in that very same location!
      - Jake
        
        It’s a city. By purchasing a condo, you don’t have a right to control the whole town – just what happens inside the 650 sq. ft your purchased.
      - novasteve
        
        It’s a nuisance. If they moved a funeral home nextdoor they would have a legal cause of action for nuisance. You don’t think having a bunch of mentally ill people there year round could possibly act as a nuisance or even worse?
      - Bill
        
        You don’t understand zoning or nuisance laws.
      - G Clifford Prout
        
        Ouch! Zingggg
      - ArlingtonWay
        
        Totally agree. I just think it’s hilarious that people here seem shocked and outraged that people who spend approaching a half a million bucks on housing have an expectation that they won’t have a homeless shelter built next door. How dare they!? I mean, why would they think South Arlington is a better location for such a thing? Other than it being cheaper to build, and closer to the homeless and the social services they rely on, that is. Rhetorical question: how much money do you have to spend in Arlington on housing in order to feel confident that your family will not be living next to a shelter for homeless mentally ill people and substance abusers? $700,000? $1.2 million? Or is there no amount? I’m honestly interested.
      - drax
        
        “Underwater for life” Exaggerate much?
        
        They already live next to the jail.
      - Rory
        
        Those condos are worth much more now. Or, they are until the Homeless shelter opens.
      - speonjosh
        
        Cry me a river, fella. No one said life was fair.
      - kalashnikev
        
        It’s less fair when your government acts against the health, safety, and prosperity of the citizens, and seems more focused on vanity projects than inherently governmental functions. Should we not do anything about it?
      - snarl
        
        were you not aware when you moved to Arlington County what its priorities were? It has traditionally been on the “progressive” side of the conservative/progressive continum
      - snarl
        
        continuUm
      - kalashnikev
        
        It won’t be for long. The corruption is just too out in the open. People are starting to open their eyes.
  - soarlslacker
    
    No room in SoArl with the Art Bus Depot, Metro Bus Depot and lots, Waste Water Treatment Center (PooPoo Factory), and the coming Trolley mess!
Merged with Compaq?

Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has just been added to a panel discussion of “empathy in business”

If only she emphasized with HP shareholders, who witnessed the company’s value sliced in half under her leadership.
- Southie
  
  half if better than nothing. She should get credit for saving them.
  - Not the Titanic
    
    Thanks for the perspective, Captain Hazelwood
    - Duncan
      
      You’ve been waiting 20 years to use that line I bet.
      - Babe Ruth batted under .400
        
        Sometimes you gotta reach deep and clean out the closet. Every joke can’t be a fresh grandslam, but you still gotta step up to the plate and swing.
Earl

Kudos the the Woodbury condo folks for keeping the pressure on Arlington. The county relies on steamrolling things through and waiting until the opposition dies down. Keep making an example out of the county for not heeding citizen’s input.
- kalashnikev
  
  Besides just the Woodbury group there are also many other residents of the immediate area who strongly oppose this shelter and the risk it presents to the health, safety, and prosperity of the community. This is a big NO GO.
- Bill
  
  Citizens are the ones asking the county to find a safe place to offer shelters for the homeless. It’s a very small group who are opposing it, for selfish reasons. They have a right to be heard, of course, but you comment implies that the County is somehow ignoring its citizens by not heeding a very small subset of the citizenry concerned with the issue.
  - kalashnikev
    
    False. There are *many* opposed besides just the Woodbury residents- basically everyone who owns property nearby or cares for their safety.
    - speonjosh
      
      Now the kevinator speaks for “everyone who owns property nearby or cares for their safety.” That’s rich.
      - kalashnikev
        
        Just those with any common sense or morality, I suppose…
      - drax
        
        Now look, Kev is unilaterally claiming to have all the morality and common sense.
        
        Morality? Don’t even try that one.
    - Bill
      
      alshnikev assumes everyone is as selfish and fearful as he is, which is as sad as it is wrong.
      - kalashnikev
        
        Feel free to devalue your property by a six figure sum… or have someone you love assaulted in the supermarket by a sexbum. I’m going way out on a limb and assuming you don’t live anywhere near the area in question… am I correct?
      - JoshInBallston
        
        I live in Ballston and am adamantly opposed to this shelter. Far too much is being spent on it versus an equivalent place in a less expensive area. Plus, I don’t really see the value in taxpayers spending on non-taxpayers at a time when services for taxpayers are being cut.
  - Not so fast
    
    You make it sound like all or most of ARL citizens are asking for a homeless shelter whereas only a handful are fighting it. Who’s actually actively petitioning the county for this shelter? Is anyone? If they are, I’m willing to guess it’s fewer than those in opposition as I’ve yet to talk to a single Courthouse resident who isn’t concerned about the impacts. Most area already frustrated and concerned about the homeless population that hang out by the Metro and don’t want to see that population multiplied. The condo owners aren’t the only ones opposed by a long shot. They’re just the loudest as they’ve got the most to loose.
- speonjosh
  
  How many citizens does it take to hold this up? If ten people were opposed, should the county nix it? Twenty? Fifty? Versus how many who are not opposed?
novasteve

Maybe more guys like the guy who makes fists at people when he’s not yelling at them walking down Barton street will arrive! Yay!
- kalashnikev
  
  That would be the “Muay Thai Bum of Rosslyn.”
  - novasteve
    
    I have only seen Muay Thai once, but I don’t think they pick up every piece of the trash on the ground then throw it back down before they makes fists at people.
- Lauren
  
  Celebration, Florida sounds like the ideal community for you, Steve.
  - drax
    
    Except steve is well on his way to becoming the guy who yells on the street.
    - kalashnikev
      
      I’m actually on the verge of yelling in the streets myself…
      - drax
        
        Yes, there are many people with mental issues yelling in the street.
    - perdestrian
      
      Does he already have the cane?
    - novasteve
      
      I know, very funny. But just a question for you guys. Given I know people who have been assaulted/stabbed by homeless people even if minor, if it were a metallic object and you just got cut, would you go to the ER? If so, what would make you to go to the ER over just being cut by a homeless person? Just talking a scratch here.
      - drax
        
        I know people who have been assaulted by people who have homes too.
        
        I know people who have been assaulted by people who live in the same home they do, in fact.
        
        You of all people should understand the basic principle of not judging people for crimes they haven’t committed, and not judging them based on what group they are a member of. Enough already.
kalashnikev

**’* **** *** * *** *****-**!!!1!
- Hank
  
  Wow, that actually made more sense than 98% of your rants.
  - novasteve
    
    Having a view I think doesn’t belong in arlington equal a rant! we are so tolerant that no other views should be allowed here!
    - drax
      
      No, steve, ranting nonsense equals a rant.
      
      Criticizing you is not the same thing as not being tolerant of you, steve.
  - kalashnikev
    
    Somebody got it…
JoseR

With all the money that Arlington County spends on so-called Affordable Housing, why does it need to approve a homeless shelter in Courthouse? Let DC residence get there own government to pay for the homeless. In the pasted couple of months, Courthouse has dealing with a rash of vandalism and harassment of individuals near the metro. Please don’t add to the problem.
Inspector gadget

The condo residents they paid big $$$ to live where they do and most people in that position have zero real-world experience with people who are desperately poor and need help. I can sympathize with their fear of the unknown, but everything is going to be OK. No one’s condo is going to become worthless; they’ll just have to look a little harder to find less bigoted people than they are to sell it to.
- ArlingtonWay
  
  ^^^^ If you are looking for a textbook example of a patronizing Arlington do-gooder who is more than happy to play social engineer in someone else’s neighborhood even while he insults those who are affected, here’s a really good example. Seriously, you should consider running for county board. You already have the contempt for those who disagree with you thing down. People who don’t want to live next to a year round shelter= bigots, right? Totally. How dare they?
Hi Riser

There’s been a shelter at Courthouse for many years and has been no big deal for anyone except for those it helped. The new one is close to the police station and will be even less of a problem.
- ArlingtonWay
  
  The existing shelter is an emergency winter shelter. This is a larger year round shelter situated on a Metro line which is a handful of stops from Washington DC. If you don’t think it is going to be a magnet for homeless people from outside Arlington, or think you are making an apples to apples comparison, I think you are mistaken.

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