suggestions for where to live? (bike commuting to the hill and family friendly area)

[baiskeli]

@rcannon100 98364 wrote:

Trying not to enter this discussion

Too late!

– but, well at least from my vantage point – there were. I had some discussions with Dem leadership. They wanted her hide. They were furious. And they were going to do everything they could to get at her. Given the last two elections, I suggested that instead of vilifying Garvey, maybe they should name her as Chair of the party. That led to an explosion.

What I meant is that any such threats were empty, and anyone who made them knew it. The party leadership doesn’t choose who their candidates for office are, the voters in the primary or caucus do. Anyone can run, and if they win, that’s that. If Libby Garvey wins the next primary, she will be on the ballot again as a D, and no other party leader can do a thing about it. It will be interesting to see what voters think of all this, but the voters are the ones who will choose.

I will admit, I only was talking to a few of the Arl Dem Leadership – but they would have put her on a long boat with a short paddle if they could have.

“If they could have” is the operative phrase.

But let’s be clear here – it’s one thing to vote differently than your colleagues in the same party. That’s normal. It’s another to openly support a candidate running against your own party’s candidate, especially when you are in the leadership of your own party. THAT is why they were mad, and that’s quite understandable. The anger was about her campaigning for Vihstadt, not just voting against streetcars. That’s why she was indeed drummed out of the leadership of the party. But that’s different. And it made sense. She should have left on her own accord while openly supporting an opponent.

[rcannon100]

The party leadership doesn’t choose who their candidates for office are,

But dont tell them that. They try to run the party like a machine – and believe only loyalists can be valid candidates. * And it is in fact really hard to be a candidate unless you have risen up through the party and have lots of party endorsements. Even Garvey paid her dues and spend many (successful) years on the School Board. An outsider is not going to come in and say “hi I am a candidate.” They pretty much wont even get out of the gate.

* And this is how pretty much all the parties work. That’s why there are parties. Because it institutionalizes political power and clout.

[baiskeli]

@rcannon100 98375 wrote:

But dont tell them that. They try to run the party like a machine

Sure, but they can’t actually do that, and they know it, and everyone else knows it.

And it is in fact really hard to be a candidate unless you have risen up through the party and have lots of party endorsements. An outsider is not going to come in and say “hi I am a candidate.” They pretty much wont even get out of the gate.

What does “out of the gate” mean though? Does it mean they can’t get on the ballot? No. It means they have little chance of winning without the support of party activists whose endorsements mean something to voters and who can organize volunteers to reach voters. That doesn’t change the fact that the voters decide who the party’s nominees are. It means the voters rely on the party to help them choose. That’s still their choice.

Of course the voters are going to reject some random guy who comes in and says “Hi, you don’t know me but I want to be your party’s candidate!” That’s to be expected. But they are the ones making that choice. If Democratic voters were sick of all their own leaders and candidates and wanted new ones, they could vote for new ones. There’s nothing stopping them, and nothing stopping a candidate from running.

[sjclaeys]

Continuing the divergence of this thread. Arlington (both the government and school board) is similar to Singapore or Hong Kong. Overall, it provides very good government services, which I appreciate. However, the lack of political diversity or tolerance sometimes results in a lack of accountability and significant decisions made either without public input or contrary to public input.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@sjclaeys 98440 wrote:

Continuing the divergence of this thread. Arlington (both the government and school board) is similar to Singapore or Hong Kong. Overall, it provides very good government services, which I appreciate. However, the lack of political diversity or tolerance sometimes results in a lack of accountability and significant decisions made either without public input or contrary to public input.

Plus there’s all that caning that the Arlington and Singapore pols are into.

[baiskeli]

@sjclaeys 98440 wrote:

Continuing the divergence of this thread. Arlington (both the government and school board) is similar to Singapore or Hong Kong. Overall, it provides very good government services, which I appreciate. However, the lack of political diversity or tolerance sometimes results in a lack of accountability and significant decisions made either without public input or contrary to public input.

Unlike Singapore or Hong Kong, the people of Arlington have a right to elect their representatives, which is the ultimate public input. For instance, tomorrow.

[sjclaeys]

@baiskeli 98602 wrote:

Unlike Singapore or Hong Kong, the people of Arlington have a right to elect their representatives, which is the ultimate public input. For instance, tomorrow.

Actually, the citizens of Singapore and Hong Kong participate in regular elections to elect their representatives.

[baiskeli]

@sjclaeys 98630 wrote:

Actually, the citizens of Singapore and Hong Kong participate in regular elections to elect their representatives.

Okay, I shouldn’t have put it that way. Singapore and Hong Kong have decidedly less political freedom than Arlington.

[sjclaeys]

@baiskeli 98633 wrote:

Okay, I shouldn’t have put it that way. Singapore and Hong Kong have decidedly less political freedom than Arlington.

Whether or not that is the case for Arlington is the point of my original post.

[mstone]

Over the top rhetoric much? Or has someone started jailing the political opposition in arlco when I wasn’t looking?

Political freedom doesn’t mean you get your way, only that you have the opportunity to publicly try to convince people to give you what you want even if the government doesn’t like the idea.

[Randyp]

@rose_surfer 97890 wrote:

Hello!

I’m likely moving to the area in a couple of months and trying to decide where to live. I’ll be working near union station, and I’d like biking to be my primary commuting method, with metro and/or driving as a backup. I expect to be working pretty long hours so commute time is important so that i can actually see my kids every day.

We have two smaller children, so a good public elementary school district is a must (can’t afford private). We can spend up to around $3k/mo. for rent, perhaps a bit more, although less would be better. Prefer single family or town homes, but an apartment isn’t out of the question. And family oriented community amenities like public pools, etc., are certainly a bonus.

Any suggestions of where we should be looking to live? So far, I’ve been checking out N. Arlington/East Falls Church (a little expensive), Alexandria (looks like some of the public elementary schools) are hit and miss, Bethesda, and silver spring.

I grew up in virginia and have family there so we’re leaning towards arlington. But I also know very little about maryland so I don’t want to rule it out, especially with the red line being more convenient to union station.

I suppose it’s not surprising that in the ARLINGTON Bike Forum there’s six pages of replies and no comment yet on Silver Spring. So here goes:
Silver Spring is a vagueish designation, so I’ll narrow it down a bit. I’ve lived in Silver Spring – on both sides of Georgia Ave just north of the Betlway – for a while now. I commute to work on Capitol Hill, mostly by bike (about 50 minutes) on the Met Branch Trail, and sometimes by Metro (about 60 minutes, but would be closer to 35 minutes if I biked to and from the stations at each end).

The Red Line – at least this section of it – is not as bad as the previous posters have said (or perhaps not as bad as the western section). It’s pretty reliable, and is a nice option (to biking) when it gets really cold or really wet.

Rental prices north of the Beltway are in the $2k – $3k range, depending on size, newness, and location. Check Zillow and Craigslist for houses in the 20895 and 20902 Zip Codes. I wouldn’t go farther out than the Wheaton Metro Station, because I consider more than an hour too long for a daily bike commute.

There are good elementary schools with magnet programs in the Silver Spring area. My child attended the French Immersion program at Sligo Creek Elementary School (near “downtown” Silver Spring – the intersection of Georgia Ave & Colesville Rd). It was like attending a private school: an entirely separate group of students, from generally well-educated families, together from kindergarten through 5th grade. Entrance to the program is by lottery though, so it’s luck of the draw. I don’t know about the regular classes at that school. Like northern Virginia, southern Montgomery County is full of upper-echelon government employees and contractors who are anxious for their kids to get a great education – this can lead to neuroses about the quality of the schools (schools that would be tops in many other places are considered inadequate). I speak as one who occasionally succumbs to this neurosis – even the worse schools in this area are probably better than the ones I attended as a child.

The area also has lots of small parks and several large ones; we practically lived in the parks when our child was very young. Also good inexpensive restaurants, good libraries, a variety of stores. There are several community pools that are open in the summer, as well as public pools open year-round.

Silver Spring inside the Beltway, on down to Takoma Park, is certainly worth considering. Going further south toward Capitol Hill (along the Red Line) into DC you get to Brookland, which some have also recommended. That area has become much more attractive in the past couple of years. The same is true of downtown Silver Spring, and Wheaton is starting to be redeveloped now, with lots of new apartments around the metro station.

You might also ask about southern Montgomery County schools and housing at http://www.city-data.com/forum/washington-dc-suburbs-maryland/,

Good luck.

[Tim Kelley]

@Randyp 98678 wrote:

I suppose it’s not surprising that in the ARLINGTON Bike Forum there’s six pages of replies and no comment yet on Silver Spring..

FYI–this is the Washington Area Bike Forum (http://www.WashingtonAreaBikeForum.com is the link we give out). The history is that it was originally started by BikeArlington and then WABA, GoDCGo and Alexandria all jumped on board as well in the following years. It just happens that it was originally set up with the BikeArlingtonForum.com link and we just pointed the newly named URL to that. (It’s a fair trade since BikeArlington covers all the costs of running it, as well as the administrative time needed to manage it)

[sjclaeys]

@mstone 98673 wrote:

Over the top rhetoric much? Or has someone started jailing the political opposition in arlco when I wasn’t looking?

Political freedom doesn’t mean you get your way, only that you have the opportunity to publicly try to convince people to give you what you want even if the government doesn’t like the idea.

Bingo!

[baiskeli]

@sjclaeys 98672 wrote:

Whether or not that is the case for Arlington is the point of my original post.

Arlingtonians have the full right to elect their county board in free and fair elections, full rights to participate in the election process, to speak, write, publish, march, protest, etc. They can come to public meetings of the board and speak their minds. They can join any number of public boards or speak their minds at their hearings. The idea that Arlingtonians are in any way oppressed is silly.

The only argument I can see for improving Arlington’s representation of opinion is creating a ward system instead of electing the board members all at large.

[lordofthemark]

@mstone 98673 wrote:

Over the top rhetoric much? Or has someone started jailing the political opposition in arlco when I wasn’t looking?

Political freedom doesn’t mean you get your way, only that you have the opportunity to publicly try to convince people to give you what you want even if the government doesn’t like the idea.

Hong Kong, Singapore and Arlington all have contested elections. Hong Kong, IIUC, has a strong role for a body selected by less than the whole population that vetts election outcomes, and limits complete democracy. Singapore does not.

Singapore is in theory, IIUC, a complete democracy. In fact it has had the same ruling party since independence almost 50 years ago. Some people hold that this just shows they do a good job, and people are happy with it. Some consider it a sign of a political culture of deference, and of the govt dominating the political discourse (though they do have a free press) that is inconsistent with a fully democratic political culture. IIRC Freedom House, which ranks countries on political rights, always took points off for “one party dominant” countries that had only had one political party winning since independence (way back in the 1970s that included India and Israel, but both had opposition victories shortly after that – IIUC Singapore still has not)

Arlington’s period of Democratic (large D) dominance has been shorter than Singapore’s period of one party dominance – and one of the Dems on the Arlco Bd is clearly “in opposition” despite being a D – and there has been an independent (formerly a Republican) on the Board since the Spring. So Arlco is not as much one party dominant as Singapore, but I can see the point of the parallel.

[Author]

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