Are Negative Opinions Allowed on this Forum? (Arlington, Reston: house, buy)

[Fern435]

No, apparently negative opinions about noVA are not permitted.

All must declare it to be the perfect place as they move in.

The people really aren't smarter here than other parts of the country. Just more ambitious/aggressive. And there's enormous pressure to conform.

Individuality is far better!

http://www.andreas.de/amelie/pics/amelie_web7.jpg

[Alanboy395]

Originally Posted by Fern435

No, apparently negative opinions about noVA are not permitted.

All must declare it to be the perfect place as they move in.

The people really aren't smarter here than other parts of the country. Just more ambitious/aggressive. And there's enormous pressure to conform.

Individuality is far better!

http://www.andreas.de/amelie/pics/amelie_web7.jpg

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for you ScranBarre, i've been on this forum since 06 and have been one of NoVA's most negative posters. I'm pretty much the longest reigning black sheep on this forum, though lately i've gotten some comptetion. Quite honestly, i dont care if i'm hated just for being myself and being honest. I really feel like i dont fit in Northern VA or this forum. I used to worry about fitting in but now i'm GLAD i dont fit in with these NoVA folks. I think some people have problems with you because you're not afraid to express your non-conformist honest opinion even though you dont live here but have done a lot of research. I think some of these other "adults" posting should be ashamed of themselves for picking on a 20-something guy who has excitement to make NoVA his new home. I have no problem with them picking on me, a 20 year old guy who is excited to make NoVA his FORMER home . But I think you deserve better treatment.

I've been posting on the Louisville forum a lot lately. I find nowhere near the contention in that forum that i do here. I guess it is true these forum can be an actual reflection of the place in question. Even the most critical poster in the Louisville forum has given great unbiased advice for folks relocating to Kentucky.

One thing i've gotten in this forum often is the "if you dont like it leave" response. I'm sorry but if I could i would have left this mess LONG ago. Unless you are trying to provide me with the support to leave, i think you should let me express my opinion with out the leave response.

So negative opinions should be allowed. I'll always have mine whether you want to hear it or not Northern Virginia, get used to it!!!!!!!!!!!

[claremarie]

"The people really aren't smarter here than other parts of the country. Just more ambitious/aggressive. And there's enormous pressure to conform."

The education levels in northern Virginia are among the highest in the country. To the extent that intelligence correlates with college and post-graduate degrees from selective universities (and they do, to a large extent) many people in the area ARE actually smarter than those who live elsewhere. Not necessarily better (or worse), but definitely smarter.

[Alanboy395]

Originally Posted by claremarie

"The people really aren't smarter here than other parts of the country. Just more ambitious/aggressive. And there's enormous pressure to conform."

The education levels in northern Virginia are among the highest in the country. To the extent that intelligence correlates with college and post-graduate degrees from selective universities (and they do, to a large extent) many people in the area ARE actually smarter than those who live elsewhere. Not necessarily better (or worse), but definitely smarter.

Getting degrees doesn't make you smart, just educated. The people here sure dont act as smart as they claim to be.

[claremarie]

Getting degrees doesn't MAKE you smart.
But smart people are far more likely to have advanced degrees, especially from selective universities, than not-so-smart people.

[Huckleberry3911948]

you have been thinking about this some haven't you.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by ChristineVA

As for I-66, I'm sure they would widen if they could. They just so happened to build I-66 right through established communities and then crowded more stuff right up next to it. Poor planning, indeed.

It's not as simple as that, as some have alluded to. The stuff right up next to I-66 was there all along. All of Arlington was already established communities well before the late 1970's. There wasn't any alternative. More than 1,000 parcels of land were ultimately gobbled up and more than 500 buildings were destroyed to build the less than 10 miles of I-66 inside the Beltway. (It's that long only because planners decided to build around instead of through Falls Church.)

The original DOT plan for I-66 was for an 8-lane, at-grade monster with an ivy-covered chain link fence being the only barrier or transition. There was also to be a 6-lane spur (I-266) to fly off at Spout Run, cross the Potomac on a new Three Sisters Bridge, then hook up with the Whitehurst Freeway and proceed eastward via a tunnel to be dug under K Street to hook up with I-395 at 3rd Street, NW. But Arlington had a different plan.

The Arlington plan was for 0-lanes at all. They weren't interested in seeing their community carved up by a gargantuan highway designed to serve not them, but commuters from Fairfax County and beyond. (There are still only three inbound entrances in Arlington and just four outbound.) With some clever legal actions, Arlington tied up the project for many years, but pressure began to build as the result of the separate need for a route for Metro west from Ballston to Vienna.

Eventually, then Transportation Secretary William Coleman rejected an alternate 6-lane plan, and sat down to broker the current deal. That deal provided a 4-lane below-grade highway (jncluding a tunnel under Rosslyn Circle), six miles of Metro in the middle, sound walls and landscaping, bike and pedestrian trails, and (by accident) a new urban wetlands at the Ballston Beaver Pond. No trucks allowed inside the Beltway, and the peak direction must always be HOV during peak hours. Originally, it was HOV-4, but it was quickly changed to HOV-3. Since 1995, it's been HOV-2.

All of the restrictions that are still in effect from that 1977 agreement are federal directives. Arlington cannot undo them. Virginia cannot undo them. Effectively, only the Secretary of Transportation could even begin the process. In any case, with the Coleman Agreement in place, I-66 was finally built as you see it, it opened in December of 1982 at a total cost of $280 million, and the first Metro train to Vienna ran on June 7, 1986.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Fern435

No, apparently negative opinions about noVA are not permitted.

So spill already. You've been here a few years, that's enough time to make a fair impression. What are the negative things you'd like newcomers to know about?

[VEIK]

What is this thread about? LOL

[saganista]

Negative opinions...like poor planning. And maybe some historical background pertinent to those opinions...