Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Northern Virginia
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Closed Thread Start New Thread
 
Old 02-04-2010, 10:39 PM
 
3,164 posts, read 6,936,508 times
Reputation: 1279

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alanboy395 View Post
I would except better from someone who is a former police officer, even from Fairfax County.
You would expect something that was less accurate? Why?

 
Old 02-04-2010, 10:41 PM
 
3,164 posts, read 6,936,508 times
Reputation: 1279
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yankeesfan View Post
There's nothing wrong with what anyone says about NoVA, pro or con. It's in how some of them they say it. Some people like to post their opinions in a way that is designed to provoke others. And despite their supposedly shocked protestations after the fact, they know exactly what they're doing while they're posting. So the problem, if there really is a problem, lies with the debaters, not the fact that there is debate.
More well deserved rep points for you!
 
Old 02-04-2010, 10:51 PM
 
3,164 posts, read 6,936,508 times
Reputation: 1279
Quote:
Originally Posted by Badger21 View Post
Scranbarre and friends,

You and I moved from different parts of the USA to NOVA around the same time and have had two totally different experiences. This area has some problems with it, no doubt (you and I both agree that reston parkway and n. shore need more streetlights!). But you act like "woe is me" when you call out the general population as being self important and over-privileged and then get on your soapbox when people attack your perspective with similar insults you just flung at them. It's the epitome of hypocrisy.
Here! Here! You hit the nail on the head. He criticizes us left and right and then whines when anyone calls him on it. It gets OLD.
 
Old 02-05-2010, 12:23 AM
 
509 posts, read 972,485 times
Reputation: 279
Quote:
Originally Posted by Denton56 View Post
Here! Here! You hit the nail on the head. He criticizes us left and right and then whines when anyone calls him on it. It gets OLD.
It seems to me and a lot of posters, that there is a double standard/hypocrisy there. I have to agree that I've observed the same thing.

That is why this isn't a "people don't like people who are anti-Nova and post negative things about it" issue, quite frankly.

And, this thread seems to me - it will just harden people's opinions based on what has been written. When many posters say the same thing and try to point out the real problems, and once again their comments are ridiculed, no progress is going to be made here in getting to the root issue that it is not the fact that people can't post negative things about Nova. It is about HOW they post those negative sentiments. if they say them nicely and back them up with facts, and not resort to hyperbole and finding one piece of annecdotal data and then trying to paint all of Nova with one broad brush with it - those posts are usually well received.

Kind of like constructive criticism and non-constructive criticism. Also to use derogatory sounding terms like "geezers", "posers", etc. just inflames people and adds no good value to the conversation. There are other negative/not-nice terms used, but you get the point. The area isn't quite so full of "self-absorbed career-obsessed people" as some of the posts have made it sound. In one thread very negative things were said about SAIC employees, which were shocking coming from someone who is supposed to be an objective unbiased auditor. Those kind of posts aren't well received either.

I'm sure this post of mine won't be well received, but these things needed to be said, and only were by me and others based on what was said in the first post of this thread. I don't think this thread even with its very first post - does anything but harden people's feelings about this whole issue.
 
Old 02-05-2010, 01:16 AM
 
3,164 posts, read 6,936,508 times
Reputation: 1279
Quote:
Originally Posted by ngadude View Post
it seems to me and a lot of posters, that there is a double standard/hypocrisy there. I have to agree that i've observed the same thing.

That is why this isn't a "people don't like people who are anti-nova and post negative things about it" issue, quite frankly.

And, this thread seems to me - it will just harden people's opinions based on what has been written. When many posters say the same thing and try to point out the real problems, and once again their comments are ridiculed, no progress is going to be made here in getting to the root issue that it is not the fact that people can't post negative things about nova. It is about how they post those negative sentiments. If they say them nicely and back them up with facts, and not resort to hyperbole and finding one piece of annecdotal data and then trying to paint all of nova with one broad brush with it - those posts are usually well received.

Kind of like constructive criticism and non-constructive criticism. Also to use derogatory sounding terms like "geezers", "posers", etc. Just inflames people and adds no good value to the conversation. There are other negative/not-nice terms used, but you get the point. The area isn't quite so full of "self-absorbed career-obsessed people" as some of the posts have made it sound. In one thread very negative things were said about saic employees, which were shocking coming from someone who is supposed to be an objective unbiased auditor. Those kind of posts aren't well received either.

I'm sure this post of mine won't be well received, but these things needed to be said, and only were by me and others based on what was said in the first post of this thread. I don't think this thread even with its very first post - does anything but harden people's feelings about this whole issue.
great post!!! Thank you!!!!
 
Old 02-05-2010, 05:38 AM
k8p
 
141 posts, read 394,115 times
Reputation: 75
Scran, I've moved 4 times in the last 5 years due to my husband being in the military. Some of the places have been fabulous, others not, but I sure as heck don't sit and complain about them non-stop. It is just not a healthy way to live. Find the good in life and run with it. Even my 4 year old who got uprooted from San Diego to live in NOVA has found good things. It can be done.
 
Old 02-05-2010, 07:06 AM
 
2,908 posts, read 3,864,760 times
Reputation: 3166
Have you ever considered joining the Peace Corps?


Quote:
Originally Posted by ScranBarre View Post
DISCLAIMER: This thread is NOT intended to bait anyone into personal attacks. This thread is designed to serve as a useful outlet for us to finally channel our energy into a constructive discussion as to what role, if any, people who dislike Northern Virginia should have on this sub-forum. I'd ask that moderators please closely watch this thread as it progresses and step in as necessary. Thank you.

Well, I just got done reading d-fen's ill-fated thread chastising the region for its poor snow removal that devolved into pettiness about the very noticeable divide between the "Debbie Downers" vs. the "sunshine and puppies" cliques on this sub-forum, and I thought it would be most appropriate to start a new thread to provoke thought and discussion about this issue. There are apparently now about five of us in total who have legitimate reasons as to why we're unhappy here. One of these individuals is leaving this year for Kentucky. Another will likely be moving to New Mexico once her job assignment is complete. I will eventually be leaving once I can scrape enough nickels together to move and find an opening within my agency in a city more to my liking---hopefully Pittsburgh. Presumably the other two have already investigated relocation as well. The vast majority of everyone else on this sub-forum is relatively content or even euphoric about living here, and whenever one of us opens our mouths with any shred of criticism not only do people counter us, as they should to defend the turf they've grown to love, but the "fangs" also come out with a lot of nasty personal commentary that's really unnecessary and just detracts from an otherwise healthy debate. I hope we can start to work out our differences in this thread.

Here's my personal take on Northern Virginia. Is it for me? No. However, I've still proven myself as being very helpful and, save for a few dramatic moments when I was in one of my ultra-"downer" moods (which I'll blame on my depression) I feel as if I've been more of an asset to this forum than a detriment with my assessments of different areas, my photo tours (with more on the way in the Spring), etc. I just typed up a very lengthy reply in another thread to boost Reston, even though I personally have been turned off by the level of NIMBYism and classism here. My take on NoVA is no, it's not for me, but that doesn't mean I have the right to attempt to look down upon those who do feel comfortable here.

My main beef with this area has always been and will always be the poor long-range urban planning over the past 30 years to present that has put us in the dire infrastructural mess we're in today. We have tons of cul-de-sacs leading to narrow roads in subdivisions that lead to two-lane "feeder roads" that pour into a network of four-lane roads dominated by unsynchronized traffic lights and lined with unattractive low-density commercial sprawl that links those residential areas to Interstates. A rough grid-shaped network and/or more alternative roads and more mass transit would have been much more prudent to have developed years ago before the region swelled to be nearing three million people. Communities should have been planned around a central core with walkable residential areas around it (see Brambleton as a newer example or any "old world" example like Winchester or Old Town Alexandria). Instead we plop down seas of tract-housing and throw in a "fake" downtown (i.e. Dulles Town Center, Reston Town Center, etc.) thinking everything will be honky-dory as everyone drives there. People outside the Beltway are forced to drive nearly everywhere for nearly everything. If I wanted to get to Dulles Town Center to shop at H&M without driving, how could I do it? To get to Old Town Alexandria without my car I'd have to walk to the Reston Town Center transit station, take a bus to the West Falls Church Metrorail station, take the train to Rosslyn, transfer from the Orange Line to what I think is the Blue Line (Yellow Line?), and then walk down King Street---probably about 90 minutes each way vs. driving there in under 40 minutes. The "you can't get there from here" issue is one that WILL haunt NoVA in the long-term, as I've even heard credible rumors that a few major employers in McLean are considering a move to Maryland because of the congestion.

What do I get for expressing my viewpoints on the above issue? I get slammed. Why do I get slammed? My own personal belief is that if more and more people start second-guessing their decisions to move to NoVA before they come here based upon observations by people such as myself, then the market of prospective home-buyers will decrease, diminishing property values (which will put more people here who bought into the "bubble" upside-down and lead to higher tax rates to offset the lower values). I'm sorry, but I'm not sugar-coating the way I truly feel about certain issues just for the sake of boosting a housing market that is still too expensive for the middle-class. If people on this forum had been more forthcoming and telling about the issues I dislike about NoVA before I came here (poor infrastructure, poor long-range urban planning, unattainable housing values, heavy presence of people who need to "keep up with the Jones's", etc.), then I never would have come, and I would have probably never been at the point of nearly taking my own life last weekend out of severe depression.

Yes, there are those who will say people will still move here no matter what because there's jobs here, but guess what? I'm the poster child to stand on a pedestal and proclaim that it is a very foolish reason to move to an area just because of work---a fulfilling job will more than likely NOT overcome serious drawbacks in an area, and if your job happens to be rather unfulfilling, then you'll just end up extremely bitter and grasping at straws to find reasons to enjoy living in the region.

In closing please discuss below what "right", if any, those of us who don't think NoVA is "sunshine and puppies" have to post here. How can we phrase things differently to stop the personal attacks against us? There are a few people on this sub-forum I now strongly dislike for some snide and snarky remarks they've made against myself and other detractors from the region time after time. You don't see me thinking people are nuts for loving it here, so why think I'm a bad person because I don't see the benefits outweighing the drawbacks?
 
Old 02-05-2010, 07:36 AM
 
Location: Ashburn, VA
577 posts, read 2,056,342 times
Reputation: 301
My issue is that Scranbarre, you seem to spend an awful lot of time on this message board complaining about stuff. You have every right to express your opinions but I get tired of seeing so many complaining posts from you. Maybe you don't think you're complaining but it seems that way to me. It's fine to vent your frustrations here once in a while but all your posts seem to be questioning other people's happiness here or discussing your unhappiness. Maybe other people respond negatively because they're tired of reading your negative posts. Me, I just generally skip over them.

Please find a way to be happy in your (temporary) home of NoVa. And I mean that seriously and with kindness. You're going to make yourself miserable.
 
Old 02-05-2010, 07:48 AM
 
Location: In the woods
3,315 posts, read 10,071,765 times
Reputation: 1525
Quote:
Originally Posted by ngadude View Post
It seems to me and a lot of posters, that there is a double standard/hypocrisy there. I have to agree that I've observed the same thing.

That is why this isn't a "people don't like people who are anti-Nova and post negative things about it" issue, quite frankly.

And, this thread seems to me - it will just harden people's opinions based on what has been written. . . .

Kind of like constructive criticism and non-constructive criticism. . . .Those kind of posts aren't well received either.

I'm sure this post of mine won't be well received, but these things needed to be said, and only were by me and others based on what was said in the first post of this thread. I don't think this thread even with its very first post - does anything but harden people's feelings about this whole issue.
Good post .. . you've summarized what many others have said and thought.
 
Old 02-05-2010, 07:50 AM
 
Location: In the woods
3,315 posts, read 10,071,765 times
Reputation: 1525
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashburnite View Post
Please find a way to be happy in your (temporary) home of NoVa. And I mean that seriously and with kindness. You're going to make yourself miserable.
I like the use of "home" in this post. For newcomers, I think it's a struggle to think of NoVA as a home. I used to be that way. But there's also that old saying,"Home is Where You Hang Your Hat."
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Closed Thread


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Northern Virginia

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:19 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top