Caps/Wizards to move to Alexandria (Arlington, Annandale: neighborhoods, best schools, college)

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by DAXhound

The NIMBYs came out in for e to prevent the Redskins from moving to the same site 30 years ago...would have only caused massive traffic 10 times per year, plus nonexistent home playoff games. Now that number will be 75+...lol. I went to see a fight, and a hockey game broke out...but at least the Caps' fans are well heeled.

If NIMBYs had a ton of sway in that particular area though they would have prevented the whole development. 15 years ago there really wasn't much at all between the airport and Alexandria proper and of course even further back it would have all been railroad yards. Now there's a ton of apartment and condo buildings, a Metro stop and so forth. I mean anyone who's moved into that area in the last decade would have known that they're in for an urban experience not suburban tranquility.

[Flamingo13]

If I wanted to live in an urban area I would have moved to one. Sadly, the mayor and city council (who don't listen to anyone) - want to make it urban and chase the big-bucks developers. So sad.

[DAXhound]

Wasn't some of it a toxic dump, or even a Superfund Site?

[NorthAmerica_US]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

Many residents of DC proper, in particular newer transplants, have this inferiority complex they project on Arlington, Alexandria and Bethesda because they have this incessant need to prove they live somewhere even remotely similar in urbanity to places like Chicago or NYC (of which DC is nowhere close). They love to talk about the benefits of 'urban living' compared to Northern Virginia or suburban Maryland from their homes in places like Kent or the Palisades or AU Park or Tenleytown or Barnaby Woods, etc. I've been here for almost 20 years now, lived in N. Arlington along with Glover Park and Bloomingdale and it has always cracked me up. The plans for Potomac Yard redevelopment look literally like those of Navy Yard or Poplar Point from five to ten years ago.

I’m sure it’s people from DC projecting. I think that might be your own echo of projection.

(Also didn’t realize NoVa had less transplants than DC…)


We’re not talking about Crystal City or Pentagon City or Old Town or even the area around Ashburn’s metro station… it’s Potomac Yards…maybe in the future it might be more urban like Crystal City but right now… it’s anywhere America strip mall (which DC too has such areas like around the Costco. If that lowers your sensitivity in calling Potomac Yards in its current form with the current buildings Under Construction suburban).And likewise, I dont think anyone considers the Palisades or such to be anymore urban than most of Northern Virginia. This must be some internet thing where you see this & not real life.


To bring this to a more rationale discussion, a challenge in the stadium is going to be the infrastructure. Unlike Navy Yard, Potomac Yards seems to have weaker accessibility than Navy Yard. DC has 395 / 695 wrapping around it, South Capitol that connects to 295 and the metro has two entrances. Obviously where the current stadium is, it has plenty of infrastructure and capacity to deal with that influx.

Potomac Yards has US 1 & Glebe & Metro has only one exit/entrance. I think that’s key here & literally the reason why I’m not so sure this is a done deal in addition for enough time for a lot of mounting opposition to pile up. How do Virginians outside of Northern Virginia feel about the state giving a boat load of money to Alexandria?

I like Alexandria, including Potomac Yards, “National Landing”, Arlington, etc as urban areas. The better they are just means more places to enjoy in the region.

I just wouldn’t be surprised to see this deal killed in Richmond and heavy opposition to send millions or billions to Alexandria for a stadium, infrastructure improvements including to Metro. They either need to destroy a lot of stuff to massively expand the roads and Metro or that area will be a parking lot of traffic.

And to avoid hurt feelings and reduce tension and to put it to bed, I’ll say the folllwing:
NYC & Chicago are more Urban than DC
DC has suburban areas
DC is full of transplants that look down on NoVa
DC has just as suburban parts as NoVa over large parts of the District
Potomac Yards is poised to be an Urban Center with or without the stadium.

[ersatz]

Originally Posted by DAXhound

Wasn't some of it a toxic dump, or even a Superfund Site?

Yes. The old Richmond/Fredericksburg/Potomac Railyard near the intersection of Rt 1 and Hume - the north end of the current Potomac Yards area.

[ecko_complex24]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

No not really at all. I just think it is hilarious when people in DC act like it is some huge urban mecca and want to look down on Arlington and Alexandria like they are two hours outside of town. I say this as someone who has lived in DC proper and also NYC. It's quite comical. The reality is (and many DC residents will say this) Gallery Place/ Chinatown has become a dump. People can try to sugarcoat it all they want but the truth hurts. I also don't pretend i am in a huge urban environment nor do I look down on Fairfax and Loudoun.

DC isn’t a huge urban Mecca. DC developed differently than other cities in the Northeast. DC never had large industrial production and never saw the immigrant booms that other cities saw in the 19th and 20th centuries. The immigrant populations here largely lived in the suburbs outstripping the immigrant populations in the city post 1965 time.

I grew up in Arlington, the amount of people there who looked down on Fairfax and other surrounding counties was hilarious. They would act like Fairfax and anywhere further was the boonies. A lot of transplants have similar attitudes when it comes to this as well.

[NorthAmerica_US]

Originally Posted by ecko_complex24

DC isn’t a huge urban Mecca. DC developed differently than other cities in the Northeast. DC never had large industrial production and never saw the immigrant booms that other cities saw in the 19th and 20th centuries. The immigrant populations here largely lived in the suburbs outstripping the immigrant populations in the city post 1965 time.

I grew up in Arlington, the amount of people there who looked down on Fairfax and other surrounding counties was hilarious. They would act like Fairfax and anywhere further was the boonies. A lot of transplants have similar attitudes when it comes to this as well.

For every person in DC “looking down on Fairfax,” you don’t think someone in Fairfax is looking down on DC? Particularly about Carjackings, Crime, riots, lawlessness, decriminalizing fare evasion, etc. Nobody in Fairfax looks down on PG County?


Lots of paranoia, haha. I don’t think anyone looks down on Fairfax. What do they say? It has the best schools in the country?

[NOVA_guy]

Originally Posted by NorthAmerica_US

For every person in DC “looking down on Fairfax,” you don’t think someone in Fairfax is looking down on DC? Particularly about Carjackings, Crime, riots, lawlessness, decriminalizing fare evasion, etc. Nobody in Fairfax looks down on PG County?

Typically in American culture there’s a reason why the word suburbanite has been used as a pejorative. I’m sure people in Fairfax “look down” on DC but it doesn’t really resonate the same due to the structural power cities hold and have always held since the beginning of time.

Suburbs aren’t known for their history, vibrancy, charm or character, people usually go to cities for that and I say this as someone who thinks FFX is a terrific place to live and a great place to raise a family.

[DAXhound]

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/l...3498140/?amp=1

Jim Moran.....sheesh.

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by NOVA_guy

Typically in American culture there’s a reason why the word suburbanite has been used as a pejorative. I’m sure people in Fairfax “look down” on DC but it doesn’t really resonate the same due to the structural power cities hold and have always held since the beginning of time.

Suburbs aren’t known for their history, vibrancy, charm or character, people usually go to cities for that and I say this as someone who thinks FFX is a terrific place to live and a great place to raise a family.

I don't think the word 'suburbanite' has typically been used as a pejorative. I think it's been used as such in the neo-urbanist narrative of the last 20-25 years driven to some extent by the Gen Xers and millennials who were raised in safe and yet 'boring' suburbs, took their advantages for granted while grating against their downsides, and who were introduced to the idea of city living via curated gentrification concepts backed up by aggressive policing.



I remember when people talked about 'urban' as code for crime-ridden, dangerous, filthy and by and large unappealing. And as anyone who's spent any longer period of time in a city knows - a city can be all that and parts of any city will be exactly that.



One thing is certain: there's always going to be a hierarchy of areas. There's tier 1,2,3 and so forth neighborhoods in suburbs and cities alike. A tier 1 urban neighborhood might be seen as the 'pinnacle' of prestige in some cities, but in others a tier 1 suburban neighborhood might be seen as superior.


In the D.C. metro area I'd say that tier 1 urban neighborhoods like Georgetown and Palisades are seen as superior to tier 1 suburban neighborhoods, which however are usually seen as superior to tier 2 and below urban neighborhoods. However it bears pointing out that those tier 1 urban neighborhoods are by and large characterized by a quasi-suburban structure. (This is of course the 'dirty secret' of U.S. cities, a large majority of territory in most cities is dominated by residential and commercial development which would look entirely suitable for suburbia, I mean heck you go to Chicago and you're a dozen blocks out of the CBD and you may as well be on Long Island).