Alexandria VA, not typical of the rest of Virginia or Jesusland.... in fact, Arlington County and Alexandria were part of the District of Columbia until maybe twenty years before the Civil War, when that part of Virginia was retroceded back to Virginia. (Both Maryland AND VIRGINIA gave up land ORIGINALLY for the District of Columbia but only the land on the Maryland side is currently DC).
it is a safe harbor from the mighty river of highway, Interstate 95. 395 runs from Washington DC to I-95 at about Springfield where there was a major construction project to more neatly merge 495 (the Beltway around Washington), I-95 (which is also half of 495), and 395, the "Mixing Bowl". It took ten years or more to finish but now we have high altitude ramps (flyover ramps) to help keep things moving.
Arlington County and the city of Alexandria (note that Alexandria is not in a county, Alexandria has counties and cities in between counties) are walkable, low-crime communities. Most of the crime in Alexandria seems to be domestic violence and public drunkeness (it hurts somebody, yes, but probably not the bystander or someone else just trying to walk home). Alexandria and Arlington invest heavily in bicycle and bus transit (bike paths, bus routes, we have at least three bus systems, Arlington Rapid Transit, the DASH bus of Alexandria, and Metrobus which is region wide) and the subway, plus Flexcar-Zipcar hourly car rentals and the daily car rentals (Budget, Avis, Hertz, Enterprise).
The local politics is Democrat, not Republican. My church is Al Gore's old church. There seems to be a lot of support in it for clean energy and not much support for foreign policy.
Home prices are very high and school systems are usually very good because of the Federal employment and other money people make around here, drives prices up, property values are still very high even in this weakened housing market, school funding comes from property taxes, and when SAT scores seem higher where our young people go to school, it is not necessarily because they were born smarter, they were invested in more. College merely takes smart (usually young and ambitious) adults who have already worked hard, works them even harder, and gives them papers to call them educated. And college takes the credit for it?
The Pentagon attracts a lot of defense contractors to the area: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, SAIC, Northrop-Grumman, and the civilian Federal government attracts a lot of other government contractors as well, Booz Allen Hamilton, plus others less well known. The Congress attracts lobbyists so businesses want a presence here too.
Washington DC and vicinity were badly shaken after the 9/11 attacks and by the anthrax letter attacks when the Brentwood post office in Washington DC had to be sealed shut and piped full of toxic gas to kill the spores, and then by the Beltway sniper shootings. What we have learned to do is a few basic things suggested by our leaders: keep two weeks of food and water ready, keep sections of plastic sheets and duct tape handy in the event that an emergency alert orders us to shelter in place and seal doors and windows, keep at least half a tank of gas at all times in case of evacuation, keep basic necessary emergency and medical supplies and important documents for an evacuation, and above all, prepare your best, but do not panic. Washington is on a short list of cities certain dangerous people love to hate: other runners up include New York City, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa...
25 Jul 2008, 5:29 pm
