My Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I live about six miles from work, but each morning I fight traffic and average a 30 minute commute. At night I cross the exodus from the city and easily spend 30 minutes in furious bumper to bumper traffic. It’s another good 30 minutes after I get home when my blood pressure finally starts to return to normal. Tonight I had to stop by the pharmacy. One frantic clerk worked feverishly to handle two lines – one inside and one in a drive-thru. That wait was, you guessed it, at least 30 minutes.

I live and work in the Washington, DC area. It’s no secret we have some of the worst congestion in the country. Over the past few years, the growth has bubbled way out in all directions. Rolling meadows in Leesburg are now blanketed with “luxury” townhomes and McMansions. My grandfather was an editor and writer at The Washington Star and one of his last printed pieces was in the last edition of the Star when it folded in the early 80’s. I’ve managed to collect a couple copies and often marvel at the final predictions that paper had to offer. The paper spent part of its last edition looking forward at the future of Washington 20 years hence, in the year 2000. One of the most striking predictions to me was that Fairfax, Virginia was likely to grow. (Right on the money.) But the paper went on to insist that Fairfax was well beyond the Washington suburbs and that it would not really be a commuter’s home, perhaps a small satellite town. Anyone who knows Northern Virginia can tell you that now Fairfax is considered a pretty “close in” suburb. It long ago stopped being the “mid-point” of a long-distance commute.

Growth and change, it would seem, are inevitable. But how communities decide to grow and change has an enormous impact on their futures. As the people around me bustle to get to work to fund big houses, clothes and trips, I’m working for the day when I can make my last grueling three to four hour Friday night drive from Washington to my home next to my parents’ house in the Northern Neck.

When you live in the big box world populated with enormous warehouses without anyone to assist you, you start to see the “opportunity” of Wal-Mart in your back yard differently. Yes, Wal-Mart is cheap, and they have lots of stuff. Returning from the Northern Neck last weekend my husband and I stopped at the Wal-Mart in Southern Maryland. Anyone who thinks that Wal-Mart will bring positive things to the community should make a day trip up to St. Mary’s County to see what a Wal-Mart looks like when it’s long in the tooth. This Wal-Mart wasn’t fresh and inviting. It was dirty, unstocked, and unkempt. Its aisles were filled with discarded items, even an unnoticed broken jar of applesauce. As I walked through the store I felt sad to think of this loud, ugly mess marching into such a wonderful community.

Yes, our community needs opportunities. People need good jobs and access to the things that make our lives easier. I, for one, would like somewhere to have a baby in a couple of years. But where will this community be in 20 years? In 2026 will we look back at these papers and marvel at how the community that inspired people to stay here for centuries and come here for those same qualities has been overrun with undesirable things? When I bring my daughter home from whatever far-flung hospital will she grow up and head off in search of greener pastures?

The choice of growth is not black or white, there are infinite shades of grey. Many other retail and business opportunities exist if we are willing to weigh our options.

Sincerely,

Arlington and Mila, VA

Yippee! Snow!

Well, by the time I woke up this morning Andy had already shovelled the walk. We got a decent amount of snow. It's never enough for me. It's also probably not enough to affect work tomorrow :( .

I'll be interested to see when our street gets plowed in the new house. We are right next to a major intersection, but we're also not in the fancy schmancy part of town so I dunno which factor will matter more. Today I'm planning to do some more nesting (we never do a thing with this house) and try to figure out my new photo software. I can't believe it's almost 10:30 though, snow days go WAY to fast for me.

Waiting for SNOW!

Well, we are officially waiting for snow. Andy and I stayed in Arlington this weekend because we're supposed to get serious snow. It's always a though call because if I were going to be stranded somewhere I'd sure rather that it were snuggled up in our river house than stuck in Arlington, but oh well. I have enough gadget stuff to keep me occupied. Actually, we both do.

I am such a guy - my Valentine's wishes (I know, Valentine's Day is for cards, candy and swelling-music diamond moments) were for stuff to go with my new Palm Treo phone. Andy got me a wi-fi card and a memory card and he gave them to me early because he knew I'd want to play with them. When we were at the river a couple weeks ago Andy saw an add for video transfer to DVD. He is obsessed with the 80's, 80's music, and 80's concerts. He has lots of obscure things on tape that (let's all hope) will never be released on DVD. So anyway, I got him a DVD Recorder/VHS combo so he's spending all weekend recording old Ah-ha concerts.

I watched a little of the Olympics opening ceremony last night. I may watch some of it while it's on. Last night was the finale of "Arrested Development". They ran 4 episodes in a row. The show may be over, but we hope not because we're completely obsessed with the show. Hopefully Showtime will pick it up. Never heard of it? Why am I not surprised? No one ever watched this show except us. It was unbelievably funny though.

We're planning to go to dinner Monday for Valentine's Day. (In our old married life it makes sense to have Valentine's Day a day early and not have to go out to dinner with the rest of the free world.) If we really do get a big snow then we might just go another day.

I still totally love it when it snows. What I can't stand is when things refuse to close despite heinous weather. I just want to say, "Trust me, the world can survive without you for a day." Andy just came in and showed me that it's just started to change over to snow. That "essential" thinking is totally crazy in DC. Of course the government can always have "liberal leave" but the rest of us get guilted into going into work.

A month from now we'll be in NYC. We're going up to see "the Odd Couple" with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. It should be a fun weekend. I would like to spend the whole time eating and shopping (and hopefully we'll get to see Uncle Charlie). Unfortunately, Andy has the Lee Ewing-endless-book-store-shopping gene. Andy could spend 4 days straight in the dingiest bookstore on the planet. I always feel like I have so many books I haven't finished that I better not find anything else new. So, that's what's new with us.