Talk:Arlington, Massachusetts

Kelly O.Brien notable?

On Jan 2, 2005 a user named CWellian added to the Notable Persons list one "Kelly O'Brien", with no indication of why she (I assume) was notable other than that she was a "notable lawyer". In fact, a web search shows that Kelli O'Brien is most notable for having defaulted on a student loan and contested it in court (http://www.mayitpleasethecourt.com/journal.asp?blogID=900). I do not think this qualifies. In fact, it's not even clear that Kelli O'Brien lives or practices in Arlington, MA. (Is there a way to report this kind of thing other than this?) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Djlewis (talk • contribs) 01:00, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

Header Centering problem

The Geography heading appears centered. I could not get it to be left-justified. Does this only happen in my browser perhaps? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.136.192.1 (talk) 16:37, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

meaning of "Menotomy" not lost

The entry now says that the meaning of "Menotomy" has been lost, but many sources list it as meaning "place of swift running water" (presummably referring to what is now called the mill stream). Within the History, I could not find the reason that this meaning was taken out of the entry. ...Also, with this piece gone (correctly or not) most of what is in the NAME section seems miscategorized. (e.g., why talk about the mills in the NAME section...unless the swift-moving water that powered the mills is relevent to a historical name of the area. Without Menotomy meaning swift water, most of what is in the NAME section should be in the HISTORY section, right? -David Uhland — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.136.192.1 (talk) 16:55, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

I concur --belg4mit 18.124.2.224 16:06, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

It is also true that both banks of the Mystic River up to the Mystic Lake was considered part of Charlestown by the early colonists. I hope someone will do research about this. In the earliest maps of Arlington/Menotomy, Park Street (not Park Ave.) reaches to the banks of the Mystic, but there may have been other land claims or ownership in Charlestown records. Cuvtixo 00:48, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

The Mystic River was also originally a rare "Tidal" river, which flowed either into the Mystic Lakes or out to Boston Harbor depending on the tide. Early on, the river was altered by dams (and mill wheels) to flow out from the lakes. So the "swiftly moving water" is likely to refer to the Mystic, not Mill Brook. Cuvtixo 00:48, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Merger from Yes For Arlington

I proposed a merger on May 16, 2006. Seeing no objections, I performed the merger. Accurizer 23:40, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes for Arlington

I have tentatively removed this section, since I really do not see why it exists. This is surely a remarkably minor political event in the life of such an old city. Why on earth does it get equal billing with the following remaining sections?

• 1 Geography
• 2 Name
• 3 History
• 4 Demographics
• 5 Government
• 6 Trivia
• 7 Sister cities
• 8 Arlington residents of note
• 9 External links

If someone really believes that this 2005 referendum is so important, well, revert it. But frankly I sure do not see it. Phiwum 00:43, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Virtual Suck Tour of Arlington, Massachusetts

If the name of the site is "The Virtual Suck Tour of Arlington, Massachusetts", then why not use that title when linking to it in the external links? Neitherday 01:04, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I am sorry for reverting your edit. It looked a bit too much like vandalism and I didn't bother to check. (I had noticed that your previous edit was perfectly sensible, so I was surprised by the apparent vandalism.) Thanks for the information. Phiwum 13:50, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I suspected that's what happened. I wanted to make sure it was discussed here so that it wasn't confused as vandalism again by someone else. Neitherday 14:58, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Notable residents

The notable residents list has gotten extremely long and is in need of being trimmed. Before I do any trimming, I think it would be wise to get a consensus on what names are the most important to be retained in a much shortened list. Neitherday 21:54, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

I would ONLY trim people, who do not meet Wikipedia's criteria for notability.
If they have a Wikipedia article, they meet the criteria. Lentower 22:40, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Instead, I suggest you split the Notable Residents off into a list article List of Notable Residents from Arlington, MA. This is usually what happens when a list in an article gets overly long. Lentower 22:40, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

There is no equivalent list of residents for Cambridge or Boston. If there is such a list for any city at all, I am unaware of it. Neitherday 01:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

One example is Category:People_from_Queens. Do I need to find more? Lentower 02:39, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I stand corrected. How about we move this list to a catagory and and put the catagory in the "See Also" section of the article? Neitherday 17:24, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

WP:NOT#DIR: Wikipedia is not "Lists or repositories of loosely associated topics such as quotations, aphorisms, or persons". While the people may be notable individually, but the sprawling list of Arlington residents is not. Neitherday 01:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

The size of the list is notable, as it indicates that Arlington is that much more notable due to having so many notbale people among it's residents past and present. Lentower 02:39, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't think there's a need for either moving or trimming; the people are all rather notable and the article is not overly long. Badagnani 17:29, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

In terms of vertical scroll, it is the largest section in the article. Neitherday 17:35, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Images and Bullet Points

I didn't notice the problem the left align image caused until Hertz1888's edit summery "moving image to bring back bullet points". Firefox displays the bullet points correctly even when the image is left aligned, so the summery confused me. However, after reading Hertz1888's edit summery, I opened the page in Internet Explorer and saw that Internet Explorer does "eat" the bullet points next to left aligned images. Non-staggered images and right alignment seem necessary in this case.

I'm addressing this on the talk page to make other Firefox aware that the alignment of the images is due to the strange problem Internet Explorer has with left alinged images and bullet points. Neitherday 16:15, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

private school

aren't Lesley Ellis school, Germaine Lawrence, Dearborn Academy, and International School of Boston all private schools located within the boundaries of Arlington. If so, should they not be added under the "private school" heading

209.6.167.31 01:41, 23 September 2007 (UTC) Chris

The Jason Russell House

"The Jason Russell House, a blue colonial, is today a museum which remembers those twelve Americans, including Russell himself, who were killed in and around this pictured dwelling on April 19, 1775. Bullet holes are visible in the interior walls to this day."
um the pictures show a yellow colonial, is there a source for the blue claim? 155.42.19.181 (talk) 14:56, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Neighborhoods

Neighborhood names are redirecting here, so a list of neighborhoods is needed. Arlington Center and Arlington Heights are implied by the article, but there may be others. -- Beland (talk) 23:38, 3 June 2013 (UTC)