I am moving out of this place this coming weekend. It can't come soon enough, really.

Brookdale is terrible. Let's go point-by-point:

Location: While it is conveniently close to 395, forget about public transportation. There is not a very close metro station - the nearest is Van Dorn, a 10 minute drive in good traffic. However, unless you are willing to pay for a parking pass, this does not work for weekday commuting (the parking lot fills up *very* early), and it is quite a trip on the blue line to get into the city (Van Dorn is the 2nd to last stop on the blue). Forget the DASH bus - it is crowded and inconveniently scheduled. Which leaves you with a Metrobus ride to/from the Pentagon. These buses are also quite crowded, esp. in the mornings, and do not run a direct route after 7pm - after 7, the only route available takes you through Shirlington, and if you live in Brookdale, this can add 20-30 minutes to your commute.

Parking: As many other people have noted, parking availability here is atrocious and the regulations are draconian. There is insufficient guest parking, and if you work during the day, forget about getting a temporary guest pass. The office also made the "brilliant" decision to repave all the parking lots over 2 weeks in May, which caused a massive displacement of cars with no place to put them (you'd think they would relax the parking rules for that time period, but no...). Because of the lack of parking, there is a lot of parking along the street, esp. on the "non-dead-end" side of Sanger (heading towards Van Dorn Street), which results in a road that is one lane in each direction when there should be two.

Trash: Dear god. The dumpster nearest our building is constantly overflowing, despite being emptied 2-3 times per week. It's gotten to the point where we time our trash runs so as not to contribute further to the pile of trash bags that inevitably builds up within 24 hours of the last time it was emptied. Environmentally conscious' Sorry, there are no recycling receptacles anywhere on the premises.

Comfort: I consider it a blessing that we have individually controlled heat and a/c. Our apartment tends to get hot and stuffy very quickly, which means we have to leave either the fan or the a/c on pretty much 24/7 through the summer.

Laundry: Facilities suck. 3 tiny washers, 2 dryers, down in the basement that looks like a set from a slasher movie, complete with a hot water heater in a locked cage. You have to time this as well - the best time is Friday night, and even then there is a good chance all the machines will be occupied. Don't even try on the weekends, unless it's very late at night.

Stank: The hallways stink. This is from the unnameable ethnic foods cooked by our buildingmates, who have courteously decided to share the smell with us by leaving their door ajar.

Mail: They had a problem with people stealing mail a couple of months ago. Our mailbox also was broken, and then disappeared for 2 days to be "repaired". I am reluctant to have packages delivered here because the office does not sign for them (and even if they did, I couldn't pick them up until the weekend because of the terrible hours they keep). UPS simply will not deliver if no one is home to sign, which necessitates a trip down to their facility near the Van Dorn metro station.

Noise: Horrible. The walls are quite thin, and you can hear everything - people coughing and hacking, babies crying and screaming, people arguing and screwing. There is a repeated thumping noise from the neighboring apartment and someone in the building plays very loud music at 10 AM on Sundays. The children who live here (and there are *many*) are allowed to run free - we have had to deal with their screaming repeatedly in the hallways. And, as another reviewer mentioned, there is the ice cream truck, which seems to be always around.

Workout/pool: The "facilities" are laughable. I've never been there, but my roommate has - exactly once. The gym is minimal - there are few machines, not very well maintained, the room is in the basement and very stuffy. The pool is a child magnet - the kids are very noisy and rambunctous, making a relaxing afternoon poolside impossible. I refuse to go near the pool, given that the kids play in there; these are the same kids who pull up the grating and crawl around in the storm drains (yes, this actually happened on more than one occasion).

In summary, the only reason for living at Brookdale is if you have just arrived in this country or are just starting out from college and really can't afford anyplace else. However, even in the latter instance, you should scrimp and save - sell your blood or a kidney on the black market - do whatever you have to escape this place as soon as possible.

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