Arlington County has announced the recipients of its 21st annual James B. Hunter Human Rights Award, an honor given each year to individuals, community groups, non-profit organizations and businesses that promote diversity and equal rights in the county.

This year, three individuals and three community groups were honored and a new category for the award was established: educators. A ceremony to honor the award winners will take place on Thursday, December 12 from 7-9 p.m. in the Bozman Government Center (2100 Clarendon Blvd).

Among the winners are former Arlington County Board member Walter Tejada and civil rights activist Joan Trumpauer Mulholland.

Tejada served on the County Board from 2003 to 2015. Following his retirement from the Board, he was appointed to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors by former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

During his time on the Board, Tejada served as an “unapologetic progressive” and an advocate for diversity, affordable housing, and Latino issues.

“He was instrumental in establishing the Office of the Public Defender, the Arlington Non-Profit Assistance Center, and the Community Volunteer Network,” the county said in a press release.

Mulholland, a local civil rights activist, took part in sit-ins and demonstrations that took place around Arlington from June 9-23, 1960. Throughout the decade, she also participated in the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery March, among others. After protesting in Mississippi in 1961, she was jailed and housed on death row for nearly three months.

“The James B. Hunter Award recognizes those in our community who champion the rights of underrepresented people,” said County Board Chair Christian Dorsey in a press release. “My colleagues and I are grateful to the Human Rights Commission for honoring these individuals and organizations, who have worked tirelessly to ensure Arlington is safe and welcoming for everyone.”

Find the full press release is below, after the jump:

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VDOT Awards I-66 Contracts — VDOT has awarded $61.3 million in contracts to build tolling infrastructure on I-66 inside the Beltway. “The work is expected to begin by late summer with all construction completed no later than mid October 2017.” [WTOP]

Stop Arm Camera Enforcement Resuming — After having to pause enforcement and seek a legislative fix in order to issue tickets to violators, Arlington’s school bus stop arm enforcement program will resume July 1. Drivers who drive by a stop sign on a school bus will face an automatic $250 fine. [Arlington County, Arlington Public Schools]

Clinton Opening Arlington Office — Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is reportedly opening a new office at 6035 Wilson Blvd, in the Dominion Hills shopping center. That’s the same shopping center in which American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell was shot and killed in 1967. [Patch]

Local Latino Leaders Talk Trump — At a press conference on Columbia Pike yesterday, former County Board member Walter Tejada said presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may regret his rhetoric on immigration come November. “In a tight election, the Latino community can decide who wins,” Tejada said. “To Mr. Trump, we want to declare a message that hate will not win.” [Washington Post]

Hernick Calls on Trump to Tone Down Muslim Remarks — Republican congressional candidate Charles Hernick, who’s challenging incumbent Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), wants Donald Trump to tone down his “divisive rhetoric” on Muslims, saying it “won’t help us unite with peace-loving Muslims against our common enemy.” He continued: “We need to stand together against hatred, violence and terrorism.” [InsideNova]

Local Startup Expanding — Fast-growing Arlington-based startup ByteCubed, a government tech consulting firm, is expanding with a new office in Crystal City for its now 150 employees. [Technical.ly DC]

Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and former Arlington County Board member Walter Tejada will be among those speaking at an Arlington press conference on “Donald Trump’s Year of Hate” tomorrow.

The press conference is being held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Atlacatl Restaurant (4701 Columbia Pike).

Machado, who won the pageant in 1996 as a contestant from Venezuela, became a U.S. citizen in May, prompting a congratulatory tweet from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Machado is an avowed opponent of Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, accusing him calling her “Miss Piggy” after she gained 50 pounds within months of winning the crown.

The press conference is being organized by advocacy groups People For the American Way and CASA in Virginia. From a press advisory:

On Wednesday, former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta will join People For the American Way (PFAW) to mark the one year anniversary of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and launch PFAW’s new campaign, ‘Donald Trump’s Year of Hate.’

Since June 16th of last year, when he infamously described Mexican immigrants as “rapists” at his campaign launch, Trump has only increased his attacks against immigrants and Latinos. Starting on Thursday, new Spanish-language ads from PFAW will run for four weeks, highlighting Donald Trump’s campaign of hate thus far.

The press conference on Wednesday, co-hosted by CASA in Action (Virginia), will include more details on the ad launch. At the event, Alicia Machado, former Miss Universe winner, will share her story about why she’s becoming a citizen to vote against Donald Trump. She will discuss her personal interactions with Donald Trump, including how he derogatorily referred to her as “Miss Housekeeping” and “Miss Piggy.” Dolores Huerta, civil rights leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez, is president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, and is a board member of PFAW, will discuss the importance of the Latino vote and speak out against the hate Donald Trump has displayed over the last year. Virginia leader and former elected official J. Walter Tejada will focus on the Latino vote in Virginia, and leaders from PFAW and CASA in Action will speak about their stand against Trump’s bigotry.

Walter Tejada, who retired last year from the Arlington County Board, is joining another governing body.

Tejada is joining the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors, MWAA announced this afternoon. Tejada was appointed to the position by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D).

From an MWAA press release:

William E. Sudow and J. Walter Tejada have been appointed to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors.

Sudow has over 30 years of experience representing clients in complex financial and commercial real estate transactions. He is a partner at the law firm Sudow Kohlhagen LLP and also serves as the chief compliance officer for Madison Marquette, an integrated real estate investment and operating fund focused on infill retail and mixed-use real estate. Prior to entering private practice, Sudow served as special assistant and counsel to the House Majority Whip, U.S. Congressman John Brademas.

He is a Trustee of the Federal City Council, a member of the National China Garden Foundation Board and the McLean Revitalization Board, a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association, and a past member of the board of directors of the Union Station Redevelopment Corporation.

Tejada served on the Arlington County Board from 2003 to 2015, serving as chairman in 2008 and 2011 and as vice chairman in 2007, 2011 and 2015. A community advocate, Tejada has distinguished himself as a leader committed to enhancing the diversity of Arlington and the region’s community voice. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Public Defender for Arlington & the City of Falls Church, the Arlington Non-Profit Assistance Center and the Community Volunteer Network.

Tejada was the first chairman of the Virginia Latino Advisory Commission, a member of the Governor’s Urban Policy Task Force and the Immigrant Rights Coalition of Greater Washington, and is currently the president of the Virginia Latino Leaders Council. He is a recipient of the Spirit of the Community Award from the Arlington Community Foundation, Outstanding Young Arlingtonian of the Year from the Arlington Jaycees, the Phyllis Campbell Newsome Public Policy Leadership Award from the Center for Non-Profit Advancement (twice, including 2015) and the 2011 Immigrant Advocate of the Year Award from the Capital Area Immigrant Rights Coalition.

Sudow and Tejada are appointees of the Governor of Virginia.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, the Dulles Airport Access Highway and the Dulles Toll Road and also manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail public transit system through Fairfax County and into Loudoun County, Virginia. More than 44 million passengers a year pass through the two airports. The Airports Authority generates more than 387,000 jobs in the National Capital Region.

The two and a half acre of land where the Reevesland farmhouse sits was divided into two parcels — one which will contain the farmhouse and one that will become a public park.

The County Board’s decision allows the county to preserve the view of the farmhouse while still being able to sell it to a private party, Chair Mary Hynes said. The county also approved a permit to make the farmhouse a “unified residential development,” which makes it easier to sell, possibly as a single-family home.

Under the decision, the county manager cannot divide the land until directed by the Board, which extends the time for the county to hear proposals and decide what exactly to do with the farmhouse. The entire two and a half acre property will remain a local historic district, preventing major changes.

“The creation of a separate lot that includes the farmhouse would enable the County to market the house for sale to a private buyer willing to restore and maintain it,’ the county said in a press release. “The newly created lot is meant to give a potential owner privacy and the flexibility to expand the house with oversight by the county’s Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board.”

Board member Walter Tejada was the only vote against the division of the property. He also voted against the sale of the Reevesland farmhouse in May.

Tejada made a motion to include a direction to the county manager that the land could not be divided until a path to the “historic milk shed,” which would sit on the piece of land made into a park, was made compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. County staff said it might not be possible to have an ADA compliant path within the three years, and the motion failed.

The Board voted to sell the Reevesland farmhouse property after deciding it could not put up the $2-2.5 million it would cost to renovate the building for public use. In order to keep the building as county property, Arlington would have to rebuild parts of the farmhouse to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and modern safety codes, including strengthening the floors and updating the buildings utilities, Board Chair Mary Hynes said at a June board meeting.

Board member Jay Fisette voted against selling the parcel in May, saying he wanted more time to find a solution for the farmhouse.

“I will say that was primarily because I wanted more time to explore a nonprofit partnership that would allow continued public use. I have always been attracted to that idea and continue to be at that time,” Fisette said. “The proposal that we’re about to do today allows for that additional time, in fact, by not recording this subdivision plat until a later date.”

Separating the farmhouse and potentially allowing it to become a private residence allows the County Board to have a fall back plan, Hynes said.

“Here is this really unique [farmhouse], and we need to find a way to preserve that,” she said. “The view shed, the experience of seeing this farmhouse on the hill, to me, is the most important thing.”

Several citizens and neighbors spoke about their disapproval of the Board’s previous vote to sell the historic property, during the public comment portion of the Board meeting. They protested that the decision was too quickly made, and that before the land can be subdivided, the Board should return to that issue.  

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The County Board has given the green light to hiring a new independent auditor, but not before some internal bickering.

The Board approved the recruitment of the auditor with a vote of 4-1 during its recessed meeting Tuesday.

The new independent auditor will work with a new Board-appointed audit committee to review county programs for effectiveness and efficiency, according to the County Board’s charge.

The push for the auditor was led by Board members John Vihstadt and Libby Garvey, with support from Jay Fisette, who is a former auditor himself.

“I don’t think anyone in the community should be afraid of an auditor,” Fisette said. “I’m not a scary guy and auditors typically aren’t if you set it up properly.”

Board Vice Chair Walter Tejada fought against the charge, saying that the push for an auditor indicates a distrust in government. Tejada specifically called out Vihstadt before he was cut off by Board Chair Mary Hynes.

“Madame Chair, I think that I don’t drink the Kool Aid that has been put out there in the community to create, to allege a culture of distrust of government, which is well know as we know by the Republican party to question and to allege mismanagement,” Tejada said.

“So I submit to you, from my perspective, I respectfully think this is a proposal for an expansion of the bureaucracy, it is redundant, it is not needed, it is again to foster a distrust of government and part of the new era in Arlington,” Tejada said. “A timid and stagnant era of distrust.”

Tejada questioned the need for an auditor when the county has received triple triple A bond ratings for the past 14 years.

“I guess I start first with what problem are we trying to solve?” he said.

The County has designated $200,000 for the creation of the new position in its 2016 budget. The new auditor will report directly to the County Board. An existing auditing function within the Dept. of Management and Finance reports to the County Manager.

Vihstadt said that while the county’s bond rating remains high, certain large projects, like Artisphere and the stalled Long Bridge Park aquatics center, could use extra review.

“The fact is this county auditor is intended to strengthen and buttress confidence in county government, not undermine it,” Vihstadt said.

(Updated at 8:15 a.m.) Almost half of Arlington’s elected officials will have retired or resigned by Jan. 1, 2016, starting with Chris Zimmerman’s retirement from the Arlington County Board in February 2014.

At the same time, the leadership of the county’s staff is having a major changing of the guard, losing four department heads since last March, not including the impending retirement of County Manager Barbara Donnellan, effective June 30.

“The only constant in life is change,” County Board member Jay Fisette told ARLnow.com yesterday. In January of next year, Fisette and Libby Garvey will be the only Board members to have begun to serve before April 2014.

The list of leaders who have left or are leaving county government reads like a who’s who of Arlington agenda-setters in recent memory:

Rep. Jim Moran, Del. Bob Brink, Board members Zimmerman, Mary Hynes and Walter Tejada, Del. Rob Krupicka, School Board members Sally Baird, Noah Simon and Abby Raphael, Treasurer Frank O’Leary, Donnellan, Community Planning, Housing and Development Director Bob Brosnan, Arlington County Police Chief Doug Scott, Department of Human Services Director Susanne Eisner and the late Terry Holzheimer, Arlington Economic Development Director, who died last year of a heart attack.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever seen so much change at once,” said Eric Dobson, a former Planning Commission chairman and Arlington native who serves as the Northern Virginia government liaison with the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

While the staff turnover is staggering — five of the county’s 14 department directors will be replaced — many county officials say the transitions will be seamless. Deputy County Manager Mark Schwartz, who will become interim county manager on July 1, said that’s partly because of Donnellan’s forward thinking.

“I think we have great bench strength,” the Boston native and avid Red Sox fan said. “Barbara has always talked about succession planning. You need to have that security. At the same time, I think it’s a good thing that an organization renews itself.”

Donnellan’s departure will have lasting effects, colleagues said. Many offered effusive praise of her work over the past 31 years, particularly her five years as county manager.

“She will be sorely missed,” said Kevin Shooshan, chairman of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and vice president of Shooshan Company, a Ballston-based real estate firm. “Everyone in Arlington County was a fan of Barbara Donnellan. People underestimate what that job entails, which is running that entire billion-dollar organization. It’s a big job and a big budget, and she’s done a great job for several years. Everyone’s going to be very sad to see her go.”

Confidence does not abound, however, regarding the future of the Arlington County Board. Hynes and Tejada represent a combined two decades of Board experience, and when the dust settles in November’s election, the future of Arlington could look different.

“That is a far more significant issue than the administrative staff, which has a deep pool,” Fisette said. “Three people set the direction for the Board. The community’s vision can be changed in subtle and harsh ways.”

Five Democrats have announced their candidacy for the two open seats — Peter Fallon, Christian Dorsey, School Board Chair James Lander, Katie Cristol and Andrew Schneider — and one independent, longtime Arlington Green candidate Audrey Clement. No Republicans have declared, nor has any candidate like John Vihstadt announced his or her intention to run.

Still, Vihstadt’s election and resounding re-election last year is fresh in the minds of many in Arlington politics. No one seems to know who — if anyone — will try to emulate Vihstadt’s combination of fiscal conservatism and progressive stances on social issues. Some Democrats running are championing platforms of change, but few have offered specifics of how they would operate any different from Hynes or Tejada. Read More

When Arlington County Board member Walter Tejada retires at the end of his term this year, he hopes his replacement represents the same “progressive values” he worked toward in 12 years on the dais.

Tejada is the last member of the County Board who still defends the now-canceled Columbia Pike streetcar “unapologetically and unequivocally.” He has been one of the more vocal supporters of adding affordable housing and providing immigrants safe haven in the county.

“I will never apologize for these efforts,” he told the Arlington County Democratic Committee Wednesday night.

Tejada touted Democratic accomplishments during a 14-minute-long speech, including the county’s triple-AAA bond rating, its low crime and unemployment rates and a host of recognitions as a great place to live. He challenged the criticism that the County Board has ruled with a “groupthink” mentality; he said it’s been a good thing for the county.

“The group-thinking mentality that was created got us to be one of the best communities in the United States,” he said. “And yes, we have some genuine challenges to confront ahead. Yet, some of our problems are first-world problems to tackle. Are we victims of our own success?”

Among Arlington’s problems are a school capacity crisis that seems to grow every year, one that some critics say the County Board and School Board have not acted swiftly enough to fix. The county’s urban corridors are redeveloping with increasing density, in some cases threatening open space and forcing even more tough decisions from county leaders. Then there are rising housing costs, which have prompted Tejada and his Board colleagues to place affordable housing among their chief priorities.

While the county faces these challenges, the voting landscape appears to have shifted to favor “change” candidates. Independent John Vihstadt was elected twice in 2014; Tejada reminded the partisan crowd that Vihstadt “has been named Republican volunteer of the year, who ran on an anti-government agenda and who does not share our Democratic values.”

Tejada expressed concern that Democrats’ reaction to last year’s elections will make them stray from the “progressive and Democratic values” he holds dear; he repeated that phrase a half-dozen times during his remarks.

“What are we, as Democrats, going to do about it,” he asked, “when we allow ourselves to become a new Arlington of rich, entitled people, lacking in compassion, empathy and a sense of community, viscerally opposed to government of any kind, opposed to everything in alleged overspending on every front?”

Tejada and County Board Chair Mary Hynes are both retiring at the end of their terms in December.

Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes won’t seek re-election this November, becoming the second County Board member in a week to announce their retirement.

Hynes, 59, will serve out the rest of her term in 2015 before stepping down. Her decision, along with County Board member Walter Tejada’s announcement last Wednesday, paves the way for the first County Board election with two open seats in decades.

“After nearly 20 years of elected service to our community, it’s time for a new chapter in my life.  It has been a privilege to serve this community, and I am incredibly optimistic about Arlington’s future,” Hynes said in a press release. “Arlingtonians are involved, thoughtful, and hardworking.  I know they always have — AND always will — find ways to make our community a special place for those who choose to live, work, play, and learn here.”

Hynes’ retirement plan is another shakeup in Arlington’s politics, following the groundbreaking election of John Vihstadt in 2014 — the first non-Democrat elected to the Board in a general election in 31 years — and the cancellation of the planned Columbia Pike and Crystal City streetcar system.

Hynes was first elected to the County Board in 2007 and is serving her second term as chair this year. Before that, she served 12 years on the Arlington School Board — including three stints as chair — after winning the first School Board election in almost 40 years.

Hynes said she is retiring to spend more time with her family; she has previously stated that 2014 was the hardest year she’s experienced since being elected to public office. She, along with then-chairman Jay Fisette, cast the deciding votes in canceling the streetcar. Hynes told the Washington Post that “bitter disagreements over spending” did not influence her decision to retire.

Hynes declined to discuss rumors of her retirement this morning, when an ARLnow.com reporter encountered her chatting with a constituent at a Columbia Pike coffee shop. She also did not give any hints about her impending retirement decision while addressing the Arlington County Civic Federation last night.

“This is a county with good, strong bones,” she told the Civic Federation. “It’s one of the best communities in the country by lots and lots of measures. It doesn’t mean we don’t have things to work on. We’ve had a rough couple of years. there’s a lot of external forces at play.”

This year, Hynes has thus far focused her efforts on the new Facilities Study Committee, her effort to refresh “The Arlington Way” of lengthy public debate to reach consensus for big-ticket projects.

After the jump, the full press release announcing her retirement. Read More