“Congress… is full of career politicians who are addicted to spending your taxpayer dollars and who will say and do anything to get re-elected,” Murray said in his opening remarks. “At the heart of that, ladies and gentleman, is my opponent, Mr. Moran.”
“For 20 years, he has spent taxpayer dollars… and what has it gotten us?” Murray asked. “We’ve got deficits as far as the eye can see. We’ve got unemployment that continues to go up. We’ve got $13 trillion of debt.”
It’s a packed house at Virginia Hospital Center’s Hazel Conference Center, where a debate between the local candidates for congress, county board and school board is about to get underway.
First observation of the night: lots of Murray signs on George Mason Drive on the way up to the hospital. Didn’t spot any Moran signs.
The Arlington Tenant-Landlord Commission is scheduled to hear arguments for a plan to renovate the 162 Colonial Village apartment units owned by Wesley Housing Development Corporation. The hearing will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Azalea Room (lobby level) of 2100 Clarendon Boulevard.
The plan calls for major upgrades and configuration changes, including new windows, kitchens, bathrooms and insulation. The grounds will also be improved, with new walkways and lighting.
The backpacks contained lunch bags, water bottles, pencils, crayons and even a gift card redeemable for donated clothing.
“The security of starting the school year well prepared will help these children to overcome some of the other uncertainties in their life right now,” Doorways services coordinator Kristen Barnes wrote on the organization’s blog.
Last year, Dominion upgraded the power substation at 3245 Wilson Boulevard to help provide additional power capacity to the ever-developing Clarendon area. As part of the upgrades, Dominion promised a new containment wall that would make the facility easier on the eyes. So far, though, it’s still just a fence.
That has some locals worried. One resident contacted us and pointed out that the Dominion web site lists the project as “complete.” Would the prominently-placed substation remain surrounded by the “ugly” chain link fence?
At 6:30 this morning, school buses were streaming out of a county facility near Shirlington, on their way to pick up students for the first day of school. It’s the start of a ritual that will continue every school day until the start of next summer.
In all, about 120 buses will pick up about 10,000 students county-wide this morning. Another 11,000 will walk or be driven to one of Arlington’s 34 public schools.
A crowd that included county board members, school board members, state legislators, elected county officers and Democratic donors gathered outside the Lyon Park Community Center for the end-of-summer tradition, which also featured drinks, music and a moon bounce for the kids.
Guests of honor included the three local Democrats up for reelection this year: county board member Chris Zimmerman, school board member Sally Baird and congressman Jim Moran. Virginia House of Delegates minority leader Ward Armstrong was also on hand for the afternoon event.
The automobile association says that DC-area drivers should “brace themselves” for the one-two punch of kids going back to school and workers returning from summer vacations today. After a two-month respite from the worst of the area’s traffic, things should be back to gridlock-as-usual — a “dreadful day of reckoning” known as “Terrible Traffic Tuesday.”
AAA notes that about 1.5 million local commuters drive to work solo on any given workday. The group says that despite the increasing number of people working from home, Metro’s recent troubles and the new peak-of-the-peak fare may be putting more cars on the road.
Back to School — The nearly 21,000 students enrolled in Arlington Public Schools are returning to class today. Watch out for school buses on the roads this morning.
Arlington Parents Like Their Kid’s School, Teachers — On Friday, we reported that a survey conducted on behalf of Arlington Public Schools found that parents were very much opposed to redrawing school boundaries. Now comes more evidence that parents of APS students are happy with their kid’s current school. Asked to grade their child’s school, teachers, and quality of education, parents gave each a 4.4 out of 5 on average. More from the Sun Gazette.
It’s Labor Day, the day when we traditionally mourn the end of summer (even though the official start of fall is more than two weeks away and at least two more 90+ degree days are predicted this week).
With the pools getting ready to close and the kids going back to school, we ask:
Everybody knows that parking enforcement is strict in Arlington. So strict, apparently, that even this Crown Vic with an Arlington Police vest inside got ticketed on Clarendon Boulevard, near the Whole Foods.
We’ve also heard of federal government vehicles getting ticketed.
The block’s main attractions at this point are the Costco on the north side of the street and the Gramercy and Millennium at Metropolitan Park luxury apartment buildings on the south side. The relatively recent addition of a Dunkin’ Donuts has helped the block attract some more lunch and breakfast foot traffic — adding to the brave souls who patronize an old greasy spoon called Nell’s Carry Out, which resides in a trailer across from the old DHL warehouse.
Slowly but surely, though, more retail is arriving. A dry cleaner and a bank moved into retail bays at the Gramercy around the same time as Dunkin’ Donuts. A UPS Store is under construction down the block. And the U.S. Post Office that’s currently on Eads Street will eventually be moving to the ground floor of the Millennium.
