Neighborhood leaders have mixed reviews of the county’s stepped-up code-enforcement efforts in the Clarendon area.
On the positive side, the effort “has really made things a whole lot better for the neighborhood,” said Andy Rude, president of the Lyon Village Citizens Association.
However, some concerns have persisted — including issues with trash piling up around local restaurants, Rude and other residents said at the Nov. 20 meeting of the Clarendon Live Entertainment Group .
Earlier this year, the county government added code-enforcement personnel to weekend police operations in the Clarendon nightlife area. The goal was to have on-the-spot staff who could address problems as they were found.
So far, the initiative has proved successful from the government’s standpoint, said Capt. William Dwyer, the assistant fire marshal.
“We’ve had great relationships with everyone we interacted with in the establishments,” he said. “We’ve been met with nothing but appreciation.”
Robert “Mo” Rouse, co-lead of the Arlington County Police Department’s business outreach unit, acknowledged a need for the county government to improve relations with residents and businesses of Clarendon.
“Our continued focus is on rebuilding trust and fostering strong relationships with restaurant owners, managers, staff and security teams,” he said at the Nov. 20 meeting.
John Carten, first vice president of the Lyon Village Citizens Association, raised concerns about the absence of code-enforcement personnel at the CLEG meeting.
“This is twice a year when we get to have a public forum with them, and they can’t even make the meeting,” Carten said.
“This is harking back to the way it used to be when they would rarely come to the meetings, even though they were the primary enforcement people for noise violations and code violations,” he added.
The next CLEG meeting will be in May. Those from the county government who attended the Nov. 20 meeting said they were committed to ongoing improvements.
“We greatly value the partnership,” Dwyer said. “We are here as a resource.”
