Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
The 2019 Virginia legislative session begins on Jan. 9.
Opinion
It may be dreary and cold today, but the final weekend of 2018 should prove to be a pretty one.
The forecast is calling for a sunny Saturday and Sunday, with some slightly warmer temperatures than we’ve seen the last few weeks.
Next week, the County Board will meet for its annual organizational meeting, and it will do so with a new member for the first time since 2016. While the annual tradition of meeting on New Year’s Day seems to be relegated to the past, the tradition of speeches filled with a laundry list of “priorities” is here to stay.
Here are 10 questions the Board should try to answer as they craft their messages to Arlingtonians:
By State Sen. Janet Howell
Last summer my husband Hunt and I spent 11 days in Southside and Southwest Virginia. We had read The Extremes of Virginia by Augie Wallmeyer and realized we really didn’t know the people, cultures and challenges of those regions very well.
In a Dec. 17 interview, County Manager Mark Schwartz, when asked about Arlington County government’s projected $20-$35 million FY 2020 budget deficit, stated:
“For the last [several] years, the commercial market has either been flat or going down. If revenue grows less than your expenses, you already have a gap. Now, add on top of that the obligations to Metro, expansion of Medicaid, public safety pay increases, steady funding for affordable housing and you get to $20-$35 million quickly.”
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(Updated at 10:45 a.m.) Since its founding in 2010, ARLnow has kept its focus solely on Arlington.
We often explain that should the Washington Monument topple over one night, our story about it — were we to cover it — would likely come with the headline “Arlington’s View of D.C. Changes.” The basic thinking is that we should cover what we do best and link to the rest — on the internet, there’s no need to spend time doing duplicative coverage of other places.
This schedule means that readers can check out over the weekend and not have to worry about falling behind on the latest Arlington local news. And it means that our staff can take a couple of well-deserved days off at the end of the week.
That said, we’ve had more local news than ever to report over the past few months, and it has us considering expanding our publishing schedule — specifically, by publishing on Saturday.
The weather outside today may be frightful, but temperatures are set to turn positively delightful this weekend.
After a couple oppressively rainy days, the forecast calls for skies to clear and temperatures to rise as Christmas approaches.
Tis the season of reflecting on the year that is almost behind us and looking forward to the year to come.
Here are a few things that caught my eye this week as we are rounding the corner into 2019.
By Christian Dorsey
Amazon’s embrace of Arlington as one of two sites for its corporate headquarters expansion stands as one of the more significant events in the history of our county. Already, camps have emerged that are unabashedly for or against welcoming the world’s largest online retailer. Yet for many, there are significant questions when assessing whether Amazon in Arlington stands as a positive development.
The County Board approved the Four Mile Run Valley Area Plan (Area Plan) at its Nov. 17 meeting. A Dec. 13 c ounty press release summarizes the plan.
The plan recommends the continuation of industrial and commercial uses, while also encouraging more arts-related uses. The recommendations also call for a new working group to duplicate what another county committee already has accomplished.
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(Updated at 10:30 a.m.) For years now, there have been calls to revamp, fix or rethink the “Arlington Way.”
There is no single, comprehensive definition of what the Arlington Way is, but broadly, according to one county document, “the Arlington Way refers to the form citizen participation takes in Arlington County.”