The calendar turned to fall a few days back, but the weather is finally starting to reflect the change in season.
Starting today and moving into this weekend, cool and breezy conditions are on the way in Arlington. Outside of some scattered showers Saturday morning, the D.C. region also seems set to stay pretty dry in the wake of Hurricane Michael.
Last week, it came to light a memo had been produced in May by someone at Metro outlining the system’s ridership woes and some possible solutions. According to the Washington Post, this memo never made it all the way up to the general manager or the WMATA Board.
From the memo: “The fundamental factors — fares, location, speed, frequency, and reliability — matter most and Metro’s recent actions have put downward pressure on ridership.” And it found the group driving the ridership decline the fastest are those who had used the system the most.
By Beth Arthur, Sheriff
Reentering the community after incarceration is daunting. Imagine being locked up for days, weeks, months or years knowing the stigma society attaches to it. Often, incarcerated individuals are unemployed with drug or mental health issues. They often have no family support and no housing, money or even photo identification when they get out. They may have no idea where to start to get back on their feet.
Arlington Public Schools (APS) is in the early stages of what is currently envisioned as a very small-scale and limited evaluation of its justifiably controversial 1:1 digital device program.
At the same time:
A holiday weekend (for some of us) is here, and the weather is cooperating with some pleasant early-fall temperatures.
Though the forecast heats up heading into next week, temperatures should hover around the 70s for much of the long weekend.
Arlington Public Schools finally released the long-awaited audit of school construction costs. The bottom line from the auditor is that Arlington’s past construction costs are generally in line with other jurisdictions in the area.
However, according to the document, the new Wilson school would cost over $555 per square foot and $130,000 per seat. The per seat number is more than double the per seat cost for recent school buildings in the county. In other words, Arlington should be able to add up to twice as many seats for the money.
By Eric Harold
When I emerge from the natural oasis of the Four Mile Run creek bed, I am greeted by an Ethiopian family teaching their son to ride his bike on the Arlington Mill Plaza. Following the spirited African rhythms enjoyed by a group of friends gathering near the bridge, I catch the tempting scents of the Bolivian food truck readying for the lunch crowd. I am reminded why, many years ago, my wife and I quickly fell in love with Columbia Pike — a vital and vibrant corridor with good local businesses, active neighborhood associations and energetic mixed-income communities. Still, we recognized this high potential area was struggling to develop as a valued Metro corridor.
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One of the four bond referenda on the November 6 ballot is the so-called “community infrastructure” bond valued at roughly $37 million.
What’s in this bond?
At long last, Mother Nature is ready to let up a bit and offer Arlington its first pleasant weekend of the fall.
After a dreary week of rain, the forecast is looking quite promising indeed over the next few days — and that should be quite good news for bars and restaurants hurting from the past few weeks of wet weather.
A recent lawsuit on the House of Delegates boundaries resulted in a court order to the General Assembly to redraw the lines by the end of October. A new standard of constitutional review in regards to the consideration of race in determining legislative districts is now being insisted on by the courts.
This week Republicans released a second plan that seeks to meet the requirements of the court. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Democrats say they still want to find a legislative solution. This is encouraging as Governor Northam had previously expressed the view that the courts should just redraw the lines. The same Times-Dispatch article seems to indicate some in Democrat circles were still debating if they should find a compromise or wait to see if they will get a better political outcome from the court.
By Kelley Coyner
Less than a year ago the city of Arlington, Texas, became the first municipal government to deploy an automated transportation service — a cute shuttle named Milo. In a couple of weeks, Arlington, Texas will move ahead with an autonomous vehicle (AV) taxi.
The County Board swings back into action this Saturday for its first meeting since July. The agenda is full of interesting items.
Last week I discussed the need to move forward on the Virginia Hospital Center expansion plans. The Board will most certainly approve it eventually, so they should avoid the urge to tinker with the plans for another six months (or longer).
