By Alfonso Lopez
When Virginians vote this year for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and House of Delegates candidates, one key issue should be redistricting and the importance of fair, competitive House districts. We need to elect candidates who will fix the detrimental impact that partisan gerrymandering has had on our country and Commonwealth.
In an earlier column, I summarized efforts by Arlington’s civic and elected leaders, including Rep. Don Beyer (D-8) and County Board members Katie Cristol, John Vihstadt and Libby Garvey, to identify solutions to address the problem of increasing aircraft noise in Arlington.
Since 2015, the region has had a growing problem with aircraft noise caused in part by changes to the regional airspace enabled by the FAA’s precise NextGen program.
Our very warm and humid Sept weather is coming to an end. pic.twitter.com/tn1tjGAMhu
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) September 26, 2017
It promises to be a busy weekend in Arlington County, with Clarendon Day and the Prio Bangla multicultural street festival both set for Saturday.
Also of note: Clarendon Day’s traditional 5K and 10K races down Wilson Blvd will take place on Sunday. Those in the area can expect significant road closures.
The post noted that Sophie, a black lab mix, loves to “swim, run, jump, get tummy rubs, play with tennis balls, obsessively lick stuff, stalk squirrels, bark at strangers and watch Bravo with mom.”
I wish you would not encourage the “I bark at strangers” thing in your Pet of the Week.
The County Board is back from its traditional August break. Three items from the meeting remind us of how the Board too often operates.
The Board heard complaints from Crystal City area residents about cut-through traffic. This is my neighborhood, and I drive through the area every morning and evening on my commute.
By Krysta Jones
A few years ago I had the pleasure of being invited to serve on the Women’s Monument Commission of Virginia, which is leading awareness and fundraising efforts for a first of its kind monument on the Capitol Grounds in Richmond. The monument will honor 12 women who have made an impact in Virginia.
At its September 16 meeting, the County Board rejected a staff proposal to light two synthetic turf fields at Williamsburg Middle School.
Discussion
As this approach should result in more articles being published each day — if all goes well — we have the opportunity to cover a wider variety of topics.
Which of the following, in your opinion, should we do more of?
It’s been quite a week for restaurant news around Arlington County.
Today marked the opening of a new Dunkin’ Donuts in Virginia Square, while Kung Fu Tea is another new arrival, this time in Clarendon.
The Washington Post reported that the Democrats’ nominee for governor Ralph Northam ran a recent television ad where he encouraged voters to compare his tax plan to Ed Gillespie’s.
The problem? Ralph Northam has never published a tax plan.
Last year, responding to years of community pressure, the county government finally adopted a new review process in which the County Manager’s close-out surplus recommendations were first proposed in October, but not voted upon until November.
I strongly recommended last fall that almost all of last year’s $17.8 million close-out surplus be kept in reserve until the FY 2018 budget was approved.
