While we were discussing the election from an Arlington perspective, a political earthquake of epic proportions was underway.
As the night wore on, what seemed unfathomable — based on polls, pundits and everything else — slowly became reality: Donald J. Trump was elected as the next president of the United States of America.
The following Letter to the Editor was written by state Senator Barbara Favola and Delegates Alfonso Lopez, Patrick Hope and Mark Levine, regarding Tuesday’s presidential election. The authors represent Arlington in the Virginia General Assembly.
The direction of the Supreme Court for the next two decades is on the ballot this Tuesday, making this perhaps the most crucial election of our lifetime. By refusing to give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing to fill the seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Senate Republicans have left the Supreme Court with an even split between the conservative and more progressive justices. Indeed, a few justices may be on the verge of retiring soon.
Good news: the election is almost here and after a seemingly endless, hopelessly contentious campaign, the country will hopefully be able to resign itself to life under the [INSERT NAME OF UNPOPULAR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HERE] administration after next Tuesday.
We’ll be attempting a two hour live broadcast of local election coverage and interviews, from 7:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Be sure to tune in for that.
This weekend is supposed to be pleasantly warm, which might not be a great thing for those running the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday.
Normally the MCM involves runners freezing at the starting line and then enjoying comfortably cool temperatures during the race. Expect some extra perspiration on the course this year.
As many as 120,000 Arlingtonians will head to the polls for the November 8th election. Based on the last two presidential election cycles, it is likely 70% or more will vote for Hillary Clinton to become the next president. While many voters will not get past the top of the ticket, a strong majority of Clinton supporters will almost certainly give Democrat Libby Garvey another term on the County Board.
Garvey should be commended for breaking with her fellow Democrats from time to time. Her courage to back Independent candidate John Vihstadt, to stand up against the Columbia Pike streetcar, and to call for more accountability from county government is laudable.
By: Elizabeth Jones Valderrama
Incarceration is traumatic. It is traumatic for the individual in jail or prison, of course. It is also traumatic for the families of that individual, particularly children, who are silent sufferers. There are five million children in the United States with a parent incarcerated — that’s about one in every 14 children under the age of 18.
Arlington County seeks public input on the Manager’s recommended allocation of $17.8 million in surplus “one-time” close-out funds (from FY2016) and on the Board’s proposed budget guidance to the Manager for FY 2018.
The Board will vote on both matters in November.
The following Letter to the Editor was written by Sandra Spear, who lives near Bluemont Park and objects to the installation of a fence as part of the planned renovation of a baseball field in the park. Spear is responding to a Letter to the Editor in support of the fence, written on behalf of Arlington’s baseball community and published by ARLnow.com last week.
I am one of the many users of Bluemont Park who object to the County fencing off a quarter of its expansive open field for exclusive use by baseball players. This letter responds to John Foti’s October 20 letter to the editor at ARLnow in support of the fence, which both misunderstands the community’s opposition to the fence and makes our case for us.
It was a week of warmth and power issues in Arlington. Both are now in the rear view.
Fall has returned after a week-long summer reprise. Today (Saturday) should be breezy, cool and crisp, followed by a bit warmer of a fall day on Sunday.
This month County Board Chair Libby Garvey put forward the idea of giving a raise to County Board Members. Garvey suggested the salaries could be raised from the current $51,500 ($56,500 for the Chair) to the median income of Arlington, around $110,000.
Under our form of government in Virginia, the raise cannot occur until after the 2019 election when two seats are up once again which means any raise would not take effect until 2020. Every single member of the Board will have been elected or re-elected at that point, which would give the public plenty of time to speak on the issue.
By Andrew Schneider
Election season is upon us and, thankfully, the end is near. While it is fashionable to tout this election as a uniquely negative one, I still find myself encouraged and enlivened by the citizen activism that this election, like most elections, has engendered in Arlington.
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.
At its October 15 meeting, the County Board approved a County staff recommendation to advertise draft regulations relating to Airbnb.
