The Right Note is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
This week, Governor McAuliffe’s office sent a memo to state agencies asking for proposals to trim 5% from their budgets to help close a $1.5 billion budget gap. The gap is roughly 1.5%, but leaders are working to avoid any cuts to education, so some programs will take bigger cuts than others.
By: Abby Raphael
Arlington is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, with a median 2016 household income of $110,900. Yet 8.8% of all Arlington residents live in poverty, with an income of about $24,000 or less for a family of four. Twelve percent of Arlington’s children live in poverty. Arlington must address the effects of this economic inequality, particularly on our children, in a coordinated way so that all children and families can be successful.
Last week, Mark Kelly, my fellow columnist at ARLnow.com, and David Alpert over at Greater Greater Washington each posted a column about fixing Metro. Both arrived at essentially this conclusion:
Metro can’t be fixed unless its Board and senior management have sufficient freedom to hire and fire.
There’s not a whole heck of a lot going on locally and lots of people are out of town. The weather is nice for outdoor activities, but otherwise it’s a pretty boring week.
On the plus side, traffic is noticeably lighter than the usual terribleness, everything is less crowded and it’s easier to get a table at popular restaurants.
Next week, the week of Labor Day, is the traditional kickoff of the local election season, with such landmark events as the Arlington County Democratic Committee chili cook off and the Arlington County Civic Federation candidates forum.
The rule of thumb is that most voters aren’t paying much attention to local races between the primaries and Labor Day.
Sunny skies should prevail this weekend, making sunscreen a valuable commodity if you hike to historic points of interest in Arlington or attend a police block party this weekend.
If you want to do something indoors, there also are open houses and a new Matchbox American Kitchen + Spirit in Pentagon City to check out.
Arlington voters will almost certainly approve another bond for Metro this November. Often voters vote for it without a second thought.
The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is fighting to reinstate the mechanic who was fired for failing to report that the ventilation fan at L’Enfant Plaza was not working properly and later allegedly lying about it to investigators.
By: Paul Friedman
When Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an executive order returning voting rights to over 200,000 ex-felons, it led to some 13,000 people around the commonwealth — including Arlington, Alexandria,, Fairfax, Fairfax City, Prince William, and Loudoun residents – successfully registering to vote.
A recent article (“Arlington Studying A Plan That Would Pay for your Uber to Metro”) in The Washington Post triggered feverish comments on its website, ARLnow.com and social media, like:
So my South Arlington taxes will be used to chauffeur the 1% from North Arlington?
It was a hot and then stormy week for Arlington.
Wednesday’s storms resulted in a large tree falling in the backyard of a Lyon Park home on the 400 block of N. Fillmore Street. As seen above, the tree damaged a fence and also made contact with a detached garage and the house itself. The exact extent of the damage is unclear but no injuries were reported.
Congress is out of session. People are fleeing the area left and right to get their vacations in before the summer ends. This year, many media and political types are on the campaign trail. Heck, traffic becomes somewhat bearable and even the Arlington County Board gets a break for the month.
On ARLnow.com, we haven’t run out of local stories to cover — in fact, this is shaping up to be our highest-traffic August yet — but there’s no denying that the pace of news coverage drags big time compared to a busier month like April or October.
The Right Note is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
Last month, Peter Rousellot wrote a column calling for a phase out of the Neighborhood Conservation Program. I agree.
