By Andrew Schneider
For Progressive voice readers and commenters – and those of ARLnow’s other opinion columns — I invite you to tune it to a new program called Arlington Voices that I host on Fridays on Arlington’s very own low power community radio station WERA-LP (96.7 MHz on the FM band).
Last month, Arlington County unveiled its latest proposal for an Aquatics Center at Long Bridge Park. The County has dropped a few of the more excessive features from its last public proposal, but only after a firestorm of justified public opposition. The County also has acknowledged that the facility should be “community” focused, highlighting the relative lack of aquatics resources in South Arlington.
The latest Aquatics Center concept presents multiple unanswered questions needing resolution, e.g. who are the most likely users, has the clear demand for aquatics resources been equitably addressed? Fortunately, the County Board need not rush to judgment in the short period until the July adoption of the next CIP. Instead, the Board simply should incorporate into that CIP an appropriate dollar cap on what Arlington should spend on the revised Aquatics Center, permitting several more months of community discussion followed by a fall decision.
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.
When it comes to spending taxpayer dollars in Arlington, the year-end closeout process is most in need of reform. Not only does the County Board spend nearly tens of million per year in surplus revenues, but they do so with little public input – particularly when compared to the regular annual budget process.
The mercifully dry weather and mild temperatures will benefit tomorrow’s Walk for the Animals in Bluemont Park, which was included in this week’s Arlington Agenda.
Speaking of events, we’re letting our weekend readers hear first about a cool event we’re holding this month. It’s called WeWork, WeLive and the Future of City Living and it’s taking place on May 17. Book your ticket now, as space is limited and we’re expecting a lot of interest. For more on what we’ll be talking about, see our article on WeLive from earlier this week.
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.
Governor McAuliffe recently issued an executive order restoring to 206,000 felons who successfully completed their sentences the rights to vote, sit on juries, run for office and become a notary public.
By Lawrence Roberts
I was pleased to join fellow ARLnow columnists Mark Kelly and Peter Rousselot on a panel discussion at “ARLnow Presents: Hot Topics on Columbia Pike.” We had a spirited discussion of County issues and I hope you’ll watch the video when it appears on Arlington Independent Media and ARLnow.
On April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court held an oral argument on former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s appeal of his federal criminal corruption conviction. Press reports on the oral argument suggest that the Supreme Court might end up overturning McDonnell’s conviction.
If the Supreme Court does rule in McDonnell’s favor, the average citizen should be justifiably outraged that what McDonnell did isn’t illegal. It reminds me of these lyrics.
The following op-ed was written by Michael Peterson, a board-certified toxicologist at Gradient, an environmental and risk sciences consulting firm. He serves as scientific adviser to the Recycled Rubber Council.
Given some concerns that have been raised over recycled rubber infill in artificial turf fields by your publication (“Time To Re-Examine Artificial Turf Fields,” 4/21/16), I wanted to lend a scientific perspective to the conversation to clear up some misconceptions.
There is a good chance of rain or storms each day of this week, through Friday.
Normally May is one of the more pleasantly sunny and warm months of the year in the D.C. area. Except for a brief period of warmth today, high temperatures this week will struggle to break out of the 60s.
And that’s not to mention the Washington Capitals playoff game Saturday night or, for a certain set, the excitement around the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
Feel free to discuss the Caps or any other local issues of interest in the comments.
All five members of the Arlington County Board were on hand last night for the ARLnow event at the Celtic House on Columbia Pike. It was a pleasure to share the forum with fellow columnists Peter Rousselot and Larry Roberts to discuss issues facing the county.
If you missed it, here are a few of the points I made to the questions our panel received:
By Eric Harold
It’s ironic that ARLnow’s April 22 article said “Gutshall attempted to re-litigate the streetcar…” at the first County Board candidate debate held on April 20.
