Fizzling Fights in Richmond? Despite posturing on Medicaid expansion, Gov. McAuliffe’s chances of changing the debate on this issue were damaged when Republicans maintained control of the General Assembly in Nov. 2015.
Attorney General Herring’s recent decision on concealed carry reciprocity could also rear its head. But, General Assembly leaders may not be willing to enter a standoff on that issue in the face of presidential politics.
At its traditional New Year’s Day organizational meeting, Arlington County Board members found common ground on critical issues, including making major improvements in Arlington government transparency and bringing new voices to the table to solve Arlington’s many pressing challenges.
Libby Garvey, who was unanimously elected by her Board colleagues as Chair of the Board for 2016, offered these observations:
Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.
If you are an Arlington County Board member, you get up early on New Year’s Day for the annual County Board organizational meeting. It’s what you do.
2015 was an eventful year in Arlington and with a changing economy and a new slate of County Board members, 2016 promises to be an interesting 12 months as well.
What are your New Year’s resolutions for Arlington? Feel free to discuss in the comments.
The past year was filled with revealing stories about Arlington and Virginia politics and government. Here are my top five:
5. Republicans retain control of VA State Senate
Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.
The following is an adaptation of remarks delivered by Karen Darner at the swearing-in ceremony for incoming County Board members Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey.
Tomorrow, the Arlington County Board members will renew the annual tradition of previewing their priorities for the year. Unfortunately, the speeches can often be compared to a New Year’s resolution to go to the gym.
Before the speeches begin, the Board will need to elect a new Chairman. In recent history, the Vice Chairman has moved up to the center chair. But last year, Walter Tejada served in that role before announcing his retirement.
Where are those plans taking you? Many, no doubt, will stay in Arlington — either at home or at a bar, although Virginia ABC laws preventing establishments from offering an open bar puts a damper on the kind of parties one can attend at bars and clubs.
Many will also likely head into the District to take advantage of the myriad NYE parties, although transportation back is always a challenge. Wait for Metro, try to get one of the few available cabs, pay Uber’s top surge price, or designate a driver and try to find parking — the decision isn’t always ideal.
The high temperature today and tomorrow is expected to hover around 70 degrees. In the meantime, cloud cover will make it hard to spot Santa tonight, and Ol’ Saint Nick might want to bring a rain jacket, with storms and flash flooding expected.
A white Christmas is fairly rare in Arlington, and this year is no exception. On any given year, Arlington has around an 11 percent historic probability of having snow on the ground on Dec. 25. Anecdotally, cool and dry seems to describe the most common Christmas Day here.
The weekend is here. And it’s freezing.
The good news, for those who don’t need the Hollywood vision of a white Christmas to make the holiday merry, is that warmth will be returning. Forecasters say a record high temperature of 72 degrees is possible on Christmas Eve.
The price of a gallon of regular gasoline at the BP station, pictured here, has dropped to $1.91 from $1.97 just last month.
It’s tied for second-lowest price in the county, according to GasBuddy.com, with only Arlington Auto Service on Columbia Pike cheaper, at $1.83 per gallon.
This week, the County Board approved its package of priorities for the Virginia General Assembly to address. The report came in at 53 items in total.
Item number one of the entire proposal asked for the ability to levy taxes, including the BPOL tax. This is the tax on the privilege of owning a business based in Arlington. It taxes your gross receipts, not your gross profits. It should be phased out or abolished as soon as possible by Arlington to encourage economic development in the County.
