The reaction to the news that Arlington County is ready and willing to help resettle Syrian refugees was largely positive on social media.
Despite a mixed bag of comments, our post on Facebook garnered more than 600 likes, making this one of our most-liked stories of all time.
With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, it might be time to get some work done around the house before the in-laws arrive or you head out of town for the holiday.
Feel free to discuss anything of local interest in the comments. Have a nice weekend!
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.
While some of the individual results may be important, proponents of a fair and representative democracy see little to celebrate overall in the 2015 Virginia general election results.
On the next Arlington County Board meeting agenda is the annual close-out process. Despite it being just seven days away, the recommendation from the County Manager is not even online. This process often allocates $100 million or more in spending and no one outside of County Staff — and presumably Board Members — has seen it yet.
For years, I have railed against this process. In effect, the County Board has a slush fund every fall that they can dip into and spend with almost no public input. While this process may not get the attention of a Columbia Pike trolley project, it has spent far more of our tax dollars and few county residents even know the process exists.
Early in 2016, the new County Board should overhaul the seriously-flawed process the current County Board uses to allocate any surplus funds left over at the close of the County’s fiscal year.
Background
A photo went viral this week, showing a sign at a Nordstrom store.
“We won’t be decking our halls until Friday, November 27,” the sign said. “Why? Well, we just like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time. From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.”
The overall party affiliation of those on the Arlington County Board might not be changing on Jan. 1, but that doesn’t mean the status quo from a policymaking perspective.
Democrats Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey will bring a fresh perspective to the Board, following their lopsided victory in Tuesday’s election.
Across Virginia, voters made few changes to their elected representation. Every single incumbent on Tuesday’s ballot in the General Assembly won. The Senate remained 21-19 Republican, and Democrats netted a gain just one of 100 seats in the House, leaving it overwhelmingly in Republican hands.
Despite millions of dollars being spent to retake the Senate, Governor McAuliffe now must work with Republicans if he hopes to achieve any meaningful results in his final two years in office. After ignoring the General Assembly and the Virginia Constitution with his Supreme Court appointment over the summer, the governor has some ground to make up.
A poop fence and an APS trailer both represent choices that our local governing bodies have made in the past. We can do much better in the future.
Background
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.
Arlington Public Schools opened a new elementary school this year, is currently building additions to two other schools, and is building another entirely new school. And the Arlington community is studying where to put another new elementary school. And we need to look at options for the Career Center. And. And. And. There are lots of decisions to make, and these decisions will shape how we live in Arlington.
Luckily, a festive holiday, plenty of Halloween events and an extra hour of sleep will help remedy a stressful week.
Without further ado, feel free to discuss the haunted happenings around Arlington or any other topic of local interest in the comments.
Editor’s Note: This biweekly column is sponsored by Dominion Wine and Beer (107 Rowell Court, Falls Church). It is written by Garrett Cruce, a Certified Beer Server in the Cicerone Certification Program.
One year ago, the owners of Green Flash Brewing Co. and Alpine Beer Company announced that their breweries were merging. Around this time, Green Flash ranked 48th among craft breweries in the U.S. in brewing volume according to the Brewer’s Association. They weren’t huge, but they were a good sight larger than Alpine who employed 20 people.
