A majority of Arlington’s affordable apartments are not built into typical new apartment or condo buildings, but rather separated into their own building complexes.
Over the course of decades this has created segregated housing in Arlington. Although the dynamic is improving, the equation and incentive structure at the heart of this issue must change.
The pandemic is still here, but — with rising vaccinations — there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
It could yet be many months before things return to some semblance of normal, but today let’s try to imagine the pandemic being over.
A new report called Spending Growth and Real Estate Taxes by Dr. John Huntley of Arlington Analytics explains why Arlington real estate taxpayers will be hit by sharply rising tax bills over the next ten years. Such increases will disproportionately drive out of Arlington the most vulnerable, diverse residents the County claims to value.
Arlington’s long-term structural operating budget deficit
The Right Note is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
As the pace of vaccinations accelerate and we anticipate a return to a more normal way of life, the County Board and School Board are making budget decisions for the upcoming fiscal year.
Progressive Voice is a bi-weekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
By Maurine Shields Fanguy
It’s been a busy week here and, frankly, we’re all exhausted.
That being said, let’s get right to the most-read Arlington articles of the week.
Ed Talk is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
Arlington Public Schools (APS) has opened for hybrid learning for students from pre-kindergarten through 12 grade whose families have chosen that option, one year after it closed its doors due to the pandemic.
The short answer is an emphatic yes. 100%. Absolutely.
The question has evolved into when to vaccinate after COVID-19 symptoms resolve (recommendation is 90 days) and if a second shot is even necessary if you are a COVID survivor.
Columbia Pike is one of Arlington’s least bike-friendly corridors — there aren’t any bike lanes, traffic is heavy, and the bike boulevards on parallel streets are disjointed and disconnected.
Almost 3 years ago now, Bike4ThePike rode to highlight this fact, along with the gaps in the County’s plans for the Pike.
Over the past several months I have researched my ancestry online, connecting with 3rd and 4th cousins whom I have never met. In that research, through old news articles and death records, I learned and confirmed stories of domestic violence and murder in our family in the early 1900s.
These revelations have increased my interest in learning more about and preventing intimate partner violence.
The year-long (and counting) pandemic has caused a large increase in the apartment vacancy rate in Arlington.
While stories of an urban exodus are overblown, national research indicates that the pandemic has decreased the inflow of new residents. Some of Arlington’s landlords have responded to high vacancy rates by lowering rents. This is welcome news for renters who struggle to afford payment or want to upgrade their home.
It was a week for retrospectives, as we marked the one-year anniversary of the first coronavirus case in Arlington.
The virus has so far claimed 242 lives in Arlington County, but there’s hope that the quickening pace of vaccinations will help prevent the kind of mortality that we saw last spring and this past winter. There’s also hope that this spring and summer life will increasingly return to something approaching normal.
