Lyon’s Legacy is a limited-run opinion column on the history of housing in Arlington. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
“A nation may lose its liberties and be a century in finding it out.” -John Mercer Langston
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Opinion
TW: suicide, mania.
Arlington has begun an effort to improve mental health services in our community with dollars attached to these priorities. Taking this initial first step is significant, but we still have miles to go. Next Tuesday you can learn more about this topic at the Civic Federation monthly meeting.
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Arlington residents’ lives have been upended by COVID-19: parents have struggled to juggle virtual schooling and work responsibilities; many restaurants, hotels and small businesses have disappeared. The County budget has been battered. Yet, County government has been moving full speed ahead to help builders and developers of high-end housing fatten their bottom lines.
Arlington’s Missing Middle (MM) Housing study is a heavily subsidized County government initiative pre-ordained to reach a “solution” to a non-existent problem. The housing types on which this study focuses already are plentiful in Arlington. Many more already can be built by right.
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The Right Note is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
Days of breathless coverage about books written and illustrated half a century ago is what fills in the 24-hour news cycle when the current president will not take questions from the press and a former president no longer has access to Twitter. In case you missed it though, Arlington’s schools will be fully open to hybrid in-person learning by next week.
VDOT is in the process of designing changes to Route 1 as it travels through Crystal City.
The changes include turning Route 1 from more of a highway to an urban boulevard of sorts, with the heavily-traveled commuter route brought down to grade in places where it’s currently elevated.
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By Rev. Jonathan Linman
A year ago, Resurrection Lutheran Church in Westover voted to call me as their pastor. Shortly thereafter, the global pandemic was declared and the congregation, in keeping with safety protocols, discontinued meeting for Sunday worship. Only once have I experienced this congregation as a people that actually congregates in the church building in person on Sundays!
Our stretch of dry weather is set to continue, and after a chilly weekend we’ll have warming temperatures next week.
While we look forward to the spring-like weather, you can peruse the most-read ARLnow articles of the past week, below.
The pandemic has shown us that reopening schools safely should not be left solely to school districts. Local governments have a critical role to play both financially and logistically in helping with reopening.
On March 2, APS began a phased return of additional students for the hybrid in-person option two days per week, since Level 1 students returned on November 4.
Fevers. Chills. Headache. Sore arm.
All of these hit at 1 a.m. after my second Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shot. However, it was the happiest fever, chills and headache I’d ever had, because I knew this short-lived post-vaccination ailment would protect me from severe COVID-19 illness.
This year, I was honored to be named a 2021 “Strong Woman in Virginia History”, along with four other outstanding Virginians, including fellow Arlingtonian Evelyn Syphax. I must admit that the award challenged my idea of history and how we celebrate.
I was impressed by looking at past honorees that the Library of Virginia and Dominion Energy, the program sponsors, seem to have consistently recognized Virginians at all stages of their lives.
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Crystal City and Pentagon City have long been a patchwork of single-family homes, dense retail, and aging office buildings, cut up by wide roads. Nothing divides the neighborhoods more than Route 1, which is elevated as it comes from DC into Arlington.
Two years ago, when Amazon selected Arlington for its second headquarters, it pushed to include a plan to bring more sections of the highway to ground level. Although many urban highways should be removed, the Route 1 plan is imperiled by the decision to maintain current traffic volume.
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With County Board meetings, budget news, and plenty of other things going on, it was a busy week in Arlington.
Expect more of the same next week, with County Board budget sessions instead.