Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com
Despite mounting evidence that Arlington County government’s past designs for stream “restorations” are fundamentally flawed, the County persists in moving forward with these flawed designs at Donaldson Run Tributary B (“Trib B”), Gulf Branch and elsewhere.
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.
Last week Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz unveiled the proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The budget includes a record $550 million for Arlington Public Schools. It also includes raises for all Arlington County staff, including larger raises for public safety employees. And it grants more paid family leave as well as increases dependent care benefits.
Progressive Voice is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the authors’.
Virginia’s presidential primary is March 3, so the editors of Progressive Voice asked Arlington supporters of a few Democratic presidential candidates to answer this question: “How would my candidate be best at connecting with undecided voters across the U.S. to show how Democrats can reflect and serve them?” (The choice of candidates to cover was solely that of the Progressive Voice editors.)
It’s been another week of weather ups and downs — and plenty of local news of note.
Here are the most-read stories of the past five days:
It’s Presidents Day weekend — or George Washington Day weekend, if you’re fancy and in Virginia — which means a three day weekend for many.
Well, not for the staff of ARLnow. Vern and the crew will be working all day Monday. Don’t expect much in terms of news articles, though — we’ll be working on some future stories and new initiatives.
As we head into Crossover (learn what that means here) in the General Assembly, I have a sense of pride about the great legislation that will likely become law during this session. I also maintain a massive fire of anger about a continued ambivalence towards ethics reform.
No substantive ethics reform will take place in the general assembly this year. At least one of our own Arlington legislators voted against every campaign finance reform measure presented to the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections, leading to its death in committee, including campaign contribution limits of $20,000 (SB 488), and prohibiting contributions from a public service corporations such as Dominion Energy or Washington Gas (SB 25). In the House, all four campaign finance bills (HB 111, HB 851, HB 895, HB 848) died by not being voted on in Committee.
Arlington County recently conducted a study asking residents to select and rate a series of values that should be the foundation for setting the County’s water utility rate structure.
The values: Simplicity, Affordability, Conservation, Economic Development, Cost Equity, and Financial Sustainability.
This winter in Arlington has been an anomaly.
It’s the only winter since 1932 in which the temperature has failed to drop below 22 degrees. And it’s generally been cloudy, rainy and — well — pretty gloomy.
Thumbs down…
To Delegate Hope’s bill proposing instant run-off voting. This is an attempt to prevent third party candidates from having any real influence on an election. In Arlington that would often mean a Green Party candidate siphoning off votes from Democrats. If a Democrat in Arlington is incapable of achieving a plurality of the vote, maybe it should be accepted as a way that the public is telling you they want a change in leadership.
By Madaline Langston
While various panels and programs have explored racism in Arlington, dozens of students recently took a different tack, using site visits, interviews with community members, and creative drama to “Flip the Script.”
After a soggy week, a dry (weather-wise, at least) weekend is upon us.
Without further ado, here are the most-read articles of the past five days:
Accountability in education means having clear goals for student achievement and data that is readily available to decision-makers and the public to assess progress toward those goals.
Strategic Planning – Setting Goals
