Opinion

The Right Note: It’s Budget Week

By Mark Kelly

After months of laying the groundwork to increase spending and raise taxes, Board members are set to increase the tax rate by two cents on top of rising assessments. The bottom line for the average Arlington homeowner is we will pay 5% more this year, roughly $400. As a bonus, it is retroactive to January 1st.

The Board could have worked harder to keep that tax increase lower. They didn’t. Despite the line that it gets easier budget wise next year, do not hold your breath that the tax and spending spree will slow down.

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Progressive Voice: Invisible Barriers: What do you see?

By Progressive Voice
Tannia Talento in 2019, when she was Vice Chair of the Arlington School Board (courtesy photo)

By Tannia Talento

How do you achieve social justice, equal access to opportunities for all, and access to the American Dream? If it is achievable anywhere, most of us believe it could be in Arlington.

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Peter’s Take: Salt Dome Master Plan Avoids Third Fiasco

By Peter Rousselot

In September 2018, the County Board appointed a new 15-member task force. The Board charged the task force with developing a Master Plan for a 7.6-acre parcel of County-owned land located at 26th Street N. and Old Dominion Drive.

This parcel is often referred to as the Salt Dome site.

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The Right Note: Inspired by AOC?

By Mark Kelly

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 year Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated a generally well-liked incumbent with a wealth of seniority and influence in a heavily Democrat Congressional district in New York City. She did it despite being outspent somewhere in the range of 18 to 1. It shocked the media and so-called political establishment.

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Progressive Voice: Democratic Candidates for School Board Make Their Case

By Progressive Voice

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.

To inform voters, Progressive Voice asked each candidate in the upcoming Democratic caucus for School Board to respond to this question: “The community has heard a lot about issues regarding a fourth high school, the capacity crunch, and school budget. What is a different major issue affecting students’ future success that you would address as a School Board member?”

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Morning Poll: Are You Getting More Robocalls?

By Airey

This year, half of all calls to your mobile phone could be robocalls, according to predictions by call protection company First Orion. And ARLnow wants to know: have you noticed more robocalls to your phone?

There were 27.2 million robocalls placed to 703-area-code numbers in March, per call tracker YouMail, and 13.2 million calls to 571 numbers.

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The Right Note: The Washington Monument Is Closing?

By Mark Kelly

When faced with the need to find budget savings, budget writers have been known to cut one of the most popular budget line items in hopes of avoiding the cuts altogether. It is known as the “Washington Monument Strategy.”

If the National Park Service needed to make a cut, they could simply propose closing the Washington Monument to visitors. News crews would catch disappointed tourists on the National Mall and ask them how they feel about the site being closed, creating a public relations nightmare. Capitol Hill offices would be flooded with phone calls. To stem the tide, funding would be restored.

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