In her summation at the end of the County Board’s Jan. 12 Amazon “Listening Session” at the NRECA building, Board member Katie Cristol said she wished there were a magic lever to pull which would produce affordable housing. Her regretful conclusion: there is no such lever.
But our Board is focused intently on looking for levers to make housing more affordable — even if those levers aren’t magical.
There’s another storm on the way this weekend — but it’s not shaping up to be anything like last weekend’s blizzard.
Forecasters are calling for another small batch of rain and perhaps even some snow to roll through tomorrow (Saturday), but it shouldn’t be anything too disruptive.
Why were Arlington schools closed on Tuesday when every surrounding jurisdiction operated on a two hour delay?
According to the Sun Gazette, it could have something to do with Arlington’s desire to get a waiver from the so-called “Kings Dominion rule” which stops many school districts from returning to school until after Labor Day. Fairfax County was granted the waiver primarily on the basis of too many snow days a couple years back, so maybe it would work for Arlington?
By Laura Saul Edwards
President Trump’s current, partial government shutdown has achieved the dubious distinction of being the longest in our history. Before Trump began the shutdown on Dec. 22, he announced “I am proud to shut down the government,” and he promised Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Speaker of the House Pelosi (D-Calif.) “I’m not going to blame you for it.” One month later Trump changed his tune and tweeted “The Democrats own the shutdown!”
At its Jan. 8 meeting, the Arlington County Civic Federation (Civ Fed) passed a resolution 66-17-3 regarding the Level of Service (LOS) recommendations for athletic fields contained in the latest draft of the Public Open Spaces Master Plan (“PSMP” or “POPS” plan). (LOS is an acronym for Level of Service.)
Among many other provisions, the Civ Fed’s two-page resolution calls upon the Arlington County government to “withdraw the specific LOS athletic field recommendations” from the POPS plan.
The weekend is nearly upon us, and so too perhaps is our first big snow storm of the winter.
Forecasters are currently projecting that the storm will hit D.C. in earnest around 4 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday), with at least a few inches of snow expected.
County Board Members Garvey, Gutshall and de Ferranti also chimed in with their current priorities at the annual organizational meeting. Each gave a nod to the budget process which will undoubtedly result in a hefty tax rate increase. The ongoing questions with Amazon’s arrival, soaring housing costs, transportation and schools were on also their lists in one way or another.
Newcomer Matthew de Ferranti recapped his campaign promises in his speech. Oddly, he put building a new high school at the top of his list for the 2020 budget process. Since he is not on the School Board, one can only assume that item is what he will hang his hat on in order to vote for a tax rate increase.
By Laura Saul Edwards
Arlington is rightfully proud to have attracted Amazon — one of the world’s largest companies — to our community.
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.
On Jan. 9, Virginia House of Delegates member Michael Webert (R-Fauquier) offered legislation (HB 1886) that would, if enacted, establish:
The first weekend of 2019 is set to be a warm and wet one.
The forecast is calling for a whole lot of rain to move into the D.C. area starting tonight, and lingering into Saturday as well. At least temperatures will shoot up into the 50s for most of the weekend.
Arlington’s School Board is set to pick a new name for Washington-Lee High School next week, putting an end to the simmering debate over how to best strip Robert E. Lee’s name from the building.
The Board voted in June to remove the Confederate general’s name from the school’s moniker, kicking off months of squabbling over potential new names and even a failed lawsuit seeking to block the change. A renaming committee has recommended “Washington-Loving” to honor the Virginia couple who successfully challenged the state’s ban on interracial marriage, while “Washington-Liberty” earned the support of some committee members as a secondary recommendation.
WMATA announced this week that Metro riders will be able to bring their bikes with them on trains regardless of the time.
The new policy “ends a longstanding restriction that prohibited bicycles during rush hours.” On social media, some celebrated the decision as a win for carless commuters, while others lamented the idea of having to compete for space with bulky bicycles on crowded Metro trains.
