Bishop O’Connell Lights Decision May Be Delayed — County Manager Barbara Donnellan recommended the County Board put off any discussion of Bishop O’Connell High School’s request to add lights to its athletic fields until June, to give staff more time to analyze the controversial issue. [Sun Gazette]
Look Who’s Coming to Dinner in Shirlington — Sen. Jim Webb was spotted having dinner at T.H.A.I. Shirlington Friday night, according to a blog. [Shirlington Village Blogspot]
Zimmerman Responds to HOT Lanes Criticism — County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman is responding to attacks by Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity and the Washington Post’s editorial board regarding Arlington’s lawsuit against HOT lanes on I-395. Zimmerman accuses Herrity and the Post of “distort[ing] both the reasons for the county’s litigation in the high-occupancy-toll (HOT) lanes case and its effects.” [Washington Post]
Bishop O’Connell Fight Continues — A group of residents is appealing the Arlington County zoning office’s decision to allow Bishop O’Connell High School to build a new athletic field. Separately, the county board will hear testimony next month about whether the school should be allowed to install stadium lighting around the new field. [TBD]
State Senator’s Husband Pens Alarming Column — Tom Whipple, husband of state Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D), has penned a column entitled “The Peak Oil Crisis: Civil Unrest” for the Falls Church News-Press. He writes: “By failure to guide the country to real solutions to real problems, our leaders are risking increasing violence as the frustrations of an unknowing people continue to grow.” [Not Larry Sabato]
Grocery Store and Development Proposed for Bergmann’s Site — A developer wants to bring a grocery store to the site of the Bergmann’s Cleaners on Lee Highway, provided the county also approves a 12-story apartment building next door. The apartment site is currently zoned only for single family homes. [TBD]
The photo (above left) of some sort of yellow rig near the Bishop O’Connell High School football field has neighbors speculating, according to TBD. Some believe that work is getting underway on a controversial athletic field renovation before the project has been formally approved by the county board.
We don’t know about that, but it does vaguely remind us the oil derrick from a 20-year-old Saved by the Bell episode entitled “Pipe Dreams,” in which oil is discovered underneath the Bayside High School football field. For a while, everybody thought the oil money was going to bring exciting improvements to the school, but in the end a beloved duck died and the whole situation was judged a fiasco.
Bishop O’Connell High School wants to spend $6 million renovating its football and baseball fields. The renovations would add new artificial turf to the football field, making it doubly usable as a regulation soccer field.
The renovations would also add lights to both fields, so they can be used after the sun goes down. The school has agreed to limit hours of use, however.
State May Force Arlington To Cough Up $1.5 Million — Arlington County, already raising taxes and cutting services due to a multi-million dollar budget deficit, may be forced to send $1.5 million to the state in the form of cash or reductions in state-funded programs. Virginia lawmakers are forcing localities to make the payments to plug the state’s own budget gap, according to the Washington Examiner.
Arlington Man Found Dead in D.C. — Arlington resident Isidoro Flores, 44, was found shot to death in northeast Washington early Saturday morning. His body was found near a tractor-trailer with an open passenger door, reports ABC7.
