Chris Zimmerman

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Kelly Has $10K Cash Advantage — Republican candidate for county board Mark Kelly may not have raised as much money as incumbent Chris Zimmerman but, true to his campaign platform, he also spent significantly less. Kelly had $28,480 cash on hand on Sept. 30, more than $10,000 more than Zimmerman. More from the Sun Gazette.

County Board Questions NOVA Budget Request — Northern Virginia Community College is asking localities to help cover its $14 million capital budget gap, but at a meeting last night the county board seemed less than enthusiastic about doing so in a year when more budget cuts and tax hikes are likely on the way. Currently, Arlington pays $1 per resident to NOVA’s capital budget fund. NOVA is asking for an additional 50 cents per person. More from TBD.

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News

Kelly Makes County Manager’s Resignation a Campaign Issue

By ARLnow.com

Last night, in an otherwise dry debate at the Lyon Village Civic Association’s general meeting, Kelly made the Brown issue central to his case against incumbent Democrat Chris Zimmerman.

“I want to give you one example that happened recently that I think points to the problem when one party controls every seat,” Kelly told the crowd. While saying that sometimes it’s necessary to fire people who aren’t working out, Kelly criticized the way in which board chairman Jay Fisette finally acknowledged that Brown did not simply resign for personal reasons.

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News

County Presses for Clarification on Secure Communities

By ARLnow.com

“We need to ask him to clarify this conflicting information we’ve been getting,” county board member Walter Tejada said in a telephone interview last night. He was referring to a recent Washington Post article that suggested communities will not be able to opt-out of the immigration enforcement initiative, as the county board had been led to believe.

“Once we have that clarification, and we better understand what else we need to be asking, we’re going to go from there,” Tejada said.

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News

Donnellan Takes Back the Reins

By ARLnow.com

Donnellan made her first public appearance as the newly-appointed county manager at a grand opening ceremony for the county’s new Department of Human Services building. She was greeted by county employees and members of Arlington’s state legislative delegation, including Del. Patrick Hope and Del. Adam Ebbin.

Donnellan brings 27 years of experience in county government and seven months of experience as interim county manager to the table.

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News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Examiner Keeps Blasting Arlington on HOT Lanes — Arlington’s million dollar HOT lane lawsuit continues to cause blood to boil at the Washington Examiner. This time, the Examiner hammers away at county board member Chris Zimmerman for his role on the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. Zimmerman is up for reelection this year, of course. More from the Washington Examiner.

Courthouse Hookah Bar Could Open By This Weekend — It seems impossibly speedy, but TBD reports that Adam’s Corner, the new hookah bar being launched by the owner of nearby Chez Manelle restaurant, could open to the public by the end of this week. Adam’s Corner will serve light fare and drinks (a liquor license is in the works), and will allow hookah smoking on the wooden deck outside. More from TBD.

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News

Kelly: Board is Out of Touch, Needs Diversity of Opinion

By ARLnow.com

“Between 2000 and 2009, the all-Democrat county board increased spending at a rate nearly three times inflation,” Kelly said in this opening remarks at Tuesday night’s Civic Federation debate. “Mr.  Zimmerman recently called that ‘cautious and careful fiscal management… only inside the Beltway would we call that cautious and careful fiscal management.'”

Kelly proposes to scrap the $150 million Columbia Pike trolley system, championed by Zimmerman. If elected, Kelly said he would push for the release of all county spending information online and support a 10 percent pay cut for board members to help pay for it.

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Around Town

Crystal City Trying to Attract a Grocery Store

By ARLnow.com

Crystal City has been without a grocery store for more than five years. But now, as developer Vornado works to attract more residents to the area, it’s also working hard to attract a new grocery store.

The Safeway that had served as Crystal City’s lone grocery store closed its doors in March 2005. The store had been an anchor tenant of the Crystal City Underground for 38 years, but decided to close when surface parking was eliminated as part of the revitalization of Crystal City.

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Around Town

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Summers Doing Big Business During World Cup — Summers Restaurant in Courthouse was so crowded during yesterday’s World Cup match between the U.S. and Algeria that the fire marshal showed up, according to NBC Washington. The 300-capacity venue was deemed 25 people over-capacity.

Zimmerman Urges State to Reconsider Metro Defunding Threat — “The state should not break the promise made to its residents and regional partners,” WMATA and Arlington County board member Chris Zimmerman wrote in an op-ed on the Washington Post’s website. Zimmerman and fellow Northern Virginia WMATA board member Catherine Hudgins say that if the state withdraws $50 million in funding, as it has threatened to do if it doesn’t get two seats on the Metro board, then a cooperative $300 million per year infrastructure improvement plan “will fall apart.”

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News

Should WMATA Pay When Metrobus Pass Holders Ride ART?

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s ART bus system may stop honoring Metrobus passes if WMATA doesn’t start sharing revenue, according to Michael Perkins at Greater Greater Washington.

While regional bus providers like ART are compensated when SmarTrip holders pay for individual rides, so far there is no revenue-sharing agreement for SmartTrip (and paper) “flash passes.”

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News

Republican Candidate Steps Up to Challenge Zimmerman

By ARLnow.com

South Arlington resident Mark Kelly has accepted the Arlington County Republican Committee’s nomination to run against the incumbent Democrat in the fall.

Kelly, a lawyer who works as an outreach manager at the conservative Heritage Foundation, faces daunting electoral odds. No Republican has won a seat on the board in a general election since 1983 (Republican Mike Lane won a special election in 1999 and served on the board for about six months).

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News

Zimmerman Warns of Impending Doom at Metro

By ARLnow.com

In a Washington Post Op-Ed titled “The sky really is falling at Metro,” Zimmerman warns of dire consequences if the agency doesn’t get the full $11.4 billion it needs for infrastructure projects over the next decade. That “massive infusion of infrastructure investment” will only be possible if state and local leaders from D.C., Maryland and Virginia increase Metro’s funding, he writes.

Zimmerman proposes that localities, at minimum, maintain current funding levels while working to implement a new regional tax to fund Metro. Zimmerman also calls for the federal government to begin making annual payments to the agency.

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