Advocates for the shuttered Lee Community Center are making a last-minute bid to include renovation funding in the county’s updated capital improvement plan.
Jean Henceroth, president of the Leeway Overlee Civic Association, said $10 million in funding would allow for the upgrades needed to reopen the facility.
Having saved the Cherrydale Library from closing, advocates now want the county government to address the building’s accessibility issues.
Making upgrades to reach Americans with Disabilities Act standards “will allow the library to better serve the neighborhood and the county, and strengthen its long-term viability,” said Michael Gessel, president of Citizens for Cherrydale Library, at a public hearing on the proposed FY27-36 capital improvement plan.
With a promised community library for Crystal City on the sidelines for now, one library advocate has floated an alternate proposal.
Speaking at the July 7 public hearing on the county’s new 10-year, $4.3 billion capital improvement plan, Crystal City resident Michael Skros urged county leaders to focus instead on upgrading the nearby Aurora Hills branch library.
A county advisory panel proved disinclined to push for a mandatory local “rent registry” giving the public more transparency when it comes to rising apartment costs.
The proposal, floated in late May by the legislative-priorities subcommittee of the Housing Commission, did not make the cut at the subcommittee’s June 29 work session.
When it comes to support of the arts in Arlington, one candidate is thinking big. To his competitors in next month’s Democratic primary, however, it is too big.
Democratic County Board contender James DeVita has been touting support for a major arts center during recent candidate forums and on campaign signage.
The county government is readying for major expansion of Penrose Square, with funding to start flowing in about three years — an effort bringing accolades from several Columbia Pike organizations.
County Manager Mark Schwartz has included $4.27 million in funding for fiscal 2030 in his proposed 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) set for a final County Board vote in mid-July.
The Arlington County Board says a UFC fight at the White House that featured two of the County’s uniformed police officers “exploited good faith efforts to honor the 25th anniversary of 9/11.”
The two officers, both first responders to the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, escorted a fighter to the Octagon at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, the event President Trump hosted on the White House South Lawn to mark his 80th birthday and the country’s 250th anniversary. They were among the 9/11 first responders invited by the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a non-profit established in memory of an FDNY firefighter who died in the attacks.
The former Lee Community Center on Langston Blvd could remain on ice for up to a decade while county officials decide what to do with it.
County Manager Mark Schwartz’s proposed 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP), released in May, calls for waiting until fiscal year 2035 or 2036 before addressing renovations and future programming at the facility. However, both civic leaders and at least one County Board member are hopeful they can shorten that timeline.
Arlington’s proposed 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) includes no funding for planning or building new library facilities near Columbia Pike, despite the desires of some in the area.
Still, County Manager Mark Schwartz says he and his staff haven’t forgotten residents’ wishes for an expanded or brand new community library.
The incumbent County Board chair and four candidates seeking to oust him each say the county government needs less bureaucracy and more creativity in supporting the business and development communities.
“Our processes are not efficient enough,” Board Chair Matt de Ferranti acknowledged at a June 23 candidate forum sponsored by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.
Arlingtonians’ views of the county government performance and overall quality of life have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, a new survey confirms.
While improving from the last resident-satisfaction survey conducted in 2022, overall grades on six key metrics remain down from 2018, according to data presented June 17 to County Board members.
It could now be 2027 before any community task force is empaneled to consider structural changes to county governance.
A timetable put in place last December suggested that a task force could be appointed sometime in the second half of 2026. But getting past a number of procedural steps has taken longer than anticipated, County Board members were told at their June 17 meeting.
