The system would improve the response times of emergency responders by preemptively turning traffic lights red for conflicting traffic in the path of an emergency vehicle.
The $563,902 contract, which includes an $87,384 cost overage contingency, would install the EVP system at 31 traffic signals on Lee Highway. The federal government is providing most of the funding for the project, with Arlington County chipping in about $130,000.
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]
Like the jolly elf, Zimmerman quietly listened to the hopes and dreams (and gripes) of business owners throughout the year, then delivered a tidily wrapped present in the form of his speech at the county board’s New Year’s Day organizational meeting.
Zimmerman, who was officially elected chairman of the county board earlier in the meeting, told the assembled few (and those “watching over their toes” on the county’s TV channel) that “to realize our goals for the community, we need businesses to succeed.”
This year the county board’s traditional New Year’s Day organizational meeting will feature the election of Chris Zimmerman as chairman and Mary Hynes as vice chairman. After taking a number of formal administrative votes, Zimmerman and the rest of the board will individually outline their strategic priorities for the year ahead.
The 11:00 a.m. meeting is open to the public. Here’s the agenda:
But lately Zimmerman had been expressing frustration, both publicly and privately, with what he sees as the inability of federal, state and local governments to properly fund Metro. In fact, at last Tuesday’s county board meeting — just two days before he would announce his resignation — Zimmerman spoke about the issue during a discussion of the county’s transit development plan.
Specifically, Zimmerman was addressing a question about adding more eight car trains on the Orange Line — something that Metro had promised but only partially delivered. Here’s what Zimmerman said:
Washington restaurant maven Don Rockwell is reporting via Twitter that American Flatbread in Clarendon will be closing for good on Christmas Eve.
In an article about the pizza restaurant published earlier today, Rockwell discussed the lack of customers at Flatbread, which sits two blocks away from Clarendon’s main Wilson Boulevard drag.
Zimmerman has represented Arlington on the Metro board since January 1998. He also serves on several other regional transportation boards.
Gordon Linton, a Metro board member representing Montgomery County, also resigned at a board meeting today.
The ordinance calls for snow and ice to be removed from sidewalks within 24 to 36 hours of precipitation ending.
The chief means for enforcement of the ordinance will, essentially, be neighbors tattling on each other, via a new web-based reporting form.
The county board reflected on 2010 at its meeting yesterday evening. Board members were treated to a five-minute year-in-review video prepared by the staff of the county’s cable channel.
Yesterday a plurality of readers said the program should simply be dismantled. But that seems unlikely, given the county board’s expressed support for the program on Saturday.
Susan Kalish, spokesperson for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, says the county has gotten a “deluge” of snowblower requests this year and will likely be deciding this week whether to purchase additional machines.
The board approved a supplemental commercial property tax in Ballston to pay for the formation of a Ballston Business Improvement District. It did so with the encouragement of many large property owners — like JBG, Shooshan Company and Ballston Common Mall owner Forest City — but over the objections of a few, like the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the Nature Conservancy.
“A Business Improvement District for Ballston is the best vehicle for building on Ballston’s already considerable assets and positioning it for the future,” Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette said in a statement. “With the success of our BIDs in Crystal City and Rosslyn, we know that this new BID will contribute greatly to the future success of Ballston.”
County Manager Barbara Donnellan told the board on Saturday that the county has received requests for 50-60 snowblowers so far this winter. Arlington only has about ten snowblowers available to loan to local civic associations.
Faced with that news, the board seemed willing to expand the snowblower loan program, the goal of which is to allow citizens to clear publicly-owned sidewalks in their neighborhoods. The program also allows civic associations to clear sidewalks for elderly or disabled neighbors who aren’t capable of doing so themselves.
