Mark was a well-spoken, likable family man who took measured, intellectual positions on the issues. He was a Republican who Democratic voters could potentially find common ground with, especially in an anti-incumbent year.
In the end, however, Arlington voters re-elected Democrat Chris Zimmerman by a wide margin.
Greater Greater Washington’s Michael Perkins has an interesting thesis. He says that instead of shutting down at 6:00 p.m., parking meters in Arlington should run after dark in neighborhoods like Clarendon, Crystal City and Rosslyn.
Perkins says such a move would free up more street parking in Arlington’s business districts at night. It would also encourage more people to take transit, he says.
Republican county board candidate Mark Kelly has started running an ad on local cable television.
The county board has approved $3.87 million to fund ten neighborhood conservation projects.
The projects “will upgrade parks, and improve streets, sidewalks and street lighting in 10 neighborhoods across the County.”
“It does not come anywhere near funding the transportation needs of the state,” Barbara Favola said, of the plan’s stated goal of helping to fill the $20 billion worth of unfunded transportation needs in Virginia.
“Four-hundred-fifty million dollars is nothing,” said Chris Zimmerman, referring to the estimated one-time revenues that selling state-run ABC stores and auctioning off liquor licenses could provide. He said that one estimate puts the additional amount needed for transportation in Northern Virginia at $500 million per year.
Donnellan was referring to the fact that property values — and, thus, tax collections — have stabilized in Arlington, while other local communities continue to feel the pinch from the recession.
Even with a cautiously optimistic outlook, however, the county is still staring down a $25-35 million budget shortfall for FY 2012.
ARLnow.com first reported last month that Trader Joe’s was prepared to sign a lease in the Clarendon Center project if it could get some regulatory issues ironed out. Among them: the retailer wanted permission to have dedicated parking, wanted to display its products outside the store, and wanted a loading dock provision modified.
“I think we managed to work through all three issues,” Arlington County Planning Division Chief Robert Brosnan told us last night. “We do have a policy for shared parking, but we also have a policy for grocery stores, and it really is in the name of encouraging a grocery store that we will modify those requirements in this case.”
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.
On Oct. 1, following final approval by the county board and the Commonwealth Transportation Board, Columbia Pike was officially transferred from state control to county control.
The transfer is intended to speed up redevelopment along the Pike, as the county no longer has to go through a bottleneck of VDOT approvals to complete its Columbia Pike projects.
Secure Communities checks the immigration status of those booked into local jails by comparing fingerprints sent to the FBI’s criminal database to an ICE immigration database. Because the fingerprints are first sent to the state, which then sends them to the FBI, local communities can’t opt out, Morton said.
He also dispelled the notion that Secure Communities forces local police departments to enforce immigration laws.
“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.
Fisette, speaking at the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s monthly meeting, acknowledged that Brown’s sudden resignation and his $110,000 severance payout left more questions than answers last week. Video of the speech was posted on YouTube by the Blue Virginia blog.
“I understand some clarity is maybe required regarding the severance payment,” the county board chairman said. “I know there’s been some conversation in the community.”
