Arlington County offices will be open on Columbus Day (Monday).
County offices and libraries will be open for the federal holiday. ART buses and Metro will run on a holiday schedule. Courts will be closed.
county government
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Cost of Ashlawn Addition Rises — The Arlington School Board has approved funding for an addition to Ashlawn Elementary School, though the addition will cost more than originally anticipated. The Board voted 3-2 to approve funding. Those voting ‘no’ were concerned that the cost had ballooned from $14.9 million to $20.4 million. [Sun Gazette]
School Board Addresses FLES Push — School Board Chair Abby Raphael says Arlington Public Schools will eventually roll out its Foreign Language in Elementary School program countywide, but it won’t happen as quickly as some parents are pushing for. Parents at schools without FLES have been speaking out at School Board meetings, calling for it to be introduced as soon as possible. Raphael said APS does not have the resources for FLES at all schools at the moment. [Sun Gazette]
Arlington Deputy County Manager Mark Schwartz has now responded.
In an op-ed, printed below, Schwartz says there are several reasons why the county government has nearly $300 million cash on hand. Chief among them: to provide a fiscal cushion that helps maintain the county’s high bond rating.
The county recently asked residents to participate in an online survey to gauge how user-friendly the website is. Arlington has kept its essential blue-and-white color-scheme, but changed the layout of the site to make it easier to navigate for residents and less focused on county government’s hierarchy.
The site will use the open-source content management system WordPress, and is designed to respond to frequent resident tasks — such as paying parking tickets and checking in on building construction — right from the home page.
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Metro Accident Victim Identified as GMU Student — The person struck and killed on the Metrorail Orange Line tracks between East Falls Church and Ballston early Sunday morning has been identified as 21-year-old George Mason University student Patrick Sibley. Sibley’s brother says he did not have a good sense of direction and may have become lost after leaving a bar in Clarendon and trying to make it home to Vienna. Metro is not commenting on the incident while it is under investigation. [Washington Post]
McDonnell Touts Budget Surplus — Gov. Bob McDonnell says the state ended its fiscal year on June 30 with $585 million more than projected. That’s the largest state surplus since 2005. The cumulative surplus during McDonnell’s nearly four years in office comes in at around $2 billion. [Washington Times]
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The victim, a Marine Corps Veteran, was struck by a Ford F-350 driven by Linwood Knight, a lift operator for the Department of Environmental Services, police said. According to county Director of Human Resources Marcy Foster, Knight is still employed by the county. The county does not disclose disciplinary action.
Knight was charged at the scene with failure to yield to a pedestrian, Arlington County Police Department spokesman Lt. Mike Watson said. The investigation has concluded and no other charges are pending.
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(Updated on 7/12/13) An Arlington County pickup truck struck a pedestrian in Crystal City this afternoon.
The county-owned Ford F-350 struck a female pedestrian on 12th Street between Army Navy Drive and Long Bridge Drive, according to scanner traffic. The woman was found under the truck and suffered non-life threatening injuries, including a leg and back injury.
Arlington County is mulling a proposal to narrow Wilson Boulevard west of George Mason Drive from four lanes to two through lanes and a center turn lane.
The proposal was conceived and endorsed by the Bluemont Civic Association (BCA) last fall, as part a recommendation to widen the sidewalks along Wilson Boulevard in the neighborhood.
The referendum will ask Arlington voters to authorize the operation of a low income housing authority, similar to those in more than 25 cities and counties around the state including Alexandria and Fairfax County. The Arlington Green Party (AGP) spearheaded the signature gathering efforts.
“Arlington’s current housing assistance program has failed to stop the loss of affordable housing, and a housing authority would raise funds more easily, lower administrative costs, and provide more affordable rental units,” said AGP chairman Steve Davis. “Arlington should follow Fairfax’s County’s outstanding example with a housing authority that provides more affordable housing to more people at less cost.”
In September, the county is expected to award a design/build contract for a new elevator that will run directly into the station from the southwestern corner of S. Hayes Street and 12th Street, near the Pentagon City mall.
The elevator will complement an existing elevator on the southeast corner of the intersection.
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Arlington’s population, currently estimated at 212,900, is projected to surpass 250,000 by 2030. The population will hit 258,800 in 2030, according to the latest projection from Arlington’s planning division. That’s up 5 percent from last year’s projection of 246,500.
The increase, according to county demographer Elizabeth Rodgers, is largely due to the fact that the Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Plan, approved in July 2012, was incorporated into the projection. The plan calls for the Pike to be transformed into a more populated, urban and walkable community, with 10,000 new housing units added by 2040.
Suzanne Smith Sundberg, a member of the Arlington County Civic Federation Revenues and Expenditures Committee, has written an eight page report detailing what she characterizes as a lack of audit oversight over the county’s finances.
The county eliminated two internal auditing positions during budget cuts in 2010, Sundberg writes, a move that raised red flags with her committee at the time. Recent news items have supported their concern and point to need to create a permanent internal auditing office, she says.