While Arlington Democrats work to select a nominee internally, Susan Cunningham — a civically-involved mother of two — has announced her intention to run as an independent to fill the seat of the late Erik Gutshall.
“I believe good local government is non-partisan,” she said in her announcement Tuesday morning. “We are all Arlingtonians; I want to work for Arlington’s common good, regardless of party.”
With a candidate filing deadline just a week away, Arlington Democrats are scrambling to nominate a candidate for the special election to fill Erik Gutshall’s former County Board seat.
Barring an intervention by state lawmakers and Gov. Ralph Northam, in support of which the local party has gathered more than 750 petition signatures, the nominee will be chosen by dozens of party insiders in a closed caucus next Wednesday.
(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) Arlington’s civic-minded voters are learning lessons in the art of campaigns and elections in the Age of COVID-19 — lessons in innovation that may well be a model for other jurisdictions and localities as election season heats up across the country.
On Tuesday night the Arlington Young Democrats and the Arlington Democrats co-hosted a Facebook Live debate with the 6 candidates for school board who are vying for the Democratic nod. The hour-and-a-half-long debate fielded questions from viewers that ran the gamut from COVID-19 response to the search for a superintendent to equity in the classroom, The debate was shared dozens of times and viewed by more than 1,600 people at the time of this writing.
Arlington’s coronavirus outbreak is continuing to take a grim toll.
The latest figures from the Virginia Dept. of Health report 967 known COVID-19 cases, 167 hospitalizations and 41 deaths in Arlington. That’s up from that 912 cases, 163 hospitalizations and 32 deaths reported yesterday (Wednesday).
Arlington County has cancelled its popular summer classes and programs, citing concerns about the ongoing coronavirus danger.
The county’s Department of Parks and Recreation announced Thursday that the activities for everyone from tots to older adults are the latest annual tradition to fall victim to the pandemic. The county is still mulling the status of summer camps for kids and expects to make a decision in early May.
The growth of new COVID-19 cases in Arlington doesn’t appear to be going down — though it doesn’t seem to be accelerating either.
As of Tuesday morning, there were 865 known coronavirus cases in Arlington and 157 reported hospitalizations. That’s up from 625 cases and 114 hospitalizations a week ago, and from 836 cases and 144 hospitalizations on Monday.
Arlington County is still sending letters threatening to turn off the water service of delinquent utility customers, though it actually stopped the practice last month amid the coronavirus outbreak.
On March 16 the Virginia State Corporation Commission ordered utility providers to stop disconnections of electricity, gas, water and sewer utility services as a result of the public health emergency. The next day Arlington announced that it was suspending water shut offs.
It is impossible to follow Virginia’s “stay-at-home” order if you do not have a home.
The emerging economic crisis across the country, as layoffs skyrocket, could leave millions of people with unaffordable housing, or even homeless. It goes without saying that increased homelessness and crowding within homes puts our community at risk for an even worse outbreak than we are already experiencing. For this most obvious reason, the County Manager’s proposed budget for FY 2021 puts a high priority on funding acute housing needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Updated at 5:40 p.m.) Arlington residents will select a new County Board member on July 7, following the resignation of the late Erik Gutshall.
Gutshall resigned from the Board just 10 days before passing away from brain cancer on Thursday, April 16.
There may be initial talks about planning for a limited reopening of the regional economy, but coronavirus cases are still rising in Arlington at a steady clip.
According to the latest Virginia Dept. of Health data, there are now 722 known cases of COVID-19 in Arlington, 120 hospitalizations, 24 deaths and 2,784 test results received. That’s up from 686 cases yesterday (Thursday) and 485 cases a week ago.
An Arlington sheriff’s deputy has tested positive for COVID-19, raising fears of a wider outbreak in the county jail.
In a press release Thursday night, the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office said the ailing employee is “is doing well and managing the illness at home, with the full support of family and the office.”
This article was written by Emily Cassell, Director of The Arlington Convention and Visitors Service
No one could have predicted the level to which this pandemic has altered our lives.
