A rebel faction of tradition-bound military officers has declared a legal war on the management of Army Navy Country Club for having the temerity to allow Arlington to build a bike path along the northeastern edge of the golf course.
A gang infestation, hoards of recreation-seeking youngsters and liability issues are a few of the undesirable consequences that the dissident club members fear. The officers, 14 in number, have enlisted a lawyer and are suing the club.
In an editorial today, the Washington Post questions the basis for Arlington County’s $750,000 lawsuit against the proposed high occupancy toll lanes on I-395. But after calling the lawsuit’s racial claims “a doozy” and asserting the need for more capacity along I-395 and I-95, the Post says that Virginia and the Feds should accede to Arlington’s request for a full environmental impact study.
The request is “reasonable,” the Post editorial board writes, while adding that “once [the study] is complete, Arlington should stand down before it throws further taxpayer dollars down into the sinkhole of litigation.”
In an ironic twist, Arlington taxpayers, who have already paid nearly three quarters of a million dollars to fight the state and federal plan to build high occupancy toll lanes on I-395, may end up partially footing the bill for the eventual construction of the lanes.
Uriah Kiser of InsideNoVA.com reports that state transportation officials are considering a plan that would use taxpayer dollars to supplement private funding for the construction of HOT lanes. Previously, officials had said that the lanes would be wholly funded by a private company, in exchange for a long-term lease on the lanes.
Twenty professionals, including Arlington Chamber of Commerce president Richard V. Doud, Jr., signed a memo urging county board chairman Jay Fisette to embrace the toll lanes project.
“The primary obstacle to advancing this innovative, multi-modal improvement is the Arlington County Board’s lawsuit that precludes the project from securing any private or public sector funding,” the letter stated.
Crystal City Restaurant owner Bill Bayne hopes the owners of PaperMoon Gentlemen’s Clubs succeed in their fight to bring hard liquor to Virginia’s topless bars.
Currently, the state prohibits adult clubs from “mixing distilled spirits with erotic performances,” as the Associated Press phrased it. In Richmond yesterday, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments against the statute.
Arlington County’s effort to build affordable housing on land owned by the First Baptist Church of Clarendon is facing tough opposition from neighbors who claim the development violates the separation of church and state. One resident has even filed a lawsuit — on constitutional grounds — against the church, the county and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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