Virginia fans of the Washington Commanders soon may be able to show their love via a specialty license plate.
Legislation patroned by Del. Adele McClure (D-2) of Arlington/Alexandria is moving forward in Richmond, allowing for a license plate honoring the NFL team.
A set of 25 new license plate cameras are scheduled to go live in Arlington in coming weeks.
The cameras, from the surveillance company Flock Safety, provide more information than the county’s existing license plate readers, which have been in use since 2012.
New automated license plate readers have appeared in Ballston.
Multiple readers have contacted ARLnow in recent days about new tech installed on traffic signal poles along Fairfax Drive, at the intersections with N. Stuart Street and N. Taylor Street. The devices bear the logo of Flock Safety, a distributor of police surveillance technology.
Arlington’s personal property tax car decals coon soon be a thing of the past, even as the tax associated with the tags looks set to stay.
The County Board is now considering eliminating the requirement that vehicles garaged in Arlington display a decal to demonstrate its owner has paid the necessary property tax on the car, effective July 1, 2019.
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles opened online voting today for a license plate design contest intended to help combat distracted driving.
Voters in the Take Action Against Distraction contest have a choice between eight license plate designs created by Virginia high school students. Each license plate aims to raise awareness about distracted driving, whether it be by texting or drivers failing to keep their eyes on the road.
Virginia’s new standard license plate, featuring the famous tourism slogan “Virginia Is For Lovers,” began being issued by the DMV last month. ARLnow.com has spotted several cars around Arlington sporting the new-look tags.
Other than the slogan — with a heart instead of the “v” in “lovers” — the license plate is the same blue-and-white design the Commonwealth has utilized for years. Nonetheless, when changes like this are made to something we’re all used to seeing on a daily basis, some strong feelings are sure to emerge.
“So far we’ve had quite a lot of interest from Beekeepers, Master Gardeners, Naturalists (including native plant and pollinator enthusiasts), and the Audubon Society,” said pollinator plate organizer Samantha Gallagher. “Like all of the proposed new Virginia plates, we need 450 applicants, the General Assembly’s vote, and the DMV’s approval.”
According to the Virginia Pollinator Plate web site, supporters have signed up 44 people so far. They need another 406 commitments by November 2012 to move on to getting legislative and DMV support. An electronic application can be found here.
Just like Santa Claus, Arlington’s tax enforcers know whether you’ve been naughty or nice. But instead of giving you a lump of coal in your stocking, the tax enforcers are taking something: your license plates.
We spotted Arlington County’s Automated License Plate Recognition vehicle on the prowl (see photo, top) in an apartment parking lot today. The vehicle — the only one of its kind in the county fleet — automatically reads license plates and tells the tax enforcement employee inside which vehicles belong to owners with overdue parking fines, vehicle property taxes or other public debts.
Arlington’s Urban Forestry Division encourages residents to apply for the plate. It should become available if 450 pre-paid applications are received and the General Assembly approves it next year. It will then be submitted to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
If the idea is accepted, the specialty plate will carry an additional yearly cost of $25. The revenue sharing plates allow Virginia Loves Trees to collect funds from each additional plate sold or renewed after the first 1,000 are issued. $15 from each sale will go toward urban forestry programs.
Arlington Police make at least one arrest per day thanks to the cameras, which snap photos of passing license plates and compare them to a database of stolen cars and wanted subjects. According to an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times earlier this week, the cameras can process up to 100,000 license plates per hour.
“It’s quick and efficient,” Arlington police Capt. Kevin Reardon told the Times.
Brink, who introduced the original House version of the bill, called the vote “a victory both for reproductive rights and First Amendment principles.”
Brink says the bill will allow the state to “give equal treatment to the pro-choice position,” given last year’s creation of a “Choose Life” license plate.
