Mark Schwartz | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published May 13, 2020 at 7:30AM

County Scaling Down Capital Improvement Plan — “As the County continues to experience the economic impacts of COVID-19, County Manager Mark Schwartz intends to present the Arlington County Board with a short-term proposed Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) rather than the traditional 10-year plan.” [Arlington County]

Metro May Require Masks — “Metro riders may not see service fully restored until spring 2021, but the WMATA is now making plans to gradually get trains and buses running more frequently. News4’s Adam Tuss has learned that officials are considering requiring all riders to wear face masks on buses and trains and applying social distancing measures.” [NBC 4]

News

County Board Adopts New, No-Frills Budget

By ARLnow.com

Published April 30, 2020 at 5:15PM

The Arlington County Board today adopted a budget for the coronavirus era.

Gone is the good budget year and the idea of expanding programs and services. In its place is a focus on preventing service reductions while supporting the most vulnerable members of the community.

News

BREAKING: Proposed County Budget Slashed

By ARLnow.com

Published April 6, 2020 at 4:40PM | Updated April 7, 2020 at 1:34PM

County Manager Mark Schwartz (file photo)

No raises, few areas of additional spending and a couple of delayed openings.

That’s the summary of County Manager Mark Schwartz’s revised budget proposal, as announced by Arlington County on Monday afternoon.

News

BREAKING: Arlington County Declares Local Emergency

By ARLnow.com

Published March 14, 2020 at 10:50AM

(Updated at 11 a.m.) While sitting a safe distance away from each other, members of the Arlington County Board voted 4-0 to approve a declaration of local emergency this morning, amid the coronavirus outbreak.

County Manager Mark Schwartz signed the declaration of emergency at 7 p.m. Friday. He said the declaration will allow the county to more easily obtain state and federal funds, acquire needed goods and services, and hire staff as needed.

News

Arlington County Officials Hold Coronavirus Q&A

By Vernon Miles

Published March 5, 2020 at 11:20AM | Updated September 23, 2020 at 11:23AM

There are confirmed cases of coronavirus on the East Coast, so Arlington County assembled some local experts to talk about what the county is doing to prepare for a potential outbreak while clearing up some misconceptions about the disease.

A number of county officials fielded questions sent via social media during Wednesday night’s online panel discussion. Dr. Reuben Varghese, the Arlington County Director of Public Health, answered the lion’s share of the questions as he told locals what to do, and what not to do, to prevent the spread of the disease.

News

Three Arlington Streets Tagged With New $200 Speeding Fine

By Vernon Miles

Published February 27, 2020 at 10:00AM | Updated February 27, 2020 at 12:33PM

Arlington County Police cars (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

If you’ve got a lead foot, you should probably slow down, especially — soon — on three particular Arlington streets.

In January the Arlington County Board voted to start imposing an additional $200 fine for speeding on certain residential streets.

News

‘Good News Budget’ Gives County Staff Raises, Has No Tax Rate Increase

By ARLnow.com

Published February 20, 2020 at 4:30PM | Updated February 20, 2020 at 8:25PM

(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) Amazon is moving in at a quickening clip and Arlington County’s budget-makers are breathing a sigh of relief.

After a few years of tight budgets, involving tax rate hikes and a handful of county staff layoffs, “this is a good budget year,” County Manager Mark Schwartz said today, ahead of presenting his proposed Fiscal Year 2021 budget to the Arlington County Board.

Traffic

Arlington County Now Shuts Off Traffic Cameras During Crashes

By ARLnow.com

Published January 29, 2020 at 3:55PM

Traffic cameras are used by the media to inform the public about incidents on the road — from crashes to road closures — in traffic and news reports.

Arlington County has one of the region’s more accessible traffic camera networks, with some 180 camera feeds available on the county’s website since 2015.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published January 3, 2020 at 7:30AM

Pike Lane Closures Prompt Apology — “Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz has apologized that residents, business owners, and commuters weren’t informed how their lives would be temporarily affected by a road construction project on Columbia Pike, near the Fairfax County border,” per WTOP. County officials will be holding a press briefing about the lane closures on the Pike this morning. [WTOP, Arlington County]

Park Near HQ2 May Have Security Features — “Amazon.com Inc. is weighing methods for securing its second headquarters and appears to be looking across the pond for ideas. The U.S. embassy in London… avoids fences in favor of a number of ‘defense strategies’ disguised as a ‘welcoming landscape that is experienced as a public park,’ an Amazon representative told Arlington County officials.” [Washington Business Journal]

News

County Rolls Out New Snow Plow Map

By ARLnow.com

Published November 21, 2019 at 9:30AM

New Arlington County snow activity map

In time for the holiday season, but before there’s any measurable snow in the forecast, Arlington officials have unveiled a new snow plowing map intended to track snow clearing activity in the county.

The map is the successor to a previous online snow cleaning map — which didn’t work correctly, caused confusion following a blizzard in 2016 and was ultimately removed from the county website.

News

County Board: No Property Tax Rate Hike Next Year

By ARLnow.com

Published November 20, 2019 at 9:20AM | Updated November 20, 2019 at 12:08PM

(Updated at 12:05 p.m.) The Arlington County Board is asking the County Manager for a budget that contains no property tax rate hike and maybe even a rate cut.

Members gave their Fiscal Year 2021 guidance to County Manager Mark Schwartz at last night’s recessed Board meeting.

News

The Day After Tomorrow: County Looking to Prevent Future Floods After July Storm

By Kalina Newman

Published September 25, 2019 at 3:30PM | Updated September 25, 2019 at 5:03PM

Following weeks of fallout from the July 8 storm, Arlington officials are discussing a new program for tackling future floods.

During Tuesday’s County Board meeting, County Manager Mark Schwartz introduced “Flood Resilient Arlington,” to be considered during the spring budget planning.