Peter’s Take

Opinion

Peter’s Take: Aquatics Center Sinks Even Deeper

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

On Dec. 12, I recommended that the County Board direct the County Manager to “halt all further work on the Aquatics Center… and develop a new, cost-effective design for a sensible recreation center at Long Bridge Park (including a swimming pool).” Little did I know when I wrote that December column that the construction bids to build this facility also would come in so much higher than anticipated.

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Opinion

Peter’s Take: Support the Virginia Dream Act

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

The Virginia Dream Act will enable a student who is a child of undocumented immigrants to pay the in-state tuition rate at Virginia colleges and universities—if that student meets certain criteria. In a bill proposed by Arlington Democratic Delegate Alfonso Lopez, a student will be eligible for the in-state tuition rate if he/she:

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Opinion

Peter’s Take: Support Medicaid Expansion in Virginia

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Fairfax County has prepared a helpful three-page white paper summarizing the issues at stake. You can access that white paper here.

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Opinion

Peter’s Take: Strengthen Arlington’s Social Safety Net

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

We read often about how many wealthy people live in Arlington, but perhaps not often enough about the needs of others who live here too.

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Opinion

Peter’s Take: Cancel the Aquatics Center and Start Over

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

The Aquatics Center hasn’t been built yet, and it shouldn’t be built. The County Board should scrap its Olympian pretensions and its desire to build King’s Dominion North at the expense of Arlington taxpayers. The board should explain its decision as follows: “We have made a mistake, and we are going to fix it. We have new information, and we are going to act on it.”

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Opinion

Peter’s Take: Arlington Budget Guidance, Part Two

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

The main reasons are: school enrollment has been rising, while it’s getting more challenging to deliver a 21st century education, and the APS share of the total budget has been slipping.

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Opinion

Peter’s Take: Budget Guidance for Arlington’s County Manager

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

As I have written in earlier columns, to accommodate the new normal of Arlington’s budget environment, Arlington needs to move now to the type of core services approach to budgeting used in other jurisdictions. Based on that reasoning, the budget guidelines the County Board should adopt this year ought to differ substantially from those it adopted last year.

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Opinion

Peter’s Take: New Spending Needed to Increase High School Capacity

By Peter Rousselot

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

How refreshing to see this degree of sensitivity to capital project costs!

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