Thursday, April 2, 2009

March RAFOM meeting

The Radnor/Ft. Myer Heights Civic Association (RAFOM) met on March 31. Some notes:
  1. RAFOM President Stan Karson noted that RAFOM, with 79 dues-paying members, ranks near the top in membership among Arlington civic associations.
  2. Three Radnor Ft. Myer Heights neighbor signs will be erected using money allocated from the County upon approval of our Neighborhood Conservation Plan. One possible design has an image of the Iwo Jima. Another possible design sketches a community with Rt. 50 and a bridge over Rt. 50 in the middle. If you have an idea for a design, contact RAFOM right away. Design options will be subject to vote in the April RAFOM meeting.
  3. Funding for a sidewalk on N. Quinn St. appears likely.
  4. Orders for trees from the Arlington Tree Give-Away are due Apr. 24.
  5. The Arlington Home Show and Expo is Apr. 11. : "Learn how to grow a bonsai tree, finance your home remodeling project, build “green,” or make your home more energy efficient at the third annual Arlington Home Show and Expo on Saturday, April 11 from. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Walter Reed Community Center, 2909 S. 16th St."
  6. Dr. Claire Cifaloglio, Arlington County Health Office, provided a highly informative talk on preventive health. One important idea I got from the talk is the cost of false positive in medical screening. Getting more health tests is not necessarily better. Think of it this way: if you're low risk for a health problem, you might have a 1 in million change of having the disease. But the rate of false positives from the test might be 1 in a thousand. If you falsely test positive, you will be subject to additional medical procedures that inevitably carry some health risk, plus you will be subject to stress, wasted time, and wasted money. Multiply expected costs by a thousand (1-in-a-thousand false positive versus 1-in-a-million true case) and they may outweight the expected benefits of detecting the (rare) condition. For some preventive health tools, see Guidelines to Clinical Preventive Services 2008, Cardiovascular Risk Tool, Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator, and the Breast Cancer Risk Tool.
  7. A County Board budget work session will take place on Apr. 7 at 7 pm in the third-floor County Board room at the Courthouse County Building. Libraries and parks will be discussed. The public can attend, but there will not be public comments.
  8. The Arlington County Board will vote on the county budget for fiscal year 2010 on Apr. 28. County Board Member Mary Hynes will be the guest speaker at the April RAFOM meeting, which will occur later that week (exact date not yet set).

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