Thursday, April 30, 2009

big crowd at Phoenix Bike's benefit

Two double-decker bikes were among the crowd of bikes parked outside the Rosslyn dome for the Phoenix Bikes' benefit. Inside were many cool bikes, including a Calfee bamboo tandem. The benefit celebrated extraordinary cyclists such as Sami. Arlington County Board Chairman Barbara Favola, speaking at the event, described Phoenix Bikes as one of the most worthy charitable causes in Arlington.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Westmoreland Condo annual meeting

At the Westmoreland Condominium annual meeting on Monday, April 27, Valerie Corda, Jennifer Hastings, and Joe Ruland were elected to the Condo Board for three-year terms. They will join Jose Calvo and Emil Tabakov on the new Board. Valerie and Jennifer were re-elected. Joe is a new Board member who will replace Clayton Taylor. Thanks to Clayton for his service on the Board.

Joe has lived in 1336 N. Ode St. since 1995. In his candidate's statement, he declared, "Buying my condo at Westmoreland has proved to be one of the best lifestle, financial, and practical decisions I've ever made." Thanks to Joe for his willingness to work to continue to make Westmoreland a great place to live. Joe expressed a particular interest in issues related to the level of noise in the buildings.

The Board reviewed the budget for fiscal year June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010. The reserve fund had $386,295 as of 2/28/09. The monthly condo assessment will increase 10% this coming year to help fund facade repair and roof repair. The repair program for the facade and roofs is planned for ten years. The Board noted that a 10% increase in condo assessments may be required each year for the next ten years to fund the repairs. The budgeted amount for capital improvements in FY 2010 is $182,942. Emil noted that rising heating oil prices have driven up the cost of hot water. The FY 2010 budget for water & sewer is $41,000. Total budgeted operating expenses for FY 2010 are $341,485.

Installation of Verizon Fios access will start in a couple of weeks. All units should be wired in 8-10 weeks. The installation will occur by buildings. Notices will be placed on individual buildings when the installlation in imminent. Contrary to previous information, a board will not be installed in each unit's closet. Only a small fiber optic wire will be pulled into the closet. A board and equipment will be installed if the unit owner later chooses to subscribe to Fios.

Nine residents, Board members Jose Calvo, Jennifer Hastings, and Emil Tabakov, and Property Manager Dennis M. Freeman attended the meeting. The next Board meeting, according to the regular schedule, would fall on May 25. That's Memorial Day. I guess that it will be scheduled for a different day. When I get information about the May meeting date, I'll post it.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Phoenix Bikes' benefit Thursday night

Rosslyn will host Phoenix Bikes' Bike Show 2009 this Thursday night from 7-9pm at the Dome Theater. Tickets at the door are $30, which goes to support a very worthy organization. If you attend, you will be treated with food, drink, amazing bikes, and raffle tickets. You will also get to meet some extraordinary cyclists. I'm definitely attending.

Arlington art show this Friday and Sat.

The Arlington Artists Alliance is having its spring show and sale this Friday and Saturday at St. Andrews Episcopal Church on Lorcom Lane in north Arlington.
There will be lots of original work in a range of prices, sizes, and styles—hand-painted cards, table top art for use and display, affordable originals, matted and ready for framing, and paintings framed for hanging. Wall artists include water media, oil, pastel, and mixed media painters. The show and sale opens Friday, May 1, 2009, 6pm - 9pm, with a meet-the-artists reception, light refreshments, and music by blues guitarist Tommy Peters. The show and sale continues on Saturday, May 2, 10am - 6pm.
I hope to attend and provide a follow-up report. But don't read and see what you've missed, go there yourself!

Update: If you didn't make this show, you missed an opportunity to buy a unique Mother's Day gift.


I especially liked Lieve De Wulf's ceramics. Quiet, elegant forms, quite reasonably priced. Look for them at future Arlington Artists Alliance shows.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

unveiling of historic call box art in Southwest DC

Vibrant civic organizations have refurbished historic police and fire department call boxes in the Southwest neighborhood of Washington, DC. The Call Box Committee of the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly partnered with the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Earth Conservation Corps to repaint the call box structures and to install art in them. This call box art was formally unveiled this past Saturday as part of the concluding weekend of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

In the ceremony, participants remembered the enthusiastic participation of DeAnthony Hensen. Street violence senselessly killed DeAnthony. Violence maims and ends the lives of far too many young persons in the greater DC metro area. Community life can be much better than that. The refurbished call boxes are a sign of hope and promise. That's not just for the Southwest neighborhood, but also for Rosslyn and for everywhere.

Here's a video of some highlights from the unveiling ceremony.

hide and seek this Sat. with Fart in DC

Fart (Faux Athletic Recreational Tournament) in DC has organized a city-wide game of hide-and-seek for this Saturday afternoon (April 18). Participants try to find 10 persons who are near DC-area metros. Entry fee of $15 will benefit the excellent local newspaper, Street Sense.

Looks like a good group. Check out a video of some of the fun last year.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

car-free book returns


The county government building at 2100 Clarendon Blvd includes an small extension of Arlington library and a 24-hour book drop. So there's no need to get in your car to return a book to Arlington Central library. The book drop is about a 10-minute walk from Westmoreland Condos, or about a 2-minute bike ride.

One of Arlington's styling bike posts is right in front of the building. That's handy for parking your bike if you need to do more time-intensive errands in that area.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

covered pothole moves underground

Last winter, there was a pothole on Arlington Blvd, about 20 yards up from Ft. Myers Heights Park on the near side of the road. I reported this pothole to Arlington County, and the County promptly filled it in. Defying skeptics, the pothole remains filled in.

Another pothole a few yards closer to the right turn onto Ft. Myer Dr. was also filled in. That pothole has wondrously moved underground to a new location about a foot away from the center of its still-filled old location. Amazing. Giving Arlington's budget squeeze, I've decided not to report this determined pothole. Just keep an eye out for it if you're riding a bike.

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).