This past Tuesday, candidates for Arlington School Board, Arlington County Board, and the 8th District representative to the U.S. House of Representatives participated in a candidate forum in Rosslyn. Rosslyn civic associations RAFOM and NRCA sponsored the forum.
Each candidate's name below links to the candidate's websites, which contain information that the candidates have asked voters to consider. Following the candidate's name is a link to a video containing the candidate's opening statement, response statement, and closing statement at the Rosslyn candidate forum. The candidates also answered questions from the relatively large and engaged audience. The Ode Street Tribune did not videotape the questions and answers.
I know nothing more than you do about the reasons for Brown's leaving as County Manager, and I agree that he made a good impression at the RAFOM meeting last month. However, there is an upside: we will have in Barbara Donnellan a first-rate, dedicated, candid, experienced County Manager. I came to know and respect her during the several years we have served on the Rosslyn BID Board and through her impressive appearances at the County Civic Federation.
Donnellan has served Arlington County for 27 years, included as Deputy County Manager and Acting County Manager. She deserves recognition and appreciation for her service.
Celebrate Car-Free Day this Wednesday with car-free creativity. The Car-Free Day website suggests "bicycling, walking, teleworking, carpooling, vanpooling or taking transit." These are all excellent ideas. But what about skateboarding? With the Potomac River getting cleaner and greener, you might also consider swimming. Or even better, do a triathlon commute: run to the Potomac, swim across, and then grab a Capital Bikeshare to go the final distance.
Triathlon commuting is not just for an ironman. Ducks waddle, paddle, and fly. Anyone can waddle, paddle, and peddle.
Arlington County is facing a projected $80 -$100 million budget gap for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 (July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011). That amounts to about 10% of the total County budget. Balancing the County budget will require tax and fee increases and service cuts.
Detailed information on the FY 2011 budget is available on the Arlington County website. Arlington County will also host an online community Q&A about the budget this Thursday, Jan. 14, from 2-3pm. County government officials will answer questions from the online audience. A complete transcript of the session will be available afterwords.
Three image candidates are from Rosslyn -- a Key Bridge image, an Iwo Jima image, and an image of the Rosslyn skyline. The fourth image shows the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Arlington students created these beautiful images.
I voted for the Key Bridge image despite its cheezy "come sail away" caption. Sorry, the radio drummed "come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me" into my head and I can't get it out. That song was from 1978. Does any current Arlington student actually listen to Styx? Must have been the parents. Kids, help educate your parents, play more of your music, louder, around your home.
Arlington County Board Chairman Walter Tejada gave a 2008 State of the County presentation Tuesday night at a County Board gathering. The above video provides about 8 minutes of excerpts from his presentation. A video of the whole session is available from the Arlington County website. The 2008 Arlington County Annual Report is also available.
According to Chairman Tejada, the state of Arlington is excellent. Arlington has a AAA bond rating and was thus able to float bonds with a 4.17% interest rate. Arlington is well-positioned to ride out what appears to be a major economic downturn.
Chairman Tejada discussed accomplishments in Arlington this year and thanked his fellow board members and Arlington residents who have helped to make Arlington a better place. Among other accomplishments, this year Arlington reformed the county government's compensation and healthcare plans, established an agenda for healthy living and a healthy environment, established a new bus transfer station in Shirlington, expanded the stock of affordable housing, and implemented diversity dialogues. Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards were recognized nationally as Great Streets.
The Board selected current Board Vice Chairman Barbara Favola to be Board Chairman in 2009.
The Arlington Neighborhood Day Parade this past Saturday was a brilliant festival of color, music, and motion. Large, talented, beautifully costumed, and energetic folk dance groups lit up the parade route from Court House to Clarendon. Me gustó especialmente Alma Boliviana y Tinkus Pachamama, y sobre todo Tobas Dinastia. Many other groups also participated, including Thomas Jefferson Middle School Theater, the Social Security Administration, and some organic vegetable group that gave me a small cucumber (quite tasty, thanks!).
The crowd was enthusiastic, but should have been larger for such a great event. If you missed it, you can at least enjoy the above video and Mark Blacknell's photos. Don't miss Arlington Neighborhood Day next year!!
At 7:40 am, I had a 20-minute voting wait for presidential primary voting in the Wilson precinct at Wilson Elementary School in Rosslyn. Waiting time appeared to have been similar next door for Rosslyn precinct voting at Fire Station #10.
Obama signs and supporters were much more visible in the vicinity of the voting places than were signs and supporters for other candidates. The Obama supporters included persons holding hand-written signs and persons with big cardboard cut-out letters spelling "Obama."
I also saw a curious indication of grass-roots support for Obama when riding my bike this past Sunday morning. A woman and three young children were standing on the side of the road waving Obama signs and holding Obama leaflets. A red light made me stop in front of them. The woman and the children yelled, "Vote for Obama." I said, "I will." Then the woman said, "I went to law school with him. He's a great person." At that point the light turned green so I sped off.
At the Wilson precinct I noticed a Reuters cameraman along with a female assistant. His video camera was much bigger than mine. I was standing behind them shooting, along with them, the voting officials checking the registration of voters. A voting official came up to me and said you can't take video here. My feelings of inadequacy raised even higher, I sputtered, "What about them?" She said, "They have permission. You have to ask the person in charge."
I explained to the person in charge that I live in the neighbor, I'm a local news blogger, and I'm covering the voting for my neighborhood blog. The official looked at me as if I were truly a manly reporter. He said that the concern was only that I didn't take video from any position that might reveal how a person is voting at a voting machine. He said nothing about my camera size. This made me feel good about U.S. democratic culture.
Additional note: Uploading video to youtube seemed much slower than normal. I don't mind taking annual leave to cover important public events as a volunteer citizen journalist. But burning annual leave while waiting for video to upload is annoying. I hope the hard-working and dedicated FCC bureaucrats will succeed in helping to get the public cheaper, faster connectivity.
Thank you for writing in regard to snow and ice on trails. When it first snows most of the County resources are directed to clearing streets and sidewalks of snow, ice and downed trees. We focus first near high priority areas such as safe routs to schools, Public facilities and Metro rail access paths.
There are sections of the trail system that are cleared during snow events that correspond to the areas mentioned above. The BicycleAdvisory Committee is also helping to identify new areas that may be problematic. Due to limited resources, we rely primarily on melting to clear the majority of trails. Limited clearing occurs in problematic areas. Freeze - Thaw situations can cover the trails again. We constantly remind patrons to use extreme caution when using trails. We discourage bicycle traffic during those times.
Fortunately, the snow and ice usually only remain a few days. Most years, the majority of the trails are clear for more than 48 weeks. Snow covers streets and sidewalks about 2 weeks during the course of a year. Keep in mind that the trails are multi-use trails. Cross country skiers may also utilize these areas during snow events.
We certainly appreciate any information you want to share about areas that are not cleared by warmer weather in a few days. I understand that areas in shade take longer to clear. Staff may be able to treat those areas. Your information will help us plan where to treat in the future.
If I can provide further information, please contact me again.
Kevin Stalica Park Service Area Manager Office 703/228-7743 Fax 703/228-6507
Arlington County residents will elect two County Board members in the election on Nov. 6, 2007. RAFOM sponsored a debate among the candidates on Oct. 10. Each candidate began with a five-minute opening statement. Here are videos of the opening statements:
Each candidate then gave a two-minute responding statement. Subsequently, persons at the meeting asked the candidates' questions. Every candidate had two minutes, later shortened to one minute, to respond to the questions.
Here are links to videos of the first six questions asked, along with the candidates responses.
Good government depends on active, informed, and caring persons. Participate in the democratic process!
Update: Mary Hynes and Walter Tejada were elected to the Arlington County Board. Congratulations to them, and thanks to all the candidates for contributing to the democratic process in Arlington.
Arlington County Board Candidates discuss differences in policies toward multi-family dwellings vs. single-family homes. Video from the RAFOM candidates' Debate on Oct. 10, 2007.
Arlington County Board Candidates discuss the County police's role in enforcing federal immigration laws. Video from the RAFOM candidates' Debate on Oct. 10, 2007.
Arlington County Board Candidates discuss the importance of political diversity among members of the County Board. Video from the RAFOM candidates' Debate on Oct. 10, 2007.
Arlington County Board Candidates address how the Board should manage the decline in housing assessments at the RAFOM Candidates' Debate on Oct. 10, 2007.
