Stories

I started this web site about three-and-a-half years ago, and now it may be time to end it, for good.  Maybe.  I’m going to take some of the next four or six months to figure it out, and in that time, I will not be writing news for it.

I’m tired, to be fully honest.  This past semester at Montgomery College—my full-time job as a composition and journalism professor—was a long one.  I had to steal small pieces of time from many other parts of my life to write the HeraldTrib, this semester especially, and it showed in spotty, lackluster coverage, I thought. 

The blog started as a way to get a sabbatical from my teaching job.  The technology was new, and free, and Buckingham was not covered by the local papers, and the local papers were neither easily nor freely delivered to Buckingham, so I started a news site just for us.  I wanted it to be a chance, too, for me to try to tell news in a different way, more creatively.  And in the process, I was... (more)

Ballston

Comedy Sportz in the Ballston Commons Mall should have its use permit OKed by the county board at tomorrow’s meeting.  In their report, county staff said the comedy venue has operated in compliance with county regulations.  County staff has added one condition onto the club’s use permit: renewal of the the use permit applies only to Comedy Sportz; if they leave, the use permit does not transfer to the next organization to take the space.  Newcomers must apply for a new permit.  The county has been adding that as a new stipulation to all live entertainment venues.  The permit comes under review in another five years. 

Selected "boring but important" recommendations that the county board will consider... 

County staff is asking the board to shuffle money in the county’s affordable housing budget.  County staff is asking that money in the Housing Reserve Fund and in the “Loan Repayments” lines of the budget to be put into the Affordable... (more)

News and opinion about potential redevelopment along Glebe, gentrifying Arlington, and the calendar

Owners of “West Ballston” are still talking…

I stayed at the Arlington County Planning Commission meeting until 12:15a.m. (that’s midnight, plus 15 minutes, whew), to hear this line from commissioner Steve Cole: “The three, parcel owners are talking to one another and are working…to move forward.” 

The parcels are the land in the 500 and 600 blocks of N. Glebe Road on the west side—the land filled with the Harris Teeter, the American Service Center body shop, and the Goodyear Tire and Auto store. 

I reported in July that the planning commission was speaking with the owners of those three parcels (collectively being called “West Ballston”) who apparently are looking to redevelop all along that site.  Those early plans would move or expand the businesses, creating underground or garage parking, retail space and apartments, commissioner... (more)

“How you doin’ sugar? Happy Thanksgiving!” Associate Pastor Lynn Carter said as Diana Dean fixed a plate of leftovers from the buffet to take with her.  “You keeping out of trouble?” she joked.

“Yep,” replied Ms. Dean.

“Did you get enough to eat?”

“Yes,” Ms. Dean said yesterday, bundled up in a blue LL Bean jacket and baseball cap, her Safeway bag full of a mix of items, and now the food.  She said, “I come at five o’clock everyday.”

Thirteen turkeys cooked, pounds of canned green beans, trays and trays of mashed potatoes and stuffing with quarts of gravy.  Diners served themselves or were served by others at the long buffet table, then sat at the tables that held about 150 people.

For the people who organized and ran the Thanksgiving meal yesterday at the Arlington Assembly of God church at 4501 N. Pershing Dr., the 20-year tradition is “a special day” but for the past six years has been but one... (more)

News and opinion about parks and park budgets

Lubber Run Amphitheatre has a programming budget for next summer…

The good news is that the Lubber Run Amphitheatre has a $10,000 programming budget for next summer.

The bad news is, the amphitheatre has no stage lights (they were removed earlier this year, the county fearing that they would fall on someone), and the stage itself is a bit squishy. 

The cost to repair those, for which there is no budget, is somewhere between $60,000 and $200,000, said Susan Kalish, the public relations and marketing manager for the county’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources.  In an email, she wrote the county cannot tighten the cost estimate because there are “too many what ifs” in the renovation or redevelopment prospects.  Just about anything from simple repairs to a total rebuild might be required, she wrote, adding that DPRCR is examining the stage.

The capital improvements budget that would have covered repairs... (more)

Inaugural president Patrick Hope steps down after two terms.

Arlington Oaks resident Cathy Wolfe was unanimously elected president of the Buckingham Community Civic Association at the bi-monthly meeting Monday Nov. 16. 

She is only the second president of the group which formed six years ago.  She replaces out-going president Patrick Hope who won election to the Virginia House of Delegates earlier this month and said he could not remain as president of the BCCA after the November meeting.

Mr. Hope is credited with forming the group, and at the meeting, people spoke of the many accomplishments the group has seen over the years, especially given all the development in Buckingham.

Not the smallest accomplishment was producing the 2006 Buckingham Neighborhood Conservation Plan, which serves as a blueprint for improvements to be made in the community.  Part of the planning included a huge survey of hundreds of Buckingham residents, English- and Spanish-speakers alike.  

Having an... (more)

The Sun Gazette ran a nice piece about the relationship between Culpepper Gardens and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington (both inside the HeraldTrib's reading area), so I am linking to the the Sun Gazette story here.

I apologize, I usually get the notice of these out before the county board meeting, but just fell behind. --ST

During the regular session of the Arlington County Board last Saturday Nov. 14, the board by consent (that is, without discussion and public comment), ratified the following items.

Buckingham

The Pines of Italy Restaurant, 237 N. Glebe Road, had its live entertainment permit renewed, with two new caveats that bring it into alignment with other current permit-holders: 1, the Pines must establish a community liaison who can address concerns of neighbors, if needed, and 2, the permit applies to the Pines of Italy only, and will not transfer should the restaurant cease to exist; it does not apply to the address, but to the restaurant itself.  Otherwise it's the standard stuff about keeping doors and windows closed during shows, not allowing dancing, and keeping the entertainment to Thursday through Sunday nights.  This will be reviewed in 2014.

Ballston

The board renewed the seating plan... (more)

County traffic planner says that drivers need to change attitudes toward pedestrians.

Samara Weinstein has never wanted to be an activist for safer streets. But after witnessing a jogger struck at the intersection of N. George Mason and N. Park drives, “I guess I’ve become one,” she said recently.  She is quick to add that she is an activist only for that intersection.

The accident Oct. 1, occurred at 9 in the morning after the kids, including Ms. Weinstein’s daughter, had already settled into classes at K.W. Barrett Elementary School, which sits on the southwest corner of that intersection.

A jogger waited on the median for a for a break in the southbound traffic on George Mason Drive.  When the car in the lane nearest the jogger stopped to allow the jogger to pass, Ms. Weinstein said, the jogger crossed the street and was struck, breaking a leg, by the car that did not stop in the other lane.

“She [the jogger] is very lucky,” Ms. Weinstein said.  When she... (more)

News and Opinion about Swine Flu, the Elections, Carlyle Lights, and Moon Bounces (click the headline to read it all).

H1N1 flu shots arrive…

About 120 Kindergarten and first grade K.W. Barrett Elementary School students lined up in the hallway then proceeded to the school’s gym for first wave of H1N1 flu vaccines.  They received either nasal or injection vaccines.  Principal Terry Bratt said they were ahead of schedule at about 10:30a.m.

“Only a few little tears here and there but otherwise, everything was fine,” she said

All of the students in those grades whose parents signed the immunization release forms were vaccinated, Mrs. Bratt said. According to the information sent home earlier in the week, government health officials were recommending that the vaccination be given to the youngest students, first. Another round of vaccines should be arriving soon for the older students.

Buckingham’s own Pat Hope goes to the statehouse...

Not surprising, Democrat Patrick... (more)

News and Opinion about Dogs, Dog Parks and a Church

Really, Jay?  Your Dog?...

I must have shifted into the role of curmudgeon without realizing it, but getting the postcard from Jay Fisette’s dogs annoyed me more than anything.  Mr. Fisette is the incumbent county board member who is facing John Reeder from the Green Party in the election tomorrow.

I am probably being way too critical, but if I never see another campaign that uses pets or children as “spokespersons,” I will be OK.  They are usually not funny, though they hope to be.  And they are usually those photos, especially with the pets, that the owners find cute, but often are not. (They follow the general "my kids" rule that we all follow to some extent: mine are cute, yours aren't; mine are kind and loving, yours aren't, etc.)

More than that, I wish Mr. Fisette did not feel so comfortable in his position that he could get away with this level of dumbing-down the process. 

I am not against Mr. Fisette.&... (more)

Welcome Back to Vic Socotra...

You may recall that Buckingham resident Vic Socotra wrote a couple columns for the Buckingham HeraldTrib in the past (here's one, and the other).  It was something that we both hoped would go on for awhile.  However, Vic writes quite a bit in his spare time already, and between that and his full-time job, he just didn't have the time to write a column for me. 

The good news is, his site, the Daily Socotra, now has an RSS feed, and you can find him on the "Local Headlines" page, above.  He writes his Daily Socotra from the bowels of the "Big Pink" (also known as the Chatham Condominium in beautiful, downtown Buckingham) and often those are a mix of Buckingham and Arlington topics with a mix of history, world events and other musings.  He has a quirky style that is often very fun to read.

Also on the Local Headlines page are the Washington Post's Arlington coverage, Arlington Yuppette, Ode Street Tribune, and Chez Robert Giron.  I would include... (more)

One Tuesday in late September Rick Blacksten sat in a chair and pointed to the computer screen where he was creating a new Microsoft Word file and a folder to save it to.

Juan Sejas and Abraham Gonzalez watched over his shoulder as he tried to explain the steps in his most basic English.  It worked, but was slow going, as the two students were not exactly sure when they were to watch and listen, and when they were to try it themselves.

A member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Mr. Blacksten has started helping people with computing skills at the Buckingham Community Outreach Center on N. 4th Street.  The center has about a dozen computers for residents to use, and even maintains a Spanish-language blog.

Computer training is one of the many connections the church has made with the county-run center and the center's clients. 

"My vision is...that I'll have a packet of materials,...modules of computer literacy," Mr. Blacksten said that evening, admitting that the modules will... (more)

Today was a beautiful fall day for a walk and a prayer service under the trees, as hundreds of St. Thomas More Cathedral School students, faculty, staff and families walked from the school on N. Thomas Street in Buckingham to the Lubber Run Amphitheatre to draw awareness to the plight of the homeless.

"It's really for the children," said Principal Eleanor McCormack.

"You kind of get used to living with what you have, and kind of forget sometimes to remember that there are others that don't have as much," she said.  "And it's just taking the time to remember others."

The amphitheatre turned blue as the students donning the school's "Royals" T-shirts filled the seats.  A group prayer was held and the children's choir sang.  It's a ritual that the school has carried on for over a decade (long enough that a couple upper staff members could not recall exactly when it began).

"The power in prayer in group is emphasized," the principal said.  It's not about the money, although the school raises... (more)

Buckingham

The non-profit Child and Family Network Centers of Alexandria are requesting a renewal of their use permit for another three years in the Buckingham Community Center at 4108 N. 4th St. The county manager's office reported that they saw no issues with the arrangement so long the center continues to operate from 9a.m. to 6p.m. with a maximum of 18 children, with priority given to the elligible children in the Buckingham apartments.

Ashton Heights

The county is looking to review the financing of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex on the top of the Ballston Commons Mall parking garage. The Sun Gazette has a decent wrap-up on that, read it here. 

Ballston

The Front Page bar and restaurant at 4201 Wilson Blvd. has asked for a renewal of its live entertainment permit. Citing no known issues, and subjecting the bar to all exisiting conditions, the county manager's office is recommending renewal for three years, for reconsideration October, 2012. The conditions are rather standard: music but no dancing;... (more)

AHC, Inc. adds national win to last year's state award.

In 2008, the Gates of Ballston won "Best Project Virginia" from the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers, and this year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation gave the redeveloped, affordable housing complex its Board of Advisors' Award, one of 16 "honor awards" for a project that "most exemplifies values we care about," said Valecia Crisafulli, the National Trust's director of the Center of Preservation Leadership.

The values include preservation of historic spaces, along with maintaining affordable housing and diversity. 

"It's easy for an area to say, 'We want to tear this down for more density,'" Ms. Crisafulli said.  But by working together with private investors, the county, and the community, AHC, Inc., which owns and manages the property, was able to keep the property affordable.

"That's what really resonated," Ms. Crisafulli said.

AHC, Inc. bought the 464-unit apartment complex, with help from the county, in 2002. ... (more)

BCCA Members - This is a formal call for the election of your next [Buckingham Community Civic Association] President.  We'll be conducting the election at our next regular meeting on Nov. 16, 7:00p.m., with the term beginning January 2010.  We'll meet at the Arlington Oaks Community Center - 4490 N. Pershing Drive.  You must be a resident of Buckingham to be nominated.  If you're interested in serving in this capacity, please send me your nomination as soon as possible.

After serving two terms, the time is right for me to step down.  While I've loved every minute of my tenure as your president, now is a good time to seek new energy and fresh ideas to keep Buckingham moving forward.  We've come such a long way in these six years, having seen hundreds of thousands of dollars of infrastructure improvements to our neighborhood.  Buckingham is a safer community -- streets, sidewalks, intersections, etc. -- but much more needs to be done.  We're also a closer community... (more)

The way they tell it, Arlington Forest--70-years-old and counting--has it all: nice neighbors, proximity to parks, D.C., bike and running trails.  On Saturday, at the neighborhood’s first birthday party in ten years, people interviewed had nothing but nice words for the place and the event.

“We moved here in 1997 from Maryland,” said Robert Giron, a N. 1st Street resident and literary publisher.  “I was sort of kicking and screaming to cross the Potomac, but it’s the best decision I ever made in my life….I feel at home here.”

His partner, Ken Schellenberg, loves cycling and quickly listed all the trails he can reach when two-wheeling it. 

“You can go from Mt. Vernon to Purcellville from Arlington Forest,” he said.

The gala event Saturday included a buffet dinner, drinks, live music.  Party-goers spanned the years in life and in the neighborhood.

Max Lyons has lived in the Forest for six years.  He loves the convenience... (more)

Despite the rain about 150 people turned out for the Bethel Untied Church of Christ’s First Annual “Change the World” Festival on Sept. 26, part of the national church's focus on putting thoughts to action.

Food and raffel ticket sales marked the event that hoped to raise over $1,000 to support the Lighthouse Health Clinic in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador.  Bethel Church largely supports the clinic. 

“I have a doctor who works full time in the clinic down there,” for $600 per month, less than what he would make on the open market, but still a full-time salary, said Carolyn Richar, Assoc. Pastor.  She said her church was hoping to make enough to cover two months of the doctor’s salary.

Iglesia Luz Verdadera, a congregation that shares the church building with Bethel, provided free music, and much of the food, all day. 

“Given the weather, I’m happy with the turnout,” Ms. Richar said.

Bethel Church is located at 4347 Arlington Blvd., in... (more)

Michael Cuddyer, the Minnesota Twins first baseman, had a hit, a run and a sacrifice out last night to help beat the Detroit Lions in 12-inning game, sending the Twins into the post-season.  They play the New York Yankees tonight.  Cuddyer is the brother-in-law to K.W. Barrett Elementary School Kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Rente.  Last December, he spent an evening at the school reading to the kids and signing autographs.

Related Stories:

• Slugger is a hit with the kids (Dec. 2008).

A broken light post that leans against the Lubber Run Amphitheatre walls, along with its still-standing cousin, will be removed by the county for safety reasons.

“Within the next month they should be out…because they’re in such bad condition,” said Kurt Louis parks service area manager for the county. 

These are light posts that illuminate the stage during events. 

When the capital improvement budget lost $3 million of its $3.2 million in a recent round of cuts, many places in the county such as the amphitheatre lost any hope of being brought back to their full complement.

“It’s the sign of the times, right now,” Mr. Louis said.

Facilities that are a danger will receive improvements to make them safe, but that is all, officials have said.

“We don’t have the money to make it operable,” wrote Susan Kalish in a recent email.  “It’s not like we’re having to get it ready for a show, sadly enough.”  The budget... (more)

Only three people, and just one of the presenters, turned out for the Buckingham Community Civic Association Monday Sept. 21.  Pat Hope, the long-time BCCA president who is running for the 47^th Virginia House of Delegates seat sent an email just before the start of the meeting telling everyone he would not be able to attend.  That may have kept people home.  The meetings historically draw about a dozen people.

+++

“Another wave of adjustments is coming this year,” warned Doug Myrick, Arlington County Homeownership Program Coordinator in the county’s housing division.  His office is keeping an eye on those adjustable rate mortgages.  It is his job to reach people who need help avoiding, or working through, a foreclosure.

“Ideally we’d like to hear from people before they miss their first payment,” he said at the BCCA meeting.  He said the county has set-up financial literacy training for people in this situation and that the county can help draft a letter of explanation for the banks. 

“We do work with you to plan ‘Act 2,’ so to speak,” he said, adding that planning for life after the foreclosure or refinance is important.

Appearing at the BCCA meeting was part of Mr. Myrick’s three-pronged approach.  Rather than going hyper-public with the program, his office is trying to reach people in places where the embarrassment factor might be lower—at civic association meetings, at churches and at PTA meetings.  Pastors, priests and school social workers can alert him to families in crisis.  His office is “trying to get people directly to counseling,” he said.

For help: email the housing division to Mr. Myrick’s attention.

+++

Terry Serie was scheduled to speak about the county renewing the live entertainment permit at Union Jack’s Pub.  Noise, especially in the evenings and nights, was the issue for people who live on N. Tazewell Street about a block from the bar, where Mr. Serie lives. 

The issue was taken up by the county board last Saturday, and that body accepted the recommended changes hashed out by the pub’s owner, citizens, including Mr. Serie, and county staff.  The county will revisit the permit in six and 12 months.

In an email yesterday, Mr. Serie wrote: “Continued feedback during the next year will help to strengthen the conditions during the next review.  Working the process is required to achieve results.”

Earlier coverage:

• HeraldTrib Today includes Union Jack's live entertainment renewal (Sept. 2009)
• Possible Big Changes Along N. Glebe includes Union Jack's outdoor seating request (July 2009) 

+++

The BCCA still does not have anyone who will fill President Pat Hope's shoes should he win election to the House in November.  Three of us, after the meeting, ran through names, and admittedly, no single person came up as the best to run the show.  If you live in Buckingham, and if you have been keeping track of Buckingham, please consider going to meetings and helping to run the BCCA.

Steve Thurston, Sept. 30, 2009

NEWS ESSAY

Patricia Gaitan runs through her presentation but is stuck on the term “displacement.”  She says that she is not totally sure what it means or why it’s important, and therefore she is having a hard time putting it into the recommendation that she will present to the Arlington County Housing Commission the following day. 

Her group, the Buckingham Youth Brigade, is meeting in a second floor classroom of the Lubber Run Community Center.  These high school and college students have one last night, just a couple hours in the spartan classroom, to finish the presentation, a culmination of nearly a year's work.

While others work on a large papier-mâché mannequin, Patricia, 17, and the BYB coordinator, Mimi Oziel, talk through Patricia's presentation.

Patricia says that she was forced to move from her own Gates of Ballston apartment once.

“They relocated you,” Ms. Oziel explains.  It was not technically displacement since her family was allowed back into a renovated apartment. “Sometimes what happens is they say, ‘You have to move because we’re going to renovate.'” 

There’s a pause while Patricia considers this.

“Oh, just like move away,” she replies.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ms. Oziel says.  “Or they sell the building and they’re going to knock it down.”

“But sometimes that happens,” the HB Woodlawn Secondary Program senior says with a fatalistic tone in her voice.  She adds a moment later, “But they tell you ahead of time.”

“Some people, A, just don’t have anywhere to go, right?” Ms. Oziel says, adding, “Sometimes what happens is [building owners say], ‘Here is a 120 day notice.’  So, you’re like, ‘OK, I have to find a new place to live.’  So I go to the different apartment complexes and I look for a place to live.  And they say, ‘Yeah, I’ll take you’—”

Rosemery Mazariegos, a senior at Wakefield High School, interrupts: “It takes time, and, like they also make you pay a deposit.  What about if you have to pay a deposit?”

“Right,” Ms. Oziel says.  “And also you might have to pay the first month’s rent at one place, but you still are paying rent [at the old place].”

The effort and money required for a relocation eventually make it into Patricia’s section of the presentation, which covers housing.  She tucks it in after the story of her mother, an El Salvadoran immigrant, whose housing costs have risen about 80 percent in 16 years.

“It should be more for us, but she’s in this [controlled rent] thing,” Patricia said at last week’s meeting.  “Her wages haven’t increased that much, and that’s the real issue.” 

The recommendations the BYB will present to the housing commission stem from their 12-page report written from demographic and historical research as well as about 50 long-form interviews and shorter questionnairs they conducted last winter and spring with friends, family, teachers and random people on the street.  Planning, researching, interviewing and writing the report, which they finished in May, took the better part of a school year.

The report targeted natives and immigrants and tries to answer the question, “Who Are Arlington’s Immigrants?” 

Ms. Oziel has helped them draft and refine the text of their presentations, at times referring back to discussions she has had with her bosses at BU-GATA, the Buckingham Villages and Gates of Ballston tenants association.  Money from BU-GATA and other sources, such as Community Development Block Grants, fund the BYB and Ms. Oziel’s position.

It feels, at times this evening, that the BYB members are representing their own views, based on the interviews and research, but massaged by BU-GATA, whose members may have an even larger interest in seeing some of the recommendations make it to the county board.

And it is in here, after about an hour of my third meeting with the BYB, that I realize I am witnessing a small battle in Joe Wilson’s war.  He is the South Carolina Republican representative who yelled, “You lie,” when President Obama told the joint session of Congress that his health care plans would not cover illegal immigrants. 

The call reignited the political fire surrounding immigration, and these students, whether they intended to or not, have written a report that seems to respond to that statement—a deeper analysis than a two-second TV sound bite.

The BYB students and Ms. Oziel joked and laughed at last week’s meeting when they explained that the students locked Ms. Oziel and her BU-GATA colleague Saul Reyes out of the room so that the group could decide on their own what recommendations they drew from their report.  They said they came to the recommendations by putting together all their interview notes, looking at what they had and then coming up with recommendations they thought made sense.

“We wanted to figure out what we could think up before they would lead us into something else,” said one of the students during the interview.

They all laughed when Ms. Oziel said, “I notice if sometimes I’m there, it’s easy just to listen to me talk.”

Their research turned up some common struggles and common benefits for immigrants, but also pointed out differences between immigrant communities, and issues immigrant parents face as compared to their children who were born in the United States. 

Many immigrants find economic, housing, transportation and language challenges, yet find the United States to be safer and more stable than their countries of origin.  As well, the immigrants felt there were better economic and academic opportunities for their children, the report states.

"Many Vietnamese, Ethiopian and Somali immigrants...came to the United States as refugees which entitled them to certain benefits, including work permits and financial and material support to help them resettle in America.  However, many Latino immigrants...fled their countries to escape political unrest, economic devastation and violence but did not have residency status," their report says. 

From these findings and others, the BYB developed three broad recommendations: the county must improve access to services, offer more affordable housing for current residents, and prevent racism and promote understanding wherever possible.

Three BYB members at an interview before their official meeting a week earlier—Patricia, Rubi Novillo, 17, and Rubi’s brother Juan Novillo, 14—were polite and knowledgable, friendly and willing to answer questions, but what animated them the most was the housing survey that Ms. Oziel brought with her; people at BU-GATA had pointed it out to her, she said. 

Found only on-line and in English, the survey will be used in the county’s long-term, comprehensive plan for housing.

“How do they expect to get a fair demographic?” asked Rubi, an HB Woodlawn senior.  She added, “And how are they advertising for it in the first place? 

“They should make this more accessible….With this they’re only going for…a small group of people.  This is people who can afford a computer, who can work a computer, who know English very well.”

Patricia added, “I don’t see how they’re going to get the great response like they wanted if it’s just only online.”

A week later, they have added another recommendation to their findings: expand the reach of the “Survey on Housing and Community Development Needs” by translating it into many languages and having a print version which can be put in libraries, apartment lobbies and community centers.

The night of the housing commission, the five presenters are ready.  Nervous, but ready.

They have notecards that they read over before the meeting, but  Ms. Oziel is late—she has called to report she is looking for parking—and the teens decide to enter the conference room as adults, that is, without her. 

They walk in carrying Ekeko, the newly-completed, papier-mâché Andean god of abundance.  Like other avatars of Ekeko, this larger-than-life mannequin is covered in the hopes and wishes of a brighter future. 

He holds a house in his papier-mâché hand to show the need for affordable housing; in the other hand he holds a Sun Gazette newspaper with a handwritten notice of an important meeting to show the need for better communication of services; a “no discrimination” sign is pinned to his shirt along with Matchbox cars and a mortar board, showing the hope for better transportation education options.

The twelve-minute presentation which covers their four major recommendations and some detailed analysis of each ends with questions and comments from the commissioners who are clearly impressed with the work. 

Commissioners ask, since they have experts in the room, how the students thought the commission could reach apartment dwellers along Columbia Pike, and how they could reach volunteers.  They are happy to hear that the research connected stable housing to better grades in schools.  But what impresses the commission most are the recommendations.  A couple members tell the students many people only bring problems.  Solutions are rare.

“The fact that you did [bring solutions] is really, really, really helpful to us,” says commissioner Pam Ray. 

In the end, the Housing Commission decides to move two recommendations directly to the county board: expand the eligibility of the housing grant program to individuals so that they, like families, pay at most 40 percent of their income toward housing.  Also, they will ask the board to improve the “Survey on Housing and Community Development Needs” so that it reaches people most affected by those decisions.

The BYB recommendation to expand county-wide the Tenant Assistance Fund which helps low-income renters in Buckingham relocate, and the recommendation that more affordable, family-sized units be made available will go in front of various housing sub-committees for analysis.

During its regular hearing Saturday, the Arlington County Board will vote on the general location of the Mosaic Park and its elements.  The park, located between N. Quincy and N. Pollard streets in Ashton Heights is part of the Founders Square redevelopment.  That development, across N. Randolph Street from the Ballston Commons Mall, will place high-rise mixed-use buildings on Wilson Blvd. between N. Randolph and N. Quincy streets.  The county will sell the higher density needed for the Founders Square buildings to Shooshan Companies, the developers, in order to fund the first phase of park construction, about $4.5 million.

“The major elements of the master plan [of the park] include an interactive water feature, children’s play area, multi-purpose court, flexible use lawn area, half-court basketball area, large flexible urban plaza, centrally located casual plaza, rain garden, walkways and sidewalks, site furnishings and landscaping. A major feature of the park design will be to incorporate sustainable practices and features including use of wind and solar power as well as innovative stormwater management techniques.” 

The Ashton Heights Civic Association, the Ballston/Virginia Square Civic Association, other groups and commissions, as well as the Mosaic Park Planning Team, a group of community stakeholders, all wrote letters of support for the park.  However, Ashton Heights was a little more nuanced in their acceptance, as the buildings with three additional storeys are growing taller than the civic association would like.

Completion of the first phase is expected in about five years.  The estimated $2.3 million second phase, shown inside the dotted red line on the image, is yet unfunded, but is planned to continue after 2014.

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