Dear Friends,  I hope everyone had a good summer and is enjoying the delightful fall weather we are having. Our County Board agenda for September was light, but there were several significant items and issues.COVID:  We are pretty clearly entering a chronic phase of the pandemic. What exactly this chronic phase and “new normal” will be is not yet clear. The FDA has approved and recommended booster shots for people who have received the Pfizer vaccine and are over 65, or have underlying medical conditions, or are in jobs that may expose them to Covid. "Arlington County Public … [Read more...]

Dear Friends, As we know, it’s always an election year in Arlington, and 2021 is no exception. Offices on the ballot on November 2nd include governor and our two local boards, among others. I’d like to call your attention to 2 candidate forums. You can Zoom into, and engage with, County Board contenders Takis Karantonis (incumbent, whom I support) and challengers Mike Cantwell, Adam Theo, and Audrey Clement on issues of the day. School Board candidates Michael Webb and Mary Kadera (whom I support) will also be on hand. Don't miss these chances to hear from the candidates. 1) The first … [Read more...]

Dear Friends, The Board added a third day to our regular monthly meeting in July to handle everything. It was not so much the number of issues, but the importance and complexity of several issues, especially Collective Bargaining and establishing a Community Oversight Board for our police. Both of these were just authorized by the General Assembly this year. We began working on both ordinances even before the enabling legislation was passed. During our meetings we also received a report on much good progress made by our Chief Race and Equity Officer, Samia Byrd; and were updated on COVID-19 … [Read more...]

Dear Friends JuneteenthI hope everyone has enjoyed this Juneteenth weekend, for the first time recognized as a Federal holiday. We had a thought provoking and inspiring Juneteenth rally outside the Bozeman Building on Thursday. It was a glorious day with perfect weather. Many of us saw each other in person for the first time since March of 2020. We all recognized the progress made in racial equity, but also the work that still needs to be done. It’s great that Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, but that does not change the fact that many states are … [Read more...]

Dear Friends, A number of you have asked me whom I recommend voting for in the June 8 primary. I am honored and delighted when people ask. This primary season features a lot of candidates. With Democratic primaries, I find that most candidates are very close on the issues, so it is experience and ability to work with people to get things done that are usually deciding factors for me in a primary. For GovernorI have not publicly supported anyone in this race. However, while I like Jennifer McClellan a lot, I think Terry McAuliffe has the best chance of winning in the general election and … [Read more...]

Dear Friends, Our May meetings had few, but significant, items. Police Practices Group Probably the most important issue we discussed was the advertisement of a new Police Practices Review Board and changes to our policing code. When we “advertise” an issue, it is meant to give time for residents to consider and discuss the issue and give us their opinion before we vote to adopt it a future meeting. We can adopt something narrower than what was advertised, but not broader. Although our police department is excellent, no community or police department is perfect or immune from the … [Read more...]

Dear Friends,   I wanted to make sure that all my Arlington readers know about the School Board Caucus election which will be held online all of next week. This is an important election. As my readers know, in this very Democratic county, this endorsement will essentially determine who will be our next School Board member to replace Monique O’Grady who has decided not to run for another term. It is crucial to the health of our community to have an excellent school system. A strong School Board is essential for Arlington. We are lucky that two good candidates are running. And I am … [Read more...]

Dear Friends, This time last year we had just adopted a drastically slimmed down emergency budget; were struggling to get the ability to test for Covid; and were setting up our Covid protocols to make sure people could, and would, distance and wear masks. I doubt any of us imagined that it would be a whole a year before we would be where we almost are to now, when anyone who wants a vaccination can register and get one. We continue to pre-register people for vaccinations to ensure that people who live in Arlington get priority for appointments and to keep our centers operating efficiently … [Read more...]

Dear Friends, March is a busy month for the Board and during our meetings we continued our budget work sessions and vaccination efforts. https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/march-county-board-meeting-agenda-highlights-2/ Stream ResiliencyOur regular monthly meeting had a number of land-use items. However, the issue that got the most attention was awarding a contract for the construction of the Donaldson Run Tributary B stream restoration project. This project has been in the works for many years. While it is still called a “restoration” project, it is more accurately called a stream … [Read more...]