Time to End 'Rolling Thunder'

Hello,

I live near I-66 and every year 'Rolling Thunder' is worse, noise and people on motorcycles going way over the speed limit. Memorial Day is not supposed to be this way. Time to end "Rolling Thunder'.

Dawn - 22201

BRAC Development to Inflict Massive Traffic, Traffic Calming on South Arlington

Hello Yupette,

Did you see the report in the Post yesterday (Metro Section, page B7) about the massive traffic congestion that the new BRAC complex at Mark Center will cause in South Arlington?

Sue
Fairlington

County Board Inflicts Traffic, Traffic Calming on Another Neighborhood

Hello, Yupette,

Did you see last night's County Board meeting? The County Board inflicted traffic calming on Chain Bridge Forest, same County Board that approves 2000-4000 more vehicles into Arlington County every year. Not only that, they don't maintain the traffic calming (speed tables) once they're installed. The entire "system" of County Government is out of control. The arrogance of the County Board, County staff, the civic federation, and the civic associations is outrageous.

Joan - 22207

Arlington Needs A Comprehensive Predestian, Bicycle, Motorcycle, Auto Safety Plan

Hello Yupette,

I am sick and tired of seeing people on bicycles dressed from head to toe in black running stop signs and traffic lights, Same goes for pedestrians jaywalking. Also people on motorcycles going 30 mph over the speed limit and drivers texting while driving. We badly need a comprehensive safety education and accident prevention plan for people who use and cross Arlington's streets and roads.

Peter - 22204

Local Government Is Becoming Even More Exclusive

Hello Yupette,

Have you noticed how exclusive local government is becoming?

The Eighth District congressional candidates' debate was hosted by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and cost $45 to attend.

Jay Fisette's "State of the County" speech next month is sponsored by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and will cost $50 to attend. (Is that legal)?

New County Manager's reception May 24th is a reservation-only event. No one acknowledges that you made a reservation to attend.

If you walk through 2100 Clarendon Blvd. when the advisory commissions are meeting, they are all white.

Then there's the Civic Federation and civic associations :-{

Near as I can figure, about 95% of the County's adult population has no influence on local government and our concerns are totally ignored!

Don - 22204

Where Is Arlington's New County Manager Coming From?

Hello, Yupette,

Want to know where Arlington's new County Manager, Michael Brown, is coming from?

Just put the phrase "Creative Coast Alliance" into your favorite search engine.

LOL

Neighborhood Day - How Many Street Festivals Does It Take To Pave My Street?

Hi Yupette,

How many street festivals does it take to get my street repaved and 21st Century street lighting installed? I just read where I'll have to vote for a bond issue for those things to happen. But their entertainment and recreation events - Neighborhood Day, Taste of Arlington, etc. - get funded from pay-as-you-go accounts.

And, what is "Neighborhood Day" all about, anyway? It's another PR event to promote Zimmerman and the "Community Leaders" he appoints to micro-manage our lives.

Peter

How Does Zimmerman Manage Financially?

Hello, Yupette,

Anyone else wonder how Chris Zimmerman financially manages to do what he does? He has 3 kids, hasn't worked since 1998, and his wife, Mary Beth, has been employed aa a mid-level NASA policy analyst since 2004. She formerly worked as a policy analyst specializing in alternative energy and renewable at the DOE. it appears that none of her DOE papers about alternative energy and renewable energy was ever considered by the Arlington County Board. It wasn't until late 2007 that the the County Board began getting serious about energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings.

Randy, 22207

Fiscally Responsible Independents Elected to FC City Council

Hi Yupette,

Falls Church voters signaled they had enough of double-digit tax increases to pay for extravagant "Smart Growth" projects by voting on May 4th to elect Independents Johanna Barray and Ira Kaylin to Falls Church City Council. The election was also an indication that Citizens for a Better City, the political organization that controls Falls Church, is on its way out as a political force in the City. CBC's policies and practices are closely tied to the failed "Smart Growth" policies of the Arlington Democratic Committee in adjacent Arlington County.

FC Independent

County's Xerographic Copiers Vulnerable to Identity Theft

Hello Yupette,

Did you see the recent CBS News report regarding digital xerographic copiers and identity theft?

You can see it at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6412772n

Turns out that a hard drive inside the copier retains scanned images. When copiers are replaced they are sent to be refurbished or just sold to who knows where.

This has been going on ever since copiers went digital - about 2002.

You would think with the County spending about $50 million a year on various forms of IT someone would have noticed. Nope, the old copier just gets wheeled out of the library, or wherever, and a new copier is wheeled in.

2100

Elitist School System Stealing from the Needy to Give to the Greedy?

Ms. Yupette, by every measure of achievement students from South Arlington families are falling farther behind North Arlington children of the wealthy elitists who run the Arlington School System. What can poor minority families do?

Keisha, Wakefield Parent

"Arlington Government is an Elitist Ponzi Scheme"

Hello Yupette,

I'm going to retire from County Government in a year or two. So I signed the "change the government" petition and I don't care what the County Board thinks.

Arlington County is a huge Ponzi Scheme that benefits the Elite. Our region is like a black hole that sucks in money from all over the world to fund the military industrial complex and constant warfare in the Third World. That's where the money comes from for the County Board's Ponzi Scheme.

The County Board and its boosters and facilitators are Elitists. Many are also Racists. The Elitists want Arlington to become like a Creative Class (aka "Yuppie") Disney World. Several people who posted to your blog alluded to the County Board wanting every household with an income of less than $200,000 a year out. That's pretty much correct. They can't fund their extravagant programs that cater to the lifestyles of the "Creative Class" without gentrifying out the middle class, replacing middle class housing with ever more expensive residential buildings. They also raise taxes and borrow - a lot - every year.

They transfer tax dollars around like crazy, from basic infrastructure to projects that benefit the Elite, Creative Class, Yuppies. This a HUGE Ponzi Scheme. It is so pervasive and so bad that (for example) Zimmerman cut the FY 11 taxpayer funding for ART by $1.1 million and used most of it for his pet Creative Class projects, like $500,000 to take over Columbia Pike maintenance from VDOT to build his trolley folly. So they are raising ART fares for the working class (which uses ART as its only means of transportation to get to and from providing services for the Elite) to fund Zimmerman's upscale projects.

Whatever "affordable" housing that's constructed is for the household servants of the Elite, who live in increasingly expensive luxury enclaves.

So we are going to be close to gridlock soon because many more people who work in Arlington won't be able to live in Arlington.

How long can this continue? As long as the military industrial complex keeps sucking money into the region. As long as the world keeps lending our government money. Arlington County would be in big trouble if peace broke out around the world.

DHS

County Board Surprises Residents by Endorsing Walter Reed "Improvements"

Hi Yupette,

The County Board pulled a fast one on April 27th on the Fairlington and Claremont communities by passing a resolution endorsing Alexandria's contentious "improvements" to the Walter Reed Drive - King Street intersection which were hotly contested by Fairlington and Claremont residents during public hearings. No one in the local condo associations and civic associations was informed about the proposed resolution.

Susan

Greens Lose I-66 Widening Case

On Friday Federal District Court Judge Claude Hilton issued an opinion supporting USDOT and VDOT regarding spot widening of I-66 between the Dulles Toll Road and Rosslyn. The Court determined that VDOT and USDOT followed Federal laws and rules when planning I-66 improvements and the Plaintiffs did not prove actual harm would result from the planned improvements.

Unsolved Murders + Taser Killings By Police = Time For A New Police Chief

Hello, Yupette,

I don't think there is another county in the USA that has two murders that occurred over the past 6 months (both unsolved) concomitant with two TASER deaths inflicted by Arlington Police Officers. Time for a New Police Chief? Appears so.

John