Saturday, March 19, 2011

ACE March Expo - Mostly Green Gimmicks

Hello Yupette,

Nice to see a few corporations and organizations at ACE's Green Living Expo offered products and services that can save Arlington residents a lot of money while saving the environment. High efficiency insulation, replacement windows, and on-site solar water heating are three.

But on balance, Arlingtonians for a Green Environment hosted another Green Gimmick Expo in an energy pig of a building - Washington and Lee High School. Why are corporations like Dominion Resources invited? All Dominion ever does is make promises about developing this or that alternative energy source to (eventually) replace coal and nuclear generating plants. Dominion is to Green energy and Barbara Favola is to homeless shelters. Then there's the Sierra Club ;-{

I had to laugh when I asked the guy who was showing off his $41,000 Volt hybrid whether he could recharge the batteries from solar panels on the roof of his garage. He said No.

Speaking of Washington and Lee High School, for the 1/4 the cost of all the fancy ironwork and unnecessary amenities W & L could heated by solar and geothermal.

Terri

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Arlington Rental Community Residents Demand a No Re-Segregation Zone

Dear Mr. Zimmerman:

We are residents of market-rate affordable housing along Columbia Pike, Lee Highway, Route 7, Route 50, and elsewhere in Arlington County.

We demand that you cease and desist implementing "Resegregation through Gentrification" in our communities, aided and abetted by your Racist and Elitist "Community Leaders" appointed to your "Plenary Committee", Dover, Kohl and Partners, which specializes in "Resegregation through Gentrification" across America and your own "County Staff" which rubber stamps everything you do and want to do to make Arlington County a place where only wealthy Caucasians from Northern and Western Europe can live. It is obvious you want to take Arlington County back to the America of 1961. Exceptions are, of course, made for a few Latinos and Latinos like Walter "Nada" Tejada who were the foreign exchange students in 1961 who "went along with the program" in the high school environment like the one you've created in Arlington today, along with a few "trusted Negroes."

We, therefore, order you to CEASE AND DESIST your, the County Board's, County Staff's, Arlington Police Department's, and any and all other Racist and Elitist behavior by any person and organization directed against our enjoying tranquility in our market rate rental homes as is our RIGHT under the Code of Virginia, 18.2 418 and 419.

If do you not CEASE and DESIST your behavior we have no recourse but to call for a National Boycott of all Economic Activity in Arlington County, including conferences, meetings, conventions, and similar events.

Arlington Market-Rate Affordable Housing Coalition

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Favola, County Board Members Use County Employees to Provide Personal and Political Services

Hello, Ms. Yupette,

I've heard Barbara Favola and Chris Zimmerman vent their anger at County Employees once too often, most recently because last night's County Board Meeting did not go their way.

Barbara Favola, Chris Zimmerman, Walter Tejada and occasionally Mary Hynes and Jay Fisette use County Employees to provide a wide variety of personal and political services, ranging from personal chauffeur service to coordinating political events and activities. This is not what we were paid and hired to do, which is constituent service. If you work for the County Board and express reservations about what you're asked and required to do for them, you are abused, and then you are gone.

BTW, Chris Zimmerman is a mess and needs a psychiatric consultation, ASAP.

Anon. County Staff

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Favola Has 'Massive' Conflicts of Interest

Hello, Ms. Yupette,

I live in Williamsburg and I am also associated with Marymount University.

Barbara Favola is, in fact, a lobbyist for Marymount and spends hundreds of hours a year lobbying County Government for Marymount, both at Marymount and from her office at the Arlington County Board. I believe she earns between $80,000 and $100,000 a year working for Marymount and $43,000 per year as a County Board Member.

Barbara is using the other County Board Members and County Staff to push the Marymount-O'Connell sports field upgrade through over the vehement objections of both the Williamsburg and East Falls Church Civic Associations, and neighborhood residents.

Barbara, the County Board, and County Staff have already spent hundreds of hours on 'facilitating' the Marymount-O'Connell sports field upgrade. It appears they will defer the use permit amendment that's coming before the County Board on March 15th until June 15th to give County Staff and their pet 'community leaders' time to wear down Bishop O'Connell's neighbors.

Barbara is running for Virginia State Senate and she is also demanding campaign contributions from those who support the Marymount and O'Connell sports programs.

I am outraged. Williamsburg and East Falls Church have become opportunities for every special interest and developer in the region to destroy our quality of life for their own benefit.

Barbara Favola should not be running for State Senate, she should be removed from public office.

Mary, Williamsburg

County Board Spends Little Time on Activities Related to Governance

Hello,

We wondered what County Board members do when they are in their offices at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard. So we investigated. Turns out that they are heavily engaged in politics, self-promotion, making secret deals with developers and special interests, meeting with fellow politicians and with selected 'community leaders', making arrangements to attend functions with political and community supporters, rehearsing County Board and other meetings, and being briefed by and giving orders to County Staff about how to facilitate projects like East Falls Church redevelopment and frustrate citizens who oppose mega-development projects like Crystal City, East Falls Church, and O'Connell-Marymount sports complex.

Even more troubling is how little County Staff care about the Arlington communities whose interests they are suppose to be serving.

Only about 15% of the County Board's time spent outside meetings is related to the actual governance of Arlington County.

Susan