Saturday, June 4, 2011

Favola Firehouse Fiasco to Cost Taxpayers Another $127,000

Hello Yupette,

I was outraged to see the County Board is wanting another $127,000 to complete the $18 million Cherrydale Fire Station because of "unforseen circumstances". This time resulting from street paving problems. This is item 20 on the County Board's consent agenda for the June 11th County Board meting. The County will be paying the Cherrydale Fire Station's architects another $27,000 as an additional "administration fee" for this project. Why?

When it comes to large construction projects for her employer, Marymount University, where she is Chief Lobbyist, Barbara was extremely attentive to ensure there were no delays. When it comes to us, the taxpayers, having essential public infrastructure completed some time in our lifetimes, she could apparently care less.

Frank, Cherrydale

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

1 Billion Non-Biodegradable Trash Bags to Landfills from Arlington Annually?

Hello,

I have seen the green this and green that all over Arlington the past couple of years. But did you ever try to figure out how many non-biodegradable trash bags are being sent to landfills from Arlington every year? A lot. Maybe as many as a billion trash bags of all sizes (from wastepaper basket liners to yard waste bags). How many of these trash bags are biodegradable? Almost none. It's difficult to even find a retail store that sells biodegradable kitchen trash bags in Arlington. I had to order the biodegradable kitchen trash bags for my home from the Internet. They are not cheap, which is probably why they aren't widely available.

If Mr. Fisette is so concerned about the environment maybe he can find an economical source of biodegradable trash bags for use in County offices, including the County Board offices.

Susan

Monday, May 30, 2011

Alexandria Seeking Massive Redevelopment of S. Beauregard Street Between Seminary Road and King Street

Hi Yupette,

You may have heard about the controversy surrounding the development of the Alexandria waterfront. If you read the Alexandria weekly newspapers you'll also see that the City of Alexandria wants to re-develop what it calls the "West End", specifically South Beauregard Street between Seminary Road and King Street. This stretch of South Beauregard Street includes Southern Towers, a number of older garden apartment complexes, and the old hospital site and strip shopping plazas on King Street. The pitch by the out-of-state REITs is lots of BRAC employees at Mark Center will want to live in new mixed-use mega-development in the South Beauregard Corridor.

I live in Fairlington and any redevelopment of King Street would seriously impact us.

Kristine.