Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Never Mind the $treetcar. Fix Arlington's Streetlights

Hi Yupette,

County Board is meeting tonight at 9:30 PM, corner of North Monroe Street and Wilson Boulevard to check out the operation of the County's new light emitting diode streetlights. How long has the County been fooling around with this technology? Light emitting diodes have been around for decades.

Meanwhile, taxpayers put up with thousands of poorly maintained mercury vapor and sodium vapor streetlights that are a big gift to Dominion, the older they get the less light they produce, the more power they consume.

Can we please have a modern street lighting system that doesn't put more light into trees and on buildings than it does on the street? How long is County Government going to play with LED streetlights before a street lighting system can be approved that's efficient and acceptable to residents? Stay tuned.

Meredith, 22205

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a list of other basic things they can do to make Arlington safer -- it's National Night Out, right?

Clear foliage from in front of Stop signs and Speed Limit signs,

Replace old Stop signs and Speed Limit signs with larger brighter signs,

Re-paint crosswalk markings where they've worn off the street,

Start ticketing people who ride bicycles at high speed and run Stop signs and traffic lights, as the police do in Portland,

Tell the Yuppie Mommies pushing strollers down the street that behavior is dangerous and illegal, ditto for skateboarders,

Start a comprehensive motorist, bicyclist, pedestrian safety program --- long overdue. Persuade people who are exercising in the street to at least wear a white shirt or sweatshirt so they can be seen.

Anonymous said...

The County Board can't do those things because they are spending the $$$ for $800,000 synthetic soccer fields and $400,000 lighted basketball courts and tennis courts.

Anonymous said...

Also, some responsible adult tell the Arlington Police to stop texting their mobile data terminals while driving and stop at neighborhood stop signs.

Anonymous said...

Why are speed limit and stop signs allowed to deteriorate? Arlington's traffic calming bureaucracy wants to install $250,000 speed tables and other 'traffic calming' and they can't do that if drivers aren't speeding!

Anonymous said...

You would think Arlington's Nanny Newsies (who could they be, who could they be?) would be encouraging the County Board to upgrade basic public safety infrastructure.

22206 said...

I know you will find this hard to believe, but the reason the foliage isn't being trimmed from around street lights is because if helps Scott McCaffrey and the Sun Gazette's other nanny newsies conduct their annual squirrel census.

VT said...

You know, you all live in one CORRUPT county. Does that ever occur to anyone there who pays for all the corrupt activities by your board of supervisors and their supporters?

Anonymous said...

" Anonymous said...

Here's a list of other basic things they can do to make Arlington safer -- it's National Night Out, right?

Clear foliage from in front of Stop signs and Speed Limit signs,

Replace old Stop signs and Speed Limit signs with larger brighter signs,

Re-paint crosswalk markings where they've worn off the street,

Start ticketing people who ride bicycles at high speed and run Stop signs and traffic lights, as the police do in Portland,

Tell the Yuppie Mommies pushing strollers down the street that behavior is dangerous and illegal, ditto for skateboarders,

Start a comprehensive motorist, bicyclist, pedestrian safety program --- long overdue. Persuade people who are exercising in the street to at least wear a white shirt or sweatshirt so they can be seen."

Amen, amen, and right on!

Anonymous said...

"The County Board can't do those things because they are spending the $$$ for $800,000 synthetic soccer fields and $400,000 lighted basketball courts and tennis courts."

Ain't that the truth!

Anonymous said...

VT wrote: "You know, you all live in one CORRUPT county. Does that ever occur to anyone there who pays for all the corrupt activities by your board of supervisors and their supporters?"

The majority of the "voters" don't care. The "board" also knows who tap for "contributions" and "support" so they can stay in power. The few challengers over the years, regardless of party, never stand a chance. Arlington is not a county, it is a banana republic oligarchy. Plus with things like bond issues, voters rarely read them fully before they vote...they just see "parks" or "transportation" and think "oh, I support parks and transportation" and vote yes, never realizing that they also voted for the latest "artisphere", "aquatic center", or Zimmie's trolley.

Anonymous said...

National Night Out? You mean national doggies night out. That's who's showing up, dog owners and Rover.

L,W, said...

They behave like their parents and grandparents in the Rust Belt 50 years ago. Tax, borrow, spend to build extravagant public infrastructure. American manufacturing was going to go on producing products for the world forever. Check out what Detroit was like in 1963, when Mitt Romney's father was Governor of Michigan.

Certainly Libby Garvey and Mary Hynes are old enough to be cognizant of the risks of tax-borrow-spend in an economy based on one wealth-producing sector, having grown up in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Anonymous said...

Libby Garvey and Mary Hynes should know better, but have repeatedly voted while on the School Board and County Board to build new Taj Mahal schools where the focus is on sports, entertainment, and other non-educational activities.

The new Wakefield H.S. is the latest and the worst...education is going to be secondary to all the rest of the activities.

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see if Jeff Bezos will become another Nanny Mike Bloomberg and if the rejuvenated Post will be something more than a rubber stamp for the status quo.

VT said...

I perused many topics posted on this blog, going back several years. The fiscal irresponsibility of your county's leadership is so profound you all are going to fiscally crash and burn next recession, maybe before.

Anonymous said...

Talk about nanny local journalism, time for the Sun Gazette to get a makeover. I mean, really, day after day of drivel from an editor who lives alone, apparently has no friends, hobbies, or local family members. And he is telling us how to run our lives?

Anonymous said...

Scott has a hobby --- eating.

Anonymous said...

While we're at it, blogs have been around for more than a decade, time for a makeover.

Anonymous said...

Arlington should have learned from the new T.C. Williams H.S., brand new school, same old problems.

Anonymous said...

The Graham Family no longer cared about the Post. It's been hard to find a copy of the Post weekdays after Noon even after the price was increased to $1.25

Anonymous said...

Whining on a blog won't get foliage trimmed, signs replaced, or markings re-painted. There are at least a dozen ways to directly let the County know about specific locations that have these problems, so let them know where the problems are and give them a chance to fix them.

22206 said...

Nice thought. Fairlington residents tried for 3 years directly contacting DES, and others in the CM's office to get streets repaved, street lighting, street trees, street signs, etc., maintained and upgraded, and so on, with some success. County thinks nothing of putting $450,000 for public art on CB's consent agenda. Please, spare us the PR from the County Manager's Office.

22205 - Westover said...

Agree wholeheartedly, 22206. My neighbors and I are scared to death of asking the County for any more street lighting "improvements" after what the County did to Ohio Street in Westover.

Jeff said...

F-ing County Governmnt needed a complete top-to-bottom makeover ten years ago.

Anonymous said...

Streetscape improvements? Tax revenue is being being used for the County Board's pet projects.

Anonymous said...

Persons who should be criticized for allowing Fairlington's streetscape to deteriorate are Libby Garvey and Scott McCaffrey.

Anonymous said...

Also Paulie Ferguson

Anonymous said...

County should get new street lighting right BEFORE installing new street lighting. Why a C.B. meeting over what should be straightforward lighting infrastructure upgrades?

Anonymous said...

Because this is Arlington County, that's why.