Clement Decisively Wins CivFed School Board Debate

Hello,

A.Y. asked a couple of Arlington residents who regularly attend Arlington Civic Federation meetings to report what occurred during the School Board debate between incumbent Democrat Barbara Kanninen and her Independent challenger for School Board Audrey Clement.

No contest. According to A.Y.'s correspondents Audrey 'wiped the floor' with Barbara.

While Barbara concentrated on bringing more of the 'same old same old' extravagant spending to the School Board and APS, Audrey asked what Arlington residents are receiving for their tax dollars except Taj Mahal schools with declining standardized test scores among their students, especially minority students.

This year's CivFed candidate debates will (again) be broadcast and re-broadcast over Arlington Independent Media. Stay tuned to what the local media who transform boosting the status quo into ad revenue have to say about this debate. BTW, the Amazon Post reporter who supposedly covers Arlington politics appeared at the CivFed meeting, after about 8 months when she wasn't seen in Arlington at all.

Cindy, 22206

ArlNow Played...North Fairlington Pays

Hello,

Remember all the fun the ArlNow news blog had with the raccoon over-population in North Fairlington aka Fairlington Villages?

The raccoon over-population was the result of no effort by the North Fairlington condo association aka Fairlington Villages to control the raccoon population in North Fairlington for many years. As with other condo associations in and around Fairlington, it was/is the decades-long practice of FV residents to leave trash in kitchen trash bags on the curb for morning pick-up 6 days a week. Squirrels, birds, opossums, and rarely raccoons, would occasionally forage for food among the curbside trash. Wildlife tearing into trash bags was a recurring, but manageable, problem.

As for raccoons, occasional raccoons attacks on FV residents occurred over the years, but nothing was done except to warn FV residents - until recently.

After two raccoon attacks within weeks the FV Condo Association finally realized raccoons posed a significant risk to residents. Enter ArlNow whose Publisher, Scott Brodbeck, lives in an undisclosed location in North Fairlington. ArlNow being the tabloid it is, raccoon sightings were continually reported and there were many comments about raccoons this and raccoons that.

So what actions did Fairlimgton Villages take as the result of ArlNow's constant negative stories about raccoons?. The condo association ordered raccoons trapped and euthanized - and 15 raccoons were. End of problem, right? Wrong.

FV decided to install trash bins throughout North Fairlington. No more wildlife foraging in trash bags. But North Fairlington being mostly in Arlington County the Arlington Way determined the final outcome of ArlNow's Raccoon Saga. The FV condo association is spending $15,000 per trash bin location to create landscaped Taj Mahal trash bin locations, like the one under construction in the photo. Total cost several hundred thousand dollars.

Speaking of 'Journalism' being an oxymoron in this region, a few hundred thousand is nothing compared to how much Amazon is going to cost us once the Amazon Post finally reports the Amazon-Arlington deal.

Cindy, 22206