Taj Mahal 'Transitional Facility' for Pub Crawlers to County Board on February 21st

Hey Yupette,

Please be aware, if you aren't already, that there's a site plan coming before the County Board on February 21st to replace low-density neighborhood infrastructure at North Rolfe Street and Fairfax Drive with a 395 unit mixed-use redevelopment with more than 400 parking spaces and 190 bicycle parking spaces on-site. There will also be a new County-owned 5-story 14-unit Taj Mahal "transitional facility" for pub crawlers coming out of rehab to replace the present transitional dormitory.

The County will also give the McLean developer more than 85,000 square feet of bonus density and 19,000 square feet of County-owned property on-site for 4 units of affordable housing at 40% or AMI and 4 units at 50% of AMI. The remaining 31 units at 60% of AMI are (according to County Staff) for the pub crawlers coming out of the transitional facility. The developer will also build a 6,400 square foot pocket park as a community benefit, though the County owns open space on site. The remainder of the bonus density will be awarded for the usual LEED Gold and Silver construction.

No estimate of the impact of the "family unit" housing, affordable and market rate, on the APS school population. No estimate of the impacts of 400 motor vehicles and 190 bicycles on the neighborhood's streets and sidewalks, except for the usual "don't worry, be happy, ride Metro." Another giveaway to a Fairfax County or out-of-state developer facilitated by County Staff who aren't County residents.

Thanks for your blog.

Mike, 22201

HB 2308 Independent Internal Auditor Legislation to House of Delegates Subcommittee February 4th

Hello,

Several Arlington residents contacted their Delegates in the General Assembly and asked for information about the status of the legislation that would allow the County Board to appoint an Independent Internal Auditor.

The legislation has been assigned to a subcommittee of the Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns and will be taken up by the subcommittee at 7:30 AM on Wednesday, February 4th.

Here's the text of the Independent Internal Auditor legislation, introduced by Delegate Hope.

HB 2308 County manager plan of government; governing body (Arlington County) may appoint county auditor

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED;

County manager plan of government; county auditor. Allows the governing body in a county with the county manager plan of government (Arlington County) to appoint a county auditor. The county auditor shall have the power to make performance reviews of operations of county agencies or county-funded programs to to ascertain that sums appropriated are expended for the purposes for which such appropriations were made and to evaluate the effectiveness of these agencies and programs.

Please call your Delegate and Senator and ask them to support this legislation, including mandating that an independent internal auditor report directly to the Arlington County Board.

Cindy

Clement, Dorsey to Run for County Board

Hi Yupette,

I ran into Christian Dorsey yesterday and he's obtaining petition signatures for a run for Arlington County Board. Heard through a friend in the Green Party that Audrey Clement will run for County Board again.

Chris Dorsey is not the local activist he once was. He works at the Economic Policy Institute, where he analyzes and re-analyzes the disparity between race and ethnic origin and wealth. He also serves on the board of the Arlington Free Clinic and on one of the committees that's planning the Abingdon School renovation, although he lives in North Arlington.

Audrey Clement is running for County Board again. How much coverage her campaign receives from media that are profoundly biased against third party candidates and independents remains to be seen, probably not much.

Anyway, thanks for your blog.

Kip

Time for Barbara Donnellan to Retire

Hey Yupette,

So Nada Tejada is retiring. To join his bud Zimmy at Smart Growth International? Soon to be followed by Pub Crawl Mary Hynes announcing her retirement? We can only hope.And Chief of Reactive Policing Scott is retiring in March.

But the one person in County Government who should retire, right now, is County Manager Donnellan.Every County Board meeting she gets worse.This past County Board meeting it was like she was elected County Supervisor and the County Board members were appointed by her.

Then there are the poor decisions and no decisions Barbara is responsible for that make her title an oxymoron....ranging from million dollar dog parks and bus shelters to welfare for wealthy corporations and non-profits to a bloated economic development bureaucracy that's been so spectacularly unsuccessful that homeowners are bearing the increase in the cost of County Government next fiscal year. But Barbara's worst performance involves fiscal management and the County's lack thereof. I have to wonder what's going on when, with all the slush funds Barbara controls, she vehemently opposes an independent internal auditor who reports to the County Board, to the point that the County Board has to go to the General Assembly for permission to hire one.

So I thank Barbara for her many years of service to the County but it's really time for her to retire.

Pike Rider, 22204

Crystal City Streetcar "Under Active Consideration" by County Board

Hey Yupette:

In the event you missed yesterday's County Board corporate welfare giveaway for the redevelopment of 400 Army-Navy Drive (Regular Agenda Item 33) you also missed the exchange between a local activist and Board Chair Mary Hynes over references to streetcar infrastructure contained in the redevelopment staff report for 400 Army-Navy Drive.

"Pub Crawl Mary" denied that a Crystal City streetcar line is in the works at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. However, community activists who grilled the 400 Army-Navy Drive developer and County Transportation Staff have learned that a Crystal City Streetcar System, to be paid for from a number of revenue sources, is indeed under consideration by the County Board. How much will be siphoned from transportation infrastructure funds to pay for this project which could cost $300 million? Moreover, according to County Transportation Planning Staff a number of streetcar planners remain employed by the County, although the County Board stated on November 18th that all planning work on Pike and Crytstal City streetcar systems would be ended  How much is that costing taxpayers? Where's the much-improved bus service we're supposed to be obtaining as the result of streetcar planning being "ended"? Already-aggravated taxpayers want to know.

Thanks for this blog.

Adam

APS Insiders: Arlington Public School System Wastes Tens of Millions Every Year

Hello, Yupette,

I attended the Civic Federation's monthly meeting last week and it appears that Superintendent Murphy finally has a dim realization (reinforced by pointed questions from CivFed delegates) that he and APS can't continue to spend wastefully, extravagantly, and unnecessarily. Based on what APS insiders tell me, the County won't have the revenues to keep funding the ever-increasing number of Pat Murphy's pet programs, projects, and special interests.

So, what do these include? First, there's the more than $1 million that APS has spent on the PR effort to have Murphy named America's "Schools Superintendent of the Year". Next, add the ongoing residency exemptions for County employees including at least 400 students at a cost of about $8 million. Murphy's preference for hiring new teachers with advanced degrees and at least 10 years experience costs Arlington taxpayers at least another $10 million each year....although he has no data to substantiate whether teachers with bachelors degrees and several years experience teach as well. Then there are the myriad special programs that serve a few students and cost $30,000-and-up per student per year. Then there's the open-ended invitation to enroll refugee children and young adults from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and other countries currently undergoing serious civil unrest. Three hundred refugee students were enrolled last year at a cost of about $6 million.

Then there's "More Seats for Students", Pat Murphy's ambitious program to provide an expensive brick-and-mortar classroom for every one of Arlington's students, at 22 students per classroom. Concomitant with "More Seats for Students" is "More Parking for Parents", another ambitious program to provide large new parking lots and drop-off space for parents, teachers, and staff who want to drive themselves or their children to school. This in addition to an expensive school bus transportation system that typically operates at 5% to 50% of capacity.

Also, APS is funding increasingly extravagant high school sports and activity programs. And APS is top-heavy with administrative staff.

 Have I reached $50 million per year in wasteful, extravagant, and unnecessary spending yet?

APS insiders, i.e., teachers who are truly concerned about education, mince no words about Patrick Murphy's misplaced spending priorities. As one of them recently stated to me - "the amount of money APS wastes every year could fully fund the operation of school systems in two small counties downstate."

Thank you for this blog.

Sandy
22207

Welcome Back to the New Arlington Way

Hello Yupette,

So the efforts of Arlington's Lexus Liberals to impose their mega zillion dollar pet projects on Arlington taxpayers only succeeded in getting taxpayers mad enough to elect a fiscal conservative to the County Board? What to do now? County Board's  Democratic majority figured it was time to revitalize The Arlington Way.

In the event you are new to Arlington and have not experienced the classic "Arlington Way" it works like this:  A special interest aligned with the Arlington Democratic Party secretly lobbies the County Board until the County Board pre-approves a program, project, whatever the special interest wants. County Staff are brought on board to facilitate. Various citizens committees, commissions,  boards, etc.,  formed from the usual Democratic Party stalwarts rubber stamp whatever is proposed, with cosmetic changes. A charade approval process is set in motion which culminates (often years later) with the County Board approving what the special interest wants with great fanfare.

So why am I not surprised that  "Pub Crawl Mary" Hynes proposed revisiting The Arlington Way and forming a citizens advisory committee to facilitate a revival. Why shouldn't they? The Arlington Way charade worked for years and made lots of Democrats (like Jay Fisette) rich. Why not again? Can you blame them?

22201