Focus of 2016 General Assembly Session - Guns, Guns, Guns

Hey Yupette,

I noticed that the First Yuppie will be in Fairfax today, preaching against guns, guns, guns. Are guns a problem in Virginia? There have been two murders in Arlington during the past 3 years.

Meanwhile, it's easier, much easier, to buy a handgun in Virginia than to have solar panels installed on your home. Appears that after focusing on date rape, date rape, date rape in 2015 the General Assembly will focus on guns, guns, guns this year.

Meanwhile, North Carolina and Maryland are fast-tracking solar installations.

Appears the Virginia General Assembly is focused on fighting and re-fighting battles in the Liberal vs. Conservative Culture War.

Oh, photo is of a typical solar home installation in Maryland. They typically cut electric energy consumption by 1/2 to 2/3.

Thanks for your blog.

Susan

County Board's Theme for 2016 - 'Portland on the Potomac'

Hello, Yupette,

Whatever County Board members may say in their New Year's Day speeches (meeting starts at 11 AM at 2100 Clarendon Blvd.) Smart Growth decisions for 2016 start being made at the Recessed County Board Meeting to be held at Jay Fisette's home Friday afternoon. County Board will vote on whatever is decided New Year's Day at a closed meeting at 6 PM on January 5th.

The County Board has generally decided - in a number of closed meetings over the past year - that Arlington should become a clone of Portland Oregon, and the sooner the better. So the removal of non-trendy people and non-trendy infrastructure will be accelerated. We'll start seeing cargo bikes on our streets and sidewalks, together with groups riding bicycles. All commercial buildings over 20 years old are being evaluated for replacement. Replacement of single family homes by expensive townhouses in Bluemont will be accelerated. So will the replacement of the non-trendy commercial strip on Glebe Road between Pershing Drive and Route 50. Whatever the County Board may say about "diversity" what the County Board will do is make Arlington increasingly unfriendly to residents who don't have large amounts of disposable income.

Thanks for your blog. Happy New Year.

2100

Westover Village on AED's Short List for Mixed-Use Redevelopment

Hey Yupette,

I had a talk with one of Arlington Economic Development's so-called 'planning staff' about what's in store for my neighborhood  on Lee Highway, not far from the East Falls Church. As you may be aware, there are quite a few older single family homes in my neighborhood and AED is looking to tear many of them down for expensive townhouse redevelopment.

The topic eventually came around to Westover Village, and AED and CPHD are planning Smart Growth mixed-use redevelopment, along the lines of Clarendon - 6 story apartments buildings with ground floor restaurants and retail.

As with Lee Highway, a Westover redevelopment committee will be formed within the next year and packed with Smart Growth boosters. So you can expect Westover Market will be transformed into something very much like Sehkraft Brewing in Clarendon. Italian Store may remain as-is since the owner just spent massive amounts of money renovating the old 7-11.

As for the older garden apartments in and around Westover they're going to either be redeveloped into unaffordable-affordable housing by APAH or demolished for expensive townhouses by developers.

So that's the Smart Growth 'plan' for Westover.

Barbara, 22205

VDOT Proposes I-395 Widening for HOT Lanes Through Arlington to DC

Hello,

Here are JPEGs of the brochure some residents in the I-395 Corridor received early this week from VDOT. County Board is discussing whether or not to facilitate this project. AY opposes any plan or project that will bring more traffic into Arlington. Click on JPEGs to enlarge.

Cindy

New Urbanism Severely Stressing Arlington Police and OEM Resources

Hey, Yupette,

The County Board held a work session with Arlington Police Chief Murray Farr and Arlington Office of Emergency Management Director Jack Brown yesterday afternoon. To the surprise of no one who works at 2100 Clarendon Blvd., both Chief Farr and Director Brown told the County Board that the Police Department and Office of Emergency Management are severely stressed, largely as a consequence of so-called New Urbanism.

Although Arlington's population has grown by about 20,000 over the past 17 years, the Police Department has fewer officers than in 1998. Demands by Homeland Security have signficantly reduced the number of the Department's patrol officers.

Most problematic is the amount of mandatory police overtime generated because of pub crawls and similar Millennial events in Clarendon, Ballston, and Rosslyn. OEM Director Brown reported his staff are similarly stressed because of the increase in the number of calls for service. Cell phones are currently the source of 75% of the calls to 911.

Obviously, the County Board is going to have to increase Police Department funding in the FY 17 Budget. The Arlington Fire Department will hold a working session with the County Board in the near future and it's expected that the Acting Fire Chief will report that Fire and EMS resources are even more stressed than the Police and OEM.

Thanks for your blog.

2100

New Urbanist Guru Victor Hoskins Mesmerized County Board Chair During 'Invitation Only' County Board Meeting

Hello,

We were, and are, appalled by the secretive antics the County Board and County Staff engaged in scheduling the 'invitation only' County Board Meeting on November 20th, to celebrate County Board Chair and WMATA Board Member Mary 'Safety Last' Hynes's so-called 'planning' for Arlington's so-called 'economic future'.

The County Board's Brain Trust's invitation-only Breakfast Meeting on November 20th was more of the same old, same old, with a bunch of middle-aged geezers toasting and applauding County Board Chair Mary Hynes's and New Urbanist Guru of Multi-Modal Gridlock Victor Hoskins's agenda for Arlington - neighborhood-by-neighborhood urbanization, while poaching in DC and other jurisdictions for more Millennials with extravagantly-compensated Top Secret security clearances.

No minority group members are ever seen on  the video of Arlington's decision makers. Obviously, County Government isn't about us, it's about yet another in-group of VIP Democrats appointed to another advisory group that, after much deliberation, tells County Board members what they want to hear.

But what else is new in Arlington?

Cindy, 22206

Obama Administration Asks Inside-the-Beltway Democratic Pols to Accept 10,000 Syrian Refugees

Hey, Yupette,

Latest at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard is not fast-tracking our neighborhoods for urbanization. The Obama Administration is asking Democratic politicians whose jurisdictions lie inside the DC Beltway to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees. The feeling by the pols in the Administration who make such decisions is the DC area economy is robust enough to resettle at least 10,000 refugees. At least 1 million legal immigrants have been admitted to the United States every year for the last 25 years.

Whatever the Administration may say about Syrian refugees being thoroughly vetted before being allowed to resettle in the United States, the fact is the Administration is under tremendous pressure from NATO allies to accept at least 100,000 Syrian refuges during the next year. The people in the Administration who make such decisions will be gone in a year, unless Hillary is elected and some stay on. Look for statements during next month's Christmas County Board meeting from Mary Hynes and Walter Tejada (who have a month left in office) about resettling "several thousand" Syrian refugees in Arlington County.

Given its increasing secrecy, any decisions the County Board makes about resettling Syrian refugees in Arlington will be in closed meetings. So it's likely the first we will know about Syrian refugees resetling in Arlington is when we see them.

Thanks for your blog.

2100