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Arlington County Civic Federation

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October, 2002 - Volume 87, No. 2 ------


Bonds, Transportation Referendum and Constitutional Amendments at Meeting October 1, 2002, 7PM

October meeting will have Special Rules for program

Last month we heard from the candidates for Federal and local offices in November's election. Now that we've had the chance to meet the women and men running for office, it's time to turn to the rest of the ballot. Arlington voters will be asked to vote up or down on two proposed constitutional amendments, two Virginia bond referenda, a regional sales tax referendum, and three proposed County bond referenda. That's a lot to consider! October's Civic Federation meeting will provide an opportunity to learn more about all eight items and for the Civic Federation to take a position on the outcome. We could spend an entire meeting debating any one of the items. In order to provide as much information as possible in the limited time available the meeting will be conducted pursuant to the following special rules:

    1. The Forum will consist of a series of eight panels, one for each bond issue, referendum item, or constitutional amendment. The purpose of the panels is to provide information regarding the issues. Several panels will include speakers for and against passage of the item, while others will have only one speaker, providing background and information. In addition, for each item a brief presentation will be made by a representative from the appropriate Civic Federation committee setting forth the committee's recommendation regarding passage and the rationale.

    2. Following the presentation by each panel, a period of not less than five minutes will be provided for questions and answers. Any delegate or alternate may ask a question of the panel. Questions may be no more than 30 seconds in length. Multiple-part and follow up questions will not be allowed. Speeches and/or comments will not be permitted.

    3. Ballots will be provided to delegates and alternates of member organizations in attendance. However, not more than four delegates or alternates will be given ballots for any ACCF member organization. The ballots will include committee recommendations for, or against, passage of each item. For each item, the voter will have an opportunity to vote YES for passage, or NO, against passage, or to record no vote. Ballots must be submitted not later than 10 minutes following the conclusion of the regular meeting. Following the meeting, the votes will be tallied, and the results made public. Where there are more YES votes than NO, the item will be reported as endorsed by the Civic Federation. The Civic Federation will be reported as recommending a vote against the item where there are more NO votes than YES votes.

    The full text of the amendments, referenda and bonds on the ballot may be seen at http://www.co.arlington.va.us/voters/election.htm. In addition, the Civic Federation website, www.civfed.org, has links to even more information, both for and against each item.




Community Forum to Debut

Beginning this month each Civic Federation meeting will begin with presentations from two community groups between 7PM and 7:30PM. At the next meeting, the Virginia Cooperative Extension and Chesapeake Bay Foundation will give presentations. The following are brief descriptions provided by the two organizations:

Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) is a vibrant organization that has been serving Arlington for more than 50 years. It is also an organization that is under threat from state budget cuts. In Arlington VCE provides youth development services through the 4-H program, free financial counseling, gardening advice, nutrition education for low-income residents, community garden plots for local residents, classes for people wanting to start their own home-based businesses, invasive species control, and many other free or low-cost services. We also manage the Arlington Farmers' Market and the new West End Community Market. On October 1 we'll use a fun quiz format to talk about our programs and the tremendous support provided by our many volunteers.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the largest conservation organization dedicated solely to saving the Chesapeake Bay. With more than 110,000 active members, CBF works throughout the Chesapeake's 64,000-square-mile watershed in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Currently the CBF is launching an "Open Space" initiative in Northern Virginia, one of its many education and environmental protection programs.


Committee News

The Cultural Affairs Committee and the Planning & Zoning Committee are working on a program for the February meeting concentrating on issues of historic and neighborhood preservation with emphasis on the County, civic association and individual citizen interaction. Anyone interested in helping with the program can contact Herschel Kanter, Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Herschel; or Martha M+oore, Martha+ or Bill Gearhart, bill+; co-chairs of the Planning and Zoning Committee.

During the past two meetings in August 2002, the Environmental Affairs Committee discussed a wide range of environmental issues affecting Arlington County. At our last meeting, our Committee members' agreed that for the current Federation year, we would focus on Arlington County's planned watershed management program activities for the near future. Briefly, a watershed consists of a water body, such as a stream, river, lake, or estuary, and the entire land surface that drains to that water body. All of the rain that falls on Arlington County eventually drains to the Potomac River Watershed and ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Watershed management programs include land use planning, regulation of development, control of water pollution, stream buffer protection, and stream restoration. These programs consider all sources of pollution in a watershed, including storm water runoff and discharges from major point sources, such as the Water Pollution Control Plant. Arlington County has recently completed a (1) draft master plan for its proposed upgrades and expansion of the County's Water Pollution Control Plant and (2) proposed comprehensive amendment of its existing Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance.

At the next Environmental Affairs Committee meeting, scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., on Monday, October 7, 2002, the Committee will hear a presentation by Larry Slattery, Chief, Water Pollution Control Division, on the County's proposed Water Pollution Control Division's Master Plan and its initiatives estimated to cost $135 million over the next seven years. Bob Mace, Deputy Director for the County's Department of Environmental Services and Phil Loar, Coordinator, Community Relations, for the Water Pollution Control Division, will be there to support Mr. Slattery and to help answer questions. The location for the next meeting of the Environmental Affairs Committee will be announced at the Civic Federation's meeting on Tuesday, October 1. If you are interested in serving on the Environmental Affairs Committee, or have questions concerning the Committee, please contact Ernie Ragland at (703) 525-4276, or by e-mail at ragland.ernie@prodigy.net.

The Executive Committee continues to grapple with multiple issues facing the Arlington community to insure adequate airing and debate among our members. Among the topics on the table are: the Transportation Referendum, plus the issues of parking, arterials, the Master Transportation Plan, the Mass Transit Plan, and the Bicycle Plan; the Consolidated Bond; the School Bond; the Water Treatment Bond; the State Bonds; the State Bond Issues; the processes affecting the Sector and Site Plan Reviews (resolution anticipated); Public Safety Issues (resolutions anticipated); the Legislative Package (subject of November's general meeting); the need for a new By-laws Committee Chairman; applications for Membership in the Civic Federation; a number of issues under Cultural Affairs; environmental issues such as Chesapeake Bay and storm water quality; housing for county employees and the Living Wage, the 911 and Teachers' Scholarship Funds; the Annual Banquet, scheduled for March 28th.

Patrick Smaldore is leading the way on Community Outreach to current members and other community organizations. Bob Atkins and Kim Smith are chairing a task force on "Best Practices".

The Executive Committee generally meets the first Thursday of the month following the general membership meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Hospice of Northern Virginia. All delegates are invited to attend and bring issues of concern to the Executive Committee. Check the Web Site at www.civfed.org or contact Kim Smith (kim+) for details.

Kathryn Scruggs, Arlington Education Association president, has proposed a resolution for the Arlington County Civic Federation to support the creation of a broad-based coalition that would develop a plan for homeownership for Arlington's public servants and appoint a representative to participate in the coalition. The Housing Committee will be reviewing this resolution at an upcoming meeting, date TBA, and will make a report to the ACCF on its recommendations prior to the Federation vote on this resolution, now scheduled for November. We will announce through email the date and location of the Housing Committee meeting so interested parties may attend. Contact Wayne Kubicki, wayne+ for details.

The Legislation Committee has been meeting over the past several months to prepare the proposed legislative package for the November Civic Federation meeting. A copy of the proposed package is available on the Federation's website at www.civfed.org, and will be distributed at the October meeting. Additional items for the Civic Federation Package may be introduced from the floor at the November meeting, however, any new proposal must be reported to the Federation President at least 72 hours in advance of the meeting, and the delegate offering the proposal must provide 75 copies by 6:45 on the night of the meeting. Contact Chairman Nancy Graham (nancy+) with any questions.

The Parks Committee meets on Thursday, 7:30 pm, September 26, tentatively at NRECA. Contact Jay Wind, jay+, to confirm meeting times and locations.

The Public Services Committee is continuing its research into some of the issues facing Public Safety in Arlington. Among those are the pay and retirement disparities that continue to exacerbate the problems of recruitment and long-term retention in some of our public safety agencies. Research continues as well into the reasons the Computer Aided Dispatch (911) and Record Management Systems upgrades have not been implemented. The issue of adequate numbers of hospital beds for Arlington, given the aging of our population and the number of ambulance by-passes each day continues to be troublesome, particularly in light of the proposed closing of Northern Virginia Doctors' Hospital. The adequacy of Public Health Department staffing, funding and equipment is also being reviewed by Public Services.

On the Disaster Preparedness front, the Public Preparedness Planning Group (PPPG) chaired by Civic Federation (Lyon Village) delegate Jackie Snelling, completed its recommendations for implementing a Citizen Corps Council. The Civic Federation was also represented by Arlington View Civic Association President Gene Hubbard. The County Manager and the County Board accepted these recommendations and authorized an Arlington Citizen Corps Council. Jackie was appointed Chairman by County Manager Ron Carlee. The Civic Federation will be asked to designate other representatives to the CCC. Jackie, Gene Hubbard, and the other members of the PPPG, as well as Public Services Co-Chairs Anne Fisher and Kim Smith, were invited by Governor Warner to attend a press event where the Governor announced the formation of the CCC, the first in Virginia, as well as the formation of the Virginia Volunteer Corps, designed to better utilize Virginia's citizen talents and resources.

Anne Fisher continues to work closely with former Aurora Highlands president Les Garrison and Captain Clare Halsey of the ACFD to develop the first neighborhood-based CERT - Community Emergency Response Team - in the state. The CERT will be given basic training by the Fire Department in areas such as light fire suppression, emergency first aid, light search and rescue-so that they can safely assist neighborhoods in emergencies until professional help arrives. The civic associations in the Fourth Police District were selected for this pilot program because of their work on September 11th and their close proximity to the Pentagon and other major facilities and their active work on Neighborhood Watch. The first training session of the CERT is scheduled for September 25th. Opportunities for other neighborhood-based CERTs should be forthcoming at the beginning of the New Year at the latest. Contact Kim Smith, kim+, or Anne Fisher, anne+ for more information.

The Schools Committee has been working on topics for the School Board to discuss when they visit the Federation in December. The next committee meeting is at Terri Prell's home on Sunday 29 September at 1:30. At the meeting, the topics to be addressed at the December meeting will be finalized. Also we will be taking a position on the school bond for the October Federation meeting. Contact committee co-chairs Roger Meyer (roger+) or Terri Prell (terri+) for more information.

The Transportation Committee has been following various transportation issues affecting Arlington such as the concept to redesign Route 50, the revitalization of Columbia Pike to include mass transit, and most importantly the proposed Transportation Tax Referendum. The committee has organized the discussion on this proposed tax that will take place at the October meeting of the ACCF. In the near future the committee has arranged for a presentation of the County's Walkarlington concept to the ACCF at the December meeting. Further information on Walkarlington can be found on the County's web page www.commuterpage.com/greenway1. In addition, the members will continue to remain active with regard to any developments on the widening of Rt.. 66, improvements to Mass transit, the problem of neighborhood cut-through traffic verses arterials, and other transportation issues. Our next meeting will be scheduled as needed. Contact Matt Bonnini (matt+) for more information.


ARLINGTON COUNTY CIVIC FEDERATION
C/O Dan Krasnegor
1305 N. Longfellow St.
Arlington, VA 22205




ACCF Officers

    President Dan Krasnegor 703-534-4024 dan+

    Vice President Patrick Smaldore 703-528-3935 patrick+

    Treasurer Frances Finta 703-528-2882 Fax 528-0182

    Secretary Tim Wise 703-243-8345 tim+


Executive Committee

    Chairman - Kim Smith 703-527-0294 - kim+

    Member - Robert Atkins 703-527-8859 - (voice or fax) - robert+

    Member - Nancy Graham 703-243-4650 - nancy+

    Member - Mike Lane - mike

    + Member - Randy Swart 703-521-2080 - randy+


ACCF Committee Chairs

The paper version of the Civic Voice uses a design by Cheryl Whitehead, who can be reached through email to cwhite229@erols.com. This Web version, using the same text but posted within the style confines of our Web page design, is put up by Randy Swart.


This page was last revised on: December 27, 2003.
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