December, 2003 - Volume 88, No. 4

School Board to Attend December Meeting

December General Meeting, Tuesday, December 2nd 2003, 7 PM, Hazel Auditorium, Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington

December Meeting Agenda

The Parks and Recreation Committee will introduce a resolution regarding Small Parks Grant Applications for consideration by the Federation.

Our bylaws require that the Federation appoint its Awards Committee at the December meeting. The Awards committee will decide those individuals and groups that will receive awards at the Federation Banquet on March 26th. Volunteers to serve on the committee are encouraged to speak up!

Finally, the Best Practices Task Force will present its report to the Federation. Copies of the report are also available on line.

Community Forum

At the November meeting, the Federation also approved a resolution supporting the funding of a Siren alert system for Arlington County.

On Saturday November 22nd, the Federation's Planning and Zoning Committee hosted an informative 2 � hour seminar on the basics of the planning and zoning process in Arlington. The meeting was well attended with nearly 50 Federation members present. Plans are underway for a follow up session, likely in the spring.

Planning for Neighborhood Day on May 8, 2004, has begun. This year, the Federation hopes to help provide chance for Civic Associations and their local schools to get to know each other better. Stay tuned for more information. To get involved, please contact dan.+

1. The use of the Global Positioning System for all departures and arrivals from and to the main runway so that aircraft fly over the center of the Potomac River from the end of the runway until reaching the noise abatement boundary. This will also serve to enhance national security by assisting crews to stay clear of prohibited air space (i.e. P-56). It should be noted that this system has been successfully tested at Reagan National Airport, and is in use at other airports around the country.

2. A more noise beneficial departure climb profile within safety limits provided it does not increase the Day Night Level (DNL) noise for close-in residents.

3. The use of steeper descent rates for arriving flights so that gravity is used instead of heavy engine power to control descent. It should be noted that gravity descents have been tested successfully by the FAA at Louisville, KY.

4. Arriving flights should have mandatory and enforceable minimum arrival altitudes.

5. For nighttime operations (10 p.m. to 7 a.m.) a reduction of the noise restriction levels from 72 dBA (departures) and 85 dBA (arrivals) to 67 dBA and 80 dBA, respectively. The current restrictions are over 15 years old, and need to keep up with current aircraft technology.

6. The use of a nighttime (10 P.M. to 7 A.M.) noise cap in DNL to prevent an increase in nighttime noise from the present nighttime hours DNL noise levels.

7. Firm enforcement of nighttime engine maintenance run up operations with sanctions for violations.

8. Addition of new noise monitoring sites, particularly in line with runways 22 and 33, and in the south Arlington area.

9. Upgrading of existing noise monitoring equipment with best available technology, including pattern recognition to identify aircraft directly and not by inference via radar.

10. The use of a system for on-line viewing of aircraft flight activity similar to that in use at the San Francisco airport, coupled with a scoring system for airline compliance with designated flight paths.

For more information, or to join the committee, contact steveb+ or steveg+.


The Executive Committee has been learning about what our Committees are doing (what an incredible group of leaders!). We offered at least moral support to the Planning and Zoning Committee for their Seminar that, under the leadership of Martha Moore, Bill Gearhart and Peter Owen, was a resounding success on November 22nd. Among our other issues have been working with the Parks and Recreation Committee (very busy people) on the many issues under their auspices; setting the procedures for the December meeting with our guests from Arlington Public Schools/School Board organized by Terri Prell and Roger Meyer; gearing up for the Bond Seminar in January under Bob Atkins; preparing for the Parking/Traffic Seminar under the leadership of Jerry Auten and Ed Parks - and in general doing whatever is necessary to make certain our members are informed and as involved as they can ever hope to be (and then some!).

We still need a few Chairs or Co-Chairs, so please consider stepping forward when Dan asks. There's a great deal of support from your fellow Civic Federation delegates and alternates, and so many of the issues are new and of great concern to lots of Arlingtonians. We also need a Banquet Committee. This is a lot of fun; much of the "grunt" work is already stored on computer disks, so if you have a talent for organizing, decorating, or know some top-notch people who would make interesting speakers, please speak up!

Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled at the Hospice on the third Tuesday of December at 7:30 p.m. However, the NAACP has graciously offered us the use of their new offices - which would make it much easier for people living in South Arlington to attend the Executive Committee meetings. Please check the web site before heading out to the ExCom meeting. Pat Smaldore, our Vice President, will have checked out the site (particularly the parking availability) the last week of November. A huge thank you to the NAACP for thinking of us.

Another huge thank-you goes to Whole Foods on Wilson Boulevard in Clarendon. They not only donated water, bananas and literally hundreds of bagels and muffins for our hungry runners in the United We Stand 5K race to benefit the 911 Scholarship Fund and USO, but they also gave us a really steep discount on goodies to feed the participants at the Planning and Zoning Seminar. That level of community support is really appreciated!


The Parks and Recreation Committee will be meeting on Monday, December 15, at 7 pm, at Washington-Lee High School. On the agenda will be a proposed resolution regarding the dog park that was introduced by the Old Glebe Civic Association. Your participation on the committee is encouraged! Please call Jay Jacob Wind at 703-218-2726 or Larry Finch at 703-528-6349 for more information.


The Public Services Committee will be meeting December 4, 2003 at 7:30 p.m. at Kim Smith's house. For directions, please call Kim at 703-527-0294. Members of member organizations are ALWAYS welcome.

The agenda for the December for meeting includes resolutions/requests on: the Cherrydale Fire Station (and other fire station locations) process; A Public Defender's Office for Arlington (part of the County's legislative package as announced last week); The Police Department system for handling citizens' complaints/concerns; Library drop-off boxes/kiosks to facilitate returns without exiting cars.

Through the leadership of Jackie Snelling, the Public Preparedness Initiative continues to progress. We've finished our contribution to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and our facilitator through CSIS, Amanda Dory, has published a wonderful report and written several articles for the mass media. We were recently invited, as both CCC and Civic Federation, to work with the Council for Excellence in Government on their Collaborative Leadership and Service Delivery: Homeland Security from the Citizens' Perspective Committee. As always, if our members have issues that don't seem to be under the jurisdiction of another Civic Federation Committee, it's possible Public Services is the place! And, yet again, we would love more members. Our responsibilities are broad and deep, and individuals committed to solid research on issues of concern will definitely feel right at home! Let Kim Smith or Anne Fisher know if you're interested!


The Transportation Committee has been hard at work. A Parking Symposium was held in 3 sessions October 22-25. After presentations by a consultant and county staff, participants divided into groups by type of neighborhood (urban high density, non-urban high density, adjacent to urban corridors, and suburban neighborhoods) since parking issues vary in different parts of the county. Although it was not on the official agenda, the issue of density of development was raised by a number of participants. A summary of comments is to be made available on the county website. The county staff contact for information or to make comments is Eileen Feldman (efeldman@co.arlington.va.us).

The Arterials Task Force held community meetings October 7-9 and walk-throughs on November 8 on the three arterial segments in the first phase of the project. In addition, the Task Force has offered comments on a Toolbox of traffic modification tools to be used as a model for arterials throughout Arlington. The consultant is to offer plans for the first 3 arterial segments (western Wilson Boulevard, parts of Carlin Springs Road and Four-Mile Run). The intent is to use the results as a model for other arterials. The Task Force has a difficult assignment to balance the desire of local neighborhoods for arterial traffic to be slowed and reduced against the competing desires to reduce congestion, improve traffic flow, and avoid causing traffic to move back onto neighborhood streets. The consultant will also propose a new of classifying roads to replace current designations (arterial, neighborhood principle, etc). The project will be continuing over the next 3 or 4 months. The county staff contact is Richard Best (Rbest@co.arlington.va.us).

The Arlington County Civic Federation
Officers 2003-2004

Vice President Patrick Smaldore (pat+)

Treasurer Tim Wise (tim+)

Secretary Frances Finta (703-528-2882)

Executive Committee

Vice Chairman Nancy Graham (nancy+)

Member Randy Swart (randy+)

Member Bobi Wallace (bobi+)

Member Ken Marcus (ken+)

Committee Chairs

(steveb+) Steve Geiger (steveg+)

Bylaws Scott McGeary (scott+)

Community Relations Mike Lane (mike+)

Cultural Affairs Herschel Kanter (herschel+)

Environmental Affairs (Co-chairs) Ben Axleroad (other co-chair vacant)

Governance vacant

Housing Joe Wholey (co-chair) (other co-chair vacant)

Legislation Nancy Graham (nancy+)

Membership Frances Finta 703-528-2882

Parks & Recreation (Co-chairs) Jay Jacob Wind (jay+) (other co-chair vacant)

Planning & Zoning (Co-chairs) William Gearhart
(bill+) Martha Moore (martha+)

Public Services (Co-chairs) Anne Fisher (anne+) Kim Smith (kim)

+ Public Preparedness Initiative Jackie Snelling (prepared)

+ Revenues and Expenditures (Co-chairs) Robert Atkins (bob+) Randy Swart (Randy+)

Scholarship (co-chairs) Tim Reese, Jim Pebley jim+

Schools (Co-chairs) Roger Meyer (roger+) Terri Prell (terri)

+ Special Events (Co-chairs) Ann Rudd annrudd+; Adam Parkhomenko (adam+)

Transportation (Co-Chairs) Jerry Auten (jerry+) Ed Parks (ed)

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This page was last revised on: December 26, 2003.