The Civic Voice
Newsletter of the Arlington County Civic Federation
April, 2001 - Volume 85, No. 8
APRIL MEETING TO REVIEW COUNTY BUDGET
April General Meeting
7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 3rd
Arlington Hospital, Hazel Auditorium
1701 N. George Mason Drive
As planned, this year we pushed back the general meeting on the budget to
April instead of March. This helped give the Revenues & Expenditures and
Schools Committees more time to analyze issues, consider funding priorities
and review revenues. The rules for considering how we will adopt budget
recommendations are inside this issue of The Civic Voice.
Neighborhood Day Celebration Set For May 12th
Plans Shaping Up
If you haven�t heard it by now, Neighborhood Day this year will be held on
May 12th. This year�s celebration will tie in with the Bicentennial
Celebrations already ongoing in the County.
Planning for Neighborhood Day 2001 (May 12) has begun firming up for the
N-Day Steering Group (Federation President Jim Pebley is Co-Chair). So what
does this mean for our member organizations? We are anticipating a grand
day, with numerous neighborhood events in the morning followed by a
celebration of Neighborhood Heroes at Ballston Common Mall at noon, then a
big parade at 2 PM. The parade will be bigger than ever -- with the
emphasis on the Bicentennial this year. We hope to have lots of Civic
Association floats, old cars, the Army�s fife and drum corps, marching
bands, and horses. This year�s parade will be followed by a Bicentennial
Multicultural Festival in the courthouse plaza and displays in the parking
area of floats, old cars and other parade participants. Think of it as a
really big Block Party to go to after the parade!
We hope that our organizations will participate in the festivities. Again
this year, we are encouraging civic associations and other organizations to
sponsor joint events with neighborhood schools, as a means of bringing us
closer to our neighborhood PTA�s. If you need ideas, check out the
Neighborhood Day web page at �www.civfed.org/neighday.htm� in case you need
instructions on building a float. Here�s a list of some of the activities
your organization may want to try:
o Yard Sale - Bake Sale
o Treasure and White Elephant Swap
o Fall landscaping clean-up
o Paint a classroom/floor/school
o Arts and Crafts Festival
o Spaghetti supper or lunch
o Canned goods food drive
o Teaching Gardening
o Bulb or tree planting
o Treasure Hunt
o Child seat safety inspection
o Bicycle Tune-Up/ Helmet Tune-Up
o Voter Registration
o Good Neighbor Project (one school gave flowers to area residents)
o Bell Ringing
o Kids band performance/Battle of the Bands
o Bicycle Rodeo
o Build a Float for the County parade
o Coffee, Open House
o Community Breakfast
o Block party
o Book Sale or Exchange
o Historical Tour of the Neighborhood, Notable Tree Walk
o Naturalist Walk in School Grounds or in your Neighborhood
o Picnic at the School
o Neighborhood Cleanup (block assignment at the school)
o Bike trail repair
Public Services Survey In the Mail
to Organization Presidents � Fill Us In!
The Public Services Committee has reconstituted itself and has been very
busy discussing the topics of Police, Fire, Emergency Medical Services,
utilities and more. At their March 20th meeting, the Committee finalized a
letter and survey that will be mailed to each of our member organizations.
The survey asks them to rate the adequacy and quality of critical County
services. The letters were sent to the presidents of each member
organization. The committee plans on using the information as the basis for
a review of Public Services we hope to conduct at our June meeting. Fill
out and return those surveys!
Rules for Budget Discussions at the
April 3rd Membership Meeting
By now, both the Revenues and Expenditures Committee and Schools Committee
have been working for over a month, reviewing the budgets that the Interim
County Manager and School Superintendent have submitted to their respective
Boards. As many have heard, this year the County Board committed to not
raising the real estate property tax rate, essentially fixing the amount of
revenues available for the Fiscal Year 2002 budgets, starting on July 1st of
this year. That means, for the Federation�s recommendations to be relevant,
both Committees had to agree on their respective recommended shares of the
County operating budget -- and the total of both budget recommendations must
not exceed the total funds available. In other words, we can�t recommend
raising taxes, since the County Board has already precluded that.
To accommodate this development, the Executive Committee adopted the
following proposed special rules for the Budget discussions at the April
Meeting:
- At the meeting, both Committee�s Budget Recommendations will be presented
as a single report. The report will be voted on (first) for adoption as
written. If adopted, it will constitute the Federation�s budget
recommendations to the County Board and School Board.
- If the reports are not adopted, then the report may be subject to
modifications that Delegates may propose to be supported by a majority vote
of the Federation Members. However (this is important), because the
recommendations must remain within the budgetary limits, amendments to add
or expand expenditures can only be considered if they are accompanied by
offsetting budget cut recommendations that equal or exceed the amount of the
budget change proposed.
A summary of each Committee�s report should be available on our web page not
later than the evening of Sunday, April 1st. If you have particular items
of interest in the budgets, you can contact the respective committee chairs
at the phone numbers listed at the bottom of this Civic Voice
Civic Federation To Participate in
Follow on Development Forum
As mentioned in the March Civic Voice, the issues on Community Planning that
members raised at the March meeting were presented to the ABC Forum on
Community Planning. A summary of those issues can be found on our web pages
at www.civfed.org.
Notes From Your President
Our civic year continues to roar along � powered by the hard work and
unselfish dedication of our committees and their leaders.
- The new head of County Code Enforcement, Ms. Angelia Alford, visited the
Executive Committee on March 14th and gave us a rundown on Code Enforcement
initiatives. Ms. Alford has settled into her job and is working hard to
energize the County�s Code Enforcement efforts. If you�d like to invite her
to your organization�s meeting to talk about issues, call her at (703)
228-3241.
- Congratulations to the Bicentennial Task Force for a great kickoff event,
despite some wet weather. Ms. Margaret Lampe, Patrick Smaldore (our ACCF
representative) and the whole Task Force deserve a hearty, �Well Done!�
See you at the April Meeting! Jim Pebley
p.s.: Public Comment Still Starts at 7 pm!
This is the end of the material in the paper version of the Civic Voice.
Additional items that didn't make it into the Civic Voice...
Nuts and Bolts and Puzzle Pieces: Elements of Arlington Planning - A
Planning Commission Workshop
The Long-Range Planning Subcommittee of the Planning Commission invites you
to take part in a technical workshop to discuss issues and questions related
to the Comprehensive Plan, Sector Plans and other types of small area plans,
and the relationship between these plans and development proposals. When:
March 29, 2001 7:30 PM. Where: Courthouse Plaza, 2100 Clarendon Boulevard,
County Board Room (Room 307). Purpose: With the reviews of several Sector
Plans and other major planning efforts under way or scheduled to start in
the next few years, it seems timely to bring together community activists,
advisory commission members and county staff for informal discussion of some
of the recurring technical issues and procedural questions about County
planning. This workshop will address topics such as the elements of the
comprehensive plan; the status of other documents such as sector plans,
revitalization plans, neighborhood conservation plans, and phased
development site plans; how these documents should relate to each other and
to development proposals; to what extent we can set standards such as
architectural quality or neighborhood character; what reviews should be done
to keep planning realistic, relevant and effective, and how often basic
goals should be revisited. For additional information, please contact Carrie
Johnson, Planning Commission Chairman, at 703-522-8940, or Gabriela Acurio,
Master Planning Coordinator, at 703-228-3525.
VDOT Meeting
VDOT Citizen Information/Participation Meeting on the Proposed Redesign of
the Route 50/27 Interchange in Arlington (Arlington Boulevard and Washington
Boulevard March 29 - Thursday
A meeting will be held from 5 to 8 pm at Long Branch Elementary School, 33
N. Filmore St. One objective of this $13 million project is to upgrade the
shared-use paths along the north side of Rte 50 and the west side of Rte 27.
These paths will have some at-grade crossings of highway ramps and/or
frontage roads, so scrutiny of VDOT's proposed design is essential. Written
comments may be submitted at the meeting or sent within 10 days thereafter
(postmarked by April 9) to: Mr. Thomas. F. Farley, Administrator, VDOT NoVA
District, 14685 Avion Pkwy, Chantilly VA 20151-1104, Fax 703-383-2470.
Forum on Electricity Deregulation
A Press Release from Marcia Finnerty, Chair,
Environmental Committee,League of Women Voters, Arlington Co.
Educational Forum on the Effects of Electricity Deregulation for
Arlingtonians
The public is invited to attend an educational forum on the effects of
Electricity Deregulation for Arlingtonians. The panel presentation will be
held on Thursday, April 5, 2001, 7 PM, at the Arlington "Central" Public
Library, Auditorium, 1015 North Quincy Street Arlington, VA.
The speakers will include:
- Nancy Etkin of the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets
- Don Sullivan of the Consumer Advisory Board to the Virginia Legislative
Transition Task Force
- David Koogler, Project Director of Billing and Customer Choice, Dominion
Virginia Power
The Panel presentation is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of
Arlington County, the Environment and Energy Conservation Commission of
Arlington, Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment, and the Arlington County
Extension Service. Admission is free
ACCF Officers
President Jim Pebley 703-525-0766 jim+
Vice President Dan Krasnegor 703-534-4024 dan+
Treasurer Frances Finta 703-528-2882 (no email)
Secretary Tim Wise 703-243-8345 tim+
Executive Committee
Chairman - Patrick Smaldore 703-528-3935 - patrick+
Member - Robert Atkins 703-527-8859 - (voice or fax) - (no email)
Member - Darnell Carpenter 703-243-5188 - darnell+
Member - Mileva Hartman 703-841-9287 - mileva+
Member - Dan Krasnegor 703-534-4024 - dan+
Member - Susan Quinn 703-931-1755 - susan+
Committee Chairs
Newsletter Editorial Committee
+
News email: - civicvoice Fax: 703-486-0576 +
Web: - www.civfed.org (.com works too)
Recipients of this newsletter are encouraged to forward to all and any
interested parties
Copies of the Newsletter are available for Download from the Civic
Federation website. (This page!)
If you have comments or complaints, please contact the editor, Jim Pebley
This page was last revised on: December 28, 2003.
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Arlington County Civic Federation
