News

First responders facing possible job loss petition county to reverse vaccine mandate

By Jo DeVoe

A group of Arlington County first responders and staff from other departments are petitioning the county to reverse course on its vaccine mandate.

Those who elect not to get the vaccine risk losing their jobs come February, per the county’s updated vaccine policy, shared with ARLnow.

Arlington County mandated vaccines for all government employees back in August, requiring those who were unvaccinated to submit to weekly testing. Since then, the county added a deadline to its policy: unvaccinated employees have until Feb. 1, 2022 to get the vaccine or get a medical or religious exemption. Those without a vaccine or an exemption on Feb. 1 will be placed on leave, and if they obtain neither before Feb. 28, 2022, they lose their jobs.

Some 278 of 3,137 permanent county employees are unvaccinated, including an unknown number of religious or medical exemptions, according to Public Health Division spokesman Ryan Hudson.

Those requesting the county to change its policy are asking for “more reciprocal ideas” for ensuring employee health and safety. The petition, started by firefighter Sterling Montague, has garnered nearly 300 signatures, from employees and their friends and family.

“More people came out in the last week than I ever knew of who are in support of the guys who don’t want to get the vaccine,” Montague tells ARLnow, adding that the coalition represents different demographics and opinions, including those who are vaccinated but oppose mandates.

“We aren’t uniformly anything,” he said. “We are anti-mandate for lots of reasons… [and] we have a diverse group that includes African-Americans and Hispanics.”

The petition says the mandate disproportionately harms people of color and it’s unclear what recourse folks have if those forced to take the vaccine suffer side effects. Objections to the shot, meanwhile, include that it was designed for a previous version of the virus and only protects for a short period of time and wanes, requiring an unknown number of additional boosters.

The county maintains that vaccines are safe and the best protection against COVID-19 — something echoed by the vast majority of doctors and public health professionals.

Arlington Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese said mandates work, linking rising vaccination rates among those older than 18 to various mandates during a County Board recessed meeting on Tuesday.

Rather than terminate up to 10% of employees — while the county faces ongoing and predicted workforce shortages among first responders and in other county departments — the petition suggests affordable, at-work tests for unvaccinated folks and those who report to work with symptoms while counting previous COVID-19 cases towards immunization.

Testing isn’t cheap. For the last three weeks, that testing has cost the county about $7,300 per week, but it’s 100% reimbursed under the White House’s COVID-19 Disaster Declaration, Hudson said.

Those opposed to the mandate say these temporary solutions are important as the pandemic and the vaccines evolve and because they’re worried few who applied will be granted religious and medical exemptions.

“It’s like they’re trying to fire us before things change,” Montague said. “If, in a year, this is the same, you’d have a year more credibility to fire us, but it doesn’t make sense to fire us as soon as possible.” (more…)

Two men arrested after assaults on police in Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 2:35 p.m.) Arlington police had their hands full in Clarendon early this morning.

First, a rowdy bar patron allegedly started an altercation with police after getting kicked out of a venue on the 3100 block of Wilson Blvd, Clarendon’s busiest stretch of bars. shortly after midnight. The man, a 33-year-old D.C. real estate agent, tried to flee and was arrested after a brief foot chase, according to Arlington County police.

Then, a second man approached and tried to sucker punch a female officer in the back of the head, according to ACPD. The man is also accused of throwing jackets at officers as they took him into custody.

More details from today’s ACPD crime report:

ASSAULT ON LAW ENFORCEMENT, 2021-12160006, 3100 block of Wilson Boulevard. At approximately 12:26 a.m. on December 16, police were dispatched to the report of a disorderly conduct regarding a subject who had been removed from an establishment by security and was attempting to reenter. Upon arrival, officers observed the suspect involved in a verbal dispute with a group of individuals. Officers made contact with the suspect who became uncooperative and aggressive during their investigation. When officers attempted to take the suspect into custody, he actively resisted arrest, kicked an officer multiple times and attempted to flee the scene on foot. A brief foot pursuit was initiated and the suspect was subsequently taken into custody. [The suspect], 33, of Washington D.C., was arrested and charged with Drunk in Public, Obstruction of Justice, and Assault & Battery on Police. He was held on no bond.

ASSAULT ON LAW ENFORCEMENT, 2021-12160013, Wilson Boulevard at N. Irving Street. At approximately 12:36 a.m. on December 16, police were on scene investigating the previous incident (2021-12160006), when the uninvolved male suspect approached an officer from behind and attempted to strike her in the back of the head. Other officers intervened and as they attempted to take the suspect into custody, he threw jackets at officers, continued to act disorderly and resisted arrest. The suspect was subsequently taken into custody without further incident. [The suspect], 29, of No Fixed Address, was arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct, Obstruction of Justice, and Assault & Battery on Police. He was held on no bond.

There has been a spate of assaults on law enforcement in Arlington recently. Two other notable incidents were reported over Thanksgiving weekend.

ARLnow no longer publishes the names of suspects, with the exception of public figures, major criminal cases, and situations in which the suspect’s identity is a key component of the story. Suspect names are still published in Arlington crime reports.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Along Columbia Pike at sunset (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington Real Estate Still Hot — “Even as much of the rest of Northern Virginia is showing signs of cooling interest from prospective real-estate purchasers, many parts of Arlington remain hot-hot-hot even as the temperature gets cold-cold-cold. A number of those Arlington locales are among the strongest in the region.” [Sun Gazette]

Police: Don’t Leave Your Car Running — “The Arlington County Police Department is warning against leaving vehicles running unattended and is sharing crime prevention tips to help combat auto thefts. During the month of December, the police department has investigated five reports of idling vehicles being stolen. In all reported cases, the victims were running short errands – such as picking up food or making a purchase at a convenience store.” [ACPD]

APS Winter Break Starts Monday — From Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Francisco Durán: “I wibagsh you a great Winter Break, December 20-31! Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve Arlington students, and thank you for your partnership and support for Arlington Public Schools. In the spirit of the holiday season, I want to share this video message about kindness from students and staff.” [YouTube]

Reminder: Bag Tax Beginning — “Beginning Jan. 1, a disposable plastic shopping bag will get a 5-cent tax across much of Northern Virginia including Arlington County.” [Twitter]

It’s Thursday — Today will be mostly sunny and a bit breezy, with a high near 64. Sunrise at 7:20 a.m. and sunset at 4:47 p.m. Tomorrow will be partly sunny, with a high near 62, with rain likely at night. [Weather.gov]

Police nab four after spotting stolen car near Courthouse

By ARLnow.com

One 18-year-old and three people under the age of 18 were taken into police custody after officers spotted a stolen car between Rosslyn and Courthouse.

The incident happened shortly after noon on Tuesday, in the area of Wilson Blvd and N. Rhodes Street, after the car was reported stolen from elsewhere in northern Arlington the day before.

“An officer on patrol in the area of Wilson Boulevard and N. Rhodes Street observed the vehicle parked and occupied by four suspects,” said an Arlington County Police Department crime report today. “As the officer approached the vehicle, which had extensive cosmetic damage, the suspects attempted to flee on foot.”

“A brief foot pursuit ensued and one suspect was detained without incident,” the crime report continues. “Additional officers arriving in the area located the other three suspects on foot in the area of Langston Boulevard and N. Quinn Street and detained them without incident.”

An 18-year-old from Arlington was arrested is now facing charges for grand larceny auto and driving without a license.

“The three other juvenile subjects were released to their guardians,” the crime report says. “The investigation is ongoing.”

County to temporarily relocate some ART bus operations to Va. Square property

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

(Updated 2:15 p.m.) The county has crystallized plans for temporarily storing and dispatching Arlington Transit (ART) buses near Washington-Liberty High School while a new bus facility in Green Valley is built.

Nearly 30 ART buses will come and go from the site, on the 1400 block of N. Quincy Street, where the county currently parks some fire and police vehicles, as well as a portion of the Arlington Public Schools vehicle fleet. The site also has warehouse storage for Covid-related supplies and serves as the drop-off center for E-CARE recycling events.

In 2015, the county agreed to pay $30 million to acquire the six-acre property, which is across from W-L to the west, I-66 to the north and houses to the south and east.

Meanwhile, construction on the Shirlington Road facility in Green Valley — intended to address the need for more space to park and maintain Arlington’s growing fleet of ART buses — is expected to start in the summer of 2022, Department of Environmental Services Director Greg Emanuel told the County Board during its recessed meeting yesterday (Tuesday). The county bought that site, along the 2600 block of Shirlington Road, for $24 million in 2018.

Ahead of construction, DES says it has to move 41 buses, including 12 to a bus site on S. Eads Street, which opened in 2017 near Crystal City. The other 29 are going to the N. Quincy Street site because it’s the only available and affordable site zoned for vehicle storage, Emanuel says.

Buses will be parked at and dispatched from the N. Quincy Street site on weekdays, with a majority of movement happening between 5 a.m. and midnight, he said. Weekend operations will be run out of the Crystal City facility.

Although the facility neighbors the high school, DES says traffic related to school pickup and drop-off should not pose a problem.

“We don’t anticipate conflict with W-L traffic across the street because the peaks are outside the normal peaks here,” Emanuel said.

Expected activity for the temporary bus facility on N. Quincy Street (via Arlington County)

Still, the news is not exactly welcome among some neighbors, who told the County Board and county staff their concerns about noise during quiet hours, as well as how this decision was communicated. Residents previously opposed the relocation of APS bus parking to the Virginia Square site, also known as the Buck site.

Board members indicated support for the temporarily relocation but said they were sensitive to residents’ concerns.

A noise study conducted earlier this year concluded that the new bus activity will increase noise levels upwards of three decibels, with overall noise “still in the comfortable range,” Emanuel says. Currently, a row of trees lines the southern edge of the property, but additional noise mitigation measures are a possibility down the road.

Arlington County Board Vice-Chair Katie Cristol said the county needs to make long-range plans for building attractive, landscaped noise buffers, as the site will continue to support other “back-of-house functions” for northern parts of Arlington.

Locals push for dog park in Virginia Square

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

A group of Virginia Square and Ballston residents are looking to get a dog park established in their neighborhood.

The neighbors want a fenced-in area for their pets to play off-leash at Quincy Park and are eyeing some sparsely-used green space near the sand volleyball court, says organizer Lori Meyers.

“We are asking for something very simple: some fence and a green space,” Meyers said. “The dogs need to get out and exercise.”

Arlington County doesn’t have enough dog parks to meet the needs of local dog owners, according to the Public Spaces Master Plan adopted in 2019. Dog owners and Arlington’s Department of Parks and Recreation say the pandemic may have exacerbated that need, as more people adopted dogs during the pandemic and, with the rise of telework, are more able to take them out for exercise.

The neighbors started a petition to gauge support and distributed a survey to determine the need. So far, more than 160 people have signed the petition.

Organizers say they intend to collect the money needed to build a fence and install a dog waste station.

Rosslyn residents, who pushed for a dog park two years ago, went through a similar process to get an interim dog park at Gateway Park. It opened in February.

The newest dog park effort comes as owners say their dogs aren’t able to get enough exercise locally, while the parks department and the Animal Welfare League of Arlington note that complaints of off-leash dogs and dog waste on athletic fields have risen over the last year.

“We’re going to try and get this park created and solve the problems,” Meyers said.

Meyers says the nearest dog park in Clarendon is not walkable and is not popular among her neighbors. She added that a few dogs have needed veterinarian attention after playing in the water features at the park, which has had maintenance issues in the past.

At the more convenient Quincy Park, dogs cannot use the grass field over concerns of dog waste, and — as with all county parks — going off-leash is not allowed outside of designated dog runs and parks, a longstanding county rule. Additionally, Meyers said she and the other dog owners avoid other parts of the park where food gets left out for squirrels.

For a while, dog owners dropped their leashes on the field anyway because it is the only fenced-in part of the park and thus the safest place for dogs to run, Meyers said. She noted that owners were careful to pick up pet waste, so that the student and recreational athletes who use the field don’t get an unwelcome surprise while diving for a ball.

Going off-leash waned after Animal Control officers upped patrols at Quincy Park, she said, adding that officers have recently taken pictures of dog owners and called them out for having leashes that are too long.

“When we have responded to these types of concerns, such as in Quincy Park, we have found large groups of pet owners meeting up in the field/athletic space and letting their dogs off leash,” said Jennifer Toussaint, the animal control chief for AWLA. “One pet owner does it, so another does, and then on. Suddenly community members no longer feel safe bringing their children to the park to play.”

While dog park supporters say a dedicated facility for their pups would resolve these issues, Kalish says that’s not the only way to improve this situation.

“The best solution to keep dogs and people safe in Arlington is to follow the rules,” she said.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
Christmas tree in a plaza in Rosslyn, decorated for the holidays (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Extra DUI Enforcement Starts Today — “The Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) is partnering with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) during the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign… From December 15, 2021 – January 1, 2022, motorists nationwide can expect to see increased messaging about the dangers of driving under the influence, coupled with increased saturation patrols to identify and apprehend impaired drivers.” [ACPD, WJLA]

Historic Board Takes Up New Restaurant — “A proposal to turn the former Green Valley Pharmacy into an eatery will breathe new life into a structure that has been vacant for several years… Members of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) this week will consider a proposal to permit several exterior adjustments to the former Green Valley Pharmacy, which was operated by Leonard “Doc” Muse from 1952 until his death in 2017.” [Sun Gazette]

Metro Slowly Returning to Normal Service — “Metro today announced that it has reached another step in the process to restore the 7000-series railcars to service. The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC) has informed Metro that it has no technical objections to the final plan submitted to gradually return nearly half of the 7000-series railcars to passenger service with the metered release of no more than 336 railcars.” [WMATA]

It’s Wednesday — Today will be partly sunny, with a high near 56. Sunrise at 7:20 a.m. and sunset at 4:47 p.m. Tomorrow will be partly sunny and a bit breezy, with a high near 62 and a low near 44. [Darksky]

Melody Mobley’s mission is to make the forest welcoming for all

By Matt Blitz
1/3

It’s a beautiful November morning among the trees outside of Long Branch Nature Center and Melody Mobley is at peace. She’s remembering how her mom used to take her and her siblings to creeks and collect leaves on weekends.

“To this day, I feel like I’m in more than church any time I’m out in the forest,” Mobley says, sitting on a bench in front of a pond. “This is my sacred space.”

In 1977, Mobley was hired to work at the United States Forest Service, after being recruited at her university’s career day. She was the first Black female professional forester in the agency’s history.

For decades, her life was in forests across the country, including in Washington, California, and Florida. In the late 1980s, she made the move to the D.C. area to help manage state forestry resource plans as well as watershed restoration. She’s lived in Arlington ever since, near N. Carlin Springs Road.

When Mobley started at the Forest Service as a forester, she loved the job.

“Just being in those beautiful, beautiful situations every day, picking your berries and greens from nature,” she tells ARLnow. “Just physically being in that place was wonderful. And seeing bears, porcupines, and everything we would see out there was just a real treat.”

It was the humans that made Mobley’s life hard. In fact, she hadn’t realized that she was the only woman of color at the Forest Service until a year into her job.

“I wasn’t into it,” she says. “When I found out I was the one and only, no one would ever let me forget it.”

As a young woman living in a small town, she felt isolated and constantly the focus all at the same time. It was like living in a fishbowl, Mobley says. Even things that one might think of as small were not available to her.

“I couldn’t get my hair done. I couldn’t find the products,” she says.

There were also far worse situations. She was sexually harassed, the target of racist remarks, and sexually assaulted by a work colleague when she was 20-years-old.

She thought about quitting, but did not want to give others the satisfaction that she was giving up. Plus, it was a full-time job that could help provide for her grandmother, who had cancer.

“I don’t want it to sound all doom and gloom because it wasn’t,” Mobley says.”But it sure was challenging.”

Even during her time working at the U.S. Forest Service headquarters in D.C. in the 1990s, Mobley says she constantly faced gender discrimination, harassment, and was even physically assaulted.

Later, as a leader, she hoped her speaking out would end this for herself as well as others facing similar mistreatment in the agency.

“I really put myself on the line speaking out,” she says. But in 2005 she retired, saying she had “no choice.”

To this day, she still fields calls from others in the Forest Service who are facing circumstances similar to her own. She provides advice, a sounding board, and sometimes even reaches out to leadership on their behalf.

“The Forest Service isn’t very happy with me, but that’s all right,” she says.

Mobley, however, has found her next calling, spending her days inspiring the younger generation by volunteering at Carlin Springs and Barrett Elementary schools. This includes taking students on nature walks, helping with their science assignments, and answering questions about the environment.

“I love, love, love kids so much,” she says. “I want them to see someone who looks like them. That’s so important.”

She helps to lead Black and Latin/Hispanic Birder and Naturalist series in partnership with Nova Parks and the NAACP’s Arlington Branch.

Mobley says those hikes are wonderful, but few people of color actually come on them. She’s not totally sure why, but this challenge isn’t unique to this program.

“Many of the programs around here don’t get people of color coming,” she says. “We really need to open that door and really make sure that they feel welcome… we need to make sure people know there’ll be people of color actually there.”

This is her mission, she says, to show that nature and forest are for all.

(more…)

Arlington’s post-Thanksgiving rise in Covid cases plateaus, for now

By ARLnow.com
Covid cases in Arlington as of 12/14/21 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)

A post-Thanksgiving rise in Covid cases in Arlington appears to have plateaued over the past few days — at least for now.

The seven-day moving average of new daily cases in the county currently stands at 67, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. That’s up from an average of 23 cases per day Thanksgiving weekend.

The last time the Covid caseload was this high locally was mid-February. However, with 91.4% of the adult population in Arlington now at least partially vaccinated, reports of serious illness and death are down significantly since then.

No new Covid-related deaths have been reported in Arlington since Dec. 3, according to VDH.

Despite the current plateau in cases, Arlington’s test positivity rate continues to point upward. After dipping below 2% around Halloween, the test positivity rate over the past week stands at 4.4%.

Nationally, there’s both good news and bad news about the pandemic today.

The bad news is that the Biden administration reportedly expects a “large wave” of cases this winter due to the emerging Omicron variant.

“New data from South Africa and Europe hint that Omicron cases are poised to explode in the U.S., where the vast majority of the population isn’t well protected against infection,” Axios reported today. “A new analysis by South Africa’s largest private insurer paints a picture of Omicron’s clinical risk: Two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine appear to be significantly less effective against severe disease with Omicron than previous variants.”

The good news is that the effective end date of the pandemic might be in sight. Drugmaker Pfizer announced today that a new therapeutic drug that combats serious illness from Covid appears to be highly effective.

“Pfizer’s updated results for its experimental treatment for Covid-19 showed it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if given to high-risk adults within a few days of their first symptoms, the company announced in a news release Tuesday,” CNN reported this morning. “Pfizer hopes it can eventually offer the pills, under the name Paxlovid, for people to take at home before they get sick enough to go to the hospital. Paxlovid combines a new antiviral drug named nirmatrelvir and an older one called ritonavir.”

Such a drug, if it receives FDA approval, could herald the arrival of Covid’s endemic stage, where the virus continues to circulate but poses a lower risk of hospitalization and death thanks to vaccines, prior infection and antiviral treatments — much like the flu.

Until then, the focus of local health authorities remains mitigation measures to prevent rapid spread of the virus and continuing to promote vaccinations and vaccine booster shots. Arlington County is currently offering boosters for 16-17 year-olds, in addition to adults.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com
The Grinch, illustrated in Post-It Notes by Brigid Donaghy on the front of the H-B Woodlawn school building in Rosslyn (photo courtesy Dan Donaghy)

Redevelopment of Parking Garage Proposed — “The owner of a pair of Crystal City hotels along Richmond Highway is moving to redevelop a parking garage on the property into residential, the latest bit of change for the neighborhood as part of an Amazon.com Inc.-inspired development boom. Miami’s Sound Hospitality is on the hunt for a development partner to manage the transformation of a garage that currently serves Crystal City’s Hampton Inn and Suites and Hilton Garden Inn.” [Washington Business Journal]

Parent Group Wants More Class Time — “An advocacy group is pressing the Arlington School Board to add more instructional time to the school system’s proposed 2022-23 calendar. The comments came at the Dec. 2 School Board meeting, in which board members were presented with a staff proposal that meets the letter of state law in providing at least 990 hours of instructional time. But the school system should be going further – holding classes the full 180 days that had been the pre-COVID standard – said Camille Galdes, who spoke on behalf of Arlington Parents for Education.” [Sun Gazette]

Firefighter Unions Call Out Alexandria — “Understaffing within the Alexandria Fire Department put people and buildings at risk during a fire at Crystal City’s restaurant row on 23rd Street earlier this month, according to two unions representing more than 500 Alexandria and Arlington firefighters, medics and fire marshals.” [ALXnow]

Middle School Student Disciplined for Weapon — “On Thursday afternoon, the Swanson Administrative team received a report that a student was in possession of a weapon on their walk home from school. As a result of our investigation and consultation with the Arlington [County] Police Department on Friday, the student was disciplined in accordance with the Arlington Public Schools code of conduct.” [Twitter]

New ACPD Officers Sworn In — “December 10, 2021 marked a significant milestone for the Arlington County Police Department’s 18 newest officers as Session 145 graduated from the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy. During the graduation, the officers took their oath to serve and protect the Arlington community and safeguard the Constitutional rights of all.” [ACPD]

Abduction Arrest in Clarendon — “At approximately 3:22 a.m. on December 10, police were dispatched to the report of a check on the welfare. The reporting party advised the female victim was inside a vehicle with a known suspect who would not allow her to exit… [The suspect], 26, of Washington D.C. was arrested and charged with Abduction and held without bond.” [ACPD]

W&OD Trail Bridge Gets Decked — “Enjoy a smooth ride on the newly-redecked bridge east of Little Falls St in Arlington.” [Twitter]

It’s Tuesday — Today will be sunny with a high of 54 and a low of 38. Sunrise at 7:19 a.m. and sunset at 4:47 p.m. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a high of 55 and a low of 39. [Darksky]

How Arlington’s Richmond representation could change under proposed redistricting maps

By Matt Blitz
Newly proposed House of Delegates District 2 (via Supreme Court of Virginia)

Newly proposed redistricting maps would create a new Virginia House district in Arlington while potentially pitting long-time Senate incumbents against each other.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Virginia unveiled draft maps for the Virginia House of Delegates, the Virginia Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The maps were drawn up by one Democrat and one Republican appointed by the court, after a non-partisan committee failed to complete the task earlier in the year.

The maps are based on 2020 census numbers and are not final. As mandated by federal and state law, districts are redrawn every decade based on new census data.

In the proposed maps, both the borders and numbering system of all the Virginia House districts are altered. The Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) has a tool that allows residents to see which House, Senate or Congressional district they’d be in if these maps were approved.

While the proposed maps have those who follow state politics considering the Commonwealth’s future political alignment, in Arlington the potential redistricting does not alter the Democratic stronghold.

But the draft maps do take into account Arlington’s recent population growth, as 15% more people live in the county now compared to a decade ago.

The maps propose an entirely new House district that essentially encompasses Arlington’s Metro corridors, including Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, Ballston, Crystal City and parts of Pentagon City.

Currently, those neighborhoods are either part of House District 49 (represented by Del. Alfonso Lopez), House District 48 (represented by Del. Rip Sullivan), or House District 47 (represented by Del. Patrick Hope).

None of these incumbents reside in the proposed newly-created House District 2, a VPAP analysis says, meaning there’s an empty seat that could be filled by a political newcomer.

“They redrew maps by shrinking the borders of the current districts,” said David Ramadan, professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and a former Virginia House delegate for Loudoun County. “Because [the law] requires them to have a close to equal population. That’s why there’s a new district.”

The population of Arlington’s Metro corridors, purposefully, have grown tremendously in size over the last decade. In fact, a census tract within Ballston now has the highest density of population in the entire D.C. area.

Local officials are already taking notice of this potential new district in Arlington, which would likely add another Democrat to the Virginia House of Delegates.

https://twitter.com/BarbaraKanninen/status/1468938642903080961

Senate maps, meanwhile, do not propose a new district, but they could pit two long-standing local Democrat incumbents against each other in the next primary election.

Janet Howell, first elected in 1991, currently represents Senate District 32, which covers Dominion Hills, East Falls Church and Westover as well as parts of Fairfax County. The new maps would see those Arlington neighborhoods moved to District 40.

A big chunk of the current Senate District 31, which includes Rosslyn, Ballston, Cherrydale, Columbia Pike, Pentagon City, Aurora Highlands and Arlington Ridge, will also become part of District 40. District 31 has been represented by Barbara Favola for a decade.

(more…)

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