For all the talk on one side of the debate about parking, school capacity and neighborhood character, and on the other about welcoming new residents and providing more reasonably priced housing, there may be those with a more simplistic view, the cartoon suggests.
Mike’s weekly cartoons are on currently vacation but will return in August. Catch all of them in the ARLnow Press Club weekend newsletter.
“We need more roundabouts in Arlington. Where else can we get new green space around here?”
Now that Mike Mount is Arlington famous we’re going to highlight another of his local cartoons a bit earlier in the month than usual.
This past weekend Mike took on the hot button topic (on Nextdoor in North Arlington, at least) of roundabouts. If you think of them as circular neighborhood parks, maybe (for the critics) roundabouts are not so bad after all?
Catch all of Mike’s ‘toons in the ARLnow Press Club weekend newsletter.
“Bike route sign at the intersection of 15th Street N. & Taylor Street directing bikes onto Taylor Street, which is a dead end” (Flickr pool photo by Cyrus W.)
‘Conservation’ Nixed in New Name — “The Neighborhood Conservation Program has a new name: Arlington Neighborhoods Program. [Three county departments] announced the new name for the interdepartmental program after almost a yearlong renaming process… The Neighborhood Conservation Program Review (NCPR) Final Report recommended changing the program name because the word ‘conservation’ often evokes a negative connotation and suggests exclusivity.” [Arlington County]
Big Scholarship Match for WHS Grads — “A newly announced dollar-for-dollar match could net the Wakefield High School Educational Foundation’s scholarship fund as much as $2 million over the coming year. It was announced June 2 that Henry ‘Ric’ Duques, a 1961 graduate of the high school, and his wife Dawn had made an up-to-$1 million pledge to the foundation, which will match funds raised by the organization for the year ending June 30, 2023.” [Sun Gazette]
Remembering Local Desegregation Efforts — “Our racial history commemorators have thoroughly marked the 1959 integration of Stratford Junior High School, a first for long-segregated Virginia. But those four African American student pioneers stood on the shoulders of a select group of older peers, whose legal efforts have gone relatively unsung.” [Falls Church News-Press]
New Monument at Arlington Nat’l Cemetery — “A monument now stands in memory of the first astronauts to die in their spacecraft, 55 years after a fire on the launchpad claimed their lives. Family members of the fallen Apollo 1 crew came together with NASA officials, space industry leaders and members of the space community to dedicate the new monument during a ceremony(opens in new tab) held Thursday (June 2) at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The memorial is located… in Section 3 of the cemetery.” [Space.com]
ARLnow Cartoonist’s Work Highlighted — “But the father of two has long been a fan of the art form and in the past year, he has become a community cartoonist. [Mike Mount] creates weekly cartoons for an online news outlet in his Northern Virginia county, capturing within those scribbled squares the weird, comical and relatable parts of living in one of Washington’s suburbs.” [Washington Post]
Nature Center Advocate Keeps Advocating — “Look up ‘indefatigable’ in an online dictionary, and a photo of Duke Banks might pop up. Recently given the brushoff – politely but for the second time – by the County Board, Banks is not stopping in his efforts to restore hours that were cut at Arlington’s two local nature centers during the pandemic. Banks pressed his case at the May 24 meeting of the Arlington Park and Recreation Commission.” [Sun Gazette]
It’s Monday — Clear throughout the day. High of 80 and low of 61. Sunrise at 5:45 am and sunset at 8:32 pm. [Weather.gov]
“Police Warn Against Leaving Keys Inside Vehicles,” blared the headline of the release, providing some salient but seemingly obvious advice for residents. The continued theft of cars that were left with keys inside is the topic of this month’s featured Mike Mount cartoon.
This month’s cartoon by Mike Mount features a familiar theme: trees being cut down by Arlington developers.
It’s unclear whether the propensity for local developers to cut down trees is a uniquely Arlington thing, or whether the vocalopposition to certain trees being felled is the more Arlington-specific trait. Nonetheless, the toon touches on an issue that seems to come up frequently in the county, which is home to its own “Arlington Tree Action Group.”
“Yes, it is very old, and it’s recognized as one of the most historically insignificant homes in Arlington.”
This month’s cartoon by Mike Mount riffs on the local debate over historic preservation: what’s the dividing line between historic and just old?
With a state bill to make it easier for preservation advocates to prevent demolitions now dead for 2022, and the proverbial wrecking ball unlikely stop swinging, the debate seems likely to continue for some time.
Contrast that with the reaction to Washington’s NFL team and its new name, the Washington Commanders, and you have the basis of the latest local Mike Mount cartoon.
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It seems like there’s a crash at a particular stretch of the northbound GW Parkway near Key Bridge where crashes are always happening, particularly during bad weather. That’s the subject of this month’s local Mike Mount cartoon.
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But more importantly… drive safely out there!
A reader sends this photo of the earlier crash on the GW Parkway, near Key Bridge, in case anybody drives by later and wonders what happened to the wall (photo courtesy Jeff V.) pic.twitter.com/RyXorJEn9i
Arlington is, in some ways at least, a place of contradictions. That’s the subject of this month’s local editorial cartoon.
Want to see all of Mike Mount’s weekly cartoons? Join the ARLnow Press Club.
Note that the cartoons will be taking a brief hiatus over the holidays. As with all opinion content published on ARLnow, the views expressed are are solely the author’s.
