County Board

David Priddy won’t seek re-election, as new School Board candidate emerges

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington School Board Vice Chair David Priddy during the Jan. 3, 2024 meeting (via Arlington Democrats)

Arlington School Board Vice Chair David Priddy says he will not be seeking another term.

He was elected in 2020 along with Cristina Diaz-Torres, who currently serves as the School Board Chair and last month announced that she too would step down after one term. Both of their terms expire at the end of this year, meaning two seats are up for election this year.

“Although I’m making this announcement tonight, there is still one year left on my term,” Priddy told Arlington Democrats during the party’s reorganization meeting last night (Wednesday). “So I will continue to stand on the pillars that you put me in office to enact. Thank you for allowing me to serve the Arlington community.”

Priddy said he would not repeat the “litany of accomplishments and the progress that we have made on the School Board” that Diaz-Torres mentioned in her farewell speech. Instead, he rallied Democrats around the presidential election year ahead.

“The Arlington Democrats are truly a force to be reckoned with,” he said, pointing to the work local Democrats have done, in Arlington and beyond, to promote the values of the Democratic Party. “I bring this up because this year is a presidential election year, which means it’s time to mobilize and elect the right people for office.”

Priddy noted School Board hopefuls have until Feb. 16 to file with Arlington Democrats. The party cannot officially nominate a candidate but it can opt to endorse candidates who pledge to be a Democrat.

The party decided to hold an in-person caucus if at least three candidates emerge, according to the 2024 caucus rules discussed last night. The caucus would be canceled if only two emerge and the party would decide whether to endorse those candidates in March.

Nabbing the party endorsement carries significant weight in Arlington and, though some have criticized this process for tipping the scales in favor of well-connected establishment candidates, it remains popular among party members.

After Priddy’s announcement, Chen Ling announced his candidacy for School Board. He introduced himself as the parent of a third grader at Ashlawn Elementary School and the director of engineering at a Fortune 500 company.

He said the School Board needs a “culture of transparency, respect and trust.”

“Some of the actions taken by the School Board in the last few years instead caused confusion and discontentment between parents and teachers,” he said, noting “seemingly suboptimal proposals” that created an “antagonistic relationship between the community and School Board.”

New School Board candidate Chen Ling during the Jan. 3, 2024 Arlington Democrats meeting (via Arlington Democrats)

“That is a real shame because I’ve watched the School Board work and these are some really caring, thoughtful people and they are trying their best,” he said. “What I think they lack is tools to make the best decisions, they lack the tools to provide transparency and build trust.”

The School Board should share with parents all the proposals they consider, as well as their trade-offs and reasoning behind a decision, Ling said.

“It’s okay if the final proposal is somehow detrimental to my child if I know that it serves for the community and the school system at large. That’s something that I haven’t seen at that level,” he said. “It’s not enough to provide an answer, even if it’s the correct answer. We need to show our work.”

Ling said he would like to see fewer curriculum changes, as well as more automation of mandated state and federal reporting, so teachers can focus on students. Lastly, he would like to see class size reductions, too.

During the meeting, Arlington County Board candidate Natalie Roy made her pitch to Arlington Democrats. She, and opponent Julie Farnam, both seek the party’s nomination this June in the County Board race to fill the seat occupied by Chair Libby Garvey. Garvey has not yet announced if she will seek reelection.

“I believe the County Board needs a voice like mine, advocating for transparency and responsiveness, I am committed to common sense leadership that brings us all together,” Roy said.

(more…)

New County Board chair announces Arlington’s first ‘visioning process’ since 1986

By Jo DeVoe
The Arlington County Board Jan. 2, 2024 annual organizational meeting (via Arlington County)

The Arlington County Board is ringing in the New Year with a sweeping public engagement opportunity to envision what the county should look like in 2050.

Libby Garvey, named Chair during the Board’s annual organizational meeting yesterday (Tuesday), announced the forthcoming initiative during her remarks.

This year, she said, the county will gather “thoughts, suggestions and ideas from as many people as possible” about their vision for Arlington 20 years from now. It will be the first such initiative since 1986 when residents came together to envision what Arlington could be in the new millennium.

Residents will likely hold some “mutually exclusive” visions of the future — some of which the Missing Middle debates laid bare — but “most will fall into two or three general vision bucket buckets which we can present at the end of this year,” she said.

The 1986 report on the future of Arlington after the year 2000 (via Arlington County)

Tuesday’s meeting was also the first official day on the job for Susan Cunningham and Maureen Coffey, who were elected in November. Garvey said this is the first Board in 40 years with a female majority and possibly the first to span three generations, as Coffey is the youngest member ever elected while Garvey, turning 73 this year, is in line for the oldest.

Board members used the annual organizational meeting to spell out their priorities for 2024 and what they think lies ahead for Arlington.

They forewarned of a difficult economic year but stressed the need to fund Metro and the electrification of buses, cars and buildings, while tackling rising costs for home owners, renters, and parents, plus rising office vacancy rates.

Members also stated broad social goals of strengthening connections among and caring for all residents while deciding on a shared vision of Arlington two decades from now.

For Garvey, who was also Chair in 2020, that means putting to paper some of the lessons learned from the pandemic.

“Our whole community, our government, and our residents pulled together to make sure that everyone, not just the well-off, had food, shelter and medical care,” she said. “We did things differently. A resilient community can adapt and cares for everyone in it. So as we continue our transition this year to whatever is becoming normal, equity, innovation and resilience will continue to be my general focus areas.”

Takis Karantonis, who was named Vice-Chair yesterday, urged Arlingtonians to participate in the 2050 visioning process as a way to move forward together amid worldwide violence and instability, threats to democracy, climate change and the rise of risky technology such as artificial intelligence.

“2024 is a year of inflection for our nation and possibly for the entire world,” he said, adding:

In Arlington, we are holding high the values [that] our officers defended on the west side of the Capital of the United States on Jan. 6, 2021: of democracy, the rule of law, of equity, justice and liberty for all, of accountable governance, and of civic and civically minded debate — all of which the chair’s Arlington 2050 Strategic Visioning initiative provides a very appropriate and opportune place for civic engagement this year. I want to invite you to make 2024 an exemplary year of the civility and humanity that Arlington values convey. It is not an exaggeration: literally the entire nation and probably the entire world is watching us.

Cunningham likewise urged residents to participate in public life and not assume that Arlington will be a “world-class community” without their input.

“We also need sustained connection to be the world-class community that we envision,” she said. “That takes invitation to all the voices, a lot of effort and a lot of showing up from all corners of our community. That’s all of us, not just the five up here. So, in 2024, I invite you to engage and re-engage with each other to listen and question to deliberate and argue and ultimately compromise so that we can support our people and steward our resources.”

(more…)

Workforce resiliency and abortion are top of mind for County Board members and state lawmakers this session

By Jo DeVoe
Virginia State Capitol in Richmond (via Wikimedia Commons)

The 2024 legislative session will start in two weeks and, in advance, the Arlington County Board and local delegates and senators have hammered out their shared priorities for the session.

A week and a half ago, Board members approved its package of legislative priorities for the 60-day session, including two new additions.

One wording change might signal the Board’s interest in tackling the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. “Landscaping equipment” was added to a county climate goal to encourage “private sector efforts to support and regulate energy efficiency incentive and climate programs.”

The Board also added a push for sustained funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. Legislators expressed their sympathy for this request but noted historical issues with adding dollars to the program, which has already seen an uptick in staffing expenses as a result of previous expansions.

Overall, the priorities of the County Board boil down to fully funded commitments to local governments, respect for local authority and workforce resiliency. This last priority could look like streamlining the process for hiring people in the public safety, mental health and childcare sectors through paid internships, student loan repayment programs or changes to clinical supervision hours.

“These are areas where we have acute shortages in the county,” Board Chair Christian Dorsey said in a meeting last month with legislators. “[We need to be] getting out of this idea we compete with all other jurisdictions for these personnel, we really need to have every boat lifted with everybody’s needs… met.”

Fully funding mandates, meanwhile, could look like more staffing support for jail diversion efforts and body-worn camera programs. Respect for local authority would look like ensuring zoning and land-use decisions remain at the local level.

Other county priorities include:

Delegates Alfonso Lopez and Patrick Hope, Delegate-Elect Adele McClure, and Senators Adam Ebbin and Barbara Favola told the Board they are working on legislation for some of these priorities. Their pre-filing deadline is Jan. 10, 2024, the same date the legislative session begins.

Favola and Lopez are in talks with Arlington Public Schools about a bill allowing the prohibition of vape shops near schools, while Ebbin and Hope aim to set up licensing requirements for vape shops. Favola has prefiled a bill that would allow childcare centers to operate in unused offices.

Top of mind for local legislators, meanwhile, is enshrining the possibly imperiled civil liberties of abortion, voting rights and same-sex marriage in the state constitution.

Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled abortion should be a decision made by the state, a ruling that some advocates predict could jeopardize the court decision that legalized same-sex marriage. After the Dobbs abortion decision, Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin tried, unsuccessfully, to rally voters around a 15-week limit this election.

A recent lawsuit over redistricting in Arkansas, meanwhile, has possibly teed up voting rights for Supreme Court review.

In response, Favola filed a constitutional amendment on abortion that includes no gestational limits and makes exceptions only for a “compelling state interest.”

(more…)

County to pay $1M for Gravelly Point upgrades as part of planned DCA pedestrian bridge

By Jo DeVoe
1/5

 

Arlington County will be setting aside $1.6 million for improvement projects on national parkland in the crosshairs of a future pedestrian bridge between Crystal City and National Airport.

The long-discussed bridge, dubbed CC2DCA, is about to clear a major milestone: completion of a federally mandated review of its adverse impacts to the environment and historic properties.

While environmental effects were deemed minimal, several National Park Service-controlled historic resources were flagged for impacts, according to a county report, including the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Mount Vernon Trail.

The parks service and the county have settled on three improvement projects to mitigate this predicted impact. Once a design contract for the project is awarded, the county will transfer money to NPS for the work. Funding will come from the Crystal City Tax Increment Financing fund, which pays for infrastructure improvements that revitalize Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard.

The biggest chunk, $1 million, will go toward planning and implementing improvements at Gravelly Point, as this public area could see more users traveling to and from the CC2DCA bridge via the Mount Vernon Trail.

The site could see a new parking lot, a rehabilitated boat launch — complete with an accessible canoe and kayak launch — relocated public restrooms and improved aesthetics of public-use areas.

“The Gravelly Point site is the closest major Mount Vernon Trail hub to the project area; the new CC2DCA bridge is less than a mile from Gravelly Point,” it continued. “The site rehabilitation will benefit trail users by improving the public amenities and repair deteriorated infrastructure that is in danger of further deterioration with the additional usage generated by CC2DCA.”

Next, $500,000 will fund maintenance activities by the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail over five years, including edging the trail, replacing boardwalk bridge components like decking, cutting back vegetation overgrowth, grinding out asphalt root heaves and power washing scum from bridge decks.

Lastly, $150,000 to fund planning work to add interpretive signage to the GW Parkway highlighting underrepresented stories from Abingdon Plantation and Arlington House.

These projects are outlined in an agreement between the county and NPS, which the Arlington County Board approved during its Saturday, Dec. 16 meeting.

This agreement also requires the county to give NPS opportunities to review and give input as CC2DCA designs take shape and holds Arlington to executing a plan to protect and restore vegetation along the GW Parkway. The impact on scenic views for drivers, as well as vegetation removal, is expected to be relatively minimal, with about 146 trees removed.

The Board also approved an agreement with the county, NPS, the Federal Highway Administration, the Virginia Dept. of Transportation and the Virginia Historic Preservation Officer. This agreement is one of the final steps in the federally mandated environmental assessment study.

Originally proposed in 2017, CC2DCA was one of the transportation projects identified after Amazon announced plans to build its second headquarters in Arlington.

The last four years have been spent on design work, public engagement and the environmental study. Arlington and VDOT reviewed 16 possible bridge alignments and whittled them down to one that was picked earlier this year.

“Throughout the NEPA study, there has been overwhelming support for a direct multimodal connection between Crystal City and DCA,” the county report said. “During each public engagement period, the vast majority of individuals surveyed indicated they would use a CC2DCA connection if constructed.”

If CC2DCA comes to fruition, construction is expected to begin in late 2027 and last for two years, working around separate plans from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to redo roadways and add more parking, new car rental facility and office space at DCA.

County inks contract for oversight of Crystal City Metro second entrance project

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Arlington County has selected a contractor to oversee work to build a new second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station.

Over the weekend, the Arlington County Board approved a nearly $8 million contract, plus a contingency of $197,497, with Gannett Fleming, Inc. to provide construction management and quality assurance services for the project.

Viewed as a way to further revitalize Crystal City and improve access and accessibility to the station’s east end, the second entrance will be located at the northwest corner of 18th Street S. and Crystal Drive.

Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2024 and last about 2.5 years, according to the county. Previously approved state and local funding will pay for the project, which has a total budget of $146.1 million.

A long-standing goal of county transportation planners, the second entrance will include a direct route, accessible to people with disabilities, to connect users who access the station from the east. It is intended to improve connections for pedestrians and cyclists and to the nearby bus and Virginia Railway Express stations.

There will also be additional space inside the station to accommodate long-term passenger demand.

“The Crystal City Metrorail station is among the most heavily used in Arlington County and Northern Virginia,” per a report. “The Crystal City area is experiencing continued growth and will have significant redevelopment in the next few years.”

The station was also one of the five transportation projects associated with Amazon’s second headquarters, including a pedestrian bridge to Reagan National Airport and an at-grade Route 1.

The project will be delivered via a public-private partnership with developer JBG Smith, which owns a significant amount of property in the neighborhood. It approached the county with an unsolicited proposal to undertake the project and, in 2020, the county struck a deal with the developer to prepare 30% complete designs.

This project was included in the current 2023-2032 Capital Improvement Plan at an estimated cost of $94.9 million, based on conceptual planning work, but costs have increased since then, the county says.

The new $146 million budget is based on the 30% complete designs, a redesign of the station entrance and “upward cost pressures industry-wide,” according to the county.

JBG Smith has been working to finalize the station design since August, after the county approved a $117 million contract with JBG Smith and Clark Construction for final design and construction.

Gannett Fleming was selected from four contractors that bid this summer to help oversee the design and construction. The county says $8 million, plus contingency, is “fair and reasonable” because it is within 12% of an independent cost estimate for the project of around $7 million.

Green Valley to see ramped up public safety efforts after months of resident advocacy

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Still reeling from recent shootings, a Green Valley resident took the dais during Saturday’s Arlington County Board meeting to ask the county and police for a plan to address public safety concerns.

Yordanos Woldai, co-founder of Green Valley Matters, a new resident group focused on public safety, says this plan should include regular police patrols and stepped up enforcement of illegal activities.

This includes crimes such as drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, urinating and selling drugs in public around the John Robinson, Jr. Town Square — crimes which she said are largely committed by people who do not live in the neighborhood.

“The illegal activities happen in the open, on a consistent basis, starting in the afternoon when children are walking home from Drew,” she said. “This continued policy of inaction and looking the other way is not only dangerous, but it is inequitable. Nowhere else in Arlington County is a residential neighborhood — within feet of an elementary school — subjected to open and persistent, illegal activities that go unaddressed, except in this mostly Black and brown community.”

Neighbors have been raising these and other quality of life issues for several months. While there have been small fixes, including temporary bathrooms, Woldai says residents have exhausted public engagement methods — signing petitions, attending meetings and sending letters and emails — with little to show for it.

“The lack of enforcement has made our neighborhood attractive to people who want to openly engage in illegal activities without any consequence,” she said, tying these to more serious crimes Green Valley has witnessed.

The neighborhood has logged a number shots fired calls in recent years, including two in the summer of 2021, two in 2022 and this year so far, four in 2023. That’s in addition to several shootings, including one on Dec. 9.

It is a nuanced issue but, ultimately, residents want equitable policing that reduces crime and makes their community safer, says Arlington County’s Independent Policing Auditor, Mummi Ibrahim.

She says the county’s Community Oversight Board, which reviews public complaints of officer behavior, can help ensure this happens. Right now, she is focused on understanding what has been done so far.

“In my opinion, the best way a police department can strike this balance is to engage with the community as partners,” Ibrahim said. “This means actively listening and being guided by community in learning what is needed to address the problems, and to continue consulting with the community when determining the police department’s response to ensure police actions are properly measured, effective and equitable.”

Woldai agrees. In a follow up communique to the County Board after her remarks, she stressed the community wants “a middle ground between the current policy of inaction and over-aggressive police tactics,” not “a militarized police state.”

When residents came to the County Board this spring, decrying similar problems, County Manager Mark Schwartz said he would have a few recommendations for new technology, like gunshot detection, by the summer. He said adding patrols would be difficult — given vacancies within ACPD — but remains an option.

Seven months later, Schwartz said ACPD will be adding those patrol officers.

“You should start seeing visible Arlington County police presence, not just a cruiser, I’m talking about police officer or officers on foot starting this coming week,” the County Manager said.

Schwartz said he has also authorized Police Chief Andy Penn to purchase a gunshot detection device. ACPD told ARLnow today that these technologies are being considered across county agencies but none have been purchased yet.

“The Arlington County Police Department remains committed to our key initiatives of crime prevention and control, transportation safety, and community engagement as we continue to work with all stakeholders in the Green Valley community to address public safety concerns and identify solutions,” the department said in a statement.

Schwartz said ACPD will also deploy portable cameras with a license plate reader function around the town square and elsewhere in the neighborhood once the county wraps up their purchase, using $80,000 in closeout funds.

(more…)

County Board agrees to fund tentative union agreement for Arlington service, labor and trades workers

By Jo DeVoe
County workers fix a valve in Ballston (via Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services/Flickr)

Some county employees now have a labor contract with Arlington County.

This weekend, the Arlington County Board adopted a resolution funding the tentative collective bargaining agreement between the county and the local union representing service, labor and trade workers.

County and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) representatives negotiated a tentative collective bargaining agreement effective July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027. The union ratified the agreement and the County Board reviewed the potential fiscal impacts of the 55-article agreement this November.

All that remained was to approve a funding resolution, the action taken this weekend. The provisions that will cost the county money will either be funded with tax increases, to the tune of $5-9 per average residential tax bill, or budget cuts — either .1% cuts across the board or the elimination of about four full-time employees.

“We’re very happy that we came to an agreement,” says Anthony Pistone, the president of AFSCME Local 3001, which represents Service, Labor and Trades workers in Arlington and Alexandria. “It’s not exactly what we want but we hope to do better next time and in the next three years.”

He praised both Arlington and Alexandria’s labor ordinances but said they do not go far enough. AFSCME hopes to change them so unionized employees have a greater say in day-to-day operations, Pistone said.

“For the time being, we’re excited for what we have,” he said.

Among other provisions, the contract outlines pay increases in the coming years and moves employees to a step-and-grade model — also recently adopted by the Arlington County police and fire departments — which proponents say better rewards experience and makes raises more predictable.

Pistone says the union is most excited about how the contract establishes committees focused on issues such as retirement, benefits and working conditions.

“We formed these committees because the labor laws in Virginia are anti-labor, and we need them to further the agenda on certain aspects of safety and also for better working environment for the people,” says Pistone, who works for Arlington’s Water, Sewer and Streets division. “It gives us a little more of a seat at the table, which is what matters to the guys on the ground.”

The committees also afford employees to sit down with their direct managers to discuss everything from vending machines to overtime. This structure is experimental and other unions have not adopted it, says Pistone.

“It’s unorthodox but it might work better, so it might be a great thing,” he said.

A decentralized approach was also important to unionized employees and why they chose AFSCME. The national union was instrumental in the initial labor laws that passed at the state level — allowing local governments in Virginia to collectively bargain with employee unions — and yet the organization remains grass-roots, he said.

“We have the opportunity to govern ourselves,” Pistone said. “Even though we’re under the umbrella of AFSCME, we do have ability to have our voices heard in a unique way.”

APS poised to add Walter Reed Drive road upgrades to Career Center project

By James Jarvis
1/2

Arlington Public Schools is poised to tie planned S. Walter Reed Drive upgrades into its $180 million Arlington Career Center project.

This past Saturday, the Arlington County Board approved a memorandum of agreement permitting APS to appoint the same contractor for the Career Center’s construction to handle the road improvements — part of the county’s Neighborhood Complete Streets program — from 5th Street S. to Columbia Pike.

Next, the agreement will head to the Arlington School Board for approval in January.

The upgrades to S. Walter Reed Drive will include new trees, protected bike lanes, a traffic light at the 9th Street S. intersection and improved bus stops. The community broadly supported these enhancements following a series of public feedback sessions held from fall 2020 to spring 2021, per a county staff report.

Currently, construction of the five-story Career Center at 816 S. Walter Reed Drive, slated to start next spring, is set to overlap with the road work. County and school officials agreed to merge the two projects to avoid traffic congestion and construction snags.

“So, essentially, when you have two contractors trying to work in the same place at the same time, somebody gets delayed,” APS Director of Design and Construction Jeffrey Chambers told School Board members during their meeting last Thursday.

Under the plan, the county will foot the bill for the road work, estimated at $7 million, and reimburse APS for any extra administrative costs, the report said.

APS is not required to contribute financially to the road improvements. Still, it must inform the county of any additional expenses due to construction delays. Should the road work exceed its budget, APS must obtain county approval before proceeding.

The bulk of the road work is expected to be completed within the first year of construction, with the final paving and overlay scheduled just before the Career Center opens in August 2026, Chambers said last week.

The funding for the S. Walter Reed Drive road improvements has already been earmarked in the county’s Capital Improvement Plan.

APS is still in the process of securing a contractor for the Career Center, which will host up to 1,619 students and include a four-story parking garage.

Officials plan to present the combined bids for the Career Center construction and road improvements to the County Board in early 2024. The Board will then approve the fund transfer and any additional construction financing.

County inks funding agreement with Arlington Independent Media amid staff furloughs

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington Independent Media in Clarendon (file photo)

This weekend, the Arlington County Board adopted a new agreement governing how Arlington’s public access station, Arlington Independent Media, can request funding.

AIM has a claim on Public, Educational and Government (PEG) funds that Arlington County receives as part of its franchise agreements with Comcast and Verizon. It competes with Arlington Public Schools and county government initiatives for this pot of money, which is dwindling as people end their cable subscriptions.

The new agreement establishes rules for requesting funds, a heretofore ad-hoc process. It requires AIM to maintain and present a detailed capital budget and make PEG requests only as part of the annual budget process, though emergency requests will be considered.

AIM has to provide a host of supporting documents for PEG requests as well as receipts demonstrating it is not using the funding on salaries, rent and utilities. The county reserves the right to audit the nonprofit’s records or require a third-party audit as often as necessary and will take back PEG funding if AIM uses it improperly.

The agreement was approved as AIM prepares to move its headquarters from Clarendon to Courthouse and, to stay afloat, has furloughed staff and will be selling equipment and memorabilia.

“AIM staff is currently on furlough throughout the holidays and thus only working on critical assignments,” the organization said in an email to supporters today, recapping its annual meeting earlier this month. “This has been structured to minimize producer impact, however we ask for your grace & patience while we transition to our new spaces.”

Periods of unpaid work are not a new issue, according to one source close to a former staff member, who had been asked to work without pay before.

Meanwhile, AIM’s current lease ends at 2701 Wilson Blvd, next to the Beyond Hello dispensary in Clarendon, is up on Dec. 31. The organization will make a new Green Valley satellite location, in a county-owned building at 3700 S. Four Mile Run, its home base until the Courthouse location is set up.

The new “AIMLive!” radio and TV broadcasting space in Courthouse is part of AIM’s goal to have a number of locations across Arlington, “with an eye on a new HQ sometime in the next 2-3 years,” the email said.

Despite the upheavals, Board President-elect Chris Judson remained upbeat in his remarks to supporters.

“This year presents a new beginning after a long effort to reinvent the organization,” he said in an email. “We owe tremendous gratitude to AIM staff for the extensive planning and execution that saw this plan to completion.”

During the annual meeting earlier this month, nonprofit leaders were frank about the organization’s financial status, detailing the furloughs and saying AIM was in survival mode. Still, they dismissed recent criticism over financial management from some people previously affiliated with AIM as a bad-faith attempt to defund the nonprofit.

They also addressed mixed public opinion about the role and importance of a primarily cable TV and radio-based nonprofit going forward, in an increasingly online world. Outgoing board president Demian Perry said he read the comments on ARLnow’s most recent article about AIM and they stung him but they were “nothing new.”

As for the new agreement governing PEG requests, AIM CEO Whytni Kernodle has told ARLnow in several interviews that she has pushed for this document to improve accountability — both for AIM and the county.

“They weren’t giving money to the ‘P’ or the ‘E’ and the PEG. So when I came on board, I recognized that… I’ve been asking for this memorandum,” Kernodle said. “What I’m saying to the county is, ‘You took us out, and now you’re not giving us money, and then you’re acting as though you don’t have to give us money when you have… an ethical obligation to your own public access center.”

(more…)

County ratifies financing plan for Barcroft Apartments redevelopment despite push from advocates for deeper affordability

By Jo DeVoe
The Barcroft Apartments on Columbia Pike (via Arlington County)

Arlington County Board members and advocates were split this weekend on how many units at the Barcroft Apartments should be set aside for Arlington’s lowest-income earners.

Two years ago, the county and Amazon loaned $150 million and $160 million, respectively, to developer Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners to purchase the aging garden apartment complex, located on 60 acres near the corner of S. George Mason Drive and S. Four Mile Run Drive.

The purchase agreement stipulated all 1,335 units would be affordable to households earning up to 60% of the area median income, or AMI, for 99 years, in an effort to avoid displacing the 1,100 resident families who lived there.

After community members advocated for deeper affordability, Jair Lynch developed a financing plan that further commits the county and property owner to keep at least 134 units for households earning up to 30% AMI. This would be the county’s largest commitment of 30% AMI units to date, among the properties in its affordable housing stock, according to a county report.

Board members celebrated the plan, which outlines how Jair Lynch will refinance the county’s loan to cover various renovation and redevelopment phases and try to achieve savings for the county in the long run. During remarks when they approved the plan, members said it documents how this project can be financially viable, despite cripplingly high interest rates.

“There are so many good things that are happening here,” County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said. “The areas where people want improvements are absolutely doable because the partners involved are committed not only to making this a financially viable experience but a good experience.”

He said that Saturday’s discussion was not the time or place to add in a new affordability commitment.

Advocates wanted to see a total of 255 units set aside for 30% AMI households — a single person earning $31,65o or a family of four bringing in $45,210. That number reflects that 255 households at the Barcroft Apartments that reported earning up to 30% AMI in 2021, when Jair Lynch purchased the complex, according to the Arlington Community Foundation.

“Deeper affordability should not expire when the current residents move on,” Arlington Community Foundation Director of Grants and Initiatives Anne Vor der Bruegge said. “We acknowledge the sobering financial dynamics at play and the need to protect the viability of this deal, however, we believe that our goal can ultimately be accomplished using land use and other tools that have not yet been explored.”

Interim County Board member Tannia Talento was not so sure.

“When we look at other committed affordable properties in Arlington that are not able to maintain a good quality of maintenance for their buildings, I just cannot in good mind say, ‘Let’s deepen affordability and we’ll figure it out later,” she said. “I just can’t do it.”

Should market conditions improve or Jair Lynch finds other funding sources, the county and the developer will revisit this minimum commitment, which will hold if market conditions worsen instead, per the report.

“Part of the financing plan is utilizing these potential savings to pay down the County’s debt while still meeting County goals,” a report says. “These anticipated savings are important due to the significant increase in the cost of capital to the County because interest rates have jumped dramatically since the 2021 acquisition.”

Debt service on the county’s short-term line of credit is currently $9 million annually for interest alone — more than four times what was projected in 2021 for the 2023 fiscal year, the report says. The county says this puts a strain on its Affordable Housing Investment Fund, or AHIF, and its ability to take on new projects.

“That is an understatement, considering AHIFs total appropriation for FY 2024 is $20.5 million,” said former independent County Board candidate Audrey Clement, the lone speaker this weekend opposed to the project.

She also said the costs are too high for the first renovation phase.

(more…)

County to accept state grant to cover long-term treatment plans for seniors leaving psychiatric hospitals

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington County Dept. of Human Services headquarters at Sequoia Plaza (staff photo)

Arlington County is slated to accept a $95,000 grant to place two older adults with serious mental illnesses in community-based treatment once they leave state psychiatric hospitals.

The money will pay for housing costs, medications, transportation, or other associated costs as part of their treatment plans.

Their discharge, treatment and funding plans are approved by Arlington’s Community Services Board. These county-appointed community members oversee how the county Dept. of Human Services provides services to people with mental health challenges, developmental disabilities and substance use disorder.

The one-time grant funds come from the Virginia Dept. of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Not having this grant would mean longer wait times for these two individuals set to leave a state hospital, says DHS spokesman Kurt Larrick.

“If we did not have this funding available right now, they would need to wait until a slot in the [Regional Older Adults Facility Mental Health Support Team (RAFT) program] became available or clinical staff identified another option,” Larrick said.

RAFT is a grant-funded program that discharges older adults from psychiatric hospitals to long-term care and, where possible, diverts them from hospitals in the first place. Arlington County DHS manages it for Northern Virginia, says Larrick, and partners with assisted living and nursing home facilities throughout the region.

The 10-person team works to provide community treatment options to people ages 65 and older who have a diagnosis of serious mental illness or dementia and who either have been hospitalized in a psychiatric facility or are at risk of hospitalization.

It served 106 clients last fiscal year, up from 73 the year prior, a 45% increase attributed to the launch of a dementia program in January 2023. Through this program, the team helps ensure people with dementia can live at home or with a caregiver by providing specialized dementia training to caregivers.

The team also provides on-call support to assisted living and nursing home facilities to prevent psychiatric hospitalizations or oversee discharge when a client is hospitalized.

RAFT has a 90% satisfaction rate among clients and partnering organizations, according to a recent survey, in which several people shared their gratitude for the program and its staff.

Each year, RAFT receives $500,000 from DBHDS. While the program faces budget pressures, due to factors such as inflation, Larrick says running the program remains tenable.

Individuals who receive treatment through RAFT are asked to contribute what they can to their care, he said. To keep costs down, the program also leverages community partnerships and other resources for older adults.

View More Stories