Tuesday, March 30, 1999

BVSCA MEMBERSHIP MEETING 7:30 P.M.

Meeting at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), 4301 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia, 22203-1860, Ellipse Conference Center (Room CC1), Free Parking for Membership Meeting, Garage Entry Up to 8:00 P.M. (See Details Below)

1. Civic Association Candidates Night Session. This is to invite you to a Civic Association Candidates Night Session for the candidates filed to run in the Arlington County Board Special Election to be held on April 13, 1999. We urge all citizens in our Ballston-Virginia Square neighborhood to attend this session and take this opportunity to meet personally with the candidates, and to learn more about the issues, which will be the basis for casting your votes in the Special Election. For the Candidates Night Session, beginning at 7:30 p.m., we will hear from the two candidates for the Arlington County Board--Mike Lane (R) and Charles Monroe (D).

This Candidates Night session is co-sponsored by the Ashton Heights Civic Association, Bluemont Civic Association, and the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association. The Candidates Night session is scheduled for Tuesday, March 30, 1999, at the first floor conference room (CC1) of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) building, 4301 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia. This Candidates Night Meeting is open to the public.

The candidates will have up to five minutes for opening statements, followed by questions from the audience. In order to promote increased public participation, individual questions will be limited to 30 seconds and candidate responses will be limited to 2 minutes for each question. The first three questions for the session will be from the members of the Ashton Heights Civic Association, the next three questions will be from the members of the Bluemont Civic Association, followed by three questions from the members of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association.

The presidents from each civic association, Marjorie Varner of Ashton Heights, Gerry Procanick of Bluemont, and Ernie Ragland of Ballston-Virginia Square, will each select or call upon three members from their respective civic associations at the meeting, who would like to ask a question of the candidates. Each question to the candidates will be verbally made and should be no more than 30 seconds to ask. The candidates will only have two minutes to respond to each question. We ask that both the members and the candidates please follow this procedure to help ensure full discussion of the issues or potential issues affecting our community.

Following the three questions from each civic association, the Candidate Night session will be concluded by questions from non-members, or other members of these associations, that have not previously asked a question.

The Association requested that each candidate submit a statement of their candidacy to assist you in learning more about the candidates and their views. Also, the Association asked that the candidate responses be limited to 500 words or less. Their background information begins on page 4. (7:30 to 8:30 p.m.).

2. Way-finders Signage Program. The Association will hear a presentation by Tunji Akiwowo of Arlington County's Department of Economic Development on their proposed Way-finders Signage Program. The Way-finders Signage Program is an outgrowth of an addendum to a Metrorail Station area plan in Rosslyn. The Way-finders Program as proposed is a two-tiered system to provide directional information for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the Ballston-Rosslyn corridor and will provide individual identities for each station.

The Way-finders Signage program will complement the new emphasis on economic development in this commercial corridor. By enhancing the image and orientation along the Ballston-Rosslyn corridor for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, the Way-finders Program will highlight points of interest such as the Central Library, Parks, County Offices, National Science Foundation building, George Mason University (Arlington Campus), Ballston Common Mall, retail and restaurant concentrations, etc.

Staff is looking at expanding the Way-finders Program to Columbia Pike and Lee Highway commercial corridors in the near future. If you have any questions or comments about the proposed program, the Association invites you to bring them to our Membership Meeting following the special Civic Association Candidates Night Session. (8:35 to 9:05 p.m.).

1998-'99 Membership Meeting Schedule. Monthly Membership Meetings of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association are scheduled at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), 4301 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia, Ellipse Conference Center (Room CC1 except as noted) for the following Tuesday evenings: 04/27, and 05/25/99. For your information, NRECA provides free garage access for one hour at NRECA's underground parking garage for participants attending the BVSCA Membership Meeting (30 minutes prior, to 30 minutes following, the starting time of our meeting). The garage's automatic exit device allows exit-only traffic after the garage is closed. BVSCA participants should be prepared to state they are attending the BVSCA Membership Meeting in order to receive free parking. Members should be advised that the garage will be accessible only up to 8:00 p.m., 30 minutes following the 7:30 p.m. starting time of our Membership Meeting, and that once the garage closes vehicles will still be able to exit the garage. Access to the Conference Room will be provided at 7:00 p.m.; the room must be completely vacated no later than 9:30 p.m.

Citizens Advisory Committee of Police District II. BVSCA's Delegate to the Citizen Advisory Committee, Laura Keegan, prepared the following report on the results of the March 8, 1999, meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee of Police District II, that she and Ben Axleroad attended. Laura reported that the concerns of the committee members once again focused on traffic issues, mainly slowing traffic in neighborhoods. Concerns were also raised about traffic going too fast and pedestrians jaywalking on Fairfax Drive between Monroe Street and the Ballston metro.

The police asked for specific suggestions on how to fix the problems other than by mere enforcement, which may bring in revenue to the police, but does not offer a long-term solution to the problem. One suggestion was to raise the chains on the median strip in front of Ballston metro on Fairfax Drive so that people could not step over them, but have to use the crosswalk. Apparently, the Dept. of Public Works is averse to adding signs or taking other precautions to slow traffic through the county. The Committee decided to place a device that will monitor speeds near a school bus stop in the hope that the dissemination of the findings to the media will put pressure on the DPW to do something about the problem. Laura would appreciate any suggestions members may have to resolve these issues. Please e-mail your suggestions to Laura Keegan at "laura_keegan@yahoo.com."

Based on the results of the meeting, Laura reported that Crime is relatively low in our beat. The police reported that larcenies from autos are down because they recently caught two people, one who confessed to 81 tamperings in the Ballston area. Police expect to ask permission for off-duty officers to patrol at Ballston Commons when the movie theaters are finished, currently scheduled for May 25. Officers are also working with DPW and Vepco to replace street lights that have burnt out. If you see any lights out, call Lt. Michele Peralta at (703) 228-4299. Re: the Buckingham post office robbery: the police have names, but have not caught the suspect. Re: the Buckingham homicide in January: police have no suspects. No one is talking, but the police stress that it was NOT gang-related.

Additionally, Laura reported that the day patrol is working on noise from construction sites and reducing chronic false alarms. Twelve (12) new officers will be added by a grant from the federal government, of which 4 of those will be on bikes in the 2nd district. Police would like to reach minorities and have them participate in this and other committees. The challenge is to get them involved. One member suggested putting notices in Spanish in the civic association newsletters.

Upcoming Events:

April 5: Clarendon 5k run (starts at 8:00 a.m. at Gold's Gym).

April 15: Tax Blues night at Clarendon post office.

April 17: Department of Environmental Services' Celebration of Earth Day 1999, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the I-66 Parking Deck at N. 15th and Quincy Streets. (The Arlington County Department of Environmental Services, the Arlington County Fire Department, and Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment will sponsor various environmental, safety, and educational activities from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Activitieswill be held rain or shine.)

April 24: The 20th anniversary celebration of Friends of Arlington Parks, and their annual meeting will ake place at Fort C.F. Smith Park, 2411 N. 24th St., from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. (A short business meeting (election of officers) will be followed by Civil War enactments, hayride tours of the park, a corn shelling demonstration, and a slide show about Arlington park history. Beverages and an anniversary cake will be served. Call Paul Gruber at (703) 525-4224, if interested in attending, and to help size how big the cake should be.)

May 16: Bike race, taking place around Gold's Gym. This year the race has changed its route and cut back on the hours to accommodate neighbors and businesses.

June 5: Safe Night. Teens meet and have activities, parties.

July 12-16: Teen Police Academy for 14-18 year olds. Free.

BVSCA Mailing List. For BVSCA members, who would like to subscribe, send the command "subscribe" to BVSCA-L-request@rootsweb.com. After subscribing, detailed instructions will be sent concerning how to unsubscribe, how to change to digest mode, how to change to no-mail mode, how to post a message so everyone on the mailing list receives it, and other information. The Association's web site is "http://www.bvsca.org" and e-mail address is "bvsca@dgs.dgsys.com." Our back-up web site is: "http://www2.dgsys.com/~bvsca."

Also, all members are encouraged to submit their e-mail addresses to the Association's administrator for the BVSCA Mailing List, William P. Jackson, who plans to build an e-mail directory for the membership. His e-mail address is "wpj@translaw.com."

Background: County Board Candidates

Mike Lane
Republican for Arlington County Board
Ballston - Virginia Square Civic Association

I know I can make a substantial contribution to improve the quality of life in Arlington -that's why I've chosen to run in the April 13^th Special Election.

Fifteen years of one-party rule have allowed certain problems to continue uncorrected in our community - a new voice, with a new approach, is needed for Arlington to better prepare for the 21^st century.

I do not believe the politically correct party line that ALL is well in Arlington - that we only need small adjustments to perfect our community. Certain issues need to be faced.

In Ballston - Virginia Square, the County Board encouraged development with inadequate parking. This has resulted is an unacceptable overflow of cars spilling into residential neighborhoods.

The last 15 years have produced large increases in neighborhood cut-through traffic. Despite consistent requests for relief, the Board has yet to implement a comprehensive management plan. Simple and inexpensive solutions such as 4-way stop signs are dismissed as "contrary to county policy."

Aggressive panhandling in the Metro areas has gone unchecked while the Board says they are powerless to control it. If the District can police aggressive panhandling, Arlington can.

Youth gang crime continues to rise countywide. Recent incidents in Buckingham attest to this problem all too well.

The Board has simply refused to budget within existing tax rates. Despite sizable increases in property assessments and considerable new state funding, Arlington appears to be headed for its 8^th consecutive tax-rate increase in 1999.

The politically correct line is that Arlington schools are among the best in the country, yet over 90% of our schools failed the Virginia SOL tests.

Litigation over a racial quota admissions system for our magnet schools is appealed after having been held unconstitutional -- twice. And as the rest of the country abandons bilingual education as an experiment failing a generation of children, Arlington has just embarked on its own bilingual experiment.

County government is not responsive because the monopoly party (all 22 locally elected offices held by Democrats) works out its differences in private and presents a united front in public (the County Board votes unanimously 99% of the time). The public is not part of the process and becomes frustrated by the lack of publicly considered options.

My background as a Marine Corps Officer for 21 years, and CEO of two national associations, has given me the leadership and management skills necessary to guide Arlington through the tough decisions that lay ahead.

I have lived in Arlington for 23 years. I'm a straight-talker who will bring leadership, experience and diversity of thought to the Board. We have some significant problems, and I will work hard to solve them. I will engage the public. We will have open discussion, and then we will move to solve the problem.

I will work hard to close the gap on minority achievement test scores and to reduce gang crime. I will ensure our tax dollars are wisely spent. And I will work hard to bring the Arlington community together again.

Charles Monroe
Democratic Nominee for Arlington County Board

Arlington's Traditions

A lifelong Arlingtonian, Charles Monroe has lived the modern history of Arlington, as it changed from suburban bedroom to metropolitan job center. His father fought segregation and became Arlington's first black judge. His mother was the first black school board member. Charles Monroe has followed that tradition of service--working to advance civil rights as three-time Chairman of the county's Human Rights Commission, to ensure better housing conditions for families in need as President of the Arlington Housing Corporation, and to protect neighborhoods from inappropriate infill development as a member of the county's Board of Zoning Appeals. Charles Monroe--in the Arlington tradition of community service and leadership.

Arlington's Future

Charles Monroe believes that Arlington must be an inclusive community, in which every resident has the opportunity to participate in community life to its fullest. This means the county must provide the resources necessary to make our schools best able to prepare our children to become productive, caring citizens. It means that government must develop strong partnerships with the full range of people and groups to make sure that every voice is heard. It means that the county must encourage a strong, robust economy to provide the foundation for a high quality of life. Above all, it means a renewed effort to work together with all segments of the community to make Arlington an even better place to live, to work, and to raise a family.

Charles Monroe on the Issues

-- Adequate funding to make our schools better serve the individual child

-- Attract and retain high tech businesses as key elements in our economic prosperity, while encouraging new investment in older neighborhood-based commercial areas like Columbia Pike

-- Maintain our low taxes and our AAA/aaa bond rating

-- Ensure increased effectiveness of the Community-based

-- Policing program to keep our crime rate low

-- Relieve our housing crisis by improving housing affordability and quality and expanding homeownership

-- Protect our neighborhoods from development encroachment and inappropriate infill

-- Emphasize the county's commitment to human and civil rights.

Charles Monroe for Arlington County Board in 1999, working together for an even better Arlington... "I've spent my entire life in Arlington and choose to raise my own children in the community that serves as a model for all Virginia. Today's Arlington is different from the one I grew up and came to appreciate. Arlington faces new challenges, but it continues in the progressive tradition for which it is best known. I was raised to believe in the "Arlington Way" which means being part of the community and helping others. That's why I'm running for the County Board, to give something back to my community and to make Arlington an even better place for all of us to live."