September 2011 Meeting Notes
Ashton Heights Civic Association At‐large member Nancy VanDoren called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm, after the 7:00 pm social hour featuring a variety of food prepared and presented by Hospitality Committee members Ann Felker and Rita O’Brien, with help from Tim Felker. Twenty‐five people were present, along with three Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) representatives.
GENERAL BUSINESS and DISCUSSION WITH POLICE
Nancy reminded attendees that the civic association lacks a President and Vice President‐Programs, and that volunteers in all areas of interest were welcome, especially Communications and Traffic. She said that volunteers interested in planning meetings should volunteer to organize them. Otherwise, the church room is reserved, and the civic association will gather for hospitality, community updates, business meetings, and discussion of issues that need to be addressed.
- OCT 2011 Meeting – Anne Hamilton volunteered to organize a fall planting session
- NOV 2011 – Mr. Vernon on Jackson Street, was volunteered to organize a meeting on geothermal buildings.
- JAN 2012 Meeting – Marjorie Varner volunteered to organize a presentation on the Arlington Learning and Retirement Institute (ALRI).
- FEB 2012 – Amy Cody expressed interest in organizing a meeting on keeping our houses dry in extreme wet weather.
Stefanie Fedor, new Arlington Arts Center Director, introduced herself and welcomed residents to continue supporting and visiting AAC.
Police present were Officer Adam St. John, the ACPD liaison to Ashton Heights, Capt. Franz Desamour, District 2 Commander, and Auxiliary Lt. Heather Hurlock. Vice President, Membership, Henry Brown reported he’d been contacted by the county about a permit renewal for Costa Verde restaurant. Capt. Desamour said that since new ownership in recent months, Costa Verde had experienced at least one brawl, as well as the need for a police visit to keep the peace. Ashton Heights should voice an opinion to the County about the establishment’s permit renewal. Officer St. John said that there have been no serious crimes in Ashton Heights in recent months, only on the perimeter at Ballston Common Mall. He warned residents to lock cars, especially as the holiday season approaches. He reported that Fedex and UPS had experienced a problem in Northern Virginia of people following their trucks and stealing packages left at doorsteps. As a result, Fedex will only deliver in some areas when someone is home.
Resident Marjorie Varner asked ACPD to investigate the location of parking lines on Pershing Drive at Lincoln Street, where residents were finding sight lines blocked when pulling out from Lincoln onto Pershing. She suggested that the lines didn’t meet state requirements to be located 15 feet from the intersection. Capt. Desamour said Officer St. John will research the issue, the location of the lines, and what legally can be done. He invited the civic association to contact him if the association did not hear back from ACPD within a few weeks.
Discussion followed about out‐of‐service street lights – the police will investigate and file a report to the county, which is often faster than a civilian doing it – as well as about the very dangerous intersection at Jackson and Wilson, right in front of the urgent care center and Costa Verde Restaurant. The police said they are aware of the problem and are monitoring it. Lt. Hurlock reminded residents to register bicycles with the county and lock up with U‐locks. Any other kind of lock is not secure enough. She further warned that bike riders will be treated like motorists, and must obey traffic laws or they will be ticketed.
CERT
Pat Lengle, the area citizen volunteer coordinator for Community Emergency Response Team activities, explained the organization and invited residents to consider signing up to train and be part of CERT. The organization prepares citizens to respond knowledgeably to weather and civic emergencies.
DEVELOPMENT
Development representative to AHCA, Jim Richardson, updated residents on recent construction progress along the commercial corridors in and around Ashton Heights. A full report appears in the September AH News, which can be found at ashtonheights.org. He cited a general problem of the county offering increased density to developers in exchange for various trade‐offs, which should make residents wary and vigilant.
MID‐ATLANTIC URGENT CARE
Dr. Robert Holman spoke about the new urgent care center on Wilson Blvd that has hours seven days a week. He told residents that urgent care centers are a rapidly developing segment of the medical market, largely because they are very convenient and much less expensive or time‐consuming than going to hospital emergency rooms. The center is offering flu shots without appointments at $20 per injection.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Marjorie Hobart of Citizens Corps Council, presented a primer on home and family preparedness. She described Arlington’s Office of Emergency Management, located behind the movie theater in the Courthouse location. She advised residents to organize supplies to prepare in case a weather event knocks out electrical power, and showed her “go” bag full of basic emergency supplies. Usually, go bags are kept near the front door, readily available for a resident to snatch and take with them when they evacuate their home in an emergency. She also said that families should have an established meeting place to gather, in the event evacuation becomes necessary. Hobart cited sources of emergency alerts in the county: arlingtonva.us – sign up for email, phone, and text alerts; 703‐228‐3000, the county hotline; XM Radio 214; AM Radio 1700; and Arlington Independent Media television, which residents can locate on Comcast or Verizon Fios. Full information about preparing for emergencies can be found at ready.gov, as well as at the American Red Cross web site.
The meeting concluded at 9:10 pm.
