Ashton Heights Civic Association Minutes for 04/21/2021 Meeting

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Scott Sklar, AHCA President, brought the meeting to order at 7:32 pm. He noted that this is the 11th year he is serving as President of the AHCA, which has been an honor.

The AHCA election results announced by AHCA Nominations Committee Chair Jodie Flakowicz, which ended on April 20, were as follows:

President: Scott Sklar
Vice President for Membership – Jim O’Brien
Vice President for Programs – Jim Feaster
Treasurer – Doug Williams
Secretary – Chris Armstrong
Members-at-Large (4) – Cole Deines, Patrick Lueb, Ken Matzkin, Jim Richardson

David Phillips has resigned as co-chair of the Development Committee and Jack Spilsbury will remain as sole chair.

Ann Felker mentioned that the Glencarlyn Citizens Association along with AHCA and Lyon Village, will host a Zoom event on May 13 at 7:00 pm. This will be a conversation with Wilma Jones, a fourth-generation resident of Arlington’s Hall’s Hill neighborhood and author of “My Halls Hill Family: More Than a Neighborhood” (2018). Wilma will share stories of growing up in the historically-Black neighborhood of Halls Hill, followed by an interactive discussion.

Christina Schultz of our Safety and Security Committee introduced Arlington County Police Reps Officer Harley Guenther and Corporal Steve Wallace to give us the latest activity in Arlington. They introduced their new supervisor Sgt. Jeffrey Lubin who has lived and worked in Arlington for the last 14 years. They then gave a presentation about Community Outreach Team here in north Arlington. They also have presentations available on a wide variety of community support needs including a homeless outreach program, Brooks the Therapy Dog, Fill the Cruiser events.

Saturday April 24 is National Drug take Back Day from 10 – 2 to turn in any prescription drugs you are no longer using.

Corporal Wallace gave a monthly report of approximately 77 incidents, which was not bad. Car larceny has gone down – please keep locking your cars. Of the 2 stolen vehicles reported, both have been returned.

On the Arlington County Police Website there are a lot of resources the community can use to keep abreast of the latest info out there. This includes the Police Newsroom, a Daily Crime Report, Community Crime Map where you can see the location of each crime incident reported.

If anyone would like a security assessment of their home you can request one on their website.

There is a service request aspect to the My Arlington app one can download on to their phone. Here you can request services from the county for damaged signs, sidewalks or other concerns you may come across with your phone.

Brooke Alexander of our Tree Canopy and Native Plants Subcommittee reported that trees are scheduled to be planted in both Maury and Gumball Parks.

5/28/2021 is the deadline to let Brooke know if you would like a tree planted paid for by the Arlington County Tree Canopy on your property.

Brooke is also interested in conducting a tree walk around the neighbor in honor of our 100 Year Anniversary. She would like to include all “old trees”. This can include trees as young as 15 – 20 years old.

Jack Spilsbury of our Development Committee mentioned that the construction of the CVS at the Highland Motel site on Wilson Blvd will begin very soon.

The Mr. Wash site construction is now on hold.

Regarding the year long review of the 2006 Clarendon Sector Plan by the LRPC continues. On April 14, a 3rd meeting took place where Scott Sklar represented the AHCA well. Not clear yet what the results will be of all our efforts. Our outreach to Lyon Park and Clarendon/Courthouse Civic Associations we hope will be helpful with our consensus letter to the County Board re our concerns. The next meeting of the LRPC will be in May sometime, yet to be scheduled. There are two more meetings in the review process.

No reports from Transportation Committee, Schools, Housing Committees.

Presentation about The National Capital Treatment and Recovery (formally Phoenix House) by Deborah Taylor, R.N., C.D. – Discussion of Arlington’s drug and alcohol problems and solutions by the director of the facility located on our boundary.

A copy of a presentation from Deborah Taylor, President and CEO

General NCTR Slideshow March 2021.pptx

Some takeaways from her talk:
They believe that anyone should get the highest level of care despite their ability to pay
The Arlington Recovery Center partners with the county and the police
Along with our COVID Pandemic we are having an opiod epidemic right now
Heroin right now is 800 times as strong as it was in the 70s in Arlington
Opioid overdoses are up 70%
Arlington has a 75% increase in fatal overdoses
Looking for real estate to set up a transition location
They have put in a second elevator to accommodate more physically limited and elderly clients at their current location.
They have added a full gym to the facility for their clients
They would like a Board Member from Ashton Heights who is interested in substance use disorders

AHCA History II in support of AHCA 100th Anniversary celebration – – Social History Presentation with Ann Felker, Christa Abbott, Marion Penn and Cassandra Penn Lucas who lived in Arlington’s early black communities. An historical video was shown.

The meeting adjourned around 9:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Jodie Flakowicz, AHCA Secretary, April 24, 2021.

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