The February 2022 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.
Development Marches On – Cold Weather – Good Cheer
By Scott Sklar, President, AHCA
The development process marches on focusing on the Clarendon, Courthouse and Pentagon City areas of Arlington. As AHCA Development Committee Chair Jack Spilsbury relays, we are in a full court press working with our sister civic associations, to maximize open space and native trees, lower building heights with setbacks and tapering, provide underground parking and walkable vibrant communities and neighborhoods.
Noise and traffic are also ramping up. Our AHCA Safety & Security Committee Chair Christina Schultz describes our working with affected neighbors on noise issues from area bars with the Arlington County Police. And we are also following traffic calming measures by the County to make sure our communities are walkable, students walking and biking to school are safe, and noise and speed are reduced.
Due to COVID19, USPS mail service has been seriously delayed and disrupted. I have contacted our regional Post Office regional management about the problem as well as our Congressman, Don Beyer. We are now being tracked by senior USPS management. Staffing is low due to both USPS management changes (not good news) and COVID19 (also not good news). But I do expect the situation will ease and services get better.
This May, we will be electing our AHCA Executive Committee (ExCom) and we will need someone to step-up to fill Jim Feaster’s position as Vice President of Programs. This entails lining up speakers for 10 AHCA monthly meetings, half of which are suggested by the AHCA ExCom, AHCA committee chairs, and AHCA members. Please contact me (solarsklar@aol.com) or Jim Feaster (jimfeaster1@gmail.com) on any aspects of the job. This is a great way to help our community.
We will start our February AHCA meeting earlier to host our United States Representative, Congressman Don Beyer. We have been working with his office on moderating airplane and helicopter noise (he has legislatively gotten language for a study), and as I mentioned earlier, interceding with the USPS on service reliability. This meeting will be a great time to ask questions to our Congressman, so please join us.
Winter weather is here – which means freezing pipes, ice & snow on sidewalks, stoops, driveways and roadways, higher utility costs for heating. So here are some links to address some of these issues:
▪ Arlington County – Snow Removal: https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Programs/Emergency/Weather/Snow-and-Ice/Snow-Removal-Phases
▪ Snow issue form: https://gis.arlingtonva.us/mapapps/snowpublic/index.php
▪ Arlington County Snow Activity Map: https://snowmap.arlingtonva.us/SnowOps/SnowActivityMap/#12/38.8810/-77.1000
▪ Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy (AIRE) which provides guidance on energy savings: https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Programs/Sustainability-and-Environment/Energy
So be safe, have fun, and hope to see you at our earlier time 6:30 p.m. SHARP for our February Monthly AHCA meeting at CUMC on Wednesday, February 16, 2022!