The January 2026 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

The New Year Comes in Like a Lion
By Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

Welcome to 2026 – a colder than usual winter, but one that has a beauty all its own. I put some electric heaters for my two bird baths just to keep the ice (water) at 40, so the birds can drink. I also have a few rabbits this year. And hopefully, the raccoon who ate through my roof (and cost me $3,600) will not re-visit this year! I hope everyone had a great holiday with quality family and friend time. We have a set of recurring and growing issues that seem all to be coming to a head the first quarter of 2026.

First, we have two buildings moving to the building stage on 10th Street North, starting with Joyce Motors that has closed, and the Beer Lot and adjoining brick building on Wilson Blvd scheduled shortly. The old Silver Diner site is inching towards a start in the near future. Our AHCA Development Committee co-chairs Jack Spilsbury and Alexander Tuneski follow these projects along with other actions and developments. If you have questions or concerns, please go to page two for contact emails of all our committee chairs.

Second, traffic is still a problem on many fronts, with a hit car that was parked mid-December on Kenmore, large trucks continually on North Jackson, North Kenmore and North Irving. AHCA is also working with the county to re-emphasize with the contractors on house projects not to use residential streets as a cut through. Patrick Lueb, our AHCA Transportation Committee chair is the contact on these issues. We also were unable to build an awareness program at the end of last year on vegetation blocking visibility on intersection corners. We need someone within the AHCA community who can help orchestrate this. I can add some GWU graduate students to help as well on an important pedestrian-safety and vehicle-safety effort. Please contact me by email.

Third, AHCA Tree Canopy and Native Plants Chair Brooke Alexander and an extremely active committee is full swing on preserving the canopy (see prior newsletters for the full details). If you are interested in a tree whip, contact Brooke at treecanopy@ashtonheights.org. Fourth, Robby Mook has agreed to be our AHCA liaison with the county on restaurant and bar noise on Wilson Blvd and the overall Clarendon area. If you hear noise contact Robby at rmook@mookoffice.com.

Fifth, AHCA is working with over 20 Arlington civic associations on lot coverage zoning, and density efforts driven by the Arlington County Board. The Arlington County Board is not in alignment with most of our suggestions and efforts. Ken Matzkin has been working with me and this group on driving a shared agenda. I believe our large group of civic associations needs to develop a media campaign and outreach effort to move this issue beyond the Arlington County Board. We’ll see if we can move that agenda. Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz also called together a yearly meeting in November of Arlington’s civic and condo associations on a range of county issues and it was a good give-and-take session.

With federal funding cuts, post-COVID empty office buildings, and general inflation pressure, the Arlington County budget is tightening. To their credit, the Arlington County Board is holding property taxation level. But the pressures are great and when you receive “requests for input,” please take the time. It is in our collective interests.

This is the 14th year being your AHCA President, and I am always interested in your input, ideas, problems, and observations any time. Please feel free to contact me at solarsklar@aol.com or stop by my weekend 4:30 p.m. outdoors free whiskey-tastings. We are now in winter and the beginning of yet another New Year. 

I wish for each and every one of you a most healthy, happy and fulfilling time. Thank you for caring about our community and making Ashton Heights the most wonderful community that it is.