The April 2023 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Spring is Coming – Walk Around Your Community
by Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

What struck me during COVID, when many of us were stuck working from our homes, is that I saw families, couples and children walking around the streets of our neighborhoods. I met many in my community who I saw over the years in passing, but now exchanged words, updates, and quips.

I see many people walking their dogs or even walking with their children, and are busied on their cell phones.

As the flowers are sprouting and birds are raising their young families, the life and beauty of spring is all around us. What makes this community so wonderful, especially in spring are the trees, beautiful gardens, wildlife-friendly laws and landscapes, and more and more native plants, bushes and trees.

I wanted to use this column to bring to light, how lucky we are – and how unique our communities in this section of Arlington are – it is a gift.

I remember how clearly I cherished what we had when my daughter Stella was so young (now 30), having a number of neighborhood playgrounds, several parks within minutes of my house, and this panoply of trees, flowers, birds, wildlife, butterflies, fireflies, etc. I am the son of a professional photographer, and spent many hours taking pictures of all of this. 

Ashton Heights resident Julia Tanner, shares beautiful pictures of hawks and other birds right in our own backyard (see page 3). Just stunning.

AHCA has had a long-time hand in all of this. We have pushed for green corridors, ramping down building heights away from metro sites and major roadways, tree canopy and open spaces and parks. Chris Horvath chairs our AHCA Open Spaces Committee, Brooke Alexander chairs the Tree Canopy and Native Plants Committee, and Jack Spilsbury and Alexander Tuneski co-chair the AHCA Development Committee. All of these committees are centrally involved in these issues. I urge you to contact them and work on preserving and expanding these wonderful natural assets and benefits we have.

I visit my friends in Springfield, Woodbridge and my daughter in Sterling (Loudoun County) and none of them have the natural assets within their communities as we have here. 

So as we waken up with spring and see nature at its utmost beauty, please take a deep breath, turn off the cell phones, walk around with your friends and family, share your flowers and vegetables with your neighbors and friends – and most simply, enjoy and be thankful for what we have. 

This did not happen by chance. So the old cliché is apropos here, “Wake up, and smell the roses”.