Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 28th April 2015

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The next Civic Association meeting will be held Tuesday 28 April at 7.30pm in the downstairs meeting room of Firehouse No. 9 at 19th Street South and South Walter Reed Drive. On the agenda:

  1. Mail Delivery. In November, we met with regional US Post Office officials to discuss ongoing issues with mail delivery in Douglas Park. It was a lively meeting, to say the least! At April’s meeting, postal officials—including recently-appointed South Station Manager, Marcus Clinkscale—will return for more discussion and feedback. A thank-you to Douglas Park resident Carol Freysinger for coordinating with the USPS folks!
  2. Neighborhood Conservation. We will discuss and vote
    on our next project to submit to the Neighborhood
    Conservation queue. Under consideration are:

    1. Completion of curb, gutter and sidewalks along 18th St S
      from S Quincy to Walter Reed Drive.
    2. Completion of curb, gutter and sidewalks along 13th St S
      from Glebe Road to S Walter Reed Drive.
    3. Streetlights along S Oakland St between 18th and 19th
      Streets S.

Please keep in mind that any project requires both a champion to oversee the process and approval by residents controlling at least 60% of the street frontage
in the project area to move forward. So, attend and let your opinion be heard!

3. Neighborhood Volunteer Needs. We have several opportunities for residents to help their fellow DPCA members and neighbors, including

• Newsletter advertising coordinator
• Newsletter distribution coordinator’
• Newsletter Spanish translator
• Fourth of July Coordinator
• Election Day Bake Sale Assistant
• Writers for the update of our Neighborhood Conservation Plan

If you’d like more information or can help, please attend the meeting or contact Adam Henderson at president<at>douglasparkca.org.

4. Other business.

All are welcome to attend.

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Recap of 24th February Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately fifteen people attended the Civic Association meeting on Tuesday evening 24 February at Firehouse 9.

The agenda included:

Annual Election of Officers
All current officers submitted their names for nomination for new terms. Nominations were solicited from the floor; none were offered. A motion to re-elect the current officers was made, seconded and agreed by the participants assembled:

  • Adam Henderson, President
  • Tony Brooks, Vice-President
  • Annette Pigott, Secretary
  • Al Fox, Treasurer

We discussed various current and upcoming projects along the Pike, including Arlington Presbyterian, Pike 3400 and 4707 Columbia Pike

We agreed to sponsorship of DP resident Sean Steele’s proposal for a spring cookout.

We solicited various proposals for our next Neighborhood Conservation project.
A list of proposals will be presented shortly on the listserv and in the next newsletter ahead of a final vote at the April meeting.

We discussed the need for volunteers to assist the Association with various tasks.
These include

  • Newsletter Advertising Coordinator
  • Newsletter Distribution Coordinator
  • Fourth of July Coordinator
  • Election Day Bake Sale Assistant
  • Writers for the update of our Neighborhood Conservation Plan

Further details regarding these opportunities will be forthcoming. If you can help, please email Adam Henderson.

Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday 21 April.

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Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 24th February 2015

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The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Tuesday 24 February 2015 at 7.30p in the downstairs meeting room of Firehouse 9, 19th Street South at South Walter Reed Drive.

On the agenda:

  1. Elections. This meeting will include our annual election of civic association officers. All current officers (Adam Henderson, President; Tony Brooks, Vice-President; Al Fox, Treasurer and Annette Pigott, Secretary) are running for re-election. However, new nominations are open for all these offices as well. If you would like information about the role of civic association officers, please contact Adam Henderson at president<at>douglasparkca.org.
  2. Neighborhood Conservation. Our project for streetlights along 12th St S between S Quincy St and S Monroe St was approved by the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee (NCAC) in December and should be approved by the County Board this month.  Our next project—curb, gutter, sidewalk and streetlight improvements along 12th St S between S Glebe Rd and S Walter Reed Dr—is in the queue.   That means it’s time to submit a new project.  We’ll start the discussion at this meeting with a decision at our April meeting ahead of the May 2015 submission deadline.
  3. Neighborhood Volunteer Needs. We have several opportunities for residents to help their fellow DPCA members and neighbors, including newsletter, Fourth of July, and Neighborhood Conservation.  If you’d like more information or can help, please attend the meeting or contact Adam Henderson at president<at>douglasparkca.org.
  4. Other business.

All are welcome to attend.

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Recap of 18th November Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately forty-five people attended the Civic Association meeting on Tuesday evening 18 November at the Arlington Mill Community Center.

The agenda included:

We had a forum with eight representatives from the US Postal Service
The purpose of this forum, which lasted approximately seventy minutes, was to discuss numerous issues with misdirected and undelivered mail and other service issues that have sharply increased in Douglas Park over the past year. Postal service officials listed to our concerns, apologized, and relayed some of the steps that they have undertaken in attempt to bring the issues under control. These include:

  • A new Customer Service Manager at the South Glebe (Arlington South) Station
  • Increased training for mail carriers in Douglas Park
  • A review of carrier routes in Douglas Park

Postal services officials acknowledged that these are only initial steps in addressing the problems. In addition, the postal service intends to bring in a review team to track carriers in Douglas Park for a period to ascertain whether they are performing route deliveries correctly and efficiently. Most importantly in this meeting, however, was the request for real-time data so that postal officials can track problems to specific personnel. The Arlington Postmaster, Mr Walter Daniels, has requested that residents email him directly with misdelivery or other issues on the day of or the day following the incident, letting him know the date, time, nature and address of the occurrence. Mr Daniels also indicated that where feasible, it would be helpful to include a photograph attachment of the mail panel of the misdirected piece, which will allow officials to determine if there are machine-sorting issues that are contributing to our problems.  UPDATE FEBRUARY 2015. Mr Daniels has moved on at USPS. Our new contact for mail problems is the new South Arlington Station Manager, Marcus Clinkscale. He may be reached at marcus.c.clinkscale@usps.gov.

In summary, the Postal Service now seems to be very aware of the ongoing issues in Douglas Park and has expressed a firm desire to address the situation. It’s now our job to make sure they follow through by providing the ongoing data they need to find the root causes. Postal officials have agreed to attend a future meeting of the Association, likely in February 2015, to update their progress and receive more feedback from residents.

We had an update from Alison Tomlinson and Allegra Jabo; our representative and alternate to the Thomas Jefferson Middle School Working Group (TJMSWG).

The TJMSWG is charged by the County Board with evaluating the Thomas Jefferson Middle School site and making a recommendation as to the feasibility of building a new 725-seat elementary school on the campus. The TJMSWG will present a preliminary report to the County Board in December and a final report in January 2015. An overview of the group, along with supporting documents, is available here.

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Metro Seeks Comment on Consolidation of Certain Stops on Metrobus Rte 23

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From Gregory W. Potts, WMATA Virginia Government Relations Officer:

Metrobus is working to improve bus service for its customers. One way to make buses run more on-time and reliably is by combining bus stops that are very close together. When buses spend more time moving and less time stopping, everyone enjoys a faster, more reliable trip.

WMATA is proposing bus stop consolidation on the 23 Metrobus route. This route runs from Crystal City to Tysons Corner. A map of the full route is here [PDF].

The proposed stops for consolidation are listed here as a map [PDF] or a table [PDF]. All of the proposed stop changes are in Arlington with the exception of two located in Fairfax County. Most of the average boardings at these stops are less than ten customers per day. The removal of a stop will never result in a customer having to walk more than an additional 2 blocks.

WMATA planned to put up signs at the stops on Monday 2 June alerting customers that the stop is proposed for consolidation (see the notice here [PDF]). Signs will also be posted in Spanish. The signs will be up for a three week period until 23 June. Customers have several options to provide comment:

  • Call the Office of Bus Planning at 202.962.2440
  • Call Customer Service at 202.637.7000
  • Using the contact form at wmata.com/betterbus
  • Comment on Metro’s blog post at planitmetro.com/23_consolidation
  • Send a letter to: WMATA Office of Bus Planning, Bus Stop Consolidation Program, 600 5th St NW, Room 7B, Washington DC 20001

After receiving input from customers and assuming there is agreement to move forward, a second notice will be put up saying that the bus stop will be discontinued. The proposed effective date of the consolidation is 24 August 2014. WMATA staff has coordinated with Arlington County staff on this effort.

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School Board Candidates’ Forum In Leiu of Civic Assn Meeting, Tuesday 22d April

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In lieu of our normal April meeting, the Douglas Park Civic Association and co-sponsors Arlington Heights Civic Association, Columbia Heights West Civic Association and Barcroft School and Civic League, will conduct a School Board Candidates’ Forum on Tuesday evening, 22 April 2014 at 7.30 pm in room 527A/B of the Arlington Mill Community Center, 909 South Dinwiddie Street. Three candidates vying to fill the seat of retiring member Sally Baird on the Arlington School Board—Greg Greeley, Barbara Kanninen and Nancy Van Doren—will join us to talk about how their vision for Arlington schools will support South Arlington students. The forum will also feature questions from Pike Neighborhoods civic associations and an opportunity for questions from the audience attending the forum.

The general format of the forum will be as follows:

  • Call to order
  • Introductions
  • Opening Statements (2 min per candidate)
  • Questions from Pike Civic Associations (approximately ½ hour)
  • Questions from the floor (approximately 1 hour)
  • Closing statements (2 min per candidate)

The evening should conclude around 9.45 pm.

The sponsoring civic associations would like to note that this is a nonpartisan event. We respectfully ask for no applause, cheering, jeering or other verbal replies by audience members in response to candidate statements. Applause for all participants should be held to the end of the evening. Mobile phones should be turned off or silenced for the duration of the forum.

Please make plans to attend this informative event.

This month’s newsletter is available here.

 

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Recap of 25 February Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately twenty people attended the Civic Association meeting on Tuesday evening 25 February 2014 at Firehouse 9.

The agenda included:

We heard a presentation from Monique O’Grady, Arlington Public Schools (APS) parent and civic activist on the ongoing re-evaluation of the Arlington School Board’s commitment to a new elementary school in South Arlington. In 2012, Arlington voters approved a $42.6m school bond. Per APS’s fact sheet on the bond (seen here [PDF]), the funds were to be used to build additions to three North Arlington elementary schools and one new elementary school each in North and South Arlington. Now that all four North Arlington projects are completed or underway, the school board has suggested reprioritizing funds to finance needed middle school upgrades, leaving South Arlington without the promised new elementary school. Ms O’Grady has been active in leading the effort to work creatively with the board to both fulfill the commitment to South Arlington and to address the middle school needs. A copy of Ms O’Grady’s presentation may be found here [PDF].

In addition, Ms O’Grady has supplied a timeline of events and methods for those who wish to express their views on the situation:

  • 21 Febr: Twitter Town Hall at 12p for elementary and middle school options. Tweet to @APSVirginia. (Transcript [PDF]).
  • 22 Febr: Community Conversations with ambassadors regarding elementary and middle school options. Held at Jefferson, Kenmore, Williamsburg, Gunston, and Swanson from 10a to noon.
  • 26 Febr: Community Meeting #1 for update, feedback of middle and high school options at Gunston M S Theater 1 from 7 to 9p. Simultaneous Spanish translation services will be provided.
  • 28 Febr: Twitter Town Hall at 12p for middle and high school options. Tweet to @APSVirginia.
  • 1 Mar: Community Conversations with ambassadors regarding middle and high school options. Held at HB Woodlawn, Washington-Lee, Yorktown, the Career Center and Claremont from 10a to noon.

You may also write the school board at school.board<at>apsva.us and the county board at countyboard<at>arlingtonva.us. Folks can also get more information at www.apsva.us/moreseats.

You can also view the now-closed change.org petition to fund the South Arlington elementary school here.

Our annual election of officers.
Officers elected for the 2014-2015 term were:

  • Adam Henderson, President
  • Tony Brooks, Vice-President
  • Annette Pigott, Secretary
  • Al Fox, Treasurer

Email contact information for Civic Association officers may be found on the Contact page of this website.

The next Civic Association meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening 22 April 2014.

 

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Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 25th February

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The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Tuesday 25 February 2014 at 7.30p in the downstairs meeting room of Firehouse 9, 19th Street South at South Walter Reed Drive.

On the agenda:

  1. Elections. This meeting will include our annual election of civic association officers. All current officers (AdamHenderson, President; Chris Worden, Vice-President; Al Fox, Treasurer and Annette Pigott, Secretary) are running for re-election. However, new nominations are open for all these offices as well. If you would like information about the role of civic association officers, please contact Adam Henderson at president<at>douglasparkca.org.
  2. Arlington Schools 2015-24 Capacity Development Plan/Capital Improvement Plan. The Arlington School Board is currently in the planning process for capacity and capital for the ten year cycle beginning in 2015. There have been many discussions in the community regarding the need for elementary school space in South Arlington and whether the updated plan will address this need. Civic activist Monique O’Grady will give an overview presentation on the topic and conduct a short question and answer session.
  3. Other business.

All are welcome to attend.

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