January 2018 Arlington BAC meeting- Monday 1/8 7pm 2100 Clarendon Blvd 3rd floor

[dasgeh]

Hi all,

A few updates (for background, see this article, which is mostly correct):

– I asked the County Manager’s office on clarification on our Charter and have not heard anything substantive. As such, I will continue to operate under the current charter, and we can discuss next steps. (I’ve included that discussion at the end, so that County staff who are presenting can present and move on).

– I’ve been told that Edgar has declined to become a member of the BAC.

So, we’re going to keep on keepin’ on, as they say. The January 2018 Arlington BAC meeting will be Monday 1/8 7pm at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. Agenda below. All are welcome!

Agenda

7:00pm Call to order, Introductions, etc.

7:05pm Trails Capital Projects, including an update on fixing the undulations on the Custis; PPD Staff

7:35pm Long Bridge: Opportunity for connection from Long Bridge Park to the MVT and possibly DC; County Staff?

7:50pm East end of Columbia Pike – recommendations for improving safety; Gillian

8:15pm Staff Updates

… BIKE Arlington

… DES Ritch Viola/David Patton

… Parks/Trails Kevin Stalica

8:30pm BAC Charter, membership and leadership

8:55pm New business

9:00pm Adjourn

Topic

[Judd]

I read the article when it was published and was disappointed by the action of the County Manager, particularly since my reading of the charter was that the CM doesn’t appoint the chair of the committee. I’m sorry for the members of the BAC, who have been treated poorly and are uncertain whether they’re still on the committee.

It seems like it would have been really easy for him to just not renew appointments when 2 year terms come due.

[sjclaeys]

@Judd 170904 wrote:

I read the article when it was published and was disappointed by the action of the County Manager, particularly since my reading of the charter was that the CM doesn’t appoint the chair of the committee. I’m sorry for the members of the BAC, who have been treated poorly and are uncertain whether they’re still on the committee.

It seems like it would have been really easy for him to just not renew appointments when 2 year terms come due.

Hate to admit it, but I agree with Judd.

[dasgeh]

For those that didn’t see Henry’s post, the meeting has been cancelled. It is not clear who cancelled it or why.

Two events of note:

– those of us with some free time Monday night will meet at 7pm at Clarendon Presbyterian Church (the address is 1305 N Jackson St, but the bike parking and entrance are off of Irving, just a block n of Liberty Tavern)

– the PAC is meeting this Wednesday and will discuss two items that will likely be of interest to BAC members (below from the PAC chair)

PACers and other ped-friendly readers*

Please join me at the first*meeting*of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee (PAC) of 2018 – on Wednesday, January 10, from 7-9 PM in the Dogwood & Cherry Rooms of Courthouse Plaza, 2100 Clarendon Boulevard.*

We will have two main speakers:

Mark Schwartz, County Manager, FY 2019 County Budget – pedestrian items of interest and the Manager’s role in the structure and management of the PACEric Cassel, President, Friends of Long Bridge Park, The Long Bridge Park Bike-Ped Connection

We will also have a brief update on pedestrian crashes from Lt Daniel Murphy.

The complete draft meeting agenda is*here.

Sent from my SM-G935U using Tapatalk

[Starduster]

Dear Katie Cristol: Welcome to the leadership of the Arlington County Board. Here is your first headache…

[Starduster]

Dasgeh, forgive the bitterness, but in the letter, Mr. Schwartz has made it clear the next BAC meeting will be HIS committee, HIS chosen leadership, HIS criterion for membership.

I don’t think I want to be a part of that.

[dasgeh]

@Starduster 171000 wrote:

Dasgeh, forgive the bitterness, but in the letter, Mr. Schwartz has made it clear the next BAC meeting will be HIS committee, HIS chosen leadership, HIS criterion for membership.

I don’t think I want to be a part of that.

I understand the frustration – I don’t know whether I want to be part of what’s coming either, but I was willing to give them a chance to actually outline what is coming (and I honestly like Edgar, so took that as a good sign). Behind the scenes, I had been emailing Edgar and staff to make sure things kept working to serve Arlington as smoothly as possible. That’s why there was an agenda ready, and, when Edgar said he was not joining the BAC, why I publicly noticed the meeting.

I am very concerned by the cancelling of the January meeting, because it did seem to remove any more charitable readings of his letter. But we have yet to see what comes out of the County in terms of a new Charter. It seems we’ll have a chance on Wednesday, at the PAC, to ask Mr. Schwartz himself.

Your voice would be a big loss to efforts to make transportation in Arlington better. You, Sue and the people that you ride with from Papillon are squarely in a group that Arlington needs to serve better in order to make cycling a viable transportation option (and thus keep everyone moving).

[Author]

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