AHCA meeting: Tuesday, July 19th 2005

2024 Meeting Schedule

Normally meetings alternate between
Alice West Fleet Elementary Library
and the
Public Montessori School of Arlington Library.
Meetings start at 7:00 PM.

Please check the newsletter for details.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, July 19th at 7:30PM at Patrick Henry Elementary School. We will have two presentations. The first will be from representatives of the Arlington County Fair which will be returning to Thomas Jefferson middle school August 18-21. There will be a short presentation about the fair followed by a chance for anyone to ask any questions they have about the fair. After that Captain Paul Larson from the Arlington County Police Department will give a presentation and answer questions about crime in the third district and our neighborhood.

We will also be considering a motion tabled from last meeting regarding TJ. The motion from the draft minutes of last meeting is: "That AHCA ask the County to take action on the lights on the track at the north side of TJ's athletic fields and to examine the particulate matter of the Bluestone soccer field." Much of the discussion of the motion involved asking the county to convert the field to synthetic grass as it seemed the only viable option to solve the dust problem of the field. The motion was tabled for lack of a quorum, but also to give more people a chance to comment because of previous AHCA involvement in plans to convert TJ to synthetic grass. This motion has no relation to the Marymount University proposal from a few years ago, as I'm sure the neighborhood would still reject any similar plans. It merely involves asking the county to continue to use the field in the same manner as it is currently used, but to solve the dust problem by converting the field to synthetic grass.

As I said in the last newsletter, one of my main goals for AHCA meetings is to reduce the total length of the meetings to encourage more people to come. While this worked to some extent at the last meeting, I've decided to include time limits for each planned agenda item for this meeting. I'm not interested in stifling discussion, and will entertain any motions to extend time for any item. I do want to make sure that as many people who want to can express an opinion and I feel the best way to do that is to make the meetings as easy and enjoyable to attend as possible. So I will be enforcing the time limits and requiring motions to extend time for any of the planned agenda items. While our agenda is very full for this meeting, I am going to do my best to keep the entire meeting under an hour and a half. I hope this will encourage anyone who has thought our meetings are too long in the past to begin attending again.

I'd also like to announce that AHCA, thanks to Cathy Camp and Jay Wind, has taken the initial steps to obtain small park enhancement grant funds. Our application is for a beautification project along route 50 near Irving Street. The exact details of the project will be worked out during the application process but the goal is to add plants and trees to create a more beautiful entrance to our neighborhood.

I'd also like to report on the success of two AHCA involved activities since last meeting. We had a joint yard sale at Patrick Henry with the Penrose neighborhood organized by Amy Vennett. I was out of town and unable to attend, but I hear it was a great event. It also was a great fund raiser for AHCA. The AHCA also cosponsored a fun run that was organized by the PTA at Patrick Henry. I was able to attend this one and can say that it was very well attended and enjoyed by the many children who ran.

I hope to see you at our next meeting.

Adam Croswell
President

Agenda