Call to Order:  President Jay Wind called the meeting to order at 7:38 pm. 31 people were in attendance.

Attendees:  Jeff Bartlett, Ted Black, JC (Walters) Byrnes, Tom Byrnes, Bob Dannemiller, Liz Fried, Greg Fried, Jim Gill, Joan Gill, Jon Hansen, David Kinsman, Glenn Kinsman, Sharon Kinsman, Karen Laake, Eric Lanman, Dan Morrisey, Doris Murray, Ken Nagle, Monique O'Grady, Bridget O'Malley, Cathy O'Malley, Estelle Roth, George Rushton, Betty Siegel, Bill Taylor, Tim Taylor, Wade Turner, James M. (Jay) Vennett, Deborah Wallower, Wyatt Weber, Jay Jacob Wind

Secretary's report: Betty Siegel distributed Minutes of the July 18, 2000 meeting.  A vote to approve the meetings was not taken.

President's report: Jay Jacob Wind announced/reported:
· The AHCA website is now http://www.geocities.com/~ahca
· Columbia Pike Housing / Community Services Forum will be held November 9, 7 pm at Career Center to discuss issues of concentration of affordable housing and social services in and around the neighborhood.
· Tom Greenfield of Penrose has asked to meet with AHCA to discuss the Columbia Pike plans.
· Thanks to all who helped at County Fair

Vice Presidents report: Jay Vennett announced/reported:
· Halloween party Sunday, October 29, 3:00 pm for the neighborhood children will be held at the Arlington Heights Park. Eckerd's is donating drinks, piñata and balloons for the children.
· The name selected for the park in front of Eckerd's is Pike Park. And, thanks to everyone who helped on the Nicki Gonzalez concert. Jay is exploring the possibility of asking Arlington County Arts Commission to make the park a permanent "Arts Alfresco" site.
· The yard sale last weekend went well with 5-7 families participating.
· Attending a meeting of the Presidents of Civic Associations and that there was discussion of a possible four-way alliance between AHCA, Penrose, Columbia Heights, Douglas Park. The advantage of this is to give the combined neighborhoods a larger voice and collective muscle.

6th and Garfield Streets: JC (Walters) Byrnes reported that she has been negotiating and gotten an agreement with the county to replace the landscaping that she had been maintaining when the county leveled it to improve the pathway. The proposed design for the new landscaping can be viewed on the AHCA website. JC will continue to follow up with the county.

Crosswalks: Motion to move discussion of the crosswalks # 4 on the agenda under new business up on the agenda. Seconded and passed.
Sharon Kinsman moved Ron Eisman's motion that AHCA request Arlington County paint a crosswalk, for the safety of school children, from the newly-constructed path through the green space at 6th and Garfield diagonally to the southwest corner of 6th Street. Dave Kinsman seconded. Discussion. Several points were made, pro- and con-, including but not limited to: w Concern that drivers aren't aware there is a pathway coming out at that point w Safety for the children crossing the streets w That perhaps the issue isn't limited to that one crosswalk but that it would be a good idea to ask the county to review safety at all intersections and mid-block crossing w Concern over it being on a diagonal, which might make it difficult for some of the adjacent owners to get in and out of driveways w Loss of parking w That it would be an unprotected crosswalk w It is the most direct route w That it is non-guarded and unpredictable wThat the request doesn't include corresponding signage w Traffic doesn't seem to stop for crosswalks w Sense of lack of facts on impact of crosswalks wBryan Sieling read comments from the County Traffic Calming Report that related to crosswalks and informed the group that the county has a pedestrian safety program that might help with this issue w Possibly put in a stop-sign directed at pedestrians emerging from the path wJon Hansen wanted to make it clear that the 4 points listed in the agenda were not intended to be motions w etc. Call for the question. Seconded.  Passed with one nay.  Vote: 2 in favor, all the rest against. Motion failed. There will be no request from AHCA to the county for a crosswalk at 6th & Garfield

Pedestrian Safety committee: Jay Wind asked Bryan Sieling whether Traffic Committee would take responsibility for pedestrian safety. Bryan recommended no, because Arlington County has wholly separate programs for traffic calming and pedestrian safety. Jay therefore appointed an AHCA Pedestrian Safety Committee, to meet with County staff and present recommendations to next AHCA meeting. Sharon Kinsman volunteered to chair the committee with Jon Hanson, Liz Freed, Wade Turner as members.

Neighborhood Conservation: Jim Gill reported that over the last three years, AHCA has improved infrastructure by using the Arlington County Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee (NCAC) process. Two street light projects and neighborhood signs have been competed.. Two additional lighting projects have been funded and will be installed within the next six months.
    The NCAC process is based on neighborhood participation.. To participate, neighborhoods must have a County Board-approved Neighborhood Conservation Plan.. The Arlington Heights Plan was approved in 1980 and is currently being updated. Under the rules of the NCAC, any neighbor, or group of neighbors, can request their civic association initiate steps for proceeding with a particular project covered by its Plan. Projects are initiated by acquiring signatures from a percentage of the property owners or residents living on the affected streets. For example, curb, gutter and sidewalk projects require signatures from property owners of 60% of the linear footage on the street. Street light projects require signatures of over 50% of the residents living on the street. Once these signatures have been obtained, the project is taken to the civic association for approval and prioritization. The civic association's priority listing is then given to the NCAC, which ranks our neighborhoods' projects against those of all the other neighborhoods in the County for funding. The NCAC uses a point system to do this. Twice a year, the NCAC recommends projects to the County Board for funding. After the County Board funds a project, County staff installs it. It can take as long as 18 months from NCAC approval of a project to completion of the work. Funding for NCAC projects is provided through the sale of bonds approved by the Arlington County voters.
    Currently, Arlington Heights has six qualified projects that have not yet been funded. Additionally, we are actively pursuing signatures on two other projects at this time. If improvements to your street are not in the queue, and you believe they should be, please contact our NCAC representative, Jim Gill.
 
 
 
 
 
 

    Jim Gill moved "Arlington Heights Civic Association approves of the following NCAC projects and prioritizes them in the following order:

1. Installation of Carlyle type street lights on South Irving Street between 6th Street South and 9th Street South.
2. Installation of Carlyle type street lights on 2nd Street South between South Glebe Road and South Fillmore Street; on 1st Road South between South Glebe Road and Old Glebe Road; and on Old Glebe Road between 1st Road South and 2nd Street South.
3. Completion of installation of Carlyle type street lights on 6th Street South between South Glebe Road and South Walter Reed Drive, and installation of Carlyle type street lights on South Garfield Street between 6th Street South and 7th Street South.
4. Installation of curbs, gutters, and Carlyle type street lights on South Garfield Street between Arlington Boulevard and 2nd Street South.
5. Installation of curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and Carlyle type street lights on South Fenwick Street between Arlington Boulevard and 2nd Street South.
6. Installation of curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and Carlyle type street lights on South Highland Street between 2nd Street South and 5th Street South."

Second Vice-President Report: No report

Treasurer Report: Bryan Sieling reported that membership grew to 134 residential and 6 businesses for 2000, and that there are already six residential memberships and one business member for 2001. The treasury has a balance of $1027.98. $67.84 was brought in through T-shirt sales. Jay Wind made a motion to keep membership dues for 2001 at the same level as they are currently for 2000, $10 per household and $20 per business. Seconded. No discussion. Motion passed unanimously.

Traffic Committee Report: Bryan Sieling reported that there has been some correspondence with Arlington County regarding traffic calming measures. County staffer Richard Best sad that AHCA won't see any assistance for traffic calming in the near future because the neighborhood doesn't rank high in severity of need. This is contrary to what AHCA representatives have been told in the past. The County did offer to put in a four-way stop at 7th and Highland. This appears to be a poorly thought out token gesture on the part of the County, and the Traffic Committee does not support taking this step. The committee has sent a letter to Elizabeth Diggs to address concerns over the lack of traffic calming measures. Bryan moved to reject the County's offer to put in four-way stop signs at 7th and Highland. Seconded. Discussion; Bryan strongly recommends other means to slow traffic. All his research shows that four-way stops don't help and can create serious environmental noise pollution. The committee recommends "slow points", speeding fines, etc. Raised crosswalks were discussed. The Traffic Committee will revisit all of these issues with the county. Motion passed unanimously. Jay Wind asked that the Traffic Committee pursue traffic calming more aggressively with the County. The consensus in the meting was that AHCA should start requesting specific traffic calming measures, since Arlington County has not offered us any acceptable measures.
    Eric Lanman announced VDOT's Location and Design public meeting for Glebe Road bridge over Route 50 at Thomas Jefferson Community Center, 5-8 pm, Thursday, October 19, an apropos time to talk with VDOT officials about the need for lighting and a median strip on Route 50.
    A stoplight is scheduled for installation in December at 2nd and Glebe Road, with overhead wires, to be replaced eventually with Carlyle arms

Social Action Committee Report: Jay Wind reported that Lydia B. Nuñez is working with several needy families

Civic Federation Delegation Report: Jay Wind reported that he spoke at Civic Federation training session about e-mail, newsletters, web sites, etc. Jay would like more AHCA residents to participate.

Social Chair Report: Monique O'Grady reported we needed to sell the rest of the t-shirt and sweatshirts to reimburse Joan's loan. She also mentioned the Family Movie night at Patrick Henry on October 28, 7:30 pm. There is a possibility of changing the date. Keep an eye on the AHCA website for updates.

Newsletter Editor report: Jay Wind has edited the last two newsletters, Patti Rosensteel will edit the upcoming December newsletter. The newsletter needs a new advertising person(s). No one at the meeting volunteered for this position. Deadline for next issue is November 15

Thomas Jefferson Middle School Report: There will be a yard sale on November 4 in front of the school and a book sale December 11-15.

Patrick Henry Elementary School Report: Cathy O'Malley reported that there are several special events coming -- watch for e-mail.

Neighborhood Sign Maintenance Report: Joan Gill gave a big thanks to Jim Gill and Bob Dannemiller who volunteered their time to garden and decorate. A motion was made to reimburse Joan for $200 in expenses incurred on the maintenance of the signs. Seconded. No discussion.Motion passed unanimously. Next years budget should include around $400 for this project.

Walter Reed Recreation Center Report: Bob Dannemiller reported that the Park Bond Issue contains $5.6 million for Walter Reed Center, which will serve AHCA, Columbia Heights, Douglas Park, and Nauck The plan is to completely tear down the existing facility and start from scratch. Construction could start this spring.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Jay Wind appointed an AHCA By-Laws Committee (chair Jim Gill, member Dan Morrisey)
2. Jay Wind appointed an AHCA Nominating Committee for January elections (chair Bridget O'Malley). Bryan asked for someone else to serve as treasurer in 2001. Bob Dannemiller volunteered. Jay Wind asked for someone else to serve as president in 2001
3. Karen Laake and Ken Nagle introduced the idea of converting the vacant lot at Route 50 and Garfield Street into a park with sitting areas, a fence, etc. Jay Wind made it clear that he can't vote on this issue because it would be a conflict of interest since he is also on the board of the Synagogue. The motion was made to have AHCA submit a letter of intent to apply for a Small Parks Grant to convert the vacant lot at 3000 Arlington Boulevard into a park. Seconded. Discussion. Motion passed, with Jay abstaining, all others voting aye.

Next meeting: Tuesday, January 23, 2001.  Meeting adjourned at 9:59 pm.