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Welcome to Barcroft Neighborhood
The LatestIt was an action-packed meeting. We elected the following slate of officers for 2008-2009:
Vice President: Bryant Monroe Treasurer: Gary Lefebvre Recording Secretary: Marlene Oronao Corresponding Secretary: Wes Stein Membership Secretary: Peg Lefebvre Board Member: Pat Williamson We approved the NC Plan draft with some changes to be posted later.
We approved David Peacefull's resolution on pedestrian safety at Abingdon/Arlington Boulevard.
Here is the first draft of the update of your Neighborhood Conservation Plan. It is a long document in either .pdf format or in Word .doc format. It will be refined with your comments, and taken up for amendments and approval at our May 1st BSCL meeting. Please email comments to Randy Swart - randy@bscl.org. And plan to be at the May 1st meeting for a lively discussion. Here are some comments from Keith Fred about the connector trail from the bottom of 7th St to the W&OD Trail.
At our last meeting before our summer break on May 1 at 7:30p.m. at the Community House (800 S. Buchanan St.), we will be discussing our draft Neighborhood Conservation Plan. The draft Neighborhood Conservation Plan is based on your answers to the survey that was distributed to households last fall. The County will use the Plan to help prioritize funding for projects for the neighborhood. The Plan is in draft form and ready for the neighborhood to review, comment, change and hopefully approve. The draft is up on the web site at www.bscl.org. We are also distributing a summary around the neighborhood to give you a chance to read it before the May 1 meeting. At that meeting we will be discussing the draft and making final changes. If you can’t make the meeting, you can also drop comments off at the Community House, send them to Randy Swart at 4611 7th St. South, or email them to randy@bscl.org. If you have not seen the draft yet, give Randy a call at 703-521-2080 and he will drop off a copy for you. For those who couldn’t make our last meeting, we listened to a presentation by Bob Eisenberg of Heritage Properties, which will be developing the former Bob & Edith’s site at the intersection Buchanan St. and Columbia Pike. Mr. Eisenberg indicated that he anticipates building a 4-story building on the land, with retail stores on the ground floor and apartments. There will also be an underground parking garage. Traffic is anticipated to exit and enter onto Buchanan St. We also discussed that the intersection at Buchanan and Columbia Pike is scheduled to be redesigned and streetscape improvements are anticipated to be completed in the next 18 months or so, which could help eliminate some of the danger at that intersection. We also passed a resolution and submitted joint comments with the Alcova Heights neighborhood on the proposed National Guard expansion to their facility on George Mason Drive. Our concerns primarily stem from the fact that onsite parking facilities are not anticipated to be completed until a few years after the expansion itself. The comment letter we sent to the County is available on the website.
Finally, we along with other neighborhoods have requested that the Northern Virginia Park Authority permit the Arlington Police to use their Arlington
Park Safe Program (which gives the police the authority to enforce the criminal trespassing statute on the subject property) on the W&OD trail and park. This would give the police an additional and more effective tool to deal with the persistent public safety problems in the area of the W&OD trail, Four Mile Run, and Columbia Pike. We anticipate that the Park Authority will grant an 18-month trial period for this program at their Board meeting later this month.
On Saturday, May 3rd Barcroft Elementary School will hold its annual Spring Fair and Silent Auction from 11am to 3pm. Please join in the fun! There will be moon bounces, games, and great food. Come and browse the Silent Auction where
you can bid on gift certificates to local restaurants and businesses, hotels, B& B's, great gift baskets and more! You won't want to miss it! The silent auction bidding will end at 2 o'clock and checkout will begin shortly thereafter. Money raised by this PTA sponsored event will help pay for additional field trips and other educational opportunities for our students. This fair/auction has become a community event, so come on out and enjoy the day
with your fellow Arlington neighbors!
The Barcroft Elementary School was featured in this Washington Post article on the school. It's a great article about a wonderful school that isn't meeting No Child Left Behind goals.
Arlington County is offering trees to be distributed for this year's Neighborhood Day. Two great species are available this year: Yellow-poplar, a large canopy tree, and Allegheny serviceberry, a small flowering tree. See this page for all the info on the species if you ordered by April 17.
At Thursday's meeting we passed this resolution finding that the National Guard's environmental assessment was "flawed," challenging the findings of the assessment and insisting that the garage be built at the same time as the building that will add 1200 employees on the Arlington Hall site. The National Guard made a point of telling us that comments on the environmental assessment of their expansion project must be received by Sunday the 6th of April. You can email your comments to margaret.moffett@ng.army.mil or fax them to Beth Erickson at 703-607-8329. The BSCL and Alcova Heights Citizens Association have sent a joint letter to the Guard. Send your comments now! (Here is the Guard's report as a huge file, or if that's too slow a download for you, try just the summary.) Unfortunately the report says "Because of current funding restraints, the ARNG expects to complete the building expansion phase of this proposal before the implementation of the parking garage phase. The ARNG is currently working to obtain additional funding to build the garage by 2011; however, construction of the garage is scheduled to begin in 2014." Email Randy Swart if you also need the Appendices and he will drop off a CD to you with the 256 meg file.
The sewer main rupture upstream at Carlin Springs Road that dumped some extra raw sewage into the stream on March 28 has been cleaned up, but the water in Four Mile Run is never clean enough to play in, and anyone who comes in contact with it should go home and wash. The County press release recommends "normal stream precautions." If you drill down far enough you find this stream report and what is says is:
"Also, bacteria levels in Four Mile Run, like most urban streams, routinely exceed water quality standards for primary contact recreation (swimming, etc.). Unfortunately, a DNA study just completed by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) suggests that most sources of bacteria in Arlington streams are not readily controllable because they come from urban wildlife. Waterfowl, raccoon, and deer accounted for the majority of the bacterial DNA samples collected in the Four Mile Run watershed. In contrast, human and dog DNA were identified in about one-third of the samples."
by Heidi Wicker Happy Spring to all! Please join us at the next community meeting on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30pm for a discussion of two items which will be shaping the future of the areas surrounding our neighborhood in the months and years to come. First, we will be discussing the plans for developing the site of the former Bob & Edith's diner at Buchanan Street and Columbia Pike. We have invited the developers of the site to join us in person for this meeting to relay their plans and take your comments and questions. (Here is a County drawing of plans for that intersection and a 1990 letter approving a bus shelter there.) Second, we will be discussing the plans for expansion of the existing Army National Guard Readiness Center (ARNGRC), parking facilities, and other supporting facilities to accommodate the 1200 personnel who will be vacating government-leased space in accordance with the Base Realignment Enclosure (BRAC) Recommendations. We will discuss the potential impact to the neighborhood. We also would like to determine at this meeting what the position of the BSCL is regarding the plans for expansion, specifically what facets of the expansion we support and what facets we do not support, so that we can relay the BSCL's feedback to the County.
At the last meeting we were joined by the Arlington
County Code Enforcement officers for a useful discussion
of what constitutes a code violation, how
one reports a violation to the County and how the
violation is investigated. I relayed all of the complaints
I received to the County and they commenced
the investigations. Due to legal reasons,
however, the County cannot relay the progress of an
investigation to anyone except the person submitting
the report. Thus, I encourage you all to check
with the Code Enforcement office at703-228-3232
to add yourself as a complainant and obtain the
status of the investisation.
New Corresponding Secretary Wes Stein takes very good minutes. Here are his minutes of our April 2 Executive Committee Meeting.
Here is the report handed out by the National Guard at their public meeting on March 11th on their expansion plans. Unfortunately it says "Because of current funding restraints, the ARNG expects to complete the building expansion phase of this proposal before the implementation of the parking garage phase. The ARNG is currently working to obtain additional funding to build the garage by 2011; however, construction of the garage is scheduled to begin in 2014." Email Randy Swart if you also need the Appendices and he will drop off a CD to you with the 256 meg file.
At our March 6 meeting we voted to send this letter to the Arlington County School Board and to the Arlington County Board supporting the reconstruction or rehabilitation of Wakefield High School as soon as possible.
Borromeo Housing is buying a house on 9th St South for a group home. You can review their proposal here. Ninth Street neighbors met on January 13 and provided this feedback opposing the home. And here is the resulting County staff report to the Board, characterizing the feedback as "The civic league and residents have expressed concerns about property maintenance, commercial vehicle parking, and concerns about the neighborhood."
Tagged Cars on 8th St On January 2nd neighbors on 8th St South between Taylor and Wakefield awoke to gang tags painted on five cars. They called the police, and 3rd District Commander Michele Nuneville arranged for 3rd District Sgt Marc Jenkins and Gang Unit Commander Lt. Bruce Benson to speak at our January 3rd BSCL meeting. Lots of neighbors came and there were many questions for the officers. The vandalism is probably not a "turf war" among gangs or a serious attempt by the gang to establish territory in Barcroft. Police have upped their patrols in our neighborhood and you may see one of them in plain clothes walking a dog on your street despite the cold weather. They urge us all to report anything we see that just does not seem right. We should hear further from them as leads develop.
Energy Audits
Here is Barbara Swart's presentation on Energy Audits: A Barcroft Consumer's Experience. It shares what she learned by having an audit done and doing more herself. She also covers how to compare your energy use to the average use in the US, and what the most likely energy issues are for Barcroft homes.
From: Mark Wigfield:
A drunk guy put his fist through our basement door window this afternoon at about 2 pm today [New Year's Day], but the bars inside stopped him from opening the door. He then staggered around to the other the side of the house, where I saw him through the kitchen window and went out to ask him what he was doing staggering around in my driveway (with one bloodied hand wrapped in rag). Didn't realize at that point that he had tried to break in, but we found that out after he led us back to the outside stairwell, where my son noticed the broken window after I had escorted the guy off the property. By that time, he had walked about a block up S. Buchanan, so I took off after him and called 911 on the cell phone while following on foot. Police responded very quickly with about 6 cars and an ambulance. The guy is going to charged with attempted burglary. So lock your doors -- the next burglar might not be as drunk! [Note: Arlington County Police recommend bars on all basement level windows because many breakins are attempted through basement windows.]
Check out this report from the County's Jeff Sikes, and you will see that traffic calming has reduced our "85th percentile" speeds for all the calmed streets, and as an added bonus it has cut down our cut-through traffic. (The 85th percentile speed means that 15% of the cars are still going faster than that, but it is the benchmark that traffic engineers use.) BSCL Meeting Thursday, December 6th - Holiday Party!
by Heidi Wicker At our October community meeting, the BSCL hosted a well-attended and spirited candidate's debate, gamely organized by our Vice President Bryant Monroe. Kudos Bryant for the great turnout! We also provided an update on the efforts of the Arlington police to curb illegal activity at Columbia Pike and Four Mile Run. Our police precinct captain, Michelle Nuneville, reported that there was a county-wide effort to educate vendors on the county's vending laws from October l5-November 15, with increased enforcement efforts starting November 15. They are also working with the Northern Virginia Park Authority to obtain more enforcement powers along the trail for Arlington police. In addition, our fellow surrounding neighborhoods are working to schedule a meeting with a variety of county officials in the next few weeks to discuss the illegal vending and other issues (code enforcement, public drinking, littering, traffic obstruction, etc.) facing the Columbia Pike/Four Mile Run area. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season, and hope to see you at the holiday party on December 6!
Heidi Wicker If you ordered a Jamestown's Cherrybark Oak tree, they were delivered to Barcroft on Saturday, November 3rd, courtesy of our Barcroft-resident tree steward Allison Willocks. There is more on the Web about the Jamestown Oak tree project
You can sign up at Giant, Harris Teeter or Safeway to link your purchases to Barcroft Elementary School. The school benefits. This page has the details.
We approved a Neighborhood Conservation inventory, with estimates of what we need to "complete Barcroft." Here is the list as we edited it on September 6. It was based on our Neighborhood Questionnaire responses. We did not commit to do the listed projects. Our next step is to write our Neighborhood Conservation Plan update, where we will deal with which projects we really want now and what our priorities are.
And here is the first-class photo coverage of the Arlington Sun-Gazette. The first five photos appeared on their front page.
Vice President: Bryant Monroe Recording Secretary: Marlene Oronao Corresponding Secretary: Wes Stien Treasurer: Gary Lefebvre Board Member: David Michaelson
The National Guard is developing plans to bring another 900 employees to their site on Arlington Hall off of George Mason. Here is what we know about it. Barcroft's only Lustron home was torn down beginning April 16. Martin Ogle, Chief Naturalist for the Northern Virginia Park Authority and one of Arlington's most respected environmentalists, spoke about practical conservation measures we can take to conserve energy and resources in our homes and the neighborhood in general. Elizabeth Rives, Barcroft's resident tree steward, took orders for free trees to be given away by Arlington County on Neighborhood Day May 12th. At the January BSCL meeting we passed out survey forms for our Neighborhood Conservation Plan survey to our block captains. Your block captain will be knocking on your door if they have not done so already to deliver your survey, and then coming back to collect it two weeks later. This is where we find out what you think about neighborhood questions, and makes it possible to draft a Neighborhood Conservation Plan that includes your views. If you need information or did not get a form yet, please email Randy Swart. We have more than 220 surveys back already. A message from BSCL president Pat Williamson: The BSCL voted on November 2, 2006 to support Principal Miriam Hughey-Guy's decision to keep the sound-dampened percussion instruments of Barcroft School's Musical Garden without restricting access after hours or on weekends. The recommendation included asking Ms. Hughey-Guy to explore with APS the possibility of using a web-cam to monitor after hours abuses of the musical instruments. For more background, we have
If you were at the July 4th Barcroft parade, you may have noticed a group marching in the parade clad in unusual costumes. When asked where the costumes were from, the answer was an enthusiastic "Bulgaria!". The "Ivan Dimitrov Dance Ensemble" meets every Monday evening at Barcroft House to do Bulgarian dancing, which is known for its complex footwork and unusual rhythms. The dance group was established in 1997 by Ivan Dimitrov, a native of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the group's artistic director. We had another opportunity to view this spectacular traditional dance form on Sunday, October 22. 
The program included a performance of showing a variety of dances performed in colorful costumes, followed by audience participation and a fabulous spread of Bulgarian food. Proceeds were donated to BSCL in gratitude for letting the dance ensemble rehearse at Barcroft House for the last two years. The Barcroft contact for the group is Rebecca Nazaretz nazaretz@msn.com
Last year County staff held a hearing on a project they are planning to upgrade Columbia Pike from Wakefield St to Four Mile Run. See this page for more on the issues from our neighborhood's perspective. Here is
our letter to the County on the intersection of Buchanan and Columbia Pike. The final design for the project appears unlikely to generate much cut-through traffic in Barcroft.
The County Board funded the South Taylor Street traffic calming plan in a meeting that began on July 11, 2006 and ended on July 12th. The project had the approval of 83% of the neighbors, with only 2% (3 people) opposed. It was unanimously approved at the June, 2006 BSCL meeting, with two opposed to the four way stops. See our page on Taylor Street for the details. Thanks to all the neighbors on Taylor who worked so hard on this project. The stop signs, speed humps and other changes are all in place now.
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| Home | Calendar | Headlines | Location | History | Goals | Newsletter & Documents | People |
| Whats New | Conservation Plan | Community House | More! | Press | Links | Contacts | Search |
