March 2000 Barcroft News
Volume 97, Number 7
March Meeting: Performance at Barcroft School
Last Fall, the BSCL asked Barcroft School Principal Miriam Hughey-Guy if she would like to host a program for one of our meetings. She was pleased to do so, and invited us to attend a performance: Barcroft students will perform ‘Celebration of African American History,’ for the BSCL.
Please, instead of coming to the BSCL Community House at 800 South Buchanan, join us at the Barcroft School, in the Multipurpose Room, 625 South Wakefield Street, at 7:30, Thursday, March 2. (A reminder sign will be posted at the Community House the day of the meeting with the alternate location advertised). We will start the meeting with the performance of about 30-45 minutes, with the time remaining available for any discussion community business. Thank you, Principal Hughey-Guy and your students!
Let’s Get to Work!
We need you! It’s time to put in the floor at the Barcroft Community House and we need your help on Saturday, March 18th starting at 9 a.m. You don’t know how? Professional floor installer, Barcrofter Mark Trone, will be guiding all work. Now is your chance to saw the wood and nail it in. Lunch and refreshments will be provided, as will all tools and equipment. Can’t make it that day? The following week, stop in anytime to see if you can help, or call Jim Kerr to arrange a time to help. Don’t miss your chance to be able to brag years from now about how you helped install the Community House floor!
Community Support for Barcroft School Playground
Extending the Barcroft School Playground was the subject of discussion at the February meeting of the BSCL. Principal Miriam Hughey-Guy explained the school's plans to get additional equipment in order to ease overcrowding of existing playground structures. The playground equipment now holds up to 30 students safely and easily. With growth of enrollment experienced over the last few years (from 420 students in 1993 to a projected 600), there are now up to 100 students on the playground at recess, and students wait in line for a turn on the equipment. The Barcroft playground also serves a centrally located recreation place for the neighborhood, and added new equipment would add to the overall attractiveness of the neighborhood for families.
The school board has allowed Principal Hughey-Guy to transfer funding approved for other capital improvements at the school in order to fund $30,000 towards expansion of the playground equipment. The current cost estimate for the addition is $50,000. Hughey-Guy is seeks community support in applying for a grant for the additional $20,000 from the Neighborhood Conservation (NC) Program.
As the NC Representative, David Michaelson responded with a motion to support funding of part or all of this $20,000, with the condition that discussions be held with the school board first to ask that they fund the playground. The playground expansion will be recommended to the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee by the March 31 deadline for this year’s funding.
The playground equipment is not the only project that our neighborhood would like to have completed in the next year. Other projects include new sidewalks and erosion control projects. At the April meeting (Thursday, April 6), the BSCL membership will need to vote on priorities for funding approved.
As a follow-on to this immediate effort to alleviate overcrowding, the school’s playground committee wants to expand the playground further. Volunteer effort will be put to work on finding and applying for private grants. If anyone reading this has suggestions or information on sources of funding, please contact Lisa Rom
Keep those Receipts Rolling In!
For those of you who have been collecting Giant grocery receipts, the time has come to turn them in. The program runs through the end of March, but if you will send or bring your receipts to Barcroft School (or mail them to Carol Hunter at 4705 8th Road, S., 22204), we can get started on tallying them. If you have any questions, please call Carol, or the school. Many thanks for your support!
Tenant Rights, Tenant Responsibilities
In response to neighborhood complaints about parking problems, trash and other problems around S. Buchanan, S. 8th Road and S. 9th that appeared to be stemming from residents of the Buchanan Gardens and Columbia Park apartment complexes, BSCL President Mark Wigfield suggested to the County that it schedule one of its “tenants rights and responsibilities” workshops at the Arlington Mill Community Center. That meeting has now been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 29, at 7 p.m. Mark will give a brief presentation about the BSCL, and you're invited to join him.
Grandma’s Creek, Four Mile Run Cleanup
On Saturday, March 11th, Barcrofters will do our annual cleanup of Grandma's Creek, the stream that spouts forth from under Dead Man's Curve on South Buchanan through the woods and exits to Four Mile Run through an old stone culvert built by the W&OD Railroad. Bring gloves and some plastic bags to see what amazing things have sprouted down there over the past year! We meet at Deadman's Curve, where Pershing Drive becomes Buchanan at 4th St. S.
On the same morning, Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment will hold their annual cleanup of Four Mile Run from 9 a.m. until noon.. The two meeting locations for ACE volunteers are: Arlington Mill Community Center, at Four Mile Run and Columbia Pike Barcroft Park, on Four Mile Run Drive between George Mason Drive and Walter Reed Drive. For more information, call Eleanor Hodges, Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment.
Easter Egg Hunt
Our Third Annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Saturday, April 22 at 10:00 a.m. at the Barcroft/Arlington Hall park at the end of Taylor Street. We decided to move the location from the Community House so we will have more room for the kids to roam and more hiding places for all the eggs. Hopefully this year the kids will have to actually look for the eggs (it was a little difficult hiding 50 dozen plus eggs in the Community House yard).
This year the Hunt will be free for all kids from 0 to 8 years. We plan to offset the cost of the Hunt with a bake sale at the park, so we are looking for volunteers to donate baked goods to sell. Please call Anna Peterson if you would like to help with baking and/or selling.
Children should bring a basket in which to collect their eggs. Along with baked goods for sale there will also be coffee, juice, and doughnuts. If you still have the plastic eggs you found last year we will be happy to recycle them, you can drop them off on the Peterson’s front porch at 819 S. Wakefield St.
Grant Writer Needed
We need your help! Because Barcroft doesn't have an assistant principal this year, we are missing out on grants that could supplement your child's education. Last year, for example, The Washington Post Foundation awarded us a grant for arts education. There are many, many more grants available, but we have no one to help search for and apply for them.
If anyone thinks he or she can help in this area, please let us know. Marie Korn is serving on the school grant committee, so you would be working with her. This need not be a time-consuming job. The money is there; we just need to find it.
As you know, Barcroft is trying to raise money to expand our playground equipment. We are hoping for a NCAC grant that could fund some of the expenses, but if that doesn't happen, we may not be able to do the expansion. That makes it even more important to find other sources of funding. The existing playground equipment isn't safe; we can't let that condition continue.
Low Bidder....
Last month we announced plans to vote on a maintenance contract for our heating and cooling system. We got the best bid possible when Barcroft resident Mike Behringer volunteered to do the job for free, and obtain parts at cost. Mike, who lives on South Sixth St. with his wife Michelle Newman, who maintains commercial heating, cooling and kitchen equipment for a living. Many thanks, Mike! Your donation of time will save us lots of money and assure us of a job well done.
Barcroft Signs To Appear Soon -- Really
Sara Leigh Merrey reports that a sign designating the entrance into Barcroft is at long last, scheduled for installation at George Mason Drive sometime in March, depending on the weather. A sign is also supposed to be installed at Henderson and Route 50. Finally, another was to go at the bike path entrance to the neighborhood on S. 9th. Some snafus may hold that one up, however. Hopefully, though, we're nearing the end of the road with this project, which has taken far too many years and miles of red tape to get completed. Designed by Jack Turner and Sara Leigh, the sign features Jack's drawing of the community house. The signs should make it easier for your guests to actually FIND the neighborhood, always a challenge for the uninitiated. They'll also help strengthen Barcroft's identity, and maybe even get people to slow down and take a look.
Crime Continues to Fall in Arlington
Reports of robberies, burglaries and auto theft all fell in 1999, reaching levels not seen in decades in Arlington County. As a whole, “index crimes” decreased by 19 percent in 1999 to 6126, Arlington’s lowest total since 1966. Social trends, and county efforts, take credit for this decline.
Neighborhood Traffic Calming Initiative Takes to the Road
The County Board will take action on the Report from the County Neighborhood Traffic Calming Committee at its Saturday, March 11 meeting. The NTCC, as you may recall form previous articles, will advise the Board on comprehensive county-wide traffic calming and will assist neighborhoods in addressing traffic problems on their streets. The BSCL will entertain a resolution at its March 2 meeting to endorse the NTCC. Barcrofters who would like to preview this report can call Elaine Squeri or read it on line a the Civic Federation Web page at archive.bscl.org/accf/trafcalm.htm.
The draft resolution follows:
Whereas the Barcroft Neighborhood enjoys a convenient location in the metro area; and
Whereas safety concerns have increased because of traffic volume and speed on these neighborhood streets; and
Whereas we will participate in opportunities to protect the quality of Arlington neighborhoods from increasing vehicular pressure;
We resolve that the Barcroft School and Civic League supports the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Initiative and the Committee's Report and urges the Arlington County Board to endorse this Report and fully fund the projects approved through the NTCC process.
A summary of the NTCC’s report was presented at the February BSCL meeting. The report introduces a 9-step process through which residents can apply for traffic-calming. There are project ranking guidelines to determine which projects can be funded during two annual funding cycles. Over 20 traffic management measures are possible. Major recommendations in the report include a problem-oriented approach that clearly defines and measures the traffic problem(s) raised before any discussion of solutions -- the endorsement of sixty percent of the affected residents in support of a traffic measure -- and enforcement leniency of 5 miles above the posted speed limit not the customary 10. Since safety is the primary concern of most neighborhoods, the traffic-calming emphasis is on vehicular speed, volume, and related issues like sidewalks, crosswalks, etc. The BSCL session ended with interest in resuming the Barcroft Traffic Committee. It held an organizational meeting on February 17. If Barcrofters decide to commit to Traffic Calming on our streets and if the committee is charged to lead the effort, the BSCL will put to a vote a formal decision to proceed at the April meeting.
Visit Virtual Barcroft
Did you know you get the Barcroft News and other community information online? The Web address is www.BSCL.org. We also use e-mail to send important neighborhood announcements. To sign up for our list, send an e-mail to mark@BSCL.org
Volunteer of the Month
It seems almost silly to praise someone like Randy Swart for his dogged efforts to touch up the ever-peeling paint on the community house. After all, Randy has probably held every office in the Barcroft School and Civic League twice, and even if he's not holding one, he'd get invited to most of the board and committee meetings anyway, not to mention July 4th parade set-ups and spaghetti dinner clean-ups. He's the tech whiz who runs the neighborhood Web site, www.BSCL.org, from a server in the basement of his home. He's the one who knows most people in the neighborhood, who captures the story of the elderly Barcrofter before she moves out of the neighborhood into a nursing home. He's the rake-toting drum major in the Barcroft Imprecision Lawnmower Drill Team, keeping a straight face under his silly gas can hat. He's the one-man graffiti patrol. He and his wife Barbara repainted the interior of the community house several years ago when the dingy white was just getting way too depressing. All three coats, all by themselves. And he's the president of the Arlington County Civic Federation, with wide and deep connections to the Arlington political establishment. He's truly the dean of Barcroft whose level-headed judgment and instinct for consensus has guided the neighborhood for years.
Randy has lived in Barcroft since the 1970s, a long time for Arlington, a transient community. But his connections go deeper: his grandparents lived here, and his parents drove here from the Fredericksburg area every week to visit them when he was growing up.
Maybe that helps explains why, when Randy sees another peel of paint exposing the 94-year-old siding of the community house, he doesn't just leave it to someone else to worry about. Instead, he gets out his bucket and brush, and slaps on some more paint. He just keeps chipping away.
If you'd like to write a “Volunteer of the Month" item, please submit it to Mark Wigfield at 624 S. Buchanan, or by e-mail to mark@BSCL.org.
Sparrow Pond Could Be Restored This Spring
Plans to restore Sparrow Swamp -- soon to be called Sparrow Pond -- moved a significant step forward on January 24. The Arlington County Environment and Energy Conservation Commission approved the plans and sent them on to the county board. It's hoped that construction could begin sometime in late spring following a vote at the board level. The total project is expected to take about 2 1/2 months to complete once construction starts, weather permitting.
Located just off the W&OD trail below the 4700 block of S. Sixth St., Sparrow Pond is really just a marsh right now. The county removed a beaver dam and drained the pond in 1996 after it was discovered the water was undermining the W&OD bike trail. But the pond was popular with bird watchers, people strolling on the trail, and small kids looking for frogs and tadpoles. Soon, with the leadership of Greg Zell and other naturalists at the Glencarlyn Nature Center, a group formed to find a way to restore the pond.
That's proven a tough task. The area is a wetland, and any changes have to be approved by the Army Corps of Engineers. A design also had to be developed, and the county had to issue bonds to pay for the $100,000 project. But most of that work has been done. Plans call for three small, shallow ponds to replace the single large pond. These smaller ponds will collect silt and other runoff, meeting the Army Corps' environmental rules on wetlands by helping to purify the water flowing from the Arlington Forest Branch Creek into Four Mile Run -- and ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay. While the entire area will be initially cleared and bulldozed, it will be replanted with wetland grasses, some 400 woody shrubs, including blueberries, as well as Iris and lily pads. Some of the willows that are now beginning to dominate the swamp will be transplanted. A simple, unpaved footpath may later be cleared by volunteers, and Zell is hoping that the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority will construct a deck overlooking the pond off the bike path. Soon, bird-watchers and path-users will again be enjoying Sparrow Swamp again. Whoops! Make that Sparrow Pond (s).
Carroll LeTellier Memorial Garden
In March the Barcroft Community will begin installing the LeTellier Memorial Garden at the Community House. The biggest and most time consuming part of the project will be to replace the chainlink fence with wood picket one. This will be the single most dramatic and immediate improvement made to the House since the portico was added. The picket fence will not only be good looking, but it will also be easy to construct and will fit within our budget. The total (estimated) cost for the fence will be $3,600. The budget contains $5,400 for plants for the garden. Stay tuned for more details!
Special Thanks
Hurrah! to Andy Carlson for taking out the trash every week at the Community House. It was very difficult to find somebody to do this tedious job. Andy, his wife Carmen, and two daughters Karina and Noelle are relatively new to the neighborhood and are already very involved with our community. Andy, like many volunteers in this neighborhood, helps to make this a great place to live. We are currently looking for someone to do some cleaning at the Community House once a week. If you have an hour or so free on a week night or weekend morning and would like to join in a valuable community service like Andy and many others, please call the Community House hot line and leave a message on the rental line. Thanks!!
Help plan Barcroft’s 12th Annual Fourth of July Parade!
For the past three years I have been chairman of Barcroft’s 4th of July parade. I realize that I am only at the apprenticeship stage compared to MaryAnne O’Rourke’s 7 or 8 year stewardship of this event. I am gladly taking on this job again this year but I am seeking help from a small team to help pull it together. I would like to call a meeting for March 30rd at the community house at 7:00 p.m. for anyone interested in planning the event. Bring your ideas and bring your energy and we’ll once again make this event one of the best in Barcroft. Please either show up or call me, or e-mail me at cahunter@erols.com if you would like to get involved. Thanks.
Andrew Hunter
The Life of Dance
Discover the marvelous, lovely, and powerful being hidden in you -and in others. You don't need to know how to dance: you only need to develop the different sides of your personality in a social and balanced way.
Monday evenings, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Barcroft Community House.
First class (February 21) free!
Do you need more information? Call Patricia.
Congratulations to the families of new Barcroft Babies!
Jacob Scott Peterson, born November 11, 1999 is the son of Anna and Scott Peterson on S. Wakefield St. Jacob’s big sisters are Sarah, a kindergartner at Barcroft School and Rebekah, age 3 ½. The Peterson’s have lived in Barcroft for two years.
Jordan Simpson, born June 15, 1999. Parents are Margie and Ken Simpson on S 8th Rd. Jordan has a big brother named Drew, age 2 ½. The Simpsons moved to Barcroft one year ago.
Joshua Richmond Knopf, born March 24, 1999. Parents are Kevin Knopf and Yvonne McIntire, Barcroft residents of S. Wakefield St. for five years.
Welcome to new 8th St. S. neighbors, Sue Tenenbaum and Hiro Uyama, and their children, Michael and Naomi. They moved to Barcroft about a year ago from south Arlington. They were seeking peace and quiet, away from the flight path. Sue also wanted a large yard to garden. They were delighted to discover how friendly Barcrofters are. They’ve also been enjoying the activities at the Barcroft Community house. Michael is a sophomore at HB Woodlawn where he enjoys singing and acting. Naomi, an HB Woodlawn graduate, also a talented singer and actress, is currently focusing her career on swing dancing. Hiro, trained as a chemist, is a consultant for environmental regulatory issues. He works for many Japanese clients and chemical companies. In Japanese, he sometimes does voice-overs for commercials, as well as narration and recorded announcements. He enjoys singing, especially German lieder, and is a tenor. Sue is an avid gardener. Four years ago, after gardening every square inch of her own property, she decided that she’d like to work in other people’s gardens as well. She started a business called “Annie’s Garden.” (An ad appears elsewhere in this issue.) Sue is happy to prune, maintain and nurture plants and gardens of any sort. Sue also plays piano, sometimes professionally.
Rom’s Reflections
The February snows blanketed our neighborhood, covering the tulip and daffodil shoots that had already poked up. The snows also revealed much about Barcroft, how we live, how we care, and how we have some who need our concern. With each snow, we bundled up, put on our mittens, and shoveled.
But what did shovel? Not just our driveways, though this would have been the easier (and selfish) thing to do. No…we also shoveled the sidewalks in front of our homes. I suspect few of us really rely on these walks for our own use; I also believe that we shovel the sidewalks so that others – our neighbors, the mail deliverers – might be able to move about more easily. Oh, sure, there is probably a law telling us we must clear our walks. I doubt any of us were worried about getting a ticket from the county. We cleared our walks because it was the right thing to do.
While our shoveling shows our concern for others, the paths that did not get shoveled indicate our community’s needs. Some of these needs are surely physical; some of our Barcroft neighbors are not capable of shoveling their walks and so need the assistance of the community. Others, perhaps, believe they are too busy to shovel, or that it is not important to do so. Ahem….I have fallen into this category myself, at times. When I see my neighbors clearing their walks, however, it reminds me that as they do so to help me, I should return the favor.
Neighborhood resident Don Vardell has offered to help organize a neighborhood “snow-shoveling brigade” to clear the walks of neighbors who are unable to do so themselves. If you're interested in volunteering, or if you need help, call Don. Even if there's no more snow this winter, we'll be ready for the next one if we act now to get this network in place.
Barcroft Exchange
Found: jester's hat at the soccer field of Arlington Hall and wallet (of a child?) on Woodrow Rd. Owners can call the Wilsons.
Needed: 3 1/2 inch floppies, like those AOL disks you never threw away. Barbara and Randy Swart or randy@BSCL.org
Offered: (and all gone now as of 2/26/00 except the window shades) We have Stuff that needs a new home. Free!!! Nandina bush. 4 feet high, 5 feet wide. Lots of red berries. You dig and fill the hole. Storm/screen door. 36" New, nice quality, Hechingers closeout. Wrong color for us (beige). Computer network equipment. Old stuff suitable for student learning networks. Window shades. Three. 32" wide. Heavy vinyl keeps light out. Barbara and Randy Swart or randy@BSCL.org
Late addition did not make the paper newsletter: Sharp console copier. 50 copies per minute. Used, makes awful copies, needs work and parts. Requires a 20 amp circuit to run. With some toner. Free to a good home. Takes four strong men to lift, but can be rolled. Randy Swart.
Calendar
For the most up-to-date listing of Barcroft events, please consult our Web page Calendar.
Barcroft News Staff
Editor - Mark Rom
Publisher/Mailing - Lisa Rom
Contributions - Mark Wigfield
Advertising Manager - Jim Kerr
Neighborhood News Kathy Kerr
Deadlines: 1st (ads) or 10th (editorial material) day of the month preceding the issue month.
BSCL Officers for 1999-2000
President - Mark Wigfield
Vice President - Marie Korn
Recording Secretary - Bruce Atkinson
Treasurer - Gary Lefebvre
Corresponding Secretary - Sharon Tope
Membership Secretary - Peg Lefebvre
Board Members: Scott Brinitzer, Jim Kerr, Tom Palance, David Michaelson
Community House
Facility Manager - Tom Palance
Restoration - Jim Kerr
Fundraising - Landscaping - Scott Brinitzer
Traffic Committee - Elaine Squeri
Parade - Andrew Hunter
Columbia Pike - Alake Hinton