<b>Strange Bedfellows
In Pledge Campaign</b>
<bt>With debate over the Pledge of Allegiance at its center, the public comment session at the March 9 County Board meeting turned into a bout of semi-partisan warfare.
The all-Democrat board stayed silent through public comments that came largely from Arlington Republicans, urging them to begin each board meeting with the pledge.
But the push for the pledge created strange bedfellows, too. James Hurysz, a south Arlington resident with a record of criticizing the board, condemned Republican comments.
Last year, Hurysz mounted a campaign for the Democratic nomination for an open County Board seat, but lost overwhelmingly to incumbent Jay Fisette. Hurysz regularly uses the board’s public comment sessions as a chance to snipe at the board members, and has coined insulting nicknames for them in reports to the Democratic Committee.
On Saturday, Hurysz turned his ire on Arlington Republican Committee Chair Mike Lane, and Mike Clancy, an independent candidate for County Board last year who is now seeking the Republican nomination.
"Why don’t we send Mike Lane and pro-life Mike Clancy where they can do some good?" Hurysz asked the board. "To Boston, where they can lead Boston’s clergy in the Pledge and a prayer for Boston’s children."
<b>Approaching Threat of Drought</b>
<bt>Drought warnings continue across the region, and Arlington could be heading for trouble, County Manager Ron Carlee said Saturday.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Carlee told County Board members at their meeting last Saturday. "Despite recent rainfall, the Potomac River flow remains at record low levels for this time of year."
Arlington, and the rest of Northern Virginia, could face an approaching crisis on the level of drought in the 1930s, he said.
To avert that threat, he urged county residents to take water-saving measures: repair leaks, use low-flow toilets and shower heads, turn off water when brushing teeth or shaving, and only run washing machines and dishwashers with full loads.
Still, Carlee said, the county would begin an annual program that might seem counterintuitive under threat of drought. As of March 13, county work crews would begin their annual routine of hydrant flushing.
"This is necessary to get rid of stagnant areas in the system," Carlee said, to keep drinking water quality at acceptable levels.
<b>Tax Rate Will Not Rise</b>
<bt>Arlington County Board members voted 4-0 to advertise a hearing for March 21 on the county’s tax rate, proposed at $1.023, the current real estate tax rate.
The decision to advertise the current rate means that the rate cannot go up. In a series of public comments before the board’s vote, local activists urged the board to consider lowering the rate, however, in light of increased property assessments this year.
The board will hold a public hearing on proposed expenses at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in the Thomas Jefferson Community Theater, 125 S. Old Glebe Road. The tax rate hearing will held at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 21, in the Board Room on the third floor of the County Government Center, 2200 Clarendon Blvd.
<b>Opposition to Expanded Metro</b>
<bt>Both the Arlington Civic Federation and the county’s Historical Affairs and Landmarks Review Board voiced opposition last week to one plan to expand Metrorail’s Orange Line service through Arlington.
The plan would branch off from the Orange line at Rosslyn, reconnecting at the East Falls Church station. Members of both the Civic Federation and the HALRB said they would prefer to see expanded Metro service in the form of a light- or heavy-rail line down the length of Columbia Pike.