<b>Yard Waste Collected After April 1</b>
Arlington County's four-week spring yard waste collection program will begin April 1. An information brochure describing the program is being delivered to each residential customer during the week of March 15.
The program, for residential refuse customers, is designed to provide a way to dispose of all organic materials that accumulate in yards over the winter. Collected materials will be brought to the County's earth product's yard where they will be shredded into mulch and made available to Arlington residents.
As with the fall leaf bag program, biodegradable bags of yard waste are collected on the day after regular refuse collection. However, for the spring program, residents may also place their yard waste in refuse carts and other rigid trash cans. (The weight limit for refuse carts is 200 lbs. and the weight limit for biodegradable bags and other containers is 50 lbs.)
Residents are encouraged to use bags left over from the fall leaf collection program. In addition, biodegradable bags will be distributed at the following locations beginning on March 15:
* Lee Recreation Center, 5722 N. Lee Highway.
* Thomas Jefferson Recreation Center, 3501 S. 2nd St.
* The information referral desk in the lobby of 2100 Clarendon Blvd.
* The Arlington Solid Waste Division, 4300 S. 29th St.
Only organic materials are accepted so any containers contaminated with trash will not be picked up. Grass clippings are not accepted
<b>County Commissions New Logo</b>
County employees are in the process of redesigning the Arlington County government Web site, a redesign that will be unveiled in April.
Part of the design process has meant developing a new county “logo,” which is described as a stylized representation of Arlington House. That element of the process drew criticism for the county during the March 13 County Board meeting.
Details of the development process, and the cost to the county, are being kept under wraps, said Tim Wise, president of the Arlington County Taxpayers Association. “Let me tell you why Arlington taxpayers should be outraged about the new logo,” Wise told County Board members. “County employees have been instructed that if anyone asks about the cost … they are to tell people the cost is ‘included in the project to redesign and update the County’s new Web site.”
That answer, Wise said, “is nothing more than a cynical view of Arlington’s taxpayers.”
But County Manager Ron Carlee said that there was no sinister obfuscation in the redesign project. “We’re in the process of redesigning the Web site, and part of that is deciding what the look of the county is,” he said. “We took our investment in the Web site and applied that to other materials.”
In addition, said Board Chair Barbara Favola, the logo is just that: an Arlington “brand” to put on some documents, while preserving the county seal.
<b>South Arlington Hospital to Move</b>
County Manager Ron Carlee announced at the County Board meeting Saturday that the Northern Virginia Community Hospital had gotten approval from a state regulator to relocated to Loudoun County.
The hospital, at 601 S. Carlin Springs Road, first applied for permission to move beds from Arlington to Loudoun last year, but was turned down. Last week, however, the state health commissioner approved the request.
The 164-bed facility will not be closing its doors immediately, however, and it will not leave Arlington entirely. “On an optimistic schedule, it would be at least three years before they can move to [the Loudoun County] site and close down [in Arlington],” said Carlee.
In addition, the hospital will maintain an urgent care center and physicians’ offices at its South Arlington site.
<b>Correction</b>
The story “Few Quibbles On School Budget” (March 10) should have identified Beth Wolffe as a member of the Civic Federation’s school budget committee.