The Westover Preservation Legal Fund invites you to join us on Wednesday, April 24, from 6-8 pm at the Westover Beer Garden to celebrate efforts to continue to preserve garden apartments in Westover Village and to raise legal funds to continue our efforts started three years ago. The beer garden is in the Westover Shopping Center 5863 Washington Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22205

For the past three years we have been advocating the preservation of all existing garden apartments in the Westover area through historic preservation. The Arlington County Government has refused to proceed and enact local protection of these units. Over 11 buildings with 90 apartments have been demolished along with 100-year old trees and lawns, replaced by townhouses costing well over $800,000 and unaffordable to the people living in the apartments, our friends and neighbors. We want to file a legal action against Arlington County Government for its failure to preserve the units.

We are asking for your financial assistance to the Westover Preservation Legal Fund for a lawsuit against Arlington County to force it to complete the historic preservation review of Westover Village garden apartments. We want a judge to order Arlington County to finally decide if the 80-year old Westover Village garden apartments should be protected with a local historic designation or demolished, but we need money to hire an attorney.

In 2016, many Westover neighbors and tenants were concerned with the demolition of the 80-year old garden apartment buildings in Westover Village with affordable rental units, surrounded by 100-year old trees and wide lawns. So we filed a petition under the state historic law and county ordinance with Arlington County asking for local historic designation of Westover Village that provides legal protection from further demolitions. In 2006, the whole Westover Village had already been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but never protected from demolition with a separate local Arlington designation.

If you cannot attend our fun raiser on April 24, please write a check to the Westover Preservation Legal Fund and mail it to: Westover Preservation Legal Fund, P.O. Box 5172, Arlington, VA 22205

Any funds raised will be used to pay attorney and associated fees to file a case asking that Arlington County be required to immediately finish its historic review of Westover Village apartments. The Fund is a Virginia business trust aimed at historic preservation of Westover Village in Arlington. Your contribution is NOT tax deductible.

For the Westover Legal Preservation Fund:

Kirit Mookerjee Justin Schoville Steve Davis

John Reeder Tom Dickinson

Greens vote: No county funds to Amazon to move its new offices HQ2 to Arlington

At their June 6 meeting, Arlington Greens voted to oppose any county funds for Amazon to move its new office to Arlington. Greens are concerned with the secretive and hidden negotiations between the County Government and Amazon to provide that company with potentially billions of public dollars in order to open a large office complex in Arlington or nearby Alexandria. Greens are very concerned that these public funds will detract from funds now used to support our schools, libraries, public safety, affordable housing assistance, recreation, and the other public programs that make Arlington a great community already. It is bad for democracy to keep the people in the dark.

Community activists have already asked the Arlington County Board to make public its bid for the Amazon headquarters with as many as 60,000 employees. Many of the final top-20 areas being considered by Amazon have made public their bids which range from $4-7 billion. Northern Virginia is one of the top areas Amazon wants; Jeff Bezzos the Amazon owner and the world’s richest man has a mansion in Washington DC and owns the Washington Post. Why does the richest man on the Earth need our county tax dollars?

Greens are concerned that Arlington County cannot afford to waste any dollars on Amazon, given the tight budget approved in April, the rising cost of more school students, more Metrorail funding, and the need for more assistance to renters to be able to stay here. Arlington has 2% unemployment rate today; traffic is considerable and rising. Adding 60,000 employees to our community–none of whom will pay taxes locally–is going to raise rents, increase traffic, and make life miserable for us the county residents, all done with our own tax dollars.

Greens also voted to support a town hall discussion of Amazon sponsored by Our Revolution Arlington on June 21 at Central Library from 7-9 PM (see separate article with details).

Come to the HALRB Public Hearing on Westover
Where: County Office Bldg 2100 Clarendon Blvd
When: Wednesday, May 16, starting at 7:30 PM
Why: Save Westover Apartments

Public Hearing to Consider Historic Designation of Westover Apts

Plan to attend and speak in favor of local historic designation of Westover Village apartments; local designation would prevent demolition of existing market-rate apartment buildings. In the past three years, 11 buildings with 100 apartments were demolished or scheduled for demolition. In their place are now towering million dollar townhouses surrounded by pavement.

Save our neighborhood and trees and green space and our neighbors who are moderate income renters who have lived here since 1940. Arlington must have a place for moderate income renters and not become a place just for the rich.

Historic Designation Preserves Apartments!
• Stop demolitions and keep current affordable rental apartments
• Attend and speak in favor of historic designation at the Arlington County Historic Affairs Landmarks Review Board public hearing on Wednesday, May 16, 2018, starting at 7:30 pm at Arlington County Building, 2100 Clarendon Blvd, https://projects.arlingtonva.us/projects/westover-neighborhood-study/

Meet in front of Westover Post Office at 6:45 PM on May 16 if you need a ride and we will carpool together

Arlington Greens had a booth at the 2017 Arlington County Fair Aug. 18-20, 2017, and promoted Green Party membership and as well the candidacy of Charles McCullough, an independent candidate for Arlington County Board in November 2017 election. Arlington Greens endorsed Charles for the county board this year.

Greens shared the booth with Charles this year and had an opportunity to meet many Arlington residents and old community friends again.

Kirit Mookerjee at our booth

Charles McCullough and Green Steve Davis

AGP donors and supporters donated $150 at the community screening of Salam Neighbor (almost 50 attendees!) to help Syrian refugees. The AGP will donate this amount to Catholic Charities, a local charity actively helping w resettlement of Syrian and other refugees.

This event was one of our efforts to reach immigrant and marginalized communities in our area. Through the film, we sought to humanize the media stories that flood our airwaves daily. We made efforts to bring to light the vulnerabilities

refugees endure while living in encampments. We addressed “What Can I do” questions by providing a list of social justice organizations and other ways to impact change to our attendees. One of our speakers talked about the impacts of civil war on the environment, resources and infrastructure. Another spoke about the broader geopolitical implications of the US’ policies in the Middle East.

We are proud of our efforts and are extraordinarily grateful to Busboys and Poets for providing a space and a full menu to our guests and our invited speakers. We remain humbled at Busboys’ generosity and its commitment to sharing Cinema for a Conscious Community.

Our words cannot express our gratitude to the coordinating, managerial and wait staff at Busboys that helped make our film screening a successful one.

http://salamneighbor.org/

Salam Neighbor

salamneighbor.org

Salam Neighbor is an award-winning film and campaign to connect the world to refugees. Immerse into the life of a…

Please view this film if you have time…..(it is currently available on Netflix. The AGP purchased the screening rights to show this film in public/educational venues)

Green Party members and supporters marched at the April 29 March for Climate Change along with hundreds of thousands of other people supporting continued U.S. Government support of EPA, environmental laws, and respect for our planet. Arlington Greens mixed with Greens from all points of Virginia, and from states of Michigan, New York, Maryland, Kentucky and the District of Columbia.

We are proud that Green Party values were on display with this great American Democracy exhibit that Americans support a clean environment and measures to end climate change.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/climate-march-expected-to-draw-massive-crowd-to-dc-in-sweltering-heat/2017/04/28/1bdf5e66-2c3a-11e7-b605-33413c691853_story.html?utm_term=.6d918703c023

A small group of Arlington Greens led by Sandra Hernandez, Kirit Mookerjee, and John Reeder marched with DC and Virginia Green members in the pouring cold rain with tens of thousands of other Americans in Washington, DC to support continued public funding of science for global warming, medicine and other fields that help our country and its citizens.