Arlington Greens will meet online on Wednesday, October 7, starting at 7 PM.
Major topics:
Energy conservation advocacy for Arlington community energy plan
Election updates
Campaign to get a 5 cents per bag tax on single use plastic grocery bags in Arlington
Join us. For Zoom meeting information, email us at Info@greensofarlington.org
Our May meeting will be held online on Zoom on Wednesday, May 6, at 7 pm.
Email us for the meeting ID and password and join us online. Email Info@greensofarlington.org
Oberlin College professor John Scofield, a national expert on U.S. green building certification, will speak about his research on energy savings and greenhouse gas emissions from LEED buildings that demonstrate such building certifications do not significantly reduce emission from commercial buildings. Discussion follows on Arlington County’s own green building program, and the forthcoming 2020 Community Energy Plan in Arlington that proposes to make Arlington carbon neutral. Attendance is free. EcoAction Arlington is co-sponsor with the Arlington Greens. Attendance is free.
Presidential Green candidate Dario Hunter spoke at Arlington Central Library on July 16, Green Party members gathered to hear Ohio Green candidate Dario Hunter speak about his ideas for his presidential campaign to obtain the Green Party national nomination in 2020. He is an elected member of the Youngstown Ohio school board, an environmental attorney, rabbi, and son of an immigrant. Visit his website for more information www.dariohunter.com Dario is pictured in the photo (third from the left). Arlington Green member Kirit Mookerjee is on the far right.
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)