Friends,
I hope this email finds each of you well. To those who wrote regarding Brooke and my engagement: thank you for your very kind notes. I will treasure them as we bring our lives together and continue to serve.
To every one of you: please forgive my not writing sooner--plenty of updates below, starting with COVID and eviction prevention.
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This is a reminder: we STILL must be disciplined! Wear a mask, wash your hands, and social distance.
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Responding to COVID and the health, housing, childcare/education, and hunger challenges that have come with it have kept me busiest this month. To learn about eviction prevention and our emergency ordinance seeking to prevent cases of COVID that come from exposures on sidewalks, near bars, and in crowded places.
Click below for the town hall from Friday August 7th:
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On August 7th, our friend and the newest County Board Member Takis Karantonis joined me for a COVID town hall. Click above to watch first 10 minutes or whole hour.
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At the July Board meetings, we accepted $450,000 in renters relief from the state to help prevent eviction prevention. The County has already helped more than 1400 households with more than $4 million to help prevent evictions. That is a lot. More to be done, but I ask you to consider how much work is involved:
- The Arlington Courts, as required by the Virginia Supreme Court and the law heard some eviction cases in July and I have been working to share information and communicate how much prevention is a key.
- County staff, led by Department of Human Services Director Anita Friedman and her team who has been working so hard. We've gone from 7 social workers to 17 and in person to all over the phone. No system is perfect and we must work to continuously improve, but credit is due.
- Arlington Thrive, BuGata, and Legal Services of Northern Virginia have all been working hard as part of our safety net as have many others.
- The Virginia Supreme Court issued a partial pause in evictions, from August 10th through September 7th.
- The Governor of Virginia is set to propose additional protections as part of the Special Legislative session that starts tomorrow, August 18th. I am hopeful that there will be new tools and funding to help prevent evictions.
Stay tuned and stay involved to help our neighbors in need.
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The other source of much debate and a July 31st County Board meeting has been an emergency ordinance we approved to respond to the increase in the number of people outside restaurants and bars in Clarendon, Crystal City and a number of other places across the County.
Three thoughts on the emergency ordinance:
- First, please know that Northern Virginia has seen comparatively slight increases compared with the state as a whole. I am concerned, but the rest of the State and the country is of greater concern.
- Second, the ordinance is a fine only, and will be enforced if we do not get compliance. We are working on enforcement first and working hard on it.
- Third, the option to close restaurants for alcohol service and food at say 10 pm and 12 pm is something I am and will consider.
- However, the problem on sidewalks as well as restaurants led me to believe the ordinance we passed was the right step on July 31. I will be re-evaluating daily to see if additional action is appropriate.
To read the ordinance, go here:
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On COVID 19, several other steps:
- Virginia has passed workplace safety guidelines:
- Arlington County sent a letter to businesses regarding health safety steps:
- The County Board and County staff are working on child care which is a huge challenge. I've seen pictures of teachers holding their own children while teaching via zoom. I am also concerned about the 8,000 children in Arlington on free or reduced lunch. Our senior staff is working on this, but more to do with APS.
- APS is working to be prepared by September 8th for the start of school. I have been engaged and believe Superintendent Duran's work has been solid. If you want to watch him discuss this on facebook, go here. https://www.facebook.com/ArlingtonCTE/videos/322877505504152
- Hunger is of concern as we are now seeing that the COVID 19 Pandemic will go on. I am relieved that more sites will be open starting September 8th for feeding children, but this article and conversations over the past 2 weeks concern me, so I am pushing for additional staff. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/dc-coronavirus-hunger-report/2020/07/22/ad6f33b0-cad4-11ea-b0e3-d55bda07d66a_story.html
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The County also approved a Police Practices Group, Chief Race and Equity Officer, and Capital Improvement Plan, each of which the Board has been working on with the County Manager. The County logo, census, gun safety, and other issues have also come up. I know you care about some of these issues, so I will tick through them quickly, starting with this release:
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The Police Practices Group is 15 members of Arlington's community working with a nationally know expert and George Mason professors from the Jimmy and Rosslyn Carter Center with expertise in the area. The group is representative of communities of color in Arlington and Takis Karantonis and Libby Garvey describe it well in 3 minutes below.
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3 minute video on Police Reform: Chair Libby Garvey & Board Member Karantonis
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The Group's work comes at a time when Police Chief Farr announced that he will be retiring in early September. I am engaged in the effort to ensure the new Chief both embraces the reforms we need and captures the support of the Officers in our Police Department committed to Arlington's ideals.
Another important area where we worked this past month is on appointing a Chief Race and Equity Officer, which the County Manager did. I am very pleased Samia Byrd, our Deputy County Manager will lead us in this work. Go here to learn more about Samia and the work via a 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYtRQb_4b2w
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Samia Byrd is our Deputy County Manager and
will serve as Chief Race and Equity Officer
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The next substantive item is the Capital Improvement Plan, which is described well in this short video from Takis and Libby as part of County Board wrap up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW1Mfjg16zw We invested in stormwater response and necessary expenditures and committed to coming back next year to work on the critical questions related to capital investment.
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Finally, you may want to ask about the logo, Census, or gun safety. Or learn about Neighborhood College, a great way to learn about and engage in our community, of which I am a graduate. A few links below to let you know what is happening and what I am thinking:
And that is all for today. There will be another email from me this week, because we are 77 days out from the 2020 election and there is so much to do to make a different in this election for the ideals we serve.
Serving those ideals and you with a full heart,
Matt
PS: Want to help our neighbors who need a hand along the way? Try these two options for food for Kenmore and Carlin Springs students: Donate Funds for Food https://paypal.me/pools/c/8nYgHuuP70 Donate Funds for Gift Cards https://gofundme.com/f/kenmore-community-food-drive?member=4404844 Or help with school supplies for students in need: https://volunteer.leadercenter.org/buy-neighbor-school-supplies-1
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