Letter from the President – September 2018

Our headliner at our last Yorktown Civic Association meeting was Delegate Rip Sullivan. Rip represents the Yorktown community in the Virginia State House of Delegates. He gave a detailed  narrative of what happened in Richmond during the latest session. Bipartisan support for the funding bill and Medicaid expansion has probably the biggest successes. 70 gun safety bills were introduced and all were defeated without debate. For the 2019 session, Delegate Sullivan would like to see bills passed to end partisan Gerrymandering, reduce gun violence, and address the opioid crisis.

The Lee Highway planning initiative begins early next year. Please engage in the community visioning process and other events. Visit the LHA website www.leehighwayalliance.com for more information.

Campbell Maloney and the Traffic Safety Committee continued their good deeds. After dozens of emails and phone calls to the Arlington County Transportation Engineering & Operations Department, the pedestrian safety bollard at the corner of 26st and Harrison Street were replaced. Members of the Yorktown community also alerted Arlington County Staff and  Dominion Power about the street light outage on N. George Mason Dr. The street lights were repaired after a few weeks.

The Yorktown Civic Association Executive Committee continues to move toward incorporating the civic association as a 501(C)4 nonprofit corporation. The draft By-laws are almost done and will be posted on the Yorktown Civic Association website soon.

For the October YCA meeting, we will be holding an Arlington County Board candidates debate featuring John Vihstadt and the Matt de  Ferranti. Please be prepared to ask lots of questions during the question and answer period. Many thanks to Dave Gelman for making all of the arrangements for the debate.

Finally, please pay your dues. Annual membership dues are $20 and lifetime membership dues are $100. Also, the Yorktown Civic Association newsletter reaches more than 1,000 local households. If you own a local business, consider purchasing an ad in the YCA newsletter. Contact Dustin Anderson for more information.

I look forward to seeing everyone at Marymount Farmers Market Oktoberfest on Saturday, October 13th. Don’t forget to post your Halloween pictures on Nextdoor and Facebook.

Have a great fall. No more rain!!!

Mike Cantwell
President, Yorktown Civic Association