We’ve got some brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreaking news from our pages for you this morning. Here goes:
“Arlington needs to embark on a ‘crash program’ of parkland acquisition if it hopes to beat developers to remaining parcels, a task force says.”
Sounds pretty dire. And pretty relevant.
Except that this particular brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreaking news ran in an issue of the Northern Virginia Sun back in this week of 1972. It got picked up for our local-history column in this week’s edition.
Yep, the same issue plaguing A-town 49 years ago continues to plague A-town today. Lather, rinse, repeat.
No doubt that Arlington County government did respond to that 1972 report by purchasing up some bits and pieces of land. But that also was the era in which the county school system was selling off buildings and the land they sat on because student enrollment was declining and, heck, who could’ve guessed that additional waves of baby births would be on the way in subsequent decades?
Ah well. Let me see: 2021 plus 49 is, wowsie, the year 2070. One surmises the same questions about open spaces will still be an issue then. Wonder if anyone who is covering it for the Northern Virginia Sun-Journal-Post-Gazette-Arlnow-Courier-Connection-Bulletin-Inquirer-Star-Tribune-Times (headquarters: Shanghai; branch office: Mars) will leaf back through the archives of today’s newspapers and see that, yep, there really are no new issues under the sun in local governance, only new people on the scene.
HEY, HEY, WE BACKED A WINNER: The Northern Virginia Sun had a penchant for backing losing candidates in elections through the years, a tradition we in Sun Gazette-land have continued.
But back this week in 1964, the Sun was out with a ringing endorsement of Lyndon Johnson for president. Turned out we got that one right, although LBJ’s full term turned out to be filled with both ups and downs.
TAKE THE VICTORY WHERE YOU CAN: My car turned 8 about a month ago (just like my cat…). So from this point forward, every trip to get its annual safety inspection is going to be fraught with uncertainty and potential unexpected costs. (We’re talking about the car, but the same goes for the cat.)
So some good news – there was nothing that needed to be fixed, based on the inspection conducted yesterday at my go-to place, the Midas adjacent to the Exxon at the corner of South Glebe Road and Columbia Pike in Arlington. Handed over my $20 for the inspection and toodled on my merry way.
One of life’s small victories, but a victory, nonetheless.
Next up (in a couple of weeks) … the emissions test.
- Scott McCaffrey