Guus Bosman

software engineering director


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Local stuff about Arlington and our neighborhood

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Meeting on Quincy protected bike lane

At 7.00 pm Nora, Leo and I biked to the library where the Arlington Bicycle Committee was meeting with members of the County. The plans for the Quincy protected bike lane are making some progress but it's still a long time away, it seems.

It was fun to attend this outdoor meeting. When we started everyone introduced themselves and everybody was very friendly to Nora.

"What's your name?"
"Nora."
"And where do you live?"
"Virginia"
"Ah so you'll represent Virginia!"

Leo was getting a little bored at some point and we left the meeting a little early, but it was a good meeting.

arlington

New pavement on 13th Street

The pavement on 13th Street, behind our house, is being redone.

Can't wait to bike on the new asphalt.

arlington

Traffic calming on 13th St

When I walked to Clarendon I looked at the roadwork on 13th St in more detail. There's going to be a large redevelopment at the Red Top Cab property and they'll reroute some of the streets.

It looks like they've started working on the storm sewer for the upgraded street, and it will dramatically narrow 13 St near Clarendon, which is great. It will make it much nicer to walk there.

So many parts of Arlington were build in the times where car was king, but thankfully there's a big push towards modernizing and narrowing those old roads.

arlington

Voting in the US for the first time

Today I voted for the first time in a U.S. election and it felt great.

I've always enjoyed following politics. For years Sasha and I have followed the Presidential campaigns and watched many debates, and since a few years I also started following the local Arlington politics more closely. I became U.S. citizen in January and today I could finally cast my vote.

The boys woke up around 6.00 am. That's too late to really go back to bed, though also too late to really feel rested. In any case, I was at the polling station at 7.00 am I was voter number 8. The election was a Democratic primary for the Arlington County Board. There were six candidates running for two open positions. The general election will be in November. The candidates were all quite similar to each other; I ended up voting for Fallon and Cristol.

Someone asked: "was it everything you hoped for?" and yes, I am very happy that I can vote now and I was really a bit emotional when I left the polling station.

The last time I voted in an election, then in the Netherlands, was over ten years ago.

arlington

Fire brigade on Kirkwood

Last Sunday night we were having dinner outside -- the first time this year -- when we saw and heard a firetruck on Kirkwood, down the hill. Then another one, and a third, and even more... I went to take a look.

There apparently was a report of a bush fire near one of the houses opposites 14th Street, maybe the result of a BBQ and strong wind. The Arlington County fire department and police came out in full force and there were some 15 vehicles. Thankfully the fire was out very quickly.

The fire brigade opened two fire hydrants on the street. Later in the evening we had brown water -- we noticed when starting a bath for Nora. After flushing the house for 20 minutes the dirty water was gone. The next days Nora was asking a few times: "water vies?"

arlington

Looking at the new sidewalk

Yesterday afternoon after I came home Nora and I went for a walk. We looked at the new sidewalk they're making on Kirkwood. It's really nice that our immediate area is improving. This sidewalk has been in the works for years. I remember when they built the first half, maybe two years ago. Little did I know then that we would live so nearby.

From Kirkwood we walked through Lyon Village to the Clarendon dogpark where we met Sasha who came from work. After we walked home together I realized that Nora had walked for almost an hour. Pretty cool -- it's only 10 months ago that she took her first independent steps.

This picture is from March 23rd. The sidewalk is being created where my red marking is.

arlington

Sneckdown photo's

The website Greater Greater Washington.org asked for pictures of so-called "sneckdowns". Those are photo's that show where cars don't use space on an intersection. Space that could be used for pedestrians to make it safer and easier to cross the road.

10th St N and Fairfax

I went to the intersection of 10th St N and Fairfax Road, close to our house. With the planned redo of the Clarendon Circle, more traffic is expected here. Crossing from the George Mason University campus to the other side of Fairfax (or 10th St N) is not easy for pedestrians. The light across Fairfax, six lanes, is only 10 seconds (!).

The first photo shows there is place for a very large pedestrian refuge which will make crossing 10th St much easier. The second picture shows that in the median of Fairfax there is room for a large pedestrian refuge also -- making it safe to cross Fairfax in two stages.

arlington

Clarendon Day 2013

This morning we went to Clarendon Day, where we had a a great time.

Nora received two balloons, but the highlight was meeting a parrot character -- the mascot of a local bank. This enormous "papagaai" made a deep impression Nora but she was brave enough to give him a high five -- which she kept referring to the rest of the day.

She also saw her first puppet show. She got very excited about all the animals, and when Spot (Dribbel in Dutch) made his appearance she said: "hondje!" and took him off the hand of the puppeteer and hugged him.

arlington

Vlag!

The house with the big flag that we always pass during our runs will be demolished.

It's about time -- the house is in very bad state and it really looks ugly.

But Nora will be disappointed! It's one of the highlights of our run -- from far she'll start saying: "vlag! sterren!".

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Arlington County Virginia -- a modern history

This book gives an excellent overview of the recent history of Arlington County, and the long chapter with "controversies" is especially interesting.

The author, Mr. Pratt, is a long-time activist in County politic. He was personally involved in many events described in the book, sometimes in his professional function as a lawyer, and in the 1970's he tried to get elected to the County Board twice.

Mr. Pratt lives in South Arlington, and his political views tend to lean more Republican than Democrat. As he explains in the book, local politics have been dominated by Democrats for decades and it was interesting to read his contrarian point of view. The book is a very objective one though, and both sides of the stories are told.

I didn't realize the extend of the differences between North and South Arlington. For example, we live close to I-66 and I knew that there had been a major "battle" in the 1960's against the creation of that highway. Mr. Pratt explained that in North Arlington the highway was very unpopular (as I knew) -- but I didn't realize that the highway would actually alleviate the traffic problems lower in the County.

On a longer timescale, it was interesting to learn more about the history of Arlington. The County really transformed from a rural, conservative backwater to the liberal, urban "village" it is now. The book describes the racism that was rampant in the early years of the county, and the political "massive resistance" fight against school integration. It's hard to believe that such policies were advocated only so short ago.

The book is from 1997 and certain developments, such as the cleanup and development of the Potomac Yard obviously are not included. Perhaps it's time for a follow-up book.

Sherman W. Pratt
0-9661795-0-1
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English

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