On behalf of the County Board, Chair Matt De Ferranti his asking all residents, businesses and members of the faith community to join County Government in a very special moment of national unity and remembrance honoring the lives we have lost to COVID- 19.

Across the nation, church bells will ring, public buildings will be lighted, and Americans will place a lighted candle in a window at home at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19 to remember the more than 380,000 who have died in the United States from COVID-19. The event will coincide with a pre-inauguration vigil at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

These gestures are meant to bring our nation together to honor those who have died, reflect on this challenging period in our history and commit to ending this pandemic and to recovering.

We are reaching out to you and to all residents, business and our faith community, to invite you to join us in this powerful gesture of comfort and hope. We are invited to light a candle and place it in a window of our homes facing the street at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19. Thank you, in advance, for joining us in this National Memorial event.

If you have questions, please call the County Board Office at: 703-228-3030.

The Bluemont Civic Association will be hosting a two-hour session for about 10 people to discuss issues of race and equity in Arlington and beyond, with the help of civic association member Mark Nadel and a trained facilitator.

The session is available on either of two dates, Wednesday January 13 or Thursday, January 21, both from 7 to 9 pm.

The sessions will use materials provided by Arlington County's Dialogue on Race and Equity, and be held as virtual sessions using Zoom. You can participate with or without a Zoom account.

If you would like to participate in one of these sessions, please send an email to msnadel@gmail.com. Please indicate which date(s) you are available.

We will contact you once we have at least 6 people for the session and will provide you with a Zoom link closer to the date of the session. We will also let you know if the session has already been filled.

Arlington County adopted the Dialogues on Race and Equity (DRE) program https://topics.arlingtonva.us/equity/dre/ as part of Arlington County’s broader commitment to racial equity.

Are you looking for an opportunity to commemorate Martin Luther King Day of Service? Do you like working outside and doing something positive to help our local environment? Join community volunteers in protecting Mary Carlin Woods from invasive plants. Training by Master Naturalists and TreeStewards on identifying invasive species and proper removal techniques will be provided on site. Participation is limited to ten persons per work site, so registration is requested. All volunteers will be asked to complete a Volunteer Information and release statement before participating. Volunteers under 18 years old require a parent/guardian signature, and parent/guardians must be present with any child 16 and under. Meet at the entrance to Mary Carlin Woods along the Bluemont Junction trail (just west from "The Rocks," those large boulders across from the intersection of the Trail and N. Illinois Street. The boulders are along the trail right before the small brown sign that says "Mary Carlin Woods"). Please bring your own gloves, tools, filled reusable water bottle, and face mask. Weather appropriate clothing is advised, and dress for poison ivy: wear long pants and long sleeves. Please register (and include reference to MLK Day at Mary Carlin Woods) by emailing naturalresources@arlingtonva.us

The January General Membership meeting of the Bluemont Civic Association will feature a discussion with Elizabeth Thurber, the County’s floodplain administrator; Demetra McBride, Chief Office of Sustainability and Environmental Management, and Aileen Winquist, Watershed Outreach Program Manager.

At our December General Membership meeting, members voted that the civic association should raise concerns about proposed updates to FEMA flood maps that would move properties in a part of Bluemont into a flood zone, and serious water problems in several parts of Bluemont.

We are asking what current and future County projects will do to address flooding risks in Bluemont, how County experts consider the severe cost impact of increased flooding risk in affected parts of Bluemont, and County plans to address these problems. This meeting will be conducted virtually via zoom. The link to register for the meeting is below.

We will provide the agenda for this January monthly General Membership meeting closer to the date to everyone on our e-mail distribution list. To join that list, please contact exec@bluemontcivic.org.

Registration Link for the Meeting 
When: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 
Register in advance for this meeting
After registering, you will a link to join the meeting. You can join with or without zoom, including via phone.