How The Economic Crisis Affects Arlington
So of course there's been lots of buzz about the economic crisis these days on the radio, tv, around the water cooler, and even in my sleep at this point.
What does it all mean for Arlington?
Well here's some of the good and the bad as I know it...
There are both good and bad reports coming in at Arlington County. In general the official word has been that there will be a 5% cut and that that will mostly be achieved through salary savings (not hiring new people/filling positions and encouraging early outs). In addition there will be some cutting back or elimination of non-mandated programs that were nice to haves rather than must haves.
County Manager Ron Carlee has been very firm about not doing a furlough and using staffing cuts or reductions as a last resort.
Basically, the impact will be limited in Arlington for the rest of this year. The true test will be the direction the economy takes and if more drastic measures will need to be taken in the future.
Business Week recently ran an article listing Arlington as their #1 city for weathering the recession based on our diversified economy with a heavy dose of government employees.
Well isn't that good news since I moved here to do just that!
That was the good news.
As far as the bad news...
Other local jurisdictions are not in nearly as good of shape. Loudoun is often mentioned as a nearby County with very serious economic woes. Fairfax is also feeling the mortgage crisis in a serious way since they have a larger portion of revenue from personal property tax. Montgomery County has planned a 2 Day furlough (according to presentation to MALGA on 10/16).
Everyone has hiring freezes in place...
Besides being concerned about our neighboring jurisdictions, what do harder economic times for our neighbors mean for us?
What are your concerns about the economic crisis? How does it affect young Arlingtonians?
Labels: Arlington County, Business Week, economy, Fairfax, Loudoun, Montgomery
posted by SharonTB at 6:00 AM
2 Comments:
I live in the Courthouse area, and I'm shocked by the amount of new construction between me and the Clarendon Metro. There's a new apartment building going up south of Clarendon Blvd. and Rhodes, the new Marriott at the end of the Courthouse Plaza, the demolition of Dr. Dremo's block, the demolition of that tire place on Wilson and Edgewood(?), that row of shops on Wilson and Cleveland that was vacated about a year ago, and the gigantic construction project at Clarendon and Highland.
I'm hoping that this is real estate money that was going to be invested in the outer suburbs, but is now coming to Arlington because we're a safer bet, but it kinda makes me nervous. What if the financing dries up, and we're left with all these demolished buildings and abandoned construction sites? Really not good.
So, here's hoping the real estate market in Arlington stays steady enough to get these projects finished. I'm looking forward to new buildings, I just hope they all get done.
1:04 PM
Great point roadrunner!
One of the other things that was stated by the Deputy County Manager at that MALGA meeting is that during times of crisis it is important to focus on strengthening infrastructure and on continuing to save. I think we will continue to see building projects and perhaps see an increase in infrastructure types of projects that provide jobs and strengthen our community in the long term.
12:51 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home