President's Message-January 2012

Anne Wilson

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A belated Happy New Year to everyone!  I would like to start by thanking all of those who have donated their time and energy to DRCA during the last year. This includes my fellow board members, Mike Green, Maxine Nagel, Larry Finch, Greg Gromada, Kathy Richardson, and Mary Heston Cooper. I also want to thank Bill Richardson who helped with the logistics of candidates’ night last October as well as the ladies who tend to the plants at the neighborhood sign on Military Road.  Thanks also to Jack Dunlap, who has very ably been representing DRCA on the County’s Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee.  And for those of you that I may have left out, please know that I appreciate your efforts to enhance the neighborhood and our sense of community.

DRCA will hold our biennial elections this spring.  Since we are currently functioning with only 2/3 of our full complement of officers, I am hoping that our elections will bring some new leaders into the organization that have creative ideas and fresh energy to move DRCA forward.  It is important that DRCA continues to be an active and vibrant civic association.  Arlington County uses its civic associations for input as issues arise, and DRCA works continually with the County on issues that are of importance to all parts of our neighborhood.  In addition to monitoring and communicating items of interest to the neighborhood, through the County’s Neighborhood Conservation Program, we have been awarded funding for improvement projects such as curb, gutter, street light, and park enhancements.  If it was not for the advocacy of Donaldson Run and other nearby civic associations, Marymount’s 26^th St development would likely have had more adverse effects  on the neighborhood in terms of traffic, building height and set back of the buildings.  DRCA insisted that a pedestrian bridge be part of the development, and the County Board heard us when we complained that a 7 story dormitory was too tall for its setting adjacent to a residential community. At our civic association meeting last November, quite a few of the attendees complained about the traffic backups that had started to occur on Lorcom Lane as a result of the new lane striping that had been painted the weekend before.  The County Manager and  Dennis Leach, Arlington’s Director of Transportation, heard these complaints first hand and changes were made to the street shortly after the meeting. These examples demonstrate the importance of having an active, engaged civic association.  If you have the time and interest to join us in this effort, please let us know.

I hope that you will celebrate Leap Year with us at our next civic association meeting on February 29.  We will be having a presentation about homelessness in Arlington which should be very interesting and should help us all appreciate the benefits that we have.  After the presentation, I would like to start a discussion with everyone who attends about how DRCA can become more relevant to more of our constituency, especially to the younger members of our neighborhood.  So please give this topic some thought, and I look forward to seeing you all at the meeting.

President's Message

One of the primary jobs of a civic association is to communicate to its members what is going on in the neighborhood that folks have no other way of knowing because they are not significant enough to be covered by the local press.  So what is going on in Donaldson Run right now?

Well, it is really kind of a quiet time.  Unlike some other growing areas in the county, currently there are no active development issues-at least that I am aware of.  Of course, that could change at any time.  Donaldson Run does have 2 neighborhood conservation projects pending.  One is the restoration of Tributary B of the Donaldson Run stream which has been approved and is funded. Work on the project should start in 2012.  Another proposal that is in line for county review and possible funding is for pedestrian improvements at the intersection of Vacation Lane and Utah Street.  It will likely take years, how many I am not sure, for that project to garner enough points to elevate it to actual planning and construction.  But I have learned that with a lot of patience, and a long term perspective, significant improvements, such as the traffic light at Old Dominion and 26^th St, are possible.  So if there is a project that you and your neighbors think would enhance your area of the neighborhood, let us know.  If there is sufficient community support we will work with you to see what can be done.  I want to caution, however, that DRCA is run by a handful of volunteers whose ranks are thinning.  Without new folks joining our leadership team, our ability to respond in a timely way, is diminished.  So once again, if you have a bit of time (I know that is the biggest challenge) and the interest, I’d love to talk with you about a future in DRCA. 

By the way, we had a great turnout for our September meeting. We saw lots of historic photos of Arlington.  Who knew that each link of the original Chain Bridge was 4’ long?  Our next meeting promises to be as interesting in a different way.   Ms. Barbara Donnellan, Arlington’s County Manager, has agreed to be the speaker at our meeting on November 9.  So bring your questions, concerns, and ideas with you to our next meeting.  After that civic association meeting, we will likely take a break for the holidays and snow season.  During our break, to get the latest news about what is going on, be sure to get on the DRCA email list by sending an email to me ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Anne Wilson, October 22, 2011

Anne Wilson

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hello all Neighbors!

This is a new voice from your president as Ned Rhodes, our leader for over 7 years, resigned his position and has moved to Wilmington, North Carolina.  He was a strong leader who helped usher a number of improvements in the neighborhood.  He will be missed.  But DRCA is led by a strong group of officers who serve on the executive committee, and we do not plan to miss a beat in continuing the work and advocacy for our neighborhood.

One of my priorities as president is to make DRCA relevant and interesting to a wider group of neighbors.  I know that we are all quite busy and people in this area have more than enough on their plates .  From my perspective, it has been a bit disheartening to arrange a speaker for a meeting and only have a handful of people show up.  I question whether the number of meetings we have are needed when there are no burning issues facing the neighborhood.  So I am totally open for suggestions about how to engage folks in our organization.  If there are topics that you would like to hear about at a meeting, let me know.  Or if you have any other ideas about what might make DRCA more appealing to you, please send me an email to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or give me a call at 525-0344.

I am excited about our upcoming civic association meeting on September 28.  Noted Arlington Historian, Kathryn Holt Springston, is going to speak about the Civil War.  You may have heard  Kathryn speak at a Smithsonian lecture where she is a consulting historian.  Kathryn lives in nearby Cherrydale, and  always has interesting stories to tell.  There will be a social half hour with refreshments from 7-7:30, which will give us the opportunity to meet neighbors and talk informally before the beginning of the meeting.  I hope to see you there-and bring a neighbor!

Welcome to the new Donaldson Run Civic Association web page! This site was created to provide information about DRCA to our neighbors.

Newsletter: The Current is published 4-5 times a year by Donaldson Run Civic Association (DRCA) volunteers and is distributed free of charge to all households within the DRCA boundaries. The membership of DRCA supports a newsletter as the best way to keep our neighbors informed of the many local and regional issues that concern us. Membership dues and contributions cover the cost of printing and mailing. Current members receive the newsletter via First Class (1-2 day delivery) and the rest are sent out Bulk Rate (5-10 day delivery).

DRCA Dues: Dues are due! Not a current member? Join now for 2010 ($15 per household per year). A dues application can be found in each issue of The Current. Click here for a membership application.

Email List: If you would like to be placed our our email list for periodic announcements concerning the neighborhood, email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This email list is open to dues-paying members of DRCA.

The old site is still available by clicking here. Please bear with us as we update this new site with current information and reload the old information.