Mark Antell and David Lubs attended the Arlington County Civic Federation meeting on January 8. In one of the first items of business, they accepted our application for membership with an absolute minimum of discussion.

The Arlington Civic Federation's vote last night to admit North Rosslyn into membership may have been uncontroverial, as David Lubs reports above -- indeed, I understand that the membership committee had unanimously recommended our admission -- but this does not diminish the importance of the event. As of last night's Civic Federation meeting, North Rosslyn is now officially a member of Arlington's main county-wide civic body and may participate in all of its activities.

The scope of the Federation's activities is described in the Federation's website, located at www.civfed.org, and will be addressed by Civic Federation Immediate Past President Jim Pebley at our January 26 meeting. For example, all of North Rosslyn members in good standing are now eligible for membership in the Federation's various influential standing committees. Since much of the Federation's work is done through these committees, they give all of us (and not only North Rosslyn's elected delegates)an opportunity to participate in the process. I would urge all members to explore the committees described in the www.civfed.org website and to consider contacting the respective committee chairs for any committees which are of interest. This can be a very helpful way both to ensure that Rosslyn issues are appropriately brought to county-wide attention and also to ensure that our community is kept apprised of what is going on elsewhere in Arlington.

North Rosslyn's new official Civic Federation delegates are Stephanie Benefield, John Seals, David Lubs and Stephanie Marcus. As president, I serve as an alternate. Members should feel free to express concerns regarding the Federation's activities through this web forum or to our delegates directly.

Thanks to everyone involved in North Rosslyn's successful application for membership, including Mark Antell and David Lubs for representing North Rosslyn at last night's meeting; Stephanie Benefield for her varous communications with the Federation; and Jim Pebley, Frances Finta and Pat Smaldore at the Federation for their advice and encouragement.

[This message was edited by Ken Marcus on January 08, 2003 at 06:25 PM.]

Note that Ken's reference to the Jan. 26 meeting should now be to the Feb. 2 meeting since the date has been changed.