Dogwood Tavern Not at Fault in Towing Incident
Editor,
Other than their excellent burgers, I have no connection to the Dogwood Tavern. However, I did want to come to its defense in the matter of Mr. Scardino’s unpleasant and expensive experience in predatory towing.
Mr. Scardino wrote in a Letter to the Editor that he was towed from the lot shared by the Dogwood, Town & Country Realtors and other merchants. He called upon the Dogwood to resolve the “dispute” with Town & Country Realtors over the towing situation. The lot is jointly maintained but Town & Country Realtors effectively owns three assigned parking spots. For whatever reason, Town & Country has authorized towing 24-hours a day, from these (three) spots in the midst of a sea of parking. The Dogwood Tavern has no control over Town & Country Realtors’ towing policy. The dispute seems to be The Dogwood asking Town & Country to limit its “authorization to tow” to business hours as other merchants in the area have done.
The proper place to direct outrage at towing policies is with the merchant/landlord who controls the spaces. It is not the towing company, it is not the city, it is not the neighboring merchants who determined the conditions under which you will be towed.
I want to say that these three parking spots are owned and paid for by Town & Country Realtors. They have the right to authorize towing on their property. However, if someone came to my door with a petition asking Town & Country to change its towing policy, I would sign it.
Jan Hertzsch
Falls Church
Merrifield’s Mosaic Sharply Contrasted to Falls Church
Editor,
It is with great exasperation that I write to you. I went to the new Mosaic development at Merrifield for Mother’s day and had a wonderful time. It is a well thought out, modern, urban planning success. People were happy, walking the streets, frequenting new and interesting restaurants and shops while children played in the nicely landscaped areas. Thoughtful development with a cohesive plan brings a fresh outlook and pleasant interaction. Sadly, what I find in Falls Church is a disjointed hodge podge of one two many pizza places, fast food joints, outdated shopping experiences, few interesting destinations, (except for the fabulous farmer’s market), and one two many purple tulips on buildings. These groovy gigantic flowers are someway somehow supposed to represent good design? I am sorry but building with Christmas green and red colors coupled with a huge purple and black tulip doesn’t do it!
Please Falls Church get your act together, hire some talented professional urban planners, and get a big picture plan or we will become a bigger disconnected hot mess.
Adriane Hart
Falls Church
Peak Oil Columnist Should Say ‘Never Mind’
Editor,
Given Tom Whipple’s countless “Peak Oil Crisis” columns, I’ve long wondered how he’d eventually deal with the boom in North American oil production. For someone who’s been predicting (forever, it seems) that catastrophe was just around the corner, it certainly took him long enough to recognize that boom. Didn’t his readers deserve something better than his half-hearted claim in last week’s column, “Supply Shock”, that maybe in a few years we’ll be worrying about shortages again? (Was that a claim, by the way, or a wish, Mr. Whipple?)
It would have been much more candid for Mr. Whipple to borrow a line from the late Gilda Radner’s Saturday Night Live character, Emily Litella, and simply announce, after all his years of forecasting a peak oil crisis, “Never mind.”
Sam Kazman
Falls Church
Federal Debt Also Creating a ‘Slavery’ for Young
Editor,
It’s great to see Nicholas Benton express his almost weekly concern for our nation’s young Americans’ “crushing debt slavery beginning with the obligations of student loans”. I’m still looking forward to the article where he continues this thought to its logical extension to the crushing debt slavery ending with the ever growing federal debt that our nation is creating for them.
Jeff Walyus
Arlington
Sexual Assaults in Military Same Rate As Campuses
Editor,
Regarding Maureen Dowd’s column on sexual assault in the military, I believe this is a cultural issue, not only a military issue. The Centers for Disease Control studies show that sexual assault occurs on our college campuses by nearly the same percentage. It’s going to take the village (i.e., nation) as a whole to tackle this issue.
Barb Nash
Arlington
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