By Michael Doyle, founding member of NoVa Families for Safe Streets

Have you almost been hit by a car when walking or cycling?  

Now, you can report those “near misses” and help make your streets safer!  Visit the Near Miss Dashboard and report what, where, and when it happened.

Developed with support from Virginia Tech Graduate School of Urban & Regional Planning program plus a grant from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, NoVA Families for Safe Streets (NoVA FSS) is collecting, analyzing, and sharing the data with police and the relevant transportation jurisdictional staff to advocate for/help inform decisions to:

Improve road infrastructure,

Increase police vigilance at
specific locations,

Develop better traffic safety regulations, 

Strive to accomplish the Vision Zero goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax. 

“People experience too many close calls on our streets—times when they were nearly in a crash or saw dangerous conditions on our streets that could lead to crashes in the future. Collecting and sharing these experiences gives us an opportunity to identify dangerous street safety patterns before crashes occur and helps us to alert the relevant authorities so such dangerous conditions can be addressed,” according to Mike Doyle, founder of NoVa FSS.

Based on incident reports logged in the Upgraded Near Miss survey since it was launched on June 17, 2021, 54 percent of the incidents involve pedestrians  and 17 percent involve cyclists. Overwhelmingly, 57 percent of the reported incidents occur when drivers fail to yield to people in a crosswalk.  In addition, speeding and stop sign running contribute to nearly 50 percent of the reported NM incidents. Time of day is a significant factor as well, with over 50% of the incidents occurring during the afternoon rush hour and spiking between 5-6pm.  

NoVA FSS /Arl FSS Mission Statement  

Northern Virginia’s Families for Safe Streets (NoVA FSS) is the umbrella organization for an all-volunteer, nonprofit entity with three chapters in Alexandria (AFSS), Arlington (Arl FSS), and Fairfax (Ffx FSS). We have 1,500 members and we serve as a community voice to bring the municipalities of Alexandria City, Arlington County, and Fairfax County together to advocate for pedestrian and other vulnerable road users’ street safety for all.

To accomplish this, NoVA FSS:

Tells the impact stories of crash survivors and families who had a member killed by traffic violence,

Advocates for Traffic Regulation policy changes related to infrastructure, traffic laws, and penalties, 

Raises public awareness of street safety risks via public outreach forums like Farmers’ Markets and Civic Association meetings,

Educates middle school students through in-person presentations about street safety programs in the
region’s schools,

Work cooperatively with the respective City and/or County police departments and transportation
staff to promote safe streets for all vulnerable road users, and

Displays, on a real time basis, NoVA FSS’s Near Miss Survey map of near misses & dangerous intersections reported by pedestrians and other road users to identify high risk crash locations (including where pedestrians have been killed or seriously injured per Virginia TREDS’s crash data).

To receive our communications about Arl FSS activities and advocacy efforts, simply sign up: FSS Home – Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets (novasafestreets.org).  We are also looking for volunteers to help the Arlington FSS Board advance its pedestrian/cyclist street safety programs—interested candidates are most welcome!

View the NoVA FSS presentation given at the March monthly meeting.

By Kathleen McSweeney

When thinking of the neighbors who have helped build community in Lyon Park, Elizabeth Wray is at the top of the list. Even if you don’t know her, you have seen her in one of her many incarnations over the past several decades. She has been Mrs. Claus for years at the Lyon Park holiday parties, a friendly witch who has distributed donuts and cider at the annual Halloween bonfire, ticket seller at the pancake breakfast and the annual chili dinner, cupcake baker at nearly every bake sale, representative to the Lyon Park Board of Governors, and the leader of the Woman’s Club.

Elizabeth’s first career was as an elementary school teacher in Hagerstown, MD. She met her husband in Hagerstown, and his work drew them to Arlington. They moved to her Highland Street home in November 1962, with toddlers in tow, and one more on the way. The Henry Clay Elementary School, which stood on the site of what is now Zitkala-Sa Park, was a huge draw being just steps away from their new home.

In 1977, Elizabeth became a single mother with four children. She worked to support her family and still managed to volunteer in her community. She worked
for C&P Telephone company, which was called Bell Atlantic by the time she retired in 1998. (Today we know it as Verizon.) She enjoyed her work at the phone company, and she put her teaching skills to good use training new customer service representatives. She was active in the PTA and supported the activities of the Clarendon Cub Scout troops and Boy Scout troop based at Mount Olivet Church, her sons drawn by the many activities and canoe trips. Neighbors can still see the canoes Elizabeth stores in her driveway when they aren’t being used by the troop. She has been a member of the LPCA ever since she moved to the neighborhood, and chuckled when she noted that she should have thought to become a lifetime member, seeing as she has been paying her annual LPCA dues for about 62 years. 

She knocked on Lyon Park doors for years to raise money for the American Heart Association and the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, the latter a personal mission since she was one of eight children and has lost six of her siblings to cancer. For years she has made memory bears for a hospice center in Fairfax. Families provide volunteers with garments from their loved ones who spent their final days at the hospice, and volunteers like Elizabeth transform the clothes into a stuffed animal. Elizabeth finds it very rewarding to help families deal with loss and she cherishes the notes she has received from grieving yet grateful family members. 

When asked what she likes about Lyon Park, she says her roots run very deep. She has lived here for over six decades, raised her children here, and has good friends and neighbors. Elizabeth knows that if she needed anything, she is confident her neighbors would help. It should be noted that this sense of community doesn’t happen by accident. Elizabeth has been the torchbearer for many of our neighborhood traditions, and through
her kind and consistent example, has been instrumental in making Lyon Park the close-knit neighborhood that
she cherishes. 

By Kim Franklin, Lyon Park Newsletter Distribution Chief

As we reach the halfway point in our 2023–2024 Newsletter season, we would like to express our thanks to the neighbors who assist with delivering the Lyon Park Bulletin to each Lyon Park household, 10 months a year.  

Our Zone Captains include:  Jeff Baron (Zone 1), Phillip Conklin (Zone 2), Sandra Rose (Zone 3a–Washington-Lee Apts), Anju Panday (Zone 3b–Washington-Lee Apts), Naomi Wondim (Zone 3c–Washington-Lee Apts), Gary Putnam (Zone 4), Honor O’Hare (Zone 5), Michelle McMahon (Zone 6a), Mark Stafford (Zone 6b), and Chuck Phillips (Zone 7–Cambridge Court Apts).  They each receive between 115 and 350 newsletters, which they hand over to our Block Captains, the ones who go door to door to deliver your newsletter before our monthly LPCA meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of the month. 

Our Block Captains include:  

Zone 1:  Paige Kellogg, Andrew Miller, David & Kristine Barr, Liz Tefera, Barbara Ransom, Lynn Ross, Brittany Catina, Susan Demske & Matt Whitaker, Jim Hecker, Bill Cook, Adam Rasmussen, Connie Betterton, Paul Geary, Missie Burman, Elena Vorolova, Mike Stein, and Jeremy Maier.

Zone 2:  Claire Peters, Nadia Facey, Emily Walsh, Peggy Page, Amanda Carey, Laureen Daly, Lyn Stewart, Eriko Kennedy, and Aline Motabrito.

Zones 3a, b, c:  Sandra Rose, Anju Panday, and Naomi Wondim (they act as Zone and Block Captains for 275 newsletter deliveries!).

Zone 4:  Kit Putnam, Barbara & Larry McBride, Yilien Binstock, Shikhin Agarwal, and Tom & Teresa Colucia.

Zone 5:  Ron Paletzki & Susan Leetmaa, Wendell Brown, Barbara Souders, Jim & Nancy Swigert, B. Brennan, Amanda Hawkins, David & Annie Morgan, Lynn Shotwell, and Lisa Ruff.

Zone 6a:  Laura Desai, Bev Winston, Patty Morrison, Lisa Palmer, Linda Henderson, Jill Nusbaum, Ann Reimers, Julie Young, Tanya Amos, Peter& Zoe Kant, Jill & Greg Siegal.

Zone 6b:  Mark Stafford, Rebecca Metro, Lorraine Gardner, Tracy Hopkins, Maggie Hershey, Trish Montgomery, Elaine Simmons, Aida Peck, and Janalee Jordan Meldrum.

Zone 7:  Chuck Phillips (he acts as Zone and Block Captain for 159 newsletter deliveries!)

As you can see, it really takes a village to accomplish this volunteer activity.  WELL DONE, TEAM AND THANKS!  

If you would like to get involved, please contact Kim Franklin at 571-239-1790 / blufftonjoy@gmail.com. 

By Kathleen McSweeney

Gary and Kit Putnam have lived in their historic Lyon Park home at 261 N Barton Street for four decades. It was the former residence of Raymond and Gertrude Bonnin, the latter more popularly known as Zitkála-Šá, Native American musician, composer, author, and activist. Gary and Kit fell in love with it, especially the huge windows that fill the house with sun, and purchased the home in 1983. Entering the Putnam’s living room today, visitors are greeted with a framed photo of Zitkála-Šá.

Kit and Gary were married on August 2, 1980 at Colvin Run Mill, a venue where Kit often played with her music group. Her instruments were the lap dulcimer, the fiddle, and a percussive wooden folk instrument called “dancing man.” Gary summed up their courtship as follows: “She batted her eyes, I pounded my chest, and I chased her until she caught me.” 

Originally from North Carolina, Gary began work there as a journalist. A newspaper in Richmond brought him to Virginia in the early 1960s. A man of many talents, Gary has been a journalist, a photographer, an apprentice to a dulcimer-maker (estimating he hand-crafted a total of over 300 instruments with his mentor and on his own), a talented cook (just ask attendees of the monthly Woman’s Club luncheons, or neighbors who attended his cooking classes at the LPCC), co-owner with Kit of “Black and White” a photography and archival print studio. He enjoys his role as Santa for the Humane Rescue Alliance, the annual Lyon Park Holiday celebration and neighborhood sleigh rides. Over the years, Gary has served as kitchen coordinator and cook for the annual Spring Fair, Chili Dinner, Spaghetti Dinner and other events. He currently serves as one of three Trustees of Lyon Park.

Kit was born in Richmond. After WWII her family moved to a brick duplex in Fort Barnard Heights (now part of Nauck). Her home overlooked the W&OD Railroad tracks (now the trail) and she remembers standing on the hill, waving to conductors as trains passed. She remembers that the banks of Four Mile Run were then used as a dump—the County would periodically burn the trash, tamp it down, and it became infill. She recalls when Weenie Beanie came to the neighborhood. Her family later moved to Claremont, and Kit attended the new Wakefield School from 7th grade through graduation.  She and Gary mentored high school interns in their small business and are still in touch with many of them. For years, Kit has served as a member of the Board of Governors, sells cupcakes at Woman’s Club bake sales, distributes donuts at the Halloween bonfire, and decorates for community events. With Gary, she attends the Woman’s Club luncheons and for decades has distributed the neighborhood newsletter. 

They are most proud of the three years of circulating petitions and working with neighbors and the County to close their end of Barton Street at Washington Blvd.  Closing the street created the feel of a small village. They have enjoyed watching two generations of families grow up on Barton Street and are gratified to be a part of this community. When they retired in 2008, they decided to stay because of their community connections and inclusiveness of Arlington.  They describe Lyon Park as “a very special place.”