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Arlington Observes Texas Recycles Day Texas Recycles Day is Saturday, Nov. 13. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Arlington residents can join this statewide observance and take unwanted small appliances and computers for recycling to the southeast parking lot of the University of Texas at Arlington, at Cooper and Mitchell streets. All types of small appliances will be accepted, including computer keyboards, monitors, television sets, radios, video cassette recorders, curling irons, hair dryers, toasters, mixers and microwaves. This is a free program for Arlington residents only. Proof of residency is required. For more information about this event, call the City’s Recycling Office at 459-6771.
Domestic Preparedness Training Begins This Week in Arlington 3 p.m. Tuesday News Conference Planned A news conference is set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2 to communicate efforts being made in Arlington to enhance emergency response readiness for a terrorist incident. The news conference will occur at the Police Training Center at 6000 W. Pioneer Parkway. A training exercise demonstration will immediately follow the news conference. According to City of Arlington Emergency Operations Manager Gary Pipes, Domestic Preparedness Training workshops began today with more than 50 emergency response personnel, including firefighters, police officers, hazardous materials responders, medical technicians, and emergency room physicians and nurses. The focus is on actions to be taken should an incident occur involving nuclear, biological and/or chemical agents. The training workshops also involve representatives with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and the Public Health Service. The United States Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command is providing the training, with plans to return in about nine months to conduct a full-scale chemical exercise. Tarrant Contracting Forum Planned Wednesday, November 10, 9-11 a.m. The Tarrant Contracting Forums are a cooperative effort among major government agencies to reach out to small, minority- and women-owned Tarrant County businesses. These forums provide access to bidding and contracting opportunities from 15 or more federal, state and local governments, school districts, universities and agencies. The third contracting forum in this series will occur on November 10, 1999 from 9-11 a.m. in Rooms East 101 and 102, at the Fort Worth Convention Center, 1111 Houston St.. Forum organizers, including purchasing agents, buyers and governmental business development experts from throughout Tarrant County, are elated with the success of the first two forums conducted in May and August. "We will have sufficient staff on hand to accommodate all the attendees," said Tarrant County Purchasing Agent and forum organizer Jack Beacham. "We want to help small, minority- and women-owned businesses succeed and these forums make it convenient for us to get together." There is no charge to attend, the public is welcome and parking is available on the East Side of the Convention Center and at nearby parking facilities. Following the Bid Forum, the General Services Administration will present a business symposium from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Representatives from small, minority- and women-owned businesses are welcome, and both events are free. Jan Baker, City of Fort Worth Business Diversity Manager and forum organizer, believes this is an event the target audience should not miss. "We are making every effort to get the word out on this valuable opportunity," Baker said. "We designed the forums to provide the additional time for our action group of officials to speak individually with every attendee." The Tarrant Contracting Forums are presented every three months, with a different theme for each event. The theme for the November 10 forum will be "Professional Services." These include engineering, architectural, surveying, interior design, information systems management, risk management, traffic management, consultants, etc. Other service-oriented businesses are also welcome and may include janitorial, employment agencies, linen and shop towel services, landscape services and all other companies that provide a service as their product. Arlington 9-1-1 Ribbon-Cutting Equipment in Place for Phase I and II Wireless Identification Service In the Arlington 9-1-1 Dispatch Center, phone equipment valued at $307,000 has been installed, paving the way for the implementation of the first and second phases of wireless telephone number identification and location services. The new equipment also ensures Year 2000 compliance. Arlington City officials say Phase I will go on-line on Dec. 1, allowing Arlington telecommunicators to instantaneously identify the phone numbers of wireless customers who dial 9-1-1 for emergency service. Phase II will provide telecommunicators with wireless caller locator information when it goes on-line in 2001. Monday’s ribbon-cutting will occur at noon and include board members of the Tarrant County 9-1-1 District and representatives from the City of Arlington and Southwestern Bell. Reminder Notice: Arlington youth have less than three weeks to finalize their art work and essays for annual competitions sponsored by the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee. The entry deadline is Friday, Nov. 5 for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Sharing the Dream Essay Contest. The essay contest is open to high school seniors who are attending Arlington schools or who are residing in the city of Arlington. The theme is "Dr. King’s Dream: Deferred or Fulfilled?" The entry deadline is Friday, Nov. 5 for the Sharing the Dream Art competition, which is open to all junior and senior high school students within Arlington city limits. The winning art design will appear on all King Celebration publicity material, including T-shirts, programs, posters and flyers. Essay competition winners will receive U.S. Savings Bonds valued at $1,000, $750 and $500. Art competition winners receive $500, $200 and $100 U.S. Savings Bonds. Judging will occur the week of Nov. 8. Winners will be presented during the Sharing the Dream Banquet at the University of Texas at Arlington on Friday, Jan 14. The winning essay will be read by the author during the banquet. All entries must be submitted no later than 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5 to the City of Arlington Public Information Office, Mail Stop 01-0370, Attn: The MLK Millennium Celebration Committee, P.O. Box 231, Arlington, TX 76004-0231. Call 459-6402 for details. Arlington Installs Cameras at Five Major Street Intersections Video Surveillance to Help City Engineers Examine Traffic Flow Patterns This month, the City of Arlington will begin using cameras to capture important data about traffic flow at five major street intersections. Cameras will provide City transportation officials with information about traffic conditions and signal operations during rush hours. At one major street construction project in the city, closed circuit cameras are being programmed to provide vehicle detection to the traffic signal at Green Oaks Boulevard and Pioneer Parkway. Traffic engineers say this process will decrease the waiting time at the signal while street construction is under way. "This program is designed to help us closely examine traffic flow patterns in busy areas of our city," said David Fink, Arlington’s assistant director of Transportation. "The goal is to improve air quality by reducing traffic congestion and automobile emissions." Cameras are scheduled to be operational on Oct. 15 at the following intersections:
Television monitoring stations are available in three City buildings. These locations are the Traffic Operations Division, 801 W. Main St.; the Arlington Municipal Building Lobby, 101 W. Abram St.; and the Ott Cribbs Public Safety Building, 620 W. Division St. Future plans include placing this data on the Internet and the City channel. Installing closed circuit cameras at intersections in Arlington is the first step in a citywide video traffic surveillance system being funded with federal and state dollars totaling $229,000. By 2010, Arlington transportation officials hope to expand the video surveillance program to include 30 or more intersections. Office Development Proposal to Help Revitalize Downtown Arlington A cooperative effort between the City of Arlington and Wilcox Development Services, Inc. could bring a new office development project to downtown Arlington. "Wilcox’s proposed office building not only meets the city’s space needs, but also achieves several of the goals and objectives of the downtown redevelopment effort," said Deputy City Manager Rose Jacobson. The Arlington City Council will be asked Tuesday to support City staff’s recommendation to negotiate a ground lease which would allow Wilcox to construct a 75,000-square-foot office facility on the City parking lot west of the existing Municipal Building on Abram Street. The City would then negotiate a lease for approximately 57,500 square feet of the building’s office space to house City departments. Wilcox would lease the remaining 17,500 square feet to private firms for restaurant, retail and office uses. City staff also proposes to use tax increment financing to reimburse Wilcox for certain public improvements, such as landscaping and drainage, related to the project. Steve Platt, president of Wilcox Development Services, Inc., said his company is looking forward to the partnership with Arlington. "We are very pleased to be working with the City of Arlington on this public/private venture. It is a great project for the revitalization and redevelopment of downtown Arlington," Platt said. Formed in 1995, Wilcox Development Services, Inc. is a full service development and construction management company. Within the past year, Wilcox has developed more than one million square feet of office buildings in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Projects range from single story office buildings to multi-story Class A office buildings with parking structures. Staff is proposing construction of a separate public parking structure for 500 cars to be located in close proximity to the municipal complex. Certificates of obligation would be issued to finance the approximately $4 million parking structure. Citywide Scholarship Competitions Invite Youth to Share King’s Dream The Arlington Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee announces the Sharing the Dream essay and art competitions. The entry deadline is Nov. 5. Over the past seven years, approximately $10,000 dollars in scholarship money has been awarded to youth essay and art competition winners. The Sharing the Dream Essay Competition is open to all high school seniors within the Arlington city limits. The essay theme is "Dr. King’s Dream: Deferred or Fulfilled?" (See essay and art contest guidelines below.) The Sharing the Dream Art Competition is open to all junior and senior high school students within Arlington city limits. The winning art design will appear on all King Celebration publicity material, including T-shirts, programs, posters and flyers. U.S. savings bonds valued at $1,000, $750 and $500 will be awarded to the first, second and third place essay competition winners. Savings bonds valued at $500, $200 and $100 will be awarded to the top three art competition winners. The decision of the judges is final. Judging is scheduled to begin the week of Nov. 8. Winners of both competitions will be introduced at the Jan. 14 Sharing the Dream Banquet at the University of Texas at Arlington and at the Sharing the Dream Youth Extravaganza on Jan. 17 at UTA’s Texas Hall. The winning essay will be read aloud by the author during the Jan. 14 banquet. All art work submitted for the competition will be exhibited at events throughout the four-day citywide celebration. Last year, 106 pieces of art work were judged and 16 essays were read. All entries must be submitted no later than 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5 to the City of Arlington Public Information Office, Mail Stop 01-0370, Attn: The MLK Millennium Celebration Committee, P.O. Box 231, Arlington, TX 76004-0231. ART WORK DESIGN CONTEST
Art MUST be original. ESSAY CONTEST
For information about past City press releases or events, please contact the Public Information Office at (817) 459-6402. City Hall | Arlington
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