IDS in Remission

by Ron Haddox and John Moran

An update from Foxcroft Heights

Thanks to the efforts of Michelle Nunville and her troops, the Idling Bus Syndrome is in remission. You will recall that the Sheraton National Hotel is in our very modest neighborhood. They are a prosperous hotel which attracts large groups on bus tours to their facility. The bus groups like to park in front of our homes with their engines running. With some help the bus activity has become more manageable.

We have had only egregious infraction in the last 3 months. One of the bus companies decided to NOT idle but to PARK. Our streets cannot accommodate the parking of our cars much less buses. A frustrated call to the police received a prompt but ineffective response. The buses finally moved but not before causing major interruptions for my neighborhood.

Winter is a slower time for the bus groups. But we will look for signs of spring when the buses will return and like the flu, will need another inoculation against IDS.

Background on IDS

Sometime in the early 1970s, Arlington County approved the construction of the Sheraton National Hotel in the 900 block of S. Orme Street.

S. Orme St. is a short, three-block street connecting Columbia Pike to the main gate at Henderson Hall. It is one of three streets, which comprise Foxcroft Heights Civic Association. 

The street has Permit 2 parking which requires the residents of S. Orme St. to have 24/7 parking permits, for which we pay. Still there are daily challenges to the customary care and enjoyment of our homes.

Guests of the Sheraton violate our parking restrictions almost every day.

People using Henderson Hall frequently park on our streets and walk onto the base, thereby avoiding a car search. Another one of these challenges is the tour buses serving the Sheraton National Hotel.

While we have a “no idling” ordinance in Arlington, that law is rarely if ever enforced. On our street it is closer to never enforced.  Therefore, we have a whole street of residents who are required to suffer idling buses serving a commercial establishment.  The worst part of the “idling bus syndrome” is their need to idle for up to two hours.  And we are talking about as many as seven buses which take up the entire S. Orme Street travel lanes – blocking traffic in both directions.

With the traffic going in and out of Henderson Hall, we have dangerous and difficult traffic situations.  But even if it were safe to drive, we still would need to address the insidious pollution, and the noise pollution, of idling buses on a residential street.

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