Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. Started by a Pentagon City resident who has spent the past several years working in local TV news, ARLnow.com seeks to distinguish itself with original, enterprising, up-to-the-minute local coverage.
People in Arlington, like people in many communities, enjoy complaining about certain things. Now imagine a house in Arlington so perfectly configured that you basically have an endless supply of things to complain about. That’s what is depicted above.
See Mike’s local ‘toons in the ARLnow Press Club weekend edition newsletter.
Tree adorned for the holidays in the Williamsburg neighborhood (photo courtesy John Seymour)
Bus Costs Well Exceed Fare — “Depending on their age, passengers riding Arlington Transit (ART) Route 62 – which connects the Lorcom Lane area with Courthouse and Ballston – during the transit system’s 2022 fiscal year paid either $1 or $2 per ride. County taxpayers kicked in a subsidy of about $75 for each of those passengers. That’s according to data presented at the Nov. 14 County Board meeting.” [Gazette Leader]
County Seeking Budget Feedback — “Arlington County, Va. officials are asking for public input on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget as the county faces a $25 million to $40 million shortfall. In a survey shared on social media, county officials are asking community members to share their recommendations for balancing the budget for the upcoming year.” [WJLA]
Approval for Ball Marker — “The Arlington County government’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) has given approval, allowing for any minor tweaks, to an historical marker noting the Robert Ball Sr. Family Burial Ground in the family’s namesake community of Ballston. The marker will join gravestones of family members in a small parcel – but where exactly those interred lie, or whether they are even on the site, is something of a mystery.” [Gazette Leader]
‘Snouts’ Grand Opening Saturday — “Expect various fun activities while you and your dog experience the first Indoor Dog Park & Bar in the DMV… Day passes to Snouts & Stouts will become available the day after the Grand Opening party.” [Snouts and Stouts]
YHS Grad Leads ODU Team — “Yorktown High School graduate Grant Wilson has enjoyed a productive season as the starting quarterback for the Old Dominion University football team this fall. In 11 games, the 6-foot-3 junior helped the Monarchs finish with a 6-6 regular-season record, making the team eligible to play in a bowl game. Wilson led ODU to victories in its final two games.” [Gazette Leader]
Race Closures in Pentagon City — “The Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell 5k Run will be held Sunday, December 3, 2023 beginning at 8:00 a.m. The Arlington County Police Department will conduct the following road closures in order to accommodate the event.” [Arlington County]
Snow Seen in Arlington — “ARLnow can confirm: there was a period of light flurries [Tuesday afternoon] in North Arlington.” [Twitter]
Alexandria Passes Housing Plan — “Single-family-only zoning is no more in Alexandria. Alexandria’s City Council voted unanimously at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 29, to approve the Zoning for Housing/Housing for All initiative. The plan includes zoning changes that aim to encourage the development of more housing units.” [ALXnow]
It’s Wednesday — Expect sunshine and a high around 39 degrees, accompanied by a south wind blowing at 7 to 10 mph. The night will be mostly clear and cooler with a low temperature of 28 degrees, while the southwest wind continues at 6 to 10 mph. [Weather.gov]
Expect sunny skies and a high around 39 degrees with south winds ranging from 6 to 10 mph. The night will be mostly clear with a low near 28 degrees and southwest winds also between 6 and 10 mph. See more from Weather.gov.
💡 Quote of the Day
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller
🌅 Tonight’s sunset
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
Photo set ready for Santa’s arrival at Ballston Quarter (staff photo)
Burglary at Yorktown HS — “5200 block of Yorktown Boulevard. At approximately 7:29 p.m. on November 22, police were dispatched to the report of a burglary alarm. Upon arrival, it was determined two juvenile male suspects made entry into the building and stole exercise equipment before fleeing the scene.” [ACPD]
Rappahannock Coffee Now Closed — “Last day at long-time Arlington coffee shop Rappahannock Coffee. Came here nearly every day when I first moved to the neighborhood for coffee, to write, & – of course – talk with everyone who came in. Great to see a few of the regulars again. Happy retirement to owner, Mr. Lee.” [Twitter, Twitter]
Sex Ed Changes at APS — “Those hoping for one more chance to lobby the Arlington School Board on proposed changes to the school system’s sex-ed curriculum likely will come up empty on Nov. 30. The policy change, which picked up a number of public speakers when it was introduced several weeks ago, has been placed on the School Board’s ‘consent agenda.'” [Gazette Leader]
Record Thanksgiving Food Demand — “The Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC), a nonprofit organization with a mission to address long term food insecurity in Arlington County and Northern Virginia, served a record number of 3,807 families in need of food assistance during their Thanksgiving ‘Chicken Week.’ The week of November 13-18, 2023, AFAC gave out 3,579 whole chicken roasters.” [Press Release]
Write-In Votes in Prosecutor Race — “Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti scored victory unopposed in the Nov. 7 election, but also received a reminder that she was not the first choice of every voter. More than 4,800 voters in Arlington and Falls Church – 8.8 percent of those voting – cast write-in ballots for commonwealth’s attorney… Because the write-in total against Dehghani-Tafti was less than 10 percent of the total vote, county election officials were not required to break out and then report the results.” [Gazette Leader]
Intersection Work Nearly Complete — “New protected intersection at Clarendon and Courthouse in Arlington.” [Twitter]
Office to Housing Discussion — “Office to residential conversions. Can they be done in Arlington? The CivFed’s Housing Committee hosts a special guest on Thursday.” [Patch]
Local Podcast Host Profiled — “To understand the motivation of Aaron Sibarium, Yalie, Gen Z reporter and conservative media darling, it’s instructive to travel back in time to last December, and do a little eavesdropping. Right outside D.C., in a small studio apartment tucked inside an urban-suburban complex in Arlington, Virginia, Sibarium chats it up with libertarian writer Richard Hanania in a video call for a podcast exploring ‘the right-wing echo chamber.'” [Politico]
It’s Tuesday — Expect a mostly sunny day with temperatures reaching around 37 degrees, accompanied by a northwest wind starting at 7-12 mph and increasing to 13-18 mph in the afternoon. Wind gusts could reach up to 29 mph. As for Tuesday night, it should be primarily clear with lows near 22 degrees. West winds will persist at 7-15 mph, and gusts may reach up to 20 mph. [Weather.gov]
Expect mostly sunny skies with temperatures reaching a high near 37 degrees. Northwest winds will increase from 6-11 mph to 13-18 mph in the afternoon, possibly gusting up to 29 mph. Tuesday night will be mostly clear, with lows around 21 degrees, and west winds between 8-16 mph, gusting up to 22 mph. See more from Weather.gov.
💡 Quote of the Day
“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.” – Malcolm X
🌅 Tonight’s sunset
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
Rosslyn skyline, with Tysons in the background (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)
Millennials are still flocking to Arlington.
That’s according to new rankings from the website SmartAsset, which looked at where those ages 25-44 moved in 2022. (Yes, there are millennials who are now in their mid-40s.)
Arlington was No. 6 on the list of U.S. localities where millennials moved last year, as a percentage of the population.
“About 11.5% of Arlington’s residents are new millennials,” according to SmartAsset. “The [county] saw 26,699 millennials move in in 2022, and the median age across the city is 35.6 years.”
Ranking above Arlington were mostly tech-oriented cities: Cambridge, Massachusetts; Santa Clara, California; Seattle, Washington; Sunnyvale, California; and Denver, Colorado. Neighboring Alexandria and D.C. were No. 13 and 15 on the list, respectively.
Arlington, meanwhile, was No. 1 in at least one regard.
“Arlington, VA had the highest rate of millennials moving in from out of state at 5.2% of the total population,” SmartAsset wrote. “Studywide, Arlington placed 6th. Charleston, SC (45th); Washington, DC (15th); and Sandy Springs, GA (10th) similarly saw particularly high rates of millennial transplants from out of state.”
In 2017, another ranking website declared Arlington to be the “Best City for Millennials” on account of its nightlife, diversity, public schools, and being “good for families.”
Ranking of “Where Millennials Are Moving” in 2022 (via SmartAsset)
Crash involving overturned vehicle on S. Glebe Road at 15th Street S.
Crash involving overturned vehicle on S. Glebe Road at 15th Street S.
(Updated at 10:10 p.m.) All lanes of S. Glebe Road were blocked between Walter Reed Drive and Columbia Pike this afternoon due to a crash.
Initial reports suggest that two vehicles collided near the intersection of Glebe and 15th Street S. around 1:45 p.m. One vehicle flipped on its side and at least one vehicle occupant was reported to be trapped and injured.
Numerous fire department and police vehicles were on scene as the person was extricated from their vehicle by firefighters and transported to a local hospital via ambulance.
Glebe Road was back open as of 3:15 p.m., according to Arlington County.
Traffic camera video of the crash posted Monday night by local public safety watcher Dave Statter shows some questionable driving decisions by a trio of drivers. One driver sideswipes the second — whose car overturned — while simultaneously trying to pass the third, who just turned onto the northbound lanes at the last second ahead of oncoming traffic.
Car overturned: This is today's crash on S. Glebe Road & S. 15th Street in Arlington. Despite one car rolling over, there was no initial report of life-threatening injuries. @ArlingtonVaFD & @ArlingtonVaPD handled. Video from Arlington traffic camera recorded by @SafetyVid.… pic.twitter.com/qQP5sFKBGd
Janet Saedi and Essy Carriage House owner Essy Saedi (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The long-time former owner of Essy’s Carriage House has died.
Essy Saedi died on Thanksgiving, November 23, at the age of 76. He owned the beloved family-owned Cherrydale restaurant before its closing earlier this year. As he told ARLnow, Saedi was looking forward to traveling in his retirement.
“I’m excited… I get to go to Las Vegas more,” he said.
Saedi immigrated to the United States from Iran in the 1960s and helped open the restaurant Langston Blvd near the corner of N. Quincy Street and Cherry Hill Road in 1975. He took over as full owner a year later, renaming the eatery after himself — Essy’s Carriage House.
In nearly five decades, Saedi’s restaurant became a local staple, serving up steak, liver and comfort food to a loyal customer base. It had the “best crab cakes we’ve ever had. Anywhere,” according to one customer.
Even as he closed in on retirement, Saedi still did much of the prep work at the restaurant, including the sauce-making and meat-braising.
Essy’s Carriage House was known for its white-clothed tables and fresh-cut flowers on each table. Throughout its run, the restaurant served judges, military brass, lawmakers, lawyers, and, even “four-star generals,” according to Saedi. He primarily ran the restaurant with his wife, Janet Saedi, whom he married in the 1980s.
“It’s really been fundamentally the two of us running this place,” Janet told ARLnow in February. “But it’s been beautiful.”
But it was Essy who was the face of the restaurant and a big reason why customers kept coming back for close to five decades.
“I guess I’m just cute,” Essy said earlier this year.
He was known for “his warmth, his story telling, his mixed metaphors and his sometimes inappropriate sense of humor,” his obituary reads. Saedi could be seen on most nights at his restaurant running between tables, chatting with customers, and telling everyone what to order.
Essy had a “quirky sense of humor that some people adore… and there are people who don’t quite get it,” Janet said.
He embraced his quirkiness and was once named “the most colorful character in Arlington” by a local newspaper, notes his obituary. Saedi often called himself the “Luckiest Persian Alive.”
In the weeks before the restaurant was set to close, Essy was still busy at the restaurant and doing what he did best: sharing laughs with customers.
“They’ve become family and friends. We’ve done this for 50 years and we see [many] like once a week,” Essy said in February, taking a long pause. “Maybe I’ll pass them at the grocery store someday.”
Essy Saedi is survived by his wife Janet, daughters Lorena and Tonya, and sister Mehry. The family is planning a private burial and, in lieu of flowers, is asking for donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
(Updated at 10:35 a.m.) More than 3,000 Arlington homes and businesses were in the dark this morning due to a large outage.
The outage appeared to be centered around the East Falls Church Metro station, affecting several northwestern Arlington neighborhoods including Westover.
In addition to the 3,042 Dominion customers reported to be without power in Arlington as of 9:15 a.m., another 1,700 were without power in Fairfax County, according to the power company.
So far there’s no word on what caused the outage.
As of 10:30 a.m. power appears to have been restored to all customers.
A damp late November walk in the Ballston area (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Primary Day Off For Students — “Arlington School Board members on Nov. 30 will vote on a staff proposal to give students the day off on March 5. That’s the date scheduled for Virginia’s presidential-primary elections, meaning many schools potentially will be in use as polling places.” [Gazette Leader]
New Delegate Gears Up — “She won’t be a newcomer to Richmond, but Adele McClure will be the only new face in Arlington’s 2024 legislative delegation. McClure was unopposed in the new 2nd House District, and will join Patrick Hope (D-1st) and Alfonso Lopez (D-3rd) representing the voters of Arlington in the lower house of the legislature.” [Gazette Leader]
It’s Monday — Expect sunshine and a high of around 49 degrees, accompanied by a northwest wind of 8 to 17 mph, and gusts reaching up to 28 mph. For Monday night, the skies will be mostly clear, with temperatures dropping to approximately 27 degrees. The west wind will range between 8 and 11 mph. [Weather.gov]
Here is what’s going on Saturday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
No events today. Have one to promote? Submit it to the calendar.
☀️ Saturday’s forecast
The weather will be mostly sunny, reaching a high of around 43 degrees, with a light north wind at 6 mph, calming down in the afternoon. Tonight, expect increasing clouds and a low temperature of approximately 31 degrees, while the east wind at 5 mph subsides during the evening. See more from Weather.gov.
💡 Quote of the Day
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
🌅 Tonight’s sunset
We hope you have a great weekend, Arlington! Feel free to discuss the most-read stories of the week, the upcoming weekend events or anything else of local interest in the comments. 👋
