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.
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Arlington police nabbed suspects in pair of robberies in Crystal City over the weekend.
The first happened just before midnight at an unnamed business on the same block of 23rd Street S. in Crystal City as the 7-Eleven store.
Police say a woman entering a business confronted a group of teens who pushed past her. They in turn allegedly struck her and stole her purse. Three suspects, two young men and a juvenile, were later taken into custody.
ROBBERY, 2022-02040274, 400 block of 23rd Street S. At approximately 11:51 p.m. on February 4, police were dispatched to the report of a fight in progress. Upon arrival, it was determined that the victim was walking into the business when the three unknown suspects exited the business and physically pushed past the victim. The victim confronted the suspects who then turned around and allegedly began striking the victim. The victim fell to the ground and the suspects continued to strike her before stealing her purse containing credit cards and personal items. The suspects then fled the scene on foot. The victim sustained minor, non-life threatening injuries and did not require the treatment of medics. A lookout was broadcast and the suspects were located in the area and taken into custody without incident.
The next morning, another robbery was reported in the area, this time on the 1500 block of Crystal Drive, across the street from the Crystal City water park.
Police say they arrested a 27-year-old man after he allegedly stole merchandise from a business, shoved an employee and tried to resist arrest when officers arrived on scene. From ACPD:
ROBBERY, 2022-02050089, 1500 block of Crystal Drive. At approximately 9:45 a.m. on February 5, police were dispatched to the report of a larceny just occurred. Upon arrival, it was determined that the suspect entered into a business and allegedly began to conceal merchandise into a bag before walking towards the exit without paying. An employee confronted the suspect and asked that he return the items but the suspect pushed the employee and fled the scene on foot. Employees followed the suspect and pointed him out to arriving officers. The suspect disregarded the commands of the officers and actively resisted arrest. Following a brief struggle, the suspect was taken into custody. During a search incident to arrest, officers located a tool on his person and determined he had thrown additional tools on the ground as he fled from the business.
A construction crane looms over Arlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Ethiopian Eatery Delayed Amid Litigation — “It’s been nearly five years since Abebe, who owns the Michelin-honored Chercher Ethiopian Restaurant & Cafe in D.C., sealed a deal to open a new restaurant at Courthouse Place, a nine-story building at 2000 N. 14th St., not far from Arlington’s police and court complex… Since then, Abebe has signed a lease for, and opened, a second restaurant in Bethesda — but the Arlington outpost remains in limbo due to a protracted landlord-tenant dispute he said could ultimately force him to walk away from the deal.” [Washington Business Journal]
W-L Boys, Yorktown Girls Top District — “With four victories against Liberty District opponents last week, including two against the Wakefield Warriors in all-Arlington boys basketball showdowns, the Washington-Liberty Generals (12-8) took over sole possession of first place with a 9-1 league mark and two high-school games to play… The Yorktown High School girls basketball team (15-3) had a busy and winning time last week with a 4-0 record against Liberty District opponents to take over sole possession of first place with a 9-0 record.” [Sun Gazette]
W-L Track Wins District Championship — From Washington-Liberty High School track and field: “Congratulations to our boys team — Liberty District Champions!” [Twitter]
Yorktown Swim Teams Win Championships — “The two championships came in widely different, and expected, point margins for the Yorktown Patriots teams in the 6D North Region girls and boys swimming and diving meets. The girls dominated in earning their first region crown since 1984, winning five events and amassing 394 points, well ahead of second-place and the five-time defending champion Madison Warhawks with 308… The Yorktown boys won a much closer meet.” [Sun Gazette]
Video Tour of ACFD Tower 104 — From the Arlington County Fire Department: “Join the crew of Tower 104, B Shift as they give you a tour of the busiest special service in Arlington for 2021.” [Twitter, YouTube]
Paris is Getting a Gondola — “By 2025, commuters near the Paris suburb of Creteil should have a new way to get to work: the French capital’s first-ever public transit gondola. The new aerial tramway, which cleared its pre-construction feasibility studies this week, will be called Cable A, and will link several outlying but populous neighborhoods in Paris’ southeastern suburbs to the terminus of Metro line 8.” [Bloomberg]
It’s Tuesday — Today will be partly sunny, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 43. Low of 29 tonight. Sunrise at 7:06 a.m. and sunset at 5:38 p.m. Tomorrow will be sunny, with a high near 53. [Weather.gov]
A sign cautions visitors to icy conditions at Long Bridge Park and Aquatic Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Forecasters are warning of possible ice issues Tuesday morning.
After a rainy Monday, temperatures are expected to drop below freezing overnight. That could cause icy spots and hazardous driving conditions.
More from the National Weather Service:
836 PM EST Mon Feb 7 2022
…Icy Spots Possible into Tuesday Morning…
Temperatures will drop below freezing after the precipitation ends tonight across portions of northern and central Virginia. This may cause wet surfaces to freeze, causing the possibility of icy spots into Tuesday morning. Anyone travelling overnight into Tuesday morning should allow extra time to get to their destinations.
Icy spots are possible on roadways through the Tuesday morning commute. See map for more details. pic.twitter.com/pJYqnnIvbx
New Covid cases in Arlington as of 2/7/22 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)
Covid continues to infect Arlington residents at rates higher than most of the pandemic, but the slope of new cases is still pointing downward.
Sixty-seven new local cases were reported today by the Virginia Dept. of Health, bringing the seven-day moving average down to about 124 cases per day. That’s down more than 80% from the peak average of 646 cases per day on Jan. 12.
The test positivity rate in Arlington, meanwhile, continues to fall. It’s now 8.2%, down from the peak of 29.3% on Jan. 2.
Covid test positivity rate in Arlington as of 2/7/22 (via Virginia Dept. of Health)
The sustained decline of the current Omicron wave in Arlington is indisputably good news, but there are caveats.
First, 124 cases per day is still well above the average rate of new cases for everything other than the previous peak of the pandemic roughly a year ago.
Second, the downward trend is flattening, suggesting that the baseline rate of new cases may be higher with the more infectious Omicron variant.
Finally, people are still getting seriously ill with Covid. In the week since the start of the month, four people have been hospitalized due to Covid symptoms. The number of Covid-related deaths in Arlington, meanwhile, has increased by a net of 10 during that time.
(The Virginia Dept. of Health’s reporting of Covid deaths has been uneven during the past few months, however, with pauses and jumps due to new practices, identified issues, and backlogged processing.)
Virginia Hospital Center ER chief Mike Silverman said in his latest public social media update that the emergency department is also seeing a big drop in cases, though the overall picture is a mixed bag due to complications from prior Covid infections during this winter’s wave.
“In my last shift, I actually did not diagnose any patients with Covid. That is pretty amazing,” he wrote. “We have seen the number of patients who present with symptoms that we diagnose come down by about 90% over the last 6 weeks… We were diagnosing more than 200 patients a week who presented with symptoms a month ago and now, over the last couple of weeks, we’re in the range of 10-20 patients/week.”
“However, I saw several patients with persistent shortness of breath 2-3 weeks after having COVID and despite a fair amount of testing, I wasn’t able to determine a cause,” he added. “I haven’t written much about long COVID because we don’t typically see it in the ER, but I do wonder if we’ll start to see more Omicron patients who present with persistent respiratory symptoms.”
Contrast that with the reaction to Washington’s NFL team and its new name, the Washington Commanders, and you have the basis of the latest local Mike Mount cartoon.
Want to see all of Mike’s weekly musings? Join the ARLnow Press Club.
An artist paints inside Palette 22 in Shirlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Fallon Sings About Pentagon Chicken — “That stroke of social media brilliance was followed by even more exposure as ‘The Tonight Show’ host Jimmy Fallon wrote a song for the bold bird. It began with the lyrics ‘Are you just a clucker or an undercover spy?’ We do not expect the Pentagon to answer.” [WTOP, Twitter, Facebook]
WBJ Calls Out Crystal City Erasure — “On Jan. 18, JBG Smith Properties announced it has started construction on a pair of multifamily towers at 2000 and 2001 S. Bell St., a block south of the Crystal City Metro station. In, I dare say, the heart of Crystal City. But in that 750-word press release, “Crystal City” does not appear. Not once. ‘National Landing,’ meanwhile, appears seven times.” [Washington Business Journal]
More on School Mask Judge — “The Arlington judge who dealt a blow Friday to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order making masks optional in schools is married to an Arlington teacher, but attorneys for Youngkin (R) and the school boards did not believe she should have recused herself.” [Washington Post]
More On Eyeglass Smash and Grabs — “Five men with hoods and heavy coats cased the store for about five minutes, Abbasi said, then smashed open the display cases holding Cartier, Gucci and Dior glass frames and made off with about $60,000 worth of merchandise. Surveillance video shows the five bandits rapidly shoveling the high-dollar frames into plastic bags while Abbasi is yelling at them and calling police, leaving a patina of shattered glass chunks in their wake.” [Washington Post]
‘Mental Health Crisis’ at County Jail — “Sheriff Beth Arthur said the man, Paul Thompson, should not have been there, pointing out he had no criminal history. But she admits he did suffer from mental illness like most of the county’s inmates… Of the 280 current inmates, some 170 have mental health challenges; 66 of them are serious. Even the longtime sheriff wants to know why the county is ‘dumping these people in jail when they need serious care.'” [WTOP]
Metro Budget Meeting Tonight in Courthouse — “Beginning Monday, February 7, Metro will hold the first of three public hearings for people to weigh in on Metro’s Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) budget. Hearings will be held next week and will provide for both virtual and in person public participation options.” [WMATA]
Beyer Challenger Launches Primary Bid — “An intra-party challenger to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) kicked off her campaign Feb. 2 with a singular plea to Arlington Democrats. ‘Give me a chance,’ Victoria Virasingh asked during a kickoff speech… An Arlington native, Virasingh – who did not level any criticism at Beyer or even mention him by name in her remarks – said her goal was to create ‘a community that is rich and thriving and has opportunity for all of us.'” [Sun Gazette]
It’s Monday — A slight chance of snow and freezing rain today before 9 a.m., then a slight chance of rain and snow after that. Otherwise partly sunny, with a high near 45. Sunrise at 7:07 a.m. and sunset at 5:37 p.m. Mostly sunny tomorrow, with a high near 43. [Weather.gov]
Ice on tree branches (Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick)
Update at 3:10 p.m. — The ice threat has diminished, according to the National Weather Service:
…WINTER COMMUTING HAZARD STATEMENT IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT…
The threat of accumulating ice from light freezing rain and freezing drizzle has diminished and dry conditions are expected for the Monday morning commute.
Earlier: Forecasters are giving the D.C. area a heads up that Monday morning’s commute could be a doozy.
While odds are it will just be overcast and cold, there’s also a 30% chance of freezing drizzle, which would make roads very slippery and lead to crashes and significant disruptions.
Local residents are being advised to monitor the forecast and the weather conditions before heading out in the morning.
More from the National Weather Service:
…POTENTIAL WINTER COMMUTING HAZARD FOR THE BALTIMORE / WASHINGTON METRO AREAS MONDAY MORNING…
There is a potential for hazardous commuting conditions for the Monday morning commute. A period of freezing drizzle is POSSIBLE (a 30 percent chance) Monday morning across the Baltimore / Washington metro areas, primarily east of Interstate 95, with a light glaze possible on area roads.
If this threat does materialize during the Monday morning rush- hour, many roads could quickly turn icy. This could lead to dangerous traveling conditions, multiple accidents, and extensive delays.
If commuting Monday morning, be aware of the POSSIBILITY of significant travel disruptions. Plan ahead by allowing for extra travel time, and consider using public transportation and telework options.
Stay tuned for updates on this potential winter weather episode.
February is here and we expect a wet then cold weekend ahead. Make sure to grab an umbrella if you’re looking to get an early start viewing open houses this weekend!
According to Homesnap, there are currently 386 homes for sale. Of those homes, 262 are condos, 97 are detached homes and 27 are townhomes. Homes spent an average of 85 days on the market and there were 89 price changes. The median list price is $600,000 with a median sales price of $617,500.
Below are a few open houses across Arlington this weekend:
1314 N. Stafford Street
5 BD/4.5 BA single-family home
Noteworthy: Covered porch with swing, double ovens, gas fireplace
Listed: $1,749,000
Open: Sunday, 1-4 p.m.
1605 N. Kirkwood Road
4 BD/3 BA single-family home
Noteworthy: Privacy fencing, brick patio, bathroom with heated floors
Listed: $1,275,000
Open: Saturday, 1-3 p.m.
5516 31st Street N.
5 BD/3 BA single-family home
Noteworthy: Updated kitchen, 10,000 s. ft. lot
Listed: $975,000
Open: Saturday, 12-3 p.m.
418 N. Madison Street
3 BD/2.5 BA single-family home
Noteworthy: Two miles from Ballston Metro, over 2,600 sq. ft., fenced backyard
Listed: $799,999
Open: Saturday, 12-2 p.m.
Future Chipotle location in Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Permits for a future Chipotle location in Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
It looks like a Chipotle is coming to Clarendon, though the company says that’s not the case.
Chipotle has applied for a state alcohol beverage permit to serve beer in a retail bay on the ground floor of the 3000 Wilson Blvd office building. A leasing plan for the building seen by ARLnow says the Chipotle will be located at 3017 Clarendon Blvd, in the empty former Pete’s New Haven Apizza storefront next to Four Sisters Grill.
There have long been rumors of an impending Chipotle arrival in Clarendon, a place that seems like a prime location for the organic-ingredient-centric, fast-casual chain. Clarendon already has all the harbingers, including a Starbucks, a Whole Foods, an Apple Store and a Crate & Barrel.
In 2014, fans of assembly-line-style Mexican cuisine had their hopes raised by Chipotle “coming soon” signs placed on an empty storefront at 3001 Washington Blvd. But the signs were fakes, placed on the outside of the windows, apparently by a local prankster.
This time around, despite the ABC permit application and the leasing plan, plus a posted county building permit for “Chipotle,” a company spokeswoman sought to dash the hopes of the Chipotle faithful in and around the neighborhood.
“We do not have a planned location in Clarendon at this point, but we are always looking to bring our Food With integrity to great new communities,” the spokeswoman told ARLnow Thursday afternoon. We are awaiting further clarification on the origin of the permit applications.
The building permit was first applied for on Jan. 12, per county records.
At the would-be Chipotle storefront this morning, permits were posted and paper covered the windows, blocking any view of the presumed construction activity inside.
The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, the Memorial Bridge, and the 14th St. Bridge over the Potomac River in fog (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Free Outdoor Wi-Fi at Libraries — “During the month of January, 2022, two new free outdoor Wi-Fi hot spots were installed at the Cherrydale and Glencarlyn Libraries. Library patrons and Arlington residents have now 24×7 access to the free Arlington County Wi-Fi network ‘ArlingtonWireless’ at all library branches, both outdoor and indoor, and at various locations around the County. No ID or password is required for the free service.” [Arlington Public Library]
Four Arlington Joints on Best BBQ List — Post food critic Tim Carman’s new “best barbecue” list includes a number of Arlington favorites: Texas Jack’s (9), Smokecraft Modern Barbecue (6), Smoking Kow (5), and Sloppy Mama’s (3). [Washington Post]
W&OD Bridge Work Complete — “The re-decking of the bridge east of Wilson Blvd in Arlington is completed!” [Twitter]
County Conducting Satisfaction Survey — “Arlington County is conducting its sixth County-wide, statistically valid community survey to measure satisfaction with major County services and gather input about issues facing the community. The results enable County officials to assess performance across many County agencies and services.” [Arlington County]
AWLA Selling Pentagon Chicken Shirts — From the Animal Welfare League of Arlington: “No-one asked for this but we did it anyways – get your official #PentagonChicken shirt now! With the Henny Penny stamp of approval, proceeds will go to help keep other wayward poultry out of government buildings.” [Twitter]
Beyer Delivers Boxes of Protective Equipment — “A constituent reached out notifying U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) that Restart Partners, a West Coast-based charity involved in planning for and procuring PPE, learned of a significant amount of it available in a local warehouse. Partnering with the owner (who wishes to remain anonymous), Beyer identified two charities (Doorways and PathForward) that needed the items for those they serve and for their staffs.” [Sun Gazette]
De Ferranti Makes It Official — “County Board member Matt de Ferranti kicked off his bid for a second term on Feb. 2 with a call for Arlington leaders to accelerate efforts to enact Democratic priorities and serve as a bulwark against the new Republican majority in Richmond.” [Sun Gazette]
It’s Friday — Rain before today 5 p.m., then a chance of rain and snow. Patchy fog before 1 p.m. Temperature falling to around 37 mid-afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Little or no snow accumulation expected. Sunrise at 7:09 a.m. and sunset at 5:35 p.m. This weekend will be sunny with highs in the 30s. [Weather.gov]
