Author: ARLnow.com

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.

Police: Thieves Prowling for Unlocked and Unattended Vehicles

By ARLnow.com

Arlington police have a public service announcement that’s right up there with “don’t hit the car in front of you” — don’t leave your keys in your car.

Just over two thirds of the 31 vehicle reported stolen in Arlington this month have either been left running unattended (9) or unlocked with keys inside (12), according to ACPD.

Thieves, the police department says, have learned that Arlington is fertile ground for easy crimes of opportunity. The victims are often those who can least afford the loss: food delivery drivers.

“Reported incidents indicate multiple suspects will travel together as they search the area for cars left running unattended,” ACPD said in a press release today. “When they observe an unattended vehicle, the suspects pull their vehicle alongside it, one individual exits the suspect car, immediately enters and flees the scene in the victim’s vehicle. The act of stealing the vehicle takes only seconds. The victims are often food delivery drivers who return from their delivery to find their vehicle has been stolen.”

Criminals also prowl the county during early morning hours, looking for cars that have been left unlocked with keys inside, police say. Even when keys are not found, sometimes other items are taken, as happened in the East Falls Church neighborhood this morning.

More from ACPD:

LARCENY FROM AUTO/VEHICLE TAMPERING (series), 2020-07280029/07280031, 1800 block of N. Van Buren Street/1800 block of N. Tuckahoe Street. At approximately 4:00 a.m. on July 28, police were dispatched to the report of a tampering with auto. Upon arrival, officers observed a suspect lying in the roadway. As they made contact with the suspect, he fled on foot into Falls Church. A perimeter was established and a search of the area returned with negative results. The investigation determined the suspect allegedly entered approximately seven unlocked vehicles, rummaged through their contents and stole items of value. He is described as a Hispanic male in his teens, approximately 5’7″, 145 lbs., with a facial tattoo. The investigation is ongoing.

Auto crimes are rising in Arlington and are not just confined to non-violent thefts. Five carjackings have been reported since June 22.

The full ACPD press release is below.

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Flash Flood Watch Issued for Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Storms today may cause flash flooding, forecasters say.

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for Arlington and the immediate D.C. metro area, saying that torrential downpours could dump 2-3 inches of rain in under an hour.

The watch will go into effect at 3 p.m.

More from NWS:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF MARYLAND, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS, IN MARYLAND, CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTGOMERY, CHARLES, AND PRINCE GEORGES. THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA, ARLINGTON/FALLS CHURCH/ALEXANDRIA, FAIRFAX, AND  PRINCE WILLIAM.

* FROM 3 PM THIS AFTERNOON UNTIL 11 PM EDT THIS EVENING.

* A SLOW-MOVING COLD FRONT WILL INTERSECT A HOT AND HUMID AIR MASS RESULTING IN SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE, WHICH COULD RESULT IN ISOLATED RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 3 INCHES IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. THESE RAINFALL AMOUNTS MAY RESULT IN RAPID RISES OF WATER ON  SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS, AS WELL AS IN URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.

In addition to the threat of heavy rain, some storms may be severe, with gusty winds and frequent lightning.

Ten Questions You Might Have About Recycling in Arlington, Answered

By ARLnow.com

You probably know that glass is no longer recycled in Arlington, but do you know that recycling placed in garbage bags is automatically thrown away at the processing plant?

We sent ten questions people might have about what can and cannot get recycled to Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services earlier this month. The answers from the experts at the county’s Solid Waste Bureau are below.

For more information on Arlington’s curbside waste collection service, see county’s trash and recycling page. If you have any other questions, let us know in the comments.

1. If you place your junk mail directly into the recycling, will that be recycled?

Your junk mail (e.g., catalogues, letters, envelopes) is what is known as “mixed paper” and will be recycled if placed in your recycling cart. One way to reduce junk mail intake: https://recycling.arlingtonva.us/catalog-choice/.

2. Do you need to remove the plastic tape from cardboard boxes in order for it to be recycled?

You do not need to remove the plastic tape from cardboard boxes prior to placing them in your bin. However, packing slips and their plastic envelopes should be removed. Also, please flatten all cardboard boxes and try to fit them all into the blue curbside recycling cart. If you have many such boxes, you can take them to the Quincy or Trade Centers recycling drop-off sites and place them inside the very large bins.

3. If there’s some food left on a container after rinsing it, can it still be recycled?

All materials should be clean, dry and empty before being placed in the recycling bin. Reducing food contamination in the recycling stream helps ensure that materials can be recycled into new products. Although you don’t need to scrub or run food containers through the dishwasher before placing them in the recycling cart, all food debris should be removed. A simple wash or wipe with a paper towel is usually sufficient.

4. Can soiled cardboard, like pizza boxes, be recycled?

Very soiled cardboard including pizza boxes cannot be recycled and should be placed in the trash. Relatively clean pizza boxes can be recycled.

5. Can you put recyclables right in the cart? Or should they all be bagged?

Recyclables should ALWAYS be placed loose and directly into the cart. They should NEVER be bagged. Recyclables in bags will be disposed of as trash at the recycling sorting facility. Even empty, plastic bags should never go in the recycling cart.

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2020 Turns Arlington Online Forums into Dumpster Fires

By ARLnow.com

When it was founded, the Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through COVID-19 Facebook group was an uplifting place where local residents could ask for help, share information, and connect with one another.

Now, as with just about any online forum of a certain size, the events of 2020 have darkened the skies over the formerly sunny space.

Contentious arguments break out, public shaming is a common occurrence, and at least one member had her employer contacted by someone upset at a post.

Granted, there are still plenty of heartwarming, helpful and innocuous posts. In fact, there are more posts than most people can keep track of — everything from school opening discussions to questions about car dealerships. But the darker side of online forums has nonetheless crept in.

“I think that there has been an increase in divisiveness,” conceded Kellen MacBeth, co-founder of the group, which now has more than 11,000 members. “It is likely driven by several factors — the increased size of the group and that the ‘coming together’ attitude that characterized March and much of April has been wearing off.”

“When the pandemic first hit, people were scared, searching for answers, and ready to help each other survive,” MacBeth continued. “Now that it’s become a somewhat ‘regular’ threat, people have settled back into routines less focused on getting through a crisis as a community and more so just trying to live life in this new normal. We also saw that as the size of the group increased, you inevitably get trolls and other people who join and don’t share the group’s values.”

The divisiveness isn’t just about the group’s size and the pandemic’s progression, though. It’s also about the many unknowns still surrounding COVID-19, leading to a cacophony of competing warnings and indignations, as well as the politicization of the virus. And it’s about those other big 2020 news stories: the Black Lives Matter movement and mass protests, and a heated presidential election.

Even though Arlington is a progressive stronghold, with social justice signs common even in the yards of the county’s more conservative neighborhoods, BLM-related posts in particular seem to frequently lead to online confrontation.

Last week Arlington Magazine published an essay by local resident Olamide Goke-Pariola, who recounted the vitriol she faced while “talking about racial justice and challenging my mostly white neighbors to think critically about their role in white supremacy” in the group.

“They consistently dismissed my lived experience,” she wrote. “One neighbor even told me my comments were ‘noise.'”

The “Arlington Neighbors” group is not alone in turning into a dumpster fire at times, however.

Things got so bad at the popular Fairlington Appreciation Society neighborhood Facebook group, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, that its moderators shut it down for good. Before it closed, the group hosted battle royales on posts about social justice, with online shouting matches that were a digital counterpart to the battle over signs on a bridge playing out in the physical world nearby.

Even the usually chipper Mothers of North Arlington email listserv started to see moms turning on one another. The group faced accusations that it was dismissive of calls for social justice during the George Floyd protests and that it deleted a Black woman’s Facebook post on the subject.

ARLnow has seen its own share of added divisiveness. A half dozen commenters have been permanently banned for a pattern of racist comments over the past couple of months. Others have been placed on comment timeouts for engaging in extended flame wars. And there has been an uptick in criticism of our articles, with commenters on the site and Facebook questioning our coronavirus reporting and savaging our reporting about multiple COVID-19 cases at a private swim club.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Civ Fed to Study County’s Form of Gov’t — “Herbert Hoover was residing – albeit somewhat tenuously – in the White House the last time Arlington had a major change in its governance structure. Nearly 90 years later, the Arlington County Civic Federation may get the ball rolling on bringing that structure into the 21st century.” [InsideNova]

Biden Signs Defaced, Stolen — “A big sign promoting Joe Biden’s Presidential campaign in Arlington’s Aurora Highlands neighborhood was defaced with pro-President Trump graffiti sometime between Sunday evening and Monday morning,” reports Washingtonian. Separately, a recent Nextdoor post shows video of an older man stealing a Biden sign in the Waycroft-Woodlawn neighborhood. [Washingtonian]

Alleged Courthouse Flasher Arrested — “The victim was walking in the area when she felt the suspect allegedly grab her arm from behind her. As she turned around, she observed the male naked. The suspect then fled on foot. Arriving officers, with the assistance of Metro Transit Police, located the suspect in the area and took him into custody without incident.” [Arlington County]

ACPD Conducting Food Drive — Arlington County police “will be collecting donations at drive-thru donation stations on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  at three locations: Westover Baptist Church – 1125 Patrick Henry Drive, Police Headquarters – 1425 N. Courthouse Road, Giant Food – 2901 S. Glebe Road.” [Arlington County]

Crystal City Concert Series Goes Virtual — “With the health and safety of our residents and visitors in mind, Fridays at the Fountain is switching to an all virtual format. Tune in every Friday evening at 7pm, beginning August 7th, for an hour of live music streamed right to your home.” [National Landing BID]

High School Sports Update — Updated at 8:15 a.m. — “The Virginia High School League’s Executive Committee voted 34-1 Monday to delay the start of the 2020-21 high school sports season by implementing a compressed high school sports scheduling plan that would run as of now from Dec. 28-June 26. The schedule would begin with the winter sports season, starting in late December, followed by the traditional fall sports season and ending with the spring sports season.” [InsideNova]

Nearby: Break-ins at Eden Center — “Multiple business were broken into at the Eden Center. Heavy police presence until further notice. Please avoid the area. No danger to public at this time. Any information to assist the investigation, please contact 703-241-5053. Thank you for your patience and understanding” [Twitter]

Another Carjacking Reported in Arlington Over the Weekend

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4 p.m.) A man was carjacked by a group of suspects in the Green Valley neighborhood over the weekend

The incident happened early Saturday morning on the 2200 block of S. Shirlington Road. The victim was thrown to the ground as 3-4 men stole his personal belongings and car, police said.

More from an Arlington County Police Department crime report:

CARJACKING, 2020-07250042, 2200 block of Shirlington Road. At approximately 2:06 a.m. on July 25, police were dispatched to the report of a grand larceny auto. Upon arrival, it was determined that the victim exited his vehicle and was approached by 3-4 male suspects who exited a vehicle and approached him. The suspects threatened him, threw him to the ground and stole his personal belongings, then stole his vehicle. The vehicle is described as a 2018 Silver Kia Forte with Maryland license plate 350920T. The suspects are described as Black males, one wearing a white shirt, one with dreadlocks, and one wearing gold sneakers. The investigation is ongoing.

This is at least the fifth reported carjacking in Arlington since June 22.

Today’s crime report also details a pair of other recent, car-related crimes in Arlington.

A D.C. man was arrested following a foot chase, after police allegedly saw him trying to open car doors on the 2000 block of N. Culpeper Street, in the High View Park neighborhood. And police are looking for the suspects who stole two cars and items from other vehicles on the 6000 block of 28th Street N., in the Williamsburg neighborhood.

From ACPD:

LARCENY FROM AUTO (significant), 2020-07260033, 2000 block of N. Culpeper Street. At approximately 2:31 a.m. on July 26, police were dispatched to the report of a subject pulling on door handles. Arriving officers observed the male suspect inside of a vehicle and made contact with him. As they attempted to detain him in handcuffs, the suspect fled on foot. Following a brief foot pursuit, he was taken into custody without incident. The investigation determined that the suspect allegedly entered the unlocked vehicle and stole items of value. Isaiah Wynn, 27, of Washington, D.C., was arrested and charged with Entering or Setting in Motion Vehicle, Obstruction of Justice and Petit Larceny and held on a secure bond.

GRAND LARCENY/LARCENY FROM AUTO (series), 2020-07240065, 6000 block of 28th Street N. At approximately 8:28 a.m. on July 24, police were dispatched to the late report of a grand larceny auto. Upon arrival, it was determined that between 8:30 p.m. on July 23 and 8:15 a.m. on July 24, unknown suspects stole the victim’s vehicle. During the course of the investigation, it was determined that an additional vehicle in the same block was stolen and multiple unlocked vehicles were entered, contents tampered with and items of value stolen. The investigation is ongoing.

Glebe Road to Close Near Chain Bridge for Nine Days in 2021

By ARLnow.com
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N. Glebe Road is expected to close for nine straight days next year for a bridge rehabilitation project.

In a recently-posed video presentation, VDOT provided an update on its planned Pimmit Run bridge project. The presentation details the plan to replace the deteriorating bridge deck and steel supporting beams with large, prefabricated components.

Sections of the bridge deck and support beams will be constructed off-site and trucked in, then placed with a crane. That will allow crews to replace the entire top of the bridge much faster than with conventional construction techniques, which would require a sequential series of lane closures.

The downside is that the bridge — and thus N. Glebe Road, just up from Chain Bridge — will need to be closed to traffic entirely for an estimated nine days next year.

The project is set to kick off next spring and wrap up in the fall of 2021. Its projected cost of $9.5 million will come from state and federal funds.

The bridge was built in 1973, serves 13,000 vehicles per day, and is suffering from corroding concrete and steel supports. The project will replace the entire bridge deck and support beams, while also repairing the concrete bridge piers in and around Pimmit Run, near where it flows into the Potomac.

The rehabilitated bridge will have new rails and barriers, as well as a widened pedestrian path.

During the project, traffic heading to and from Chain Bridge will be detoured via McLean and N. Chain Bridge Road. A closure of N. Glebe Road just up from the bridge last week, due to water main work, resulted only in minor traffic impacts — albeit during a pandemic during which many people are working from home.

VDOT is asking for anyone with feedback on the project to email [email protected] by Aug. 7.

JUST IN: Arlington Police Chief to Retire in September

By ARLnow.com

After previously announcing his intention to retire by the end of the year, Arlington County Police Chief M. Jay Farr is now making it official.

Farr announced today that he will retire just before Labor Day, on Friday, Sept. 4.

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the residents, businesses, and visitors of Arlington County,” Farr said in a press release this morning. “I am incredibly proud of our officers and their efforts to maintain a high level of public safety across our community.”

Farr was named police chief in May 2015. He has presided over a department that has largely kept crime levels and allegations of police misconduct low, despite recruitment challenges, population growth and tight budgets.

More recently, however, the department has seen an uptick in crime, an increase in complaints about police conduct, and calls for police reform amid local and national protests.

The County has convened a new “Police Practices Group” to “ensure that the Arlington County Police Department is current with policing best practices and continue to build trust between our police and the community.” The group is expected to start meeting in August.

Arlington is launching a national recruitment effort, with a goal of hiring a new police chief, either in late December or in 2021.

The full County press release about Farr’s retirement is below.

Police Chief Murray “Jay” Farr announced that he would retire on September 4th, after serving in the Arlington County Police Department for 30 years. Chief Farr has provided leadership as Arlington’s Chief of Police since May of 2015.  During his time as Chief, he has focused on community engagement, transportation safety, and crime prevention & control.  Chief Farr also launched the Arlington Restaurant Initiative, a partnership between the County, businesses and the community to offer a safe destination for nightlife and entertainment.  “It has been an honor and privilege to serve the residents, businesses, and visitors of Arlington County”, stated Chief Farr. “I am incredibly proud of our officers and their efforts to maintain a high level of public safety across our community.”

County Manager Mark Schwartz noted that “Chief Farr has provided outstanding leadership and has been instrumental in advancing community policing across Arlington County.”

In addition to his role as Chief of Police, he served in a variety of positions in the Arlington Police Department, including assignments as, Deputy Chief of Police for Systems Management, Operations, and Criminal Investigations. He also served as Arlington County Acting Deputy County Manager. He has also been an active member of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, serving as the Chair of the Police Chief Committee.

“On behalf of all County Board members, I want to thank Chief Farr for his years of exemplary service in one of the toughest jobs, Chief of Police. Jay has guided our police force into 21st Century community policing”, noted County Board Chair Libby Garvey.  “He has made ACPD one of the most respected police departments in the region and positioned us well to work with our community as we transition into the next era of policing and public safety that makes everyone feel safe.”

Prior to joining the ACPD in 1990, Chief Farr worked with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service where he conducted complex criminal investigations concerning fraud against the United States government. He is also a U.S. Marine veteran, where he served with the Presidential helicopter unit.

Chief Farr earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from George Mason University. He has participated in advanced educational programs at the Naval Post Graduate School Center for Defense and Homeland Security, the FBI National Academy, and the Senior Institute for Police Management, a collaborative program with Boston University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.  Chief Farr serves as an Adjunct Professor at George Mason University, where he teaches a curriculum of criminal justice and emergency management for law enforcement.  He is also a graduate of Leadership Arlington

National Recruitment for New Police Chief

The Arlington County Manager will be launching a national recruitment effort for a new Chief of Police this fall.  Initial steps will seek input from the community and there will be no final decision until sometime after the work of the newly formed Police Practice Group (PPG) is completed in December.

Latest Coronavirus Data Paints Mixed Picture in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 10:55 a.m.) Arlington is averaging just over a dozen new coronavirus cases per day over the past week, a relatively low number, but one set against the backdrop of rising cases in other parts of the state.

The county’s seven-day moving average ticked up this morning, with 16 new cases reported overnight by the Virginia Dept. of Health. Arlington’s test positivity rate, however, is pointing down: it’s now 3.9%, as the seven-day moving average of daily tests climbs to 376.

Encouragingly, no new COVID-related deaths have been reported in Arlington over the past week and only one new hospitalization has been reported over the same time period.

A University of Virginia model published last week included Arlington among jurisdictions — about a third of health districts in the Commonwealth — with a surge in COVID-19 cases. That model, however, appears to have been based on data from when new cases were still on the rise in the county.

The latest numbers show that Arlington still has community spread, but the epidemic is being held in check at the moment. That is also largely the case for Northern Virginia as a whole, with new daily cases remaining relatively steady — minus a spike in cases reported today.

Outside of Northern Virginia, however, the state has a rising epidemic, with new cases continuing to climb. That prompted a warning from Gov. Ralph Northam over the weekend.

“We will be watching the public health data closely over the weekend — if the numbers don’t come down, we may have to take additional steps to blunt the spread of this virus,” Northam said Saturday, as quoted by InsideNova.

Statewide, 1,505 new cases were reported overnight — the highest daily total since May 26 and Virginia’s second highest one-day spike since the start of the pandemic.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

County Getting $10K Tourism Grant — “‘Arlington will use [state tourism] grant funds to showcase outdoor adventures in an urban setting to East Coast road trippers,’ said [Arlington Convention and Visitors Service] Director Emily Cassell. In addition… ACVS will commission a photography and video shoot to expand its collection of images reflecting the County’s cultural diversity.” [Arlington County]

Marymount Signs Mutual Aid Agreement — “Marymount University has become a member of the National Intercollegiate Mutual Aid Agreement (NIMAA), one of more than 100 signatory institutions across the nation that pledge to support each other in the event of a natural disaster or civil emergency.” [InsideNova]

USA Today Editor Recalls Racism in Arlington — A top former USA Today editor recalls, in an opinion column, how he was pulled over multiple times by an Arlington police officer in the mid-1980s. The traffic stops appeared to be the result of racial discrimination and intimidation. “I stopped going into Arlington proper,” the editor says of the impact of the incidents on him. “It was a small sacrifice, but it’s one of those things that you sometimes have to do when you’re black in America.” [Hot Springs Sentinel-Record]

Flickr pool photo by Vincent

DEVELOPING: Protesters Blocking Key Bridge, Rosslyn Intersection

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 11:20 p.m.) A small group of peaceful protesters marched over the Key Bridge from Georgetown and blocked traffic in Rosslyn tonight.

The group blocked the intersection of N. Lynn Street and Lee Highway around 10 p.m., according to police radio traffic. They then marched back to the bridge, where they are currently blocking traffic.

Police earlier blocked all lanes of the Key Bridge due to the protest activity. The demonstration is being organized by a group called Concerned Citizens, which also marched in Georgetown Saturday night.

As of 10:30 p.m., the bridge had reopened.

https://twitter.com/seuntheactivist/status/1287561248138317826

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