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.
Arlington is the latest place to have its schools threatened by “creepy clown” social media accounts.
Hoax social media posts, often featuring images of sinister-looking clowns, have threatened schoolsacross the country. Thus far the posts have led to numerous arrests of teens suspected of making the threats, but no reported violence.
Last night, two Instagram accounts — @virginiaclowns and @dmv_clowns — posted similar threats, warning of shootings at a number of area schools, including Kenmore, Gunston and Thomas Jefferson middle schools in Arlington.
The threats have prompted a stepped-up police presence at Arlington schools this morning.
“We are aware [of the threats] and were in contact with the Arlington Police Department staff last night when we saw the messages,” Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia told ARLnow.com. “As a precaution, ACPD has had an increased presence at our schools this morning.”
(Updated at 11 p.m.) One person is fighting for their life and another suffered significant injuries in a series of two crashes on the George Washington Parkway this morning.
The crash, involving an overturned vehicle, was reported shortly after 11 a.m. in the northbound lanes of the Parkway, near Spout Run. The northbound lanes were closed for about an hour and a half as medics treated the injured and as crews worked to clean up a large amount of debris from the roadway.
Around the same time as the first crash, a second, apparently unrelated crash involving an overturned vehicle was reported on the GW Parkway near Key Bridge.
Two people were transported via ambulance to the hospital, one with critical injuries. Initially the U.S. Park Police Eagle 1 helicopter was requested to medevac that person, but was later called off.
As of 12:40 p.m., one northbound lane had reopened, according to WTOP.
It’s been an exceptionally rainy end to the week, but sunshine and pleasant fall-like temperatures are around the corner.
On balance September has been a slow month news-wise in Arlington. One would think that school starting and everyone returning from their summer vacations would make for a busier month. However, our records over the past five years show that September has traditionally been a slow month, with few big traffic spikes from big stories.
Slow news periods usually don’t last too long in Arlington. October, we expect, will see a return of a faster-paced local news cycle.
Feel free to discuss the rain or any other topic of local interest in the comments.
Person walking near puddle in Clarendon on rainy day (file photo)
Food Star Not Responding to Pleas to Stay — The Food Star grocery store apparently doesn’t have much interest in staying in Arlington after the store, at the corner of Columbia Pike and George Mason Drive, closes to make way for a redevelopment. Despite resident interest in keeping the Food Star, county officials say their efforts to reach out to the company and help them relocate to another location in Arlington have not yet yielded a “substantive” response. [InsideNova]
LEGO Store Grand Opening — The new LEGO Store in the Pentagon City mall is holding its grand opening celebration starting today. The store will be hosting a LEGO Master Builder who will construct a huge LEGO model for display. The first 400 customers Friday, Saturday and Sunday will receive free gifts with qualifying purchases. [LEGO]
Olympic Athletes at Elementary School — A group of Olympic athletes will talk with students at Carlin Springs Elementary this morning. Among the group are shot put gold medalist Michelle Carter, gold medal-winning sprinter Natasha Hastings and long jump gold medalist Jeff Henderson. The athletes will be at the school as part of the Let’s Move! Healthy Schools campaign.
Notable Tree Nominations — It’s that time of the year — if you think you have a truly exceptional tree in your yard that deserves recognition, you can now nominate it for Arlington County’s annual Notable Tree awards. The deadline for nominations is Nov. 15. [Arlington County]
October Is Affordable Housing Month — Tomorrow is Oct. 1 and October is Affordable Housing Month in Arlington, “a month-long celebration of the County’s long-term commitment to preserving and creating housing opportunities that benefit the whole community.” [Arlington County]
Did you have braces? Did something weird happen as a result of said orthodontics?
Then you should consider entering our newly-extended Embarrassing Orthodontics Story contest, sponsored by the good folks at VCO Orthodontics in Rosslyn.
Readers will vote on their favorite story (don’t worry, we won’t use your last name if you don’t want us to) and you could win professional tooth whitening sessions from VCO — perfect for anyone who has a special occasion coming up or who just wants to get rid of some stubborn coffee stains.
Send the short version of the story to us at [email protected], with a relevant photo if one is available. The new deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 4.
Garvey to Hold Book Discussion — Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey is launching a series of community book discussions on various topics. Tonight Garvey and School Board Chair Nancy Van Doren will discuss the best-selling book “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.” The discussion will take place at Arlington Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street) from 7:30-9 p.m. [Facebook]
Beer Store, TechShop Collaborate for New Kegerator — Crystal City Wine Shop (220 20th Street S.) has teamed up with nearby TechShop to create a new kegerator. The custom-modified refrigerator allows the store to offer varieties of craft beer that aren’t available in bottles or cans. Customers can take the beer home in fillable cans known as crowlers. [Washington Business Journal]
Cosi Files for Bankruptcy — The Cosi chain of sandwich and salad restaurants has filed for bankruptcy and closed 40 percent of its locations. Among the closed stores: the Cosi in Courthouse. A rep for the company told us yesterday: “The decision to close this restaurant was based on its financial performance and market density. At this time, we do not have any plans to reopen this restaurant.” [Nation’s Restaurant News]
Flash Flood Watch Continues — Forecasters are expecting several more inches of rain to fall between now and Saturday. The potential for flash flooding along streams and low-lying areas remains and a Flash Flood Watch is still in effect. [Twitter, Twitter]
If you were to pull up a mental image of a developer, you might think of the old NIMBY cliche of a “greedy developer” who swoops in to a community, builds a bunch of really tall buildings, leaves with bags of money, and goes home for a dip in a gold coin swimming pool.
This week’s 26 Square Miles podcast guest, former Arlington Chamber of Commerce Chair Kevin Shooshan, does not fit that image. The family-owned development firm for which he works, Shooshan Company, is based in Arlington and has projects in the works in Ballston and Clarendon.
During our interview, Kevin talks about the ups and downs of being a developer, the projects he’s currently working on, the next generation of young leaders in Arlington, the county’s slow permitting process, and whether the local office market will ever fully recover amid high vacancy rates (hint: it probably won’t).
It may not be worthy of a “blue ribbon panel” designation, but a group of county staffers will soon be tasked with examining the tangle of Arlington County’s various codified master plans and priorities.
The County Board unanimously approved a charge for the “interdepartmental staff team” yesterday afternoon, with little further discussion. The team will conduct an “integrated review” of the 11 elements of the county’s Comprehensive Plan, along with various neighborhood and place plans and County Board resolutions, and will report back to the Board this spring.
The overarching goal: “to clearly communicate Arlington County’s priorities.”
In April, the Board approved the creation of a “blue ribbon panel” of mostly outside experts to do basically the same thing: develop “recommendations for how the Board should develop strategic priorities.” A month later, the Board voted unanimously to defer the creation of the panel, following complaints from community groups.
County Board Chair Libby Garvey, who’s championing the initiative, says the latest charge is the successor to the blue ribbon panel plan and is intended to be more informative than prescriptive.
“Things are all in different places,” she said, referring to the county’s sundry plans. “We want to put it all in one easily accessible and understood place and make things more clear.”
“I’ve been talking for years about the need to do strategic planning,” Garvey continued. “The blue ribbon panel approach was to get a small group of people to tell us how to do that.”
Following the complaints, Garvey said, “it was pretty clear to me that we needed to approach it in smaller steps.”
The County Board will consider the group’s report — it will also be placed on the county website for public review — and will then decide whether more action is necessary.
“That seems like a good step and we’ll see where we go from there,” Garvey said.
Existing Ballston pedestrian bridge (Photo by m01229)
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) A new pedestrian bridge for those heading to and from the renovated Ballston Quarter mall and the Ballston Metro station has cleared a regulatory hurdle.
The Arlington County Board yesterday voted unanimously to approve a site plan amendment for the bridge, which will replace an existing pedestrian bridge. The old bridge is, in the eyes of the mall owners and the county, fairly pedestrian appearance-wise.
The latest design renderings for the new bridge, from bridge architect StudioTECHNE, show a geometric steel-and-glass design that crosses above Wilson Blvd at an angle. Among the words used to describe the design in a presentation to the County Board were “sophisticated,” “iconic,” “vibrant,” “safe,” “well lighted” and “experiential.”
The bridge will feature the following improvements, according to the presentation:
“Climate-controlled space with less slope that will improve safety and comfort of bridge crossing.”
“Opportunities for sitting and viewing areas along the traverse of the bridge.”
“Planters and sitting areas integrated into the bridge design at the sidewalk.”
“An architecturally memorable design that blends function and artistic expression and creates an iconic civic presence in the heart of Ballston.”
“The new bridge will be not only more functional, but also more beautiful — it will be a real asset to Ballston Quarter and our community,” County Board Chair Libby Garvey said, in a statement.
The existing bridge is expected to close to pedestrians mid-October, with demolition expected to begin shortly thereafter. Construction of the next bridge is expected to start at the beginning of March, following a public process to finalize the design. The newly-renovated mall and pedestrian bridge are scheduled to open on Sept. 13, 2018.
The old bridge’s demolition will allow for major changes to the façade of what’s currently known as Ballston Common Mall. From a press release:
Demolition of the existing pedestrian bridge will make way for a public plaza that is a key community benefit of the Ballston Quarter redevelopment.
Once the existing pedestrian bridge is removed, the mall façade that fronts on Wilson Boulevard will be transformed and the existing entrance to the mall will be eliminated. A 3,386 sq. ft. public plaza will be created at street level on Wilson Boulevard with steps and seating areas leading into another 2,500 sq. ft. of sunken, public plaza space with outdoor restaurant seating and event space.
Forest City Enterprises, developer of Ballston Quarter, will construct the new bridge with funding provided through the partnership between the County and Forest City. The reconstructed bridge will have public access easements that do not exist today, and it will be more functional and aesthetically pleasing than the current bridge.
Inside, instead of a traditional food court, the new mall will feature an “‘experiential food hub’ that will combine eat-in dining, prepared food sales and market elements,” perhaps similar to D.C.’s Union Market, the Washington Business Journal reported today.
The County Board also voted yesterday to formalize its public-private partnership with mall owner Forest City. The partnership means that a county-created Community Development Authority will pay up to $55.5 million in public infrastructure costs associated with the mall project, while receiving a portion of any increase in tax revenues associated with the mall.
A woman was walking down the street in the Pentagon City area Friday morning when some sort of liquid was poured on her head, apparently as part of a theft scheme.
Two women who were walking behind the victim at the time offered to help clean up the liquid. After the encounter, the victim walked away, only to realize that cash had been stolen from her purse.
From an Arlington County Police report:
GRAND LARCENY FROM A PERSON (significant), 160923027, 1400 block of S. Eads Street. At approximately 9:54 a.m. on September 23, officers responded to the report of a grand larceny from a person that had just occurred. When on scene, it was determined that a female victim was walking on the sidewalk when she felt an unknown liquid being poured on the back of her head. The victim turned around and two Hispanic females offered to help clean off the substance. The victim then continued to walk off and later realized an undisclosed amount of cash was missing from her purse. The first suspect is described as a Hispanic female, approximately 5’6″ tall and weighed 150 lbs. She was wearing a long sleeve blue and white dress and dark pants. The second suspect is described as a Hispanic female, approximately 5’6″ tall and 150 lbs. She was wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants.
Also in this week’s report, a man was arrested in the Courthouse area Saturday morning after he allegedly walked up to a woman on the sidewalk and grabbed her breast.
SEXUAL BATTERY, 160924027, 1800 block of N. Wilson Boulevard. At approximately 10:25 a.m. on September 24, a female victim was walking on the sidewalk when a male subject approached her and grabbed her breast. The victim screamed causing the suspect to flee the scene. Officers located and apprehended the subject shortly after. Ramy Gabry, 23, of an unknown address, was arrested and charged with sexual battery. He is being held without bond.
The rest of the past week’s crime report highlights, including some that we’ve already reported, after the jump.
This week’s Arlington Pet of the Week is Charlie, an attention-loving dog who won this year’s Crystal City Pups and Pilsners social media photo contest. (That’s him, above, at the dog-friendly beer tasting event last weekend.)
Charlie is a Shih Tzu who, like many of us, enjoys being a “lazy bones” on the weekend.
Here’s what Charlie’s owner had to say about him:
Hi, my name is Charlie! I’m a 3 year old Shih Tzu. I may be small but I love being the center of attention!
I’m very friendly and want to say hi to everyone and everything! I loooove going outside during the week and being a lazy bones on the weekends. I have a few tricks if you have treats. If you’re in Arlington or attend dog friendly events, you may see me running around. Check out my Instagram, @TzuAndBrew, where you can see pictures of me and the craft beer my humans drink!
Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email [email protected]with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet. Please don’t send vertical photos, they don’t fit in our photo galleries!
Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks. Becky’s Pet Care is the winner six consecutive Angie’s List Super Service Awards, the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year and a proud supporter of the Arlington County Pawsitively Prepared Campaign.
Becky’s Pet Care provides professional dog walking and pet sitting in Arlington and all of Northern Virginia, as well as PetPrep training courses for Pet Care, CPR and emergency preparedness.
Arlington is the latest place to have its schools threatened by “creepy clown” social media accounts.
