Author: Airey

Arlington Training Hundreds To Combat Opioid Overdoses

By Airey
1/5

Arlington is training hundreds of people to use the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone in hopes of saving lives amid the opioid crisis.

The free trainings last a little over an hour and teach participants how to recognize an opioid overdose and to administer naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan. As of Tuesday night, officials said Arlington has trained 644 people and given away 518 boxes of the drug.

Studying to Save Lives

Emily Siqveland is the county’s coordinator for the state-funded Revive program, which provides the training materials for the classes.

“I often remind people that addiction is similar to diabetes,” said Siqveland, in front of the half a dozen people who showed up to the Arlington Mill Community Center Tuesday night to take one of the classes.

“You can make lifestyle adjustments to manage your diabetes,” she said. “Addiction is the same. You can make lifestyle changes to manage the addiction, and you still need treatment. It’s still a chronic and relapsing disease.”

In addition to talking about how addiction works, Siqveland showed attendees how to administer the little white nasal spray as part of the county’s “multi-disciplinary approach” to tackling the opioid crisis.

Arlington began marshaling representatives from county agencies, local non-profits, and APS in 2017 to form an Arlington Addiction Recovery Initiative (AARI) to find solutions and hold several town halls.

One of the group’s more recent tasks was choosing how to spend $258,000 in state grants for treatment and prevention services.

One way AARI allocated the funds is a new ad on the side of local Metrobuses, featuring the county’s opioid resources page, plus “remembrance trees” currently on display in the Shirlington, Columbia Pike, and Central libraries until September 3. People can add a leaf to the trees in memory of someone they know who died from opioid addiction.

Addiction by the Numbers

In Arlington, police reported 53 overdoses in 2018, 11 of which were fatal.

The data indicated that seven fewer people died overdosing on opioids in 2018 compared to 2017 (19). However, the overall number of opioid-involved incidents (153) in 2018 remained steady after jumping to 157 incidents in 2017. In all, 50 opioid overdose deaths have been reported in Arlington since 2014.

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Arlington Residents Asked to Go Outside, Listen to Bugs for Science

By Airey
1/4

Scientists are asking Arlingtonians to brave the great outdoors Friday night and listen to bugs.

The effort of part of the 7th annual “Cricket Crawl” to “crowdsource” data on the crickets and katydids that residents can hear on their streets and in their backyards.

“This is the census of our singing nighttime insects,” said Park Naturalist Jennifer Soles with the Gulf Branch Nature Center told ARLnow.

People interested in participating are asked to listen for the sounds of one of six species for one minute this Friday night, and write down what they hear. Participants can then text or and call leave a message at (240) 801-6878 with their observations, or email their notes to [email protected].

One of the six insects to listen for is the common true katydid, which Soles said can be found in the places with heavy tree cover and sounds like it’s saying “katydid, katydid, katydid.” Other species on the list — the regular field cricket, greater angler katydid, and jumping bush cricket — can generally be found throughout the county.

Soles said the field cricket makes a “chirp chirp chirp” noise familiar to most people and the greater angler katydid makes a “tick tick tick” similar to the sound an ignitor makes on a gas stove. The jumping bush cricket by comparison, makes a “little peeping trill” with long pauses in between peeps.

More pictures and audio clips of the all six insect types in the census can be found on the event website.

One of the species that scientists are hoping to learn more about from the data is the japanese burrowing cricket, which has a similar, but faster, call compared to the field cricket.

The non-native species of insect was first discovered in 1959 in D.C., Virginia, and other nearby states, according to research published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

She said the hope is that the Cricket Crawl could turn into the next Christmas Bird Count, and show trends of signing insects over time and indicate whether any of them is in danger of disappearing.

“When they started doing the Christmas Bird Count, maybe wasn’t the data wasn’t that good, or that strong, but after you start doing it for fifty years you saw we’re losing huge numbers of migratory birds,” said Solo.

She added that Friday’s census is an opportunity for the whole family to participate in the data collection.

“It’s about being aware of what’s in their environment, and what they could lose.,” she said.

Photo 1 via USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab/Flickr, photo 2 via James St. John/Flickr

New Local Transit Planning App Offers Users Cash Rewards for Greener Commutes

By Airey

Local governments officials are hoping a new  trip planning app with cash rewards will incentivize more environmentally-friendly commutes.

The app, called incenTrip, uses real-time data to plot quick routes, and uses artificial intelligence to customize those routes for an individual over time. Regional officials said they’re hopeful the app’s built-in reward system will encourage more commuters to help reduce traffic and carbon emissions by ditching their cars.

“The end goal is to provide the most cost effective tool for our agencies, our community and our employees, to incentivize behavioral changes,” said Dr. Lei Zhang, who was in charge of creating the app as director of the University of Maryland’s Transportation Institute.

A pilot version of incepTrip first hit the app stores last year after being by developed by Commuter Connections, a Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments initiative, and the Transportation Institute.

The app features a reward system that gives users “points” when they choose a transportation mode that reduces carbon emissions — like the bus or biking — and gives $10 cash awards once users accumulate at least 1,000 points. At 2,000 points users can receive a check for $25, and at 3,500 points they can receive $50.

The incentives are funded through state and federal transportation departments.

VDOT transportation planner Heidi Mitter said the department “has a big emphasis on multi-modal transportation” that pairs with the app’s mission.

“Arlington is dense and has a lot options,” Mitter said of transit in the county, telling ARLnow that hopefully that meant this app would benefit the county’s residents and commuters. 

The app could also help Arlington’s employers, many of which have workers commuting in from other jurisdictions, said Nicholas Ramfos, Director of MWCOG’s Transportation Operations Programs.

“Particularly for employers if they’re having parking issues or other types of recruitment retention issues this is a great way to offer these travel options tho those employees and help reduce some of the congestion that coming into that area,” he said.

When asked, Ramfos added he “absolutely” believed the app could help ease the expected increase in traffic from Amazon’s HQ2, which has started the hiring process for the 25,000 jobs the company promised the county.

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Ballston Quarter to Host “Thursday Throwback” Movie Nights

By Airey

The newly rennovated Ballston Quarter mall will host showings of classic movies on its outdoor front plaza this fall, starting next week.

Movies will be shown for free on Thursdays, starting at around 8 p.m., in front of the mall at 4238 Wilson Blvd.

The series will start next Thursday, September 5, with the movie Grease, and will continue showing films every Thursday until October 31.

The complete list of scheduled films is below.

  • Grease — September 5
  • The Parent Trap — September 12
  • Home Alone — September 19
  • The Princess Bride — September 26
  • Mrs. Doubtfire — October 3
  • E.T. — October 10
  • Sound of Music — October 17
  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — October 24
  • Hocus Pocus — October 31

Event organizers noted in a email to ARLnow that food purchased from the Quarter’s many new restaurants is allowed in the plaza area.

Image via YouTube

Union: Bus With Chemical Leak Was Redeployed, Sickening Second Driver

By Airey

(Updated on 09/09/19) A Metrobus with a chemical leak that caused first responders to hospitalize the driver last week sickened a second driver after being placed back in service prematurely, union officials say.

An Arlington County Fire Department hazmat team responded to the Pentagon bus bay Thursday morning after the driver on Metrobus number 6360 reporting feeling sick and smelling a chemical odor.

“I proceeded on to 395 taking the Seminary Road exit to the HOV. As I proceeded that’s when the smell got stronger,” wrote the driver in a statement obtained by ARLnow. “As I am nearing the Pentagon, the smell continues to get stronger and a passenger begins coughing.”

The driver reported that passengers ran off the bus at Pentagon due to the “awful smell” and that she had a headache and was feeling a pain in her chest. When first responders arrived, she wrote, “I tried to explain the situation and then passed out.”

First responders said at the time they didn’t find anything hazardous on the bus, but did transport the driver to Virginia Hospital Center. A Metro spokesperson told ARLnow that they were not aware of a second problem after the morning incident.

“The bus was immediately shut off and taken out of service,” said WMATA spokeswoman Sherri Ly. “Upon inspection, an exhaust leak was identified and repairs made before the bus returned to service that evening. Metro did not receive any additional complaints that night and no further health issues have been substantiated.”

However, the union representing Metro employees, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, says a contracted bus garage in Lorton released the bus later that afternoon without fixing the problem — causing a second bus driver to feel ill.

“When leaving the yard I was coughing hard off fumes, and during the route passengers were also coughing,” the second driver said, according to a copy of the report obtained by ARLnow. (On Monday, a WMATA spokeswoman said they had not received a copy of the report.)

Union spokesman Brian Wivell said the afternoon driver is seeing a doctor and the morning driver visited the hospital again Monday for “follow-up work.” Another union representative said the morning driver “wasn’t in good condition at all” on Thursday and Friday and remained out of work Monday.

“We demand that Transdev respond to the safety concerns of its workers,” ATU Local 689 President Raymond Jackson said of the French company, to which Metro outsourced the management of the garage last year.

The union, which also bid on the contract, disputed Metro’s assertion that the garage contract saved money, and accused the transit agency of union busting. Since then, ATU has been locked in a bitter battle with Transdev over pay and working conditions, which recently boiled as members voted to authorize a strike.

“They’ve been raising alarm bells for months, flagging buses that have issues, and now a worker has gone to the hospital,” Jackson said of the Lorton garage. “This is the human cost of this company’s profits.”

Transdev did not respond to requests for comment.

File photo

Local Leaders Urge Regional Housing Plan and Transit Investments

By Airey
1/3

The majority of local leaders agree that Northern Virginia needs more affordable housing and bus transit — though they differ on the details.

Local leaders discussed issues ranging from housing to the area’s overall economic health during the Northern Virginia Regional Elected Leaders Summit co-hosted by several local chambers of commerce at George Mason University’s Arlington campus earlier today (Monday).

Affordable Housing

Arlington Board Chair Christian Dorsey said he was working with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to develop a “policy overlay” to help guide affordable housing across the region.

“We have one,” said Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson. “It’s just entirely not deliberate, not coordinated, and not successful.”

Wilson and Dorsey both said that each jurisdiction has its own issues — like zoning for accessory dwelling units — but a guiding document could help align governments’ goals to fill the region’s growing housing need. One problem leaders believe is better solved together is how to build affordable housing that’s accessible to public transportation.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Penelope Gross said the skyrocketing price of housing near Metro stations bars the people who most need access to Metro from living nearby. Dorsey agreed that building affordable, transit-accessible housing was an important regional priority, and a better idea than building housing away from transit.

“We can’t just continue to grow housing and then try and build the supports with transportation infrastructure to meet where we built the housing,” said Dorsey. “That’s stupid.”

Phyllis Randall, Chair at Large of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, said she has tried to explain to constituents with kids that the people who benefit from affordable housing includes recent college graduates.

“I want them in the area,” she joked of her own children. “Not in my basement.”

Outgoing Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair Corey Stewart, the only Republican on the stage Monday, was also the lone dissenter in that conversation. He pointed out that Prince William held a “disproportionate” share of affordable housing in the region, but still could not build enough because of restrictions on breaking up large, multi-acre lots that local leaders refused to amend.

“We need to let the private sector solve this problem,” he said.

Metro, Buses, and Shutdowns

Dorsey, who also sits on the WMATA Board of Directors, told the audience that the transit agency expects to conclude its Blue and Yellow line shutdown in Alexandria on time. That was welcome news for Alexandria’s leaders.

“It has been a difficult summer,” noted Wilson, who said that the silver lining of businesses hit hard by the shutdown is that more residents have been using the public bus system than ever.

Due to growing ridership this summer, the mayor announced Alexandria will extend its water taxi service to the Wharf through the December. The water, he said, was the region’s largest “untapped resource” when it came to transit development.

Gross and Dorsey both echoed support for more bus transit to help move more people and alleviate the region’s traffic woes, with Dorsey saying he wants “to see the attention to Metro’s buses that is paid to rail.”

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Buckingham Festival To Close N. Pershing Drive This Weekend

By Airey

The annual Buckingham Festival returns this weekend, bringing food, dancing, and a road closure to Arlington.

This year marks the 19th year that tenant association BU-GATA has organized the daylong festival, which returns this Sunday, August 25, from 2-8 p.m.

The Arlington County Police Department announced today (Friday) that officers will a section of N. Pershing Drive between N. Glebe Road and N. Thomas Street from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. to block traffic from festival goers.

In the past, the street event has celebrated the heritage of the neighborhood’s Latino residents with food and folk dances — both of which are expected to return this year. In addition, children will be able to play games and enjoy a bounce house.

Falls Church-based Latin band Grupo Quimbao is also scheduled to perform live during the event.

Organizers noted in their bilingual event flyer that parking will available at Barrett Elementary School.

File photo

County Inviting Residents to Share Ideas with Artist for Park Renovation Near Shirlington

By Airey
1/3

Arlington County is hoping residents can help inspire the artist designing the public art component of renovations to Jennie Dean Park near Shirlington.

Residents will be able to meet the Brooklyn-based artist Mark Reigelman on two days in early September during his first visit to Arlington to share their stories and memories of the 12-acre park.

“The input gathered will inform the art work design,” said officials in a press release.

Reigelman will give two presentations about his past work on Tuesday, September at 6:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. at the New District Brewery (2709 S. Oakland Street) and is also expected to open the floor for stories from residents. He is scheduled to host another, open house-style, meeting on Wednesday, September 4 from 8-9:30 a.m. at Busboys and Poets (4251 Campbell Avenue).

Reigelman has worked on two park projects before in New York City and San Jose, California, according to his website — which heralds him as a “genius” whose intellect is “only exceeded by his modesty and benevolence.”

The future artwork planned is part a fiercely debated redesign of the park that includes moving a baseball field near S. Nelson Street, installing a new bathroom near Four Mile Run Drive, and building basketball and tennis courts near where a WETA-TV production building now stands. The county held a public feedback session on the renovations last month.

The park redesign itself is also part of a larger plan to revitalize the Four Mile Run Valley area, solve overcrowding at sites like the Trades Center, and prioritize storm protections for the flood–prone area.

New art for the park could pay homage to the park’s namesake, former slave Jennie Serepta Dean, who helped found a trades school for African Americans, per a 2018 staff report for the Arlington County Board about the project.

Map via Arlington County 

University of Maryland Opening Space Near Amazon HQ2 Next Year

By Airey

The University of Maryland is expected to open a research and event space in Crystal City next fall in an effort to cozy up to Amazon.

Called the “Discovery Center,” the campus will occupy a 8,000-square-foot space in a building Amazon has leased from JBG Smith and plans to begin temporarily occupying this year. University officials say that the center is designed to connect students and staff with companies like Amazon for research and job recruitment, as first reported by the Washington Business Journal.

“This new space will help connect our flagship researchers and students with this emerging technology hub, fostering innovation in our growing Cyber Valley,” UMD President Wallace Loh said in a statement.

UMD described the purpose of the space in a press release:

The Discovery Center will provide spaces for academics, local businesses and community residents to interact and exchange ideas, as well as seminar rooms, a strategic planning and creative problem-solving center, spaces for students to work with industry partners, and career development interview rooms to facilitate internships and employment opportunities. The center will also function as an event space for researchers, industry leaders and alumni to meet, network and discuss industry trends.

Both Prince George’s County, where UMD is located, and Montgomery County were hopefuls for the 25,000 jobs Amazon promises to bring. Now that the tech and retail giant has inked its HQ2 deal in Arlington and is beginning to hire employees, the university appears to be trying to locate itself closer to the action.

“Although we wanted Amazon to choose Maryland, the fact is they chose, of all the places in the country that they could have chosen, they chose 11 miles from the flagship campus of the flagship university of the state of Maryland,” UMD’s chief strategy officer Ken Ulman, told the college newspaper Diamondback.

Although the space is not a formal college campus per se, the university says it will host “learning events” on topics likely to interest the company, including supply chain management, machine learning, and cybersecurity.

JBG Smith is using the ground floor of the building, at 241 18th Street S., as a pitch room to convince other office tenants to locate to Crystal City.

Earlier this summer, Virginia Tech finalized the details of its Potomac Yard campus, also strategically planned near Amazon. The Alexandria campus, which joins the university’s other locations in Ballston and West Falls Church, was a feature of Virginia’s pitch to Amazon. Last week VT announced that it had launched a search process to find a new leader for the planned “Innovation Campus.”

UMD is expected to benefit from Metro’s decision to start extending Yellow Line rail service all the way to Greenbelt for the first time since 2017, which will connect the university’s flagship location in College Park to Crystal City.

“With Metro’s Yellow Line extension, folks can go from campus to the Discovery Center in 30 minutes without changing trains,” Ulman said in a statement. “You’ll walk out of the Crystal City station, turn and literally see the University of Maryland sign in front of you.”

APS: Expect Traffic Changes Around New Arlington Schools

By Airey

Students and commuters around Arlington can expect some significant traffic changes this school year, Arlington Public Schools officials say.

Fifteen new buses, along with new crosswalks and streetlights, are among the changes expected in the new school year, which is set to start in two weeks for most students.

The changes center around two new Arlington schools — in Rosslyn and Arlington Heights — and the renovated former home of H-B Woodlawn (now a middle school) in Cherrydale.

Rosslyn

The Heights Building accommodate students from H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program as well as the newly-renamed Shriver Program for students with special needs. With more than 700 students now commuting to Rosslyn on a daily basis, APS is working to make sure traffic keeps flowing and students stay safe near the school at 1601 Wilson Blvd.

“All buses will load and unload behind the school on 18th Street, which will be closed to general traffic,” APS spokesman Frank Bellavia said. “During the day, there will also be an increase in pedestrian traffic as students leave campus for during the school day.”

The good news is that the 2019-2020 school year marks the end of construction on and around the Heights building.

Cherrydale

H-B Woodlawn and Shriver students used to travel from across the county to attend class in their old school building at 4100 Vacation Lane, now renamed and rebuilt as the Dorothy Hamm Middle School. Now that they’re gone, the middle school students who will take over will be from the neighborhood around the school, and will likely arrive earlier in the morning.

“Now that it is a neighborhood middle school, commuters and residents can expect more students walking to and from school in the early morning hours,” said Bellavia.

The county has taken several steps to keep these neighborhood kids who walk to school safe, including:

  • Adding a traffic light at the school driveway at Old Dominion Drive, and message signs on Old Dominion warning drivers of the new light.
  • Two crossing guards at the intersections of Nelly Custis Drive and Military Road, and Lee Highway and N. Quincy Street and Military Road.
  • Flashing school zone signs on Lorcom Lane, Old Dominion Drive, and Military Road reminding drivers to slow down.

At the “five points” intersection of Military Road, Vacation Lane, and Lorcom Lane near the school, Bellevia says APS worked with the county’s Dept. of Environmental Services to make several changes this year, like:

  • Painting a “high visibility” crosswalk at the intersection of Lorcom Lane and Vacation Lane.
  • Reducing the crossing distance for students at the intersection of Military Road and Vacation Lane by bumping out the curbs, and adding striped crosswalks.
  • Adding a bin with red flags pedestrians can pick up and wave when crossing both intersections — a method the county is also using in Westover.

Arlington Heights 

The new Alice West Fleet Elementary School, where classes start at 9 a.m., is opening on the Thomas Jefferson Middle School campus at 125 S. Old Glebe Road. Middle school classes start at 7:50 a.m.

Because of the varying class start time, Bellavia cautions drivers to watch out for students crossing at 1st Road S. and Old Glebe, and 2nd Street S. and Old Glebe. He also noted that buses will be arriving in the area in the mornings until 9 a.m. and departing in the afternoon until 4 p.m.

APS says drivers can also expect increased Arlington County Police presence in the first month of school, as well as crossing guards to help students cross busy intersections, like 2nd Street S. and Old Glebe. Officers will be enforcing 25 mph school zones speed limits with traffic stops, APS said.

Photo and video via Arlington Public Schools

Arlington Public Library Experimenting with New Express Checkout System

By Airey

(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) Arlington Public Library is experimenting with a new, faster check-out system for popular books in a bid to reduce wait times.

Starting this week, patrons will be able to snag some of the system’s most sought-after books from a “Grab and Go” display near their library’s main circulation desk. These displays will host extra copies of popular books at each library, which patrons can check out with no holds.

“Arlington Public Library routinely sees several titles receive over 500 holds in a given year and in any given month we see 30 titles with over a hundred holds. The Library considers 100 holds as the minimum indicator for a high in demand book,” said APL’s chief materials manager Peter Petruski.

“The new Grab & Go collection increases access to bestselling books and alleviates wait times, but it’s still just scratching the surface of meeting the demand for books in Arlington,” he said.

Digital and print books checked out through the new program cannot be renewed — and thus are not subject to APL’s new automatic renewal policy. Each item can be checked out for a maximum two weeks, and patrons can only check out two of the e-books at a time.

The most popular book right now is “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens, with 495 print holds, 585 e-books holds, and 257 e-audiobook holds. “Becoming” by Michelle Obama also has 97 print holds, 481 ebook holds, and 508 e-audiobook holds.

Library Director Diane Kresh told ARLnow that the Grab and Go project was an “ongoing initiative” that started with multiple copies of 18 print books and 132 digital titles. Staff plans to grow the collection by targeting the items with the most holds and longest wait times.

“Our book collections team adds ‘hot’ new titles as they become available and demand increases,” she said. “We already see a great success with 66% of print and 100% of the eCollection being checked out.”

APL pitched the project earlier this year when requesting a $300,000 collection budget bump after the county previously slashed library funding, causing the library system to cut its digital checkout system Hoopla.

As of today (Tuesday) all of the Grab and Go e-books and e-audiobooks were checked out, according to APL’s online system Overdrive. Library spokesman Henrik Sundqvist said when digital title are available, they will be advertised on the top of the web page or app.

Data via Arlington Public Library

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