A new restaurant could be on the way along Lee Highway, taking the place of the Nook Play Space.
The indoor play area, once located at 5649 Lee Highway in the Leeway-Overlee neighborhood, is picking up and moving to the new Ballston Quarter development.
The space currently sits empty, but it’s unlikely to remain that way for long — a chef at a Turkish restaurant in East Falls Church appears to be eyeing the location for an expansion.
Imam Gozubuyuk has applied for a permit at the location, using the business name “Maya Bistro,” county records show. Gozubuyuk currently cooks up food at the Yayla Bistro, located at 2201 N. Westmoreland Street, with his brother, Abuzer.
Managers at Yayla Bistro did not immediately respond to a request for comment on plans for the Lee Highway space. Maria Vogelei, Nook’s owner, said she didn’t have any information on what might take her business’s place in the small shopping center.
Nook is set to re-open in Ballston Quarter sometime this fall.
Virginia Lawmakers Will Have Final Say on Any Amazon HQ2 Incentives — Should Arlington or anywhere else in Northern Virginia win Amazon’s second headquarters, a panel of administration officials and General Assembly members on the Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission would have the final chance to review the state’s incentive package for HQ2. The commission’s chair says the group has already approved the broad strokes of what Virginia offered Amazon, but would have to approve any changes. [Washington Business Journal]
Arlington Public Schools ‘On Track’ in Teacher Hiring — Superintendent Patrick Murphy says the school system has already managed to hire 300 teachers, who will report to orientation in the coming weeks as the start of classes inches ever closer. [InsideNova]
Podcast Explores Ballston’s History — Before the Metro station and the mall, Ballston was home to “an infamous saloon known as the Bucket of Blood” and a “pro football team known as the Ballston Skulls.” Local historian and journalist Michael Lee Pope explores the neighborhood’s history on the Ballston BID’s podcast. [Twitter]
A closed pedestrian bridge in Lubber Run Park (courtesy of J. Michael Korff)
A closed pedestrian bridge in Lubber Run Park (courtesy of J. Michael Korff)
A bridge for walkers and cyclists in Lubber Run Park is now closed, at least temporarily.
An alert on the county’s website says the bridge, closest to N. George Mason Drive as a trail runs over Lubber Run itself, will be closed “until further notice.”
A tipster first notified ARLnow about the closure on Friday (Aug. 3). County parks spokeswoman Susan Kalish says workers checked on the bridge while doing some park maintenance, and subsequently decided to close it.
“Our crew was concerned with the bridge but they aren’t bridge experts,” Kalish wrote in an email. “They closed the bridge and have scheduled a bridge expert to check it out.”
Kalish expects the county is “erring on the side of caution” with the closure, but she stressed that “safety is our number one concern.”
The county’s posted detour signs for anyone using the trail, and is directing walkers and bicyclists away from the bridge while work continues.
The park, located at 200 N. Columbus Street, was recently the site of a community gathering to pay tribute to the soon-to-be torn down Lubber Run Community Center.
Work on the Washington Blvd bike trail continues (via Arlington County)
Work on the Washington Blvd bike trail continues (via Arlington County)
A map of where the county is adding a bike trail along Washington Blvd (via Arlington County)
Work is speeding ahead on a new bike trail running alongside Washington Blvd as it meets I-395, with construction set to wrap up this fall.
The county has spent close to a year constructing a new 10-foot-wide trail as the road runs between Towers Park (801 S. Scott Street) and 2nd Street S. in Penrose, in a bid to provide more seamless access for cyclists and pedestrians to a previously constructed trail between Arlington Blvd and Walter Reed Drive.
Over the course of the last month, the county says workers have finished “two sections of retaining wall” and the “installation of the abutments for the bridge over the Doctor’s Run stream,” as well as the construction of some storm drains.
Now, work will shift onto property owned by the U.S. Navy at 701 S. Courthouse Road, just near Towers Park, as workers install the trail’s stone and asphalt base.
The county hopes to have work wrapped up by sometime in the “late fall.” In the meantime, some construction will continue along Washington Blvd. More details from the county’s website:
Work hours are Monday through Friday, 9 am to 3 pm.
Night work is expected throughout the project and will take place between 10 pm and 5 am (these hours will occasionally be extended).
Partial lane closures will be in place at night, reducing traffic on Washington Boulevard to one lane in the southbound direction. There will be no impacts to northbound traffic.
Arlington has one of the “healthiest” housing markets in the country thanks to a stable supply of affordable homes, according to a new study.
The financial research firm SmartAsset ranked the county first in Virginia and 24th in the nation in a new evaluation of the country’s largest housing markets.
Arlington earned those high marks based on four factors the firm considered in weighing whether homeowners can easily sell their homes with a low risk of losing money: stability, affordability, fluidity and risk of loss. SmartAsset found the county performed best when it came to demand for homes, based on how long the average house stayed on the market — Arlington homes are available for an average of 41.9 days, well below the national average of 52.5 days.
The firm also found that home costs tend to take up about 20.1 percent of the average Arlington homeowner’s income, a touch below the national average of 22 percent, which also helped the county score well in these rankings. However, Arlington’s high income levels surely impacted that statistic.
SmartAsset also determined that just 10.9 percent of county homeowners have negative equity on their homes, increasing the risk of foreclosure, another statistic below the national average.
Arlingtonians stay in their homes for an average of 11.3 years, below both the state and national averages, lending some fluidity to the market as well.
The one factor where the county scored poorly compared to some of its peers is the percentage of homes decreasing in value — 22.2 percent of Arlington’s homes are dropping in value at the moment, compared to 13.8 percent nationally.
Overall, SmartAsset ranked Buffalo, New York; Fremont, California; and Colorado Springs, Colorado as the top three healthiest markets nationwide.
A rendering of changes along N. Pershing Drive as it runs up to N. Barton Street (via Arlington County)
A rendering of changes along N. Pershing Drive as it runs up to N. Barton Street (via Arlington County)
A rendering of the planned relocation of a Capital Bikeshare station on 7th Street N. (via Arlington County)
Arlington is gearing up to test some protected bike lanes and pedestrian safety features along a heavily trafficked stretch of N. Pershing Drive in Lyon Park.
The county plans to install the new “safety and accessibility improvements” on the road between Washington Blvd and N. Barton Street in the coming weeks, as part of some previously scheduled summer paving work in the area. Mainly, the construction will focus on adding protected bike lanes alongside some new landscaping designed to better separate cars from pedestrians.
Transportation planners have been studying the road for potential improvements since last summer, over concerns that Pershing can be challenging for cyclists and pedestrians alike along the road as it leads up to Route 50. While the county hopes to eventually make the changes permanent, Arlington’s gloomy financial picture means that officials will merely be testing out the new features over the next few years as “a cost-effective opportunity to implement improvements early,” according to the county’s website.
Workers also plan to relocate the Capital Bikeshare station in the area once the paving work gets going. The station currently sits along 7th Street N., but the county is planning to move it up the block a bit to where the road intersects with Washington Blvd, adjacent to a gas station in the area.
County transportation spokesman Eric Balliet says that work will likely start sometime in September, noting “we don’t have an exact timeframe yet.”
Someday, the county plans to add pedestrian safety and bus stop accessibility improvements at intersections all along Pershing as it runs to meet N. Glebe Road. However, those projects are on hold until the county can come up with a bit more funding.
Arlington Has Some of the Oldest First-Time Mothers Nationwide — A new analysis suggests that the average Arlingtonian mother has her first child at 31, putting the county sixth in the nation in terms of the oldest average age. Falls Church ranks fourth. [New York Times]
School Board Approves Final Reed School Design — After reviewing plans last month, school leaders have signed off on new schematics for an elementary school in Westover. [InsideNova]
Arlington Planetarium Faces Temporary Closure — The facility could be closed for a year or more in 2020-2021, as the school system renovates the Education Center to allow for more high school seats. [InsideNova]
Pentagon City Rescue — Firefighters rescued an injured worker from a rooftop near the 400 block of 11th Street S. The worker suffered non-life threatening injuries. [Twitter]
Pentagon Set to Ban Fitness Trackers — Military and other DoD personnel soon won’t be able to take their Fitbits onto bases or other secure facilities, or even use step-tracking apps or other GPS functions on their phones. [WTOP]
Back to School at Barcroft Elementary — The school welcomed students and teachers back to class Monday (Aug. 7). Barcroft offers a “modified” calendar, reducing the summer break but not eliminating it. [Twitter, Twitter]
Commuters looking to learn more about local transportation options can swing by a block party along Columbia Pike tomorrow night (Tuesday).
Arlington Transportation Partners is hosting its second “Our Shared Street Pop-Up” event on a closed street at the intersection of S. Oakland Street and Columbia Pike, just across from the Oakland Apartments.
The event is designed to connect people to county transportation resources like Walk Arlington and Bike Arlington, in addition to a host of private options as well. Notably, this year’s gathering will feature dockless electric scooter companies Bird and Lime — the former has already started operating in Arlington, while the latter is very much eyeing the county for expansion.
Lime will also be offering its dockless bikes for riders to try, and Capital Bikeshare will be on hand as well to show off its wares to potential customers. The event will also feature games, giveaways and free food from local restaurants.
The party will start at 5 p.m. Tuesday night, and the county has a list of frequently asked questions about the event on its website.
Roughly 20 vehicles were damaged across a series of Pentagon City and Crystal City neighborhoods on Friday (Aug. 3), marking the second time in the last month thieves have struck the area.
Arlington County police believe “the windows of approximately 20 vehicles were smashed and airbags stolen” across the area sometime on Friday night, according to a crime report.
They add that the thieves stole the tires and rims off two of those vehicles. In all, police believe the incidents occurred on the following streets:
500 block of 15th Street S.
1500 block of S. Arlington Ridge Road
1100 block of Army Navy Drive
1200 block of S. Eads Street
1600 block of S. Eads Street
1900 block of S. Eads Street
1100 block of S. Joyce Street
1600 block of S. Joyce Street
Thieves damaged approximately 35 vehicles on some of the same sections of S. Joyce Street and S. Eads Street in early July. Many residents of the RiverHouse Apartments reported having their cars damaged at the time.
More details from an Arlington County crime report:
LARCENY FROM AUTO (Series), 2018-08030320/08030326/08040004/08040022/08040012/08040076/08040098/08040110/08040191, 1200 block of S. Eads Street/1100 block of S. Joyce Street/1600 block of S. Joyce Street/1900 block of S. Eads Street/1500 block of S. Arlington Ridge Road/500 block of 15th Street S./1600 block of S. Eads Street/1100 block of Army Navy Drive. At approximately 11:00 p.m. on August 3, police began responding to the above locations for multiple reports of larcenies from auto. Upon arrival, it was determined that the windows of approximately 20 vehicles were smashed and airbags stolen. During the course of the investigation, it was also determined that two vehicles each had a set of four tires and rims stolen. The investigation is ongoing.
Burger District, located at 2024 Wilson Blvd, held its grand opening on Friday (Aug. 3), taking the place of Basic Burger, which closed up shop at the location last month in order to expand elsewhere.
The new burger eatery is offering a free drink with any meal, through next Monday (Aug. 13) to lure in customers. The restaurant’s menu includes wings, shakes and hot dogs, in addition to burgers.
Burger District also currently has a state license to sell beer and wine, according to restaurant staff, with plans to eventually offer a full bar.
The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days.
County Board Chair Katie Cristol (middle) meets with striking Didlake workers in June. (via @kcristol)
Workers at the Army National Guard Readiness Center picket the facility (courtesy of LIUNA)
Workers at the Army National Guard Readiness Center picket the facility (courtesy of LIUNA)
Arlington Democrats are throwing their support behind a group of workers with disabilities who have spent the last few months on strike, demanding the chance to unionize.
The county’s Democratic Committee voted Wednesday (Aug. 1) to urge Didlake, a Manassas nonprofit who employees the workers, to “respect the rights of its workers” at the Army National Guard Readiness Center on S. George Mason Drive and recognize that they’ve repeatedly voted to form a union.
“We feel the Democratic Party should support labor, and this was happening right here in Arlington, so we wanted to take a stand,” committee chair Jill Caiazzo told ARLnow. “It was not a tough call… and hopefully this will focus more attention on it and keep the drumbeat up. This issue is not going away.”
Roughly a dozen Didlake employees, who provide maintenance and custodial services at the center, walked off the job in late May, arguing that they have the right to unionize and negotiate with the company to somehow bring down soaring healthcare costs. But Didlake claims that, because the company only employs the workers through a federal program designed to help disabled people find jobs, they don’t have the same ability to unionize as other workers.
The dispute has made it to the National Labor Relations Board, where officials have twice ruled that the company should recognize the group’s union, organized with the help of a branch of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. Yet Didlake has repeatedly appealed the NLRB’s rulings, and its executives say they’re waiting on a final decision from the body before weighing their next steps on the matter.
“What we’re most concerned about is not being able to help our people with disabilities if the union comes between us and them,” Didlake CEO Donna Hollis said in a video statement released July 11. “We’ve been silent on this issue for too long… We care tremendously about our employees and want to make sure they’re not losing access to government funded programs and services.”
The company expects a final NLRB ruling before the end of the year. In the meantime, company spokeswoman Erika Spalding told ARLnow that Didlake has “had to hire temporary employees to fill the gaps” left by the striking workers.
“We agree that the wages and costs of healthcare can be improved for our employees,” Hollis said. “But we need more funding to serve more people”
Regardless of the company’s financial situation, workers argue that they’ve long been underpaid and had to cope with rising healthcare costs on low salaries. Some say they earn less than $13 an hour, and none of the striking workers make as much as $15 an hour, factors noted by the ACDC in its resolution supporting the workers.
They believe a union could help at least get the two sides talking to hash out these issues. But, for now, it seems the company and its workers will stay at an impasse.
“We are very constrained by the legal requirements around this so we are unable to communicate with our own employees around this issue,” Spalding said. “It would be construed as interfering with the employees’ rights to organize.”
