Author: Brandi Bottalico

VDOT unveils concepts for pedestrian, cyclist crossings along a lowered Route 1

By Brandi Bottalico
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VDOT is not turning back on its recommendation to lower the elevated parts of Route 1 in Crystal City, but it is considering new options for separated pedestrian and bike crossings near the Metro station.

The state transportation agency on Thursday provided an update on Phase 2 of its study, which is focused on how to make the “urban boulevard” vision for Route 1 from 12th Street S. to 23rd Street S. a reality.

VDOT unveiled concepts for alternatives to a street-level pedestrian crossing at 18th Street after its recommendation to lower elevated portions of Route 1 drew ire from the community for prioritizing cars over pedestrians.

Four alternatives to the at-grade pedestrian crosswalks at 18th Street S. were presented, including a pedestrian bridge; a more gradual, bicycle-friendly bridge; a tunnel; or an underpass.

While the options incorporate some public feedback, including the tunnel proposed by community group Livability 22202, the state is focused on finding a way to make the at-grade roadway work.

“Everything that happens in the Phase 2 study is really looking from that lens of having made that recommendation already and Phase 2 is really geared towards figuring out the details of how to make that recommendation from Phase 1 work,” said Dan Reinhard, VDOT’s lead project manager for the project.

The first phase of VDOT’s study recommended the elevated portions over 12th, 15th and 18th streets be lowered and Phase 2 examines the feasibility of doing that, what traffic in the area looks like and strategies to reduce vehicular traffic.

A table shows benefits and disadvantages to each of the pedestrian and cyclist options for the Route 1 and 23rd Street S. intersection (via VDOT)

The first alternative to at-grade crossings is a 12-foot-wide pedestrian bridge with stairs and an elevator option. VDOT estimates this would cost $15 million.

The second bridge alternative, at an estimated $32 million, would add more gradual entry points for cyclists on 18th Street S. This option could link with a multimodal trail that the county plans to build near the Crystal City Metro station, said John Martin, with engineering consulting firm Kimley-Horn.

The third concept, a tunnel under Route 1, was informed by Livability 22202, a coalition of the Arlington Ridge, Aurora Highlands, and Crystal City civic associations. The estimated $43 million tunnel would accommodate both bicyclists and pedestrians, connecting them to the Crystal City shops and the Metro.

The final alternative is a 12-foot-wide pedestrian and bicycle underpass. In coordination with building owners of the plaza at the corner of Route 1 and 18th Street S., the tunnel could feature a public space at its east entry. An underpass is estimated to cost between $9 million and $14 million.

VDOT also presented two options to ease navigation of the sometimes chaotic 23rd Street S. intersection.

At 23rd Street S., VDOT imagines windening pedestrian spaces and medians, removing one southbound left turn lane and allowing through traffic in the northbound right turn lane. A second option would also add bike lanes on the west side of 23rd Street S.

A chart of options for improving the Route 1 intersection with 23rd Street S. (via VDOT)

A second public meeting is expected in mid to late June, which will workshop the curb elements of street design and discuss potential relocation of 18th Street bus stops.

A third will be held in September or October and discuss ways to reduce vehicle volumes through Transportation Demand Management strategies. A final meeting will review the findings and recommendations.

County Board approves $20,000 pay raise for itself with new budget

By Brandi Bottalico
The Arlington County Board discusses the budget at a meeting (via Arlington County)

In addition to approving a new county budget Tuesday night, the Arlington County Board also approved a $20,000 pay raise for each of its members.

Board Chair Katie Cristol said she’s uncomfortable voting on her own salary, but nonetheless in the approved budget her salary as this year’s Chair will increase from $63,413 to $83,413.

“I think what ultimately has persuaded me to support this idea is sort of depersonalizing it and the recognition that it’s actually not about my salary, it’s about a Board member’s salary,” she said.

Cristol and Board member Libby Garvey pointed out that the increases make the positions more competitive. Higher salaries — the salary for a Board member is increasing from $57,648 to $77,648 — will make members less dependent on high-earning spouses or other sources of supplemental income like consulting jobs.

“I’ve talked to far too many people who, I think, would make great County Board members and they tell me, ‘I simply can’t afford to do it,'” Garvey said. “So I’m hoping this is going to be a step in the right direction to make it, I think, actually more democratic, better representation.”

The set salaries remain below the cap set by the Board in 2019 — $95,734 for the Chair and $89,851 for members.

The Board can only raise the salary cap in the year that two board members are up for reelection, which will next happen in 2023, when Cristol and Christian Dorsey are up for reelection.

After a community survey a few years ago on the compensation of Board members, the Board came to the general consensus that it would be appropriate for members to earn a salary equivalent to the area median income for a one-member household, Cristol said. The pay raise just approved will not reach that level, but will get closer to it.

“I believe that was the benchmark, the idea there being that Board members ought to make not more than the average Arlingtonian, but not less either,” she said. “So this would get us I think about half of the way there. I believe this roughly shakes out to about a Board member making 80% of the area median income for a household of one.”

De Ferranti said that a seat on the Board, while originally intended as a part-time position, is effectively a full-time job and ought to be paid as such.

“My view is that for a locality that is approaching 240,000 people, the job of being a Board member is a full-time job,” he said. “There’s been some analysis in the past as to the number of hours, sometimes it’s 50 or 60 hours per week and sometimes it’s 35 but I think this is a full-time job.”

Member Takis Karantonis said he’s struggled with juggling the amount of work that comes with the County Board and his other work. He has had to excuse himself from certain votes, which can be uncomfortable, he said.

“This is really not helpful. It is not helpful for the Board as a whole, it is not helpful for the way this body works, it is not helpful for anybody,” he said.

Dorsey said he didn’t want any part of this issue when it came up while he was chair in 2019 — he was in the midst of personal financial troubles that would later lead to a bankruptcy filing and accusations of unethical behavior related to political donations. He said he supports the raise now because public servants should be valued for their work.

Dorsey thanked Garvey for “pressing the cause.”

“When we do the public’s business, we cannot do that effectively without really good public servants and, you know, for far too long, public servants compared to their private sector counterparts make sacrifices that often go underappreciated,” he said.

The pay raise will take effect with the county’s new Fiscal Year 2023 budget on July 1.

Oakridge Elementary students to cheer on Capitals ahead of playoffs

By Brandi Bottalico
Capitals practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex (via Monumental Sports and Entertainment)

Oakridge Elementary will get to cheer on the Washington Capitals heading into the playoffs.

More than 280 third through fifth grade students will participate in a pep rally at the Arlington Ridge school tomorrow (Friday), just days before teams begin facing off for the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The event, dubbed “Soar to the Playoffs,” is being organized by the Caps and sponsored by Boeing, which has its D.C. headquarters in nearby Crystal City. The event will run from noon to 1 p.m. and feature street hockey, as well as an appearance from Caps mascot Slapshot.

As the season winds down and playoff matchups are firming up, there’s news swirling around Alexander Ovechkin’s injury and ability to start in the playoffs. He sat out of Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders. The team is set to play the Islanders again tonight at 7 p.m. on Long Island.

Precinct changes are coming ahead of primary, general elections

By Brandi Bottalico
Polling place sign outside Madison Community Center (file photo)

Arlington voters may notice a some changes on their voter cards this year.

The precinct name and the number that you’re used to seeing will be standardized.

Currently, precincts are named after various things — neighborhoods, streets, buildings, etc. In Waycroft-Woodlawn, it is named after the neighborhood  — 024 Woodlawn. The polling place is at the Glebe School on Glebe Road. However, there’s another precinct named 030 Glebe a couple of miles away, with a polling place at Drew Elementary on 23rd Street S. in Green Valley.

The 54 voting precincts are currently numbered with a one or two-digit number — albeit starting with one or two zeros — which will change to a three-digit number beginning at 101. So Precinct 1, will now be 101 and Precinct 54 would be Precinct 154, etc.

“The State requires a 3-digit number,” notes a report to the County Board, adding: “Precincts have been named after neighborhoods, facilities, and streets where they are located. All have proved problematic.”

The solution proposed by county staff is to switch that first leading zero to a one, while also eliminating the confusing names.

The new name for Woodlawn will be simply “Precinct 124,” while the Glebe precinct will become “Precinct 130.”

“The Arlington County Electoral Board and General Registrar hope the renaming and renumbering of precincts will help create a more seamless voting experience for Arlington County residents,” said Tania Griffin, community and outreach coordinator for the county’s Office of Voter Registration & Elections.

The request has to go to the state attorney general for approval, which can take up to 60 days, but changes will be made in time for the June 21 primary election.

The County Board voted to request these changes at its meeting on Saturday.

There were also some run-of-the-mill location changes for polling centers, approved by the Board ahead of the upcoming election. Voters in the Lexington 31, Overlee Knolls 17 and Buckingham 45 precincts may want to note the new locations below.

  • Precinct 117 (currently “Overlee Knolls”) will move from Resurrection Lutheran Church to Cardinal School, 1644 N. McKinley Road.
  • Precinct 131 (currently “Lexington”) will move from Lee Community Center, which closed indefinitely, to Westover Library at 1644 N. McKinley Road.
  • Precinct 145 (currently “Buckingham”) will move from Barrett Elementary to the Lubber Run Community Center at 300 N. Park Drive.

Redistricting, meanwhile, could bring other precinct changes to the general election in November. The Arlington View precinct along Columbia Pike was split between the 2nd and 3rd House of Delegates districts and each must be in a single district.

The elections office has proposed three options to remedy the problem: Redraw the boundaries of precincts 10, 15, and 38; request a waiver to have a split precinct; or create an entirely new precinct.

The changes will not affect the June primary.

“We continue to get feedback from the community and options will be presented to the County Board before the November election,” Griffin said.

Arlington startup rides health care data, cost-control waves

By Brandi Bottalico

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.

There are two “waves” one Arlington analytics company is riding: the health care industry’s inefficient use of data and the need for the U.S. to get a handle on health care costs.

Virginia Square-based CareJourney was founded in 2014 and uses data analytics to help organizations understand their customers and efficiently grow as the industry focuses more on keeping people healthy rather than just treating ailments.

CareJourney started as a service advisory business, so it was providing management consulting to the first few customers, CEO Dan Ross said.

“Pretty soon we figured out that we were sending some of the same things to each customer and so it was kind of a hint that we were on to something that could be repeatable software,” he said. “And so one of the first things we did, you know, in about three, two years in, was to start to pivot into a software business.”

The CareJourney team (courtesy of CareJourney)

CareJourney has about 120 customers, including health care organizations and providers. Ross said the company’s growth has been fast, adding about 10 to 15 customers every quarter since it began focusing on software in 2017.

And last year, CareJourney began partnering with other companies as well. It recently announced a new partnership with Credo Health, which automates digital medical record retrieval. The partnership allows clients to grow more efficiently and manage care for an increasing number of patients.

“When you put the two pieces of technology together, in our case, our data with their software, it just allows their end customers to do more than they would have been able to do just with the Credo software,” Ross said.

CareJourney has about five partners similarly incorporating the CareJourney data into their services.

Ross attributes the company’s success to its hyper-focus on solving customers’ problems, and its hiring, developing and coaching employees, as well as building a good culture. He said it has about 100 full-time employees, mostly in the D.C. area.

When CareJourney was started, its founders — Ross, Aneesh Chopra and Sanju Bansal — lived locally and had already started other businesses in the area, so Arlington was a natural choice to locate the new company.

“We expected to be hiring a lot of tech-oriented people… Arlington is like one of the hotbeds locally of places to start and have a tech business,” Ross said. “So it’s kind of an easy choice, nearby and sensible.”

Ross said to start a high growth business, a company needs to be in an important and large space and “riding some waves.”

“The adoption of analytics, technology in health care, and also this like screaming need for more efficiency are two big waves that we ride,” he said.

As the health care industry increasingly transitions to focus on incentivizing health systems to keep people healthy — called value-based care — versus treating them for illness and ailments, the need for data analytics is also growing.

“The whole point of value-based care is not to pay for when someone’s sick, whatever that is, but instead to flip the incentives around and incent the health care delivery system to take care of patients, whether or not they are sick,” Ross said.

One example is when using CareJourney’s data, one of its clients noticed a high number of hospital admissions over a month or two stemming from a similar condition.

“And so using our data, they were able to go back and look and say ‘oh, well, people who hadn’t seen a urologist — as this is in the senior population — had this, like, unusually high rate of hospital admissions from UTIs,'” Ross said.

So the client implemented a urologist screening, and the data showed that it prevented hospital admissions.

“When you keep somebody out of the hospital, that’s just a huge win in health care,” Ross said. “That’s probably the number one thing we can do, is just, in general, keep people out of the hospital.”

County Board unanimously approves Phase 2 of Amazon’s HQ2

By Brandi Bottalico
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Phase 2 of Amazon’s HQ2, including the signature “Helix” building, is a go.

The County Board unanimously approved the plans on the long-vacant PenPlace site in Pentagon City at its meeting on Saturday.

The plans incorporate 3.2 million square feet of office space and about 94,500 square feet of retail on what County Planner Peter Schulz described as the last undeveloped site in Pentagon City.

Amazon plans to build three, 22-story office buildings, three retail pavilions, and its spiral-shaped office building The Helix, on a block bounded by S. Eads Street, 12th Street S., Army Navy Drive and S. Fern Street. The site will also accommodate 2.75 acres of public park, a permanent home for Arlington Community High School, a childcare center and a multi-level underground garage.

The tech giant earned about 1.7 million square feet in bonus density for commitments to sustainable design — among them, powering the buildings with on-site solar panels and electricity from solar farms elsewhere in Virginia — a $30 million affordable housing contribution, public open space and maintenance, off-site transportation improvements and other additions like the school.

Almost two dozen people commented on the plan during the County Board meeting, mostly in support of PenPlace and Amazon’s work with the community during the review process. But a handful had concerns, some questioning whether, given the high density approved, the company should provide more to Arlington.

Community group Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future called on the County Board to secure additional benefits, requesting Amazon also fund an elementary school and at least one additional environmental equity and transportation benefit. ASF advocates for measured development in Arlington.

But Board Vice Chair Christian Dorsey rejected how the group calculated numbers it published that assigned values to benefits and to density. He said ASF also didn’t account for macroeconomic benefits, a greater return on the affordable housing investment and other considerations.

“This is a complex conversation. We don’t expect that everyone would fully get and absorb this, that’s why I am happy to engage with people on it,” he said. “But it also kind of underscores why we don’t have these conversations fully in the public.”

Anne Bodine, who was representing ASF, said the county should share the value of density and its calculations.

“Please don’t tell us that you know its value and we can’t,” she said during public comment.

Feedback over the last year of community engagement on the project changed aspects of the development, including adding more green space and other features such as a “green ribbon,” which is a biophilic walking path.

Over the engagement period, the planned size of some buildings shrunk, allowing more space for the public park and increasing the tree canopy.

A graphic shows increases in the amount of planned space for greenery that were incorporated after community feedback (via Arlington County)

Board Chair Katie Cristol applauded the project’s consideration that put the public space “front and center” rather than it being an afterthought just using what’s left over after buildings were accounted for.

Board Member Takis Karantonis said he would have liked the green ribbon to be less linear, and to get a protected bike lane on 12th Street, although he recognized technical constraints.

(more…)

Most-read Arlington stories of the week: April 18-22

By Brandi Bottalico
“Sheriff” looks around for friends at the dog park at Arlington Gateway Park in Rosslyn (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Happy Earth Day!

In addition to the Earth Day Every Day Festival this weekend, there are several cleanups and recycling events to get your green points, including at Bon Air Park from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday and on the W&OD Trail from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Now, here are the most-read Arlington articles of the past week.

  1. Several large, public events will prompt road closures in Arlington this weekend
  2. Arlington man builds rest area for weary walkers and cyclists atop steep hill
  3. Balloons caused large power outage in Arlington
  4. Farmbird in Ballston is closed and it’s unclear whether it will reopen
  5. The $15 million ​​Jennie Dean Park renovation is almost complete
  6. UnCommon Luncheonette in Clarendon preparing to open next week, sans dinner
  7. Animal control investigating after crow shot with blow dart in Fairlington
  8. Meet two of Arlington’s first female Eagle Scouts
  9. Another $140,000 is needed for Gunston Bubble project due to ‘unsuitable soil conditions’
  10. Morning Poll: Mask mandate dropped on Metro, flights

Feel free to discuss these stories or anything else of local interest in the comments. Enjoy the weekend, Arlington!

An Arlington affordable homeownership program is small, but looking to grow

By Brandi Bottalico
A rendering of the development at 2000 Clarendon Blvd (file photo)

While there are thousands of affordable housing units in Arlington, there’s a smaller, unique portfolio under the county’s purview.

Homes that are part of the county’s Affordable Dwelling Unit Ownership Program are the only dedicated affordable housing in Arlington that residents can own, as opposed to rent.

In 2017, the county took over the program, which only had about 40 units at the time, from affordable housing provider AHC. Since then, the county has added about 20 units as condominium projects have incorporated income-restricted units into their plans.

The current stock of 59 units is made up of mostly — about 47 or 48 — condos, a few duplexes, two townhomes, and two single-family homes, county Homeownership Program Administrator Akeria Brown tells ARLnow.

These units are for households that meet a 80% area median income which, according to stats released by HUD on Monday, is about $113,000 in annual income for a household of four.

The owners still have to meet the same criteria and go through the same traditional mortgage process to purchase an affordable dwelling unit. The county oversight is only in ensuring the unit remains affordable through sales and resale, and assisting owners when needed, such as for refinancing.

“We don’t typically see a lot of sales,” Brown said. “Households tend to get in these units and they stay for a myriad of reasons.”

One of the homes that was in the program prior to the county’s administration is in the process of being sold. The home at 2900 17th Street S., in the Green Valley neighborhood, is only the second of that original portfolio from AHC to go for resale since the county took control in 2017. It is located in the only all-affordable, resident-owned housing in the county: Davis Place Condominiums.

There have been new affordable housing sales, however, through agreements with the developers of Carver Place, Key & Nash and soon from 2000 Clarendon. When new construction affordable units like these become available, buyers are selected through a random lottery.

The county is always looking to add to its stock, but Brown says they particularly wish for greater availability of family-sized units.

“We would like to get family-sized units, two or three bedrooms… so households that have that goal, are really hoping that we would be able to secure those large units in our portfolio,” Brown said.

Richard Tucker, Housing Arlington coordinator, agreed that there is a general lack of availability of those sized units. He noted that when developers don’t incorporate affordable units into their projects, and instead provide financial contributions toward the Affordable Housing Investment Fund, that money typically goes toward affordable rental programs.

The county intends to complete a homeownership study in the next year to determine what’s working and best practices to explore directions for the various homeownership programs. As part of that study, an assessment of the affordable dwelling unit portfolio will look at the “sustainability and viability of that housing stock and to identify whether additional support to these homeowners is needed,” according to a report released in March.

“There’s a need we feel to have some analysis, or some review, of what our programs are doing, how well they’re performing and who’s being served and then looking at, you know, taking a step back and having the conversation with the community about vision and goals,” Tucker said.

In addition to overseeing the portfolio of affordable units that are owned, the county also has resources for home ownership such as the Moderate-Income Purchase Assistance Program, which provides down payment assistance, and the Condo Initiative, which provides technical assistance and information to condo owners.

As part of the effort to address the lack of affordable housing, the county created the Affordable Housing Master Plan in 2015. Each year, an annual report provides an overview of what the county has done to reach affordable housing goals set out in that plan.

Report examines higher food insecurity rates in portions of Arlington

By Brandi Bottalico
Donations at the Arlington Food Assistance Center (photo via Facebook)

An estimated 7.8% of Arlington households experienced food insecurity in 2019, according to a new report.

The report, completed by Urban Institute in partnership with Arlington County Food Security Task Force, provides a snapshot of the financial and food challenges for Arlington households, including in otherwise pricey parts of town like Crystal City and Pentagon City.

“Despite the area’s reputation as wealthy and well-resourced, more than 6,700 of the county’s 108,604 households were referred to the Arlington Food Assistance Center in 2021, signaling that this abundance is not shared by all residents,” the report says.

The report made many recommendations to the county, including to incentivize affordable grocers, offer gas cards, subsidize public transportation, expand SNAP outreach, provide grocery gift cards, subsidize or waive grocery delivery fees for SNAP participants, and open more free food distribution sites in higher need areas.

The study, conducted last year and released this month, indicated food insecurity rates were higher particularly in the Glencarlyn, Buckingham, Ashton Heights, Pentagon City, Crystal City, Forest Glen, Arlington Mill neighborhoods.

A map shows concentrations of food insecurity in parts of Arlington (via Arlington County)

“We surveyed residents living in four neighborhoods with the highest food insecurity rates (from 13.3 to 14.6 percent) in the county and found that residents were more likely to rent their homes and have low incomes, and 17 percent were Social Security beneficiaries, which suggests they are living on a fixed income,” the report says.

For residents experiencing food insecurity, budgets for food were often the first to be cut in order to pay bills like rent and utilities. Some of the factors affecting the ability to buy food included the local food environment, labor market, transportation, housing, child care and debt.

Food accessibility

The study considered grocery store or other non-convenience retail food locations accessible if they were within 40 minutes of roundtrip travel. Such stores were accessible to most residents, even those that lived in neighborhoods with high estimated food insecurity rates.

But residents that were surveyed prioritized groceries’ cost when determining where to shop, making it more challenging to afford healthy food.

“Residents reported some challenges in paying for groceries, especially meat, as the cost of food increased 6.3 percent (and 14.8 percent for meat) between December 2020 and December 2021,” the report said.

Those who were food insecure were more likely to walk, get a ride or use Metro to get groceries than those who were food secure and likely own a car. About half of the residents experiencing food insecurity during the survey used free groceries or meals, according to the report, and most of those residents said they accessed those resources one to three times each month.

While the Crystal City and Pentagon City areas had relatively high estimated food insecurity rates compared with the rest of the county, they had low access to existing charitable food resources.

Food insecurity disproportionately affects Black, Hispanic, and Asian households in Arlington, according to the report. Asian households with low incomes, of which there was a concentration in the Crystal City area, had to travel farther to access charitable food sites, compared with Black and Hispanic households.

Arlington County says it’s reviewing the report.

“The Food Security Task Force is reviewing findings and recommendations from the study, and will consider investments where Arlington County could build on its strengths and address residents’ concerns and barriers,” a newsletter from Arlington Department of Human Services said.

Several large, public events will prompt road closures in Arlington this weekend

By Brandi Bottalico
Arlington Festival Of The Arts crowd shot from 2016 (Courtesy Howard Alan Events)

If you like the arts, 5Ks or family- and earth-friendly events, Arlington is the place to be this weekend.

Three separate events in the county will make it bit harder to get around by car.

The Arlington Festival of the Arts will take pace on Saturday and Sunday (April 23-24), shutting down several roads in the Clarendon area. The outdoor event offers art for display and sale over several blocks, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

The Arlington County Police Department announced the following road closures for the event.

The following roads will be closed from approximately 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 23 through 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 24:

  • N. Highland Street will be closed from Wilson Boulevard to 13th Street N. Local traffic will be allowed to access the public parking garage to 3033 Wilson Blvd.
  • N. Hartford Street will be closed from N. Highland Street to 13th Street N. Local traffic will be able to access the parking garage for 1210 N. Highland Street.
  • The alleyway between N. Herndon Street and N. Hartford Street will be closed at N. Hartford Street

Meanwhile, starting at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, the Bunny Hop 5k Race will close streets in the Ashton Heights and Lyon Park neighborhoods. The race kicks off at 8 a.m. and involves the following road closures, according to ACPD.

The following roadways will be closed in order to accommodate the event:

From approximately 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

  • N. Irving Street, between 7th Street N. and 5th Street N.

From approximately 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

  • N. Irving Street, between 2nd Road N. and 5th Street N.
  • N. Pershing Drive, between N. Piedmont Street and N. Edgewood Street
  • N. Fillmore Street, between 3rd Street N. and Pershing Drive
  • N. Garfield Street, between Pershing Drive and 3rd Street N.
  • 4th Street N., between N. Fillmore Street and N. Garfield Street
  • 2nd Road N., between N. Irving Street and the Columbia Gardens Cemetery

A portion of the course winds through the Columbia Gardens Cemetery.  The Cemetery will be closed to vehicular traffic and have a delayed opening at 10:00 a.m.

Finally, on Sunday, the 2022 Earth Day Every Day Festival will be held off Langston Blvd in front of the Lee Heights Shops. The event will include various family activities, live music, sidewalk sales, food and drink specials, and its own art market.

“Let’s come together as a community to celebrate the beauty and promise of our local environment and the planet,” says the website for the Earth Day event. “Every year, communities worldwide uplift Earth Day to mark the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. It reminds us all to do what we can, in ways small and significant, restore, conserve and protect our environment.”

From ACPD:

The 2022 Earth Day Every Day Festival will take place on Sunday, April 24, 2022 and will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The following roadways will be closed from approximately 8:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. in order to accommodate the festival:

  • Cherry Hill Road, between N. Woodstock Street and N. Woodrow Street
  • Northbound N. Woodrow Street, between 20th Road N. and Cherry Hill Road will be restricted to local traffic only

Additional Information

Community members should expect to see an increased police presence in the area around these events, and motorists are urged to follow law enforcement direction, be mindful of closures, and remain alert for increased pedestrian traffic. Additional closures not mentioned above may be implemented at police discretion in the interest of public safety.

Residents of the affected neighborhood areas will be escorted through the road closures to minimize the impacts on the community, only when safe to do so. Motorists should be on the lookout for temporary “No parking” signs, as street parking in the area around these events will be limited. Illegally parked vehicles may be ticketed or towed. If your vehicle is towed from a public street, call the Emergency Communications Center at 703-558-2222.

County to consider $1 surcharge for taxi trips, allowing older vehicles

By Brandi Bottalico
Taxi drivers protest Uber and Lyft with road slowdown in Courthouse in 2014 (file photo)

The Arlington County Board is considering two changes to help alleviate challenges facing the local taxicab industry.

The Board will consider allowing taxi companies to charge customers a temporary $1 fee due to rising gas prices. At the same time, it will separately consider increasing the number of years a vehicle may be used as a taxi.

Both items before the Board could go to a vote on May 14, dependant on a vote to advertise that date at this Saturday’s meeting.

If approved, the $1 surcharge per trip could be implemented for the six months between June 1 through Nov. 30, 2022.

“Gas prices have increased in the past year and substantially within the past month due to global unrest and macroeconomic factors,” according to a county report. “This is increasing operating costs for taxicab drivers.”

The county sets the fare rate for cabs on a biennial basis but the next analysis of the rate isn’t until 2023. But out-of-cycle amendments can be made with County Board approval.

The last time the rate was set, in 2016, it cost $3 for the start of the trip and $2.16 per mile after that, according to the report. Since, gas prices have risen to around $4.50 per gallon in the D.C. area. Other jurisdictions have enacted similar surcharges, with the District implementing a $1 surcharge for 120 days, and Fairfax County doing the same for two months ending June 11.

A graph shows the rising gas prices over the last year (via Arlington County)

The County Board is also looking to increase the maximum age of taxi vehicles, which is currently capped at 10 years. The age cap change would depend on the type of vehicle.

From a report to the County Board:

  • Increase the maximum model-year age for service from ten (10) years to twelve (12) years for gasoline-only powered non-wheelchair accessible vehicles;
  • Increase the maximum model-year age for service from ten (10) years to fifteen (15) years for wheelchair accessible vehicles; and
  • Increase the maximum model-year age for service from ten (10) years to fifteen (15) years for hybrid, plug-in hybrid and/or electric vehicles.

If you’ve noticed fewer taxicabs on the road in Arlington, it’s not just your imagination.

Facing continued competition from companies like Uber and Lyft, the number of taxis authorized to operate in the county has decreased to 477 from 847 in 2017. Vehicles used for ride-sharing apps, dubbed Transportation Network Companies, are allowed to operate for longer, at 14 years and 16 years, than those that are operated through the six Arlington cab companies.

“This difference puts an inequitable cost burden on taxi operators to replace their vehicles more frequently than their TNC counterparts,” the report says.

The report also points to the importance of the cab fleet in providing service as part of the Specialized Transit for Arlington Residents (STAR) paratransit program. Out of the 477 currently authorized vehicles, 39 are wheelchair accessible, the report says.

The Transportation Commission has already recommended the Board  adopt the life-span changes and gas surcharge following public hearings. Both ordinance changes were requested by taxicab companies that operate in Arlington, including Crown, Hess, Friendly, Red Top, Arlington Yellow, and Blue Top Cab.

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