It’s been quite a week for well-known national businesses getting set up in Arlington.
Some of our most popular stories have included the new Dunkin’ Donuts on N. Glebe Road, signs going up for a new McDonald’s in Rosslyn and Starbucks‘ impending move into Marymount University’s “Newside” building.
Also popular on the site: more details about the building replacing Ballston mainstay CarPool and a look at the three sites left in the running for the county’s new high school.
Feel free to discuss those or any other topics of local interest in the comments. Have a great weekend!
In what is a first for the annual event, Artomatic will combine performance art with a wedding ceremony tomorrow in Crystal City.
The ceremony is for Teddy Grant and Che Monique Young, who met at the arts showcase in 2015 when it was hosted in Hyattsville, Md., where Young was exhibiting burlesque art.
The pair have planned a ceremony that will include the traditional exchange of vows, cake cutting and bouquet tossing and a wide variety of music and dance, with a string quartet, jazz singer, African drummer and a belly dancer.
The 10 bridesmaids will also be wearing dresses made by local designers.
“There is something magical about Artomatic and all of the community around it,” said Young, the bride-to-be. “I met Teddy in 2015 at Artomatic. Many of our first dates involved him helping me with my exhibit so it feels like going back to the first time we met. To me it’s all about celebrating with the community, and we welcome everyone to join our families and partake in the celebration — I can’t wait to have the first Artomatic wedding, MY WEDDING!”
The ceremony begins at 6 p.m. on the sixth-floor stage at 1800 S. Bell Street and is open to the public.
Three 5K races across the next two weekends will close roads across the county to accommodate runners.
Tomorrow is the Marymount University 5K, and police will close several roads from approximately 8:45-10 a.m. Near the university, officers will close 26th Street N. from its intersection with Yorktown Blvd to where it becomes 31st Street N. and intersects Military Road.
Westbound Lorcom Lane will be closed to Vacation Lane, while Vacation Lane will be closed from N. Utah Street to N. Vermont Street and N. Vermont Street will be closed from Vacation Lane to N. Vernon Street. Traffic will be slowed on Military Road from 31st Street N. to Lorcom Lane, and the rest of the race will take place on the running trails.
For the Fairlington race, police will close roads from approximately 7-9:30 a.m. S. Abington Street will be shut between 29th Street S. and 36th Street S., while 36th Street S. will close between 34th Street S. up to and including S. Stafford Street. The loop on S. Wakefield Street off 34th Street S. will be closed, as well as S. Utah Street between 32nd Street S. and 34th Street S.
During Bishop O’Connell’s race, roads will be closed from 7:30-10:30 a.m. Williamsburg Blvd. will be closed to eastbound traffic from N. Underwood Street to N. Sycamore Street, while Little Falls Road will be closed from N. Sycamore Street to Washington Blvd.
In addition, 26th Street N will be closed from N. Sycamore Street to Washington Blvd., and N. Underwood Street will be closed from 24th St. N to Williamsburg Blvd.
The first ever Arlington Palooza is set for next weekend at Alcova Heights Park, and will include live music, art, games and more.
The free outdoor program for all ages lasts from 1-4 p.m. April 29 at the park, located at 901 S. George Mason Drive.
Live music will come from The Stewart Sisters, DJs from the Teen DJ Program and electronic pop duo Atoms Apart, while the Sultanas Troupe will perform belly dancing.
Away from the main stage, other entertainment will be provided by magicians, mini-guitar lessons by Music4Life and musical chairs. Art activities will include making flower crowns, decorating bandanas and helping install art at the park.
Also on offer will be moon bounces, face painting, a rock climbing wall, bubble forest, a smoothie bike and Very Hungry Caterpillar preschool activities. Food trucks from The Big Cheese and Rocklands Barbeque will be on site too.
(Updated at 9:20 p.m.) A man died Thursday afternoon after being found unconscious in his cell at the Arlington County Detention Facility.
Bennie Turner, 40, was released Thursday at 10 a.m. on a court ordered furlough, for an ill family member. He returned from his authorized absence on time at 2 p.m, and returned to his unit just after 2:30 p.m.
Turner was found unconscious in his cell at 4:48 p.m. Deputies and medical staff tried to resuscitate him before the fire department arrived and transported Turner to the Virginia Hospital Center. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:36 p.m.
His family was notified of his death late Thursday night.
An autopsy will be conducted by the Medical Examiner’s Office and the death is being investigated by the Arlington County Police Department, per standard procedure.
Kriser’s Natural Pet Store will move into the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center
Ice cream store La Moo Creamery will join Kriser’s at the shopping center
The former Dominion Pet Center at the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center is being replaced by two businesses, including another pet store.
Going in will be Kriser’s Natural Pet Store at 2501A N. Harrison Street and speciality ice cream shop La Moo Creamery at 2501B N. Harrison Street.
Dominion Pet Center closed last year after facing stiff competition from internet retailers and the opening of a large chain competitor, Unleashed by Petco, across the street. It first opened in 1981.
Now Kriser’s and La Moo will fill the 3,113 square feet of available space between H&R Block and the Sushi-Zen Japanese Restaurant.
For Kriser’s, the move represents an expansion of its presence in Arlington, as it already has a location at 2509 N. Franklin Road in Clarendon. The store, which has locations elsewhere in Virginia as well as California, Colorado, Illinois and Texas, offers natural pet food and other products, grooming and training help.
Based on a permitting application submitted to the county, La Moo will be a retail ice cream parlor. No other details were available on its website.
A rendering of the new Ballston pedestrian bridge (via Forest City)
The long-planned demolition of the pedestrian bridge over Wilson Blvd in Ballston should begin soon, according to a spokeswoman for the developer.
The bridge between Ballston Common Mall and 4201 Wilson Blvd — which houses the soon-to-be-relocated National Science Foundation — closed last year as part of the mall’s renovation.
An anonymous tipster reported seeing bricks being removed at the base of the bridge’s pillars where it connects to the mall, and wondered if demolition was beginning.
But a spokeswoman for developer Forest City, which is carrying out the mall’s revamp, said last week it is not doing any work on the bridge at this time. She added that demolition is scheduled to start soon.
“We are not doing any construction on the structural components that would affect the bridge,” the spokeswoman said. “The demolition should begin within the next 30 days, but we will notify the public once we have a solid date.”
The bridge is still on track to be reconstructed and reopened in time for the revamped mall’s opening in fall 2018.
Arlington Young Democrats president Maggie Davis kicks off the forum
The four Democratic candidates for County Board may hold differing positions on a number of issues, but they agree on one thing: Arlington’s subsidy to lure Nestle might have been better spent elsewhere.
At a forum last night hosted by the Arlington Young Democrats, less than three weeks before the local party’s caucus, the four Democrats running for the Arlington County Board said the package of $12 million in state and local performance-based funds could have better served the local community.
“This is good for Arlington, good for filling our office space, but I would rather have seen some of that money go towards child care in Crystal City and Rosslyn, for example,” said Erik Gutshall.
“At the end of the day, we have to consider who is getting a subsidy and if they deserve it,” said Peter Fallon, who added that given the competition between jurisdictions for such moves, incentives can play a role in the right situations.
Both Kim Klingler and Vivek Patil drew a comparison to the small businesses throughout the county, and asked if they could have been assisted like multinational Nestle was, in particular through the building of a website showing all that Arlington has to offer.
“If we can stand up a website for Nestle [employees that showcases the county] in three weeks, imagine what we can do for our small businesses in three weeks,” Klingler said.
“That red carpet should be rolled out for small businesses and entrepreneurs,” Patil agreed.
In addition to general questions about the county’s tax rate, business community and the environment, each candidate faced questions specific to their campaigns and backgrounds from moderator Michael Lee Pope, a reporter with Virginia Public Radio.
Gutshall was asked if he is a so-called “party insider” due to the endorsements he has received from a slew of former County Board members and current chair Jay Fisette, who will retire at year’s end.
“I think it speaks to the fact that I have worked alongside these people for a number of years,” Gutshall said.
Fallon spoke about what he learned from his time on the planning commission and said that the county’s comprehensive planning at times has failed to keep up with the demand of county services.
Patil reiterated his call for a “green and clean tech economy” to encourage innovation and new industries in the county. “There is no city or state that owns that right now,” he said.
Following her run in 2012, Klingler said she was inspired to run again by the results of last year’s presidential election.
The candidates will be joined by independent Audrey Clement at a forum next Wednesday hosted by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce at Synetic Theater, then they will debate again the following Wednesday at ACDC’s monthly general meeting.
A proposal to add bike lanes to a western portion of Washington Blvd has been shelved after neighbors raised concerns at losing on-street parking spaces.
A spokesman for the county’s department of environmental services said that after previously considering a nearly two-mile stretch of bike lanes from N. Sycamore Street to George Mason Drive, staff has revised their plan.
Instead, a bicycle lane will be added to a shorter stretch, westbound between N. McKinley and N. Sycamore streets; eastbound the lane will stretch from the hill at N. Sycamore Street near the East Falls Church Metro station to N. Quintana Street. There they will be directed along parallel neighborhood streets before reconnecting with Washington Blvd near Westover.
“The revised plan would still provide bicycling facilities both eastbound and westbound from East Falls Church to Westover Village, albeit with a section along neighborhood streets, while also minimizing the impact to parking in the middle section that was most heavily impacted in the initial proposal, including the preservation of parking in front of and across from the Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church, which does not have off-street parking,” DES spokesman Eric Balliet said.
The project is part of a wider re-paving plan by the Virginia Department of Transportation, which controls that section of Washington Blvd.
The initial plan of bicycle lanes in each direction, improved pedestrian crossings and other improvements was shared publicly last March and received more than 400 comments. County staff then broke them down into categories to get a sense of the main areas of support and concern. Staff then integrated those comments into their revisions of the proposal.
Balliet said the revised plan “continues to meet all major goals with fewer impacts on parking in the middle section where impacts were most acute.”
But bicycling advocates vented their frustration at the change. In a blog post published yesterday on the Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s website, WABA staff member Garrett Hennigan blasted the changes.
“Following the first meeting, supportive comments poured in from neighborhood residents. 65 percent of comments supported the bike lanes as did 55 percent of comments from neighborhood residents,” Hennigan wrote. “Now, to save some parking spaces and appease a vocal minority, the County has thrown out the public process, abandoned years of planning and determined that putting people on bikes at risk is a fair compromise.”
A community meeting on the project’s latest iteration will be held tonight at 5 p.m. in the Reed-Westover Building at 1644 N. McKinley Road.
The County Board will consider a $370,000 plan Saturday to convert the Gunston Park diamond athletic field to synthetic turf.
The park at 1401 28th Street S. has three lighted tennis courts, a multiuse field, a lighted softball field and basketball courts.
The nonprofit Arlington Sports Foundation proposed a grant of $180,000 to convert the field, and the county sports commission’s Diamond Field Fund would pay the additional $190,000. This extra $370,000 is on top of a previously-approved $1.4 million maintenance and improvement project at the park. That project’s funding was approved in a 2014 bond referendum.
The parks and recreation department required that half of the ASF funds be deposited with the county to get the design stage underway, with phased additional payments of $45,000 each. Any unspent ASF funds will be returned to them after the project is completed and all financial obligations are met.
A county staff report said installing the synthetic turf will help the Gunston Park field be better utilized.
“The conversion of this diamond field, which is currently lighted for night play, will extend the usable seasons and times by approximately 880 hours per year, and will also be configured to allow for players of different ages, different sports, and different levels of play to utilize the field,” staff wrote.
County staff recommends the Board authorizes the funds for converting the field to synthetic turf.
Previously, the installation of synthetic turf fields has caused some controversy in Arlington, and specifically at Gunston.
