Author: Ethan Rothstein

Whole Foods to Add Space in Renovation

By Ethan Rothstein

Whole Foods Market in Clarendon by Erin JohnsonWhole Foods in Clarendon began a renovation Monday.

Clarendon Whole Foods marketing manager Jackie Zovko said the store is pushing back a large cooler in the produce department, which will clear space to expand produce, add 8 to 10 feet of the seafood counter and add another grocery aisle, which would allow for expansion of the bulk foods section.

“We hope to have it completed by the first week of October,” Zovko said. “There will be some other changes, but they’re not confirmed yet.”

The renovation is the second phase of Whole Foods’ renovation project for its Clarendon location. Five years ago, the grocery store moved its café section to the second story and expanded its specialty and baked goods section.

Zovko said most of the work will be done at night, after the store closes, so as not to interfere with customers’ shopping experience.

Photo courtesy of Erin Johnson. Disclosure: Whole Foods is an ARLnow.com advertiser.

Moran Introduces Bill to Help Localities Collect Delinquent Taxes

By Ethan Rothstein

Rep. Jim Moran's panel discussion on gun violence at Washington-Lee high schoolRep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) introduced a bill Monday that would allow localities like Arlington to recoup unpaid taxes with help from the federal government.

The bill would extend the Federal Offset Program to local governments. The program currently helps 42 states and Washington, D.C. to collect funds from delinquent taxpayers by reducing — or “offsetting” — their federal tax refund.

The bill, if passed, would be a triumph for Arlington Treasurer Frank O’Leary, who has advocated for such a tax-collecting tool on the local level.

“This is a win-win program for all levels of government and those who regularly pay their taxes,” O’Leary said in a press release. “Passage of this legislation could mean hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for local governments without increasing the tax burden on those who faithfully pay their fair share of taxes.”

“This bill offers a unique opportunity not just to provide needed, owed funds, at no cost to the federal government, it also protects honest taxpayers from an increase in local property taxes,” Moran said. “The federal government has done this successfully with states and we should provide the same partnership to local governments looking for relief.” 

The federal government will collect a $25 fee from localities for each offset request. In Fiscal Year 2010, the Federal Offset Program collected more than $400 million in delinquent taxes to the states enrolled, Moran’s office said.

Demolition to Begin on Four Mile Run Bridge

By Ethan Rothstein
Four Mile Run bridge demolition
Four Mile Run bridge demolition
Four Mile Run bridge demolition
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A ceremonial swinging of sledgehammers kicked off the demolition of an old bridge over Four Mile Run this morning.

The bridge, located between Potomac Avenue and Route 1 near Potomac Yard, was used by trains until the late 1980s when the railroad was decommissioned. It has since sat out of use, overgrown with vegetation.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), County Board Vice Chair Jay Fisette and Alexandria Mayor William Euille were at the bridge Monday morning, sledgehammers in hand, to announce the start of demolition, which will get fully underway in two weeks. The demolition is expected to be completed by April.

The bridge is being taken down to create open space above Four Mile Run, which environmental officials from both jurisdictions say will allow the stream to grow vegetation and develop a healthier ecology. Moran recalled a large flood in the 1970s, after which the local governments decided to pour in concrete. The concrete mitigated flood impacts but wound up damaging the stream’s ecosystem, Moran said.

“The vegetation serves its purpose if you allow it to grow,” Moran said, “and this does.”

The Pulte Group, which owns the Potomac Yards development adjacent to Four Mile Run, will fund the $3.5 million demolition and the stabilization of the stream banks. After the demolition, Alexandria and Arlington will jointly fund a new, urban-style park on another unused bridge, adjacent to Potomac Avenue.

The plan to transform the area started in 2006 when both jurisdictions passed the Four Mile Run Restoration Master Plan, and has been helmed by the Arlington/Alexandria Four Mile Run Redesign Task Force.

“We finally are seeing these plans come to fruition,” Moran said. “We’ve been waiting 25 years for a ribbon cutting here, and now we’ve got a sledgehammer smashing.”

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Detour for WB Route 50 This Weekend

By Ethan Rothstein

10th Street Bridge over Route 50, closed for demolitionWestbound Route 50 between 14th Street and N. Pershing Drive will be closed this Saturday and Sunday for construction.

The Virginia Department of Transportation announced that a detour will be in effect from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. July 27 and 28. Drivers will exit onto 14th Street, which becomes 15th Street, turn right at Courthouse Road, left at Wilson Boulevard, left at N. Barton Street, left at 10th Street back to westbound Route 50.

The road closure will allow VDOT crews to erect steel beams for the new Courthouse Road bridge. The old bridge was torn down in January as part of the $39 million Route 50/Courthouse Road/10th Street interchange project.

The project is expected to be completed in mid-2014, VDOT said.

Coworking Spaces Expand Arlington Footprint

By Ethan Rothstein
Workers at Link Locale in Clarendon
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The pages of Craigslist are filled with budding young professionals who, unable to afford their own Metro-accessible apartments in high-rent Arlington, instead search for roommates and shared housing. In the past few years, a growing number of young businesses have been taking a similar approach to office space in Arlington: cheaper rent, good location and good company.

Five coworking offices have moved into Arlington in the past two years: UberOffices in Rosslyn, Carr Workplaces in Rosslyn and Clarendon, Link Locale in Clarendon and, most recently, The Ground Floor in Rosslyn in the same building as UberOffices.

The spaces offer relatively cheap rent in one of the country’s most expensive commercial real estate markets, and the flexibility to grow. Technology startups in Arlington and around the county have flocked to the business incubator-style setting, with in-house services, conference rooms and amenities usually reserved for large companies.

The spaces provide support in the form of kitchen space, conference rooms, and a variety of amenities. UberOffices, for instance, has video games and a foosball table. The Ground Floor, which opened this month, has a dedicated space for events.

“This concept has been around for a long time,” Arlington Chamber of Commerce President Rich Doud said. “It just hadn’t caught on, but I think the future will kind of force situations like this.”

Josh Newsome and Kaitlyn Walthall are a two-person team for Collins Engineering. They moved into UberOffices in January from a workspace in Tysons Corner. The Ballston residents said the search for a place with their requirements “two desks and high-speed Internet” was surprisingly difficult.

“There are only two of us,” Walthall said. “This is the only way to work together that’s not in a coffee shop.”

(more…)

Car Overturns on Lee Highway Near Rosslyn

By Ethan Rothstein
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A car flipped on its roof on the eastbound lanes of Lee Highway this afternoon, sending at least one person to the hospital.

The accident happened between N. Nash and Quinn Streets, near Rosslyn, around 3:30 p.m. today (Friday). The late model Toyota Corolla somehow overturned, coming to rest in the left-hand lane of the three-lane thoroughfare.

One person was transported from the scene in an ambulance while police closed the two left lanes. A Bergmann’s Cleaning truck remained on scene while its driver gave statements to Arlington County police officers. It’s unclear whether the truck was involved in the accident or if the driver was being interviewed as a witness.

The car lost its right rear wheel in the crash, and the area around its left rear tire was stripped of paint in the accident.

Rep. Moran Raises Big Despite Lack of Challenger

By Ethan Rothstein

Rep. Jim Moran (D) at the Civic Federation debateRep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) raised more than $336,000 in the second quarter of 2013, a large haul considering it’s for an election that’s not happening until 2014 and doesn’t yet include a another announced candidate.

Moran, who is in the first year of his 12th term, now has $577,115 cash on hand through two quarters of fundraising, according to the Federal Election Commission. His campaign spent $121,523 in the quarter.

Moran was able to raise a healthy amount of funds despite not yet having a declared challenger. Mike Ginsberg, the chair of Virginia’s 8th District Republican Committee, said no candidates have expressed interest in running for the seat Moran has held since 1991, but he “suspects we’ll have a few come out in the fall.”

In last year’s election, Moran was challenged by Bruce Shuttleworth in the Democratic primary. Shuttleworth said he expects to announce his decision on whether to run again in the fall.

“I am very strongly leaning in one direction, but I don’t want to make an official announcement until the fall,” he told ARLnow.com.

Shuttleworth said he doesn’t want to take attention away from the statewide races for the governor’s office and the House of Delegates. Shuttleworth announced his candidacy last February, just four months before the June primary.

“You clearly need to jump in earlier than I did last year,” he said.

The biggest donors to Moran, who sits on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, were the political action committees of large defense contractors. Among the boldfaced names and organizations donating to Moran in the quarter ending June 30 were:

  • Connecticut billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones II and his wife — $5,000
  • Lobbyist Tony Podesta of the Podesta Group — $1,500
  • Brian Moran, the congressman’s brother and former chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia — $1,075
  • The Chickasaw Nation, the Oklahoma-based Native American tribe — $1,000
  • Lockheed Martin PAC — $10,000
  • Computer Sciences Corporation PAC — $10,000
  • ManTech International PAC — $6,500
  • Raytheon PAC — $5,000
  • Boeing PAC — $5,000
  • Unisys PAC — $5,000
  • Electrical Contractors PAC — $5,000
  • Harris Corporation PAC — $4,000
  • Home Depot PAC — $2,500

Organizations representing U.S. Postal Service employees collectively donated $5,500 during the quarter.

vPoint Pays Back $1.2 Million County Loan

By Ethan Rothstein

The newly-renovated Church at ClarendonvPoint Apartments, an affordable housing complex in Clarendon built on top of a church, has repaid part of its Affordable Housing Investment Fund loan.

The repayment was done in dramatic fashion, with representatives of the complex presenting the Arlington County Board with a check for $1.2 million on Tuesday.

The apartments, owned by the Views at Clarendon Corporation, opened more than 18 months ago and are currently at capacity, according to Views at Clarendon Chair Jerry Morris. Of the building’s 116 apartments, 70 are affordable units.

The project received a total of $13.1 million from the AHIF, according to Views at Clarendon spokeswoman Jill Norcross.

“We weren’t expecting to be able to return this much so early on in the project’s operations, but we ended up not needing the full loan and wanted to give it back so the county could recycle it for other projects,” she said in an email. “The county really supported us throughout the whole nine-year development process.”

The funds will go back into the AHIF, which draws funds from developers, loan repayments and allocations in the county’s annual budget. The AHIF has funded a majority of the county’s 6,500 affordable housing units.

“We are fortunate to live and work in a county that prioritizes affordable housing and we thank you for your partnership during the development of the vPoint Apartment community,” Morris said before the Board. “We wish you continued success in recycling AHIF in order to ensure Arlington has housing options for all of our residents.”

Van with Amazon Packages Stolen at Gas Station

By Ethan Rothstein

LaserShip van stolen at ExxonA LaserShip delivery van carrying packages from Amazon.com was stolen Thursday afternoon from the parking lot of an Exxon gas station near Rosslyn.

We’re told the driver was near the end of his route and the van had only a handful of packages left inside at the time of the theft. The van was idling in the parking lot when the driver stepped inside the gas station’s convenience store for “a couple of minutes,” a witness said.

While the van was idling, an unidentified suspect allegedly jumped in and speed off onto Clarendon Blvd. Police are now looking for the thief and the white-and-red van.

Bond Set at $25,000 for Woman Charged with Death of Infant Son

By Ethan Rothstein

Zoraida Magali Conde Hernandez (photo via ACPD)The Alexandria woman accused of fatally locking her 8-month-old son in a hot car earlier this month had her bond set at $25,000 in Arlington County Circuit Court on Thursday morning.

Zoraida Magal Conde Hernandez, 32, reached an agreement with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office to have supervised visits with her four other children. She is not allowed unsupervised contact.

The Alexandria Department of Community & Human Services agreed to allow the supervised visits and to conduct a mental health evaluation, complete with a risk assessment, before Conde Hernandez is allowed back in her home.

Conde Hernandez was arrested July 6 after police say she forgot her child in her car, in the sweltering heat, for six hours while she was at work . The car was parked on the 200 block of S. Glebe Road.

She “noticed the baby was left inside his car seat when she arrived at a daycare to pick up one of her other children,” according to the Arlington County Police Department. “The baby was unresponsive and she immediately drove to Inova Alexandria hospital, where the child was pronounced dead a short time later.”

Hernandez is charged with felony child neglect. Her case was appealed to the Circuit Court for the bond hearing, and the next steps will take place in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

Photo via ACPD

Heat Leads To Temporary District Taco Closure

By Ethan Rothstein

District Taco on Lee HighwayDistrict Taco’s location at 5723 Lee Highway had to shut down Tuesday after the heat caused its air conditioning to break.

The restaurant reopened Wednesday morning with temporary A/C units, District Taco owner Osiris Hoil said in an email. The county’s health department told the restaurant to close Tuesday after it was determined that food was being stored in an environment that was too warm.

“The A/C was a contributing factor, but not the reason for closure,” said Department of Human Services spokesman Kurt Larrick. “With the A/C not working, the refrigerator was overburdened and wasn’t able to keep the food cool enough.”

Hoil said he had already submitted plans to the county for approval to install a permanent replacement for the air conditioning unit. Temperatures reached 96 degrees Tuesday afternoon in Arlington, according to Weather.com.

“We couldn’t work and it was not safe for our food to be exposed in the restaurant,” Hoil said in an email. “So we had to transfer everything at our commissary where we have the toritos (taco stands) because we do have a lot of refrigeration there.”

During Wednesday’s lunch rush, the previous day’s shutdown did not seem to have an adverse effect. The restaurant crowded and warm, as the temporary A/C units struggled to keep the crowded space cool.

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