Arlington County government operations will take the day off on Monday, Feb. 16 for George Washington Day.
The holiday, also known as Presidents Day and Washington’s Birthday, means there will be no parking enforcement in the county on Monday.
Arlington Public Schools will be closed, as will the county’s General District, Circuit and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts. Arlington’s libraries, DMV office, human services department and community centers will also not open their doors.
ART buses 41, 42, 51, 77 and 87 will run on Saturday schedules, while all other ART bus trips are cancelled. STAR transit will only run dialysis trips.
The only government function that will go on without a hitch on Monday is trash and recycling pickup. Those with Monday collection should leave their waste by the curb at the normal time.
(Updated at 2:35 p.m.) Yorktown Civic Association President Andrew Schneider announced today (Friday) that he will be running for election to the Arlington County Board this year.
Schneider, 40, will vie for one of the two open seats on next year’s Board after members Mary Hynes and Walter Tejada retire. The Democrat will be on the ballot for the party’s primary on June 9.
“I’m excited to talk to Arlingtonians from all corners of the county to hear their ideas, frustrations and potential solutions. I believe in one Arlington, one community,” Schneider said in statement announcing his candidacy. “Our county is at its best when we’re having real dialogue with friends and neighbors about how to move our community forward together.”
This is not Schneider’s first foray into an Arlington election; last year, he came in third place in the Democratic primary in the special election to replace retiring Del. Bob Brink.
Schneider joins Columbia Pike resident Katie Cristol as the first two running for the open seat. Candidates are allowed to officially file to run for the primary on March 9.
Schneider has two children in Nottingham Elementary School and, if elected, would be the youngest member of the County Board. He’s a native Arlingtonian, a graduate of Yorktown High School and was named last year to Leadership Arlington’s 40 Under 40.
Schneider’s campaign announcement said his platform will be “managing the county’s financial situation with an understanding that we face a new fiscal reality, having honest conversations that include all Arlingtonians and treats our county as one community, and improving customer service for Arlington’s residents.”
This weekend is supposed to be a mix of wintry precipitation and brutal cold. If you’re brave enough to venture out into the weather, there will be plenty of open houses to warm up in.
5033 7th Road S.
2 BD / 1 BA condominium
Agent: Gary Hughes, Weichert, Realtors
Listed: $275,000
Open: Saturday, Feb. 14, 1:00-4:00 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 15, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
2218 S. Randolph Street
3 BD / 2 1/2 BA condominium
Agent: Jane Wilson, Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Penfed Realty
Listed: $430,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 15, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
2330 14th Street N.
2 BD / 2 BA condominium
Agent: Jane Wilson, Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Penfed Realty
Listed: $554,900
Open: Saturday, Feb. 14, 1:00-4:00 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 15, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
4656 2nd Street S.
3 BD / 1 BA single family detached
Agent: Ann McClure, McEnearney Associates
Listed: $620,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 15, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
2416 S. Queen Street
4 BD / 3 1/2 BA townhouse
Agent: Katharine Patterson, McEnearney Associates
Listed: $829,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 15, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
4310 38th Street N.
4 BD / 4 1/2 BA single family detached
Agent: Donnetta Duncan, Long & Foster Real Estate
Listed: $1,699,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 15, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
(Updated at 11:55 a.m.)By December, Arlington residents will be able to learn how to make radio, right in the neighborhood.
Arlington Independent Media‘s low-power FM station was approved by the Federal Communications Commission for 96.7 on the dial, with call letters WERA-LPFM. As part of their FCC approval, the radio station must be broadcast-ready by Dec. 9, according to AIM Executive Director Paul LeValley.
When the radio station does launch — and LeValley has no doubt they will be ready to air by the deadline — it will be a platform for anyone interested in broadcasting to get real, on-air experience.
“We’ll train [the community] on how to do it, how to produce a radio program, and they will produce the programming,” LeValley told ARLnow.com this morning. “There’s an interest group among just citizens, people who for years have been lobbying for low-power FM around the area and just in Arlington. The Arlington portion of that group is starting to coalesce, and they meet independent of my board, independent of my staff. And they’re saying ‘What kind of stuff do we want to do?'”
The FCC requires that any low-power FM station operate only for educational, noncommercial purposes.
LeValley said the low-power FM committee of the AIM Board of Directors is meeting to determine what kind of programming mix the station should have. When it’s live, the station will reach most of Arlington and stretch into parts of the District.
AIM received a construction permit to build a radio tower in June, but it’s still in the process of figuring out where the tower will be located. LeValley couldn’t disclose which sites he was looking at, only that it would be “somewhere toward the center of Arlington, on a multi-story building.”
AIM’s LPFM committee chair Andy Rosenberg has worked for years in public radio and has lived in Arlington for more than 40 years. He said he’s thrilled to see how the community gathers around its own radio station.
“There’s a bit of controversy about whether radio is a dead medium, but I think with these LPFM stations, there’s a chance to build community,” Rosenberg said. “Radio is immediate and flexible and there’s so much you can do with it to engage the community. That’s exciting to think about it.”
WERA-LPFM has the capability to broadcast 24 hours a day and the studio will be in AIM’s headquarters on N. Danville Street in Courthouse. Eventually, Rosenberg said, radio programs will be able to be recorded in satellite offices, sent to the station and transmitted through the tower.
Over the next few months, while the tower site is chosen and construction begins, AIM will hold community meetings to try to determine who and what the community wants to hear on the radio, Rosenberg said.
If going to see “50 Shades of Grey” seems like an inconceivable way to spend Valentine’s Day, the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse has a throwback movie alternative.
The theater, at 2903 Columbia Pike, is hosting three showings of the 1980s classic film, “The Princess Bride,” at 4:00, 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. Before the 7:00 p.m. show — currently listed as sold out on the Drafthouse’s website — there will be an optional wine tasting and standup comedy performance.
There will also be standup comedy performed before the final showing of the day, at 10:20 p.m.
Tickets for the two remaining shows are $10 each. Considering the 7:00 p.m. show sold out, you might have to fight to the pain to get tickets for the other two showings on Saturday.
Two new businesses in Clarendon have opened their doors, in the new retail space on the ground floor of 3001 Washington Blvd.
Cherry Blow Dry Bar, which offers blow outs and extensions for women’s hair, opened on Jan. 30 at 1041 N. Highland Street, next door to the even-more-recently opened Citizen Burger Bar. Salon owner Jennifer Weiss said last week they offered a $15 blow out special and were booked solid all week.
“We were totally sold out and overwhelmed,” she said at her new shop yesterday. “We’ve gotten great support from women in the community who felt that there was a need for our services.”
Pure Barre opened late last year, offering ballet-inspired workout classes and athletic apparel. They have specials for new clients — $100 for 30 days of unlimited classes — and offer six to nine classes a day, starting at 5:50 a.m.
Cherry Blow Dry Bar offers blow outs for $35 and extensions for $395. It is open from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Sundays. Weiss said she’s considering opening at 7:00 a.m. on weekdays because her customers want to get blow outs before work.
Single classes at Pure Barre are $25, while a 10-class pass is $210. A 12-month unlimited membership is $185 a month.
A bill that would give the Arlington County Board authority to hire an independent auditor appears on track to become law.
Del. Patrick Hope is chief patron of HB 2308, which allows counties with the county manager form of government — namely, Arlington — to hire an auditor with the power to “make performance reviews of operations of county agencies or county-funded programs.” The auditor would ensure money is being spent wisely and evaluate the effectiveness of those agencies and programs.
The bill passed the House of Delegates unanimously yesterday.
“I believe in the case of Arlington, where we have more than a $1 billion operating budget and over 3,000 employees, localities who don’t already have this authority will be seeking it to ensure government is working as efficiently as possible,” Hope told ARLnow.com in an email today. “If this authority is exercised, I think it will give Arlington residents an added level of confidence that their taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely.”
Currently, the County Board only has the authority to hire a county manager, county clerk and county attorney. County Board member John Vihstadt has been pushing for the county to hire an independent auditor since his election last April. If Hope’s bill passes the state Senate and is signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe — which Hope expects, but “I’ve learned over the years you never know” — the Board will begin to deliberate hiring its own independent auditor.
Board member Jay Fisette serves as the five-member panel’s legislative liaision, and is a former auditor himself. He said Hope’s bill is “another tool to consider” as the county develops its budget for the next fiscal year. Fisette said the county used to have several auditing mechanisms, but many of them were cut during the economic recession.
At one point, the county had an audit committee with a $100,000 budget that evaluated performance contracts, Fisette said. A decade ago, the county had two internal auditors ensuring that money wasn’t being spent fraudulently, but budget cuts have meant those services are now contracted out.
“The manager has been working to hire an internal auditor, and we had a great candidate who backed out,” Fisette said. He added that the Board supports Hope’s legislation. “We will set up, in the next few months, the best way to support that audit function. Who would oversee the work plan if they are going to report to us.”
Hope said the state Senate will likely consider the bill within the next two weeks.
(Updated on 2/13/15) Clarendon residents will soon have another option to get their caffeine fix.
A Peet’s Coffee & Tea appears on its way, with signs up in the windows of the building at the corner of N. Highland Street and Washington Blvd. The store is expected to open this spring, but “our exact date is still to be confirmed,” according to a company spokeswoman.
When it opens, it will be the second Peet’s location in Arlington, following the coffee shop that opened in Shirlington last year.
Peet’s offers higher-end coffees and teas, and will compete with Oby Lee and the 7-Eleven across Washington Blvd. The location is also a long block away from Northside Social and a third of a mile from the Starbucks on Clarendon Blvd.
Debris surrounds the north side of the Blue Goose building
Debris surrounds the north side of the Blue Goose building
Workers throw old materials out the window of the “Blue Goose” building
The lobby of the “Blue Goose” building appears to have already been torn apart
Workers throw old materials out the window of the “Blue Goose” building
The former “Blue Goose” building
Fencing surrounds the entire “Blue Goose” property, including the property
Debris surrounds the north side of the Blue Goose building
Rendering of the upcoming development on “Blue Goose” site
A rendering of the future mixed-use development on the site of Marymount University’s Blue Goose (image via The Shooshan Company)
(Updated at 6:25 p.m.) The distinctive “Blue Goose” building on the corner of Fairfax Drive and N. Glebe Road in Ballston is starting to be torn down.
The building, built in the 1960s, will be replaced by a nine-story office building and 15-story residential building. The redevelopment is a partnership between Shooshan Company and Marymount University. Shooshan has a ground lease for the land and is developing the new buildings, while MU owns the land and will occupy six of the nine floors of the new office building, with plans to fill the other three over time.
The demolition is expected to wrap up May, according to Shooshan Company Director of Leasing and Marketing Kevin Shooshan. The first step of construction will be excavation to create the three levels of underground parking. Shooshan expects the two buildings to be complete in summer 2017.
The entire property — the building and the parking lot in the rear — is fenced off as crews begin to tear out the building’s interior. This morning, workers were tossing pieces of the interior from the fourth floor window onto the ground below.
Panels from the building will be donated to local museums to preserve the building as a model of Modern Movement architecture. Some of the panels, as well as blue elements throughout the 7,600-square-foot public plaza also being built on the site, will be preserved as part of the new development.
A bill co-sponsored by Arlington legislators that would require college campuses to provide survivors of sexual assaults with options for off-campus resources — like counseling and law enforcement — has passed the state Senate.
Sens. Barbara Favola (D) and Adam Ebbin (D) are co-patrons of SB 1329, which would require colleges to establish memorandums of understanding with “a local sexual assault crisis center or other victim support service,” refer victims to the center and encourage them to preserve physical evidence for a police investigation.
“This legislation represents a positive step in protecting our young people and making college campuses safer,” Favola said in a press release. “SB 1329 strengthens support systems for sexual assault survivors and empowers these survivors to pursue charges against their assailants.”
The bill would also allow victims to submit anonymous reports and provides “for nonretaliation by the institution against victims who fear their conduct may also be questioned or who are concerned that an official report might jeopardize their academic status.”
The bill passed the Senate unanimously. It also was referred out of two committees unanimously. It will now go before the heavily Republican House of Delegates.
The Senate also unanimously passed two companion bills, SB 1193 and SB 712. SB 1193 would require colleges and universities to prominently mark a student’s permanent transcript if the student withdraws, is expelled or is placed on probation for a sexual assualt violation. SB 712 requires higher education employees to report any student sexual assault they are aware of to the campus’ Title IX coordinator within four hours.
The George Washington Carver Homes in Arlington View
The George Washington Carver Homes in Arlington View
The George Washington Carver Homes in Arlington View
Layout of the planned townhouses at the site of the Carver Homes (image via Arlington County)
(Updated at 5:25 p.m.) The last remaining homes built for African-Americans displaced by the construction of the Pentagon could soon be history.
The George Washington Carver Homes on S. Rolfe Street are in the process of being sold to a developer that plans on replacing them with 50 townhouses, including 23 duplexes. The Arlington County Board is expected to decide the proposal’s fate at its meeting later this month.
The Carver Homes are a collection of 44 garden apartments along S. Rolfe Street and 13th Road S. in Arlington View. The development is a co-operative, and the co-op board has an agreement to sell the property to Craftmark Homes pending approval of the redevelopment plans, according to county planning staff.
The apartments were built by the federal government in 1945 and designed by noted architect Albert I. Cassell, who had been the head of architecture at Howard University and designed much of the school’s northwest D.C. campus. County Historic Preservation Planner Rebeccah Ballo said as far as preservation staff are aware, they are the only buildings he designed in Arlington.
If they are redeveloped, the Carver Homes will join the former Dunbar Homes in Nauck as pieces of Arlington’s 20th century African-American history torn down for redevelopment.
“Fully understanding it is their right to sell and dispose of their property as they see fit, this is a loss,” Ballo told ARLnow.com. “This is a loss of cultural and architectural history.”
When the Pentagon, the Navy Annex and the surrounding network of roads were built during World War II, they replaced the neighborhoods East Arlington and Queen City. The areas had been occupied by African Americans, many of whom descended from Arlington’s Freedman’s Village, built for former slaves in 1863. The residents of East Arlington and Queen City were moved elsewhere, including the Dunbar and Carver Homes.
The residents of the Carver Homes bought the property from the government in 1949. Many of the apartments are still owned by the original residents or their families, Ballo wrote in her staff report for the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board.
Multiple attempts to reach the attorney representing the Carver Homes co-op board, Patricia Fettman, have gone unreturned. Fettman also represented the Dunbar Homes co-op board when they sold their property for $37 million 10 years ago, according to a Washington Post article at the time.
The Post’s article featured interviews of residents of the homes who didn’t want to sell. The author, Annie Gowen spoke to Dorothy Rich, at the time the co-op board’s president.
“Basically, we think the time has come to take the next step forward,” Rich told Gowen. Gowen wrote that Rich “declined to detail the discussions to sell, saying only ‘we won’t do anything without a vote and a majority of our homeowners.'”
The exterior of the houses are largely well-maintained, with pink-painted stucco and a pristinely mowed courtyard. The eight buildings sit on a 3.35-acre plot, an easy walk to the Air Force Memorial and less than a half-mile drive from I-395.
County staff attempted to have the homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places when they conducted a review of all potentially historic properties in the county, starting in 1997. They even filled out the application, but Ballo said after meetings with the co-op board and the surrounding community, “the nomination stopped.” (more…)
Arlington County government operations will take the day off on Monday, Feb. 16 for George Washington Day.
