Author: Mariah Joyce

Bus Delays Expected at Pentagon Transit Center

By Mariah Joyce

Metrobus (file photo)Construction on the Pentagon Transit Center started this week and is expected to cause delays to all bus routes serving the Pentagon.

Yesterday, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority began work on improving the bus bays at the Pentagon, according to WMATA spokesman Richard Jordan.

Jordan said that the bus bay improvements, which include expanding pedestrian walkways and replacing the pavement with concrete, are the largest component of the transit center renovations, which are intended to move pedestrians more efficiently and make the bus bays more comfortable. Jordan said the project also aimed to improve traffic circulation, access and security, although he was unable to speak to specifics.

Both WMATA and Arlington Transit buses serving the Pentagon will be rerouted beginning Thursday (June 18), said Jordan.

ART spokesman Steve Yaffe said delays are currently expected to be less than five minutes.

According to a service update on ART’s website, ART buses 42, 87 and 92 will enter the Pentagon reservation as usual but will exit via S. Fern Street. Again according to the update, the two bus stops between S. Fern and S. Eads Street will be closed for the duration of the construction; an alternate stop has been set up at the corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Drive.

WMATA buses will also experience delays due to rerouting, but there are no planned changes to where the buses stop.

“[The construction] isn’t going to affect where riders get on and off the bus,” said Jordan.

During morning and evening rush hour times, police will be at the Pentagon to direct buses to their detours. During all other times of the day, flaggers will be present to indicate where the buses should go.

WMATA has listed all affected routes on their website and encourages commuters to plan for slightly longer traveling times.

Part of a $58.8 million TIGER grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation is funding the project. According to Jordan, construction is expected to last about two months and should be completed sometime in August or September.

Outdoor Movies Coming to Clarendon, Columbia Pike

By Mariah Joyce

Columbia Pike outdoor movie (photo via CPRO)Arlington residents willing to brave the summer heat have a few more options for outdoor entertainment starting this month.

Outdoor movie festivals at Market Common Clarendon and Penrose Square on Columbia Pike have both announced their weekly lineups.

“Dinner and a Movie on the Loop” will take place on four consecutive Thursday evenings at Market Common Clarendon (2700 Clarendon Blvd), starting this week. The event was started last year as Now Playing at the Loop.

Market Common has added dinner to the mix this year, with a different local restaurant is providing a fixed-price meal before each movie, beginning at 7:45 p.m. In addition, guests can round out their family-friendly cinematic experience with free candy, popcorn and water.

All movies start at 8:30 p.m. and are free and open to the public. The schedule is as follows:

  • June 18 — How To Train Your Dragon 2
  • June 25 — Grown Ups
  • July 2 — The Sandlot
  • July 9 — The Wizard of Oz

Summer Movies @Penrose Square, a free outdoor movie series at Penrose Square (2597 Columbia Pike), started last Saturday (June 13).

The event, sponsored by the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, will continue into September. The schedule is as follows:

  • June 20 — The Hundred Foot Journey (8:45 p.m.)
  • June 27 — Now You See Me (8:45 p.m.)
  • July 11 — The Imitation Game (8:45 p.m.)
  • July 18 — Enough Said (8:45 p.m.)
  • July 25 — The Grand Budapest Hotel (8:30 p.m.)
  • Aug 1 — Life of Pi (8:30 p.m.)
  • Aug 8 — Chef (8:15 p.m.)
  • Aug 15 — Birdman (8:15 p.m.)
  • Aug 22 — The Second Best Marigold Hotel (8:15 p.m.)
  • Aug 29 — How to Train Your Dragon (8:00 p.m.)
  • Sept 5 — Big Hero 6 (7:45 p.m.)
  • Sept 12 — X-men: Days of Future Past (7:30 p.m.)
  • Sept 19 — Interstellar (7:15 p.m.)

Guests are encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to both festivals.

CPRO is also sponsoring another movie festival on the Pike this summer. Starting on August 16, CPRO will screen a movie every Sunday until September 20 at the Arlington Mill Community Center.

The movies at Arlington Mill will start at dusk. A schedule is expected to be announced mid-July.

Debate Over Lighting Williamsburg Synthetic Fields Resurfaces

By Mariah Joyce

Williamsburg Middle School (via Wikimedia)Update at 5:50 p.m. — The County Board’s action on the Williamsburg Field Site Evaluation Work Group Charge has now been deferred until July, according to an Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman.

The debate over lighting the fields at Williamsburg Middle School is making a comeback.

At its meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) in July, the County Board will charge a working group with leading a community process to evaluate whether or not to light the Williamsburg synthetic fields.

The issue first emerged in 2013 as neighbors battled soccer parents over whether Williamsburg’s fields should be lighted. The County Board ultimately deferred the lighting decision until 2015.

After the County Board decides on the working group’s exact tasks at tomorrow’s meeting, members will be appointed to the group next month. It is expected to make a recommendation to the Board in May 2016. The Board will then deliberate in June 2016.

Two synthetic fields are currently under construction as part of the Discovery Elementary School project, located on the Williamsburg campus, and are scheduled for completion at the end of the summer.

Arlington Public Schools split the cost of the fields with the County, according to Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish. Kalish said that APS paid for the cost of installing natural grass fields, and the County then funded the difference.

In an APS question and answer session about the construction project held in the fall of 2012, the County stated that if it funded an artificial field, “it would expect that the field be lighted in order to maximize their investment in the field.”

While Kalish confirmed that this is typically the County’s policy regarding turf fields, in this case the Rock Spring community pushed back.

“That’s why we’re having this work group,” said Kalish.

Design of new Williamsburg elementary school

Fifteen community members representing diverse interests will comprise the work group, including one representative from the Arlington Soccer Association and one from the Rock Spring Civic Association. The ASA and the RSCA disagreed vehemently on the construction and lighting of the field when the plan was first proposed in 2013, eventually launching dueling petitions.

President of the RSCA Carl Cunningham said that while he could not speak for all residents, most who live near the Williamsburg fields do not support the addition of lights because of concerns about potential light spillage into their homes.

Cunningham added that residents were concerned about evening noise and traffic from extended hours of play on the field, which might “fundamentally alter the basic character and their peaceful enjoyment of what has been a small, secluded and quiet neighborhood in the evenings.”

The ASA, on the other hand, stressed the need for a lit synthetic field.

“We have more children playing sports in Arlington every year, and the rate of field construction or redevelopment is not close to keeping pace, thus we have to squeeze what we can out of existing play spaces,” said ASA Executive Director Justin Wilt.

(more…)

Clarendon ‘Food Truck Thursdays’ Kick Off Today

By Mariah Joyce

The new Miami Vice Burgers food truckStarting today, Clarendon residents will have an additional option for dinner every Thursday, courtesy of a new weekly gathering of food trucks.

The DMV Food Truck Association is helping to organize Clarendon Food Truck Thursdays, which will bring two to five food trucks to the corner of North Irving Street and Washington Boulevard from 6:30-8:30 p.m. every Thursday for the rest of the summer and part of fall.

The truck lineup will change from week to week. Tonight features Arepa Zone, which offers Central and South American cuisine, and Bada Bing, which slings cheesesteaks and other “sangweeches.”

Weather permitting, Food Truck Thursdays will continue through the end of October.

Clarendon co-working company Link Locale began Food Truck Thursdays last summer. This year, the food truck association is organizing the weekly event in partnership with Link Locale.

“Clarendon Food Truck Thursdays are a great option for Arlington residents looking for affordable, freshly prepared and quick bites for dinner,”said the association’s executive director, Che Ruddell-Tabisola.

‘At Minimum 300’ First Dates at Faccia Luna Have Ended in Marriage, Says Co-owner

By Mariah Joyce

Interior of Faccia Luna (photo via Google)Faccia Luna, one of Clarendon’s oldest restaurants, is touting itself as a destination for young love.

Readers of Washington City Paper recently voted the neighborhood joint ‘Best Pizza’ in the paper’s annual Best of DC series, and the Wilson Blvd restaurant used that as an opportunity to highlight its apparent propensity for being a spot for successful first dates.

Together with Faccia Luna locations in Alexandria and State College, Pa., co-owner Joe Corey says he has talked to at minimum 300 couples who had their first date at Faccia Luna and eventually got married. At least five couples whose relationship started at Faccia Luna returned to the restaurant to propose, and two more have held their wedding receptions there.

“We always knew about it — we would talk to our customers, and every week we would find one or two new couples who had had their first date here,” Corey said. “This is something to be proud of.”

About a year and a half ago, after years of hearing stories of first dates leading to marriages, Faccia Luna began officially documenting the trend, via a continuously updated Word document.

Faccia Luna Trattoria’s Arlington location is 23 years old; the restaurant’s first location opened its doors in State College, PA in 1989. Corey describes Faccia Luna as a homegrown restaurant and attributes its longevity and success as a neighborhood institution to its “commitment to quality, coupled with an upscale, urban design.”

Washington City Paper readers praised Faccia Luna for what they called “real Italian pizza.”

“Pizzerias have come and gone, presidents have come and gone, even those critically acclaimed pizzerias have come and gone and still Faccia Luna has met the ‘Taste of Thyme,'” the restaurant said in a press release.

Woman Reports Peeping Tom Taking Photos in Marshall’s Dressing Room

By Mariah Joyce

Police car lightsA woman said someone reached a camera into her dressing room at Marshall’s in Pentagon City last Friday.

The incident happened at the Marshall’s at 1201 S. Hayes Street around 6 p.m. on Friday. The woman noticed someone taking pictures of her while she was in the store’s dressing room and reported the incident to the police.

The alleged peeping tom fled the scene before officers arrived and the victim was unable to provide a description of the suspect.

From the daily Arlington County Police crime report.

PEEPING TOM, 150605045, 1200 block of S. Hayes Street. At 6 pm on June 5, a female victim noticed a subject taking pictures of her while in the dressing room at Marshall’s. The suspect fled and victim was unable to provide a description.

FAA and MWAA Solicit Feedback on Aircraft Noise in Arlington

By Mariah Joyce

Plane landing at Reagan National Airport, as seen from Gravelly Point (photo by Alex)Next Thursday, June 18, Arlington residents will have the opportunity to air their concerns about noise pollution from planes heading to and from Reagan National Airport.

Residents have said that such noise is affecting their quality of life.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Metro Washington Airports Authority, in partnership with Arlington County, are hosting a community meeting in the County Boardroom at Courthouse Plaza (2100 Clarendon Blvd, Room 307).

The meeting will run from 7-9 p.m., and is designed to “allow Arlington County residents to voice their concerns to the FAA and MWAA, as well as hear possible solutions from FAA and MWAA.”

This is not the first time residents have raised the issue of noise pollution; in 2011 late night runway renovation prompted numerous noise complaints from residents in homes along DCA flight paths.

In July of that year the MWAA hired the ITT Corporation to monitor noise in the communities near the airport in response to numerous complaints.

All who are impacted by the aircraft noise are encouraged to attend the meeting.

Photo courtesy Alex