Don’t be surprised if your receipt lacks a sales tax charge this weekend.
Starting Friday at 12:01 a.m. and running until midnight on Sunday, a variety of products, from school supplies to refrigerators, will be exempt from taxation during a three-day tax holiday.
Virginia shoppers can take advantage of this tax break on certain items categorized into three groups
Qualifying Energy Star™ or WaterSense™ products under $2,500 purchased for noncommercial home or personal use
These eligible products can be purchased both in physical stores and online, as well as through mail or telephone orders.
The three-day “holiday” traditionally falls in August. However, this year, it was postponed due to a delay in state lawmakers approving a spending bill, which was ultimately passed in September.
“As Virginians continue to face inflation and high prices, Virginians will receive some needed tax relief this weekend,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a press release. “This sales tax holiday is an important measure to help Virginians keep more of their hard-earned money when purchasing essential school supplies, hurricane preparedness items, and clothing.”
(Updated 9:55 a.m.) A Capital Bikeshare station in Penrose was relocated Wednesday to free up more street parking in response to concerns about safety and illegal parking.
“We fail to see how relocating the Bikeshare station will help with the illegal parking at Penrose Square, as those problems existed well before the Bikeshare Station’s installation in 2022,” Chris Slatt, president of Sustainable Mobility for Arlington County, told ARLnow.
Slatt — who also serves on Arlington’s Transportation Commission — argues relocating the bikeshare station two blocks away along S. Wayne Street won’t solve the numerous traffic and safety-related issues that have plagued the square.
Instead, he says it will make “life more difficult for people choosing not to drive to the area, such as Bikeshare users.”
The planned relocation is meant to address “double-parking from pick-up/drop-off traffic at one of the Penrose Square retailers,” Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokesperson Claudia Pors wrote in an email.
“In the new configuration, the curbside lane next to the retailers will be turned into 15-minute pick-up/drop-off (PUDO) parking, and travel lanes will shift toward the west side,” she said.
The county did not specify which retailer it was referring to. However, Slatt and a nearby business owner previously noted that the illegal parking issue worsened after the Starbucks (2413 Columbia Pike) moved in eight years ago.
Pors said the plan is to move the bikeshare station back to Penrose Square in 2025 once Segment D of Columbia Pike Multimodal Improvements Project — slated to start next week — is finished and the “station is determined safe to move to this final location.”
Pors said the S. Wayne Street location was chosen because of adequate sidewalk width, continuous sunlight — used to power the bikeshare station — and its proximity to public space.
The station’s new permanent location has not been confirmed, but Pors said the county is seriously considering “the grassy area in front of the wall at the south end of the plaza, near the Burrito Bros.”
Construction prevented the station being moved there now.
“Segment D construction will at times close sidewalk access in front of the plaza and narrow travel lanes on the Pike, which could add a pinch point or prevent people from accessing the Bikeshare station,” Pors said.
While Slatt says he generally supports moving short-term parking for vehicles to the other side of S. Barton Street, he disagrees it should come at the cost of the bikeshare station.
“This location was chosen in 2022 through a community conversation and online survey which indicated majority support for putting the station on Barton Street,” Slatt said, adding its proximity to the grocery store and park is more convenient than the new temporary location.
Slatt also voiced his frustration that residents were only told about the move last Wednesday, and there wasn’t enough time for the community “to comment, object, or suggest other solutions.”
Pors said the county typically does not “seek input on temporary relocations of Capital Bikeshare stations.” Moreover, she noted that relocating it to privately owned spots in the plaza would have been more time-consuming process, whereas moving the station to S. Wayne Street was more convenient because it’s a public space.
Penrose resident Christiann MacAuley — also opposed to the relocation of the bikeshare station — said she thinks there may have been “some miscommunication” between the county and residents.
“It’s surprising was that apparently ‘the community’ was consulted, but none of the transportation or bike people in the neighborhood seem to have heard anything about it,” she told ARLnow.
Either way, MacAuley said, “it’s hard to imagine how the new plan will fix any of our traffic problems here.”
Those problems, as documented by a local resident on social media, include drivers making illegal U-turns, double parking, and making other unsafe driving maneuvers while rushing to pick up their orders at Starbucks.
Slatt said Starbucks should put up signs encouraging customers to instead use the garage, which offers an hour of free parking. He also advocated for more parking enforcement in the area.
Cars: illegal u-turn Cars: no stop for stop sign Cars: endangering pedestrians Cars: honk honk Cars: illegal parking Arlington: hmmm not sure what to do… maybe get rid of bike share I guess 🤷♂️ https://t.co/XR8ApdI6ec
A new restaurant specializing in Japanese street food opened last week on Columbia Pike.
Ryu Izakaya, located at 3030 Columbia Pike, on the ground floor of the Days Inn hotel, celebrated its soft opening last Thursday after almost a year of renovations. It moved into the former home of Rincome Thai, a Pike mainstay.
The restaurant serves both lunch and dinner but the owners may adjust the hours a grand opening set for later this month, Panni Satayayuk, the restaurant’s marketing director, told ARLnow.
Satayayuk noted the owners are keen on gathering customer feedback before the grand opening.
“We still try to get feedback from our customers and how they like the soup. How do you like the fish, or is it too sweet? Is it too salty too sour?” she said. “So we are like in a learning process on this our first few days.”
The restaurant is co-owned by two couples, Ben and Bow Jaypakdee and Tony and Jenny Seesiadkhaall, who immigrated to the U.S. from Thailand more than a decade ago, Satayayuk said.
While none of the owners are of Japanese descent, Satayayuk said Ben and Bow have spent the past decade working in Japanese restaurants in D.C. Tony and Jenny, who co-own Absolute Noodle and Sushi Bar in D.C.’s Chinatown, also have backgrounds in Japanese cuisine, specifically making sushi.
The four friends started talking about opening a new restaurant in 2020 when Absolute Noodle started making a profit in 2018, according to Satayayuk. The idea was to have a more casual Japanese restaurant dining experience with smaller plates and a bar that is open late.
“Right now in Japan, they started doing this trend called izakaya,” said Satayayuk. “It’s like street food. People drink at night having like… tapas, but the Japanese version.”
A few highlights from the menu include the Mt. Fuji Roll — spicy tuna, salmon, crunchy tempura and eel sauce — and yakitori assortment.
Satayayuk noted part of the restaurant’s mission was to expose more people to Japanese street food like yakitori and donburi, in addition to more mainstream staples like ramen and sushi. The other motive was to appeal to a younger crowd.
“In this Arlington area, there’s not many [options for a] younger vibe for Japanese food,” Satayayuk said.
The owners also chose the Columbia Pike location, in part, because it was less expensive to open a restaurant in Arlington than D.C. and there is a lot of new growth nearby.
“The food price would have to be higher to pay for the market rent everything [in D.C.]. So, here is still not easy, but it’s less challenging,” she said.
The D.C.-based Peruvian food truck and fast-casual eatery officially opened its second brick-and-mortar restaurant this past Friday. The location at 1450 S. Eads Street is only open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. but “dinner and brunch services will launch in a few weeks,” according to a press release.
“We are so honored and excited to bring a large piece of our beloved Perú right to Amazon’s doorstep in Arlington,” co-owner Giuseppe Lanzone said in the release. “After years of perfecting our craft, we’re excited to have a space large enough to share the full experience of our culture, heritage, and flavorful Peruvian cuisine with our community.”
Amazon announced in July 2022 that the restaurant would move into a 2,000-square-foot space within its HQ2, among several eateries, including Makers Union and Good Company Doughnuts & Cafe.
The restaurant planned to open its first phase over the summer in April, however, the opening was pushed back “to ensure everything was 100% ready,” a spokesperson told ARLnow.
Co-owners Giuseppe Lanzone and his brother Mario relocated with their family from Peru to McLean in 1997. Before becoming a restaurateur, Giuseppe was a two-time Olympic rower for Team USA.
Giuseppe and Mario say the cuisine, which includes sandwiches, empanadas, ceviches, rotisserie chicken and a Peruvian stir fry called saltado, is inspired by their upbringing in a port city within the sprawling metropolitan area of Lima.
Some noteworthy dishes at the HQ2 outpost include the pan con chicharrón sandwich — fried pork tenderloin on a French roll with sweet potato slices and a Peruvian salsa called criolla — and lomo saltado, a savory beef stir-fry with tomatoes, onions and fries.
The new space has both indoor and outdoor seating. Inside, a mural evokes scenes of La Punta, Perú, where the brothers grew up, and pays homage to Inti, the ancient Inca god of the sun.
The restaurant also has a bar that serves Peruvian beers, wines, liquor and a frozen cocktail formulated by the brothers: the Pisco Sour Slush.
Introducing Peruvian Brothers at Amazon HQ2 🙌🏽
Peruvian Brothers, the award-winning D.C. area food truck & eatery, is thrilled to announce the opening of its newest brick-and-mortar location on the ground floor of Amazon HQ2’s gleaming campus in National Landing. pic.twitter.com/YHFH94xG38
Fear nearly prevented Scott Love from starting his data analytics firm, Arlington-based Lovelytics.
“I always wanted to start a company… There was always an excuse not to do it, like, ‘Oh, I don’t have enough money. I don’t know how to do that,” he shared during a panel hosted by Rosslyn-based tech acceleratorUnstuck Labs in August.
While Love admitted these were real challenges, he said navigating them became easier after tapping into Arlington’s business community.
“From the time I was one person… Arlington made me feel like I was going to be a 6,000-person company,” he said.
Anything Love needed, whether it was advice or introductions to investors, he said people made themselves available to help.
Natalia Micheletti, who co-founded Pryze, an app that encourages employees to minimize phone use at work, agrees.
“It just felt like we had a million opportunities,” Micheletti, the CEO of the Arlington-based startup, said during the panel.
Despite starting companies in different fields, both founders faced similar obstacles, including fundraising and managing employees effectively. They said talking through their struggles with startup founders who had been there before helped them persevere.
For instance, Love and Micheletti noted securing investors was a “draining” process. Micheletti said she heard “No” from 100 people before finally getting that “Yes.”
“And being able to take feedback from all these people who are in the industry, or you think no more than you, without losing your essence, without losing, like what’s making you special and what made you like be crazy in the first place to start this one thing… is hard,” she said.
But Micheletti said she and co-founder Tim Hylton were able to push through that wall with support from their peers in the start world and Unstuck Labs, which gives founders like Micheletti mentorship, office space and investment.
“I think what’s keeping us here, other than Unstuck Labs… I think it is the roots that we’re planning in the community as well,” she said.
Love said pitching to investors was hard work but another challenged he faced, as his company grew, was refining his leadership skills.
“I think one of the weirdest things for me when I started, it was like, you change your title, and all of a sudden people care a little bit more about what you say and trust you… It’s a completely uncomfortable position,” he said.
Love, who oversees a team of 82, said talking with other Arlington founders made him realize the difference between delegating and leading.
“And I thought I was delegating. But in reality, I was just having them do all the work and come back to me and ask for approval. And that gets me nowhere,” Love said.
Instead, Love said he needed to learn to step back and trust his employees to handle tasks independently.
The mentorship the two founders received from Arlington’s business community appears to be paying off.
Pryze hired its third employee and plans to expand its services after raising nearly $1 million in venture capital, Micheletti previously told ARLnow.
Meanwhile, venture capital firms Databricks Venture and Interlock Equity made “strategic investments” in Lovelytics this June. These investments, for undisclosed amounts, will help the company deepen its expertise healthcare, media, financial services, retail, and manufacturing, Love said in a blog post.
“This investment will accelerate the growth of Lovelytics’ team and expand its technical offerings related to enterprise data environment creation, AI and [language learning models], business intelligence, data science, and cloud infrastructure,” a press release said.
Arlington County is looking to make safety upgrades to an intersection between Rosslyn and Courthouse that has seen four pedestrian-involved crashes in four years.
The intersection of Wilson Blvd and N. Rhodes Street has long been seen as dicey, according to complaints from cyclists and commuters and previous ARLnow coverage. Resident complaints, plus a review of crash data, have prompted the county to make changes now.
The $2.8 million project would see updated signal equipment, sidewalks and pedestrian ramps and upgrades to reduce conflicts between cyclists and buses. The county is in the design stage of the project and wants community feedback on possible changes. An online survey is open now through Sunday, Oct. 22.
The intersection saw 28 total crashes between 2016 and 2020, including 22 resulting in property damage and four involving pedestrians, Dept. of Environmental Services spokesperson Claudia Pors told ARLnow. These numbers fast tracked the intersection for improvements as part of Vision Zero, the county’s goal to end serious and fatal crashes by 2030,
“[The intersection] was flagged as a pedestrian crash Hot Spot because it had more than 3 pedestrian crashes,” Pors said.
Pedestrians are especially vulnerable to crashes here “due to higher vehicle speeds during turning movements when pedestrians have the right of way in the crosswalks,” according to the county.
The intersection has seen several crashes over the years. A spate of three crashes occurred in 2010, including one involving a pedestrian. Another dramatic crash, including an SUV that flipped on its side, occurred in 2017.
Originally, the county planned to build a “bus stop island” at the northeast corner of the intersection to reduce the number of close calls between cyclists and buses. This particular bus stop ranks in the top 10% of transit stops in Arlington, exceeding 50 users per day, according to the county.
After reviewing the crash data and hearing from road users, however, county staff determined it made more sense to overhaul the entire intersection.
The survey asks respondents to identify whether they are residents or commuters and to specify their usual mode of transportation through the intersection. Participants are then invited to rate their sense of safety while navigating the area and to pinpoint potential improvements on an interactive map.
Some people who have already commented have suggested removing the right-turn lane onto Wilson Blvd and install a concrete median to separate cyclists and vehicles. Other ideas include relocating the bus stop to ease congestion and implementing traffic-calming measures.
The survey results will inform a conceptual design set for publication this winter for a second round of public engagement.
On Monday, Arlington County announced that, beginning Thursday, the 50-meter competition pool would operate on a “revised schedule” on Thursdays and Fridays due to a “national lifeguard shortage.”
“We are aiming to minimize the impact as much as possible by closing the competition pool on Thursdays from 12-4:30 p.m. and Fridays from 4:30-10 p.m. through the months of October and November,” Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) spokesperson Jerusalem Solomon told ARLnow.
There are no planned activities during these adjusted hours and the leisure pool will be open for lap swimming, she added.
Below is the new schedule for the pool provided by the county.
Thursdays:
The competition pool will be closed from 12-4:30 p.m., followed by regularly scheduled closures for aquatic programming from 4-5:45 p.m. The pool will reopen at 5:45 p.m.
The leisure pool will be open for “family play time” and lap swimming from 12:30-3:30 p.m.
Fridays:
The competition pool will be closed from 4:30-10 p.m.
The leisure pool will be closed for classes between 4:30-10 p.m.
The shortage is partially because many students who lifeguard during the summer have returned to school, Solomon said.
She also acknowledged the county has had trouble finding applicants who meet the “necessary requirements” for the job.
“Lifeguards must successfully complete a lifeguard certification. In the past, DPR has required that all applicants already be certified, but DPR now offer certification courses free of cost to new hires in an effort to widen our applicant pool,” Solomon said.
For the aquatic center to be fully operational, Solomon says there needs to be ten lifeguards on duty at all times. To meet that standard, she noted the county would need to hire between five and 10 permanent part-time and temporary lifeguards.
DPR currently has an online job listing for “multiple permanent part-time and temporary Lifeguards” at the aquatics center, which opened in 2021.
The lifeguards would “work shifts as primary guards in the facility and monitor two bodies of water, including a 50-meter pool and a leisure pool with a water slide and other play features,” the job listing says. The listed hourly pay is $17.00-$23.44.
The day after we last reported on the restaurant’s progress in late August, Padaek started fulfilling to-go orders, according to a restaurant spokeswoman. The restaurant added its dine-in service on Sept. 12, she told ARLnow today.
The restaurant, located at 2931 S. Glebe Road, also recently opened its bar and plans to announce its grand opening “soon,” she added.
This is the second outpost of the Lao and Thai restaurant, originally founded in Falls Church by award-winning D.C. chef Seng Luangrath.
It was initially expected to open in June but Luangrath told ARLnow it had to wait a little longer while the last permits from Arlington County came in.
The family-owned eatery serves dishes from both Thai and Lao cuisine, from Pad Thai to an herbal curry stew with wood ear mushrooms.
Padaek is named for the fermented fish sauce that provides a distinctive salty base to many Lao dishes. The salty flavors balance out several stand-by Thai recipes, sweetened by a base of coconut milk.
Padaek is open from noon to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday. The restaurant will close daily from 3-4 p.m. to switch from lunch to dinner service.
Beyond serving as the final resting place for more than 400,000 military service members, the cemetery is also an accredited arboretum, home to over 500 species of trees, including maple, oak and sweetgum.
“On this tour, you’ll learn about the cemetery’s Memorial Arboretum, a Level III accredited arboretum,” the cemetery said in a press release.
“You will also gain insights into ANC’s urban forestry program, extensive tree collection and state champion trees,” the release continued. “The program will also cover various horticultural techniques used to create both formal and informal landscapes and gardens.”
While peak foliage at the cemetery typically occurs in late October or early November, the exact timing depends on various factors such as temperature and other weather conditions.
ANC’s first guided two-hour tour this fall is this Friday, followed by tours on Oct. 20 and 27 and Nov. 3. The October tours are scheduled for 9-11 a.m. and the November tour will depart at 1 p.m.
Attendees are asked to meet at the information desk inside the cemetery welcome center. The cemetery advises attendees to wear sturdy shoes and bring a water bottle.
Arlington-based Pryze is expanding after raising nearly $1 million in venture capital.
The startup is focused on boosting productivity and retention for “deskless” workers through material incentives. Co-founders Natalia Micheletti and Tim Hylton said the funding success was only possible with the mentorship and guidance they received from a local tech accelerator, Unstuck Labs.
One night in 2017, while working as a store manager for the retail chain Great American Cookies, Micheletti watched through the security camera as smoke began to billow from one of the seven cookie store’s ovens.
Micheletti quickly called the store to alert a distracted employee, who was engrossed in his phone. By the time he answered, it was already too late: two dozen cookies had burned to a crisp.
Realizing the financial consequences of such mishaps, store owner Tim Hylton quickly did the math with Micheletti. He found that if each of his seven stores lost a single tray of 24 cookies per week — each cookie costing $1.79 — the annual hit to the company could exceed $180,000.
With this realization — and the smell of burnt cookies still lingering — Micheletti started working to find a solution.
Micheletti presented Hylton with a simple napkin sketch outlining a concept for an app designed to keep tabs on employee phone usage during work hours. The app aims to incentivize hourly workers to focus on their tasks by offering points that could be redeemed for prizes ranging from gift cards to airline tickets and gaming consoles.
“And that’s where she started to create the idea of Pryze,” Hylton said. “It kind of moved from just this drawing that she created on a napkin to, ‘Well, let’s see if we could take some of the things that you’ve talked about and some of the things that you started to put down and see if they actually really work.’”
Excited about the idea, Hylton and Micheletti began surveying local business owners around Northern Virginia. Micheletti says most reported that phone usage negatively impacted their businesses and expressed a willingness to invest in a solution if one were available.
In 2018, Hylton sold his cookie business so that he and Micheletti could turn their full attention toward making Micheletti’s napkin doodle a reality. After sinking about $90,000 of their own money into website development and consulting that first year, however, Micheletti and Hylton started to get discouraged.
“Coming from the restaurant world was so different coming into the tech world. I was just like, ‘How do people do this? If you’re not a millionaire… how do you even launch? How do you learn everything you need to learn quickly,” Micheletti said.
After doing some research, Micheletti came across a tech accelerator program based in Arlington called Unstuck Labs.
Micheletti said Unstuck had “a good track record” so they decided to give it a shot.
“So, the first meeting we went to… we had this napkin with this idea scribbled on it, and we’re like, ‘This is it. We sell cookies. How can we be millionaires,” Micheletti said, recalling a conversation with Untuck’s co-founder and CEO, Wa’il Ashshowwaf.
The event, aimed at both longtime fans and newcomers to Taylor Swift’s music, will be the same night as the debut of a movie of the star’s highly-anticipated concert film.
“You can choose to attend the movie screening before or after our event,” per a press release. “We’ll be here to keep the celebration going, whether you’re heading to the movie or not.”
The event will have themed cocktails and a DJ playing Swift’s discography. Attendees are encouraged to dress up in outfits inspired by their favorite Swift “era” and take photos inside era-specific photo sets.
Tickets for this 21-and-over event are priced at $31 and can be obtained via the ARLnow events page. Tickets to the movie must be purchased separately.
A full press release is below.
Swiftie Soirée: Celebrating Eras in Style! Calling all Swifties! Join us for a night of Eras-themed celebration. Enjoy cocktails, dancing, crafts, photo ops, and more!
WHAT: Calling all Swiftie fans! Get ready to experience a night filled with all things Taylor at our “Swiftie Soirée: Celebrating Eras in Style!” event, happening on the same night as the release of Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated movie.
Whether you’re a Swiftie from the Fearless era or a folklore enthusiast, this is the place to be to celebrate the iconic popstar and her incredible music journey, and you can keep the celebration going whether you’re heading to the movie or not.
WHEN: Friday,October 13, 2023
TIME: 6-8:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Village at Shirlington
Campbell Avenue
Arlington, Va. 22206
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Album Inspired Cocktails: Enjoy two specially crafted themed cocktails from our participating vendors that pay homage to the popstar’s chart-topping hits.
DJ and Dancing: Our talented DJs will keep the dance floor buzzing with your favorite Swiftie tracks all night long. Get ready to dance, sing, and feel the music as we celebrate her discography.
Friendship Bracelet Workshop: Channel your inner creativity as you craft friendship bracelets. You’ll receive two friendship bracelets to share with friends and fellow fans, and make one to cherish as a memory of this fantastic night.
Eras Tour Photo Moments: Step into this popstar’s world as we recreate iconic photo moments from her various tours and eras. Capture memories with your friends and fellow Swifties in these unforgettable photo setups.
Eras Concert Outfit Challenge: Embrace the spirit of the popstar’s ever-evolving style! Dress up as your favorite era, whether it’s the country charm of “Fearless” or the indie vibes of “folklore.” Participate in our Eras Concert Outfit Challenge for a chance to win exciting prizes.
Movie Night: Coinciding with our event, Taylor Swift’s latest movie will be released on the same night.
You can choose to attend the movie screening before or after our event. We’ll be here to keep the celebration going, whether you’re heading to the movie or not!
This event does not include your movie ticket to Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour. Tickets for the movie should be purchased separately from AMC Shirlington.
Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with fellow Swifties, dance the night away, and celebrate this iconic music. Tickets are limited, so grab yours now for a night you won’t forget!