Author: Jo DeVoe

‘Arlington’s Judge Judy,’ Hon. Judith Wheat, makes history as first woman Circuit Court Chief Judge

By Jo DeVoe
Hon. Judith Wheat when she joined the Arlington County Circuit Court bench in 2019 (via Sudeep Bose/YouTube)

When Hon. Judith Wheat became Chief Judge of the Arlington County Circuit Court last week, she made history on two fronts.

She is the first woman Chief Judge the Circuit Court has ever had and, with her in the role, all three local courts now have a woman presiding as the lead judge.

Wheat assumed the responsibility last Thursday, replacing Hon. William T. Newman, Jr., who retired at the end of June. She makes the third in a trifecta of women chief justices in Arlington, joining Hon. R. Frances O’Brien, who leads the General District Court, and Hon. Robin Robb, who leads Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

“It is historical and I’m excited about that,” says Circuit Court Clerk Paul Ferguson.

The courthouse has seen a flurry of activity with the retirement of Newman, a local living historical figure.

Newman joined the Circuit Court in 1993, after serving two terms as Arlington’s first Black County Board member. He was appointed Chief Judge in 2003. He also founded the local nonprofit Arlington Community Foundation and moonlit as an actor in plays and on the TV screen.

“He’s a big part of Arlington history and we turned a big page with him ending his career in Arlington,” Ferguson said.

The courthouse celebrated Newman with send-offs fitting for a local celebrity and his notable wife, Sheila Johnson — the co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, a hotelier CEO, co-owner of the Washington Capitals and Wizards, and managing partner of the Mystics.

Additionally, the state legislature honored Newman during its 2023 session with a resolution saying he “presided over the court with great fairness and wisdom,” the Gazette Leader reported. The judge told the publication he is joining former Circuit Court Chief Judge Paul Sheridan and former Circuit Court Judge Joanne Alper at a regional firm that provides dispute resolution services.

As for Wheat becoming Chief Judge, Ferguson says the process is a bit of a mystery.

“Nobody knows really how a Chief Judge is chosen,” Ferguson said. “History would show that the General District Court and Juvenile Court tend to rotate the position, like the County Board and School Board.”

Contrast that with the Circuit Court, where Newman was the chief justice for 20 years. His recent predecessor, Sheridan, and the chief justices before him — William Winston and Walter McCarthy — had similarly long tenures as chief. State law requires judges to step down when they reach 73 years old.

Ferguson notes Wheat joined the Circuit Court later in life and “had a significant career” before doing so.

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A first-time home buying program faces headwinds from Arlington’s hot real estate market

By Jo DeVoe
Real estate for sale sign in the Arlington Heights neighborhood (file photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at noon on 7/10/23) Recently, a family of five with three boys bought a two-bedroom home with a den in Arlington, thanks in part to a little-known county program that helps first-time homebuyers secure a mortgage with small loans.

“They were completely comfortable with that,” says Karen Serfis, a program manager with Latino Economic Development Center, who helped the family work with the county to get the loan. “Not everybody wants to live in a two-bedroom with a den but they wanted to stay in Arlington.”

Since 2018, Arlington County has operated the Moderate-Income Purchase Assistance Program (MIPAP), which helps income-eligible people buy homes that cost less than $500,000. Last year, it issued 13 loans to applicants, 65% of whom were single and 25% of whom belonged to two-person households. They were able to buy one-bedroom or small two-bedroom units.

The number of loans issued last year could be a program record for the last decade, according to data provided by Serfis and the county, which is seeing more people interested in accessing the funding.

As interest in the program grows, however, applicants are finding few housing options under $500,000. On top of an income eligibility restriction of 80% of the area median income (AMI), that makes the program difficult for many to effectively utilize.

“There’s been a huge uptick in people trying to use MIPAP in the last year and I don’t know why,” Serfis said. “Is it because it’s so impossible to buy? I don’t know. Is the county doing better outreach? Possibly. Or are people more aware of these programs because they’re on the internet?”

Arlington County says it could be because applicants were confident in post-pandemic economic recovery and could be taking advantage of another county program that uses state funding to lower loan interest rates one percentage point.

Despite the uptick in recent years, MIPAP is just now reaching the numbers of people helped in the late 2000s, when the program was run by a local nonprofit affordable housing developer. In the years before AHC, Inc. ceded it to Arlington County to focus on rentals, the number of loans issued fell to four to six per year throughout the 2010s.

Some say the program’s structure and requirements are getting in the way and it should be revamped. They say Arlington County should raise the $500,000 purchasing price limit as well as the income restrictions, rebrand the program and spread the word.

“MIPAP is an anemic program and represents a significant underinvestment in helping Arlington residents successfully transition to homeownership,” says Kellen MacBeth, a housing policy advocate and member of the Arlington branch of the NAACP. “Homeownership offers unique opportunities to bridge the racial wealth gap and we need to step up county support for residents, especially residents of color, looking to become homeowners.”

The program is funded by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, which stipulates households must earn at or below 80% AMI, or $120,560 for a household of four, and qualify for a conventional first-trust mortgage. Under both these conditions, lenders typically say applicants can qualify for homes priced below $400,000, according to the county.

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NEW: More than a dozen Missing Middle permit applications are in the works so far

By Jo DeVoe
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(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) Eight permit applications for Missing Middle housing proposals have been accepted by Arlington County since Saturday, the first day for such filings.

Another seven are at various stages of completion, marked “application complete” or “awaiting plans and documents,” according to permit records, as of Wednesday afternoon.

There are several other placeholder permits — those that people have started but not yet finished.

Some were at the ready on Day 1 of the Missing Middle — also called Expanded Housing Options — permitting process. Nine permits were filed on July 1, while another two each have come in on Sunday, Monday and yesterday, per the records.

The homes proposed for redevelopment are typically concentrated in or near Metro areas, such as East Falls Church, Ballston, Virginia Square, Clarendon and Pentagon City, per the addresses associated with each permit.

So far, all eight accepted applications are located in R-5 and R-6 zoning districts, or those with 5,000 to 6,000-square-foot lots, respectively, Arlington County Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development spokeswoman Erika Moore said.

Specifically, three are in R-5 and five are in R-6 districts, according to the county. This means only four more permits can be issued for homes in R-5 districts this calendar year, as the county capped the permits for this zoning district at seven annually. Meanwhile, 30 total permits can be issued for R-6 districts in one year.

Another 21 permits are allowed annually across zones with 8, 10 or 20,000-square-foot lots (R-8, R-10 or R-20). None have been issued in these districts yet.

One-third of the permit applications so far are for 3-unit townhouses. Duplexes and six-plexes each comprise roughly one-quarter and the remaining two are quad-plexes.

As for off-street parking, five have one parking space per unit, four have more than one space per unit and six have less than one space per unit. Earlier this year, critics predicted (and some incorporated this into a lawsuit) that lower parking minimums — and thus greater reliance on on-street parking — would clog narrow streets.

Arlington County has launched a web page with information about applying for an EHO permit, in addition to a page tracking these developments. The tracker includes the address and zoning district for each property, the number of units proposed, the permit number and submission date, among other information.

“The County has committed to tracking EHO permit submissions and approvals so both potential applicants and interested community members can see how many EHO projects are proposed — and where they are located,” per an Arlington County email newsletter.

“Work is underway on connecting permitting system data to the County’s Open Data Portal to create a user-friendly dashboard. Until that tool is available, County staff will post weekly updates on applications and their status online,” the email continued. “Tracking will begin on Friday, July 7.”

The tracker was updated almost two days early, on Wednesday evening.

Currently, the EHO permits issued do not authorize construction, according to the webpage. A separate county staff review is needed before builders can start construction.

There is no fee associated with this permit though one may be proposed next year.

The county recently published a how-to video, below, demonstrating the application process.

Photos 1, 2, 3 and 4 via Google Maps

Arlington champions Moore’s Barber Shop as it charts new course for historic preservation

By Jo DeVoe
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Moore’s Barber Shop, in Arlington’s historically Black neighborhood of Halls Hill, has survived Covid and remained in business despite competition from low-cost chains.

Its secret, according to owner James Moore Jr., is not a business strategy or particularly talented barber — it is community. In a video (below) produced by Arlington County recently, he muses this must be what motivated his local government to offer to support in any way it could.

“I was like, ‘Why would they do that for me?’ It’s not just because we’re a legacy business. We’ve been here a long time,” he said. “It must have value to the community. It has something intangible that is more than just a good haircut.”

His barbershop is tucked into a nondescript, two-story brick building painted gray at 4807 Langston Blvd. Built in the 1940s, it is a few blocks from the shop his father, James Moore, Sr., opened in 1960.

The current barbershop does not exemplify a grand architectural style but — judging by the video and its prominent place in a draft Historic and Cultural Resources Plan — Arlington County sees in it a cultural landmark worth preserving.

The vehicle for preserving Moore’s Barber Shop would be this new draft plan, released by Arlington County Historic Preservation Program (HPP) staff. It lists the goals they have for preserving storied places and animating them for residents and visitors today. People can provide input on the draft plan this summer via open houses, pop-up events and an online questionnaire. The Arlington County Board could adopt it this fall.

The draft reckons with a historic approach that saved architecturally significant homes but abandoned to development landmarks associated with ethnic groups, like the Vietnamese enclave of Little Saigon, now Clarendon. In the plan, Arlington commits to highlighting diverse stories, saving modest buildings where history happened — like Moore’s Barber Shop — and making preservation relevant.

“Populations and their stories cannot be only (and comprehensively) expressed through architecturally significant buildings, but rather through a varied collection of landscapes and open spaces, public buildings, modestly built neighborhoods, and iconic structures,” the plan says.

“People and culture are key to understanding our environment and the work of historic preservation; as such, they are at the heart of the Plan’s Statement of Historical and Cultural Significance,” it continues.

The draft grapples with the drumbeat of development and HPP’s mixed success saving buildings. Successes include adding historical installations at Dorothy Hamm Middle School, the site of the first Arlington school to racially integrate, and the under-construction Fire Station 8, which Black residents started to put out their own fires when the county would not during the Jim Crow era.

HPP notes, however, some recent demolitions: the Wilson School, now the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program in Rosslyn; Arlington Presbyterian Church, now affordable housing; the Arlington Education Center, now the Washington-Liberty Annex; the Febrey-Lothrop Estate and the Fellows-McGrath House, which will be replaced with single-family homes.

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Independent School Board candidate James ‘Vell’ Rives drops out

By Jo DeVoe
Independent School Board candidate James ‘Vell’ Rives IV (courtesy photo)

An independent candidate for the Arlington School Board is bowing out of the race.

On Monday, four months ahead of the general election in November, James “Vell” Rives announced in an email that he was suspending his campaign. His announcement hinted that he may run again for School Board in a later election cycle.

“For various reasons, I am suspending my 2023 campaign and am instead working on a future run for Arlington County School Board,” he said in the email. “Thank you for your encouragement and support this year! For now, please stay involved in our schools, and help out where you can.”

Rives was running for the second time as an independent after a failed challenge to Democratic-endorsed candidate Bethany Zecher Sutton last year.

The psychiatrist and a member of the School Health Advisory Board — a citizen committee advising Arlington Public Schools — has campaigned on student health, improving academic performance and reducing technology use.

His opponent, Miranda Turner, who has the endorsement of the Arlington County Democratic Committee after its May caucus, will be running unopposed.

This is also Turner’s second School Board bid, losing two years ago in the Democratic endorsement caucus to now-School Board member Mary Kadera.

This year, Turner bested political newcomer Angelo Cocchiaro, who had the endorsement of outgoing School Board Chair Reid Goldstein and that of the local teachers union, the Arlington Education Association.

Ahead of the Nov. 7 general election, the first day of in-person early voting will begin on Sept. 22. The last day to apply for a mail ballot is Oct. 27.

Plans to turn Nottingham Elementary into ‘swing space’ prompt swift backlash

By Jo DeVoe
Nottingham Elementary School (via Google Maps)

A new proposal from Arlington Public Schools (APS) would send Nottingham Elementary students to other schools and use the building to house other students temporarily displaced by school renovations.

Parents of students at Nottingham were notified of the proposal yesterday (Thursday) by APS, ahead of a School Board work session discussing the proposal last night.

Within 24 hours, some current and prospective parents mobilized and formed a group, Neighbors for Nottingham, to learn more about the proposal and formulate next steps before a potential School Board vote a year from now.

The school system says it needs a “swing space” to prepare for renovation projects and balance enrollment in North Arlington, where there are more seats than students. APS staff are currently developing a timeline and list of schools to be renovated for the 2025-2034 Capital Improvement Plan, which will be approved next June.

“By serving as swing space, our school will continue to play a vital role in supporting education in our community while other schools undergo necessary improvements,” planning staff told parents in an email, shared with ARLnow.

Elementary capacity by zone in Arlington (via Arlington Public Schools)

APS considered 61 sites before settling on the Williamsburg neighborhood school at 5900 Little Falls Road, eliminating options based on size, location and cost needed to prepare the building for young students. It says Nottingham works because enrollment is low and stable, and nearby schools can absorb many of the 413 displaced students — though APS noted that receiving schools may need to add some capacity.

If the CIP is approved next year, Nottingham could be repurposed as early as the 2026-27 school year. Students would be transferred to surrounding elementary schools such as Discovery, Jamestown, Taylor, and Tuckahoe, and staff would begin to be reassigned in the spring of 2026.

Ways to create a swing space and potential costs (via Arlington Public Schools)

Would-be parent Coco Price says she and her neighbors are devastated.

“We have been so looking forward to sending our now-toddler-age children there when they reach elementary-age in a few short years and would be sincerely crushed to see them reassigned to another Arlington school — one that is potentially either not within walking distance or not as highly-rated as Nottingham,” Price said.

The proposal could disrupt educational plans for new homeowners, like Price.

“Should the motion pass, it would… potentially drive us to consider moving to a more stable school district outside of Arlington,” she said. “We also worry how this decision would impact our home’s resale values down the line.”

Others questioned the need for this work and criticized APS for not evaluating alternatives to a “swing space” in its 272-page report.

“We didn’t see any serious discussion about options such as portable learning trailers for schools going under renovations or for temporarily displacing just the students at schools that were under renovations for the limited time period of those renovations,” would-be parent Jeff Heuwinkel told ARLnow.

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A gym in Shirlington hunts for a new home before closing its doors in August

By Jo DeVoe
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The Energy Club gym in Shirlington is closing in August after never fully recovering from a drop in membership due to Covid.

The independently-owned gym in the Village at Shirlington (2900 S. Quincy Street) announced the impending closure on Aug. 15 “with a sad heart,” per an email from President Richard Mandley and General Manager Justin Greene to members. The email was shared with ARLnow and confirmed by Mandley yesterday (Thursday).

“We had hoped that our membership would return to pre-pandemic levels, but the landscape has changed, and many people continue to work from home,” Mandley and Greene told members. “Fitness habits have changed too, with people shifting to virtual workouts or exercising from home. As a small independent business with local ownership, it became increasingly difficult to compete with franchises and ‘corporate-owned’ gyms.”

Over the years, The Energy Club offered a host of social and fitness events to distinguish itself from other gyms. It attracted a significant number of commuters, who made up around 35% of members. When Covid hit, these commuting members largely canceled their memberships, Mandley told ARLnow.

“Although we have a very loyal membership who supported us throughout the pandemic, it became apparent that we could longer support our occupancy costs with the loss in membership, and we were unable to reach a new long-term agreement with our landlord,” he said.

The Energy Club had tried to negotiate for lower rent while it worked to increase membership. The landlord’s lender did not approve this request, Mandley’s email to members said. Negotiations ended in May.

A reader told ARLnow this was “sad news for many in Shirlington.”

Mandley and Greene, however, already have a plan. They say they are scouting out new locations nearby and pledged to keep members apprised of their progress.

Meantime, virtual classes continue and outdoor classes could start next month. Members will also be able to train at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria (510 Dulany Street).

Mandley and Greene say they are grateful for the 17 years they were able to serve the Shirlington community and work with talented fitness professionals.

“We are proud to say that we have changed lives and know that many relationships with the community and within the membership have been established and will continue,” they said.

Photos via The Energy Club/Facebook

New draft plan for Langston Blvd calls for private development to help build public benefits

By Jo DeVoe
1/5

(Updated 3:50 p.m.) Arlington County has published a new draft plan outlining how to encourage private development on Langston Blvd to turn it into a walkable, bikeable corridor with apartment buildings and public spaces.

The plan, released last week, follows up on a more conceptual document released last year. This document introduced the vision for less dense neighborhoods giving way to “activity hubs,” such as the Lyon Village Shopping Center, developed with 15-story apartment buildings.

Since then, the county says it made several changes responding to public feedback calling for more housing, especially affordable housing, and more incentives to generate public benefits. The plan leverages new housing construction to preserve historical properties — like the decades-old Moore’s Barber Shop in the Hall’s Hill neighborhood — and inject the area with new stormwater infrastructure, privately-owned public spaces, new east-west roads, streetscapes, and trail connections.

The new draft calls for taller allowable heights in certain areas, a general increase in housing units that could be built throughout the corridor, more public spaces and buffered bicycle lanes. It recommends policy and zoning changes and publicly funded infrastructure projects to facilitate the new development and has a timeline assigning tasks to various county divisions.

Changes to the Plan Langston Blvd draft (via Arlington County)

Alreadly, the draft plan has generated positive reception by some in the community, but also criticism by others of specific elements. One general criticism: the reliance on private development to deliver public spaces and needed infrastructure, especially stormwater management.

This follows divergent feedback over the last year about how, and whether, the corridor should develop — though neighbors are more united around transportation and streetscape upgrades for Langston Blvd.

Cherrydale Civic Association President Jim Todd says he was surprised to see the number of housing units go up. The 2022 concept plan estimated 8,431 new units could be possible. The new draft brought up the estimate to 9,400 new units.

The unit increase responds to calls from several residents, local advocacy groups and citizen commissions, according to Plan Langston Blvd Coordinator Natasha Alfonso-Ahmed. These comments stressed the importance of Langston Blvd for reaching a county goal to increase affordable housing in North Arlington by 2040.

Planners increased allowable heights in certain areas to further incentivize developers to build community benefits and deliver affordable housing, while updating guidance to ensure these buildings taper down to low-rise homes nearby.

Heights are now up to 15 stories in some places immediately south of I-66, where previously a 12-story limit was considered. Elsewhere in the North Highlands area, north of Rosslyn, heights are up to 12 stories, instead of 10. The same increase occurred across from the Lyon Village Shopping Center.

Elsewhere, allowable heights increased from seven to 10 stories near the Lee Heights Shopping Center and at the intersection with N. Oak Street. Upper limits increased from five to six stories at the intersection with N. George Mason Drive and south of Langston Blvd, west of Rosslyn.

Additionally, the county added 14 more public spaces to the plan and converted “sharrows” — where bicyclists and drivers share the road — into buffered bike lanes in two places.

Transit advocate Gillian Burgess welcomed the removal of “sharrows” and lauded the occasional protected bike lanes, undergrounded utilities and parking and increased transit.

Overall, however, she says the plan falls short of making travel safe and sustainable. Instead, it waits for more people to opt to ride the bus to improve bus service, through increased service and bus-priority signals.

“This is not a plan that will enable children to get to school on their own. This is not a plan that will enable an equitable transportation system. This is not a plan that reduce many car trips in favor of more safe and sustainable modes,” she said. “As our ideal, long-term goal, knowing what we know and with the technology we have in 2023, this is disappointing.”

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Arlington pulled prosecutors from traffic court. A driver who struck a girl on a bike escaped charges on an error.

By Jo DeVoe
The scene of the crash involving Heather Keppler’s daughter on a bicycle (courtesy Heather Keppler)

On Oct. 19, 2021, an elderly driver hit the daughter of Tara-Leeway Heights resident Heather Keppler while riding her bike.

The impact of her body cracked the windshield and she fell to the ground. She was whisked to the hospital in an ambulance where — not wanting to disturb any potential broken bones — doctors cut off a favorite running shirt and took a full-body X-ray.

Doctors said her tailbone was either broken or bruised and additional scans would confirm which injury it was. Keppler said they opted not to know, as the recovery process was the same: sitting on a donut pillow and missing her exercise routines. This pause took a toll on her daughter, then a freshman training for a regional running race.

Keppler decided to get a lawyer when one for the 86-year-old man involved called to see if she had one. The mother says in retrospect — after her experience ended in dropped charges — she is lucky she hired legal help.

“I don’t know how I would’ve found out [what] was going on,” she said.

Heather Keppler at her home in the Tara-Leeway Heights neighborhood (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Since June 2020, Arlington police officers have been shepherding through the legal system less-serious traffic misdemeanors: speeding, driving without a license, and so on. Before, the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney had a prosecutor outside Courtroom 3C — where those cases are adjudicated — to enter plea bargains.

This arrangement was imperfect, according to Arlington’s top prosecutor, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, who just won the Democratic primary race for her seat against challenger Josh Katcher.

The assigned prosecutor often did not have “any prior knowledge of the case” and did not share pre-court-date discovery with defendants, she wrote in a 2020 memo to County Manager Mark Schwartz. This was one reason she removed prosecutors from “3C.”

After hearing from a state agency that trains prosecutors and the Virginia State Bar Ethics Counsel, it became clear her staff could not meet their obligations to share all exculpating or incriminating evidence in these cases, she argued.

Dehghani-Tafti attributed this largely to an uptick in available footage from cameras that police wear and have in their cars. Sharing all evidence would require prosecutors to review, process and disclose footage from some 40,000 cases — a tall order given current staffing levels.

“We did not come to this decision lightly, but rather after a thorough analysis of several factors,” she wrote to the Arlington County Police Department in a 2020 memo.

Three years later, she tells ARLnow that her office has kept the promises in that memo.

“We have gotten involved in every case in which our law enforcement partners have asked us to get involved, as was promised in the memo,” she said.

Keppler, however, suspects that the lack of prosecutorial presence in traffic court could explain how her daughter never got her day in court. She supported Dehghani-Tafti in her original, successful 2019 bid but this experience led her to flip for Katcher.

The bike that Keppler’s daughter rode when she was hit (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Dropped charges 

After not hearing anything about her daughter’s case for some time, Keppler began to get worried.

Her lawyer found that subpoenas ordering the Kepplers and their assigned police officer to court on Nov. 18, 2021 were written but never issued.

“Because it was never issued, we never showed up to court,” she said. “Because no one was there, they dismissed the case.”

Like Keppler, local personal injury lawyer Jeff Jankovich says a prosecutor outside 3C could have helped the Kepplers. This person could have checked for the subpoenas and asked the judge to move the hearing date so everyone could make it.

Although Dehghani-Tafti’s memo says prosecutors were unfamiliar with the traffic cases on the docket that day, Jankovich recalls days when there were extremely experienced prosecutors who “did a pretty thorough job” of evaluating each case.

“If there were aggravating facts — an accident where someone was injured, or someone had significant prior record, even if it was minor speeding but the third, fourth or fifth offense — they were on top of that and it affected how they approached case,” he said.

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Parents call on APS to address slow academic growth, teacher turnover at Oakridge Elementary

By Jo DeVoe
Oakridge Elementary School in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood in May of 2023 (via Google Maps)

A small group of parents from Oakridge Elementary School are asking Arlington Public Schools to take a hard look at student achievement and teacher retention.

Student assessments show low growth and lower pass rates in math and science tests at the school in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood. Meanwhile, it has higher teacher turnover than the school system as a whole, according to the group, named Concerned Parents of Oakridge

“We’ve looked at the data as of the end of the 2022 school year and we did not see academic growth but we did see significant staff turnover and a widening equity gap,” group representative Anna Hudson told the Arlington School Board last week. “We know that many teachers will not return to Oakridge in the fall.”

Hudson is one of four parents who co-wrote a letter on behalf of this group, urging APS to hold students to higher academic standards.

APS has been talking with parents and the Arlington Ridge Civic Association about these issues, per an email that the school system shared with ARLnow.

It has developed a plan that addresses academics and staff satisfaction, as well as family engagement and behavior management, the email says. Not long after this plan was developed, a fight broke out among Oakridge parents at a fifth grade commencement ceremony.

The school began sending iPads home at the end of April so students and families can access the learning software APS has on these devices throughout the summer. Last year, Oakridge restricted iPad use at home due to inappropriate content found on the device of a student.

Before the school year ended earlier this month, English and math supervisors and other administrators began meeting regularly with teachers and making rounds at the school and teachers have quarterly planning days to prepare their lessons.

Demonstrating growth in reading and math are part of the school’s strategic plan. Oakridge committed to increasing small-group and one-on-one instruction and regular staff meetings to reach this goal.

When it comes to performance in English, Oakridge students are close to on par with their peers countywide, with 74% passing a state assessment in the 2021-22 school year, compared to the countywide average passing rate of 78%, per a state school quality dashboard.

In math, history and science, the Arlington Ridge elementary school performs lower than APS as a whole, though some of the elementary schools with high rates of children from low-income families have lower pass rates, per data from a state dashboard.

In math, 64% of Oakridge students passed state assessments compared to the APS rate of 74%, and in science, 40% pass rate compared to a 64% pass rate. Pass rates in Arlington for these subjects range from 95% to 21% and 90% to 16%, respectively.

Schools with some of the highest pass rates, like Nottingham Elementary School, registered low “growth rates,” while schools with lower pass rates register high growth rates, such as Randolph and Drew elementary schools. The Oakridge parents say they are troubled by the zero growth registered in math and science.

“Equity in education relies on strong academics. Reading, writing, math and problem-solving are critical foundations, whether you go to tech school, 4- year university or enter the workforce after high school,” Hudson said. “Low standards in elementary school lead to kids falling out in middle school and high school. Our kids are capable and they deserve better.”

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Streetscape improvements and apartment construction take shape in Courthouse

By Jo DeVoe
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Transportation and streetscape upgrades are making progress on several streets in Courthouse near an under-construction apartment tower.

The work is all associated with “The Commodore,” an new apartment building at 2050 Wilson Blvd. It replaces several low-slung commercial buildings, including restaurants like Summers, that were part of what Arlington County dubbed the “Landmark Block.” Today (Tuesday), fencing around the tower was festooned with banners announcing leasing would start this fall.

Developer Greystar is redoing a handful of streets nearby as part of the community benefits package associated with the project.Arlington County delegated some street upgrade work to Greystar in early 2022, saying it would be cheaper, easier and more efficient for the company to do the work as part of the apartment construction activity.

Today, pedestrians may notice fencing around a torn-up N. Uhle Street, which separates the Courthouse Metro station and the “Landmark Block.” This street previously had street trees, lighting and parking spaces.

An aerial view of the pedestrian promenade on N. Uhle Street (via Arlington County)

Eventually, it will become a long-envisioned pedestrian promenade leading to the Courthouse Metro station.

The block will have public seating lined with shade trees, lighting and landscaped planting beds, potentially bookended by public art.

The future N. Uhle Street pedestrian promenade (via Arlington County)

Nearby, 15th Street N. looks freshly repaved and is partly blocked off to vehicle traffic by jersey barriers, cones and caution tape. Signs along this street announce temporarily relocated bus stops.

It will become a curbless street shared by pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, featuring a “slow speed configuration” to increase the safety of users.

Clarendon Blvd, Wilson Blvd and N. Courthouse Road will get wider sidewalks, new pedestrian crossings, protected or dedicated bike lanes, widened medians and new trees and planted beds. The county parking lot entrance from 15th Street N. will be relocated, as well.

Greystar is also relocating existing and installing new traffic infrastructure, adding a “bike island” at the intersection of 15th Street N. and Clarendon Blvd and a new water main under N. Courthouse Road.

Those who want to know the latest vehicle and pedestrian traffic impacts can subscribe to a county newsletter for the area.

Two blocks away, construction is also continuing on the former Wendy’s lot, another Greystar project. The former fast food joint is being replaced with an apartment tower, ground-floor retail and a plaza at 2025 Clarendon Blvd, — as approved in March 2022. Together, the two projects realize a significant part of the county’s vision for the neighborhood.

This Wendy’s project will also result in transportation upgrades, such as bicycle amenities, new sidewalks and street trees, to Clarendon Blvd and Wilson Blvd.

Greystar declined to provide a construction update to ARLnow for this article.

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