Author: Jo DeVoe

Arlington to consider hunting and sterilizing deer, or fencing parks, to cull herds

By Jo DeVoe
Deer grazing in the forest (via Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation/YouTube)

Hunting and sterilizing deer and fencing off parks are options Arlington County could pursue to cull its reportedly oversized, and hungry, deer population.

Over the last two years, consultants estimated Arlington has a herd of whitetail deer numbering 290 and, in some areas, the concentration exceeded “healthy” levels.

These large herds are overgrazing the local forest understory and eating away the habitat that sustains birds, insects and bats, according to consultants, the Dept. of Parks and Recreation and some local naturalists.

Now, the parks department is investigating ways to cull the deer. Interested residents can attend a forum on Tuesday, July 11 at the Lubber Run Community Center to learn about management options and share their thoughts.

Through Thursday, July 13, residents can take an online survey to share their thoughts on the four lethal and non-lethal methods on the table:

  • professional sharpshooting
  • surgical sterilization of female deer
  • public archery hunting
  • fenced parks

“We want to be good stewards of Arlington County we’re trying to do the best that we can and this assessment is part of it,” county Natural Resources Manager Alonso Abugattas said in a recent video. “We’re hoping that, through this, we can decide how we can best proceed. This is just the beginning of what promises to be a conversation with the public.”

In the feedback form, Arlington County says sharpshooting, with professionals using sound-suppressed rifles and lead-free bullets, is safe for the public and “the most effective and fastest method for controlling overabundant deer.”

The practice meets euthanasia criteria set by national veterinarian groups. Meat from sharpshooting is donated.

Right behind sharpshooting, in terms of efficacy, could be sterilization. The county says experimental research has shown that, four years after surgical sterilization, deer populations may be reduced to almost half their original size.

Both these would require state permission. Arlington could instead change its own codes to expand archery hunting areas. If it took this course, vetted hunters, using modern compound bows or crossbows, would cull deer.

The county acknowledges the efficacy of archery “is unlikely to be at the level necessary for plant and forest regeneration” on its own and may need to be combined with sharpshooting or sterilization.

Or, Arlington could simply build fences around entire parks — a method that avoids death and sterilization but may be costly and ineffective, the county says.

Fencing “can be expensive to build and maintain, displaces deer into adjacent communities, limits vegetation regrowth to within fence boundaries, and requires vigilance in keeping gates closed and a plan to remove deer should they enter Arlington Parks,” per the form.

Survey respondents are asked how much they support or disagree with the four methods. The county asks which goals it should prioritize in choosing a method, such as forest health, minimized deer suffering and safety.

In the video, Abugattas emphasizes that doing nothing is not an option. An adult deer eats 5-7 pounds of vegetation in a day, or about one ton in a year. After their first year, an adult can produce two fawns every year for up to 20 years.

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How ranked-choice voting helped the County Board primary results reflect a divided electorate

By Jo DeVoe
Voters and Arlington County Board Democratic nominees Susan Cunningham and Maureen Coffey watch the tabulation process on Friday, June 23, 2023 in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 12:35 p.m.) Ranked-choice voting may have helped voters nominate a “split” Democratic ticket for Arlington County Board — at least when it comes to Missing Middle.

Last week, in relatively robust turnout for a primary in a non-presidential year, Maureen Coffey and Susan Cunningham received the Democratic nomination. Some 28,897 ballots were cast, up from 19,958 in 2015, the last time with two open seats and no incumbents on the ballot.

The Democratic duo are split, for and against, on the zoning code update allowing 2-6 unit buildings on lots previously zoned for single-family homes. Local elections buffs say the ideological diversity on this “split ticket” is a perk of ranked-choice voting that reflects the will of voters, even if it occasionally surprised observers.

“If we had used the simpler method of representation — of winner-takes-all — we most likely would have had two Democratic nominees who had the same position on Missing Middle,” says Jeremy Mayer, associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

The two departing Board members, Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey, strongly supported the changes. This time around, voters have chosen Cunningham, who called it a “mess,” and Coffey who, while generally supportive, criticized it for lacking cohesion with other housing policies.

It appears this election may be a stronger referendum on Missing Middle than the 2022 race. Incumbent Matt de Ferranti ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and bested two independents with 60% of votes last fall, campaigning on a middling view of the zoning changes.

This time, the leaderboard was not clear cut. Despite “anti” Missing Middle candidates leading at first, realtor Natalie Roy lost to Coffey, who picked up votes from eliminated “pro” Missing Middle candidates.

This result “much more accurately reflects the opinions of Democrat-leaning Arlingtonians,” said Mayer, a lifelong Arlingtonian. “That’s a good thing for democracy.”

Ranked-choice voting tempered the influence of the Democratic establishment, he and former Arlington County Civic Federation President Allan Gajadhar said. Democrats had full control of the Arlington County Board for years until 2014, when Republican John Vihstadt joined the Board as an independent, and have had it since 2018, when de Ferranti beat him.

This year, the Democratic establishment coalesced around Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., who nabbed endorsements from County Board members Takis Karantonis and de Ferranti, Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, state Sen. Barbara Favola, and others. He was eliminated in the fourth tabulation round.

Cunningham, meanwhile, had support from some well-known Democrats as well as people outside the party, like Vihstadt, who last year supported independent and outspoken Missing Middle critic Audrey Clement. Cunningham also had the support of Board Vice-Chair Libby Garvey, who endorsed Vihstadt in 2014.

“In a place with a dominant faction, it does broaden the base of the people who can get elected beyond the party control mechanisms,” Gajadhar said. “In this case, it was one issue, Missing Middle. In other elections… [there could be] not just a diversity of ideas but of people who could conceivably run and be successful.”

Former county treasurer turned amateur election pundit Frank O’Leary sees a common thread between Garvey’s support for Cunningham amid doubts about Missing Middle and her alliance with Vihstadt against the Columbia Pike streetcar. He does not, however, predict the downfall of Missing Middle if Cunningham and Garvey join forces.

“I suspect it will be peace and harmony on the County Board,” he said.

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An update in the ‘wide open’ Arlington County Board race could come this afternoon

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Arlingtonians could have an update on the results of the Arlington County Board Democratic primary as soon as this afternoon, according to the local elections office.

“We will be accepting about 500 mail and provisional ballots today and results will be uploaded throughout the afternoon,” says spokeswoman Tania Griffin. “We’ll also have an update regarding the [ranked-choice voting] tabulation later this afternoon as well.”

For the first time, Arlington voters used a ranked-choice system to pick their top candidates for the County Board, which has two open seats this year. The outcome will come down to who voters ranked second and third place.

It is a squeaker so far for Susan Cunningham, Natalie Roy, Maureen Coffey and Julius “J.D.” Spain, whose tally of first-choice votes are within a range of only 5 percentage points from most to least.

“This race is still wide open,” said Liz White, the executive director of UpVote Virginia, which has been educating residents about ranked-choice voting ahead of the primary.

“Four out of the six candidates could very well secure a win once subsequent rounds are tabulated,” she said in an email. “Round-by-round tabulation will occur as soon as all provisional and mail ballots are processed. Once all votes are processed, the tabulation is instantaneous.”

How Arlington County Board candidates ended Tuesday night with Round 1 votes in (via Virginia Dept. of Elections)

No candidate crossed the threshold for early victory: 33.3% of the first-choice votes, plus one vote.  The next step will be eliminating the lowest vote getters, in order. Who people picked after first ranking Jonathan Dromgoole and Tony Weaver could get any of the four other candidates past the finish line.

Cunningham, who took the lead in the first round of votes, tells ARLnow she has made peace with whatever happens next. Coffey, who currently sits in third place, says she is “on pins and needles” waiting for the results.

Political consultant Ben Tribbett is placing his bets that those who ranked Dromgoole first likely ranked Coffey or Spain next.

“When you get to the actual ranking of candidates, I think the third and fourth-place candidates are going to go on to win the election,” Tribbett said. “I would expect in that first round, that Maureen is going to win. There’s a chance Susan Cunningham could hold off J.D. in the second round.”

On Tuesday, County Board member Takis Karantonis — who endorsed Coffey and Spain — said Coffey performed well on a per campaign dollar spent basis. Meanwhile Spain, who had racked up several endorsements and raised substantial funds, underperformed, which he called a “sobering result.”

Looking precinct by precinct, it is clear that each of the candidates had a base. The more urban places with younger voters went for Coffey, while single-family home enclaves went for Cunningham and Roy, who were most critical of the zoning changes known as Missing Middle.

Arlington County Board Democratic Primary Round 1 votes by precinct (by Jo DeVoe)

Spain told ARLnow on Tuesday night that he enjoyed strong support in his neighborhood, Penrose, while noting more confrontations with upset voters above Langston Blvd.

“We won the most diverse precincts in Arlington,” he said. “[I’m] proud of that.”

Tribbett was more blunt about what he saw as the electoral dynamic, citing the geographic distribution of votes in the Commonwealth’s Attorney race in particular.

“It’s the Karens versus the non-Karens,” he said. “Clearly, there’s a divide in the community that jumps out at you.”

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Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Buckingham to undergo $15M renovation project

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

There is a brick, mid-century Catholic church that overlooks Arlington Blvd from a hill, adorned with three stained glass arches and a white cross.

Built to serve a parish, it was repurposed in the mid-1970s and christened the Cathedral of St. Thomas More. Its exterior today belies the building’s significance as the “mother church” for nearly a half-million Catholics across Northern Virginia and the seat of their bishop, Michael Burbidge.

The Arlington diocese says now, in honor of its 50th anniversary, is the time to make the church in the Buckingham neighborhood — which also operates a school — look the part.

In April, work began on a year-long project to transfigure the building, updating the interior and exterior and installing new stained glass windows and liturgical furnishings.

“When the Diocese of Arlington was established in 1974, there was no pre-existing cathedral to serve the needs of the newly-formed diocese,” Billy Atwell, the chief communications officer for the diocese, said. “As such, a parish church was chosen and retrofitted as best as possible to meet those needs.”

“As we approach our 50th anniversary in 2024, it is an appropriate time to undertake this project to help the Cathedral of St. Thomas More better reflect its dignity as the mother church of the more than 433,000 registered Catholics in the Diocese of Arlington,” he continued.

The new church at 3901 Cathedral Lane will have a Tudor-style façade that will be a nod to the church’s patron saint, St. Thomas More, who lived at the turn of the 16th century in England.

A permit filed with Arlington County indicates the project is estimated to cost $15.3 million.

It is completely paid for by donors “who agreed to give beyond their current contributions to their parishes, the Diocese and Catholic charitable efforts,” Atwell said.

“Bishop Burbidge had three essential principles for funding the cathedral renovation project which have all been achieved: that no debt would be incurred, no assessments would be taken from any parish and that there would be no capital campaign for this project,” he said.

After going through county approval processes in late July 2022, and receiving a permit in late October, demolition work began in mid-April. The project is set to wrap up next summer.

The church will get the following upgrades, according to permits filed with Arlington County:

  • new stained glass windows
  • two twin belfries at the south façade
  • a Tudor-style exterior
  • a new cupola, or small dome
  • new roofing
  • a renovated raised sanctuary platform with a ramp for greater accessibility
  • new liturgical furnishings, such as a cathedra or bishop’s seat
  • a renovated shrine
  • a refurbished choir loft

The project was designed by Arlington-based sacred architecture firm O’Brien and Keane Architecture.

From N. Glebe Road, travelers will be able to see a rose-patterned stained glass window. Imbued with scripture references, the diocese hopes the window inspires passers-by “to seek its deeper meaning in their lives,” according to the diocesan newspaper, The Arlington Catholic Herald.

Inside, there will be stained glass images of the saints for whom churches throughout the diocese are named, as well as devotional shrines to saints from the numerous cultures and communities represented in the diocese, the Catholic Herald said.

“Behind each statue will be stained-glass windows that tell the story of that saint’s life,” Atwell wrote in the article. “The cathedral will exemplify both the oneness and the diversity of the diocese — that our one body has indeed many parts.”

Following the cathedral renovation, also in honor of its 50th anniversary the diocese will conduct a capital campaign for charitable works, Atwell told ARLnow.

Arlington police can now refer kids to restorative programs outside the juvenile justice system

By Jo DeVoe
A police officer plays a game of pickup basketball with local kids in 2018 (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)

(Updated at 2:10 p.m.) A new youth program could divert youth who commit misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies from the juvenile legal system.

Arlington police will be able to refer offending juveniles to local programs aimed at holding youth accountable outside of the court system, according to a press release from the Center for Youth and Family Advocacy (CYFA).

“Community-based diversion is critical to community policing because it recognizes young people’s capacity for change,” the organization said in a statement. “Community-based diversion also reduces the possibility of collateral consequences arising from legal system involvement, which can have lasting, and often unexpected, effects on a youth throughout their life.”

CYFA works Arlington County’s juvenile court services unit to provide a variety of youth-led programs, through which kids who acknowledge wrongdoing can make amends and rejoin their communities.

It offers programs such as “Youth Peer Court,” in which trained teens occupy the roles of prosecutor and defense attorney, judge and jury and help develop a plan the juvenile follows to repair the harm he or she committed.

Now, police will be able to refer kids to that program and another, in which kids learn how to facilitate conversations about issues impacting teens by those harmed and those doing the harm.

The nonprofit says its new partnership with ACPD, in the works since 2019, is a “radical change” in how Arlington County addresses delinquent behavior in kids and prevents them from being involved in the formal juvenile legal system.

Until recently, for instance, police officers were in Arlington Public Schools. The intent was to maintain school safety and provide mentorship, though there were community concerns that the school presence resulted in racial disparities in juvenile arrests.

For the police department, the CYFA partnership is a new way to stay involved in the lives of children without involving the full weight of the courts.

“ACPD recognizes that using restorative justice programs for particular incidents involving youth provides an opportunity to divert youth from the criminal justice system while still holding them accountable for their actions and providing persons who have been harmed an opportunity to be actively involved in the resolution of their case,” department spokeswoman Ashley Savage told ARLnow.

The two organizations will work together to educate locals about how to also utilize these two programs when police are not involved, CYFA says.

The nonprofit says the partnership advances the aims of the county’s Police Practices Group, which suggested more than 100 ways to reform policing in Arlington.

“It creates space to reframe police response from adversarial to solution-focused and provides an opportunity to shift cultural and societal reliance on police resources,” CYFA said.

In a Facebook post, the organization provided a “shoutout” to several officers within ACPD for their work to stand up the program, as well as to Chief Andy Penn and Deputy Chief Wayne Vincent “for their tremendous work on strategic planning.”

The organization additionally thanked County Manager Mark Schwartz and the Arlington County Board for supporting its efforts.

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf

Acting Sheriff Jose Quiroz wins Democratic primary on commitment to improve inmate well-being

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington Sheriff candidate Jose Quiroz, Jr. greets Arlington County Board member Takis Karantonis at the Walter Reed Community Center on Tuesday (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

After taking the helm for longtime Arlington County Sheriff Beth Arthur, who retired at the end of 2022, Acting Sheriff Jose Quiroz is one step closer to taking charge permanently.

Quiroz — backed by four of five County Board members and several elected officials — won the Democratic primary Tuesday night. Following his victory, over former sheriff deputy Wanda Younger and Arlington County police corporal James Herring, Quiroz advances to the November general election.

No one has emerged as an outside challenger, according to the Arlington Dept. of Elections website. If elected as expected, Quiroz will be the county’s first Latino sheriff.

As of last night, the acting sheriff had nearly 40% of the vote, or 10,733 ballots. Younger was close behind him, with 1,600 fewer votes (~34%). Herring came in third, picking up nearly 7,200 votes.

Arlington County Sheriff results (via Virginia Dept. of Elections)

Looking forward, the acting sheriff says he will focus on mental health, substance use and programming for jail inmates. Running the local jail is the primary responsibility of the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office, along with providing court security and some law enforcement and civil process duties beyond the justice complex in Courthouse.

“I think the biggest thing is mental health. We all have that and all go through it, but some people need a little more care, attention, resources and services,” Quiroz told ARLnow. “I think the county has some work to do in that area.”

He stressed that he can only control treatment of inmates, not change the waves of people with mental illnesses and addictions coming to the jail. To that end, he says new biometric sensors — which inmates will wear so issues like withdrawal symptoms can be spotted before more inmates die — are close to go-time.

Meanwhile, he intends to maintain existing programs, including a series that teaches men how to connect with and be fathers to their kids.

“That’s how you break the cycle of the next generation,” he said. “It’s important to me as a father.”

He says he is thinking “outside the box” about support, stepping up pet therapy and possibly adding a pickleball court for staff and inmates.

In their concessions, Herring and Younger both said they campaigned on bringing to light problems in the jail.

“My campaign was about highlighting the issues and showing people the number of solutions we have available to us if we stop relying on the trope of ‘that’s the way it has always been done,’ or ‘it costs too much,'” Herring said. “Other Sheriff’s Offices in Virginia have implemented much of what I was talking about, often with smaller budgets. The problems facing our Sheriff’s Office are not financially driven, but an issue of priority.”

Next week, Herring will once more be patrolling the streets. He said he would run again if the problems he stressed in his campaign remain four years from now.

On social media, Younger said she is “proud to have raised the bar of the Sheriff’s Office with our ideas & solution-sets and to have brought light to the prevalent issues of the Arlington Sheriff’s Office which inhibit [its] growth and greatness.”

She also thanked voters for their confidence in her ability to carry out her platform.

“The Wanda for Sheriff team will continue to advance the rights and voice of the detainees, Sheriff’s Office staff and our Arlington community in the future as community advocates and caretakers, and we are honored to have earned your trust,” she said.

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Police, prosecutor aim to repair relationship after Tuesday’s primary

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

(Updated at 5:30 p.m.) Arlington’s top prosecutor, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, bested challenger Josh Katcher in yesterday’s Democratic primary.

Now, she says it is time to get back to work, building on reforms she made the first time around and forging a better relationship with the Arlington County police rank and file.

Dehghani-Tafti was elected Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington and Falls Church in 2019 on a criminal justice reform platform, besting her predecessor, Theo Stamos, in an expensive and contentious primary.

This time, she beat Katcher in a campaign that focused on her track record — and sometimes stooped to criticize Katcher for his prosecutorial judgement and question the motives of his supporters and donors.

Of her race in Arlington, Dehghani-Tafti told ARLnow last night (Tuesday) that “the 2019 campaign was about ideals and promises and laying out a new vision. This is about showing our work.”

With the primary behind her, Dehghani-Tafti shared with ARLnow what is next for her office. One top priority is expanding the Restorative Arlington initiative so more victims can choose guided, out-of-court conferencing sessions with the people who harmed them — if they want it.

She would also like to schedule another clinic where people can learn about how to get their records expunged, which she aims to make a biannual event. Additionally, Dehghani-Tafti is working on standing up a gun buyback program with Moms Demand Action and has met with the organization since last fall to find a “safe and effective” way to pull it off.

Lastly, though this falls outside her purview, she plans to meet with court services to find ways to get more residents connected to substance use treatment programs.

ARLnow asked about her relationship with the Arlington County Police Department going forward. The police union endorsed Katcher as it endorsed Stamos in 2019.

“I will continue to be a bridge-builder as much as possible,” she said.

Police union president Randall Mason said the organization is disappointed in the outcome but hopes the relationship between the departments will grow.

“Maybe she didn’t know there was a poor relationship between officers and her office, and our endorsement was eye-opening for her,” he said. “Hopefully it becomes better over the next four years and we work collaboratively towards prosecutions.”

He says officers want to see the prosecutor’s office devote more time to pre-trial preparation. Mason has been asked to be a witness twice and both times, he says, he was not given opportunities to meet with prosecutors in advance though he requested it. Officers also want to get feedback when charges are dropped “so we can do our job better in the future.”

Judith Davis, an Arlington Public Schools parent, said she attended every forum and asked the two candidates about student health, safety and substance use. She supported Dehghani-Tafti because she acknowledged “there was work to do.”

Still, she was frustrated that this election “brought out the ugly in people.”

“It’s easy to point fingers,” she said. “We didn’t hear from the people who had things to say.”

Yordanos Woldai, a Green Valley resident concerned about safety in her community, said she supported Katcher for his judgment and trial attorney experience.

“I am proud of the campaign Josh ran,” she said. “He focused on issues that matter — even while enduring one baseless attack after another.”

Katcher critiqued his opponent for downplaying statistics indicating a rise in crime, as well as her office for mishandling cases and thus, compounding the hurt victims feel.

Both used anecdotes from people who went through the court system to paint each other as lacking competency or nuanced judgment.

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Park Shirlington owner nabs federal funding to assist with renovations and affordability

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

The owner of garden apartments on the edge of the Fairlington neighborhood nabbed $46.6 million in federal loans to help keep the units affordable and fund upgrades.

Over the last two years, Standard Communities, which owns Park Shirlington (4510 31st Street S.), has been amassing funding — including from Arlington County — to keep the nearly 300 units on site affordable to people earning up to 60% of the area median income, while funding renovations and new construction work.

Last week, commercial real estate company Walker & Dunlop announced it had helped the company nab the $46.6 million in federal funds, on top of $31.9 million in loans from the Arlington County Affordable Housing Investment Fund.

With the new federal loans, it is able to keep the units affordable at least through 2053, according to the announcement.

“Transitioning Park Shirlington from market rate to committed affordable housing was an ambitious but critical objective given the affordable housing landscape in Arlington and many other high-opportunity locations,” said Scott Alter, the co-founder, and principal of Standard Communities, in a statement.

“Standard Communities is proud to have successfully worked with so many other committed stakeholders to ensure that Park Shirlington provides nearly 300 high-quality, affordable housing units for decades to come,” he continued.

Chris Rumul, the leader of Walker & Dunlop’s Federal Housing Administration team, says the availability of affordable housing is a national concern but this complex “is an excellent example of how the federal government, local municipalities, and private investors can collaborate to be part of the solution.”

Arlington County has already done its part, loaning some $31.9 million from its Affordable Housing Investment Fund over the course of 2021 and 2022. This included a $6 million loan that helped Standard Communities purchase the property in 2017, preventing market-rate developers from taking it over and building more expensive housing.

With the new funding, renovation and construction work could start this August, an employee at Park Shirlington said this afternoon, adding that tenants would be notified once renovations begin.

The work was initially predicted to start soon after the close of county financing last fall and wrap up in 2024.

The property owner proposes to build new community center with a co-working space and management office. It will renovate 293 existing units and turn the leasing office into a 294th unit.

The renovations include new kitchens and bathrooms, new boilers and chillers, rooftop solar panels, a new community building with a fitness center, hallway upgrades and exterior work, according to a 2022 report from Arlington County.

While redevelopment is paused, Columbia Pike strip mall owner steps up cleaning and security

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

Growing community concerns and a visit from county code enforcement have prompted a local property manager to clean and secure its vacant storefronts on Columbia Pike.

Some retail bays at the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center, on the 2600 block of the Pike, have stood empty for a year as the strip mall awaited redevelopment. That includes the former spaces of Atilla’s restaurant, apparel store Legends Kicks and the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington.

The retail strip was set to become an apartment with a ground-floor grocery store — rumored to be an Amazon Fresh — as well as a new location for the existing CVS, which is still open. When the grocery tenant pulled out in December, developer Insight Property Group struggled to secure loans for the project. The work is paused until economic conditions improve.

The vacant storefronts attracted break-ins, graffiti and vermin — adding insult to the injury of millions of dollars spent on the project so far, according to Harald Mangold, a representative for the property owner. These conditions led the code enforcement division of Arlington County to condemn the buildings earlier this month.

Mangold tells ARLnow they got to work in response to the neon orange notice stickers.

“We hired someone to clean out all the old buildings,” he said. “They’re empty and clean versus empty and dirty — and boarded up properly.”

When the tenants moved out last May, Mangold said they were not required to clean out their storefronts completely because they were set to be bulldozed soon. As a result, flammable items were left inside, including furniture and old kitchen equipment.

People began breaking in and some slept inside the buildings sporadically, prompting the owners to hire off-duty police officers to keep watch over the property.

After work over the last week, Mangold said, the issues raised in the condemnation notice are “essentially resolved.”

“There’s nothing dangerous,” he said. “We just need to keep people from getting in and breaking in.”

While, Mangold says workers have been washing away graffiti — only for it to return a few days later. Although it is a chief complaint for some neighbors, he disputes the notion that it is worse here than other parts of the Pike or the region.

Penrose Civic Association Alex Sakes has been following goings-on at the shopping center closely and fielding concerns from neighbors about the blighted conditions.

He says he is meeting with leadership at the Arlington County Police Department, county staff and the Columbia Pike Partnership leadership to discuss the “State of the Pike,” particularly as it relates to buildings defaced by spray paint along the corridor.

The meeting will “get everyone up-to-speed on this ever-evolving situation and work together to put together an actionable game-plan and next steps regarding the 2600 block and graffiti mitigation,” he said.

As for the future of the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center, Sakes says local leaders are still brainstorming whether to fill the buildings with pop-ups. With the condemnation notices, that would depend on the buildings being deemed safe, he said.

“Regarding the funding mechanisms, maybe the county can step in and help subsidize alongside various nonprofit entities like [Columbia Pike Partnership] and others,” he said. “But, again, that’s all in the brainstorming phase at the moment, first step would be getting the building deemed fit for occupancy.”

Mangold says the owners are working on that.

“We’re trying to find solutions,” he said. “It’s not ideal but we are committed to the neighborhood and we remain good neighbors.”

Here is what you need to know ranking your Arlington County Board picks

By Jo DeVoe
Voting in Courthouse (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Just a few days remain to vote in the Arlington County Democratic primary.

Voters can cast their ballots early and in-person today (Friday) and tomorrow — or they can hit the polls on Tuesday.

This year, for the first time, residents are using ranked-choice voting to determine which Arlington County Board candidates will run with a (D) next to their names in the November general election. The format for every other primary contest is unchanged.

This article explains how to vote, how your vote is counted and why full results may come next weekend. At the minimum, this is what you should know:

  1. Anyone registered to vote, regardless of party, can participate in the primary.
  2. You can rank up to three of the six County Board candidates. You can only rank one or two if you want.
  3. Only two candidates will get the nomination.
  4. Only mark one oval per column and ask for assistance if you need help.

Filling out your ballot

Need a visual? This Arlington County flier provides step-by-step instructions:

Ranked-choice voting flier (via Arlington County) 

The scanner will reject ballots that look as follows.

Ranked-choice voting ballot errors (via Arlington County)

“Voters have the option to mark a new ballot or cast their ballot with the errors,” Arlington Dept. of Elections Director Gretchen Reinemeyer says. “A vast majority choose to spoil their original ballot and mark a new ballot.”

If you mailed in a ballot with errors, it will be reviewed.

“Their ballots are scanned after they are separated from the voter’s name to preserve voter privacy,” Reinemeyer says. “These ballots are held until election day and will be adjudicated by teams of election officers to determine voter intent.”

The rate of spoiled ballots so far this primary season is a little higher than normal, but still small, she noted. Final stats on spoiled ballots will be published after the election.

How are the winners picked? 

Liz White, the executive director of UpVote Virginia, tells ARLnow she used this analogy to explain tabulation when her organization educated Arlingtonians on ranked-choice voting.

You have $1 to spend to elect someone. Everyone pays their first pick $1 and whoever gets the least amount of money is eliminated.

A candidate who wins by a large margin does not need the full $1 — just, for instance, 70 cents. Your second pick gets 30 cents.

If your first-place candidate is eliminated, your second-place pick gets your full $1. Everyone has a whole vote: for some, it is split among two and for others, it supports the second-place pick.

Armed with this knowledge, White says do not get too strategic.

“One of the nice things is that voters don’t have to be pundits,” she said. “They can truly say, ‘If I don’t have this one candidate, I want to have this one.'”

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Chronic staffing shortages top of mind for Arlington County Sheriff candidates — with a side of pickleball

By Jo DeVoe
Jail entrance at the Arlington County Detention Facility (file photo)

The pickleball craze could be headed to the local jail next.

Acting Sheriff Jose Quiroz, who is one of three vying for the support of local Democrats in the primary this coming Tuesday, said that one amenity he would like to add to the jail is a pickleball court.

In an interview by Arlington Independent Media (AIM), he said the court is “something different” — in addition to the existing basketball court and weight-lifting area in the jail — that deputies and inmates could use. He sees the additional court as a way to improve deputy wellness.

He also intends to add a relaxation room in the jail for deputies and to have wellness conversations with staff, facilitated by local nonprofit Center for Youth and Family Advocacy.

Those two measures are intended to stop the office from bleeding burned-out staff, a pattern in Arlington reflected nationally that sources say appears to be worsening within the Sheriff’s Office, with some deputies actively planning their departures. Already, the vacancy rate stands around 7%, up from a little greater than 3% in 2019, according to the 2024 approved budget.

“Our staffing all around is low,” Quiroz said in the interview. “We have a lot of vacancies.”

He is running against Arlington County police officer James Herring and retired sheriff deputy Wanda Younger. Early voting ends tomorrow (Saturday), while polls open for the Democratic primary on Tuesday. Quiroz’s opponents say they also have ideas for addressing what they say are morale and retention issues in the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO).

Herring says the issue stems from deputies being forced to work overtime. They will leave Arlington for jurisdictions with better schedules.

If elected, he intends to advocate for better pay and benefits and, with input from deputies, create more balanced schedules that provide career growth opportunities and mentorship.

“If you can’t hire people faster than people leave your agency, it doesn’t matter how good your recruiting is,” Herring told ARLnow. “Losing a veteran deputy means more than just losing a filled position. It means that you’re losing their years of experience, their ability to mentor younger deputies, and their established connections with those in custody and in the community.”

(Herring’s AIM interview was just posted online this morning.)

He recently picked up endorsements from Abby Raphael, a former Arlington School Board member who also served as an assistant prosecutor, and former independent County Board member John Vihstadt. Both praised his plans for also improving inmate wellbeing.

Younger suggests ending the Sheriff’s unilateral ability to hire and fire deputies without cause. She also suggests relying more on auxiliary deputies — trained civilian volunteers, certified by the state, who sometimes have military or law enforcement experience.

“Hiring is definitely an issue. Retention is a main problem as well,” Younger said in her conversation with AIM. “In order to ensure they remain, we have to increase morale. That’s one area I would focus on.”

Quiroz has the endorsement of several other current and former local and state elected officials, as well as his predecessor, Beth Arthur, who stepped down in January and appointed Quiroz as acting sheriff.

ACSO has tried to tackle the staffing crunch by appointing a sergeant to assist with recruiting — which resulted in more applications processed and a slightly faster hiring window — and budgeting $20,000 in the 2024 budget for recruiting.

The sheriff’s office serves warrants, runs the county jail and provides security at the courthouse, in addition to some other local law and traffic enforcement responsibilities. One impact of the shortages has been fewer deputies providing security in courtrooms and more civilian court security supervisors filling in.

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