Author: Jo DeVoe

Key Bridge Marriott redevelopment stalls as financial woes worsen for L.A. developer

By Jo DeVoe

 

1/6

A project to redevelop the Key Bridge Marriott building appears to have stalled with no indication of picking back up.

That may be related to signs of financial distress for the property owner and developer, Woodridge Capital Partners.

The Arlington County Board approved the project at 1401 Langston Blvd in Rosslyn — on a prominent plot of land overlooking the river and parts of D.C. — on March 24, 2020. The applicant, Woodridge affiliate KBLH, LLC, proposed to partially demolish and renovate the existing hotel and construct two new residential buildings: one with 151 condo units and one with 300 apartments.

Six months after the Marriott shuttered the hotel in July 2021, the Washington Business Journal noted no signs of progress on the project. ARLnow checked permit records and found only one new permit has been filed since, back in February 2022.

Meanwhile, a search of property records indicates Woodridge is behind on its 2022 real estate taxes, owing $426,488, which was due in October.

Real estate taxes on 1401 Langston Blvd (via Arlington County)

Evidence of a worsening financial situation for Woodridge is stronger on the West Coast. In Los Angeles, where the company is based, it undertook a $2.5 billion redevelopment project to convert the top two floors of an iconic hotel in Los Angeles, the Fairmount Century Plaza Hotel, into expensive condos. It also built two 40-story condo towers on the site, with units costing $2-12 million.

Woodridge finished the renovated Century Plaza hotel in the middle of the pandemic and the condo towers last summer, as L.A.’s housing market began to falter. It had managed $200 million in presales in 2019.

Now, an affiliate of Woodridge called Next Century Partners is set to lose its stake in the project via a foreclosure auction scheduled for Dec. 14, commercial real estate data group CoStar reported.

Farther north, a ritzy hotel in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood, owned by Woodridge, closed after the company defaulted on a $56 million loan from Deutsche Bank.

Woodridge did not respond to requests for comment. Oaktree Capital, an affiliate of one of the project’s backers, declined to comment.

“The only upcoming groundbreaking Woodridge will be involved on is one that will find it beneath a patch of clover,” a reader quipped in a tip, suggesting that the project may need to change hands to move forward. “Next developer please!”

Demolition day looms for former Inner Ear Studios space

By Jo DeVoe
1/11

Demolition could start on the former Inner Ear Studios building next year.

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board is set to review a contract to demolish the nearly 70-year-old warehouse and building at 2700 S. Nelson and 2701 S. Oakland streets in Green Valley, near Shirlington. The demolition will make way for a flexible open space for arts programming.

“The building is in a deteriorated condition, has exceeded its service life, and is cost prohibitive to repurpose, repair and maintain,” according to a county report. “Therefore, demolition was recommended.”

Work could take about 180 days and construction could be completed by the summer, per the report. Electrical outlets and hydrants would be installed as part of the project.

Arlington County plans to outfit the lot with a large event space, a small performance area, a temporary public arts space, a makerspace and seating. It will incorporate objects saved from the former epicenter of the D.C. punk scene.

“Several items of significance were salvaged from the Inner Ear Studio that occupied the warehouse prior to the County,” the report says. “Arlington County Cultural Affairs and Public Art are involving the community in shaping the future use of the site and incorporating the salvaged items for a flexible, open space that will be established after demolition.”

Arlington acquired the property in late 2021 in a bid to create an arts and industry district in Green Valley and make the arts more accessible in south Arlington.

The building is adjacent to the Arlington Food Assistance Center and the Arlington Cultural Affairs building, where an outpost of Arlington Independent Media is now located, and across from Jennie Dean Park.

Inner Ear Studios has remained active since moving out of its long-time home, with recording space now located in the basement of owner Don Zientara’s Arlington house.

Planning Commission hearing on Missing Middle draws nearly 100 speakers

By Jo DeVoe
Terry Arma speaks during the Planning Commission meeting Monday, Dec. 12, 2022 (via Arlington County)

In the eight years local architect Brian Harner sat on the Arlington Planning Commission, he says he never saw more than 15 people show up for a meeting.

Last night (Monday), some 90 people registered to speak on the county’s proposal to allow by-right development of buildings with two to six — or even up to eight — units in districts that are now zoned exclusively for single-family homes.

“This is a divisive issue and there’s a lot of intensity around this,” Harner said of the proposal to allow what is dubbed “Missing Middle” housing.

The meeting marked a step forward for the proposal but a final vote on whether to adopt any zoning changes is still at least three months away. Monday’s meeting was devoted to public speakers and the Planning Commission will reconvene Thursday to decide whether to approve the county’s request to advertise public hearings on the draft plan as it is currently written.

“The Commission is hearing this item tonight for the specific purpose of giving feedback to the County Board about what is and what is not within realm of consideration at hearings that would be conducted in the spring,” Planning Commission Chair Daniel Weir said. “We aren’t here tonight to solve the problem — that is the County Board’s job. We are here tonight to give the board advice and guidance on how to tee up the issues and their conversation.”

The challenge for Arlington County is to draft a policy that encourages by-right development of homes that households making less than $200,000 annually can afford and helps to undo the lasting impacts of racially restrictive zoning policies, all while managing community concerns such as parking, school and infrastructure capacity, loss of neighborhood character and tree canopy.

County planner Matt Ladd says compared to the status quo, the proposed policies may spur the construction of homes affordable to more households earning upwards of $100,000, which would “benefit greater percentages of all racial groups.” That differs from Arlington County’s current affordable housing efforts, which are targeted at those earning 60-80% or less of the area median income.

Single-family homes are currently, on average, only attainable for households earning $200,000 or more, he said. On racial equity, the county determined the Missing Middle proposal would allow more households of color to buy in or remain in four census tracts — areas that already have percentages of people of color higher than the county average of 39%.

This draft puts some decisions to the Arlington County Board, including whether to establish a cap of no more than 42 Missing Middle-type developments per year, whether to allow up to six or eight units in a building and whether the number of units should be dictated by lot size.

“We are at a crisis and we must take bold action to build a county that is affordable, sustainable and welcoming to all,” said resident Noah Higgins, advocating for no development caps or density restrictions.

Some real estate agents in attendance disputed the notion Arlington has a housing crisis.

Retired agent Diane Dunston said on Monday, 290 homes were for sale, of which 45 had three bedrooms or more and were less than $1 million.

“Are there buyers who say they can’t find a home in Arlington? Of course there are, but what they’re really saying is, ‘I can’t find a home I like,” she said.

(more…)

Arlington proposes countywide 20 mph school zones halfway through year two of Vision Zero

By Jo DeVoe
20 mph signage near Bishop O’Connell High School (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington is proposing to lower speed limits near schools across the county to 20 mph as the county’s second year of Vision Zero enters the rear-view mirror.

This Saturday, the Arlington County Board is set to hear a proposal to expand these slow zones to all schools, after many people said they felt safer walking, biking and driving in 13 school zones where the speed limit has already dropped to 20 mph.

If the Board approves the changes, school zones will all get permanent signs with the new speed limits. The county says this is cheaper and more broadly applicable than flashing beacons, which will only be used on arterial streets within 600 feet of schools during arrival and dismissal times.

This change follows the approval earlier this year of moveable speed cameras to be installed in school and work zones, as well as calls from the Arlington County Board for a quicker staff response to critical crashes, after a driver fatally struck a pedestrian in an intersection near Nottingham Elementary School.

Schools have figured into other notable crashes, including a fatal crash involving a motorcyclist and a school bus in front of Drew Elementary in 2021 and a crash involving a drunk driver who killed a pedestrian near Thomas Jefferson Middle School this summer. In a less serious crash this fall, a driver struck an adolescent cyclist near Kenmore Middle School.

Lowering speeds is one action the county has taken over the last year and a half to work toward its goal of eliminating traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries by 2030, a plan known as Vision Zero.

“There are no corridors on county-owned roads that have a speed limit higher than 30 miles per hour, which is a big improvement. We’re very excited to say that,” Arlington Vision Zero coordinator Christine Sherman Baker said in a meeting last week.

In addition to lower speeds, the county has set up temporary school walking routes and roundabouts, completed 13 quick-build projects and made improvements to six critical crash sites and 14 crash “hot spots.” Staff are working on procuring speed cameras for school and work zones and red light cameras for six more intersections, which could be installed in 2023.

Amid the flurry of work, preliminary data from the first nine months of 2022 indicate crashes are down overall, according to a Vision Zero report released last month. As of Aug. 30, there were 1,313 crashes in Arlington, of which two were fatal and 34 were severe. (We’ve since reported on two additional fatal crashes.)

Historical severe and fatal crashes in Arlington (via Arlington County)

Pedestrian-involved crashes and crashes in intersections are both slightly lower, while bike crash figures are consistent with previous years. There has yet to be a crash in a work zone.

“Alcohol and speed prove to be some of our biggest challenges on our roadways,” Baker said in the meeting.

But some people say the county needs to be clearer in communicating if and how its work is reducing crashes as well as the dangers of driving.

(more…)

A nativity scene went missing from a church in South Arlington

By Jo DeVoe
Our Savior Lutheran Church on S. Taylor Street (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 4 p.m.) Two weeks before Christmas, someone has apparently stolen a nativity scene from a church in the Barcroft neighborhood.

But the pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church (825 S. Taylor Street), Wayne Fredericksen, is turning the other cheek.

“My focus is fresh hope and fresh encouragement,” he said. “This is where my head and heart are going, to remind us of the Bible story and see how it provided hope and encouragement before the birth and also still for us today.”

He was still processing the news when ARLnow spoke with him Monday morning. Fredericksen says he wished whoever stole the scene, if the intent was to resell, would instead connect with the resources that the church support, including Path Forward, Bridges to Independence and Arlington Food Assistance Center.

“Since we don’t know the circumstances or the situation, we wish the best for that person,” he said. “We’re sad they thought that was an action we thought was good for them. We wish them good in other ways and we move forward in forgiveness.”

Police were called but do not have much to go on at this point.

“Between December 11 at 12 a.m. and December 12 at 12 a.m., the unknown suspect(s) stole an outdoor nativity set,” Arlington County police spokeswoman Ashley Savage told ARLnow via email. “There is no suspect(s) description. The investigation is ongoing.”

Fredericksen called the loss of the scene, which was a gift to the church, “disappointing.” He says the decoration contributes to the communal celebration of Christmas and reminds people to support the ministerial work of houses of worship as well as local nonprofits that help people in need.

“It can feel overwhelming, but when you see how many people are at work trying to do good, it doesn’t take a lot to come alongside and support in some way, whether it’s with a gift, or a gift of time,” Fredericksen said.

A lone detached home along Route 50 near Courthouse could become apartments

By Jo DeVoe
1/10

A new developer has reprised long-dormant plans to turn a house, a large tree and two surface parking lots near Courthouse into apartments.

D.C.-area developer Fortis Companies proposes building a 166-unit, 12-story apartment tower at 2025 Fairfax Drive, along a frontage road for Route 50 that dead-ends in front of a complex of historic brick apartment buildings. It also proposes an underground parking garage and an interior walkway between the nearby apartments and Fairfax Drive.

This application, filed in February and processed in October, takes over previously approved plans to build a 104-unit, 12-story building on the site.

The new building would be located on the southeast corner of Fairfax Drive on the same block as the existing, historic Wakefield Manor and Courthouse Manor garden apartment complexes. In 2011, the Arlington County Board guaranteed the preservation of these buildings when it approved the original site plan.

The approved development “was never constructed, for a variety of reasons,” says Andrew Painter, an attorney representing Fortis, in a presentation. “We believe the proposed building will, at long last, fulfill the county’s land use, density, height and diversity goals for the site, and deliver high quality architecture and a building within easy walking distance of many community amenities.”

Fortis Vice-President of Acquisitions Matt Bunch says a design team spent two years studying the site and the 11-year-old plans to come up with a new proposal.

“We’re very excited to bring this project to fruition in a way that satisfies the existing residents’ parking needs, improves project overall viability and addresses the county’s planning guidance,” he said in the same presentation. “We believe this underutilized site is an excellent opportunity to provide new, smart-growth housing within the county that is easily walkable to the Courthouse Metro station.”

A parking garage accessible from N. Troy Street will have 30 parking spaces set aside for Courthouse Manor and Wakefield Manor residents.

The site is less than half a mile from the Metro station as well as bus stops along 15th Street N. Also a half-mile away is the Inn of Rosslyn, which is also slated for redevelopment.

The 1.8-acre site is bordered by the Woodbury Heights Condominiums to the north, Taft Towers condominiums to the east, Arlington Boulevard to the south and the Arlington Court Suites hotel to the west.

“The site is subject to the Fort Myer Heights North Plan (2004), which seeks to balance preservation and redevelopment with an emphasis on affordable housing, historic buildings, open space, significant trees and neighborhood scale,” the county says in a virtual walking tour of the site. “The building façade will be comprised of brick and metal panels with stone and pre-cast concrete accents.”

Wakefield Manor and Courthouse Manor were later preserved from future development through a transfer of development rights involving the old Wendy’s site in Courthouse.

“Courthouse Manor (1940) and Wakefield Manor (1943) were designed by notable architect, Mihran Mesrobian,” according to the county. “Both buildings are known for blending Art Deco and Moderne styles with traditional Classical Revival characteristics. They are recognized as unique garden-apartment buildings and identified as ‘Essential’ properties on the Historic Resources Inventory.”

Mesrobian also designed the Calvert Manor apartments in Arlington as well as some prominent hotels and residential buildings in D.C.

Clarendon resident launches portable airplane seat cup holder

By Jo DeVoe

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that highlights Arlington-based startups, founders, and local tech news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn. 

Clarendon resident Seth LaPierre still can’t quite believe he is the first person to patent a cup holder for airplane seats.

“It’s the next PopSocket, but for travel,” he said, referencing the ergonomic grip that sticks to phone cases. “It’s so simple.”

LaPierre has developed, patented and trademarked the “Sip n’ Clip” — a cup holder that clips into tray tables. He came up with the idea on a flight to Paris when his wife was trying to find a place to store her large coffee so it wouldn’t spill on the floor or get squished by the backseat pouch.

“I was thinking about it while we were in Paris,” he tells ARLnow. “There’s gotta be something that exists. I searched around and couldn’t find anything.”

That was 2017. The last five years have been “quite the journey” for LaPierre, who is preparing to launch his signature “Sip n’ Clip” product next year to catch the wave of people resuming travel.

“Things take much longer than you expect,” he said. “It was my first journey in actually developing and manufacturing a product and bringing it to market.”

The Sip n’ Clip (courtesy photo)

He assembled his own 3D printer and taught himself how to use it in order to develop a prototype, which took 10 tries. The final product was too flimsy, so taught himself resin casting to create something more durable. He researched and drove to numerous factories east of the Mississippi until he found one with which he wanted to work. He learned how to write a patent and register a trademark.

“If you’re trying to create something, no one is going to pop up and help you,” he said. “Roll up your sleeves and get it done.”

LaPierre, who worked in the promotional products industry for a few years, took advantage of work flights and trade shows to conduct market research. About 20% of people he talked to said they don’t buy drinks before they fly because of the storage issue. At trade shows, people said they were tired of free T-shirts, water bottles and fidget spinners, and felt bad they would get thrown away after little use. Meanwhile, companies still wanted low-budget products on which to advertise.

“I found challenges around sustainability and utility,” he said. “I just kept hearing, ‘We need something new and innovative.'”

The pandemic hit right when he wanted to go to market, which, in retrospect, gave him a few extra months to tweak the product and create a social impact strategy.

LaPierre cut out extraneous plastic, which made the product more sustainable and gave it a secondary use as a phone holder. He also decided to donate 25% of profits from promotional sales to community-nominated nonprofits. Inspired by his wife and daughter, these nonprofits focus on security, empowerment and equality for women and girls.

“A lot of millenials, Gen Zers and digital natives want a purpose-driven product,” he said. “I wanted to weave that in with the promotional side of the business.”

Seth LaPierre with his invention and patents (courtesy photo)

He says today’s iteration of the Sip n’ Clip ticks a lot of boxes. It can increase drink sales at airports, it can spark conversations at trade shows and it can put promotional messages in front a group of bored people with nothing to look at but the view from 10,000 feet and their phones.

“It’s an innovative way to connect brands with people in this captive audience,” he said. “If you think about how many people are getting back into the air, there’s no way to market to them.”

The product will be available on Amazon in the next month or so, he says. He recently wrapped up a Kickstarter campaign and next, he’ll run an IndieGoGo campaign. His goal it to get into coffee shops and hotels.

He joked he earned a four-year college degree in product design through this process.

“Now, I have to get a master’s in marketing,” he said.

Arlington Community High School finds next temporary home in Ballston office building

By Jo DeVoe
4420 Fairfax Drive in Ballston as of June 2021 (via Google Maps)

(Updated 12:40 p.m.) Arlington Community High School is set to take over part of an office building in Ballston next year.

The semi-nomadic school has had many temporary homes over the years, and is currently located in the former Fenwick building (800 S. Walter Reed Drive).

Now, it will move into the fourth and fifth floors, a space totaling 24,288 square feet, of the office building at 4420 Fairfax Drive. The building is also the headquarters of growing catering marketplace Hungry.

The Arlington School Board signed the lease, from January 2023 to Sept. 30, 2026, earlier this month, says spokesman Frank Bellavia.

The School Board heard and took action on approving the lease in its meeting on Oct. 27. Normally, it hears an item in one meeting and acts on it in a subsequent meeting.

The reason for combining these steps, per a presentation, is that “lease negotiations took longer than expected and staff wishes to begin design work immediately to help mitigate project delays.”

APS will move the school over the summer and students will start in this temporary location in September, Bellavia said.

The school system must seek a Special Use Permit from Arlington County to allow educational use in the office building. That use permit request will go before the Arlington County Board in January.

APS will spend an estimated $1.5 million on building modifications and approximately $80,000 a month on the lease. It estimates the rent will be around $90,000 a month in the final year of the lease.

This will be the last temporary home before moving to a building at Amazon’s second headquarters campus in Pentagon City.

Amazon has pledged to house the school in one of the office buildings it will build at the corner of S. Eads Street and 12th Street S. as part of the approved second phase of its HQ2 project.

It’s beginning to look a lot like a Christmas bomb exploded at B Live

By Jo DeVoe
1/10

‘Tis the season to get tipsy with cozy cocktails and two-buck beers.

B Live, the live music venue and restaurant in the old Whitlow’s on Wilson space at 2854 Wilson Blvd, says it has created Arlington’s “most immersive holiday popup.”

“‘Jingle Bell Rock’ is the latest popup in B Live’s completely decked-out space, fit with sparkling light displays, festive garland and life-sized holiday fan favorites like the Grinch, Santa Claus and Nutcrackers,” a PR rep for B Live said. The venue is owned by local nightlife duo Mike and Christal Bramson.

Passersby can see the spot’s windows painted with beloved Christmas characters playing instruments — in a tribute to the music scene for which Whitlow’s was known.

Inside, B Live is offering weekly holiday-themed specials, including Christmas karaoke on Tuesdays, a “Santa Mug Night” every Thursday with $2.50 beers and live entertainment every weekend. The pop-up runs through mid-January, meaning guests can live by Buddy the Elf’s code to “treat every day like Christmas.”

The bar is making spirits bright with holiday-themed drinks, too. For an extra-cozy night out, guests can order the “Santa Baby,” a boozy hot chocolate topped with a torched marshmallow.

If your heart hasn’t shrunk three sizes, there is a “Patron Christmas Tree” cocktail tower that serves four.

Only Santa will know if you were naughty and kept all of the tequila for yourself.

County says YMCA needs more community benefits to justify 374-unit apartment building

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Plans to redevelop a local YMCA may have too many apartment units and not enough community benefits, county planners say.

The YMCA is proposing to tear down its existing facility on N. Kirkwood Road in Virginia Square and build an 87,850-square-foot facility with indoor swimming pools, pickleball and tennis courts, a fitness space and a conference and lounge area, as well as 203 parking spaces. To finance the project, the nonprofit is building a separate 7-story, 374-unit apartment building.

County planners say the baseline for this project is around 270 units and that the YMCA it needs to provide more community benefits to build beyond that.

The reason for the 104-unit gulf is a disagreement over whether the gross floor area of the recreation facility should be excluded from the overall project area. This number determines, for instance, the size of a developer’s affordable housing contribution, either in cash or in on-site units.

The nonprofit’s attorney, David Tarter, says it is financially necessary to exclude the entire facility from density calculations and cites the “best in class” facility as a community benefit to be included in the benefits package.

“This full exclusion is necessary to provide the YMCA the resources needed to construct the proposed YMCA facility,” Tarter writes in the nonprofit’s site plan application.

On its website, the nonprofit says the new building “will serve an estimated 11,415 children, adults and seniors annually, creating 108 new permanent living wage positions and 175 construction jobs.”

Other benefits include three open spaces totaling about an acre and an east-west pedestrian and bicycle connection through the site.

County planner Michael Cullen says past precedent for site plans and ordinances support including the building’s square-footage in density calculations. He said in a presentation these extra 104 units “must be earned through a comprehensive community benefits package” that goes beyond earning LEED Gold certification in exchange for more units.

He says the nonprofit will also have to do more for affordable housing to obtain approval to build apartments in the first place. In the Washington Boulevard and Kirkwood Road Special GLUP Study governing the site, the land is zoned for commercial use.

The county developed the plan, with community input, to guide the YMCA development and two other projects on the same block.

That includes Terwilliger Place, which Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing completed this September on the American Legion site, and a 270-unit apartment building dubbed Modera Kirkwood, on which Mill Creek Residential broke ground in December 2020. The latter could be completed next year.

Projects in this situation “have generally been expected to achieve greater achievements in accordance with the affordable housing master plan,” Cullen said.

Arlington Dept. of Community Housing, Planning and Development spokeswoman Erika Moore says the county is discussing with the applicant ways to offset the 104 units with more sustainability and affordable housing commitments. Potential approaches will be discussed at a Site Plan Review Committee meeting, a date for which has not yet been set.

The public review process has just kicked off for the project. An online feedback opportunity, which opened on Tuesday, will run through Monday, Dec. 19.

Arlington helps lead statewide push for new law combatting ‘swatting’

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

In February of this year, a hoax call about an armed suspect inside Yorktown High School holding hostages triggered a lockdown, evacuations and a massive police response.

That incident is now informing one of Arlington’s legislative priorities for the upcoming Virginia General Assembly session. The Arlington County Board and School Board are calling for a law that specifically names and criminalizes false calls to police, describing a life-threatening situation, with the intent to trigger a police response. It is widely known as “swatting” because of the SWAT teams it sometimes elicits.

Swatting is on the rise in Arlington County, according to Lt. Matt Martin of the Arlington County Police Department. There have been four instances in 2022 so far, up from two in 2021 and one incident per year from 2018 through 2020. (Martin says because there is no swatting category in crime statistics, these numbers were pulled manually based on case facts and may not be comprehensive.)

In nearby Fairfax County, there were 11 such incidents in 2020 and 30 in 2021, a police spokesperson previously told our sister site, FFXnow. There were four such incidents in Alexandria this year.

“Swatting has been on law enforcement radar for 15 years,” says Martin. “The intent is to send officers to a call where someone’s life is at risk, which ups the ante, and ups our response.”

It started in the online gaming community, when people would call the police on their target in response to a slight or unpaid bet, Martin says. It has since become a nationwide problem, one where even identifying those behind the incidents can be tricky, says ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage.

“The person that calls in could realistically call in anywhere in the world, which leads to a challenge for identifying them,” she said.

In September, hoax calls triggered a police response at Washington-Liberty High School and several other schools across the state, including in Loudoun and Fauquier counties. W-L was previously evacuated in October 2021 after a false report of an active shooter.

A 19-year-old man from Vienna was sentenced last year for his roles in numerous swatting attacks that targeted journalists, the Old Dominion University in Norfolk and Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, which has a predominantly Black congregation.

Swatting not only applies to pranksters calling the police, but also to people who call others — schools, for instance — and describe a threat that prompts them to call 911. But Virginia law only criminalizes making a false report, which means people who spread false information but don’t make the call can’t be charged with a crime.

That is what police and elected officials would like to see changed.

“Any law that’s going to prohibit a behavior needs to define the behavior,” Martin said. “The detective who investigated [the Yorktown incident] came to me and said, ‘We looked at potential charges. Making an indirect call doesn’t violate Virginia law… It was that detective who recognized that gap in the law that started all of this.”

(more…)

View More Stories