Author: Jo DeVoe

Phone2Action rebrands as Capitol Canary after two major acquisitions

By Jo DeVoe

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

Phone2Action, the Rosslyn-based government affairs technology company, has changed its name to Capitol Canary.

The rebranding comes as the company has expanded beyond what it was founded in 2012 to do — help organizations mobilize citizens via their smartphones — through acquisitions in late 2020.

That’s when Capitol Canary bought KnowWho, which provides an up-to-date directory of policymakers, and GovPredict, which helps users track bills and regulations.

With these two platforms, Capitol Canary says it now offers clients, who currently number 1,200 companies, organizations and advocates, a full-service government affairs solution that can help them push legislation through and energize voters.

A name change has been in the cards for a while now, co-founder Jeb Ory told ARLnow in a statement.

“We’ve kicked around name changes for years — as we grew and did more and more for our clients, we knew that rebranding would be something that would make a lot of sense,” he said. “We kicked the process off in earnest last summer. Once we down-selected to a handful of names, it pretty quickly became clear that Capitol Canary was the winner.”

So why Capitol Canary?

“‘Capitol’ immediately says government. Legislation. Policy. These are at the heart of what we do,” he said.  “‘Canary’ immediately implies relevant information and decisive action. Canaries are smart little birds that have helped people know what to do for centuries.”

Cofounder Jeb Ory and CEO Steven Schneider (courtesy photo)

The name change also comes ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, and in anticipation of these elections, Capitol Canary is rolling out some new features:

  • an “advocacy dashboard,” which customers can check to see if their campaigns are successful at moving the needle on an issue and engaging key lawmakers.
  • “impact reports,” generated in minutes, which stakeholders can use to run meetings with policymakers. These reports provide everything from bios of lawmakers and their committee assignments to the level of sway an organization has within a lawmaker’s district or state.
  • “get-out-the-vote” tools, which help employees, advocates and supporters check their voter registration status, learn about candidates and find information on how to vote.

And the Phone2Action era ends on a high note, according to Capitol Canary. After riding multiple tidal waves of civic engagement in 2020 — a global pandemic, nationwide social-justice campaigns and a contentious presidential election — the company recorded staggering engagement numbers in 2021.

More than 15.6 million people took roughly 25 million actions — such as signing a petition, calling their lawmaker, sending an email or tweeting at them — on policy issues ranging from COVID-19 relief to infrastructure using the Phone2Action platform. They also used it to access 12.6 million federal, state, local and regulatory policy documents.

Meanwhile, Fortune 100 companies such as Walmart and Uber, associations including the National Restaurant Association and PhRMA, and nonprofits such as the Innocence Project and the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, used the platform to execute more than 14,500 campaigns.

“Since our founding in 2012, thousands of organizations have trusted our platform to help them shape public policy and elevate stakeholder’s voices. Together, we have transformed how constituents engage with their lawmakers and how public policy is formed, from Capitol Hill to city hall,” said Capitol Canary CEO Steven Schneider in a statement.

While the rebranding reflects this transformation and will kick off a second decade of growth, the company’s goal remains to provide “government affairs and advocacy teams with the tools, intelligence and data they need to do the hard and vital work of shaping policy,” he said.

County launches free bus fare for eligible students, low-income adults

By Jo DeVoe
An ART bus and driver (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated 6:15 p.m. on 02/16/22) For the next 18 months, bus fare will be free or reduced-price for thousands of income-eligible residents and students.

The fare reductions began this month as part of the Low-Income Fare Assistance and the APS Student Fare-Less pilot programs, which are intended to target residents most impacted by the pandemic.

The Arlington County Board signed off on these programs in November as part of a spending plan for $29.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars that apportioned funding for a host of new equity initiatives. These two programs will use about $2.8 million in ARPA funds.

The first provides free transit to work for residents currently enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, run by the Department of Human Services. The department will distribute pre-paid SmarTrip cards worth $150, or 75 rides, to about 7,200 pre-identified residents.

This program is expected to cost $1.2 million in this fiscal year, ending in June, and $250,000 next year.

Meanwhile, the student pilot program subsidizes the currently discounted, $1-a-trip student iRide card for certain students traveling to and from school.

Arlington Public Schools will distribute these cards to up to 2,400 middle and high school students who aren’t well-served by school bus services — such as kids who live at the edges of a large walk zone or attend programs far from home. These cards will be loaded with $10 a week over the course of 18 months.

The program will cost $479,000 in this fiscal year and $878,000 next year. It continues and expands on a pilot program that began in 2019 but was suspended during the pandemic.

Participants in both programs have 18 months to use their cards, which also work on Metrobus and Metrorail lines.

Department of Environmental Services staff will use data from these pilots to inform possible expansions or changes to these programs long term. This work could be funded by a Virginia Department of Rail & Public Transportation’s TRIP grant, intended to increase regional connectivity and reduce barriers to transit by supporting low-income and free fare programs.

“The County is interested in applying for a TRIP grant in the future, and would use the data collected from the 18-month pilot programs and results from the fare study to support such an application,” DES spokesman Nate Graham said.

Meanwhile, transportation staff are taking steps now to understand how existing free and reduced-fare policies at peer transportation departments impact ridership, operations and regional services such as Metrobus, he said.

Last week, the county requested funding from DPRT for a study that would analyze these questions, as well as equity concerns and stakeholder feedback, he said. The county should know if it received the grant in June.

Arlington promoted these new initiatives on Friday, Rosa Parks’ birthday and “Transit Equity Day.” It honors her legacy as a Civil Rights activist. Parks, who took a stand for desegregated bus seating, sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and a U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional.

“These two pilot programs help to further the mission of Realizing Arlington’s Commitment to Equity (RACE), which includes advancing racial equity to reduce and prevent disparities in our service to the community,” said Chief Race and Equity Officer Samia Byrd in a statement. “Even though no longer unequal by law, systemic barriers still exist.”

“Our review of transit through an equity lens is to consider access based on need (meeting people where they are) and work to remove those barriers,” Byrd continued. “Through this we aim to honor the legacy of Rosa Parks — equal treatment and equitable access to public transportation for everyone.”

ART bus fare was suspended for all users from March 2020 until January 2021 due to the pandemic.

Planning Commission approves plans for new apartments on Columbia Pike

By Jo DeVoe
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The Arlington Planning Commission gave a proposed Columbia Pike residential redevelopment the thumbs-up.

Now, plans to replace an aging, one-story retail strip in the 2600 block of Columbia Pike will head to the County Board for approval during its recessed meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Arlington-based Insight Property Group proposes to tear down the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center at the corner of Columbia Pike and S. Walter Reed Drive and build a multifamily building with ground floor retail. The six-story building, dubbed “The Elliott,” will situate 247 market-rate apartments above a grocery store (rumored to be an Amazon Fresh), a renovated CVS pharmacy and three levels of below-grade parking.

“This project has been a work in progress for several years now,” said Tad Lunger, the land use attorney representing the project. “As you know, it is a very prominent site in a town center on Columbia Pike, which was envisioned to accomplish a number of planning and community goals. The culmination of these goals has informed every aspect of this proposal.”

The developer will contribute land on the eastern edge of the site to the second phase of Penrose Square Park. This will nearly double the park’s size, and allow the two sculptures that comprise the public art installation “Echo” to be farther apart, as originally envisioned by its artist.

It will also build a new S. Cleveland Street, which separates the park and the site, a pedestrian passageway along the western edge of the site and an alley to the north.

The site of The Elliott development on Columbia Pike (via Arlington County)

Residents will have access to four amenity spaces: two internal courtyards, a pool courtyard overlooking the pedestrian passageway and a rooftop space. Insight Property Group is aiming for LEED Silver certification of the building.

Once engineering, building and landscape plans are finalized, demolition could begin in early fall, Erika Moore, a spokeswoman with the Department of Community, Planning, Housing and Development, previously told ARLnow. If that starts on time, construction would likely conclude by early 2025.

Members of the Planning Commission praised the project and had few questions.

“I’m excited by the presentation, and I’m excited to see this move forward,” said Daniel Weir, speaking not as the Planning Commission Chair but as a member. “I’m very happy as well with what we’ve been presented with.”

That there were no public speakers and few questions demonstrates how the Columbia Pike Form Based Code — which guides development on the Pike and favors mid-rise apartments with ground-floor retail — helped realize an “amazing building,” Commissioner Stephen Hughes said.

“Our long list of public speakers and fellow commissioners who have poignant things to add is a big old goose egg,” he said. “We stand on the shoulders of giants who helped build the original plan and worked to ensure the balancing act of many different areas were heard, communicated and then held to.”

The alley prompted one question from Commissioner Tenley Peterson, who referenced two car accidents involving alleys in November — one involving a toddler in Westover and the other an adult on a motorcycle who died of his injuries — that prompted a county task force to study alley safety.

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Solution in sight for Boulevard Manor kids zoned away from friends five years ago

By Jo DeVoe
Kenmore Middle School student Xavier Anderson speaks during a School Board meeting (via APS)

Boulevard Manor families whose kids have been or will be separated from their middle school friends for high school can apply for a placement process to try and avoid that fate, Arlington Public Schools says.

Students who live in the neighborhood, near the Arlington border with Falls Church, attend Kenmore Middle School but do not matriculate to Washington-Liberty High School like their peers. Instead, they attend Yorktown High School as a result of a 2017 boundary change when W-L was overcrowded.

Students and parents say it’s difficult to adjust to Yorktown, where only 3% of the student body comes from Kenmore. But getting back to W-L — via a neighborhood transfer or the school’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program — can require winning the lottery, literally.

Whenever applications for a neighborhood transfer or into the IB program exceed available seats, APS holds a double-blind lottery for spots and maintains a waitlist. The IB waitlist has been on the rise for the last four years, and stood around 80 students last March.

So last fall, a group of Boulevard Manor community members seized on the boundary change process moving students from Wakefield High School to W-L to request APS extend the same change to them. Once over-crowded, the school will have plenty of seats after construction at the neighboring 600-seat Education Center (1426 N. Quincy Street), formerly an APS administrative building, wraps up and doors open this fall. The extra seats will offset the IB waitlist.

Boulevard Manor families didn’t succeed on the boundary process front, but this week, Superintendent Francisco Durán recommended a way forward without a lottery: an administrative placement.

“Following requests from the Boulevard Manor community, Dr. Durán recommended they request an administrative placement if they are interested in students changing the school they currently attend,” APS spokesman Frank Bellavia said. “It is a process that some Boulevard Manor families have already gone through.”

This process is available to all APS families, Bellavia said, but approval depends on a school’s capacity when the request is received.

These placements are approved on a case-by-case basis and are typically based on the following special circumstances:

  • if a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge requests the transfer
  • to bridge a short-term gap in their instructional program
  • as a result of a disciplinary incident
  • if the student experiences repeated bullying and can’t learn as a result
  • if a certified medical or psychological need requires a change of environment
  • if the student or family is experiencing hardships — a death or medical illness in the family and financial troubles — that make it difficult for the student to get what they need at their home school

“Administrative placement requests are less common than neighborhood transfer requests, but are another method to submit requests to change schools when neighborhood transfers are not available or when a request is being made outside of the annual neighborhood transfer application timeframe,” Bellavia said. “Administrative placements are approved on a case by case basis contingent upon a student meeting one of the six criteria outlined in the policy.”

Arlington Dems vote overwhelmingly to keep School Board caucus process

By Jo DeVoe
The Arlington School Board at a meeting
Arlington School Board at a meeting (file photo)

(Updated at 3:20 p.m.) Arlington Democrats voted loud and clear: the School Board endorsement caucus process should stay. 

Members of the Arlington County Democratic Committee voted 117-22 to use the caucus process to select which School Board candidates to endorse during the general election. ACDC met last night (Wednesday) to hear both sides of the issue and the results were announced today (Thursday).

Now, ACDC has to establish rules for the 2022 process, informed by four listening sessions, last night’s debate and an internal review. 

“Education is a top priority for us and we support great public schools that provide children with the education and curriculum they need to succeed in life,” Arlington Democrats Chair Steve Baker said today in a statement. “Arlington Democrats will always be an ally and supporter in that effort and we want our process to be as open, inclusive and equitable as possible. We know it takes hard work to achieve real results but we’re ready and committed to that process.”

This vote applies only to using the process this year, and future votes can reprise the issue, Baker told ARLnow. A seat will open up next year following School Board Chair Barbara Kanninen’s resignation announcement.

Virginia school board races are nonpartisan, so Arlington Dems can only endorse candidates — not nominate them. As part of ACDC’s process, however, candidates agree in May not to run in the general election, making the end result similar to a primary.

This was the first time the committee voted on the use of the caucus, according to deputy chief Mike Hemminger, and it came after the Arlington Branch of the NAACP, the pro-open-schools group Arlington Parents for Education and a group of self-identified Democrats separately called on ACDC to end or significantly reform the process. 

“Last night, we heard genuine concerns regarding the equity of the endorsement process,” Hemminger said today in a statement. “Systemic inequities are present in any structural system. It is vital that Arlington Democrats partner with all community members to break down barriers to access and include these voices and perspectives in each of our processes.”

Arguments against the caucus include that whiter, wealthier North Arlington residents are over-represented in it, that it discourages broad election participation, discourages federal employees from running due to the Hatch Act, effectively determines who wins in November, and makes nonpartisan officials beholden to a political party. 

But the School Board is nonpartisan only on paper, according to some committee members. They said the caucus is the best means of ensuring Democrat values prevail in Arlington against the right-wing forces trying to influence Virginia school boards.

“Republicans have shown their hands,” said School Board Chair Barbara Kanninen. “In Richmond, they’re openly promoting a public school system that serves the haves better than the have nots. We Democrats cannot let them succeed.”

Without the caucus, she said, the board could not move forward “a progressive, Democrat agenda,” including removing School Resource Officers, supporting transgender students, removing Confederate names from buildings, adding world holidays to the school calendar, building green schools and approving equity policies, among other aims. 

School Board member Cristina Diaz-Torres and former member Monique O’Grady also offered their support.

“Conservatives who lost the White House are laser-focused on using their resources to target school board elections,” O’Grady said. “Virginia was a test case for this. It’s happening in other districts and there’s a thinly veiled attempt happening here in Arlington.” 

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APS superintendent recommends ‘pausing’ virtual learning program next school year

By Jo DeVoe

(Updated at 12:45 p.m.) Superintendent Francisco Durán says Arlington Public Schools should hit the “pause” button on its Virtual Learning Program for next school year.

He’ll deliver this evaluation to the School Board during its meeting tonight (Thursday).

“The recommendation is to pause the program for next school year, as we take the time necessary to build a comprehensive virtual option program that will be sustainable and serve the needs of students who thrive in the virtual setting, for the long term,” APS Chief of School Support Kimberley Graves said in an email to families sent yesterday (Wednesday).

APS set aside $10.5 million in federal pandemic relief funds to create an in-house virtual option last summer for families with health and safety concerns about in-person learning as well as those waiting for the vaccine and those whose kids preferred online school.

Today, the VLP serves some 420 students, mostly children of color and many of whom have a disability, are economically disadvantaged students or are English-learning.

It got off to a rocky start due to severe staff shortages, and was plagued by issues related to communication, leadership turnover, teacher treatment and a lack of needed resources. By December, with enrollment dropping, rumors swirled that the program could come to an end — despite a mid-year update on the effort to aright it. Last month, administrators again reported progress, but did not address the speculation about the VLP’s future.

The proposed pause depends on a School Board vote scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 17. APS will hold a virtual town hall this month to address families’ questions and concerns, and staff will help students transition back to their home schools.

But APS is signaling that it’s open to running a virtual program long term. Graves said families will have opportunities to join a task force led by VLP Principal Danielle Harrell to develop a framework for a future virtual option.

Meanwhile, students may continue with virtual instruction through the state’s online learning platform, Virtual Virginia, if they or a family member has a medical condition that complicates going to school every day. APS staff will supplement whatever Virtual Virginia courses don’t cover and will support students during the transfer to their home schools.

“The success and well-being of your student(s) through the remainder of this school year, and throughout the transition back to in-person school at their school of record for the 2022-23 school year, are our priority and are the priority of our administrators and staff,” Graves said.

A special-education teacher told ARLnow that VLP staff were told they would be given priority for jobs within APS. She’s skeptical that a scheduled job fair for VLP staff will work for most teachers’ schedules, however.

A second grade teacher told ARLnow she feels betrayed by the decision.

“I’ve worked tirelessly over nights, weekends, and holidays to ensure my students have the best learning experience,” she said in an email. “Teachers came together to fight for this program every day, while having to welcome in new students on a consistent basis.”

She said teachers organized virtual events, field trips and after-school programs, spent hours creating content and bought their own programs, subscriptions and technology “so that our students never felt the inequities that were inevitably placed on them.”

“When there were staff shortages, we covered each other without extra pay. We skipped our personal lunch to eat with our students, missed prep periods, and took over classes without subs day in and day out to ensure our students were provided the best or nothing,” she said. “This is devastating to every individual who fought for VLP and worked hard to bring the program to fruition. It is a sad evening for us all.”

Arlington finalizes contract with new medical provider for jail shortly after latest in-custody death

By Jo DeVoe

(Updated at 5:30 p.m.) Arlington has officially signed a contract with a new medical provider assigned to the county jail.

The contract was finalized Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after an inmate, Paul Thompson, died yesterday, the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office tells ARLnow.

Thompson, 41, was found unresponsive yesterday afternoon in the Arlington County Detention Facility and rushed to Virginia Hospital Center after resuscitation efforts by medics, but he was later pronounced dead.

Mediko had been operating on an emergency order since Nov. 16, after the county dropped its previous correctional health care provider following a series of six inmate deaths in six years. The 2020 death of another inmate, Darryl Becton, resulted in charges against a man who appears to have worked for the jail’s now-former medical provider.

Thompson’s death brings the total number of inmates who died while at the county jail, which is run by the Sheriff’s Office, to seven in seven years. Six of the seven people who have died, including Thompson, were Black.

ACSO spokeswoman Maj. Tara Johnson says inmate deaths “absolutely” are rising, but she hasn’t found any clear trends driving the increase.

“Prior to five, six years ago… it wasn’t something we were looking at annually,” she said. “Now, we definitely have been seeing an uptick.”

The deaths happen for a variety of reasons, she says, including a lack of medical care outside of the jail for issues such as heart disease or diabetes or withdrawal from drugs. Thompson was in the jail’s medical unit when he was found unresponsive, having returned to the jail from the hospital about 10 days ago for treatment of a medical problem Johnson declined to disclose.

Heart conditions have been the listed causes for the two most recent inmate deaths.

Clyde Spencer, the 58-year-old man who died in 2021, died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, caused when plaque builds up in the arteries, and his manner of death was ruled to be natural, the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Wednesday.

ARLnow previously learned Becton died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, caused by sustained high blood pressure, complicated by opiate withdrawal. His manner of death was likewise determined to be natural.

To prevent drug-related deaths, she said the Sheriff’s Office has a body scanner that examines inmates when they’re booked, as well as drug testing for when they leave and return to the jail on court-ordered furloughs.

“Our policy is pretty strong, but it requires a lot of training and a lot of review of policies… and adding extra safeguards to make sure they’re safe,” she said.

These include random checks at 15- to 30-minute intervals for inmates with mental health concerns, though not all inmates are under constant observation, she said.

The Sheriff’s Office will conduct an internal review into whether the correct policies and procedures were followed in the events leading up to Thompson’s death, Johnson said. Similar administrative reviews are still ongoing for the deaths of Becton and Spencer.

The results will be sent to the Virginia Department of Corrections for an independent review.

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Superpedestrian launches LINK seated scooters in Arlington

By Jo DeVoe

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(Updated at 3:45 p.m.) Starting today, locals can zip around the county on new e-scooters outfitted with seats.

Riders in Arlington will be some of the first to experience transportation company Superpedestrian‘s seated scooters, which look like standing scooters with adjustable bicycle seat — as opposed to the mopeds folks may see around D.C.

“Arlington will be the second U.S. market to receive the Superpedestrian seated scooters, giving a more diverse range of riders a safe, comfortable way to make last-mile trips,” the company said in a statement. The seated scooters made their debut in Baltimore, we’re told.

Today (Wednesday), Superpedestrian officially rolled out its shared scooter service, dubbed LINK, in Arlington, introducing 333 bright-yellow and silver standing scooters and 50 seated ones, according to a spokesperson.

LINK also operates in the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County, as Superpedestrian is targeting areas hit by Metro disruptions. These arose after an investigation into a derailment on the Blue Line revealed a wheel defect in the 7000 Series railcars, leading Metro’s oversight agency to have them pulled.

“We’re interested in truly serving this community, by bringing our seated scooter that can allow more riders to use on-demand shared mobility, and by supporting the region through continued Metro disruptions,” said Superpedestrian Policy Manager Cheyanne Woodyard in a statement.

The company says its scooters are safer than competitors’ because they’re the “first and only” ones with on-board artificial intelligence that autonomously performs vehicle safety checks.

It’s also working on technology to improve pedestrian safety, too. Eventually, the scooters will be able to identify and correct unsafe scooting — such as riding on sidewalks — which Arlington has tried to address with signage marking where e-scooters aren’t allowed.

Riders will be charged $1 to unlock a scooter, plus $0.39 a minute. Users scan a QR code on the scooter using the LINK mobile app to begin renting and riding the device.

The news comes five days after Arlington allowed competitor Bird to operate more e-scooters and bikes in the county.

LINK scored second of the five providers allowed to operate in Arlington — which include Spin, Lime and Helbiz — based on a list of county transportation goals, including to promote safety, sustainability and equity.

There is a cap of 2,000 e-scooters and 1,000 e-bikes in the county.

(This story has been updated with the revised size of LINK’s fleet and to correct LINK’s score on the county rankings.) 

APS relaunches Career Center expansion project after delaying it due to cost overruns

By Jo DeVoe

The Arlington Career Center (via Arlington Public Schools)

Arlington Public Schools is ramping up planning work to build a new school and parking garage at the Arlington Career Center site.

A group tasked with developing the project from 2018-2020 has reconvened and will be working quickly to flesh out the project before the School Board reviews designs this spring.

Planning documents indicate APS envisions building a new, 5-story Career Center along S. Walter Reed Drive that would provide a modern space suited to the 21st-century career and technical skills taught inside.

APS is working on two plans: a “base” plan for a $170.5 million, 260,000-square-foot building for 1,795 students, and an “alternative” plan for a $153 million, 225,000-square-foot building for 1,345 students that is designed to accommodate a future expansion.

Building next to the current ACC building (816 S. Walter Reed Drive) will minimize disruptions and lower costs, according to APS administration.

“One of the things we learned through the last process is that building around an existing high school while the students are in there is cost-prohibitive,” said Lisa Stengle, the APS executive director of planning and evaluation, in a January planning meeting.

ACC houses college and career-readiness programs as well as programs that help recent immigrant students pursue their high school diploma and provide job training for special education students and support for teen parents.

In 2018, APS launched an expansion project to add up to 800 seats to the Career Center, and designs were being finalized in the spring of 2020 when the pandemic hit. The School Board removed the project from its 2021 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) because it was $84 million, and then $34 million, over budget.

At the time, the board told the school system to focus on smaller renovations to meet rising enrollment. Since then, completed renovations to the Columbia Pike Branch Library created more space for students, and APS is spending around $31 million to add more seats to the current ACC building over the next three years.

But now APS is looking to build once more. The School Board directed Superintendent Francisco Durán in October to add the project to the 2023-32 Capital Improvement Plan, set for approval in June. If approved, the project will go to voters in November as a School Bond referendum.

APS expects to start construction in December 2023 and finish the building in December 2025 and the entire project in 2027.

The graphic below shows how the site will change through the project. (The current ACC building is in light gray, the Columbia Pike library is in dark gray and the above-ground parking garage is in tan.)

Preliminary site plan for the Arlington Career Center building (via APS)

Part of the current ACC building (indicated with red dashes) will be demolished to accommodate the above-ground, 400-space parking structure at S. Highland Street and 9th Street S.

The Columbia Pike Branch Library will remain where it is, as will the rest of the ACC building, which APS intends to use as a flexible space. Separately, APS is figuring out what to do with the building long term.

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As the ranks of freelancers swell, the taxman cometh for those in Arlington

By Jo DeVoe

Money (by Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash)

The pandemic has seen a rise in freelance and contract work from those looking for job flexibility.

What new freelancers may not know is that Arlington tax code says they need a permit to work from home and need to pay local business taxes, just like any other business or contractor.

COVID-19 has seen tremendous changes in how Americans work, where and for whom. People are taking their computers to exotic locales or states with lower living costs, while companies are rethinking their office leases or trying to make their offices more attractive. Meanwhile, many are leaving their jobs to strike out on their own as freelancers.

But one area is experiencing delayed shockwaves from these seismic shifts: taxes. Last year folks saw taxes rise or fall depending on where they worked from home or if they could write off their home office. With the second pandemic-era tax season dawning, here’s what independent workers of Arlington need to know.

  1. The county keeps track of independent workers, requiring them to get a permit certifying their “definite place of business” is in Arlington.
  2. Every business with a definite place of work in Arlington is considered taxable.
  3. Business license taxes are calculated before expenses in Arlington.
  4. License tax rates are fixed until gross receipts exceed $100,000, at which point they’re calculated on a variable rate.

Independent workers can deduct their expenses from their state and federal taxes, but locally, Arlington’s Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax collects on pre-expense revenue, or gross receipts.

Businesses with receipts less than $10,000 owe nothing, while those grossing up to $50,000 pay $30 and those grossing up to $100,000 pay $50. After $100,000 over, the annual tax is $0.36 for each $100 of revenue.

“Customers can get confused and think that they should pay a flat fee for gross receipts up to $100,000, plus the tax rate on the remaining receipts, however, the correct amount to file and pay is based on multiplying the total gross receipts by the tax rate,” said Susan Anderson, the communications director for Arlington’s Office of the Commissioner of Revenue.

She says every person engaged in business in Arlington — whether a home or a co-working space — is subject to the BPOL.

“Anyone who is not an employee and who works as an independent contractor has a taxable business,” Anderson said. “It is not necessary to incorporate as an LLC or corporation in order to conduct licensable business activities.”

This is not a new tax being enforced, but she encouraged independent contractors with questions to contact the office’s Business Division Tax Specialists at (703) 228-3060 or email [email protected].

“Our staff is very happy to assist,” she said. “Also, as a reminder, the Business License Tax filing and payment are due annually on March 1.”

The BPOL tax is Arlington’s third-largest source of revenue behind real estate and personal property taxes, including car taxes. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, the BPOL tax netted $72 million, according to the 2022 adopted budget. It’s estimated to net $63 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year and could bounce back to $72.5 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Criticisms of the BPOL 

The tax has long had critics who have called for its elimination — to the worry of Arlington County tax officials.

On the right and the left, in Arlington and at the state level, critics have argued for years the BPOL hurts small businesses, particularly those with razor-thin profit margins, as well as startups and entrepreneurs, while large companies — such as Arlington-headquartered Lidl and Nestle — have avoided it in Arlington because their sales happen elsewhere. The same could happen for Amazon.

Some Virginia writers who argue they’re hurt by BPOL took their battle to the courts and one court ruled in their favor.

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Arlington is phasing out EasyPark devices this month

By Jo DeVoe

An EasyPark device (photo via OTI)

Prolific parkers in Arlington will soon have to ditch their EasyPark devices.

The company that owns the battery-operated parking payment device — a precursor to app-based parking payment services — is ceasing operations in the U.S. and service will end in Arlington on Monday, Feb. 28, according to the County Treasurer’s Office.

“We sincerely regret to tell you that EasyPark has ceased operations in North America and terminated its contract with Arlington County,” the treasurer’s office said in an announcement yesterday (Monday). “This message is to let you know what this change may mean for you, if you continue to use your EasyPark device in the coming weeks.”

Locals can refill their devices in-person at the Treasurer’s Office until Feb. 28, after which time they can still use the device to pay for parking until the balance reaches $0. Refills will not be possible after the last day of this month.

Folks can also bring working devices to the Treasurer’s Office and receive a refund of the remaining balance until Feb. 28. Broken devices cannot be replaced and broken devices with money on them cannot be refunded.

The Treasurer’s Office warned that continuing to use the device after Feb. 28 may complicate contesting a parking ticket. Drivers can no longer rely on a technical support team to verify a proper device for use as proof in a ticket appeal.

Going forward, on-street parking payment options include the ParkMobile app, which launched here in 2014, and traditional parking meters.

Arlington County began offering the battery-operated devices in 2015 as an alternative to paying at a parking meter or with a phone. EasyPark succeeded the iPark devices, which Arlington stopped selling after the manufacturer declared bankruptcy in 2013.

It appears bankruptcy almost came for the company that owns EasyPark USA: On Track Innovations (OTI). The company lost significant revenue during the pandemic and filed for bankruptcy, but those proceedings ended when Nayax — an Israeli platform that provides digital, cashless purchasing options to retailers — acquired OTI for $4.5 million.

The announcement encourages people with questions to call the Treasurer’s Office Customer Service team at (703) 228-3702 or email [email protected].

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