Author: Jo DeVoe

Top 25 Arlington stories of 2021: #16-25

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

(Updated 10:30 a.m. on 12/28/21) Between now and New Year’s Eve, as in years past, ARLnow will count down to 2022 with the most-read articles this year.

Although the pandemic continued to affect our daily lives in numerous ways, COVID-19 stories didn’t break into our top 25. Instead, Arlingtonians will remember 2021 for, among other stories, the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the rise and fall of Brood X cicadas, and the phenomenon that was a local TikTok personality’s legal travails.

The countdown begins below.

25. NEW: Authorities investigating reports of dead and sick birds around Arlington, region (May 26 | 15,772 views)

This spring, dead birds became an eerily common sight along local roads and sidewalks and a hot topic among residents and local and state authorities. ARLnow had one of the earliest news accounts of the phenomenon. Officials investigated different theories for the deaths last summer, but as of our last report, the cause was still a mystery.

24. UPDATED: Wakefield HS football players called racial slurs during recent game (March 18 | 16,044 views)

Wakefield and Marshall high school football players were suspended from three games for fighting that Wakefield students say broke out after they were called racial slurs. Wakefield athletes and parents protested the suspensions and demanded accountability for what they said was the latest example in a pattern of game officials and schools tolerating such behavior. Marshall parents and coaches denied these accusations.

23. UPDATED: Police investigating after two people found dead in apartment (Dec. 22 | 16,552 views)

Last week, we reported that Arlington County police launched an investigation after two people were found dead in an apartment in the Ashton Heights neighborhood near Ballston.

22. JUST IN: Whitlow’s says it will close in June, but may reopen elsewhere (March 24 | 16,663 views)

Longtime local watering hole Whitlow’s on Wilson poured its last drink this summer. The space is set to be filled with a Five Guys and a restaurant and bar called “B Live,” details of which are not known except its association with local nightlife entrepreneur Michael Bramson.

21. Two hurt in morning robbery of local pharmacy (Aug. 18 | 16,934 views)

Two people were hurt in an armed robbery of Preston’s Pharmacy on Route 29 one August morning. The pair brandished guns at employees, sprayed pepper spray, and stole medicine, cash and a witness’s wallet.

(more…)

Clarendon ed-tech startup acquires third international company in five years

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. 

(Updated 4:25 p.m.) Symplicity, a Clarendon-based company that helps college students find jobs and internships, is expanding its international presence.

This month, the company announced its third international acquisition in five years: Canadian company Orbis, a technology platform that connects university students with job and internship opportunities. Symplicity bought Australia-based CareerHub, an online career services platform, in 2017 and Brazil-based Contratanet, the country’s largest network of job portals for students, in 2018.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity,” CEO Matt Small tells ARLnow. “Together, we have most of the universities in Canada.”

Small oversaw all these acquisitions, which add to Symplicity’s growing career services platform — one of its eight solutions for institutions that range from student conduct to academic advising. In the last five years, he says, the company has simplified and improved the quality of these solutions and boosted sales to and renewal rates with universities. Today, the company has more than 2,000 college and university clients in more than 35 countries.

“We’ve been growing by leaps and bounds and have ben wonderfully successful,” he said.

That growth is happening amid a reportedly unsteady job market for college graduates due to the pandemic. Small says more colleges and universities are making employability a top priority, as hiring rates still flag for Gen Z graduates and as student loan debt deepens. He adds that institutions leaned on Symplicity in new ways when universities, and all the services they provide, had to go virtual.

But the chief problem for graduates and universities alike — a skills gap between higher education and industry — predates and has been exacerbated by the pandemic, Small says. When polled, he says, universities would say their students were ready for work, while heads of student recruiting would say students weren’t ready.

“They weren’t talking to each other: employers preferred three years work experience, so they didn’t have to train workers in the actual job,” he said. “Having right major and good grades wasn’t enough to do the job.”

Symplicity CEO Matt Small speaks at a conference (courtesy photo)

He tells students to get to the career center “early and often” to map out what work studies, internships or volunteer programs they can complete and which technology platforms they can master concurrent to their four years of classes. Symplicity placed 450,000 students in internships in the last 12 months.

“It just makes you much more marketable when you graduate,” he said.

Small was tapped in 2016 to work for Symplicity after Miami-based H.I.G. Capital purchased the company. At the time, he was the president of Blackboard International. Symplicity attracted a number of other Blackboard employees and executives, he says.

“I would say we came in and fully professionalized the company and made big product enhancements,” he said.

Two years before Small came on, Symplicity’s founder and then-CEO Ariel Manuel Friedler pleaded guilty to federal computer hacking charges after gaining access to his competitors’ computers in order to steal customer and product design information. Former President Donald Trump pardoned him in February 2020. Symplicity was not charged in the case.

Under the new leadership, Symplicity has also swelled to 300 employees, about a third of whom work from the Clarendon headquarters (3003 Washington Blvd, Suite 900), says Small. The company is actively hiring talent in the software industry.

“I joke that we’re the Ted Lasso of the software industry — everyone here is that level of caring and committed,” he said, referencing the TV show about a college football coach whose charm and optimism win over the English soccer team he is unexpectedly hired to coach.

“We work really hard, but it’s a fun, vibrant culture and a personable place,” he added.

NEW: Aurora Highlands property could become affordable housing for people with disabilities

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

(Updated at 5:40 p.m.) A local nonprofit intends to redevelop and add affordable housing for people with disabilities to its property near Crystal City.

Melwood, which connects people with disabilities with public- and private-sector jobs and opportunities, currently runs a workforce development site from the building at 750 23rd Street S., in the Aurora Highlands neighborhood.

It envisions redeveloping the property into a 100% affordable, 104-unit building with about 30 units set aside for people with disabilities. The five-story building would also house workforce development services and community programming.

“This project builds on Melwood’s ongoing commitment to create more inclusive spaces and empower people with disabilities to live, work and thrive in their communities,” the company said in a statement to ARLnow. “By redeveloping the 23rd St. S. property, Melwood and its partners will be addressing another persistent gap for people with disabilities and their path to independence — affordable, accessible housing.”

Melwood took an early step forward by filing an application for a Special General Land Use Plan (GLUP) study this week. The application says the study is needed because the property falls outside of any adopted county sector plan documents.

The Maryland-based nonprofit — which has operated in Northern Virginia for many years — acquired the Arlington property during its merger in 2017 with Linden Resources, a local nonprofit that similarly provided employment opportunities to people with disabilities. Melwood says it began discussing options for the site with community members and stakeholders in 2020.

“From these conversations, Melwood heard the community’s strong interest in leveraging its facility to support affordable housing in addition to Melwood’s existing program offerings,” which currently support about 500 Arlington residents, the nonprofit said.

The proposed apartment building will address the “significant need” for independent, affordable housing for Arlington residents with disabilities, Melwood says, adding that in 2019, 22% of locals with disabilities lived under the poverty line and couldn’t afford housing.

Melwood requests that the county change the land-use designation from “public” to “low-medium” residential uses so that the property can eventually be rezoned for apartments, according to a letter from Catharine Puskar, a land use attorney representing the nonprofit.

The privately owned property is designated for public uses because, until 1981, the building operated as the former Nellie Custis School.

After the school closed, Arlington County swapped the Aurora Highlands property for a parcel near the Ballston Metro station with Sheltered Occupational Center of Northern Virginia, another work center for people with disabilities, the letter said. As part of the land swap, the county gave the center a special permit to operate on land zoned for public uses.

The two parcels comprising Melwood’s Arlington property at 750 23rd Street S. (via Arlington County)

The property includes the tiny, .8-acre Nelly Custis Park. Long before the current iteration of the park was built, a project some objected to, the occupational center had to grant to the county an open space easement for a public park as part of the land swap.

The public easement and the park will stay, but Melwood is allowed to use the parcel to calculate how many units can fit in its proposed apartment building, Puskar said.

Del. Lopez files bills strengthening tenant protections after Serrano saga

By Jo DeVoe
Del. Alfonso Lopez in 2019 (file photo)

A half-dozen bills are set to hit the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates in January that were inspired by the poor conditions at the Serrano Apartments and other Virginia affordable housing properties.

After residents exposed poor living conditions at the Columbia Pike apartment complex, Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-49) tells ARLnow he began drafting bills to strengthen tenant rights and improve living conditions in affordable housing properties across the Commonwealth.

“I believe no one should have to go through what the folks at the Serrano went through,” said Lopez, whose district includes the Serrano, owned by affordable housing developer AHC Inc., as well a dozen other properties owned by AHC and other local developers.

Since residents and advocates came forward in an ARLnow article published in May, AHC has committed to making changes under the eye of the Arlington County Board, undertaking repairs, installing new leadership, adding communication channels and establishing a claims process for damaged belongings.

Lopez is proposing the following bills to protect tenants with livability grievances against their landlords:

  1. Include “bare minimum livable standards” in the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code
  2. Extend the period of time eligible for rent reimbursement for condemned properties
  3. Strengthen the prohibition against retaliatory evictions by landlords
  4. Institute a “warranty of habitability” clause that tenants can enforce against landlords whose properties don’t meet living basic standards

These are also four changes that former ARLnow opinion columnist Nicole Merlene called for after the conditions at the Serrano garnered widespread attention.

“I’m appreciative that Del. Lopez has been working with local stakeholders to ensure that tenants living in aging buildings will have enhanced rights moving forward,” Merlene, who co-chairs Arlington’s Tenant-Landlord Commission, tells ARLnow.

Lopez has pre-filed these and two bills unrelated to the Serrano. After they’re drafted by attorneys with the Virginia Division of Legislative Services, he’ll introduce them to the House of Delegates during the upcoming two-month General Assembly session, which begins in mid-January.

The first bill would make it easier and cheaper for residents to substantiate in court that their dwelling is unlivable. With “bare minimum” livable standards only found in the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, tenants must hire professional experts to testify on their behalf, Lopez says.

“If these basic standards were in the code, a county inspector would be able to file an abatement order and write a letter of attestation for use in court,” he said.

Advocates say the current court process, with the lawyers and experts required, dissuades tenants from asserting themselves.

The second would entitle residents to three months of rent if their residence is condemned and they have to vacate, since Lopez says the conditions wouldn’t have worsened “overnight.” Currently, tenants are only entitled to one month’s rent and their security deposit.

The third bill would protect tenants from being evicted six months after they bring problems to their property management or sue. Lopez said states with similar laws presume eviction is retaliatory if it happens within a six-month period.

“The reason that’s helpful is so that tenants aren’t scared to bring forward issues,” Merlene said.

(more…)

New milestone reached in Virginia Hospital Center expansion

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

Virginia Hospital Center’s under-construction outpatient center has reached a new milestone.

After installing more than 2,000 steel beams, workers recently put in place the beam that tops the building’s highest point, project manager Skanska announced yesterday (Monday).

The installation “topped out” the 7-story facility adjacent to VHC’s campus at 1701 N. George Mason Drive. Representatives from Skanska, VHC and the construction company commemorated the milestone by signing this steel beam.

The hospital expects the outpatient pavilion to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to its project webpage.

“The topping-out milestone demonstrates the significant progress we have made on this important project with our final goal of providing a facility that will offer state-of-the-art care for patients in Northern Virginia,” said Dale Kopnitsky, general manager and executive vice president responsible for Skanska’s D.C. area building operations.

In mid- to late-January, Skanska expects to complete the structure of the facility, while the enclosure of the building has begun and will continue through the second quarter of 2022, a company representative said. Next month, work will begin on the interior and that will continue until December 2022.

The project, which includes a recently completed parking garage, was narrowly approved by the Arlington County Board in 2018 amid objections from some nearby residents. The 245,000-square-foot outpatient facility will feature physical and aquatic therapy rooms, an outpatient lab and pharmacy, surgery and endoscopy treatment rooms, and women’s imaging suites. After the move, the hospital will be able to add about 100 beds to its existing building.

The newly finished, 1,600-car parking garage includes three below-grade levels and six above-grade levels, as well as an indoor walkway connecting to the hospital.

A time-lapse video shows progress on the building through early summer.

Earlier this year a handful of families in the area told ARLnow they were dealing with discolored water, which they attributed to ongoing construction at VHC. Community leaders said at the time that the response to the “mini-Flint-like issue” — a reference to the Michigan city’s large-scale water crisis — had been frustratingly slow.

In response, Arlington County and VHC said they were working to resolve the discoloration, which they tied to the installation of a new water main.

Last month, Virginia Hospital Center purchased for $34.5 million a building at 1760 Old Meadow Road in McLean, where it will set up an orthopedic outpatient surgery center, Washington Business Journal reported.

County seeks input on potential Clarendon parking lot redevelopment

By Jo DeVoe
1/10

Arlington County is soliciting public input on what the potential redevelopment of a Clarendon parking lot should look like.

The lot at 2636 Wilson Blvd, between the Clarendon Whole Foods and the PNC Bank, is currently occupied by “ghost kitchen” trailers. Property owner Ballston-based CRC Companies envisions rental housing and retail at the site on the Clarendon-Courthouse border.

Currently, the General Land Use Plan (GLUP) for the site only allows “service commercial” uses and buildings up to four stories tall. CRC Companies requested a change to the GLUP to allow for taller apartments and hotels, a change Arlington County is currently studying.

Now, the county is seeking public feedback on the study’s scope and the size of the potential redevelopment, which CRC Companies has named Courthouse West. Planners previously said this work will add clarity where existing Courthouse Sector Plan documents “lack sufficient planning guidance” to inform a County Board decision on the developer’s requested changes.

These documents do identify the lot — bounded by N. Danville Street, Clarendon Blvd, N. Cleveland Street and Wilson Blvd — as a “key redevelopment site,” since it mostly falls within a quarter-mile radius of the Courthouse Metro station, per a recent staff presentation.

Through Sunday, Jan. 9, survey respondents can choose one of three preliminary scenarios for an apartment building:

  • a 6-story, 70-foot tall building with 150 residential units and 11,000 square feet for commercial use
  • a 10-story, 110-foot tall building with 215 residential units and 16,000 square feet for commercial use
  • a 17-story, 180-foot tall building with 300 residential units and 16,000 square feet for commercial use

In all three scenarios, planners say they’re assuming parking would be underground and a tenth of the site would become some type of public space, likely along Clarendon Blvd, according to the staff presentation.

The survey asks participants to consider how the building’s architecture could transition into the shorter shopping areas and houses nearby.

Respondents can also indicate what additional topics the study should address, including:

  • Public space
  • Affordable housing
  • Improvements to vehicle access and loading
  • Parking
  • Streetscape, bicycle, and pedestrian improvements
  • Safety improvements
  • Stormwater improvements
  • Biophilic elements
  • Historic preservation
  • Public art

The Long Range Planning Committee is expected to hold a meeting on the results of the survey in January.

LRPC members are interested in “exploring higher density and height on the site” and seeing “residential uses, appropriate tapering and height, public space and affordable housing, and biking and pedestrian improvements,” county planner Tim Murphy said during the presentation.

Photos: Some of the Arlington homes we’ve seen bringing holiday cheer

By Jo DeVoe
1/14

With just five days until Christmas, Arlington homes are decking the halls with boughs of holly — and then some.

Dazzling light displays and head-turning inflatable menageries can be found throughout the county.

Here’s a collection of some homes bringing holiday cheer to neighborhood kids and adults, with Santas, illuminated trees, snowmen and Buddy the Elf.

Know of any other elaborate holiday displays around town? Post some photos in the comments.

This Arlington-based online marketplace uplifts Central, South American artisans

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. 

When the pandemic hit, Elena Laswick scrambled to keep afloat her five-month-old brand selling artisan-made textiles from Guatemala.

After working for nearly five years with the indigenous Ixil Maya people to increase their textile sales, she launched her own brand to ethically sell their wares.

Elsewhere, Brooke Loving Bagwell was doing the same thing, with her brand amplifying weavers from Cusco, Peru.

Although they worked in the same niche industry, they didn’t connect until the pandemic, when Bagwell sought out Laswick for support. Their conversations evolved into the idea for Amano Marketplace, an online marketplace where Central and South American artists collectives could sell their products for prices that sustain their artisans and communities.

“The idea was born June of 2020, and we got everything online by Oct. 1, 2020,” co-founder Laswick tells ARLnow.

The last year has been spent planting the seeds for a recognizable company and waiting for them to grow.

“I think that marketing takes time. If you want to do it quickly, it takes an insane amount of money, so we’re going the time route,” said Laswick, who is also tapping into her connections in the fair trade world. “It’s just a matter of waiting for it to be recognized and waiting for the things we’ve put in motion to have a result.”

Laswick envisions Amano (which means “by hand”) as somewhere customers know they can get an ethical gift that supports Indigenous and Latin artists. For artisans, Amano would guarantee a certain number of monthly sales.

That’s not happening yet, but the marketplace is helping collectives connect with customers, she said.

Amano Marketplace merchandise (courtesy photo)

She and Bagwell incorporated Amano Marketplace in Arlington in February 2021. For the past 11 years, Courthouse has been Laswick’s home base when she isn’t in Guatemala. It’s als where orders are fulfilled.

Laswick got into Guatemalan textiles after working with a non-governmental organization called Mayan Hands. Meeting with Ixil artisans, she fell in love with their work and resolved to partner with them.

“The weavings of Guatemala draw everyone in. It’s impossible not to be drawn in, in my opinion,” she said.

Laswick’s stint with Mayan Hands taught her that Ixil weavers make fewer sales because they’re cut off from the international textile community, living in a region isolated from tourists, and market demand isn’t that high.

That’s why Amano is tapping into a consumer base that seeks out ethical products hand-made by women and underrepresented peoples.

A woman artisan who makes goods for the Amano Marketplace (courtesy photo)

The artists with which Amano works have to fight for living wages and appropriate uses for their weavings — adding insult to the injuries of colonization and a 1980s-era genocide that targeted them, Laswick says.

(more…)

What we know about the county’s $150 million loan to preserve affordable housing on the Pike

By Jo DeVoe
The Barcroft Apartments, a 1,334-unit, market-affordable apartment complex along Columbia Pike (via Google Maps)

Arlington County is loaning $150 million to a D.C.-based real estate company buying the Barcroft Apartments along Columbia Pike.

This move — approved Tuesday — is an unusual one, but Arlington County says it did what was necessary in a short amount of time to support the sale to Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners. The company has agreed to keep the property — Arlington’s largest market-rate affordable apartment complex — as committed affordable housing for 99 years.

This includes 612 two-bedroom and 47 three-bedroom committed affordable units, with larger affordable units in short supply in Arlington.

Amazon is also chipping in $160 million to pay for the acquisition of the property at 1130 S. George Mason Drive.

Here’s what else we know about the project.

It’s a big deal.

The last time the county secured a line of credit for a large affordable housing project was in 2007, when it acquired Buckingham Village 3, an apartment building in the Buckingham neighborhood near Ballston.

“Line of credit financing is typically sought when there is an immediate need and when long-term bonds would not be appropriate or possible to issue in the required timeframe,” Erika Moore, a spokeswoman for the Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, tells ARLnow. “It is a strategy the County uses sparingly and only for short-term types of obligations.”

In addition, Arlington has policies on the books ensuring government operations don’t rely too heavily on this financing. According to that policy, only 20% of the county’s debt can be made up of credit lines and variable-rate debt.

The apartments need some work. 

“Based on preliminary due diligence, staff anticipates units at Barcroft Apartments will need substantial rehabilitation and/or redevelopment,” a county report says. “It is initially planned that phasing for the rehabilitation/redevelopment of the site will be completed over the next ten years, and the majority of the affordable housing units that are renovated or redeveloped may utilize Low Income Housing Tax Credits.”

Jair Lynch told the County Board during its recessed meeting Tuesday that a majority of units will be renovated and “a selection” of vacant units will be demolished and reconstructed.

The company envisions adding free WiFi in common areas, a clubroom, a co-working space, fitness spaces, outdoor grills, improved bike storage and a package room with Amazon lockers.

A forthcoming “Master Financing and Development Plan” will have more details on the timeline for redevelopment, what immediate repairs are needed and how they’ll be paid for.

Moore deferred to Jair Lynch as to what work is needed. Jair Lynch tells ARLnow it can’t say anything beyond what was shared Tuesday.

“Regarding your inquiry, due to the confidential nature of this ongoing transaction, we are unable to provide additional information beyond what has been shared publicly by Arlington County Government at this time,” a spokeswoman said. “We’ll be happy to share more information regarding our involvement on this matter after the sale has been finalized.”

Jair Lynch will likely add some market-rate residential units to the expansive, 60-acre property, the county says.

(more…)

Future looks uncertain for APS Virtual Learning Program

By Jo DeVoe

The future of Arlington Public Schools’ in-house Virtual Learning Program appears to hang in the balance.

The school system developed the program over the summer to give families an alternative to five days a week of in-person instruction. APS made in-person learning the default this fall after offering remote and later, hybrid instruction, last school year. About 600 students attend the VLP.

A little more than three months in, some educators say there are signs that the program may fizzle. We’re told the VLP was not listed as an option for next year during a recent middle school information night and that APS is processing a number of requests to return in-person.

APS confirmed there’s conjecture about the longevity of the program — which got off to a rocky start, in part due to staffing shortages — but said no decision has been made.

“While we know there is speculation about the future of the VLP, which was created as a response to the pandemic, no final decisions have been made,” APS spokesman Frank Bellavia said. “We will share information once a final decision is made regarding the program.”

Teacher Josh Folb says it’s clear that commitment to the program is waning.

“In the past, everyone said that they were committed to the long term future of the VLP,” he said. “When that line changes to ‘We will let you know,’ they have obviously changed their level of commitment. Previously, it wasn’t a discussion.”

In October, for example, administrators laid out what they were doing to improve the program in the immediate and long term.

New and retired teachers and administrators were hired to fill in vacancies and a review of the program was underway. Staff had a new system for tracking and responding to emails and phone calls from families requesting assistance. APS hired a new principal to take over for interim leader Amy Jackson, who abruptly replaced the original VLP administrator, Verlese Gaither.

“We absolutely want to broaden our vision and program for a robust VLP,” Bridget Loft, the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, told the School Board at the time.

But families continue to request to transfer to brick-and-mortar schools. The VLP program had 711 students in September, 630 in October and about 600 students this month.

Last week, APS asked families to indicate their preference for in-person or online instruction for the rest of the school year, a VLP teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, tells ARLnow. By Monday, families were told the following: “There is a significant number of requests from parents to have their children return to in-person instruction. We are diligently working to expedite those requests.”

Bellavia says that’s expected as children become eligible for the vaccine.

“Families have always had the flexibility to move back to in person learning when they were comfortable to do so,” he said. “Now that vaccines are available, families feel safer in sending their students back to school. Enrollment fluctuations have no bearing on staffing.”

Meanwhile, the VLP teacher — with whom ARLnow also spoke when the program debuted — said some of the communication and coordination problems she, fellow staff and parents ran into then persist today.

(more…)

First responders facing possible job loss petition county to reverse vaccine mandate

By Jo DeVoe

A group of Arlington County first responders and staff from other departments are petitioning the county to reverse course on its vaccine mandate.

Those who elect not to get the vaccine risk losing their jobs come February, per the county’s updated vaccine policy, shared with ARLnow.

Arlington County mandated vaccines for all government employees back in August, requiring those who were unvaccinated to submit to weekly testing. Since then, the county added a deadline to its policy: unvaccinated employees have until Feb. 1, 2022 to get the vaccine or get a medical or religious exemption. Those without a vaccine or an exemption on Feb. 1 will be placed on leave, and if they obtain neither before Feb. 28, 2022, they lose their jobs.

Some 278 of 3,137 permanent county employees are unvaccinated, including an unknown number of religious or medical exemptions, according to Public Health Division spokesman Ryan Hudson.

Those requesting the county to change its policy are asking for “more reciprocal ideas” for ensuring employee health and safety. The petition, started by firefighter Sterling Montague, has garnered nearly 300 signatures, from employees and their friends and family.

“More people came out in the last week than I ever knew of who are in support of the guys who don’t want to get the vaccine,” Montague tells ARLnow, adding that the coalition represents different demographics and opinions, including those who are vaccinated but oppose mandates.

“We aren’t uniformly anything,” he said. “We are anti-mandate for lots of reasons… [and] we have a diverse group that includes African-Americans and Hispanics.”

The petition says the mandate disproportionately harms people of color and it’s unclear what recourse folks have if those forced to take the vaccine suffer side effects. Objections to the shot, meanwhile, include that it was designed for a previous version of the virus and only protects for a short period of time and wanes, requiring an unknown number of additional boosters.

The county maintains that vaccines are safe and the best protection against COVID-19 — something echoed by the vast majority of doctors and public health professionals.

Arlington Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese said mandates work, linking rising vaccination rates among those older than 18 to various mandates during a County Board recessed meeting on Tuesday.

Rather than terminate up to 10% of employees — while the county faces ongoing and predicted workforce shortages among first responders and in other county departments — the petition suggests affordable, at-work tests for unvaccinated folks and those who report to work with symptoms while counting previous COVID-19 cases towards immunization.

Testing isn’t cheap. For the last three weeks, that testing has cost the county about $7,300 per week, but it’s 100% reimbursed under the White House’s COVID-19 Disaster Declaration, Hudson said.

Those opposed to the mandate say these temporary solutions are important as the pandemic and the vaccines evolve and because they’re worried few who applied will be granted religious and medical exemptions.

“It’s like they’re trying to fire us before things change,” Montague said. “If, in a year, this is the same, you’d have a year more credibility to fire us, but it doesn’t make sense to fire us as soon as possible.” (more…)

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