Sweetgreen will open in Central Place on Tuesday, July 11
The eatery has been preparing with staff training ahead of a soft opening
Sweetgreen is located at 1800 N. Lynn Street
Rosslyn’s new Sweetgreen will open its doors on the ground floor of the Central Place apartment tower next week.
The D.C.-founded salad purveyor will be fully open for customers on July 11 at 1800 N. Lynn Street, after staff training and a soft opening in the days before.
A spokeswoman for the Rosslyn Business Improvement District said that new employees are being trained on making Sweetgreen’s various salads, then donating them to the homeless. Local advocacy group A-SPAN and D.C. Central Kitchen across the Potomac River will receive the prepared salads.
For the soft opening, customers can receive free lunch or dinner at an RSVP-only event, while on Monday, July 10, Sweetgreen will host a free lunch in honor of Neighborhood Day, another RSVP-only event.
All proceeds from the eatery’s official launch on Tuesday will be donated to Dreaming Out Loud, a local nonprofit that looks to build healthy, equitable food systems.
Another success story from the center; this man moved into affordable housing.
A high school student from the center who successfully moved into housing and graduated from high school.
The nurse’s office at the center.
Beds at the center.
The TV room at the center.
A classroom at the center.
The serving line at the center.
The center’s laundry room.
Beds at the center.
The center’s kitchen.
More beds in the dorm at the center.
The clothing closet at the center.
A medical respite room at the center.
A visit room at the center.
The center’s lobby.
A dorm in the center.
Since 2013, Arlington’s chronic homelessness rate has dropped 64 percent, and it was the second community in the nation able to claim to have ended veteran homelessness.
This is no accident, officials say: it’s because of the county’s “housing first” model.
“A long time ago… the thought was you need to get someone ready to move into housing — and that has been completely debunked,” said Kathy Sibert, the president/CEO of nonprofit A-SPAN, which works to end homelessness in the county. “What you want to do is get people into housing and stabilized.”
This approach is part of Arlington’s “10 Year Plan to End Homelessness,” which was launched in 2008. The plan aims to ensure that no person or family lacks an adequate and affordable home.
“We try to get to the root causes of homelessness so that we can build the person up to a stable place where they can not only just get housing but maintain it for a longer time,” said Kurt Larrick, assistant director at the county’s Department of Human Services.
Arlington did see a slight increase in homelessness for 2017. In 2016, there were 174 homeless people, and in 2017 that number jumped to 232. However, Sibert said homelessness “ebbs and flows,” which she said helps t0 explain the uptick.
Once somebody is housed, Sibert said, it is much easier to work on their challenges. If they have substance-abuse problems or mental illness, authorities know where they live and can easily set up appointments for them.
Getting a job is much easier once a person is housed, too. Rather than spending each day waking up on the street, schlepping across the county to get breakfast, wandering somewhere else to take a shower, then trekking elsewhere to find clean clothes, when a person is housed they can do all those things in an hour, making it much more feasible for them to become employed.
“To get everything done that you [typically do] in one hour to go to work takes all day [for them],” Sibert said.
The Homeless Services Center in Courthouse, which opened in 2015 in an aging office building, was designed to help homeless individuals do all those things in one location, making it the first place of its kind in the D.C. metropolitan area.
The center has 50 year-round shelter beds, five medical respite beds, 25 extra beds in the winter, employment and life skills training programs, art classes, a full-time nurse practitioner, mental illness and substance-abuse counselors, showers, laundry and mail facilities, free meals three times a day and more.
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
A new startup offering free pick-ups and drop-offs in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in its electric cars has gotten quite a bit of attention just weeks after launch.
Sprynt can be downloaded for iOS and works similarly to other ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft. Users enter their current location, destination and the number of passengers, then request a ride. They are then told their driver’s name and an estimated time of arrival.
“I came up with something that was a short, quick hop in between point A and point B,” said Alex Villanueva, the 26-year-old founder, about the company’s name.
Sprynt launched on June 21 and currently has four cars, with a fifth on the way. Within five days, the app had over 700 downloads.
“In order for the concept to work you need a special area where it’s densely populated and people all live, work and play within a couple of square miles,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva does not view his service as having competitors because he believes Sprynt complements the existing methods of transportation.
“It’s a too far to walk but too close to drive little niche, where you still need perhaps Uber or Lyft, or the Metro or the bus, to get anywhere else outside of our service area, ” Villanueva said.
He explained people may want to take his service if it’s a hot, cold or rainy day, if they don’t feel like walking or if they want to drink wherever they are going. Some of Sprynt’s customers are already regulars and use the service to commute.
“It’s really meant to be this gimmick-free [service],” said Villanueva. “I’ve been telling riders, ‘When I drop you off my goal is for you to feel it’s too good to be true.'”
The business is able to provide free rides thanks to its advertisers. Villanueva said that the likes of Don Tito, Tupelo Honey Café, Ten at Clarendon and Miriam’s Kitchen have already partnered with Sprynt.
“By sponsoring the service and by advertising through our advertising platforms, these companies are able to build goodwill while at the same time still promoting the products and services they were going to anyway,” Villanueva said.
There are three different ways businesses can advertise. The first option is to promote their companies on the two 12.9-inch interactive iPads placed in the cars. A restaurant might put its menu on the i-Pad or a company might include a job posting.
The iPad option is the cheapest option because people can only see the ads if they are physically inside the cars, interacting with the devices. Villanueva said he hopes to increase activity on the iPads by creating a Photo Booth feature.
“[This is a] way to make sure that the advertising is not a distraction from the rider’s experience but rather, is a part of it,” Villanueva said.
Arlington County government offices will be closed on July 4 for the Independence Day holiday, as well as libraries and other facilities.
Metered parking will not be enforced July 4, but street parking near the Iwo Jima Memorial, Long Bridge Park and the Air Force Memorial will be restricted.
County courts and the DMV offices, including DMV Select, will be closed July 3-4.
With large crowds expected for the fireworks on the National Mall, as well as Arlington’s own celebration at Long Bridge Park, police will close the following roads:
6 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Memorial Bridge/Memorial Circle
1 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Marshall Drive from Route 110 to N. Meade Street
N. Meade Street from 14th Street N. to Marshall Drive
3 p.m. to 11. p.m.
Meade Street from Marshall Drive to Route 50 (access to the Fort Myer Heights neighborhood will be from the Rhodes Street bridge)
Exit ramp from westbound Route 50 to N. Lynn Street (Rosslyn exit)
Exit ramp from eastbound Route 50 to N. Meade Street (Rosslyn exit)
Long Bridge Drive from Boundary Channel Drive to 10th Street S.
8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Eastbound Route 50 at Washington Blvd. All traffic diverted from Route 50 on ramps to East and West Washington Blvd
Eastbound 10thStreet N. ramp to eastbound Route 50 will be closed, all traffic diverted to westbound Route 50
N. Courthouse Road ramp to eastbound Route 50 will be closed, all traffic diverted to westbound Route 50 or 10th Street N.
Traffic on Pershing Drive at Route 50 will only be allowed westbound
Eastbound Fairfax Drive from N. Pierce Street to N. Fort Myer Drive
Columbia Pike between S. Orme Street and S. Joyce Street
S. Joyce Street between Army Navy Drive and Columbia Pike
BlerDCon, an “exclusively inclusive” convention for geeks of all colors and backgrounds, arrives at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City (2799 Jefferson Davis Hwy) today.
BlerDCon strives to help people embrace their inner nerd across a variety of genres, including “anime, comic books, sci-fi, gaming or cosplay.” It’s taking place today through Sunday, July 2.
The weekend’s events will include panels, celebrity guests, presentations, workshops, gaming tournaments, cosplay contests and more.
The convention will be open 24 hours each day. Tickets start at $45 per person.
Despite the rapid growth of the nerd universe, however, conventions have failed to proportionately represent the expansive minority nerd audience. Fans of all backgrounds and cultures are embracing their inner nerd. This includes POC (Black, Asian, Latino, etc.), women, disabled, LGBTQ and many more types of nerds across the globe. This is where BlerDCon comes in.
For those who don’t know, “Blerd” is an acronym for Black nerd; this has become a phrase embraced by minority nerds of all backgrounds, no matter what their skin color. The word blerd has evolved to become a symbol of unity for all nerds; BlerDCon is a team of lifetime geeks that has rallied around this concept to create a con for all.
BlerDCon says it anticipates between 3,000-4,000 attendees.
Renovations at the park at 6225 12th Road N. in the Madison Manor neighborhood will include redesigning the playground, basketball court, picnic shelter, multi-use field, water fountain, park furniture, irrigation walkways, fences and landscaping. The park will also be brought up to current standards, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The county has been soliciting input from users of the park on its future with a chalkboard where people can write suggestions for what they would like to see and what they would not like to see.
The “information gathering” process for the upgrades is happening summer. The design process is set to begin in September and last until November.
Under a timeline proposed by staff, the Arlington County Board is projected to approve a contract for construction by fall 2018 so work can get underway soon after. The county hopes to have the renovation completed by summer 2019.
The county’s Capital Maintenance Fund will pay for this project. The fund is used for projects that bring existing parks up to current standards.
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
If you’ve ever wanted to prepare a restaurant-quality meal in your own kitchen, your hunger may now be satisfied.
CookDC is a startup based out of Shirlington that delivers ready-to-cook meals to your doorstep. Its stated goal is “turning home cooks into chefs.” Examples of previous meal-kits include grass-fed flat iron steaks with smashed marble potatoes and romano beans as well as more exotic dishes such as homemade tagliatelle with wild stinging nettle pesto.
CookDC differentiates itself from similar food delivery services by prioritizing flavor over convenience and price. CookDC is not designed to be the cheapest or most efficient meal delivery option, but teaches people to cook delicious food comparable to a fancy dinner out.
“Everything is ordered a la carte so it’s not a subscription like the national chains,” said Matthew McCormack, who founded CookDC with his wife, Debbie McCormack. “You go [online and look at the menu] and if you see something you like, you buy it.”
Each meal comes with a written-up explanation of its historical background along with a description of the cooking techniques needed to prepare it.
“[The Food Network or cookbooks] are telling you how to cook it but they’re not telling you where you’re supposed to get wild morels from, [for example],” McCormack said. “They’re not handing it to you and then showing you how to use it, [like us].”
The culinary term for what CookDC does is “mise en place,” French for “put in place.” Professional kitchens spend all day prepping their ingredients and once their restaurant opens, all the chefs do is cook the food.
“As soon as a restaurant service starts, nobody is cutting a carrot,” McCormack said. “We’re giving you the ‘mise en place,’ giving you very clear instructions on how to finish that dish yourself. It’s prepped, it’s packaged.”
Customers do have the option of paying extra to get the meal fully prepared, or they can specify that they do not want to cook it that night. They can also double the portion or request kids’ servings.
Meals are delivered throughout the D.C. region between 2-5 p.m. The night before delivery, customers are told whether or not they need a certain pan for the meal or if they will have to fire up their grill in order to cook it. On the day of delivery, customers are texted when the meal-kit has left CookDC’s kitchen. Meals are delivered in coolers and are packaged in step-by-step compartments. Each meal usually has between three to seven steps.
The intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Little Falls Road
Intersection of Little Falls Road and Old Dominion Drive (photo via Google Maps)
Williamsburg Middle School student Andy Nogas, who emailed the County Board with his request
A 13-year-old resident has asked the County Board to add a stop light
A local teen is trying to make a difference by lobbying for safety improvements to a crash-prone intersection.
At 13 years old, Williamsburg Middle School student Andy Nogas is too young to vote, but not too young to email the Arlington County Board and ask for members’ help.
He emailed them a few weeks ago to request a stoplight be placed at the intersection of Old Dominion Drive and Little Falls Road in the Rock Spring neighborhood.
“I have seen more than 15 crashes and many near misses [at this intersection and] I am writing to ask you to do something about this,” Nogas wrote.
Nogas said in an interview he has seen everything from serious crashes to fender-benders at the intersection, and he and his family have almost been involved in multiple accidents there themselves. Last year, as Nogas was coming home from an after-school event, he witnessed a particularly brutal crash.
“The car was upside-down and all the windows were shattered open,” Nogas said. “I saw the flipped car and a couple of ambulances.”
After this experience, Nogas knew he needed to do something. He spoke to his parents and told them he wanted to contact somebody about the intersection. After they gave him an explanation of how local government works, he decided his best bet was to contact the County Board.
“He was off to the races,” said Holly Scott, Nogas’ mother. “He was very excited to be able to send a message to the county about an issue that’s important to him, his friends and some of our other friends who live in the community.”
“Here is a possible solution that I hope you could look into: a stoplight,” Nogas wrote. “There are many ways you could program it, such as time it with the stoplight at Williamsburg Blvd and Old Dominion Drive, use it only during rush hour and use flashing lights at other times or use it like the stoplight at Yorktown Blvd and Little Falls Road. When one car approaches, the light will change. I hope you will please consider this option to improve safety on our roads.”
A reply from the Board promised they would assign staff to study the intersection.
Nogas said he was happy with the response and hopes the Board will take action, as the intersection is not far from Williamsburg Middle School.
“There are a lot of kids near there. They go to the same middle school as me and I know they have to cross [that intersection],” Nogas said.
Nogas’ mother said she has never reached out to the county herself, so she is particularly impressed by her son’s actions.
“I’m very proud,” she said. “I’m pleasantly surprised at the traction that his letter has gained… it’s definitely been very heartwarming and it certainly is encouraging him to think about what other things he can do to be helpful in his community.”
And while one would think Nogas aspires to work in the government or in law, he actually wants to be an artist. He just happens to care about the safety of those around him.
The intersection of Lee Highway and N. Quinn Street
The intersection of the W&OD Trail and S. George Mason Drive
The intersection of S. Four Mile Run Drive and S. George Mason Drive
The W&OD Trail at the Barcroft Sports Complex entrance
The Custis Trail at N. Scott Street
The Custis Trail at N Oak Street
The intersection of the W&OD Trail and S. Oakland Street
The Washington & Old Dominion and Custis trails are set for further construction this summer, with the hope of increasing safety for bicyclists, pedestrians and public transportation users.
The improvements will reduce the distance of crossing some streets, upgrade curb ramps and bus stops, create high visibility crosswalks, improve trail crossing alignments and update traffic signals to meet Arlington County’s standards, among other changes.
Lanes would also be reconfigured on the W&OD Trail at its crossing with S. George Mason Drive and on the Custis Trail at N. Quinn and N. Scott streets.
Three sections along each trail are set for improvements. Along the W&OD Trail, the areas are:
The intersection of S. Four Mile Run Drive and S. George Mason Drive
S. Four Mile Run Drive at the Barcroft Sports Center (4200 S. Four Mile Run Drive)
The intersection of S. Four Mile Run Drive and S. Oakland Street
The sections set to be under construction along the Custis Trail are:
The intersection of Lee Highway and N. Scott Street
The intersection of Lee Highway and N. Quinn Street
The trail crossing at the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Oak Street
The Arlington County Board has approved the costs for the trail renovations, which will be funded primarily by the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program.
Under a timeline put forward by county staff, construction would begin this summer on both projects. A contract worth a combined $1.67 million has been proposed for both, with just over $335,000 in contingency for any cost overruns.
Fifteen high school seniors came through the program
Students, mentors and parents gathered to celebrate Monday night
Run by the Arlington Housing Corporation, this was the program’s pilot year
Together, the students received nearly $500,000 in scholarship money
Kyle Yapching-Galang with his mentor Carter Vaden
Mentor Marjorie Macieria with her student Jasmine Connor
Graduate Zanab Farooq
Del. Alfonso Lopez (D) gives a speech
Del. Alfonso Lopez (D) gathers with the graduates
All 15 high school graduates from the pilot year of AHC Inc.’s new college guidance program will progress into higher education.
This year, the seniors applied to 71 schools and were accepted into 54. Together, they received nearly $500,000 in scholarship money, including full rides to Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania. Many of the students are the first members of their family to attend college.
AHC, an Arlington-based affordable housing provider, hosted a celebration Monday night at the Lyon Park Community Center for the graduates, their families and mentors.
The free mentoring program is part of AHC’s resident services program, which began in 1993. The initiative is designed to provide students of all ages with something productive to do in their afternoons.
The program includes after-school activities for elementary school students, tutoring for middle and high school students and now a mentoring program to help high school seniors with the college process.
Each senior is paired with an adult for an entire year. The mentors aid their students with the college process, including financial aid, essays and scholarship applications.
Jasmine Connor began working with her mentor, Marjorie Macieria, in the fall.
“Working with Marjorie was the best. We clicked,” Connor said.
The two met weekly, primarily focusing on scholarship applications, of which Connor has received two: the “We Are the Dream” oratorical scholarship and the Arlington School Administrators Spirit Award. The scholarships will help fund Connor’s ambition to graduate debt-free from Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University.
Connor plans to pursue a major in Early Childhood Development with a minor in Special Education. She has been inspired by her own teachers to help students with learning disabilities.
“Just because you have a learning disability, that doesn’t mean anything,” she said. ”I have one and I got two scholarships and I’m going to college.”
Kyle Yapching-Galang began working with his mentor, Carter Vaden, in the seventh grade. Initially, she tutored him in French and then branched out to help him with English. While Vaden did not help Yapching-Galang with his college applications, she has been a part of his school career for six years.
“She’s a really good friend who helps me when I’m struggling or when I’m angsty,” Yapching-Galang said.
Vaden said she has seen Yapching-Galang grown from a shy middle-schooler into a confident adult. Yapching-Galang plans to attend Northern Virginia Community College in the fall.
Zanab Farooq has been attending AHC’s programs since pre-school. Yet, she credits her mentor of the past year, Joseph Maltby, for helping her get into college.
“I don’t think I would’ve gotten into college without him,” Farooq said. “He knew what to do, what not to do and how to stay on top of things.”
Farooq will be attending the University of Mary Washington in the fall, where she hopes to major in Marketing. With various scholarships secured, all she has to pay for is textbooks and a meal plan.
During the celebratory dinner, guest speaker and local Del. Alfonso Lopez (D) said he was proud of the graduates’ achievements.
“You are what we need. You are medicine,” he said. “You are the source of pleasure and accomplishment and hope for everything that ails every community. Your thirst for education and knowledge and the fact that you’ve done it, says so much about you.”
A solar panel will be installed on the school’s roof
Students will be able to learn about solar power through real-time data
The panel is estimated to power 18 computers and fifteen 42-inch LED televisions
Kenmore Middle School was one of six sites in Virginia selected to have a solar panel installed on its roof as part of the Solar for Students program, which encourages hands-on learning about clean energy.
A 1.2 kilowatt panel will be installed on the school’s roof to convert sunlight into electricity, with real-time data displays to help classroom learning. It is estimated the panel will generate enough electricity to power 18 desktop computers, or 15 42-inch LED TVs.
In addition to the panel, the program comes with technical support, training for teachers and educational materials that will enable students to monitor, track and learn about solar power production.
In June 2015, Dominion Energy partnered with the nonprofit National Energy Education Development Project to launch the program. The program is for Virginia students, teachers and communities in areas served by Dominion, and gives them hands-on experience with solar power.
Kenmore will share the $150,000 solar panel grant with schools across Virginia and the Children’s Museum in Richmond, having been selected from 35 applicants statewide. Jeff Politzer, a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) teacher at Kenmore, helped apply for the grant.
“We started the process months ago and then we had to meet with people form Arlington County,” he said. “We did a site supervise, we did a walk through. We wanted to see what location would be best.”
Around 750 students gathered in the school’s auditorium today to learn about their gift.
Scott Reamy, external affairs manager at Dominion Energy, built up to the announcement by having the students guess what the surprise was.
“I want to see if you all can figure it out,” he said. “It was created in 1958. It’s been to space and back.”
“Solar panels!” shouted a student in the back of the room.
The solar panel has not yet been installed at the school. At the event, officials had no further information on when the school can expect its new panel to be added.
