Author: Vernon Miles

Body Worn Camera Program To Be Implemented in January

By Vernon Miles

After public outcry and demands from activists, Arlington County is moving forward with long-delayed plans to equip the Arlington County Police Department and other county law enforcement with body-worn cameras.

County Manager Mark Schwartz is scheduled to present the plans to implement the program at a meeting on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) tonight (Tuesday).

A presentation for the CIP notes that a body-worn camera system would be implemented for the Arlington County Police Department, Sheriff’s Office, and Fire Marshal’s Office starting in January 2021.

According to a presentation on the budget, the Fiscal Year 2021 CIP includes:

  • $268K for body-worn camera hardware
  • $244K for upgrades to four County courtrooms
  • $536K for data storage, software, and maintenance
  • $755K for in-car camera replacement

The upgrades total $1.8 million. The presentation notes that the annual expense for camera maintenance, software and data storage — including the equivalent of 7.5 full-time employees dedicated to the effort — is estimated to be $1.6 million.

The CIP is scheduled for review throughout June and July, with a public hearing on Tuesday, June 30, and adoption set for July 18.

Update at 8:45 a.m. — The county has released more information in a press release, below.

As part of his proposed one-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), County Manager Mark Schwartz is including $1.05 million to begin implementation of a body-worn camera program for the Arlington County Police Department, Arlington County Sheriff’s Office, and Arlington County Fire Marshals.

The funding in the proposed FY 2021 CIP includes $268,000 for body-worn camera hardware​, $244,000 for upgrades to four County courtrooms​ to support the technology, and $536,000 for data storage, software, and maintenance​. Additionally, $755,000 is proposed to replace the existing in-car camera system to one compatible with body-worn cameras.

If the CIP funding is approved in July by the Arlington County Board, the program will be implemented in January 2021.

“My decision to propose the program now is prompted by the recent events in our country. As I have stated many times, I am proud of our police department and its long tradition of professionalism,” Schwartz said. ”The public’s perception of our officers has been highlighted in each of the resident satisfaction surveys of the past 10 years. We want to reinforce those positive public perceptions and to ensure actions, especially those involving use of force, are transparent. The time has come for body-worn cameras in Arlington.”

The Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office conducted a pilot for body-worn cameras back in 2015, and since then the department has consistently asked for the addition of these cameras to complement the existing in-car camera system. However, due to budget challenges the program has not been proposed previously.

“Our police have sought these cameras because they help promote ACPD accountability and transparency, can be a useful tool to increase officer professionalism and training, and to document police encounters,” Schwartz said. “Our community expects and deserves a culture of transparency, accountability, fairness, trust and respect, and the ultimate measure of success, and the ability to maintain public trust, is based on earning and re-earning the trust and respect of our citizens every day.”

In addition to funding in the FY 2021 CIP, the FY 2021 operating budget that was adopted by the board in April will have to be amended to begin to fund the employee positions associated with this program. That is estimated to be $476,000 in FY 2021 for a partial year.

In total, 7.5 FTEs will be needed in ACPD, Court Technology, and the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office to fully support the program. Future operating budgets will include funding for FTEs and ongoing data storage, software, and maintenance, at approximately $1.6 million per year​.

The FY 2022 and FY 2023 CIPs will include funding for technology upgrades to the seven remaining courtrooms​.

Photo via Tony Webster/Flickr

County Board Candidates Discuss Equity, Budget Priorities and COVID-19 Recovery

By Vernon Miles

Three candidates running to replace the late Erik Gutshall on the County Board met over Zoom for a debate hosted by the Arlington Committee of 100.

The special election candidates — Takis Karantonis (D), Bob Cambridge (R) and Susan Cunningham (I) — all called for a focus on equity and discussed ways to navigate a tighter county budget.

Karantonis, who serves as vice-chair of the Alliance for Housing Solutions and is former executive director of the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, laid out a several-pronged approach to how to focus the budget as the county works to manage a more limited revenue stream.

“COVID is an unexpected stress on our budget,” Karantonis said. “Citizens expect to have a government that reacts to such unexpected impacts. Right now, don’t know how deep or broad COVID economic impact will be. The focus [should be] social safety net expenditures as our first priority. Five-thousand families are on food assistance and the region has lost 300,000 jobs.”

Karantonis said in reviewing capital investments, the County Board should prioritize those that leverage external funding, like state and federal grants. Other priorities, he said, include micro-loans to help small businesses get back on their feet and trying to rescue Metro and the Arlington Transit bus service, which have seen substantial ridership losses during the pandemic.

“Then [we can] come out of this with a better base to decide how we will structure the county later,” Takis said. “I’m an economist, I’m trained to do this, and I’ve done it in the private sector and non-profit sector. The best focus is on economic development to rebound.”

Cambridge, an Army veteran and former CIA employee who works as a lawyer in Arlington, said his campaign is built on the idea that different political ideologies have good ideas that can contribute to each other. Cambridge said his approach to recovery would be built on incorporating more flexibility into the budget to address these sorts of crises.

“The budget is highly strained right now,” Cambridge said. “We have got to be flexible and respond as our understanding of challenges become more and more obvious. We do have a lot of city services we need. That is the sinews we all need. We really need to do things in a different way.”

Cunningham, who worked at the Internal Revenue Service and founded the nonprofit EdBuild, said the county should do more to improve how projects are financed.

“There are a lot of opportunities in our budget for improving our spending,” Cunningham said. “Not eliminating, but improving implementation. Our projects take too long, our community engagement takes too long, we don’t look back and do audits of capital programs. There’s a lot of room to improve and be more accountable.”

Cunningham said the budget should prioritize updating the outdated infrastructure, particularly Arlington’s stormwater and flood mitigation systems.

Cunningham and Cambridge both argued for a data-driven approach to solving issues of inequality on Arlington.

“Data and facts should guide us,” Cunningham said. “Our data elements tell us the story of suspensions that begin in kindergarten for black and brown children at much higher rates, and of COVID outcomes right now with over 50% of cases in the Hispanic community. The numbers tell us where we’re doing okay and where we’re not. We should use that to guide our efforts and evaluate the implementation of changes.”

Karantonis argued addressing inequality in Arlington has to go deeper than data and statistics, though, and must look at how different communities in Arlington are prioritized or ignored in county discussions. He pointed to a situation where he said the civic association of a historically Black neighborhood was overlooked in county discussions.

“We have to be active about doing this… including restorative justice efforts and looking at the educational system, making sure people have access to resources,” Takis said. “The numbers are great, but what matters is how people feel.”

Also during the debate, the candidates discussed transit on Columbia Pike. None — including Karantonis, a booster of the Pike streetcar plan while at CPRO — expressed an interest in reviving the cancelled streetcar project, though the candidates “did press for increased attention to mass-transit along the Columbia Pike corridor, and leveled criticism at the county government for not acting fast enough or going far enough in meeting the transit needs of residents there,” the Sun Gazette reported.

The special election is scheduled to be held on July 7.

Image via Arlington Committee of 100

Activists Take Demands for Police Reform to the County Board

By Vernon Miles

Arlington citizens and community activists flooded Saturday’s online County Board meeting with calls to reform the Arlington County Police Department.

At the start of the public hearing on June 13, County Board Chair Libby Garvey emphasized that the Board’s rules state there could only be one speaker on any given topic or stance, but that’s not now the public comment portion panned out as dozens of speakers rallied to argue against policies activists said were still deeply rooted in the County’s history of segregation.

Yolande Kwinana, founder of a newly formed group called Arlington for Justice, followed up on an earlier discussion with Police Chief Jay Farr by bringing many of the concerns about policies and funding to the County Board.

Kwinana highlighted the demands of a campaign called 8cantwait and urged the county to move forward with the implementation of body cameras and citizen review panels with the power to subpoena the police.

“Invest in our community over law enforcement be reallocating resources to community programs and mental health services,” Kwinana.

Other demands included removing School Resource Officers from middle and high schools in Arlington.

Garvey responded that many of Kwinana’s suggested reforms were already in place, without specifying which ones, and tried to move forward but was immediately confronted with more public speakers discussing police reform. Daniel Weir, a member of the Planning Commission, tried to speak about police reform but was cut off by Garvey, who told him to save his comments for another occasion.

County Board member Christian Dorsey suggested a compromise of allowing speakers like Weir to discuss specific facets of reform rather than a broad call for changes to policing.

“The underlying problem isn’t the bad apples, it’s not specific to policing,” Weir said. “[Racism] spreads like mycelium into every decision. Any institution that doesn’t actively resist these things will [have racism] affect decisions. We must be required to take anti-racism training and memorialize the racial impact of every action.”

Other speakers challenged the Arlington County Police Department’s past use of deadly against people in a mental crisis or said the department should do more to require and codify de-escalation techniques.

“We can make Arlington safer by adopting specific rules,” said Wells Harrell. “Eight can’t wait. I call on this Board to put it on the agenda for the next meeting and vote yes.”

During the County Board’s discussion after the meeting, Board members thanked the speakers but also discussed being in a difficult situation of recognizing the concerns without vilifying the police — who are already in the spotlight after participating in the removal of protestors from Lafayette Square earlier this month.

“Judge people by what they do,” Garvey said. “We’re not perfect, we need to get better, but our police are working very hard and to see them swept up into this national narrative is a little painful for us and for them. But yet, people are pointing out some areas where we need to improve and to make sure people are comfortable.”

Garvey said the County Board will work to put together a public forum about proposed reforms for the police department.

“We want [this moment] to turn into a movement,” Dorsey said. “I hope for sustained activism beyond today.”

Digital Footage Service Video Jaguar Thrives During Pandemic

By Vernon Miles

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. Monday Properties remains firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of its employees, tenants and community. This week, Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1000 and 1100 Wilson (The Rosslyn Towers).

Video Jaguar may be based out of Arlington, but CEO Tim Sumer said having an almost entirely digital service has helped it thrive while many other businesses struggle during the pandemic.

The company bills itself as “the world’s easiest video ad maker for businesses and agencies.”

“Video Jaguar is a cloud-based video maker designed to help business owners easily create professional video ads, real estate videos, and more in five minutes and a few clicks,” Sumer explained. “Video Jaguar allows anyone, on any budget, to create professional marketing videos with no technical skills needed. Users can create unlimited videos that they can use to promote their business or sell to other businesses for any price they like and keep 100% of the profits.”

Like Storyblocks, another Arlington-based video footage company, Video Jaguar has seen an uptick in sales as companies unable to send people out to capture original video turn to online services.

“We have actually seen an increase in sales, of around 20-25%, during the pandemic,” Sumer said. “I believe this is because many businesses are cutting back on costs by switching to digital solutions, especially now since more people are online. With Video Jaguar, businesses can automate their marketing by being able to create videos and then scheduling them to post on all social media channels; eliminating the need to outsource these tasks or hiring someone.”

The video service also allows users to automatically post videos across seven video hosting platforms, including TikTok.

“Every month we add new video templates to the template bank, which already has over 550 premium video templates to choose from,” Sumer said. “Other software upgrades and new features are automatically applied every month as well.”

Sumer also said operating out of Arlington has been helpful for making contacts that have helped the company weather the pandemic.

“Being in Arlington has many benefits, such as the close proximity to the nation’s capital, and the number of tech companies popping up in Arlington is constantly growing,” Sumer said. “This area is filled with many businesses that we can easily connect and collaborate with.”

Photo via Video Jaguar/Facebook

‘The Renegade’ Hopes to Kickstart Live Music Comeback in Clarendon

By Vernon Miles

Mister Days replacement The Renegade (3100 Clarendon Blvd) didn’t have a lot of time to establish itself in the Clarendon nightlife scene before it was shut down by the pandemic, but the restaurant is making a comeback tour with live music.

With Phase 2 of Northern Virginia’s reopening starting today, The Renegade is opening to in-person audiences.

“Fans can watch bands live in person or online on The Renegade‘s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter pages,” the restaurant said in a press release. “All takeout and deliveries ordered during live shows will be 10% off and The Renegade will donate an additional 10% of sales during the show to the band and their Keep the Music Alive fund that supports local musicians, DJs and sound teams that have suffered during the pandemic.”

The next act lined up is local band Keeton, which is scheduled to perform tonight (Friday) starting at 9 p.m.

“We’re able to meet our guests wherever they’re at,” owner and chef Patrick Crump said in the press release. “If they’re ready for in-house dining and a show, we’re here. If they’d rather get takeout and watch the music at home, we make it happen.”

Currently, those in indoor public places in Virginia are required to wear masks.

The restaurant’s current hours are daily from noon to 2 a.m.

Photo by Zach Pearson

New Poll Finds Widespread Support for To-Go Drinks Post-Pandemic

By Vernon Miles

The cat’s out of the bag for to-go drinks with Virginians — and Arlingtonians in particular — expressing widespread support for keeping the practice around after the pandemic is over.

In a joint poll with the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association and the National Restaurant Association found that 78 percent of Virginians support making permanent current, temporary practices that allow restaurant customers to purchase alcoholic beverages with their takeout and delivery food orders.

“According to the recent data, customers are taking advantage of the order with approximately one in three Virginia adults who recently purchased takeout or delivery including alcohol with their order,” the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association said in a press release. “Additionally, 39 percent of restaurant patrons said the option of including alcoholic beverages with their order made them more likely to choose one restaurant over a competitor that does not offer alcohol sales.”

ARLnow’s own less scientific polling found that 91% of those who responded (2,839 people) were in favor of making delivery of alcohol permanent.

“The popularity of ordering mixed beverages to-go or for delivery shows that people want it,” said Sarah White, Operating Partner at Cowboy Café (4792 Lee Hwy) said in the press release. “We keep hearing from customers that it’s nice to order and enjoy a cocktail without getting dressed up and going to a bar. We keep hearing how happy they are to be able to relax in their own home and still feel like they’re receiving the full dining experience.”

Virginia allowed beer and wine to be delivered in March — relatively early in the pandemic — and eventually extended that to cocktails in April. Oklahoma has already made alcohol delivery by restaurants permanent, while many of the three-dozen states and territories that have allowed it temporarily during the pandemic are also considering making it permanent.

Staff photo by Vernon Miles

Hair Cuttery Courthouse Snipped From Official Listings

By Vernon Miles
1/2

(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) It seems Hair Cuttery has trimmed Courthouse from its list of locations and barbershop/salon is now closed.

The location at 2020 Wilson Blvd is now empty, with a sign in the windows saying the space is available to lease. The site is also no longer listed on the company’s index of locations.

The Hair Cuttery in Courthouse opened alongside retail shops on that block in late 2014.

The next closest Hair Cuttery is at 3307 Lee Highway, but there are still other barbershops closer in Courthouse and along Wilson Blvd.

Other Hair Cuttery locations throughout the region have closed as well while the parent company has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As pointed out in the comments, Hair Cuttery locations in Shirlington and Crystal City have also been removed from the official list. Other Arlington locations — at Penrose Square, the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center, and 3307 Lee Highway — remain.

Arlington Pre-K Educators Talk Struggles in Diversity and Coronavirus Recovery

By Vernon Miles
1/2

(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) Lauren Harris and Portia Moore were best friends growing up and both ended up launching preschool programs in Arlington. Their experiences highlight some of the differences between North and South Arlington and the county’s deep economic divisions.

Harris is the CEO and Executive Director of Little Ambassadors’ Academy, which has three locations in Arlington along Lee Highway. Moore owns STEM Preschool, which has locations in Fairlington and Capitol Hill in D.C.

“Arlington definitely has a high demand for quality preschools,” Harris said. “I think Portia and I both try to fill that void. The reality of the situation in Arlington is that there are more kids than there are preschool slots… It’s hard to find quality childcare, and harder to find one close to where you live and have that community feel.”

Moore said both of their programs are also very localized to their respective areas.

“It’s about the neighborhoods,” Moore said. “Lauren has the north side locked down. I chose to go to Fairlington because it’s such an amazing family community.”

Moore said it’s also an industry where it’s not unusual for the majority of providers to be people of color. Moore said she likes the diversity of her staff and community, while for Harris that’s a more difficult goal to achieve in North Arlington.

“Arlington is diverse, but on my side of Arlington, it’s significantly less diverse,” Harris said. “My staff are sometimes the only people of color that these children interact with. But I don’t think that we specifically put out that we’re a Black business. We’re preschool owners; we happen to be Black and we happen to be women, but we don’t think of ourselves as Black women-owned. We do great things for the community and we happen to be Black women.”

For Moore, the K-12 schools the children in Fairlington will go into tend to be more diverse.

“For my schools, they all go to other schools where there are all types of diversity and nationalities,” Moore said.

Moore moved to Arlington from Texas when she was ten and said she developed friends here across all sorts of nationality and racial lines. She said there’s a drive towards diversity in the county, but one that sometimes clashes with parents who moved into neighborhoods hoping their students would go to school perceived as being better than others.

“I know Arlington has been trying its best to have different boundaries, so there’s always a fight for integration,” Moore said, “I get the parent’s point too. I paid for a neighborhood I want my children to go there. However, it’s also important for integration, for times like this, for children to have a different mindset and meet someone you may not see in your neighborhood.”

Harris said roughly 97% percent of her school’s population is White. The majority of her students wind up going to Nottingham Elementary School, the student body of which is only 0.4% Black, according to APS data.

“My daughter is the only person of color in her Pre-K classroom,” Harris said. “Absolutely, while we do hope to bring diversity, we bring it to our staff and through our culture that we give and the lessons we teach our children.”

(more…)

ARLnow Wins Journalism Award for Amazon HQ2 Coverage

By Vernon Miles

Months of wall-to-wall coverage of Amazon’s plans to come to Crystal City and Pentagon City were recognized last night by the D.C. Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Airey, Vernon Miles, Kalina Newman, Alex Koma were all named winners of the 2019 Dateline Award for online business reporting, citing ARLnow’s “hyperlocal coverage of Amazon.”

Airey, who left ARLnow in November and currently works as a freelance journalist, was also a finalist in two other categories; online non-breaking news and best reporting:

“These awards recognize some of the best journalism being done in the Washington, D.C., region by some of the best reporters around,” SPJ DC President Randy Showstack said on the organization’s website. “SPJ DC applauds these journalists for their outstanding efforts to shine a light on issues that the public needs to be aware of.”

File photo

Arlington NAACP Joins Calls to Equip Police With Body-Worn Cameras

By Vernon Miles

The Arlington branch of the NAACP has thrown its voice into the push for body-worn cameras to be implemented in the Arlington County Police Department.

A Change.org petition calling for Arlington County leadership to prioritize body-worn cameras sits at 2,409 of its 2,500 goal at the time of writing.

“Arlington is the only jurisdiction of size in the entire DC-region without a Body-Worn Camera (BWC) program,” Arlington Branch NAACP #7047 said in the petition. “As leaders, we must prioritize programs that encourage public confidence in our government.”

The NAACP said in the petition that body-worn cameras:

  • Assist with collection of evidence
  • Enhance transparency, public trust and confidence
  • Provide the best evidence of police/public interactions
  • De-escalate situations

“We must implore our elected leaders in Arlington County to prioritize appropriate funding for the BWC program,” the NAACP said. “Removing programs that are non-essential, ineffective, or which disproportionately target minorities can generate funding for BWCs and support community resources. Additionally, exorbitant funding from Amazon could be immediately reallocated to fund 100% implementation of BWCs.”

The petition has attracted the attention of some local leadership who expressed support.

“I am writing in support of your efforts urging Arlington County to implement a Body-Worn Camera program,” Del. Patrick Hope said in a letter. “While I was aware that these devices are widely deployed throughout the United States, it came as a complete surprise to learn that Arlington County remains the only jurisdiction of size in the D.C.-region without a functioning Body-Worn Camera program.”

Neighboring Alexandria, which has a population roughly two-thirds that of Arlington, also has no body camera program for police officers, after a planned pilot program sat delayed for years due to budgetary concerns. Fairfax County began implementing body cameras in the first quarter of 2020. Body camera footage recently led to a Fairfax County officer being charged with assault.

“These devices help strengthen police accountability, improve agency transparency, reduce use of force incidents, reduce citizen complaints against officers, and help solve crime,” Hope said. “This technology also has proven to produce significant savings in time and expense for communities as both complaints and cases are resolved much faster using body-worn camera evidence.”

Hope wrote another letter to County Board Chair Libby Garvey urging the County to consider creating a body-worn camera program.

Efforts to implement body-worn camera programs on a local level could be stalled by legislation approved earlier this year that would require localities to follow policy and standards yet to be laid out by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Arlington Chief of Police Jay Farr also recently said that costs are a major hurdle for the implementation of body cameras.

“It’s extremely expensive,” Farr said in an interview with local Black Lives Matter organizer Yolande Kwinana last week. “The County Board, after getting all the facts, made the decision not to fund them.”

Farr said the total for the first year of using the body cameras was $2.5 million, which he attributes primarily to regulations requiring departments to retain terabytes of data for years, in addition to the cost of new full-time employees to manage the data and the cost of the cameras themselves.

Body-worn cameras could be a tough sell for a county still reeling from the financial cost of the COVID-19 shutdown.

“While I recognize all localities are struggling due to the financial impact of COVID-19, as leaders we must prioritize programs which encourage public confidence in our government,” Hope said. “It is my belief that a fully-funded body-worn camera program would do just that.”

Part of the NAACP petition also included a call for the implementation of a civilian review board of the police department with subpoena power, something for which Farr had earlier expressed some support.

“We must implement this technology and civilian oversight to protect citizens from police brutality and enforce accountability,” the NAACP said. “This is a humanitarian crisis that should be acted upon now to end racial injustice and improve equity in our criminal justice system. Our demand for compliance and accountability from law enforcement will not go unheard.”

Arlington Gyms Prepare for Reopening With New Precautions

By Vernon Miles

(Updated 6/11) As Arlington prepares to move in to Phase 2 of reopening, some local gyms have started laying out their plans to start serving customers again.

At F45 at Pentagon Row (1101 S. Joyce Street), the gym is preparing to pivot from indoor sessions to outdoor classes.

“As safety is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, classes are restricted to nine attendees and one instructor,” according to a press release. “Participants and the instructor will all remain 10 feet apart throughout class to remain socially distant. While the studio is anxious to reopen, F45 recognizes the importance of safety and is excited to be able to adapt their offerings for their customers.”

The classes are scheduled to be held Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:30 a.m. and can be booked through the F45 training app. Each class is $30 for those who aren’t “unlimited members” but is included in membership.

Gold’s Gym — which has locations in Ballston, Rosslyn and Arlington Ridge — announced in a letter to members yesterday that it is planning to reopen its Virginia locations on Friday, June 12.

“Our top priority is to ensure team member and member safety so we have created a phased Reopening Strategy in which we will implement various precautions throughout the gyms and reopen amenities slowly,” Gold’s Gym said. The start of Phase 2 means that gyms in Virginia can open indoor areas at 30% capacity.

The gym will adopt modified hours of operation for more extensive cleaning and sanitation. The new hours are:

  • Monday-Friday: 7 a.m.-9 p.m.
  • Saturday and Sunday: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Every other piece of cardio equipment, like treadmills, will be powered down to support social distancing.

“We will be conducting a screening process for members prior to entering the facility, which may include a questionnaire and temperature check based on state and district guidelines,” the gym said. “Touchless check-in process with credit/debit transactions only (please scan your own barcode and merchandise/concessions).”

Equipment with porous sources, like mats, will be temporarily removed so customers will be required to bring their own. While employees are required to wear face masks and gloves, the letter noted that face masks should not be worn while exercising.

“Once the Virginia gyms reopen on June 12, you can call your home gym Monday-Friday between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. with any questions,” Gold’s Gym said. “If at this time, you feel uncomfortable visiting the gym, please contact the gym to have your freeze extended at no additional cost to you.”

Top photo via Gold’s Gym/Facebook, training photo via F45

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