Author: Vernon Miles

Amazon Places Massive Take-Out Order from Freddie’s in Crystal City

By Vernon Miles
1/10

(Updated 6:30 p.m.) Amazon has purchased 1,753 meals from Crystal City restaurant Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant (555 23rd Street S.) and donated the meals to Virginia Hospital Center.

Some of the meals were dropped off this morning, a spokesperson said, noting that while all of the meals were ordered from Freddie’s, future orders are planned for other restaurants in the tech giant’s new neighborhood.

“The whole thing has been going very smoothly,” said Freddie Lutz, the eponymous owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar. “We put together 247 lunches and 105 dinners tonight [for the first round]. We had a caravan of cars.”

Lutz said the partnership with Amazon has allowed Lutz to bring nine of his staff back to work and prepare to open the bar and restaurant for takeout and delivery, which he said he’s planning to start tomorrow (Friday).

“I have another restaurant down the street, Federico Ristorante Italiano, [which has] been open for a week,” Lutz said. “It’s not like being open [during normal times], but it’s some income. This gives us a chance to get ready for carryout and delivery. Everybody is worried about ‘can we survive, can we stay open’ but this helps.”

Nearby restaurants Young Chow and Enjera also supplied meals for the drive.

Amazon said in the press release that the goal was to both support local restaurants through the pandemic and support the hospital staff.

“Meal drop-offs like the one Amazon is making at Virginia Hospital Center allow these local restaurants to continue paying their employees and bring additional employees back to work to safely cook and deliver the meals,” the company said in a press release. “Amazon has committed to purchasing 10,000 meals in May from Arlington restaurants including Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, [Crystal City] Sports Pub, Enjera, and Urban Thai.”

Lutz said that with Amazon continuing to grow its HQ2 presence, the partnership supplying food to VHC is good practice for potentially making more food deliveries to Amazon events and employees down the road.

The press release noted that Amazon is also making food deliveries to the Arlington County Police Department and Sheriff’s Office, as well as to Arlington and Alexandria firefighters.

“During this unprecedented time, Amazon is working to not only support our frontline healthcare workers and first responders across the Arlington area, but also our most vulnerable neighbors in immediate need,” said Brian Huseman, Vice President of Public Policy at Amazon. “We are proud to work alongside Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, a beloved local restaurant in our new neighborhood, to ensure that we’re thanking our neighbors who are keeping us safe and caring for our neighbors who need extra support right now with hearty meals throughout May.”

Other individuals, nonprofits and companies have donated everything from gowns to meals to Virginia Hospital Center during the pandemic.

Survival, Not Success, on the Menu for Courthouse Restaurant Sweet Leaf’s Reopening

By Vernon Miles

(Updated at 10:15 p.m.) Like other local business owners, Andre Matini feels like he’s building his franchise back from the ground up.

Andre Matini and his sister Arita are the cofounders of Sweet Leaf Cafe, a bowl and sandwich-focused local restaurant with a handful of regional locations. The store’s Courthouse location (2200 Wilson Blvd) is set to reopen Thursday for takeout and delivery, with orders ideally placed online or — if necessary — with walk-ins.

Matini said the location is reopening with ambitious 9 a.m.-8 p.m. hours, 7 days a week, but that could change as it adjusts to operating during the pandemic.

“It’s like starting the whole business from scratch,” Matini said. “So many things go into getting production.”

The big problem, Matini said, is trying to rehire staff. Matini said he has had zero responses to a help-wanted ad he put out recently.

“Right now, my ex-employees won’t come back, which is causing a problem,” Matini said. “Some of them are making more by staying home because of $600 [weekly enhanced unemployment] bonus. That bonus runs out in mid-July, and then they all want to come back.”

For Sweet Leaf, though, Matini said that leaves businesses opening before July with very little to offer former employees to come back to work, potentially risking their health to earn less than they would staying at home. While some larger companies have offered extra pay for employees to work through the pandemic, Matini said many smaller businesses don’t have the profit margins to afford that kind of package.

“Who wants to risk possibly getting sick to break even and work for the money when you could get it for unemployment,” Matini said. “One of our biggest problems is getting anyone to come back. We’re staffing managers on salary, but that’s not a long term possibility here, to pay people $50 to $60 grand for hourly work.”

As frustrating as that is, Matini said he’s still happy about receiving a federally-based Paycheck Protection Program loan, saying even with an imperfect implementation it’s allowed the company some breathing room. He’s not sure there will be many customers when he reopens, but now that he has the PPP loan he has to most of the money on rent, utilities and employee pay within 8 weeks in order to have that portion of the loan forgiven, according to Small Business Administration guidelines.

Matini said he’s preparing for the careful balancing act of keeping employees and other customers safe while not embarrassing those who don’t follow social distancing standards.

“We have all these new procedures in place to keep customers and employees safe, but with the nature of the virus, it’s difficult,” Matini said. “It’s a balancing act. We’ll be asking people without masks to order online without embarrassing them. There are no issues right now, but you can see as businesses open up in a month and you have 20 people in a store, it might be difficult to single someone out.”

Matini said he’d prefer government step in to establish what the rules are — Arlington County officials are considering doing so by making masks mandatory while out in public — so individual businesses don’t have to set their own rules.

“We’re excited to open, but it’s not a grand opening type of excitement, it’s just ‘let’s get something rolling again we can keep in place for a couple of months or a year,'” Matini said. “We’re doing walk-ins, but you just can’t sit down. Please use delivery or takeout, it’s easier, you’ll get a discount. It’s about a 10% discount. If you spend $25, you get $2 off.”

As the Courthouse location gets restarted, Matini said the focus isn’t on thriving, but surviving.

“We’re not growing businesses, just seeing what we can do,” Matini said.

While Courthouse is reopening, one of the two Sweet Leaf locations in Ballston will remain closed — the one in an office building on N. Glebe Road. “There’s nothing going on there,” Matini said. The N. Quincy Street location is currently open with limited hours.

Sweet Leaf isn’t alone in reopening. McNamara’s Pub and Restaurant in Crystal City (456 23rd Street S.) is also planning to reopen tomorrow, offering dinner along with beer, wine and cocktails from 3-9 p.m. Other restaurants, like Mexicali Blues, have been reopening over the last few weeks and offering take-out and delivery options.

Photo courtesy Sweet Leaf

Arlingtonians Recycling Glass at Record-Shattering Rates

By Vernon Miles

Arlingtonians have recycled over a million pounds of glass at the drop-off center since January, a record likely to keep up if everyone stays bottled up in quarantine.

Last April, Arlington County ditched its curbside glass recycling program as separating out and recycling glass had become overly expensive. Instead, Arlingtonians were asked to drop off their glass recycling at dedicated containers that were then taken to Fairfax County for reuse in construction, building, and — more recently — recycling into new glass products.

Since the launch of the drop-off recycling program, county officials say there have been two million pounds of glass recycled, half of which as been over the last few months.

“A million pounds since January was impressive and we’ll likely see another million at a much faster pace for obvious reasons,” as residents stay at home amid the pandemic, said Dept. of Environmental Services spokesman Peter Golkin. “ABC stores are definitely doing strong business as are the grocery stores.”

Golkin said recyclers are asked to avoid late night or early morning drop-offs at the residential drop-off sites like Cherrydale to avoid loud clattering.

Photo via Arlington County

Mexicali Blues, Other Local Restaurants Reopen for Takeout

By Vernon Miles

Mexicali Blues is the latest Arlington restaurant to pivot to takeout and delivery during the coronavirus pandemic.

The long-time eatery at 2933 Wilson Blvd in Clarendon reopened Monday with a new ordering and delivery system on its website. The restaurant is offering dinner from 4-8 p.m. daily, and is also delivering via Uber Eats and Doordash (which are, as of today today, in merger talks.)

For curbside pick-up, the restaurant will place food orders on a table outside the restaurant.

Mexicali Blues says it is also offering house margaritas, in mason jars with salt on the side, along with beer for takeout, with food purchases.

Last week, Ireland’s Four Courts in Courthouse reopened, after temporarily closing for a month and a half.

A number of Arlington restaurants have been reopening over the last few weeks, including:

  • Bar Bao, an Asian fusion restaurant at 3100 Clarendon Blvd, reopened for takeout and delivery last Tuesday.
  • Galaxy Hut (2711 Wilson Blvd) reopened this weekend from 4-9 p.m. for vegetarian and vegan options, along with cans of alcohol to go. The bar’s social media said it will be open Fridays and Saturdays at that time moving forward.
  • Federico Ristorante Italiano at 519 23rd Street S. in Crystal City reopened on Sunday for carryout orders. The restaurant offers the usual dishes like pizza, but also sells “party platter” lasagna trays for large groups.
  • Cafe Sazon, a South and Central American restaurant at 4704 Columbia Pike, reopened late last month with a variety of soups, sandwiches, and Latin American appetizers like empanadas.

Photo via Mexicali Blues/Facebook

County Board Considers Mask Mandate but Hamstrung by Dillon Rule

By Vernon Miles

In an online town hall meeting on Friday, County Board members decried the plan to partially reopen Virginia as premature for Arlington and discussed further restrictions, like a requirement to wear a mask when in public.

“If we consider the closing of bars and restaurants, if just one locality were to loosen restrictions and allow bars to reopen before other jurisdictions,” County Board member Christian Dorsey warned, “those establishments would become magnets for patrons who could access them, which is very easy with our limited regional geography and great connectivity in the transportation network. This could result in spread across many jurisdictions and make it more difficult for public health officials to do the necessary testing and tracing to control outbreaks.”

County Board Chair Libby Garvey said to even consider reopening there needs to be more testing and contact tracing, with an ample supply of hospital beds and a sustainable supply of personal safety equipment. Dr. Reuben Varghese, the Arlington County Director of Public Health, warned that’s not the case in Arlington, at least when it comes to testing.

“We don’t have as much testing nationwide, Virginia-wide, or Arlington-wide as [we need],” Varghese said. “The supply chain has to be grown. Every day the capacity increases but we’re not to where we would like to have testing.”

Varghese said even if there is some reopening, Arlington is still a long way from being safe to go out in public without a mask.

“Ultimately we will have to have a vaccine to get away from physical distancing and face-covering recommendations,” Varghese said.

Meanwhile, Dorsey said that Arlington County officials have been discussing the possibility of a mask mandate.

“That is actively under consideration and looking at the best ways to pursue that,” Dorsey said. “For some people, until it comes with government mandate they’re not going to do it. But also we have to be mindful once something is mandated we have to have a way to enforce it.”

This is complicated by Virginia’s status as a Dillon Rule state, meaning that localities can only exercise powers directly granted to them by the state.

Also on Friday, during an interview on the Kojo Nnamdi show, County Board member Katie Cristol acknowledged the Dillon Rule as making a mask ordinance potentially difficult to accomplish, legally. Cristol said it makes more sense to focus on making masks available rather than making them a requirement.

“I think everything is a little bit of a legal question for us. You all are no strangers to the fact that we operate in a different context, those localities in Virginia, than those might do in a home rule state like Maryland,” she said. “When things are under an emergency, you know, our legal authorities may be a little different. We’ve really been making our county attorney’s office earn their keep during this pandemic by constantly returning to the statute and figuring out what we might have authority to do and what we might not.”

As we previously reported, Cristol said Arlington has ordered a large supply of masks to distribute across the county.

“I think, in general, you know, when we’ve made decisions, we’ve tried to do so on the basis of what seems to be the right thing to do from a public health and enforcement perspective,” Cristol continued. “And so I think with things like masks, for example, we’ve weighed this one quite a bit. It’s a really live question, and we generally landed on the approach that it makes more sense to make masks available and distribute those to whomever needs them.”

As with masks, Assistant County Manager James Schwartz said the goal of Arlington police is to gain voluntary compliance with the state’s emergency social distancing rules and the county’s park closures, as opposed to making arrests or writing citations.

“We are encouraging people [to adhere to restrictions] and I would call it soft enforcement,” Schwartz said. “We’re not in a position to be citing people the way we might for a traffic violation. We’re encouraging people to follow good practices and not have the heavy hand of government-imposed here.”

Staff photo by Jay Westcott

Walk-In COVID-19 Clinic to Open on Columbia Pike Tomorrow

By Vernon Miles

Arlington County is planning to open a walk-up COVID-19 testing site tomorrow at the Arlington Mill Community Center (909 S. Dinwiddie Street).

The sample collection site is part of a partnership between Arlington County, the Arlington Free Clinic and the Virginia Hospital Center. The center is scheduled to open tomorrow (Tuesday) and will be open every weekday between 1-5 p.m.

Patients are required to obtain a clinician referral and then call 703-558-5766 to schedule an appointment. Appointments must be made before visiting the site.

Residents without health insurance can still access testing by calling the appointment number. A press release said VHC clinicians will screen for symptoms over the phone and provide a follow-up referral to the Arlington Free Clinic if needed. Proof of identification, but not necessarily a U.S. government ID, is required.

Nancy White, executive director of the Arlington Free Clinic, said in a press release that the walk-up testing site is part of the organization’s commitment to helping low-income, uninsured Arlington residents.

“This is an exciting effort to create a more equitable testing model for everyone who needs it,” she said.

“Arlington is committed to assuring everyone in our community has access to the testing they need during this pandemic,” said Dr. Reuben Varghese, Arlington Public Health Director. “This is an important partnership that will help our more vulnerable or low-income groups who do not have access to cars to walk up and get tested.”

The prospect of a walk-in testing center had been discussed by county officials earlier this month. County Board member Katie Cristol said at the time that people would still be able to drive to the location, but the goal was to offer an alternative to the county’s drive-thru testing centers for those without access to a car.

Courtesy photo @TheBeltWalk

Local Oil Change Startup Looking For Mechanics to Help Bounce Back from COVID-19

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).

With on-demand services businesses finding new customers during the pandemic, local startup Mechaniku is hunting for local car mechanics and willing to pay to get new mechanics trained, if necessary.

Mechaniku is a Columbia Pike-based startup built around the idea of bringing oil changes and other essential car services out of the shop and to people’s houses.

“I need to hire more mechanics,” co-founder Jesse Tyler said. “We’ve got two right now, I need more. We have a guy in Maryland and a guy in Virginia. We were in the process of hiring more mechanics, then all of this happened.”

Tyler said coronavirus has actually halted some of the progress that was being made on building the service, given the reduction in driving, but he’s able to carry on by running the company lean — and by having another source of income.

“We were able to step back a little and put things on hold,” Tyler said. “We don’t carry a lot of debt, we’ve built as we’ve grown.”

Tyler said he’s also been reevaluating the pricing model, which is currently $100 for an at-home oil change. With most oil changes averaging $50, it’s a little pricey, but Tyler said he has to balance the company revenue with paying the mechanics fairly.

“We need to figure out how to get more people interested,” Tyler said. “We might reexamine our pricing model. We may cut it from $100 to maybe $80.”

Tyler said he is hoping Mechaniku can be poised to take advantage of the end of the pandemic, when people start driving more but are still a bit wary to take their cars to a bricks-and-mortar garage for an oil change.

“Coronavirus has slowed everything to a halt, but we expect it will pick back up,” Tyler said, noting that he’s able to serve people needing an oil change immediately but said demand has been low.

Those interested in applying for a mechanic position should email Tyler at jesse@mechaniku or call him at (202) 880-2430.

“Obviously, more experience the better, but I’ll pay for people to get trained and certified,” Tyler said. “You just need to be able to pass a background check and have a vehicle to drive.”

Image via Mechaniku

Crystal City BID Bringing Artwork to Local Storefronts

By Vernon Miles
1/7

The Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID) is working to enliven some of the local storefronts during the pandemic.

A new art initiative called #LoveNationalLanding is adding a little color to some of the local businesses across Pentagon City, Crystal City and Potomac Yard, an area that was collectively branded as “National Landing” when Amazon announced its move into the area. The Crystal City BID was also recently approved for a name change and boundary expansion to encompass the entire area.

“The initiative kicked off with the unveiling of an array of vibrant artwork featuring sunbursts, blooming flowers, and oversized hearts emboldened with encouraging messages across several storefronts in National Landing,” the BID said in a press release. “Drawing inspiration from Andy Shallal’s #PaintTheStorefronts program, and neighborhoods across the country that have utilized art to beautify the public realm during the COVID-19 crisis, the BID worked with curator Tom Pipkin to select a lineup of local artists who were then tasked with creating facade designs that would serve as a source of community-wide inspiration.”

Chosen artists include:

The BID said local storefronts that are getting the artwork include Commonwealth Joe, Enjera, Freddie’s Beach Bar, Jaleo, and Los Tios, with more storefronts planned. A video, below, shows one of the murals being created at the Vintage Dress Company on 23rd Street S.

“We are thrilled to introduce our #LoveNationalLanding campaign and couldn’t think of a better way to launch this initiative than the painted storefront campaign, which conveys our unwavering support for our small businesses and the vital role that public art plays in our community,” said Tracy Sayegh Gabriel, Crystal City BID president and executive director, in the press release.  “As this initiative advances over the course of the month, residents, workers and visitors can expect to encounter additional bursts of color and messages of encouragement throughout the National Landing area.”

Another muralist team, Brocoloco, has also been enlisted to create vinyl wraps for welcomes boxes and 100 street decals with messages placed around Crystal City.

Photos via Crystal City BID/Facebook

Lee Highway Pharmacy Homebrewing Hand Sanitizer and Buying Kabobs for the Hospital

By Vernon Miles
1/3

An Arlington pharmacy and a neighboring kabob restaurant have partnered to help feed hospital workers.

Preston’s Pharmacy (5101 Lee Highway) sits directly across the street from Arlington Kabob (5046 Lee Highway). While business during the pandemic has been active at Preston’s, an essential business, pharmacy owner Frank Odeh said he could tell it’s been hard on Arlington Kabob.

“They’re a small business struggling during COVID-19,” Odeh said. “We decided to work with them. They would supply the food, we’re trying to give them some business and exposure. The owner, Susan, is an entrepreneur and a hard worker. We’re working with them and working with [Virginia Hospital Center] every week, picking a different department. Last week it was the ICU, next week it’s the emergency department.”

Odeh said that while the pharmacy is paying for the food to help keep Arlington Kabob in business, the kabob restaurant has been giving them a significant discount.

Preston’s Pharmacy has remained open, but Odeh admitted that business is still slower than it normally is.

“Business is down, although we’re fortunate not having to lay off or furlough any employees,” Odeh said. “It’s down, but because we’re a pharmacy, people still need chronic medication. People like those who are HIV positive, or diabetics, still need their medicine.”

Odeh said the decline has been in acute business, like treatment for smaller issues that Odeh said are likely overlooked during the pandemic, with many doctor’s offices closed down, social distancing cutting down on colds and flu, and hospitals focused on COVID-19.

Hand sanitizer, on the other hand, has been flying off the shelves so quickly that Preston’s Pharmacy has started making their own.

“We have a lab in the pharmacy and we’re able to produce hand sanitizer,” Odeh said. “We’re selling that and donating a portion of that [to local senior centers].”

Odeh said the mixture is 70% alcohol, which they buy in bulk from different vendors and can be hard to come by, mixed with methocel to give it a thickness.

“It’s relatively new for us,” Odeh said. “In the past, we haven’t needed to because it’s been available from manufacturers like Purell, but because of COVID-19 it has become in very short supply. We’ve ordered bottles and labels. It looks like a professionally made product.”

Odeh said the state board, CDC and FDA have all given them the green light to compound in bulk, a process that’s been fast-tracked due to COVID-19.

The other big seller, Odeh said, has been vitamins.

“[We] sold out on things like Vitamin C and elderberry,” Odeh said. “Vitamin sales have gone through the room. Vitamin D, C and elderberry have immune-boosting properties. People are following trends. There was a study recently about using Pepcid and ulcer medication [to fight coronavirus] and we sold out of that.”

To keep customers and employees safe, Odeh said everyone in the store wears masks and there are plexiglass shields at the registers. Customers are routed through the pharmacy along arrows on the floor and asked to stay six feet apart.

Photos courtesy Preston’s Pharmacy

Coronavirus Closes Saffron Dance Studio Near Clarendon

By Vernon Miles

The show has ended Saffron Dance, a belly dance studio at 3260 Wilson Blvd in the Clarendon area, at least for now.

Founder and owner Saphira the studio said in an email that it would be going “on a hiatus” at the end of its current semester. After the last classes on June 7, Saphira said the studio’s leadership will take the summer months to consider their future.

In April, Saffron Dance closed the dance studio it operated from since 2007.

We've come to the end of a chapter. Join us on Facebook Live in a few minutes at 5pm EST to bid farewell to our beloved dance home of 13 years.

Posted by Saffron Dance on Wednesday, April 15, 2020

“When you become your own ally and your own best resource, it’s really hard for life to beat you down,” Saphira said. “I am so incredibly proud of the fight we’ve put up against COVID-19. Our staff, faculty, and students have barely skipped a beat during this major disruption to our lives.”

Saphira said she and the others running Saffron Dance did everything they could to to keep going, but it wasn’t enough.

Here are just some of the things we’ve done in the past few weeks to defend our community:

  • We applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance. Like so many businesses, we’ve heard nothing in reply.
  • As independent contractors, our staff has applied for relief under the Paycheck Protection Program. Again, they’ve heard nothing in reply.
  • We’re waiting for applications for the Arlington Small Business Emergency GRANT Program to go live, so we can pursue that avenue as well.
  • In sum, we’ve done everything we can and have been frustrated at every turn.

Several members of the core staff are planning to move on to different careers, according to the email, from farming to interior design. Several said that the last few weeks of managing dance classes remotely were some of the most stressful times of their life.

“That weekend was one of the most difficult 48 hours of my life,” said Jenna Shear, artistic director of the program. “It was the start of a new semester. I had new staff to onboard, and I had no idea how I was going to pull the whole thing off.”

Shear said it was the support and encouragement of her students in the program who helped get her through the stress of the pandemic, but afterward, she’s ready to step down as artistic director and step away from teaching.

“Since COVID-19 reared its ugly head, I have had lots of time to think about what Saffron means to me,” said Linda, the Saffron Dance studio manager. “Obviously, it has brought me the joy of dance. It has exposed me to a group of women that I couldn’t imagine my life without. It has taught me a lot about who I am and what I am capable of in a professional capacity. Most of all, when I think about what Saffron has done for me, I keep coming back to the idea that Saffron has allowed me to be me.”

Photo via Saffron Dance/Facebook

Local Running Store Donates Shoes to Virginia Hospital Center

By Vernon Miles
1/3

Two local running stores and a Swiss shoe company have come together to donate shoes to local frontline workers and regional organizations.

Regional running retailer Pacers announced today (Wednesday) that it is partnering with competitor Potomac River Running Store and Switzerland-based ON Shoes to donate 5,000 shoes to those working during the pandemic, including dozens donated to the Virginia Hospital Center (VHC).

Pacers and Potomac River Running Store will be in charge of identifying and distributing the shoes to individuals or groups impacted by the pandemic. Each store will receive 2,500 shoes of various sizes and types.

Pacers delivered a batch to VHC earlier today.

“This morning, we delivered 150 pairs of shoes to health care workers at Virginia Hospital Center,” said Kathy Dalby, CEO of Pacers. “We will be delivering another 100+ pairs to Arlington Police and Sheriff’s offices tomorrow. We also delivered 100 pairs to our friends at Neighborhood Restaurant Group to distribute to their staff and several dozen pairs are headed to youth clubs we work with in Kenilworth Park.”

Potomac River Running is making similar donations.

“Once the stores assessed their inventory lots, Pacers and Potomac River Running collectively worked together to identify a list of organizations who would benefit from the footwear donation that have either been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and/or need to continue to stay active during this crisis and need resources to do so,” noted a press release. “Organizations and individuals range from fire and rescue, nurses, restaurant workers, local delivery personnel, grocery store workers, veterinary hospitals, and community centers.”

Dalby said Pacers, which has been adapting to the pandemic by shifting its focus to online ordering and virtual fittings conducted online via video chat, could use some public help in finding more people on the front lines in need of new shoes.

“We know there is great need beyond our networks,” Dalby said. “We are asking for help in identifying people or organizations who could use a pair of shoes to help get them moving or simply make their feet hurt a little less. Please follow and tag us on Instagram and tag groups or people who could help us spread the word or benefit from this program… or [contact] [email protected].”

Photos courtesy Pacers

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