News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Peak Heat, Statistically Speaking — “Based on history, we are now at the hottest point of the summer. While it can still be brutally hot in the weeks ahead (and probably will be at times), we are about to begin our gradual descent into winter, using average temps.” [Capital Weather Gang, Twitter]

Arlington Home Prices Keep Rising — “A total of 369 properties went to closing last month, up 62 percent from 228 in June 2020… The average price of single-family homes in the county was $1,217,376 last month, up 9.8 percent from $1,109,179.” [Sun Gazette]

Protected Bikes Lanes for HQ2? — “Amazon.com Inc.’s newest PenPlace design would add protected bike lanes along a key roadway adjacent to the 11.6-acre campus and a new bike share station near the planned ‘Helix’ tower. During Arlington’s Long Range Planning Committee’s virtual meeting Tuesday, Amazon’s HQ2 landscape architect Scape presented its revised vision for the site’s 2.1 acres of open space and transportation networks.” [Washington Business Journal]

Woman Finds Bullet Hole in Window — “3900 block of Columbia Pike. At approximately 6:09 a.m. on July 13, police were dispatched to the report of suspicious circumstances. Upon arrival, it was determined that the victim was awoken at approximately 10:00 p.m. on July 12 to a loud pop sound. The following morning, she discovered a bullet hole in her window.” [ACPD]

Affordable Apartments Set for Renovation — “Arlington County is backing away from plans to buy part of the Park Shirlington apartment complex in South Arlington as the developers are instead pitching a full renovation of the affordable community. The county is set to deliver a $22.7 million loan to power the rehabilitation of all 293 units on the 15.7-acre parcel.” [Washington Business Journal]

Arlington Is a ‘Top Digital County’ — “Arlington County is once again ranked among the top digital counties in the nation. The Center for Digital Government and National Association of Counties has named Arlington to the No. 2 spot for their 2021 awards in the 150,000-249,999 population category.” [Arlington County]

New Record for W-L IB Program — “W-L students surpassed their worldwide peers in diploma pass rate, average score pass rate, and the average points earned by diploma candidates. In addition, the overall pass rate for all W-L students participating in [International Baccalaureate] classes, including Diploma Candidates and Course Candidates, is the highest in the 25-year history of IB at W-L at 92.6%.” [Arlington Public Schools]

‘Arlington Tech’ Students Earn Degree — “Seven Arlington Tech Class of 2021 graduates are the first APS students to earn Associates Degrees by taking courses offered through both Arlington Tech and the Career Center.” [Arlington Public Schools]

Arlington PTA Leaders Consider Ways to Distribute Funding More Equitably

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington PTA budgets for the 2018-19 school year, by region (by Hannah Foley)

Parent-Teacher Associations are how students get new spirit wear or go ice skating with their class. They host staff luncheons during Teacher Appreciation Week and help to pay for classroom supplies.

These independent organizations play a pivotal role in the kinds of enrichment opportunities to which students, primarily elementary schoolers, and teachers in Arlington Public Schools have access.

And a PTA’s ability — or lack thereof — to pay for these activities varies dramatically by zip code. Some PTA leaders tell ARLnow that they know the money their organizations raise can exacerbate existing inequities among Arlington’s schools, and are trying to raise awareness and effect change.

“We already have schools that are unequal and on top of that — like really thick icing on a cake — it’s making disparities bigger,” said Emily Vincent, a member of the Arlington County Council of PTAs.

ARLnow requested and obtained copies of the 2018-19 budgets from a sampling of elementary school PTAs in northern, central and southern portions of Arlington. Individual PTA revenues ranged from $30,000 in South Arlington to more than $125,000 in North Arlington. PTA expenditures ranged from $18,000 to $139,000, a nearly eight-fold differential

While t-shirts and luncheons form the bread-and-butter of PTA expenses, other common expenditures improve the school through new furniture and books, or add to the curriculum with outdoor education and field trips.

Many PTAs did not respond to our requests for comment or for a copy of the budget.

Vincent said she saw similar discrepancies in the 2017-18 school year budgets she collected. PTA revenue at individual schools ranged from $20,000 to $200,000, and as a whole, Arlington PTAs spent $2 million. About 75% of that spending happened north of Route 50, she said.

(Northern Arlington neighborhoods are generally more affluent than those south of Route 50, which have higher poverty rates and lower household income levels.)

The Arlington County Council of PTAs is trying to tackle these entrenched discrepancies among its chapters. For about six years, the council has operated a grant fund: PTAs donate to the program and those who need extra funding apply for a grant. A 2019 report on the fund said most recipient schools use the money to pay for books, furniture and field trips.

But the grant fund can only go so far, especially because the requests are outpacing donations, Vincent said. Establishing a new policy could help address systemic inequities, particularly around PTA purchases that — if they were borne by APS — would result in a fairer distribution of resources, she said.

“We’re hoping for a culture shift,” Vincent said. “I do think a lot more of our PTA leaders understand that their decisions are not limited to their school.”

No school is an island

Over the last decade, outgoing Tuckahoe Elementary School PTA president Allison Glatfelter said APS has transitioned from a federation of schools that operated quasi-independently to a united school system. That transition, she said, revealed the extent to which some PTA budgets support school operations.

It was common for schools to improve their grounds through PTA funding without going through APS, she said. Budgets indicate that some associations have laid down track, installed sun shades or repaved their courtyards. Tuckahoe’s PTA once paid for a pond that the parent organization continues to maintain, she said.

Nowadays, she said wealthier PTAs spend money “on things that are hard to see.”

The budgets ARLnow reviewed indicated large expenses such as teacher training or, in the case of Jamestown Elementary in the 2015-16 school year, a dedicated horticulturalist.

PTAs get funding from donations and membership dues, but the bulk comes from fundraisers: from “no frills” fundraisers to auctions to restaurant nights in which a local eatery donates a percentage of sales.

According to the budgets that ARLnow obtained, the wealthier PTAs in north and central Arlington set aside tens of thousands of dollars for educational opportunities and capital improvements. Not all of that money gets spent, meaning the same schools have reserves exceeding $100,000.

Tuckahoe, for its part, is trying to change its relationship to fundraising and maintaining reserves, Glatfelter said.

“We definitely pared down fundraising. We don’t need the extra things that we were spending money on. Our kids don’t need extra field trips to places to which we can take them on weekends,” she said. “None of our schools should have giant budgets because we are an excellent school system with a lot of money.”

Vincent said she is not sure APS understands how much PTAs can contribute to school budgets. A policy that caps fundraising or redistributes donated furniture could equalize student experiences and ensure administrators keep tabs on school budgets that rely heavily on their PTA, she said.

(more…)

Demolition Starting at Landmark Block in Courthouse

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

The “revolution” in urban living set to take place in the Landmark Block in Courthouse is currently being fomented.

Residents who pass the site near the Courthouse Metro station can see preparations underway to tear down some of the low-slung retail buildings along the 2000 block of Wilson Blvd.

Demolition work is starting on the site’s aging brick retail buildings, as Bisnow reported earlier this week. John Clarkson, the managing director Greystar Real Estate Partners, told the site that work began last week, and the developer aims to deliver a 20-story apartment building by the third quarter of 2023.

The Landmark Block site is one of two projects — the other is a 220-unit building on the vacant Wendy’s lot — that Greystar is overseeing in Courthouse. Clarkson said the developer is focused on this neighborhood because it has the demographics, schools and walkability that make Clarendon attractive but less of the growth.

“We really want to establish a sense of place,” Clarkson tells Bisnow. “With some real density, some real scale it will feel like we have filled in that hole in the doughnut between Rosslyn and Clarendon, so we’re very excited about [the] upside of that submarket.”

Seven commercial buildings on the Landmark Block site will be demolished, including the former Summers Restaurant. The façades of the First Federal Savings and Loan Building (2050 Wilson Blvd) and the Investment Building (2049 15th Street N.) will be preserved, according to the county. The buildings, constructed in 1946 and 1948 respectively, are identified as “important” on the county’s Historic Resources Inventory.

The County Board approved the project at 2050 Wilson Blvd, featuring 423 apartment units, ground-floor retail and an underground parking garage, back in March. For proponents, the building and accompanying community benefits will make Courthouse Square “the civic and cultural heart of Arlington,” and will be “where the revolution begins,” as phrased in a county planning document.

One of the features the county said will usher in changes for Courthouse is a pedestrian promenade.

“The promenade was one of the addendum’s top recommendations for the area around Landmark Block,” the county said in March. “The N. Uhle Street promenade…will be lined with trees, and offer retail shops and plenty of space for community gatherings.”

Greystar will provide a portion of the Courthouse Square promenade that is envisioned in the Courthouse Square Addendum to the Courthouse Sector Plan. The full promenade would run between Wilson Blvd and 14th Street N. along N. Uhle Street.

An architect’s rendering of the pedestrian promenade on N. Uhle Street (Image via Arlington County)

The county said the promenade will be “the main gateway from Clarendon Boulevard into Courthouse Square.”

Meanwhile, the long-vacant Wendy’s site will no longer look on while other sites are developed around it. Greystar’s plans for the triangular site at 2025 Clarendon Blvd are going through entitlements, Clarkson tells Bisnow.

The developer expects to break ground on the 220-unit building by the second quarter of 2022. For the last two years, construction crews have used it as a staging area while building a condo project across the street at 2000 Clarendon.

The old Wendy’s site has sat vacant since it was demolished in 2016 for an office building that never came. Greystar acquired the property from Carr Properties in January, according to real estate firm JLL.

Construction Underway in Ballston to Turn Vacant Restaurant Into Spa

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

A commercial building that looks like a house, but was once a restaurant, is under construction in Ballston.

Owner Arash Hosseinzadeh tells ARLnow the former Sichuan Wok building at 901 N. Quincy Street, which is nestled among large apartment and office towers, will “be converted to a day spa with many great services to offer.”

After the restaurant closed in 2018, the building at 901 N. Quincy Street went on the market in the fall of 2019 for an asking price of $3.2 million. By October 2020, the building was sold for $3 million.

As for a construction timeline, Hosseinzadeh said it all depends on whether back-ordered construction materials, weather and county approval processes cause delays.

“Hopefully, we can have our grand opening for December, [but] this is very approximate,” he said.

Permits suggest that the construction will involve building some sort of an addition.

Arlington Launches New Timeline of County’s Racial History

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

A new timeline from Arlington County tracks how local policy decisions in the 20th Century disadvantaged people of color, particularly Black residents.

The county has released two timelines, spanning 1930-45 and 1946-60, which recount how policies and projects — touching on housing, education, transportation, planning and infrastructure — segregated Arlington. It also chronicles how Black residents responded by investing in their communities, getting into local government, protesting and going to the courts.

“This timeline will allow us to take inventory of who we are, where we have been, and how we are growing and evolving as we normalize, organize and operationalize racial equity,” said Arlington’s Chief Race and Equity Officer Samia Byrd. “It will help ground us in facts, communicate the importance of why we lead with race in addressing systemic inequities as a government, and remind our community that racism is real and why it matters.”

Once complete, the historical resource will span from the early 1600s to present day. For now, here are some of the important events that the county included from 1930-45:

  • 1930s: The Hall’s Hill “Segregation Wall,” separating the majority-white neighborhood of Woodlawn and the majority-Black neighborhood, goes up.
  • 1931-32: Route 50 is built and the streetcars between Washington D.C. and Mount Vernon are shut down, cementing the county’s racial divides.
  • 1932: Hoffman-Boston Junior High School opened and would later become a high school. Up until this point, Black students’ education ended after primary school.
  • 1932: After switching from an appointed County Board to an elected one, Dr. Edward T. Morton, the county’s first Black physician, became one of the first Black Arlingtonians to run for office. (It took 55 years for a Black candidate to win a County Board election.)
  • 1940s: Pentagon construction displaced 225 African-American families, or 810 people. They were relocated to two trailer camps near Columbia Pike and in Green Valley.
  • 1943: Without public transit, and with lower rates of car ownership, Black residents founded Friendly Cab in Green Valley and Crown Cab in Hall’s Hill to connect their communities to the region.

While Arlington recently honored the story of four students who desegregated Stratford Junior High School in 1959, the road to desegregating schools, mired in lawsuits and bureaucracy, began more than a decade prior and continued after their first day.

From 1946-60, here are some significant moments related to the struggle for an equal, integrated Arlington:

  • 1946: D.C. ruled that Arlington students attending D.C. schools would have to pay tuition. Many Black Arlingtonians sent their kids to D.C. schools because they had more resources than the county’s segregated public schools.
  • 1947: Constance Carter sued the Arlington School Board because facilities at the all-Black Hoffman-Boston High School were unequal to those at the all-white Washington-Lee High School.
  • 1950: A federal judge reversed the district court’s ruling in favor of the School Board. The county was forced to invest in segregated Black schools and Black teachers were given the same salary as white instructors.
  • 1951: Fire Station 8, the all Black-volunteer fire station that served Black communities, received its first county-paid firefighter — 10 years after the other stations.
  • 1953: The Veteran’s Memorial YMCA pool opened, serving “non-white” residents barred from other county facilities. The county opened its first integrated community center at Lubber Run Park in 1956.
  • 1960: A sit-in at the People’s Drug Store in Cherrydale protesting segregated lunch counters kicked off a month of sit-ins. Woolworth’s store in Shirlington was the first to announce it was desegregating; 21 lunch counters followed suit.

The county will host a discussion next Wednesday (July 21) via Facebook Live at 7 p.m. called “Race Matters: Anticipating our Future, Examining our Past.”

County Looks to Sprinkle Small Seating Spots in Urban Areas

By Jo DeVoe

A small splash of green space in Rosslyn may become the prototype for similar installations, or “parklets,” across the county.

In 2018, Arlington County and the Rosslyn Business Improvement District unveiled this parklet, about the size of two parking spaces, on the northwest corner of N. Oak Street and Wilson Blvd. The county and the BID, which maintains the seating spot, installed it as an experiment to see if parklets could be a new tool for adding open space to urban areas.

After observing how people used the mini-park, the county has prepared a formal process for adding more micro oases to help compensate for the county’s dwindling supply of available land for open spaces. The County Board is slated to review the “parklet program” this Saturday.

“Parklets are publicly accessible to all and serve as extensions of the sidewalk by converting curbside parking spaces into vibrant public spaces,” according to a staff report. “Parklets are social platforms for the community and are often developed through a partnership with the county, local businesses and neighborhood organizations.”

When the prototype was installed, then-Board Chair Katie Cristol said she expected to see a plan for adding more parklets included in an update to the Public Spaces Master Plan. The update, approved in 2019, recommends the creation of a “parklet program.”

“Despite their size and atypical location, parklets can contribute to the public space network and overall sidewalk experience by providing places to sit, relax, or socialize,” the report said. “Future installations of parklets can increase social activity and enhance the pedestrian experience in the urban corridors throughout the county.”

The county would lose money on these micro-parks. Each parklet removes two parking meters, which together generate about $6,150 per year, staff estimate.

The county has found a new source of revenue, however. A new parklet application would cost $2,100 and annual renewals, $500. These fees are intended to cover the time required to review these applications, and not to recoup parking revenue, the report said.

A number of county commissions have weighed in on the program, according to the report.

Responses were “[overwhelmingly] favorable, with comments favoring the potential for an increase in outdoor public spaces, especially in Arlington’s commercial and urban centers where public space is limited,” it said.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Metro Resuming Midnight Service — “Metro will expand train service to midnight, seven days a week starting Sunday, July 18. The extended operating hours are the first in a package of service improvements passed by Metro’s Board of Directors in June that will add more all-day rail service, create high-frequency bus routes and improve service across the region.” [WMATA]

New Leader for Signature Theatre — “Signaling the rise of a younger generation of leadership for the American musical stage, Signature Theatre announced Tuesday that it has chosen Matthew Gardiner, the company’s second-in-command, as its new artistic director after a year-long, nationwide search. At 37, Gardiner — who has directed or choreographed more than 30 productions for the company — becomes the youngest head of a front-line Washington-area theater.” [Washington Post]

Dems to Hand-Deliver Annual Newsletter — “Party leaders are gearing up to hand-deliver 50,000 to 60,000 copies of the ‘Democratic Messenger,’ the party’s annual get-out-the-vote newsletter, to homes across Arlington in mid-September. It’s done the old-fashioned way – hand-delivery – and ‘we’re going to need roughly 600 volunteers,’ said Carol Fontein, who heads precinct operations.” [Sun Gazette]

Dominion Hills Swim, Dive Teams to Retire ‘Warriors’ Name

By Jo DeVoe
Swim meet at the Dominion Hills pool in 2013 (photo courtesy Dennis Dimick)

The swim and dive teams at the Dominion Hills Pool are ditching the “Warriors” team name and moving away from Native American motifs.

The Dominion Hills Area Recreation Association Board of Directors started soliciting suggestions from swimmers, divers, coaches and families on Friday, according to an email to team families, shared with ARLnow.

“We decided to stop using Native American imagery at our pool and the name ‘Warriors’ for our swim and dive teams,” the board tells ARLnow in a statement. “While the name ‘Warriors’ has several meanings and by itself is unobjectionable, the teams have used it in connection with Native American themes. The Board decided to solicit ideas from the members for a new name and mascot.”

It started de-emphasizing the use of the name this season, according to an email to team families. The pool’s board is open to a name that would permit members to use existing gear, which bears a feather illustration.

“We recognize that there may be some disappointment as we make this transition but we are excited to select a new team name and mascot,” the email said. “Team names that would be appropriate to use with a feather mascot have the added practical benefit of allowing us to continue using the feather on existing team gear.”

A committee of team representatives and board members will review the submissions and recommend a new name to the full board, which aims to announce the new name at a banquet on Saturday, July 24, according to the email.

The Washington Football Team — which nixed its former name one year ago — is making a similar play as it narrows down options for a new name and logo, to be chosen early next year.

“Feedback from across communities we engaged clearly revealed deep-seated discomfort around Warriors, with the clear acknowledgment that it too closely aligns with Native American themes,” WFT president Jason Wright explained in a blog post.

TSA Has Caught Three Guns and a Knife So Far Today at DCA

By ARLnow.com
TSA officers caught a Florida man with this loaded gun, ammunition and tactical knife in his carry-on bag on Wednesday, July 14. It was the second of three guns caught at the checkpoint as of Wednesday afternoon. (photo courtesy TSA)

Security at National Airport has caught three guns at checkpoints so far today and it’s only mid-afternoon.

Among the three people caught trying to illegally bring weapons on to a plane today, according to the Transportation Security Administration, was a Florida man who packed a handgun, five dozen bullets, and a tactical knife.

The TSA says firearms caught at DCA checkpoints for 2021 have now surpassed those for all of 2019.

More from a press release, below.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) caught three handguns at the airport checkpoints today, the 15th, 16th and 17th guns caught so far this year, surpassing the number of guns caught in 2019, prior to the pandemic when significantly more people were traveling through the airport. The incidents were not related.

“It looks like there is an epidemic of guns showing up at our airport,” said Scott T. Johnson, TSA Federal Security Director for Reagan National Airport. “Here at DCA we are still experiencing notably lower checkpoint volumes compared to 2019, while we are seeing an increase in the number people bringing their guns to the checkpoints. Let me be crystal clear, TSA does not permit guns, ammunition or gun parts to be carried through our security checkpoints and if you bring a gun, loaded or not, you will face a stiff federal financial penalty in addition to any possible law enforcement criminal charges. Even if you have a permit to carry a gun, it cannot be brought into the cabin of a plane.”

Johnson pointed out that passengers can travel with their firearms if they pack them unloaded in a hard-sided locked case and declare them with their airline to ensure the guns are transported in the belly of the plane so that nobody has access to them during the flight.

On Wednesday morning, TSA officers caught a Fredericksburg, Virginia, woman with a .380 caliber handgun and a gun magazine loaded with five bullets in her carry-on bag. Shortly afterward, a Florida man was stopped with a 9mm handgun loaded with 15 bullets plus two additional gun magazines with 45 bullets and a tactical knife in his carry-on bag. Then, this afternoon, a Wisconsin man was prevented from carrying his 9mm handgun loaded with five bullets, including one in the chamber, from getting through the security checkpoint.

Each traveler was cited by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police, who confiscated the weapons. In addition, all three individuals face a federal financial civil penalty for bringing a gun to an airport security checkpoint.

(more…)

APS Relocates Alternative High School in Clarendon to Lee Highway

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

Two Arlington Public Schools programs offering alternatives to traditional high school will soon be housed in the same building.

New Directions Alternative Program, currently located in the Thurgood Marshall Building in Clarendon, will join the Langston High School Continuation Program located in the Langston-Brown Community Center along Lee Highway before the start of the 2021-22 school year.

“We are moving New Directions from the Marshall Building to Langston this summer,” said APS spokesman Frank Bellavia. “This is an efficiency for us since many New Directions staff work at Langston.”

New Directions helps students who have trouble in traditional school settings, need strict monitoring or are under court supervision, according to APS. Students successfully exit the program by graduating, returning to their home high school or transferring to the High School Continuation Program at Langston.

One person who contacted ARLnow questioned whether the new location will be a downgrade for students.

“The program diligently serves justice-involved youth, teaching them to reconnect with the Arlington community while achieving their high school diplomas,” the person wrote. “The location has always been important to their success through partnerships with multiple establishments in Clarendon.”

The building at 2847 Wilson Blvd is privately owned and rented to APS. It also houses the Employee Assistance Program, which provides free, confidential, professional assistance and counseling to APS and county employees and their families.

“EAP will remain in there for a little while longer,” Bellavia said.

Arlington County has a little under four years left on its eight-year lease, said realtor Bill Buck, who has already started marketing the space to potential renters on behalf of Steve Woodell, the owner.

Woodell, who runs a funeral home in Alexandria, has owned the building since 1979, when it was Ives Funeral Home. APS moved in about 21 years ago, he said.

Buck said Langston “is a better facility for the students” and he is happy for the students moving buildings.

“[EAP] will likely also leave before the end of the term,” Buck said. “What’s going to happen in the future, I don’t know. We have had interest from people that wanted to build an office building there, but the county would like to see retail on the first floor.”

Buck said he would like to see the space turned into a 100,000-square foot affordable housing building — not an office or retail space that would contribute to the glut of such amenities in Clarendon.

“I think it’d be great for affordable housing,” Buck said.

Clarendon Day Cancelled Again This Year

By ARLnow.com

Organizers have pulled the plug on this year’s planned Clarendon Day celebration.

For the second year in the row, one of Arlington’s biggest street festivals will not be happening. The Clarendon Alliance, which organizes the fall event, made the announcement yesterday.

We regret to inform the community that we have canceled Clarendon Day for 2021.

A compressed production timeline, increased costs, staffing changes, and the ongoing concern of Covid-19 and the delta variant make the viability of an event at this scale too risky.

Watch for more great programming on a smaller scale. We all continue to bring our community together and celebrate all that Clarendon has to offer!

The event is expected to return in the fall of 2022.

More than 1,000 people had already said on Facebook that they planned to attend Clarendon Day, which was scheduled for Sept. 25. It would have featured “several music stages, a large kid’s area, arts and crafts vendors, business and nonprofit exhibitors from Clarendon and the region, plenty of great food from local and regional restaurants, craft beers and Virginia wines, and more.”

Coronavirus cases have started rising both locally and nationally, though numbers remain relatively low in Arlington.

Other outdoor community events, like the Bands & Brews on the Boulevard event in Ballston next weekend, are still on at last check.

Hat tip to @clarendonnights

View More Stories