News

A Man Is Filming Children Wearing Masks and Accusing Parents of ‘Child Abuse’

By ARLnow.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUIFx3ibZeY

(Updated at 9:30 p.m.) A man filmed children wearing masks at a local playground while accusing their parents of “child abuse.”

The encounter happened on Tuesday at the Rocky Run Park playground near Courthouse. It was caught on video by one of the parents.

“Look at these kids — child abuse, child abuse, suffocation, suffocation,” the man says while filming the playground with his smartphone, after claiming that he runs “a very popular YouTube channel.”

“You understand that most people are vaccinated right now?” the man says to the woman filming him. “Why are these kids in masks outside? You understand how harmful that is to their mental welfare?”

“Leave me alone, you’re stressing my baby,” the woman responds.

The idea that having kids wear masks during the pandemic is a form of abuse was popularized by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

“Your response when you see children wearing masks when they play should be no different from your response to seeing someone beat a kid at Walmart,” the host told viewers in April.

So far, only children ages 12 and up are eligible for vaccinations. While children can be infected and get sick from COVID-19, deaths have been relatively uncommon — 300 reported Covid-related fatalities among those under the age of 18 during the course of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The husband of one of the moms at the park who was harassed says police were called but the man had already left when they arrived.

“The person who took the video is our friend,” he tells ARLnow. “All our children have been playing together since the pandemic and all wear masks, even though we the adults are fully vaccinated. This guy approached my wife and her friends when the kids got back to sip water.”

“He start yelling at them, that they were doing ‘child abuse’ for ‘forcing’ our kids to wear masks, and saying all that conspiracy theory speech,” the husband continued. “He start filming our kids, and yelling… and as you can see in the video all children start running away from him. My wife call me and also called the police. Police arrived but he was already gone.”

“He was riding one of those electric skateboards and took off,” the husband added. “Cops were not too concerned said filming kids is not illegal, but advice not to confront him. Another friend said same guy harassed her with his two children by Courthouse Plaza, and someone in Nextdoor said she was approached by the same guy near Whole Foods Clarendon.”

The incident outside the Clarendon Whole Foods took place last week, according to a post on Twitter. The man reportedly called a woman a “child abuser” in front of her mask-wearing child.

Reached for comment about the park incident, the Arlington County Police Department said the man’s actions did not amount to a crime.

“At approximately 5:17 p.m. on May 25, police were dispatched to the 1100 block of N. Barton Street for the report of disorderly conduct,” ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow. “Upon arrival, the reporting party advised that a male subject had been yelling and filming children playing inside a park. The subject had left the scene prior to the arrival of police and a search of the area concluded with negative results. The investigation determined no crime had occurred.”

UPDATED: Power Outage Reported in Shirlington and Fairlington

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) Just over 2,000 Dominion customers were without power in Arlington this morning.

Though there are small, scattered outages around the county after last night’s storms, the main outage is affecting the Shirlington, Fairlington and Claremont neighborhoods.

More than 3,500 Dominion customers were also in the dark across the border in Alexandria as a result of the outage. No restoration time was given on the Dominion Energy website.

As of 10:45 a.m., the number of Dominion customers without power in Arlington had dropped to just over 1,000.

An incident involving a county vehicle along S. Walter Reed Drive near Four Mile Run may have contributed to the outage.

“At approximately 9:17 a.m., police were dispatched to S. Four Mile Run Drive and S. Walter Reed Drive for the report of a traffic complaint,” said Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage. “Upon arrival, it was determined that the bucket of an Arlington County Government truck struck wires connected to a utility pole.”

The incident caused the utility pole to topple onto some nearby trees.

Dominion crews are currently working to replace the pole and fix the lines. The crash happened a block away from a power substation.

 

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

‘Flags In’ at Arlington Nat’l Cemetery — “At 2:00pm EST, @USArmyOldGuard will enter @ArlingtonNatl and continue our tradition of placing an American flag at every gravesite throughout our Nation’s most hallowed grounds. Stay tuned for updates as we honor those that have served and sacrificed for our freedom.” [Twitter]

Former Sen. John Warner Dies — “John W. Warner, the five-term U.S. senator from Virginia who helped plan the nation’s 1976 bicentennial celebrations, played a central role in military affairs and gained respect on both sides of the political aisle for his diligence, consensus-building and independence, died May 24 at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 94.” [Washington Post, Gov. Ralph Northam]

StarKist Moving Somewhere in N. Va. — “StarKist Co. plans to close its Pittsburgh headquarters office and relocate to Northern Virginia, the company said this week. Known for its cartoon mascot Charlie the Tuna, StarKist said in a statement that the headquarters in Pittsburgh will close at the end of March 2022… The company did not disclose where in Northern Virginia its new headquarters will be.” [Patch]

Memorial Day Closures — Updated at 8:55 a.m. — “Arlington County Government offices and services are operating on modified schedules for Memorial Day, May 31.” [Arlington County]

County Board Hopefuls Call for Small Business Supports, Budget Audits

By Jo DeVoe

(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) Arlington’s four candidates for the County Board agree that Arlington County should take more steps to support small businesses.

The County Board hopefuls articulated their plans for supporting the business community and encouraging economic development during an Arlington Chamber of Commerce candidate forum last night (Tuesday).

Candidates suggested providing grants, cutting certain taxes and fees, expanding online permit applications, and improving both the county’s regulatory processes and how county staff help businesses navigate them.

The debate was moderated by Alex Koma of the Washington Business Journal, a former ARLnow reporter. Koma also asked candidates about office space vacancies, housing and development.

Citing his “Freedom and Justice Plan,” Democratic challenger Chanda Choun said he would encourage public-private partnerships that fund grants for startups and minority-owned businesses, which often struggle to get loans. He would also eliminate the Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax, which is calculated based on the gross receipts of a business.

“If you’re a small mom and pop, and you generate revenue — not even profit — of $10,000 or more, you have to start paying business license fees,” he said. “It makes no sense.”

Independent candidate and Yorktown Civic Association President Mike Cantwell said the county should eliminate the business tangible tax — which taxes the assessed value of business furniture, machinery, tools and computer equipment — and instead tax specific things like automated checkout machines.

“The business tangible tax takes in approximately 4% of revenue for the entire budget and it is a highly inefficient tax and an administrative burden on small businesses,” he said, adding that “we have a role to play to make sure machines don’t replace humans.”

Perennial independent candidate Audrey Clement supported expanding the Permit Arlington portal, which took some permits process online in 2019 (a dozen others are already slated to go digital through 2022). She said the county needs to keep up its vaccine distribution efforts and review the real estate assessment process.

Democratic incumbent Takis Karantonis called for small business grants; better customer service for people navigating county, state and federal regulations; and — for big businesses — a review of county processes to see if they are efficient.

“We need to create something that will sustain [the smallest, women-owned and Black- and Brown-owned businesses] in the long term,” Karantonis said, adding that continuing a pandemic-era business loan program “would be a signal that we welcome them and are committed to restoring neighborhood retail and retail diversity.”

(more…)

UPDATED: Arlington’s Coronavirus Case Count Is Going Backwards

By ARLnow.com

Arlington hasn’t just seen a drop in new coronavirus cases, it has seen its cumulative number of cases go backwards over the past few days.

On Friday, the Virginia Dept. of Health reported a total of 15,285 cases in Arlington over the course of the pandemic. Today, that same figure was 15,284, for a net negative number of new cases over that time span, according to VDH data.

So what’s going on?

“This is a routine part of data cleanup in cases that were deemed probable, but ended up not being a confirmed case,” explained Arlington County spokeswoman Jessica Baxter. “These cases are subtracted in the data.”

A net of only five new cases have been reported in Arlington over the past seven days — the lowest point since March 15, 2020, at the very outset of the pandemic.

The last time a positive total of new daily cases was reported was this past Saturday, May 22. Since then, the daily case totals have been 0, -2, 0 and -3. But that doesn’t tell the whole story: there are, in fact, new cases being reported.

“There have been 10 new cases reported since May 22,” Baxter confirmed this afternoon. That suggests that the actual seven-day rate of new cases is still relatively low but higher than reported: 20.

That is still a fraction of what the case rate in January, when more than 850 cases were reported over the course of just one week. Behind the dramatic drop: a dramatic rise in vaccinations.

As of this past weekend 63% of Arlington residents ages 12+ had received at least one vaccine dose, according to the county, which has a 70% vaccination goal.

Nearly 225,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Arlington as of this morning, according to VDH, while 104,531 people have been fully vaccinated — more than half of Arlington’s population ages 12 and up. Just under 2,000 vaccine doses are still being administered daily, on average.

The local vaccine counts from the state health department exclude those administered by federal agencies like the Dept. of Defense, which means that an even higher percentage of Arlington’s population is vaccinated than is being reported by VDH.

Update at 1:35 p.m. on 5/27/21 — Arlington’s trailing seven-day case total has now gone negative (-2), after another day of past probable cases being removed from the data.

Image (top) via Virginia Dept. of Health

NEW: Authorities Investigating Reports of Dead and Sick Birds Around Arlington, Region

By ARLnow.com
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Birds are dying in large numbers across Arlington and much of the D.C. area, prompting an investigation.

Dead birds have become an eerily common sight along local roads and sidewalks, and a common discussion thread in local Nextdoor groups. The wave of bird deaths this month — which seemingly corresponded with the emergence of Brood X cicadas — has also caught the attention of local and state authorities.

“Beginning on Tuesday, May 18… Animal Control began receiving an increase in the number of calls regarding sick/injured juvenile birds, specifically Grackles and Blue Jays,” wrote Animal Welfare League of Arlington Animal Control Chief Jennifer Toussaint. “Eye issues were reported in what otherwise looked like healthy juvenile birds, causing blindness and the birds to land and stay on the ground. Animal Control is now seeing additional species of birds affected. Other agencies and localities across the region and state are reporting similar issues at this time.”

Arlington County Natural Resources Manager Alonso Abugattas tells ARLnow that the issue “is widespread” across the region and is a hot topic of conversation among local naturalists.

“We have received numerous [reports]… from numerous places outside the county as well,” he said, adding that he is in contact with the state biologist about the matter.

“He is investigating and will examine the birds,” said Abugattas.

In addition to Arlington, an increase in dead birds has been reported in Fairfax County, Bethesda, and parts of D.C., according to Nextdoor posts viewed by ARLnow. One post, from a wildlife veterinarian, suggests that a bacterial disease may be behind the phenomenon — but the information is very preliminary.

“The resolution of [a bird’s symptoms] after administration of an antibiotic suggests that this is a bacterial infection, not a virus,” the veterinarian wrote. “Hopefully we will have more definitive answers from the lab in a couple of weeks.”

AWLA says it is in contact with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, which is performing tests on a selection of deceased birds.

“We await any results that may shed more light on the current situation,” the organization said. “At this time we are asking members of the public to dispose of these birds promptly when found on their property.”

The league provided the following safety tips for residents who dispose of dead birds.

  • “Wear hand covering (such as gloves) and avoid any direct contact with the birds”
  • “Consider picking up the birds using the same method you would for pet waste. Invert a bag over your hand, pick up the bird, and then pull the bag over the bird, tying with a knot at the top before disposal.”
  • “Dispose of in waste receptacle outside of the home… use diligent hand washing following”

Another tip: don’t use insecticide on cicadas, which can poison whatever creature later eats them.

ALWA is also encouraging residents to report dead birds via an online form, and to report dead and injured birds on public property via phone.

“If a resident finds an injured bird or deceased birds on public playgrounds, parks, and fields please promptly call Arlington County Animal Control promptly at 703-931-9241,” the organization said. “We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work with State Agencies to better understand and address this issue.”

JUST IN: Local Affordable Housing CEO Retires

By ARLnow.com
Groundbreaking for AHC’s Arlington View Terrace East project earlier this month (Photo courtesy of AHC, Inc.)

(Updated at noon) Walter Webdale, the CEO of local affordable housing developer AHC, is retiring.

Webdale’s retirement announcement comes as the nonprofit faces fallout from reports of poor conditions and maintenance at its Serrano Apartments complex on Columbia Pike. Outrage over apartments infested with rodents, filthy air conditioning units and walls covered in mold has led to condemnations from local elected officials and a flurry of actions to fix the problems, as ARLnow first reported.

Among the actions taken: replacing AHC’s own for-profit management company with another firm to manage the Serrano Apartments.

Webdale, in an email this morning to AHC supporters, announced that he will be retiring as of this coming Monday. He touted AHC’s growth and good works over the course of his more than two decades of leadership. He said the organization will be announcing plans for new leadership soon.

Webdale received more than $400,000 in compensation by the nonprofit in 2018, according to federal filings. AHC and its affiliates and subsidiaries reported around $92 million in revenue that year, mostly from apartment rents.

Answering an ARLnow inquiry about Webdale’s compensation, AHC spokeswoman Celia Slater noted that “he does not receive compensation from AHC’s other affiliated entities.”

Webdale’s letter about his retirement is below.

Dear AHC family,

I am writing to you all today to announce my retirement, effective May 31, 2021. It has been my honor to lead our organization for the past 22 years, and I’m immensely proud of the growth and good work we have accomplished together.

You will hear more about specific plans for AHC’s new leadership soon, but I want to personally assure you that the organization is committed to continuing our mission of providing affordable, stable homes for those in need and serving our residents.

The AHC Board, led by Board Chair Bob Bushkoff, in conjunction with senior staff, will provide oversight while we undertake a search for a new CEO. A special committee has been set up to ensure a seamless transition. I have full confidence in the Board’s ability to find a successor that will lead AHC into the next chapter.

I wish you well and want to thank each and every one of you for your support of AHC’s mission of providing affordable housing and educational opportunities for our residents.

All my best,
Walter D. Webdale
President & CEO

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Cherry Trees Planted in Pentagon City — “We are so excited to be celebrating with @CherryBlossFest and @amazon the planting of 12 Japanese Cherry Trees in #NationalLanding! Thank you for these beautiful new additions to the area!” [Twitter]

Renderings of Possible DCA Bridge — “JBG Smith Properties isn’t waiting to envision the future. In a video released to investors this month, the company showed off some 3D renderings of what a pedestrian bridge could look like, complete with some features that have not yet been showcased publicly for the project. There’s a small set of amphitheater-like steps for lounging on the bridge, for instance, plus some futuristic-looking coverings for people walking along the structure. There even appear to be bike lanes and greenery pictured at points along the bridge.” [Washington Business Journal, Vimeo]

Arrests in Malicious Wounding Case — “Officers located the vehicle the suspects were traveling in and conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of eastbound Route 50 and N. Courthouse Road… Inside the vehicle, officers recovered three loaded firearms including a black handgun with extended magazine, AR-15 style rifle and a shotgun.” [ACPD]

County 911 Center Administrator Honored — “The Virginia Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (VA APCO) has honored Arlington’s Emergency Communications Center (ECC) Deputy Administrator Jeffrey Horwitz with its Public-Safety Communications Information Technologist of the Year award.” [Arlington County]

Feds May Permanently Expand Telework — “As the Biden administration contemplates how to return the massive federal workforce to the office, government officials are moving to make a pandemic experiment permanent by allowing more employees than ever to work from home — a sweeping cultural change that would have been unthinkable a year ago.” [Washington Post, Washingtonian]

Virtual Chamber Ensemble Performance — “The National Chamber Ensemble will present a virtual performance of Vivaldi’s masterpiece The Four Seasons on May 29, 2021. The 2020-21 NCE season has been keeping the audience and artists safe as well as connected. Each concert is paired with a live virtual event/conversation with the artists. Taped May 22, the concert links will go out on May 29.” [Event Calendar]

D.C. Honors Arlington Police Officers, Firefighters for Service During Capitol Riot

By Jo DeVoe

Sixty-five Arlington County police officers and firefighters have been recognized for their help defending the U.S. Capitol when a pro-Trump mob stormed it on Jan. 6.

The honor was announced in a tweet posted Monday by the Arlington County Police Department.

“On May 11, [five] members of ACPD accepted the Ribbon of Valor on behalf of the ACPD officers who responded to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and assisted Metropolitan Police Department under a mutual aid agreement,” ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow. “The ribbons were distributed to those officers last week.”

The event was hosted by D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, Savage said. Chief of Police Robert J. Contee III presented the awards to Captain Quigley, Corporal Gilkes, Corporal Woolley, Corporal Olson and Lieutenant Troyano of the police department and Lieutenant Nathan Waterfall of the Arlington County Fire Department.

The officers “assisted our regional law enforcement partners in restoring and maintaining peace and order,” Savage said.

Similar honors were provided to other local law enforcement agencies, including Prince George’s County Police Department and the Montgomery County Department of Police.

A video taken on the day of the insurrection shows ACPD officers in riot gear defending the U.S. Capitol alongside Virginia State Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police, keeping an agitated crowd at bay.

Not pictured was fire department spokesman Taylor Blunt, who said he also received the award on behalf of ACFD. Blunt and Waterfall were the only paramedics present on the Capitol steps during the riot, treating and triaging injured law enforcement officers and attackers alike, the Associated Press reported, citing documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.

From the AP:

Two firefighters loaned to Washington for the day were the only medics on the Capitol steps Jan. 6, trying to triage injured officers as they watched the angry mob swell and attack police working to protect Congress.

Law enforcement agents were “being pulled into the crowd and trampled, assaulted with scaffolding materials, and/or bear maced by protesters,” wrote Arlington County firefighter Taylor Blunt in an after-action memo. Some couldn’t walk, and had to be dragged to safety.

Even the attackers sought medical help, and Blunt and his colleague Nathan Waterfall treated those who were passing out or had been hit. But some “feigned illness to remain behind police lines,” Blunt wrote.

Other specific heroics of Arlington public safety personnel have yet to be revealed. Savage said “there are no additional details to provide at this time” because the events of the day remain an active FBI investigation.

Photos via ACPD/Twitter

Streetlight Sensors Coming to Clarendon Next Month for Safety Project

By David Taube

A technology initiative to help Arlington emergency responders — by relying on the heat mapping of crowds — is expected to ramp up next month.

The pilot program looks to equip streetlights with sensors on the 2900 block of Wilson Blvd, feeding information to county emergency operations staff and allowing them to monitor potential incidents while helping first responders.

“This means that emergency responders will have more information and more knowledge about an event when arriving upon a situation,” Holly Hartell, assistant chief information officer for strategic initiatives with Arlington County, said in an email.

The sensors won’t provide images of individuals but instead will help with counting people, bicycles and vehicles, according to the county. The devices in the pilot will also be able to gather changes in temperature, relative humidity and air quality, the county says.

Sketch images will be gathered during a one-week testing period to compare actual crowd sizes to an algorithm connected to the sensors, but no images will be captured after that time, Hartell said.

The sensors will be on a wireless network, and non-visual metadata will be anonymized, aggregated and eventually sent to the county’s Open Data Portal and Emergency Operations Center watch desk, a room next to the county’s main dispatch floor that’s typically used for monitoring larger events.

Hartell said the installation and testing of the sensors are scheduled for mid- to late-June. Information gathered by the sensors could be shared on the county’s Open Data Portal as early as this fall.

The project initially considered gathering other kinds of data, such as logging information from nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices like mobile phones, but decided on optical sensors to maximize privacy protection, a county FAQ guide says.

“Arlington County has ownership and full authority over what data is collected,” the county noted in the FAQ.

The county says the technology could improve medical and other public safety response times, as well as awareness of erratic and unexpected incidents.

The project comes through a partnership with Comcast, the nonprofit U.S. Ignite and the state-funded Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

“To launch the demonstration project, the County is accepting a donation of approximately $90,000 from the project partners,” the county said. “The County’s estimated contribution to the project is $13,601 for contractual services needed to mount and maintain the proposed light fixtures throughout the demonstration project.”

The yearlong demo could also help county officials consider using the technology at other locations in the future.

Photo 1 via Google Maps, photo 2 via Arlington County

New Coworking Space Launches in Courthouse

By ARLnow.com
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A new coworking space has come to the Courthouse area, amid the pandemic-era boom in working from home.

Venture X Arlington-Courthouse Metro opened this month and is hosting an open house from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday at its 25,000 square-foot space at 2300 Wilson Blvd, also known as the Navy League Building

“This flexible office space is designed to meet the needs of government contractors, associations, lawyers, financial services and many other small to medium enterprises,” the company said in a news release.

Coworking offers individuals or businesses the ability to rent office space on a monthly basis, without a long-term lease. Such offices typically have communal spaces and work environments, often with private, enclosed office space as well.

“The flexible office space model is the beginning of a new era in the commercial real estate world,” Julie Felgar, owner of the coworking space, said in a news release.

The space features dedicated and shared desks, conference room spaces, a conference facility, Zoom and podcast rooms and a staffed café. It’s one of numerous options available to people in Arlington and around the region.

It comes as many workers have adjusted to telecommuting following pandemic lockdowns in 2020. According to one survey, businesses reported the percent of full-time employees working from home at least one day per week will increase from less than 10% to 27% by the end of the pandemic.

That actually might be good news for coworking spaces, which can provide smaller but well-outfitted office locations closer to where employees live.

“With the pandemic still ongoing, Venture X offers businesses and entrepreneurs an opportunity to make the hybrid office life a permanent reality,” Felgar said.

Photos courtesy Jeffrey Sauers

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