News

Arlington County Names New Chief Race and Equity Officer

By ARLnow.com

Deputy County Manager Samia Byrd has been promoted to the new position of Chief Race and Equity Officer, Arlington County announced today.

Byrd, a long-time county employee who previously worked in the Department of Community Planning, Housing and a Development, will oversee work “to inform the County’s development of its plan for addressing race and equity issues.”

A University of Virginia graduate and Hampton, Va. native, Byrd said she is looking forward to the challenges ahead in the new role.

“The time is past due to dedicate and commit our time, resources and effort to advancing race and equity in achieving Arlington’s vision of a diverse and inclusive community,” she said in a statement. “It is an opportunity we should not take lightly or as a response to the moment, and one I approach with humility.”

More from a county press release, below.

As the Chief Race and Equity Officer for Arlington County, Samia Byrd will lead the County’s work to advance racial equity, diversity and inclusion both internal and external to the organization. This includes guiding and facilitating the development and implementation of important policies and practices through an equity lens.

“Samia will be instrumental to helping Arlington better understand the cracks in our foundation,” stated County Manager Mark Schwartz. “I am excited to have her in this new leadership role as we identify the solutions moving forward to ensure that everyone in Arlington has the same opportunities regardless of the color of their skin, their education level, their housing type, their job, or the Arlington ZIP code where they live. I am honored that she will take on this work.  She will bring a deep sense of commitment, faith, and insight to a subject that is profoundly, at its core, about what type of community we want to be.”

Ms. Byrd will continue to oversee and manage the County’s coordinated work with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government (COG) Racial Equity Cohort comprised of Senior County and Arlington Public Schools staff, to inform the County’s development of its plan for addressing race and equity issues. This includes working closely with the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, a national network of governments working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all, to help guide the development of a racial equity tool later this year.

Once developed, the racial equity tool will be used in guiding policy, practice, program and budget decisions and offer new strategies for achieving racial equity outcomes in Arlington. Ms. Byrd will also have a pivotal role in developing and implementing a Countywide Racial Equity Action Plan.

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Arlington Drive-Thru Collection Site Reopens Amid Uptick in New Cases

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s drive-through coronavirus testing site is back in business after a brief hiatus.

The testing site, across from Washington-Liberty High School, closed around the end of June but reopened on Tuesday. Quest Diagnostics is now partnering with the county to conduct the testing, taking over from Virginia Hospital Center.

The change was necessary as the VHC needed to bring its staff back to the hospital.

“As Virginia continues to move forward with reopening, Virginia Hospital Center is resuming many medical and surgical services and welcoming members of the community back to the hospital to receive previously delayed care,” spokeswoman Maryanne Boster tells ARLnow. “This transition requires the full attention of our entire staff, so in order to provide the highest quality care to our patients we brought the VHC employees previously staffing the drive-through COVID-19 Sample Collection Site on Quincy Street back to the Hospital.”

“VHC shared this needed transition in conversations with Quest and Arlington County in May to provide ample time for the service to continue,” Boster added. “Virginia Hospital Center continues to work closely with Arlington County and partners like the Arlington Free Clinic to support the walk-up COVID-19 Sample Collection Site at Arlington Mill and additional projects to address the health of the Arlington community.”

The reopening of the drive-through testing center comes as Arlington sees a minor uptick in new COVID-19 cases. A week after Virginia entered Phase 3 of its reopening, the trailing seven-day rate of new cases in Arlington is now 74. It reached a low of 42 on June 29.

There were eight new coronavirus cases, one new death and no new hospitalizations reported overnight, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. The number of cumulative COVID-19 cases in Arlington currently stands at 2,558.

After weeks of a declining epidemic, the rate of new cases in Virginia is starting to slowly rise, according to an analysis by RT.live. The states surrounding Virginia — Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee — all have rising epidemic curves, according to the website. The District of Columbia, on the other hand, continues to see a declining epidemic.

Taken as a whole, the D.C. region is seeing a notable uptick in new cases.

“D.C., Maryland, and Virginia reported the second-highest combined number of COVID-19 cases in almost a month on Tuesday,” DCist reported today.

UPDATED: Suspicious Package Investigation in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) A road was closed in Crystal City this morning due to a suspicious package investigation.

Police blocked off 26th Street S. between Crystal Drive and S. Clark Street, and are also working to block Crystal Drive.

The Arlington County Fire Department bomb squad responded to the scene to investigate the reported suspicious object, but ultimately officers from the Pentagon Force Protection Agency examined it and gave the all-clear, an ACFD spokesman said.

The area is home to a number of government and military offices.

JUST IN: Large Gas Leak Near Ballston

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County firefighters are on scene of a large, outdoor gas leak near Ballston.

A 2-inch gas line was ruptured on the 500 block of N. Pollard Street, ACFD says. Washington Gas is working to shut off the leaking gas line.

At least one local resident says he can smell a “strong” odor of gas in the Ballston and Virginia Square areas.

UPDATED: Police Investigating Fatal Rollover Crash in Barcroft

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 1:55 p.m.) A man has died after a serious rollover crash in the Barcroft neighborhood last night.

The crash happened around 9 p.m. on the 4800 block of 8th Street S., a residential street that dead ends near the W&OD trail.

“At 9:07 p.m. ACFD was dispatched to the area of 4800 block of 8th Street S. for an accident with entrapment,” said Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Justin Tirelli. “Crews were advised by a bystander that a vehicle had left the roadway and entered the woods.”

“After a short search by ACFD and ACPD the vehicle was found in the woods near the W&OD trail, overturned with the male driver still inside,” Tirelli said. “Crews removed the driver and transported him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Arlington County police said the man had died from his injuries. More from an ACPD press release, below.

The Arlington County Police Department’s Critical Accident Team is investigating a fatal single vehicle crash that occurred on the evening of July 7, 2020.

At approximately 9:01 p.m. on July 7, police were dispatched to the area of the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in the 4800 block of 8th Street S. for the report of a crash with injuries. The preliminary investigation indicates the driver lost control of the vehicle, struck a parked vehicle in the 4500 block of 8th Street S., and continued traveling, before overturning onto the trail.

Arriving officers and medics rendered aid to the driver, who was subsequently extricated from the vehicle by the Arlington County Fire Department. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Bolivar Cobos, 92, of Arlington, Va., was transported by medics to an area hospital with life threatening injuries. He later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased.

This crash remains under investigation and anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Detective T. Parsons of the Arlington County Police Department’s Critical Accident Team at 703-228-4172 or [email protected]. To report information anonymously, contact the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

Map via Google Maps

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Deadline Set for Back to School Choice — “APS will provide two instructional delivery methods for families to choose from – hybrid in-person with physical distancing or full-time distance learning – when school resumes. Families will have until July 20 at 5 p.m. to select one of the two instructional delivery methods. If families do not select one of the two options by the deadline, their selection will automatically default to the hybrid instructional delivery model.” [Arlington Public Schools]

HS Athletes Understanding of Cancellations — “Senior track and field stars Isaiah Mefford of Wakefield High and Rebecca Stewart of Washington-Liberty could have won state crowns during the outdoor spring season. ‘It was disappointing for all of us, but people were getting sick. So something had to be done,’ Mefford said. Said Stewart: ‘With all that was happening with that virus, we couldn’t think about ourselves.'” [InsideNova]

D.C. Area Facing Tech Talent Gap — “The Capital Region is expected to add more than 130,000 digital tech jobs over the next five years, but the demand for tech talent continues to outpace supply, according to a new study… The talent gap will only continue to widen, unless much more is done to create a robust tech talent ecosystem that makes deliberate connections between digital tech pathways and diverse learners.” [Greater Washington Partnership]

Photo courtesy Buzz McClain

BREAKING: Takis Karantonis Wins County Board Special Election in Landslide

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 10:45 p.m.) Democrat Takis Karantonis will fill the late Erik Gutshall’s former Arlington County Board seat.

Karantonis, an economist and the former director of the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, captured 62.4% of the vote. He overperformed among absentee ballots, with 71% of the more than 10,000 absentee ballots cast amid the pandemic.

Susan Cunningham, who described herself as a “progressive Independent,” received 32.6% of the vote. A civically-involved professional and mother of two, Cunningham was endorsed in the race by John Vihstadt, the last non-Democrat to win a seat on the County Board.

Republican Bob Cambridge, a former CIA instructor, received 4.8% of the vote.

In all, 19,866 votes were cast — a turnout of 12.6% of the Arlington electorate. That’s below the 22,264 votes tallied in the 2014 special election, in which Vihstadt first won his seat on the Board.

Besides taking place during a pandemic, today’s election was also hampered by a relatively short campaigning period, and an election day just after the Fourth of July. Karantonis won the Democratic nomination in a closed caucus of about 250 local Democratic party insiders, as the party decried not having enough time to organize a broader primary or caucus.

Karantonis’ initial term on the Board will run through Dec. 31, 2021.

In a press release issued by the Arlington County Democratic Committee, Karantonis pledges “true progressive policies and effective leadership.”

“Arlington voters responded overwhelmingly to Takis’ positive, issues-oriented campaign, surmounting the unprecedented challenges posed by the coronavirus to elect an experienced leader to the County Board,” Arlington Democrats Chair Jill Caiazzo said. “Takis will be a leader for all Arlingtonians. He has the expertise and empathy to build on the impressive legacy of Erik Gutshall. We know he’ll serve Arlington well.”

During the campaign, Karantonis touted his status as an immigrant as a reason he’ll be particularly effective during these fraught times for the country. He has been a resident of Arlington for 14 years, currently living with his wife in the Arlington Village neighborhood.

“As an immigrant and a first-time candidate, I did not expect to receive the overwhelming amount of support from Arlingtonians throughout every zip code in our county,” Karantonis said shortly after the election was called. “Our victory is meaningful for two specific reasons: it is the recognition of my many years of civic engagement in Arlington and it serves as a testament to Arlington voters’ expectation of true progressive policies and effective leadership.”

Karantonis previously served as executive director of the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, and now directs micro-lending for the Ethiopian Community Development Council, an Arlington-based nonprofit. He serves as vice chair of the Alliance for Housing Solutions, and previously was president of the Columbia Heights Civic Association and board chair of Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (now known as EcoAction Arlington). A native of Greece, Karantonis lived and worked in several European countries before immigrating to the United States. He speaks eight languages.

Cunningham, in a statement, thanked her opponents “for a spirited and hard-fought race” and wished Karantonis well on the County Board.

“Tonight I want to thank each and every voter in Arlington,” Cunningham said. “And I also want to thank my daughters and my husband, along with an incredible army of volunteers, who pulled out all the stops during a pandemic. This was always an uphill battle — not just against my opponents but also against an entrenched one-party system in Arlington… I truly hope we started some important conversations about the perils of one-party rule and the need for greater accountability.”

“I hope all of our elected officials will get serious about transparency, accountability, and improved School-County collaboration,” Cunningham concluded. “I have been deeply honored to meet and talk with so many Arlington residents. I look forward to many more discussions in the future.”

More on the turnout from the county elections office:

File photo

Arlington Public Library Permanently Eliminates Late Fees

By Vernon Miles

With everything else that’s going on, Arlingtonians won’t have to worry about racking up late fees at the Arlington Public Library.

“On July 1, Arlington Public Library eliminated overdue library fines to make the library‘s collections more accessible to all Arlingtonians,” Arlington County said in a news release. “The goal is to increase access and minimize barriers for marginalized populations to use the library, particularly for youth and low-income patrons, which data shows are disproportionately impacted by overdue fines and stop using the library as a result.”

The move by the Arlington Public Library follows a similar policy implemented in D.C., and part of a growing nationwide trend. In January 2019, the American Library Association passed a resolution condemning the use of late fees as creating an unnecessary economic barrier.

“This permanent change will make the library more accessible to all,” said Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey. “It has been shown that library fines mostly fall on young people whose families cannot afford library fines. And that results in making the library less accessible to families with lower incomes, which is the exact opposite result that we want. I’m delighted that we are adopting this new policy.”

The news release noted that the elimination of fines will have an impact on the library budget, but penalties for losing library materials will remain.

The elimination of fines will reduce the Library fine budget by an expected $155,000 in anticipated revenue to $10,000 in FY 2021. The $10,000 remains in the budget due to the continuation of replacement fees for lost items.

Under this new policy, any patron with a balance over $15 cannot borrow, renew, place holds on materials, or log in to premium sites, such as Consumer Reports. This would only impact patrons who are charged for losing or failing to return items to the library, since overdue fines are eliminated.

Patrons still need to pay their existing fines accrued prior to July 1, 2020.

“Every member of our community has a right to library services and library fines and fees are known barriers to use,” said Diane Kresh, Director of Arlington Public Library. “We are pleased that we can eliminate these long-standing barriers and continue our mission to reach everyone regardless of their socioeconomic background.”

Staff photo by Jay Westcott

EXCLUSIVE: ACPD Arrest Data Shows Race, Residency Disparities

By ARLnow.com

Most people arrested in Arlington are Black and most do not reside in Arlington.

That’s according to 2019 arrest data shared by the Arlington County Police Department, at the request of ARLnow and a local community group. Its release follows calls for police reform and nationwide protests over the deaths of Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement.

ACPD officers arrested 3,613 people in 2019, according to the data, and just over half were Black. Only 35.8% of those arrested live in Arlington.

The data provided says 45% of arrestees were white, but that includes those most of the 19.6% of arrestees identified as Latino. (Latino is considered an ethnicity while Black, white, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaskan Native are classified as races in the ACPD data.)

According to the latest Census estimates, 61.4% of Arlington’s population is non-Hispanic white, 15.6% is Hispanic/Latino, 11.1% is Asian/Pacific Islander, 9.7% is Black, just under 3.6% is multiracial and 0.6% is Indigenous.

More on the ACPD arrest data, from a report that accompanied it:

Of the 3,613 arrestees, 1,830 were identified as Black (50.7%) and 1,625 (45.0%) were identified as White. Those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islanders 118 arrests (3.3%), American Indian/Alaskan Native 3 arrests (0.1%) and Other/Unknown/Blank Race 37 arrests (1.0%) made up the remainder. Ethnicity of persons are recorded separately from race. Arrestees identified as Hispanic/Latino ethnicity accounted for 708 arrests, 19.6% of total arrests.

Most arrestees (64.2%) did not identify Arlington as their residence. There was some disparity in the Arlington-resident status of arrestees across racial groups. American Indian/Alaskan Natives individuals (66.7%) were the most likely to be an Arlington resident, then Asian individual arrestees (52.5%), followed by White individuals (43.8%), then Black individuals (27.2%). Unknown race individuals were listed as Arlington residents 56.8% of the time. […]

Most arrestees were either 18-25 years old (26.7%) or 26-35 years old (31.4%). The remaining arrestee age cohorts of 36-45 (16.0%) , 46-55 (10.0%), 12-17 (8.3%) and 56+ years old (7.5%) combined for fewer than 50% of total arrestees. When age cohorts were grouped by race, they tended to closely resemble overall racial arrest distribution, with the exception of juvenile arrests. Of total arrested individuals ages 12-17, 61.0% were Black individuals and 36.7% were White individuals, compared to 50.7% and 45.0% across all ages

In a recent Williamsburg Yorktown Daily article about the disproportionate number of Black arrestees in that part of Virginia, a director of the state chapter of the ACLU quotes an unnamed former Arlington commonwealth’s attorney in explaining the county’s disproportionate arrest statistics as largely a function of the residency of those arrested.

Jenny Glass, director of advocacy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia… said the previous commonwealth’s attorney in Arlington County gave a similar explanation when Glass noticed 60 percent of the arrests were black people even though they made up around 10 percent of the population.

“I was looking into if there was any validity why the jail in Arlington County had such a disparate [number] of Black people in it,” Glass said.

“It’s because we arrest a lot of people in D.C.,” Glass said was what the former commonwealth’s attorney told her.

The ACPD report similarly suggests that when residency is separated out, the racial disparities are not as stark. However, even among Arlington residents, the proportion of Black arrestees is still about four times higher than that of the population.

“A comparison of Arlington arrest data to Arlington demographic data is problematic because Arlington-residents only made up 35.8% of ACPD arrests in 2019,” the report says. “If we only examine Arlington-resident arrests – 55% were White individuals, 38.5% were Black individuals, 4.8% were identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, 1.6% were identified as Other/Unknown/Blank race, and 0.2% were American Indian/Alaskan Native individuals.”

Meanwhile, Arlington officers wrote 38,766 non-parking citations in 2019 and the demographics of those receiving citations is more in line with the county’s population.

“Total traffic citations and warnings given to Arlington residents (28.5% of total citations/warnings) closely resemble the racial demography of Arlington,” the ACPD report says. “76.2% of traffic summons/warnings were issued to White residents, 14.2% to Black residents, 5.9% to Asian residents, 3.6% to Other/Unknown residents, and 0.1% to American Indian/Alaskan Native residents.”

The report adds that white and non-white drivers were equally likely to get off on just a warning during a traffic stop.

“Residents were slightly more likely to get a Traffic VUS Warning citation (23.0%) than non-residents (20.4%),” the report said. “Individuals identified as White and individuals identified as non-White received warning citations at virtually the same rate – 21.1% for drivers identified as White, 21.2% for drivers identified as non-White.”

Equity, particularly racial equity, was identified as a key 2020 priority for Arlington County government at the beginning of the year.

Local criminal justice reform advocates have called for Arlington Police Chief M. Jay Farr, who is retiring at the end of the year, to be replaced by a new chief “who is committed to justice system transformation, eliminating bias, and implementing new methods of policing.”

Farr wrote a letter to the Arlington community to accompany the release of the arrest data. The full letter is below.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Special Election Voting Today — Voting is underway in the three-way special election to fill the late Erik Gutshall’s County Board seat. Polls are open from 6 a.m.-7 p.m. The candidates are Takis Karantonis, Susan Cunningham and Bob Cambridge. “Don’t forget your photo ID, ballpoint pen, and face mask,” Arlington’s election office said this morning in a tweet. [Twitter]

No Incentive Payments for Amazon This Year — “Amazon.com Inc. won’t receive any direct cash payments from Arlington County, this year at least, for its HQ2 office leases… because Amazon’s incentive payments are tied to Arlington’s tourism industry. And many rooms remain empty to this day.” [Washington Business Journal]

APS Working to Offer Free Internet Service — “In May, the Arlington County Board allocated $500,000 of funding for a joint County/School Internet Essentials Grant Program to provide broadband internet access to APS students in need. The grant, allocated as part of the federal [CARES] Act, will provide free, high-speed internet access to low-income families who qualify for Internet Essentials from Comcast. Arlington is the first community in Virginia to partner with Comcast to offer free broadband services to students and their families.” [Arlington Public Schools]

Flying Squirrel Rescued from Chimney — From the Animal Welfare League of Arlington: “This little flying squirrel had been stuck in a local resident’s chimney since Saturday, but thankfully, Sgt Ballena was able to remove him and release him safely nearby!” [Twitter]

Synetic Organizing Joint Fundraiser — “Synetic Theater has partnered with the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) to raise $20,000 during the month of July to be split evenly between the organizations. This partnership was initiated by Synetic Theater to help fulfil the company’s desire to invest in their local community while they are unable to host live performances at their Crystal City/National Landing theater space.” [Press Release]

Interview With New Poet Laureate — “When Hollynd Karapetkova learned that she had been selected as Arlington County’s poet laureate, she saw it as a wonderful piece of good news and positive recognition at a time when everything in the world seemed so chaotic. ‘I’m really grateful that Arlington has gone ahead with this program in spite of all the chaos that’s unfolding,’ she said.” [Patch]

Flickr pool photo by John Sonderman

Power Outages, Dark Traffic Signals Reported in Parts of Arlington

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 10:55 a.m.) Last night’s intense thunderstorms knocked out power to hundreds of homes across Arlington and darkened traffic signals at some key intersections.

The early morning storms packed torrential rain and strong winds that brought down tree branches, and frequent lightning and thunder that woke many up from their slumbers.

A Flash Flood Warning for Arlington was issued in the midst of the storms, and some local flooding was reported. Route 50 was closed at Glebe Road due to high standing water, and Four Mile Run rose 6.5 feet in 40 minutes, overtopping its north bank, according to the National Weather Service.

In Arlington, nearly 750 Dominion customers were still reported to be without power as of 7 a.m. The outages were scattered, with the larger clusters around Shirlington, Fairlington, Douglas Park and Cherrydale.

Among the intersections with traffic signals reported to be dark is the busy five-points intersection in Cherrydale.

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