News

County Data Indicates Scooter Crashes, Injuries on the Rise

By Airey

Scooter riders have reported an increasing number of crashes since the county agreed to test the devices last year.

New data from Arlington County Police and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) indicates that the number of crashes and injuries involving e-scooter riders have increased over time statewide, including in Arlington.

“There have been 12 total collisions involving an e-scooters,” said ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage. “Four incidents were reported in 2018 and eight reported in 2019.”

The number of injuries from scooter crashes is also on the rise, according to data ARLnow obtained from ACPD through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The county recently extended its e-scooter and e-bike pilot program through December to continue to study its impacts. Before the program was extended, hundreds complained about concerns over safety sharing sidewalks and roads with the electric-powered devices, among other concerns.

Since the program began in 2018, officials have capped scooter speeds to 10 miles per hour, and required riders to park the devices out of the way of sidewalks and storefronts, and restricted access to some public lands. Perhaps contributing to the rise in scooter incidents: the number of rental e-scooters has increased as more scooter companies have started operating in Arlington.

ACPD’s number of crashes and injuries involving scooters is higher than that recorded by the DMV, which said it received a report of one crash involving a scooter and a car in 2017, and three crashes between scooters and cars in 2018.

“The crashes reported to us only include crashes involving an electric scooter and a motor vehicle,” said DMV spokeswoman Brandy Brubaker. “For example, if a person fell off a scooter and injured themselves, that wouldn’t be reported to us as a crash report. Or, if a person ran a scooter into a pole, that wouldn’t be reported to us. But, if they ran into the side of a car or got hit by a car, that would be reported as a crash report.”

Arlington’s four scooter crashes is the most the DMV recorded in any Virginian jurisdiction, closely followed by three crashes in the City of Virginia Beach, which recently created a task force to address safety concerns. Statewide, the DMV recorded seven scooter injuries in 2018, compared to one in 2017, and two in 2016. So far in 2019, the DMV has recorded six injury reports.

Tracking this information statewide is difficult, Brubacker said, because scooter crash crash data must be hand counted by staff reading through crash reports. Staff currently have no way to note in their data management system that an accident includes a scooter.

While the number of scooter crashes remains well below car crashes estimates, the tally is likely to factor in to whether the county chooses to keep the e-scooter program come December.

Image courtesy of Joel K., data via Arlington County

Arlington Native Gifts $1.5 million for Va. Square Affordable Housing Development

By Airey

An Arlington couple has gifted $1.5 million to an affordable housing project county officials hope will help veterans.

Ron and Frances Terwilliger donated to the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) to help fund the redevelopment of Virginia Square’s American Legion Post 139. The aging building is slated to be demolished and rebuilt into a 160-unit, seven-story affordable housing building with a preference for veteran tenants.

Ron Terwilliger grew up in South Arlington and attended Barcroft Elementary School and Wakefield High School before joining the Navy and attending Harvard Business School. Terwilliger retired as CEO from the housing developer Trammell Crow Residential in 2008, and has since donated millions to housing causes like Habitat for Humanity, as well as Navy developments in Annapolis.

“As a child, my father worked two jobs to make sure that we had a safe, stable home right here in Arlington,” said Terwilliger in a statement.

“His sacrifices gave Bruce and I the chance to attend good schools and pursue our dreams,” he said of his brother and his upbringing. “Today, the high cost of housing puts that dream out of reach for too many families. Projects like this are essential to helping people of all incomes and backgrounds continue to call Arlington home.”

The Terwilliger Family Foundation is an Atlanta-based nonprofit which has donated around half a million dollars every year since 2011 to medical charities and other causes, according to filings shared by ProPublica.

The nonprofit’s million-dollar-donation to the American Legion Post is the largest private contribution to APAH yet, officials said today (Monday.) APAH CEO Nina Janopaul said the organization was “honored” to receive the donation and will name the new building after Ron Terwilliger’s parents, Lucille and Bruce Terwilliger.

“The redevelopment of Legion Post 139 into the Lucille and Bruce Terwilliger Place is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, and could serve as a model for other Legion posts interested in responding to the changing needs of the communities they serve,” said Janopaul.

The County Board approved the project in February, noting it was an opportunity to aid the county’s dwindling affordable housing stock. Since then, APAH and Virginia Housing Trust Fund have agreed to loan a combined $13,700,000 to the project.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

‘Mabel’s Restaurant’ Coming to Arlington Heights — The restaurant coming to the grounds of the Dominion Apartments, at the former Sherwin Williams paint store (3411 5th Street S.), is called “Mabel’s Restaurant.” An outdoor seating area is planned for the restaurant, according to permit filings. [Arlington Economic Development]

Northam Visits Amazon — “In June, we were excited to open our first temporary office space for our Arlington headquarters in Crystal City. Today, we welcomed @GovernorVA to tour our new work space and meet with Amazonians from the Commonwealth.” [Twitter]

Crystal City Conducting Survey — “The area encompassing Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard – Arlington is a dynamic mixed-use urban center and Virginia’s largest walkable downtown… we are embarking on a place branding effort to uncover our neighborhood story and create a striking visual identity.” [Crystal City BID]

History of Heidelberg Bakery — “Heidelberg Bakery is a local landmark in Arlington… In this oral history clip, Carla and Wolfgang Buchler, owners of the Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe, discuss the lack of diversity in breads that Wolfgang found in America when he first came to the U.S. in the 1970’s–and how tastes have changed, partly due to Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe’s delicious treats.” [Arlington Public Library]

Glebe Road Bridge Project — “The Virginia Department of Transportation on Tuesday, Aug. 13 will hold a community forum on its plans to rehabilitate the Route 120 (North Glebe Road) bridge over Pimmit Run to improve safety and extend the bridge’s overall lifespan. The event will be held on from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Williamsburg Middle School, 3600 North Harrison St. in Arlington.” [InsideNova]

‘Drunkard’ Ruling Won’t Be Appealed — “Virginia’s attorney general on Friday said he will not appeal a ruling that struck down a state law allowing police to arrest and jail people designated as ‘habitual drunkards.'” [Associated Press]

Oil in Sink Causes ‘Fatbergs’ — “If you pour used cooking grease down the kitchen sink, you’re not alone — according to a new survey, 44 percent of respondents in the D.C. region pour cooking oil, fat, or grease down the sink at least occasionally. In doing so — rather than dumping it in the trash–you may be contributing to the creation of something truly horrifying — a fatberg.” [DCist]

Officials: More Overtime for Fire Department Means Bigger Cuts Elsewhere

By Vernon Miles

The Arlington County Fire Department’s overtime crisis is having a ripple effect on other programs, leaving training and logistics to take a hit.

Between the 2016 and 2018 fiscal years, the department exceeded its overtime budget every year.

At a meeting yesterday (Thursday) at county government headquarters, County Auditor Chris Horton met with Arlington officials and ACFD staff to review the recent audit of the department’s chronic overtime usage and suggestions to fix it.

One area where all involved parties agreed was that the overtime was the main source of the department’s fiscal troubles.

“Overtime use in the fire department has caused budget management challenges in  2016-2018 fiscal years,” Horton said. “What we did here was to look and see if there was actual, clear evidence mathematically that it was overtime driving the overages in the budget. What we’re seeing is strongly indicative that the callback overtime — that is increasing the overruns with total personnel costs — is increasing the overruns with total department costs.”

There were several issues cited as contributing factors to the overtime overuse, but one of the main problems is insufficient staffing. According to the audit:

At the core of the budget management issues are staffing challenges ACFD experiences throughout the department, including significant attrition in ACFD Operations. ACFD has been operating with decreases in staffing that continue to result in an average loss of more than two employees per month. With the rigorous screening processes and training required for new recruits, it takes almost 12 months and costs almost $100,000 per recruit to recruit, hire and train firefighters… Therefore, ACFD continues to face struggles with deploying adequate staffing even with recent budget increases to fund additional recruit classes.

Horton and fire department officials explained that staffing is required to be maintained at certain levels, and if there aren’t enough staff on hand to meet those levels, off-duty firefighters are either called back or asked to stay past their shift to meet those staffing levels. This callback overtime — as opposed to discretionary overtime — has exceeded its budget every year the audit studied.

“It’s very difficult to be fully staffed in public safety,” said County Manager Mark Schwartz. “We have to call people back and they come back. It’s not a healthy cycle for anyone involved. Over the last three of four years, the things that haven’t been done are as much training — that’s the main thing — and logistics. The department tries to get in under budget overall but there are things that get lost in that process.”

The audit notes that cuts had to be made in expenditure categories such as training and equipment to cover overtime costs.

“To stay within our budget, sometimes we have to throttle back stuff that’s not mission-critical,” Capt. Ben O’Bryant, a spokesman for ACFD, told ARLnow. “Training we’d like to send four people to maybe we’d send three, or equipment that we’d like to put in service, maybe we hold back on that. Nothing that’s mission critical for delivery of services… but sometimes we have to adjust our activities. Anything required to provide services to the county, we get that, but sometimes we don’t send as many people to elective training as we’d like to or we hold off on getting equipment.”

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EXCLUSIVE: Fort Myer Assessing Flood Damage to 26 Buildings on the Base

By Airey

(Updated at 2 p.m.) Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall is assessing damage to two dozen different buildings on the base caused by last month’s disastrous flooding, per a spokesperson.

“The base is still assessing the damage sustained during the flooding and is working on a report to be forwarded to our higher headquarters at the Army’s Installation Management Command,” said JBMHH Spokeswoman Leah Rubalcaba.

“There were a total of 26 facilities across our three bases of Fort Myer, Henderson Hall and Fort McNair that sustained water damage,” Rubalcaba told ARLnow in an email yesterday (Thursday.) “Military organizations do not have insurance, but are allotted an annual budget for operations and maintenance. Then, based on the final assessment and funding availability, additional funds will be forwarded to JBM-HH for repairs.”

She said the base has had to move events, like a recent job fair, into the basketball court because the community center is currently unusable.

“Somehow water got under the flooring and the floor buckled so nobody can walk on it,” she said.

Additionally, one bus from Marine Corps Base Quantico was parked in the lower lot by Henderson Hall — part of the headquarters of the U.S. Marine Corps — when rain flooded the area, damaging the bus along with four cars and a forklift.

The Henderson Hall parking lot, dubbed the “lower flood lot,” is prone to flooding because of the landscape’s natural drainage. But in her 15 years of working on the base, Rubalcaba said she’s never seen flooding as high as during the storm on July 8.

“We know we’re going to get a little bit of rain there. But usually like an inch,” she said. “That’s why we don’t build anything there. People know that’s what happens and they stay away from it.” 

The unusually strong storm last month dumped 3-4 inches of water in an hour on Arlington. Roads, businesses and homes across the county were inundated with water and sewage with one stream swallowed whole by a broken pipe.

Countywide, the storm wrought an estimated $4 million in damages to publicly-owned property alone.

“We’re hoping to get some extra funding just to get everything repaired,” said Rubalcaba.

Courtesy photo

Confusion After Pentagon City Bus Stop Removed For Amazon Construction

By Airey
1/2

Metro removed a bus stop, citing Amazon’s planned HQ2 construction, but it’s not clear whether the transit agency told riders first.

Metro’s website now lists the stop at S. Eads Street and 15th Street S. as being out of service for the 7Y route, as well as the 7A and 7F Lincolnia lines, and the 10N line to Reagan National Airport. However, as of Thursday afternoon, the transit agency’s website still listed arrival times at the stop for buses with the Barcroft-South Fairlington Line (22A.)

The stop was reporting missing last week by rider Scudder Waag, who told ARLnow he rode his usual 7Y route from Alexandria to Pentagon last week with no problems.

“But on Thursday I pulled the cord because we’re going to get off the bus, but the driver just get going and I hollered, and other riders were hollering,” he said.

Ultimately,  the driver was able to drop passengers off on the entrance ramp to the newly renamed Richmond Highway, before the bus continued on into D.C.  Waag he said the new stop is further from his office, and while he can walk longer distances, not everyone has the ability to do so.

The transit agency initially told Waag it would replace the missing sign. Five days later, Metro replied replied that the “bus planning team informed us that the bus stop… has been temporarily abolished due to the construction of a new office building, which is expected to take 6-9 months.”

The Eads Street stop is located right where Amazon is currently constructing the two, 22-story office towers that make up the first phase of its new headquarters in Pentagon City — though the project is still early in the county’s approval process and months away from starting construction.

“As the WMATA RAC’s Virginia Co-Chair, it’s distressing to see this happening in the middle of the BL/YL shutdown in Alexandria,” said WMATA Riders’ Advisory Council (RAC) member Andrew Kierig, referring to the ongoing Metrorail shutdown. “The best solution would be to have temporarily relocate the stop instead of ‘abolishing’ it without warning.”

Waag, a senior associate for a private transit planning firm, has worked with Alexandria’s DASH bus service, as well as Richmond’s GRTC. He told ARLnow that changing schedules and alerts for bus stops is “phenomenally complicated and takes a ridiculous amount of time.”

“Overall my experience riding with WMATA most days is quite nice, and quite good,” said Waag. “That day was certainly strange.”

Making the matter more complicated is Metro’s own confusing communications with riders. The transit agency shared an advisory alert about the project this week that stated the station, “has been permanently closed, effective immediately” — contradicting their earlier tweet about the station only closing temporarily.

It’s also not clear when Metro posted that alert to the website. The alert is listed as being effective from July 15, however an archived copy of Metro’s website from July 17 shows no alerts regarding the staton.

Metro also deleted its Wednesday tweet which shared the advisory alert.

The transit agency did not respond for requests for more information in time for publication.

“As someone who works with APIs and is also personally interested in transit service schedule data APIs like this, I’m concerned that this continues to be an issue that WMATA isn’t making a priority,” said Kierig. “I’ve raised this question at multiple RAC meetings with bus planning staff in regards to the replacement shuttles on the Metrorail shutdown. I’ll continue to do whatever I can to get them to fix this particular thing.”

“Winning back ridership means fixing the service and reliability side but also having the communications infrastructure and quality to make people aware that WMATA is truly #Back2Good,” Kierig added.

Map via Google Maps

County: Don’t Try to Clean Up Flood Debris in Parks

By ARLnow.com

Arlingtonians have a “can-do” attitude but the county is asking residents to refrain from cleaning up flood debris in local parks.

Residents have been taking matters into their own hands following the July 8 flooding, according to Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish, but it’s a job best left to the professionals.

The flooding caused $3.5 million in damage to county infrastructure, particularly in local parks, and the cleanup effort is still in progress. Officials are asking residents for patience while the work continues.

From the parks department website:

Let’s be careful out there! We sustained a lot of damage in the storm. Our crews have been out to evaluate and install protective barriers around impacted areas. For your safety, do not cross the fences or caution tape in our playgrounds, bridges, walking paths and park areas. While we appreciate Arlington’s “Can-Do” attitude, debris along streams and creeks will be cleaned up by Park staff and contractors, please do not attempt to move, play or handle such debris.

“Safety is our number one concern and we have seen signs in the parks of debris and things being moved,” Kalish told ARLnow. “We are being proactive in our messaging by posting that notice as we know how much our community cares about and uses our parks.”

“Parks and Recreation hasn’t received any reports of injuries,” Kalish added.

Photo courtesy @btj/Twitter

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

New Coworking Space Coming to Ballston — “Piedmont Office Realty Trust signed a 29K SF lease with WeWork at its Arlington Tower office building at 901 North Glebe Road in Ballston, the REIT said in its Q2 earnings release Wednesday evening. The coworking giant will take the entire fifth floor and plans to open before the end of the year, Piedmont Director Chris Poppell tells Bisnow.” [Bisnow]

Disaster Declaration May Be Coming Soon — “A disaster designation based on damage assessments in Arlington County would allow homeowners and businesses in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax County to apply for low-interest federal loans beginning as soon as next week to help pay for repairs. Fairfax County Emergency Management Coordinator Seamus Mooney expects the designation to be approved within the next two weeks.” [WTOP]

Changes Proposed for Pentagon City Hotel — “The owner of the DoubleTree by Hilton in Crystal City is gearing up for a play to capitalize on the 627-room hotel’s proximity to Amazon.com Inc.’s second headquarters. Tom Baltimore, CEO of the hotel’s owner, Park Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: PK), told analysts on its second-quarter earnings call Thursday that the hotel is one of several the company is evaluating as possible redevelopment opportunities.” [Washington Business Journal]

Video: Dark Star Park Day — A timelapse video captured the moment on Thursday morning when the shadows lined up at Rosslyn’s Dark Star Park, as happens once a year on Aug. 1. [Twitter]

Arlington Boy Lives Dream in Boston — “There was a special visitor to the WBZ Weather Center on Thursday. Noah Coon from Arlington, Virginia is a big weather fan and stopped by the studio thanks to Dream On 3. Noah has cerebral palsy and was in Boston to visit the Red Sox. Because he’s also a fan of meteorology, he came to visit the WBZ weather team.” [WBZ]

Video: Yorktown vs. W-L — Just published online: “Long-lost footage of the famous Nov. 5, 1970, mud bowl football game between the Yorktown High School Patriots and the Washington-Lee Generals. Yorktown was favored with a 9-0 record but W-L won 12-0 and earned the Potomac District championship. [YouTube]

One More Page Books Holding Auction to Cover Rising Rent

By Airey
1/5

A local bookstore is holding an auction to raise money after the owner says rent increased by 30 percent this year due to property tax changes.

One More Page Books, located in the East Falls Church neighborhood at 2200 N. Westmoreland Street, is hosting a silent auction fundraiser from Friday, August 2 at 6:30 p.m. until Sunday, August 18 at 5 p.m. The bookstore is currently finalizing the item list, which currently ranges from artwork and chocolates, to bike tours and book manuscript consults.

Owner Eileen McGervey said she was excited for the auction, which kicks off with the store’s regularly-scheduled wine and cheese party Friday night. She told ARLnow that customers came up with the idea of the auction, which has since gathered items like handmade shawls and a dinner with media members who cover the Capitals.

The auction was arranged after McGervey said the landlord informed her last month that the real estate taxes for the building went up significantly. The end result? A 30 percent rent increase, applicable to the current year.

McGervey said that’s a challenge for the independent bookstore not only because it operates on small profit margins, but also, “unlike other businesses we don’t have the option of raising the prices because books come with prices on them.”

The tax hike was the result of the county changing the way it calculates the value of some commercial buildings, like the mixed-use commercial condo building One More Page inhabits. The change more than doubled the assessed value of One More Page’s space — and thus also its assessed taxes — even after it was lowered on appeal.

(That’s on top of the County Board approving a real estate tax hike which increased the amount owners pay by two cents for every $100 in assessed property.)

“Unfortunately, in the case of the condominium that houses One More Page, this meant an increase in the assessed value of the property from CY 2018 of $2,351,100.00 to a CY 2019 valuation of $5,591,100.00,” Board Chair Christian Dorsey wrote in a letter to McGervey, who had asked if the Board could offer any assistance to the bookstore.

Dorsey continued:

This is indeed a large jump in the assessed value of the building. The County is bound by the Constitution of Virginia and State Code to assess all real estate at fair market value, and this methodology provides a more accurate assessment of commercial condominium values than did the previous. This methodology took into consideration the actual income and expense data submitted by the owner of the property along with similar condominiums in Arlington.

While the owner chose not to appeal the assessment with the County’s Board of Equalization this year, the owner did file an administrative appeal, resulting in a $700,000 reduction in the CY 2019 assessment, to $4,907,500. With the assessment reduction, the total tax bill for the building in Calendar Year 2019 is $56,485.00, up from $26,228.67 in CY 2018.

One More Page has been able to cover the rent raise in the past month, but at the expense of paying some of its vendors. Asking for help covering these bills is awkward, McGervey said, but better than the alternative.

“You don’t want to just be gone one day and have people not know that you could have been there,” McGervey said.

She noted that she’s now exploring the idea of a membership program to cover future rent needs.

(more…)

County Auditor: Fire Dept. Exceeded Overtime for Years, Potentially Risking Firefighter Safety

By Airey

A new report found the Arlington County Fire Department has been regularly exceeding its overtime budget while putting firefighters at risk of fatigue and injury.

County Auditor Chris Horton blamed staffing shortages and a lack of payroll controls for the department exceeding both its overtime budget and personnel budget over the last three years. He noted that the overtime costs ranged from $5.2 million to $6.2 million per year, despite being budgeted at $3.2-3.4 million.

Officials are expected to discuss the 40-page report during the County’s Audit Committee public meeting tonight (Thursday) at 5 p.m. in Room 311 in county government headquarters (2100 Clarendon Blvd.)

The department requires that firefighters work no longer than 60 hours in a single shift, and must take at least a six-hour break before starting new shift. However, the audit found that supervisors could override that requirement.

“The purpose of hours worked restrictions is to reduce responder fatigue, and improve safety, performance, and quality of life,” read the report. Horton recommended the department stick to its hours — as well as study whether firefighters may require more rest time between shifts.

“The commute for some personnel could be one or two hours each way,” wrote the report, noting that many firefighters live well outside the area. The report also noted a high level of sick leave could be caused by firefighters using their paid time off to catch up on sleep.

The audit issued 23 recommendations to address the time off and overtime problems, including that the create an “overarching departmental policy” on how to better monitor time off.

ACFD responded that they agreed with 20 of the recommendations. When it came to commission a staffing study, establishing better interagency communication, and budgeting for more overtime, Fire Chief David Povlitz disagreed with the need for additional resources, writing that ACFD could address those needs internally.

One reason the audit found for the unexpected overtimes expense was a lack of controls and efficient systems for payroll, which Horton noted, “creates cumbersome and inefficient processes and impairs overtime management.”

The department was within its overall $59.8 million budget during the last fiscal year, but the audit found that the unexpected overtime expenses caused the department to exceed its overall budget in fiscal year 2016 and 2017.

Horton said ACFD’s high attrition rate and recruiting struggles have contributed to the high overtime costs.

“At the core of the budget management issues are staffing challenges ACFD experiences through the department, including significant attrition in ACFD Operations,” he said. “ACFD continues to face struggles with deploying adequate staffing even with recent budget increases to fund additional recruit classes.”

Last year, firefighters joined police officers in protesting low wages, some saying the low starting pays made it impossible to live in Arlington with its rising cost of living. The county has responded to the demands by awarding 6 percent budget increases to ACFD for the last two years to raise wages and fund recruiting, but retention remains a problem: Horton noted the department loses an average of two employees every month.

Now, the county is aiming to hire 36 more firefighter and EMTs by 2022 to alleviate the workload of the department’s remaining employees.

Three months ago, Horton also found that the Arlington County Police Department had exceeded its overtime budget for the last three years. The auditor found that ACPD reported $5.46 million in overtime last year — twice the amount allocated in the department’s budget.

Povlitz noted that because “there are some similar findings between the Police and Fire Department Overtime Audits, all public safety agencies are planning process changes by utilizing a newly staff public safety time and attendance administrator position.”

County Manager Mark Schwartz said in a statement today (Thursday) that “the real message here is that we need a better and updated financial system.”

Table via Arlington County

ACFD Assists with Search for Human Remains at Roaches Run

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Fire Department was among the numerous agencies assisting with a search for human remains at the Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary near Reagan National Airport today.

The search is linked to the discovery of a human skull and other bones along Four Mile Run in Arlington, near the GW Parkway.

“After multiple searches over several days, three (3) human bones to include a skull, were recovered from the creek bed,” U.S. Park Police said on July 19. “The scene spanned approximately 200 yards, suggesting that the bones may have washed into the area during heavy storms.”

During that search, a D.C. fire department cadaver dog was injured and airlifted to an emergency vet. That dog, K-9 Kylie, was recently released for full duty and was back searching around Roaches Run today, according to a video posted by D.C. Fire and EMS (below).

Today’s search also involved divers, but did not turn up anything and has since been called off, according to reporters on scene. More via social media:

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