(Updated at 1:10 p.m.) A suspect fleeing from police ran onto the tracks at the Rosslyn Metro station shortly before 1 p.m., delaying some trains.
The suspect ran into a tunnel in the direction of Arlington Cemetery station, according to scanner traffic. It’s not immediately clear why he or she was running from police.
Arlington County police coordinated with Metro and Metro Transit Police to stop train traffic in the area while trying to locate the suspect.
Officers were in active pursuit of the suspect after he or she exited the tunnel, leading to their being taken into custody on Memorial Bridge shortly before 1:10 p.m., according to scanner traffic.
Orange/Silver/Blue Line Alert: Expect delays in both direction due to a trespasser on the track outside Rosslyn.
A petition filed by a Union Kitchen employee is calling for the end to its relationship with its labor union, but the union is dismissing the effort as a ploy by management.
It was announced on Friday that a Union Kitchen employee has filed a petition with the National Labor Review Board (NLRB) to end its relationship with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400. The petition has reportedly been signed by a number of Union Kitchen employees, including those who work at the Ballston location
This would effectively end UFCW Local 400’s ability to bargain and support unionized employees at Union Kitchen.
“Employees of five Union Kitchen Grocery locations in the Washington, DC, metro area have filed a petition seeking to end United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400’s monopoly bargaining power over workers,” reads a press release. “The employees submitted their decertification petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 5 with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.”
But a UFCW Local 400 spokesperson insisted that this effort isn’t legit, accusing Union Kitchen management of being involved in the petition and using potentially illegal tactics, like intimidating employees, to sign the petition.
“Our take is that it’s basically bullshit,” Travis Acton said. “We knew this was coming. This is not a surprise. The only thing, honestly, that caught me by surprise is how blatantly illegal they’re going about it.”
It was just over a year ago when employees at five Union Kitchens voted in favor of forming a union, including the one in Ballston on Wilson Blvd. That came after a long-running effort that was delayed due to challenged ballots and charges of unfair labor practices. It has continued to be a contentious relationship ever since.
In November, the NLRB determined that Union Kitchen management violated 26 counts of labor law including union-busting tactics and wrongfully terminating employees. In March of this year, the union filed a wage theft lawsuit against management. And just last month, the union called for a boycott of all Union Kitchen locations.
The boycott remains ongoing, Acton said.
The employees who are calling for the decertification are being provided “free legal aid” by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to “eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses.”
In the press release sent out by National Right to Work, the organization said that a single employee submitted the petition but it has been supported “by the vast majority of her coworkers.” The employee claimed in a letter sent to Union Kitchen CEO Cullen Gilchrist that close to 90% of workers signed the petition, as reported by the Washington Business Journal.
Acton said that those numbers might be misleading. He told ARLnow that in recent months the company has significantly added to the list of employees that are eligible to be represented by the union. Acton claims that a number of those added employees are actually people in management roles, those who own brands sold at the store, and those who might have personal relationships with Gilchrist.
“Nobody’s ever seen them work in the store or work an actual shift in the store,” he said.
Plus, Acton claimed, that he’s heard from employees who felt like they were forced to sign the petition or they would get fired.
“Based on our experience over the last six months to a year of them firing anybody who comes to the bargaining table, who supports the union, I believe them,” he said.
Intimidation of this nature is potentially illegal, according to federal law.
As expected, Union Kitchen CEO Cullen Gilchrist supports the petition to end the company’s employees’ relationship with the union and specifically noted the ongoing boycott as the reason for his support in the following email to ARLnow.
Double rainbow over Arlington on Friday evening (photo courtesy Craig Smith)
Double rainbow over Arlington on Friday evening (photo courtesy Craig Smith)
Double rainbow over Arlington on Friday evening (photo courtesy George Brazier)
Double rainbow over ACFD response to a lightning strike in Dominion Hills on Friday evening (photo courtesy Hannah Stopnicki)
Double rainbow over Arlington on Friday evening (photo courtesy Matt Sullivan)
Double rainbow over Pupatella pizza in Bluemont on Friday evening (photo courtesy Jillian Bentson)
Wild Saturday Night in Buckingham — From Dave Statter: “Glebe & Pershing a little wild tonight. @ArlingtonVaPD
handling a fight with 1 or 2 injured. A backup officer on foot was hit by a vehicle. Not hurt. Driver was stopped at Rt 50 & detained.” [Twitter]
Clarendon Fitness Center Opening — “Life Time (NYSE: LTH), the nation’s premier healthy lifestyle brand, today opened a one-of-a-kind athletic country club in Arlington, Virginia. The development also is home to Life Time Work, the Company’s premium coworking destination, which will open July 17. Combined, the new destination makes Life Time a main anchor at The Crossing Clarendon.” [PR Newswire]
More on Broyhill Brouhaha — “Another close-by neighbor, Vivian Kallen, tied it to the broader Missing Middle debate, calling the new development ‘sad, and hard to understand–it breaks my heart.’ She’s lived since the 1950s in an Arlington ‘that has always been a community that values beauty, nature, and trees, while decisions were made by called The Arlington Way,’ she said. ‘I think it’s gone from being a community to being a piece of real estate.'” [Falls Church News-Press]
Soccer Squad in Nat’l Championship — From Arlington Soccer: “We going to the ship! Congrats to 06 Boys Red on advancing to the national championship game of the ECNL Boys Regional League Finals! They will play Solar SC (Texas) in the final at 11:15 a.m. (EST) on Monday. Congrats fellas and good luck!” [Twitter]
Man Arrested for Loaded Gun at DCA — “A California man was arrested by police on Thursday after he was stopped by Transportation Security Administration officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington with a loaded gun in his carry-on bag. The man’s 9mm handgun was loaded with 17 bullets, including one in the chamber, TSA said.” [Patch]
ACFD Recognized for Critical Care — “The Arlington County Fire Department has received the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline EMS Gold achievement award for its commitment to offering rapid, research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attack and stroke.” [Arlington County]
RIP Terry Serie — “Arlington civic leader Terrence ‘Terry’ Serie, who served on the Planning Commission and was active in a number of other roles, died July 8 after an extended battle with cancer. He was 74 years old. Series and his partner, the late Deputy County Commissioner of Revenue Ann Bisson, were something of a civic power couple, each having played active roles in the community.” [Gazette Leader]
No School Sales Tax Holiday — “Thousands of Virginia families on the lower income spectrum can no longer count on the three-day sales tax holiday — usually starting on the first Friday in August of every year — that they’ve come to depend on since 2006, when the General Assembly passed a landmark law waiving Virginia’s 5.3% sales tax and any local taxes on back-to-school supplies, clothes and shoes. ” [Cardinal News]
More Photos of Friday’s Rainbows — “You rarely get this level of intensity of color at BOTH tips of a #rainbow. Especially the “Indigo/Violet” part of the ROYGBIV. Looking at #DC from #Ballston.” [Twitter, Twitter, Twitter]
It’s Monday — Sunny with a high temperature around 92 during the day. The wind will be coming from the northwest at around 6 mph, shifting to southwest in the afternoon. In the evening, expect a slight possibility of showers and thunderstorms before 2am, with about a 20% chance of rainfall. The night will be partly cloudy and temperatures will drop to approximately 72. [Weather.gov]
Janet Mary (Corcoran) O’Neil passed away peacefully at the age of 86 on Tuesday, the 27th of June in Richmond, Va. She lived most of her life in Arlington, Va., but hailed from Newton Lower Falls, Mass., as did her kith and kin. She was the daughter of Henry J. Corcoran and Mary Powers and had two brothers, Henry “Bud” Corcoran Jr., and Gerald Corcoran.
Born and raised on Moulton Street (“Corcoran Row”), she excelled in virtually every category. In athletics she was the only girl invited to pitch for the Newton Lower boy’s sandlot games and played tennis, basketball, and field hockey. She was a straight A student, winning a full scholarship to the Boston College School of Nursing. There, she served as president of the National Student Nursing Association and graduated magna cum laude.
In 1959, she married her high school sweetheart, Bill O’Neil, a Naval Aviator, before raising three children, all boys. She served as school nurse at Brussels American High School in Belgium, where her husband was deployed.
Following their divorce, she earned a master’s degree in social work from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She worked many years in inner city social work at City Lights before retiring in Arlington.
Janet was continually active in local politics, serving as an Arlington County Democratic Precinct Captain and other volunteer positions over the years. She was a choir member at Our Lady Queen of Peace church in Arlington and a founding member of its meditation group.
She is survived by her three sons, Mark (Alessandra), John (Ginger), and Matthew, and grandchildren Giacomo, Erin, Jacqueline, and Lauren. She will be intensely missed by them and many others as she made many lasting, loving friendships throughout her lifetime.
There will be a Memorial Service at Our Lady Queen of Peace, 2700 South 19th Street, Arlington, VA 22204 at 11 a.m. on August 17.
Arlington County is buying its fourth home for stormwater mitigation — this time in Westover, near the neighborhood’s main drag.
The Arlington County Board is set to approve the terms of the purchase, including a price tag of $1.5 million, on Saturday. The home is located at 5840 18th Street N., across the street from Cardinal Elementary School and the Westover Library branch.
This purchase is part of its voluntary property acquisition program targeting homes in the Spout Run watershed, which saw severe flooding during rain storms four years ago. Since agreeing to purchase its first home in March, the county has purchased a total of three — all in the Waverly Hills neighborhood.
The goal is to create “overland relief,” or a safe path for stormwater to flow to a stream or storm drain during large rain events. The county contends the existing stormwater systems and public space are not able to handle floods like those seen in 2019.
The newest acquisition is a stone’s throw from the stormwater detention vault at Cardinal Elementary, which was also a “community-driven project following the devastating losses and impacts to surrounding businesses and homes from the July, 2019 storm event,” according to the county.
The single-family home will be demolished, with viable parts of it salvaged for new purposes, if applicable.
Vicinity map for 5840 18th Street N. (via Arlington County)
Portion of S. Irving Street set for sidewalk improvements (via Google Maps)
The pedestrian experience is set to improve in nearly a dozen spots across the county.
The Arlington County Board this weekend is expected to approve two projects for accessibility improvements, along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and in three residential neighborhoods.
The Metro corridor contract, for up to nearly $1.4 million, is the second phase of an existing effort to bring the streetscape up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards. The planned improvements include “new sidewalks, curb and gutter, curb extensions, handicap accessible ramps, storm sewer pipes and inlets, paving, pavement markings and signage.”
The Rosslyn – Ballston Corridor ADA Improvements Project – Phase 2 sites are located along the Rosslyn – Ballston Corridor. This project reconstructs multiple intersections within the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor where existing sidewalks, curb ramps or street intersections do not comply with standards of the ADA.
The project undertakes redesign and construction in batches with the highest priority problem areas reconstructed to achieve ADA compliance. The project incorporates a “second set” of improvements previously designated under P14D. It spans multiple neighborhoods, including Buckingham, Ballston-Virginia Square, Clarendon, Courthouse, Rosslyn.
The other project is part of another ongoing effort, the county’s Neighborhood Complete Streets (NCS) program.
It would bring improvements to three residential neighborhoods, including curb extensions to resolve several blocks of sidewalk obstructed by decorative streetlights.
Construct one block of missing sidewalk on 14th Street North from North McKinley Road to North Ohio Street, in the Highland Park Overlee Knolls neighborhood;
Construct two improved intersections, with updated curb ramps and reduction of pedestrian crossing distances, on 8th Road South in the Arlington Mill neighborhood;
Construct eight curb extensions to relocate existing Carlyle Streetlights currently obstructing the sidewalk and provide an accessible path along three blocks of existing sidewalk on South Irving Street, in the Arlington Heights neighborhood
“The Neighborhood Complete Streets program was approved by the Arlington County Board at its January 2016 meeting,” says the report. “The program was intended as a replacement to and evolution of the prior Neighborhood Traffic Calming (NTC) program, which built approximately 175 projects designed to slow vehicle speed. The NCS program was designed to holistically address inadequacies in the complete streets paradigm, outlined in the Master Transportation Plan.”
“A complete street is one that provides facilities for pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and motorists to each move comfortably and safely through the community,” the report notes. “Project requests were to be solicited from community members, prioritized based on objective data, and selected with consultation and oversight from the [Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission], following a public engagement period.”
The proposed location of an east entrance to the Crystal City Metro station (via Google Maps)
The intersection of N. Vermont Street and N. Fairfax Drive in Ballston (via Google Maps)
A long-planned-for second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station is set to hit a milestone during the Arlington County Board meeting tomorrow.
The Board on Saturday is set to approve a $117.2 million contract with JBG Smith and Clark Construction, which intend to design and build an east entrance to the station on the northwest corner of 18th Street S. and Crystal Drive.
This May, JBG Smith and Clark submitted 30% complete designs and the $117.2 million price tag. Since then, county staff and the developers have been negotiating the terms of the contract, which would hold the developers responsible for budget overages.
Project costs have increased by a few million dollars since 2022, when JBG Smith and the county agreed to tweak the project to save $13 million from the then-estimated total of $126 million.
In a report, the county says this entrance project is targeting one of Arlington’s most heavily used Metro stations in an area expected to grow even more in the near future.
“The Metrorail station serves high-density residential buildings, office buildings, and retail development,” the report said. “The station is also a major transfer point for Metrorail, commuter bus and rail, and premium bus service.”
The new entrance will provide a direct route accessible to people with disabilities and forge a better connection to the Virginia Railway Express station to the east.
When the Board reconvenes in September, members are expected to consider a separate agreement with WMATA, the county report said. It will outline the county’s role overseeing design and construction and how it will coordinate with WMATA.
Location of proposed second Crystal City Metro entrance (via Arlington County)
But this is not the only second Metro entrance project taking a step forward on Saturday.
Next up, in Ballston, the Board is slated to accept $4.5 million in Northern Virginia Transportation Commission I-66 Commuter Choice Program Funds for a long-envisionedwestern entrance at the intersection of N. Fairfax Drive and N. Vermont Street.
The county has pooled together a hodge-podge of funding sources, including an $80 million from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, approved last summer. NVTA helped cover the cost to develop design costs in 2016 but denied a 2019 request for $33.5 million.
Despite these funding wins, costs continue rising: a county report now estimates a price tag of $150 million, up from $140 million in 2021 and $130 million in 2019.
The county expects to have a final estimate after WMATA finishes reviewing the 35% complete plans. Then, Arlington County will seek out a company to finish the designs and build the project.
“A second station entrance will improve access from the Glebe Road area and growing development in the western part of Ballston. The project will also improve egress in the event of an emergency incident requiring evacuation from the station and train platforms.”
There will be two street-level elevators and either escalators or stairs to an underground passageway and a new mezzanine with stairs and elevators to the train platform. The new entrance will have fare gates, fare vending machines and a station manager kiosk.
The project will come with improved street-level transit connections.
Map showing potential location of new Ballston Metro entrance (via Google Maps)
Protest at Wells Fargo in Rosslyn (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Protest at Wells Fargo in Rosslyn (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Protest at Wells Fargo in Rosslyn (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Protest at Wells Fargo in Rosslyn (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Protest at Wells Fargo in Rosslyn (photo via ThirdAct Virginia/Facebook)
A climate change protest temporarily shut down a Rosslyn bank this morning.
The relatively small demonstration drew a handful of older protests and a few of grad-school age to the Wells Fargo at 1500 Wilson Blvd.
The organizers, ThirdAct Virginia, touted it as a protest of elders demanding climate action alongside youth climate activists. It featured rocking chairs outside the bank and a sit-in inside. Just over a dozen people participated, most of them older.
The issue, according to organizers, is Wells Fargo’s role in the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a planned 300-mile natural gas pipeline which would run through parts of Virginia. Construction on the pipeline was again halted by a federal court this week, despite being fast-tracked by Congress in the recent debt limit deal.
More on the protest, below, from a ThirdAct Virginia press release.
Members of ThirdAct Virginia, elders demanding climate action, and youth climate activists shut down an Arlington branch of Wells Fargo, disrupting business by staging a sit-in inside and protesting outside.
The multi-generational group, some sitting in rocking chairs outside the bank, sang songs and chanted, and waved signs and banners, demanding that the bank stop funding new fossil fuel projects including the contested Mountain Valley Pipeline that cuts across the mountains of southern Appalachia in West Virginia and Virginia.
The Friday protest is part of a series of actions across the country against the big four dirty banks (Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, and Citibank) that are the worst offenders, continuing to finance billions of dollars in new fossil fuel projects, despite surging climate disasters. A large public protest with art, music and dance is planned for later in the day outside Wells Fargo headquarters in San Francisco.
The July 14 protests are timed to coincide with the announcement Friday of the bank’s 2023 second quarter earnings results.
The old Silver Diner site in Clarendon (via Google Maps)
The old Silver Diner site in Clarendon (via Google Maps)
Renderings of the hotel building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
The sites for the hotel and apartment buildings by TCS Realty Associates and The Donohoe Cos. (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the hotel building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the hotel building set to be built on the Silver Diner assemblage (via Arlington County)
Renderings of plaza space in the Silver Diner site redevelopment (via Arlington County)
Renderings of plaza space in the Silver Diner site redevelopment (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner assemblage (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
The empty Silver Diner in Clarendon may remain standing for a little longer while redevelopment plans for the site wrap up.
The former restaurant at 3200 Wilson Blvd closed in December and soon thereafter reopened in Ballston. Seven months later, developers proposing to build a hotel and apartment building on the site say more time is needed to make the ground floor of their project more welcoming to pedestrians.
Bounded by 10th Street N., Wilson Blvd and N. Irving Street, the site includes the diner, The Lot beer garden — itself issuing a last call for drinks this year — two brick structures called “The Doctors Building,” and an auto repair facility.
The developers, TCS Realty Associates and The Donohoe Cos., are asking the Arlington County Board for another two months to fix “unresolved design challenges” that arose during the public review process, per a county report. On Saturday, the Board is set to vote on the request, potentially delaying a final review until September.
Mostly, the design challenges relate to how the developer plans to use N. Irving Street.
TCS and Donohoe intend to put hotel-related facilities and a loading area along N. Irving Street, which Arlington County staff said in a report earlier this year deviates from the 2022 Clarendon Sector Plan. This plan, developed in anticipation of the Silver Diner redevelopment, among others, envisions this street as walkable and with outward-facing retail.
In response to earlier feedback, the developers added a “living green wall” to the hotel façade along N. Irving Street. While appreciative of the effort, staff said in March that a grassy wall does not address the lack of retail or the pedestrian-vehicle conflicts a loading area could create.
Façade changes to 3200 Wilson Blvd redevelopment (via Arlington County)
“The applicant has designed the ground floor plan of the Hotel building to have the less active uses (i.e. kitchen, employee break room, etc.) along Irving Street,” said a county report from March, adding that county planning documents instead suggest the street should have “retail, retail equivalents, food establishments, entertainment establishments.”
Arlington County says the loading area, meanwhile, pits vehicles turning in and out of the hotel against pedestrians who use N. Irving Street to access the Clarendon Metro station.
It anticipates more people using N. Irving Street to access a public plaza called for in the Clarendon Sector Plan. The space where this will go became public right of way after some street upgrades along Wilson Blvd. The future plaza will be delivered with a project to redevelop the Wells Fargo nearby.
Silver Diner site and future N. Irving Street plaza, elements emphasized by ARLnow (via Arlington County
“Irving Street is recognized as a pedestrian desire line from the Ashton Heights and Lyon Park Civic Associations to the Clarendon Metro stop,” the county report said. “The addition of a curb cut on Irving Street presents pedestrian conflicts and is contrary to County policies that discourage curb cuts and loading activity near public spaces, in this case the public plaza at the terminus of Irving Street.”
The sector plan suggests loading should instead occur on 10th Road N. It envisions the new road as an east-west connection to provide access to parking and loading facilities.
Missing Middle Lawsuit Trial Delayed — “Arlington Circuit Court’s schedule to hear arguments in the lawsuit by 10 Arlington homeowners challenging the residential rezoning that took effect July 1 was postponed, from a planned July 11 date to September 19. The reason? A delay by the Virginia Supreme Court in appointing a substitute judge after all four Arlington judges on May 25 asked to be disqualified because they are ‘situated’ in Arlington.” [Falls Church News-Press]
AWLA Kennels Are Full — From the Animal Welfare League of Arlington: “Empty the Shelters starts at AWLA in one week BUT don’t forget – our dog kennels are full so we are honoring these adoption fees starting today! ” [Facebook]
Nearby: Liberty Barbecue Changing — “Liberty Barbecue will reopen its doors next month as The Falls with a refreshed menu, overseen by a new executive chef, and a fully renovated interior. Still located at 370 West Broad Street in Falls Church, the Liberty Restaurant Group’s newest concept will feature mid-Atlantic and Southern cuisine, with more diverse offerings than its predecessor had. Diners can look forward to more poultry, seafood and bar options, though some fan favorites will remain.” [Arlington Magazine]
It’s Friday — A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm later in afternoon and evening. Partly sunny and sultry, with a high near 88. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. At night: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. [Weather.gov]
Utility truck on scene of N. Glebe Road crash (staff photo)
Arlington police car blocking N. Glebe Road after crash (staff photo)
A portion of N. Glebe Road was closed for more than an hour during the evening rush due to a serious crash.
The crash happened shortly after 5 p.m., on the steep hill between Military Road and Chain Bridge.
“At approximately 5:11 p.m., police were dispatched to the 4500 block of N. Glebe Road for the report of a two-vehicle crash with injuries,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow. “Three patients, all adults, were transported to the hospital — 1 with serious injuries and 2 with non-life-threatening injuries.”
The roadway reopened around 6:30 p.m., after the crash was cleared and crews inspected potential damage to utility lines.
