Dominion power outage map 1/12/16At least 2,700 Dominion customers are without power in South Arlington tonight.

The power went out as winds whipped up in advance of a brief period of snow around 7:15 p.m. Via Twitter, one resident reported the sound of a likely transformer explosion.

The power outage is affecting residents around Nauck and other areas around S. Glebe Road, south of Columbia Pike in Arlington, and around W. Glebe Road in Alexandria. Residents of Fairlington and other nearby neighborhoods reported that power was flickering around the start of the outage but quickly came back on.

According to the Dominion website, power is expected to be restored at some point between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.


Clarendon nightlife spot SoBe Bar & Bistro (3100 Clarendon Blvd) has closed last week and will be replaced with a new Spanish tapas restaurant.

The new restaurant will be called Pamplona and will be run by Social Restaurant Group, the company behind Provision No. 14 and The Prospect in the District, ARLnow.com has learned. Both restaurants are noted for their creative, theme-based decor.

Renovations are underway inside the former SoBe space, at the same time as a separate exterior renovation of the courtyard Pamplona will share with Mad Rose Tavern.

Social Restaurant Group wants to have Pamplona open by this spring, though hopes for speedy renovations in Arlington are usually met with disappointment thanks in large part to a stringent county permitting and inspection process.

Pamplona will face competition from La Tasca, Clarendon’s existing Spanish tapas destination.


Police car lightsArlington County Police are looking for a man who ran off with a diamond ring while browsing at a jewelry store in the Pentagon City mall.

Police were dispatched to the store around 2:30 p.m. Monday.

A man was in the jewelry store for about 10 minutes looking at rings, said ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage. At one point, he allegedly grabbed one of the rings — a diamond engagement ring — and took off running.

So far, police have declined to identify the jewelry store or the release the value of the ring.

The suspect is described as a 6-foot-tall black male in his 40s, with a medium build. He was wearing a tan thermal hat and a zip-up sweatshirt at the time of the crime, we’re told.


Robin in the winter (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)

Pentagon City Apartment Complex Gets Financing — The Altaire, the high-end residential development at 400 Army Navy Drive, has obtained $100 million in financing from Wells Fargo and is expected to begin construction this month. The 20-story complex will have two towers with a total of 453 units. Construction is expected to be complete by the second quarter of 2018. [Washington Business Journal]

History of Hall’s Hill — This year is the 150th anniversary of the historically African-American neighborhood of Hall’s Hill, also known as High View Park. An event on the community’s history last week revealed the origin of its name. Hall’s Hill is named after Bazil Hall, a white slaveholder who sold plots of land to freed slaves after the Civil War to spite his white neighbors. [InsideNova]

Arlington Real Estate Agent Invited to SOTU — Naveed Shah, an Army veteran and a Rosslyn-based real estate agent, was invited to be a guest of the White House at tonight’s State of the Union Address. Despite the fact that Shah and his family moved to the U.S. when he was two, after living in Saudi Arabia, Shah grew up in Northern Virginia and describes himself as “as American as it gets.” [Military Times, NBC Washington]

Local Immigrants Worried About ICE Raids — There’s growing fear among undocumented immigrants in Northern Virginia of stepped-up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Advocates are advising immigrant families “to have a plan for their kids in case they’re deported.” In other news, it’s said that ICE agents “are making their presence felt and regularly hang around the Taco Bell on Little River Turnpike” in Annandale. [Annandale VA]

Arlington Young Dems, GOPers Working Together — In a show of bipartisanship during the heat of a presidential election year, the chairs of the Arlington Young Democrats and the Arlington-Falls Church Young Republicans met over the weekend to plan joint community service events in 2016. [Twitter]

Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf


Track equipment similar to the one that broke down outside National Airport Monday afternoon (photo via WMATA)Metro riders had an especially awful commute home on the Yellow and Blue lines tonight.

A piece of maintenance equipment — like the one pictured, left — broke down just outside the National Airport station this afternoon, leading to single-tracking. While the equipment was eventually moved to allow normal rail operations, delays lingered into the evening rush.

Via Twitter, riders reported various problems, from long delays to trains being offloaded at already-crowded station.

https://twitter.com/savetheblueline/status/686671770435321857

https://twitter.com/IrishElCucuy/status/686672213378859008

https://twitter.com/Ian_Platz/status/686671879998980096

https://twitter.com/lizsourlemon/status/686676414624591872

As of publication time, even more issues and delays were being reported on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines in D.C.


Suspect in Wells Fargo robbery in Pentagon City (photo courtesy ACPD)A man has been arrested and charged in connection with two recent bank robberies in Arlington.

Nathaniel Moone, 45, was taken into custody this past Friday evening by Metro Transit Police, at the Eastern Market Metro station in D.C.

Police say Moone was the man who tried to rob a Wells Fargo bank in Rosslyn on Dec. 30, but fled before receiving any money. He later successfully robbed the Wells Fargo across from Costco in Pentagon City this past Thursday, Jan. 7.

Moone was identified by detectives following the Jan. 7 robbery and arrested the next day.

The full press release from the Arlington County Police Department:

A bank robbery suspect was taken into custody by the Metro Transit Police Department. Nathaniel Howard Moone, 45, of no fixed address, was arrested during the evening of January 8, 2015 as he exited the Eastern Market Metro station.  Moone was charged with bank robbery and attempted bank robbery and is currently being held pending extradition.

At approximately 4:48 pm on December 30, 2015, the Arlington County Emergency Communications Center was alerted of an attempted bank robbery that had just taken place at the Wells Fargo, located in the 1300 block of N. Wilson Boulevard. The subject attempted to rob the bank by passing a note to the teller but became frustrated and fled the scene on foot.

At approximately 10:10 am on January 7, 2016, the Arlington County Emergency Communications Center was alerted of a bank robbery that had just taken place at the Wells Fargo, located in the 1400 block of S. Fern Street. The subjected entered the bank and handed a teller a note that demanded money. The teller gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of money and the subject fled on foot. The suspect remained at-large for a little over twenty-four hours.

“Our detectives were able to identify this suspect in a timely manner as a direct result of our outstanding relationship and the ability to share resources with our partners at Metro Transit Police Department,” comments Daniel J. Murray, Deputy Chief of Criminal Investigations Division for Arlington County Police Department.


It didn’t take long for the Exxon station at the corner of N. Glebe Road and Carlin Springs Road to close following the Arlington County Board’s approval of a new apartment development in October.

The station is now shuttered and surrounded by a fence, as is the adjacent Prestige Certified Motors dealership (which moved to 7700 Lee Highway in Falls Church) and a surface parking lot once used by Macy’s. The block-long parcel of land is located across from Ballston Common Mall.

To be built on the parcel: a six-story, 173-unit apartment building dubbed 672 Flats. The building will include two ground floor retail spaces, an underground parking garage with 177 spaces and 70 bicycle parking spots.

No word yet on a construction timeline. Developer Penrose Group has completed a number of other projects around Arlington, including Pike 3400 on Columbia Pike, the Latitude Apartments in Virginia Square and the Residence Inn in Courthouse.


Arlington Police Car (Flickr pool photo by Brian Irwin)

Opower Staying in Arlington — In a “symbolic economic development win” for Arlington, Courthouse-based tech firm Opower will be staying put, at least for a couple of years. The company, which was visited by President Obama in 2010 and went public in 2014, was considering a move and was being courted by property owners in D.C. It has renewed its 42,000 square foot lease in Courthouse Tower (1515 N. Courthouse Road) through May 2018. [Washington Business Journal]

Arlington Has ‘Scars’ from Former Railroad Lines — Even in places in Arlington that have since been paved over with development, you can still see the “scars” from former rail lines in aerial photos. D.C. also has its fair share of “scarhitecture.” [Greater Greater Washington]

Orange Line Delays This Morning — There were delays on Metro’s Orange Line this morning after trains started single-tracking between West Falls Church and Vienna due to a track problem. [Twitter]

Flickr pool photo by Brian Irwin


County Manager Mark SchwartzMark Schwartz, who has served as interim County Manager since July 1, 2015, has been named Arlington’s permanent County Manager.

Schwartz was elevated to the temporary post after the retirement of former County Manager Barbara Donnellan. An Arlington resident since 1985, Schwartz previously was Arlington’s Director of Management and Finance and Chief Financial Officer before serving as Deputy County Manager under Donnellan.

The County Manager serves as the top executive in Arlington County government, managing the day-to-day operations of county government and its $943 million budget. The manager is appointed by the County Board.

The Board is slated to formally vote to approve Schwartz’s contract at its meeting on Saturday, Jan. 23.

County Board Chair Libby Garvey announced the selection of Schwartz in a memo to county employees shortly after 12:30 p.m. today.

County Employees –

I am pleased to announce that the Arlington County Board has selected Mark Schwartz as County Manager.

Mark is our unanimous choice, and we are very pleased to have him at the helm. He offers deep experience and knowledge of Arlington, but has demonstrated in the past six months an ability to look at things differently and a willingness to make changes. With Mark, we will have a tried-and-true Manager and a consummate professional able to work with this new Board to shape Arlington’s future.

We will be announcing this news to the public very shortly with a press release.

Our organization is filled with talent. Each and every one of you is critical to our success. As you know, Mark has been, and will be, a thoughtful and creative leader. Together, we will do great things and I’m excited!

Libby Garvey
Chair, Arlington County Board

The press release, after the jump.

(more…)


Scene of an morning assault in Lyon Village, at N. Adams Street(Updated at 3:55 p.m.) Police have released new information about an attack in Lyon Village that sent a man to the hospital with a serious head injury.

Arlington County Police say that the victim, who was struck in the head with a bottle, was a homeowner who discovered a man in his house during a residential burglary.

The incident happened around 10 a.m. on the 1800 block of N. Adams Street, near the intersection with Lee Highway.

Police say the victim was at home during the break-in, but at first didn’t hear the suspect. When he discovered the burglar in the house, he confronted him and a struggle ensued in the kitchen.

During the struggle, the suspect grabbed a bottle and hit the victim over the head with it, causing a “severe laceration,” according to Arlington County Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage. The suspect then fled on food.

The homeowner, bleeding profusely, made his way to a neighbor’s house. The neighbor then called police to report the assault.

The victim was transported via ambulance to Virginia Hospital Center with what’s described as a non-life-threatening injury. Police found a large amount of blood on the ground, including on the neighbor’s front step, and recovered a pair of bloody gloves, according to scanner traffic.

Police are still investigating the incident but currently believe that the attacker did not know the victim. The suspect is described as a 5’7″ black male in his 50s.

Earlier in the investigation, police said that they believed the victim was struck while walking down the street.


Scene from a commute (Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick)

Violent Attack at Pentagon City Metro — A seemingly random act of violence at the Pentagon City Metro station injured a man late last month. Details of the attack were just released: a 19-year-old man collapsed on the platform after being sucker-punched. Witnesses took cell phone photos of the attacker, who fled. The incident is one of a string of recent violent incidents at Metro stations. [Fox 5 DC]

GGW Questions Garvey’s Leadership — Will new County Board Chair Libby Garvey move Arlington forward with smart infrastructure investments, or pull back and scale down the county’s ambitions? That’s the question being posed by urbanist blog Greater Greater Washington, which has been critical of Garvey’s anti-streetcar stance. [Greater Greater Washington]

Garvey Announces Reelection Bid — Thought she has positioned herself as a somewhat anti-establishment figure in the local party, Libby Garvey detailed her Democratic bonafides while announcing her reelection bid at the Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting earlier this week. Garvey is facing a primary challenge on her left, from small business owner Erik Gutshall. [Libby Garvey]

Grant for ‘Little Saigon’ History — A $9,000 grant will allow Arlington County to produce a full-color booklet preserving the history of Arlington’s “Little Saigon” — a concentration of Vietnamese immigrants and businesses in Clarendon in the 1970s, before the opening of Metro. [Arlington County]

Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick


View More Stories