News

Arlington to Request, Receive Millions for Transportation Projects

By Ethan Rothstein

Road construction in ClarendonArlington County could soon be getting an influx of state transportation dollars in the tens of millions.

The Arlington County Board will vote on Saturday to apply to the Virginia Department of Transportation for $4.2 million in funds to help complete seven transportation projects. In addition, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority is ready to reimburse the county for four transportation projects worth a combined $18.8 million.

The Board is expected to request $4.215 million in matching funds from VDOT for the following projects:

  • $1.45 million for rehabilitation of the Shirlington Road bridge over Four Mile Run
  • $800,000 for reconfiguration of the Boundary Channel Drive/I-395 interchange
  • $530,000 for sidewalks and bike lanes on S. Walter Reed Drive from Arlington Mill Drive to Four Mile Run Drive over Four Mile Run (with a $591,000 local match)
  • $245,000 for sidewalks on N. Carlin Springs Road from Edison Street to Vermont Street
  • $500,000 for reconstruction of the intersections of Arlington Ridge Road at S. Lang and S. Lynn Streets (with a $595,000 local match)
  • $235,000 for sidewalk and crossing improvements to Pershing Drive between N. Barton and N. Piedmont Streets (with a $245,000 local match)
  • $455,000 for sidewalk and crossing improvements to Military Road from Nellie Custis Drive to 38th Street N.

The NVTA, which manages the allocation of funds from last year’s HB2313 transportation funding bill, already approved the four projects for which Arlington will receive funding, but NVTA spokeswoman Kala Quintana that the project agreements have recently been reached, and the authority is finally reading to start “mailing some checks.”

The four projects: $12 million toward the Columbia Pike Multimodal Project; $4.3 million for the Boundary Channel Drive interchange; $1.5 million for significant improvements to the Crystal City Multimodal Center on 18th Street S. between Bell and Eads Streets; and $1 million to purchase four buses for the ART 43 route, to mitigate the impacts the Silver Line has had on Blue Line commuters.

“[Arlington] can submit bills for reimbursement once they start turning dirt, purchase the bus, etc.,” Quintana said. “The project list was approved last year but the Authority needed to work with the jurisdictions to create the funding agreements… We are now ready to distribute, or have distributed these dollars. All they have to do is send us the bill and we will send them the money.”

Quintana said the NVTA is beginning work on the next two years of its six-year funding plan, which will distribute an estimated $203 million in FY 2015 funds among all the jurisdictions in Northern Virginia: Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Loudoun County, Prince William County, Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax, Manassas and Manassas Park.

The NVTA estimates Arlington will receive an additional $11.2 million in direct funding through the transportation package, which is likely to be allocated to its Transportation Capital Fund.

File photo

Democratic Candidates Call for ‘Broadly Inclusive’ Public Land Discussion

By ARLnow.com

Ashlawn Elementary School addition groundbreaking ceremony (photo courtesy APS)The Democratic candidates for Arlington County Board and School Board released a joint statement Tuesday regarding public lands and the school capacity crunch.

County Board candidate Alan Howze and School Board candidates Barbara Kanninen and Nancy Van Doren said that while the school system should address capacity needs “expeditiously and cost-effectively,” it should do so following a “broadly inclusive community process” to discuss the use of public lands for schools, parks and affordable housing.

In response, incumbent County Board candidate John Vihstadt said that while a community process is currently underway, “what is also needed is a recognition that some difficult choices will have to be made and that hard trade-offs must occur.”

School Board candidate Audrey Clement, who is running against Kanninen (Van Doren is running unopposed), in turn questioned why the county’s school construction costs and per-pupil costs are significantly higher than other Northern Virginia jurisdictions.

The full statements from the candidates, after the jump.

File photo courtesy APS

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

A leafy entrance to D.C. on I-66 near Rosslyn

Halloween Bar Crawl Begins Discounting — Tickets for the Nov. 1 Halloween bar crawl in Clarendon are being discounted from $15 to $9 on LivingSocial. So far, 63 tickets have been purchased on the site. A police source tells ARLnow.com that ACPD is planning on having “a number of officers specifically detailed to Clarendon for the crawl and throughout the night until a little after closing time.” [LivingSocial]

APS Finds Ways to Make Kids Want Veggies — The Arlington School Board was flabbergasted to learn that the school system’s food services division has apparently found a way to make kids want to eat their veggies. The secret: creatively pairing veggies with other foods. For instance, while spinach alone had an anemic 8 percent selection rate, a spinach and strawberry salad was selected by 78 percent of elementary students. [InsideNova]

What Foreign Students Like About Arlington — A group of exchange students from Germany and Ukraine recently talked about their experience staying in Arlington. They said they liked Arlington’s Metro access and bike paths, and were impressed by how proud Americans are of their country. However, our food got mixed reviews: “The food, they said, tastes good but is ‘a bit unhealthy.'” [Falls Church News-Press]

Open House for TJ Site Evaluation — The Thomas Jefferson Working Group, which is charged with evaluating the feasibility of a new elementary school near Thomas Jefferson Middle School, will hold an open house Saturday, inviting the community to “learn about the process, review site materials, provide feedback and ask questions.” A vocal group of residents has spoken out against the potential loss of parkland at the site.

Kudos for Crystal City’s Startup Scene — Southern Alpha, a website that writes about startups in the southeastern U.S., is impressed with Crystal City’s recent entrepreneurial push. [Southern Alpha]

Man With Gun Tries to Rob Pentagon City Rite Aid

By ARLnow.com

The Rite Aid at Pentagon RowA man with a gun tried to rob the Rite Aid pharmacy on Pentagon Row Friday night, according to Arlington County police.

The man entered the store just past 8:00 p.m. and brandished a gun at the pharmacist, demanding prescription medications. The pharmacist was able to shield himself behind protective glass, foiling the robbery attempt.

The suspect took off on foot before police arrived.

“The suspect is described as a white or Hispanic male in his twenties, approximately 5’8″ tall and 160 lbs,” according to a crime report. “He was wearing a black long sleeve sweater, blue jeans and a white and orange baseball hat at the time of the incident.”

North Arlington House Could Receive Historic Designation

By Ethan Rothstein
1/6

A house in the Waycroft-Woodlawn neighborhood in North Arlington will be considered for a historic designation by the County Board at its Saturday meeting.

The house, at 5151 14th Street N., just a few blocks south of Virginia Hospital Center, is a Queen Anne-style dwelling and was built, according to county staff, in 1881 and called Broadview. It was constructed by Robert Stinson Lacey, a Civil War veteran who “operated one of the County’s large market farms at and surrounding Broadview, and played an active role in local political and social affairs,” the staff report states.

Currently, the home and property is owned by Alex Deucher and Angela Guzman, who moved in about three years ago. Deucher contacted the county earlier this year to have a “local historic district” designation placed on the house, because the two “just wanted to see it protected.”

“This house is just so cool,” he said this afternoon while giving this reporter a tour of the exterior. “It’s got a lot of neat features that you don’t really see in newer houses. It’s got about 12-foot ceilings on the lower level, big parlors and a big porch. A lot of nights we sit out here and eat dinner.”

The house is painted yellow with blue trim, and many of the original features are still in existence and, according to Deucher, use.

“It represents the evolution of a simple I-house into an ornate Queen Anne-styled dwelling corresponding to the architectural trends of the late-19th century,” the staff report states. “[It] possesses integrity of design, materials, form, plan, and workmanship to convey its various periods of construction; and remains one of the best examples of Queen Anne-styled architecture in Arlington County.”

If the historic district status is approved, all renovations and major work on the house will have to be approved by the county. After Deucher called the county to apply for the status, he said the staff was able to pull the history of the house “all the way back to the land grant from King George.”

Arlington Independent Media to Launch FM Station

By Ethan Rothstein

Arlington Independent Media logo (image via Facebook)Arlington Independent Media, the Courthouse-based nonprofit organization that encourages average residents to produce and create their own content, plans to launch an FM radio station next year.

AIM announced yesterday that it had been approved by the Federal Communications Commission to construct a “low-power” FM radio station, one with a 3.5-mile broadcasting radius, from its headquarters in Courthouse. While the radius is small, it will cover most of Arlington and reach parts of the National Mall and the White House in D.C.

“Our focus will be on Arlington with the intent to provide hyper-local news, information, and entertainment,” AIM Executive Director Paul LeValley said in a press release.

The station will located at 96.7 on the FM dial and, while “the details are still being worked out” for programming, AIM said the goal is for members of the community to host their own radio shows for news, music, talk and event coverage.

“We’ve been impressed at the high degree of interest within the community,” LeValley said. “Radio programming remains very popular and a lot of people seem to want to participate in creating it.”

The station will be broadcast at 100 watts, and, being a low-power FM station, it can only be used for educational purposes, according to FCC regulations. The station may not be used for commercial means.

AIM’s Board of Directors approved the construction of the new radio station last month after the FCC signed off in June, according to the press release. The Board established a committee to work “alongside staff, AIM members, and the public to plan and implement all the steps required to build and operate a low power FM station.”

Image via Facebook

Fairlington Farmers Market May Get County Board Approval

By Ethan Rothstein

Fairlington farmers market location (photo via Arlington County)(Updated at 10:30 a.m.) The proposed Fairlington farmers market could clear its final regulatory hurdle this Saturday, when the Arlington County Board will vote on whether to approve it.

County staff recommends the approval of the farmers market, proposed by the Arlington-based nonprofit Field to Table, citing a positive response from the community. The market would be held in the parking lot and on the pedestrian path of the Fairlington Community Center (3308 S. Stafford Street).

The market, if approved, would be held on Sundays from April to November, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., according to the county’s staff report. The first market would be held in April 2015.

The Fairlington market would be the county’s ninth farmers market. Currently, the closest market for Fairlington and Shirlington residents is the new Arlington Mill farmers market.

Field to Table, in its proposal, anticipates between 15 and 20 vendors for the market, with up to 29 tents under which goods and produce would be sold.

Some in the community expressed concern about the market’s impacts, but county staff said those potential impacts will be mitigated thanks to proper planning.

“Staff received correspondence from area residents who are concerned about impacts to parking, traffic, safety, and trash/environmental impacts related to the proposed use,” according to the report. “The recommended conditions of approval will mitigate any potential adverse impacts to the site.”

Staff said there is ample parking in the community center’s parking lot, but the market is designed with intent of having Fairlington residents walk to the center. The community center, which has been open since 1940 and used to be Fairlington Elementary School, is closed on Sundays, staff said, so the market wouldn’t conflict with any of its regular programming.

If approved, the County Board will review Field to Table’s permit to operate the market next October.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Roadside campaign signs (Flickr pool photo by Erinn Shirley)

Seeking Fed Funds for Transportation Projects — Arlington County is seeking $840,000 in federal grant funds for three transportation projects. The projects include: bicycle and pedestrian improvements near McKinley Elementary School, Americans with Disabilities Act improvements along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, and an expansion of the Capitol Bikeshare system. [InsideNova]

D.C. More Expensive than NYC, SF? — In terms of housing-related costs, it’s more expensive to live in the D.C. area than New York City or San Francisco. That’s according to a new study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. [Washington Post]

Cyclists Facing ‘Bikelash’ — Bicyclists don’t like being called “bullies” and “terrorists,” but the county’s Mobility Lab blog argues that it’s best not to respond with reason and logic to the increasing amount of “bikelash.” Instead, the blog encourages cyclists to act more strategically by organizing, publishing their own media outlets and engaging in the political process. [Mobility Lab]

Flickr pool photo by Erinn Shirley

McAuliffe Discusses Startup Economy in Rosslyn

By Ethan Rothstein
1/7

Gov. Terry McAuliffe met with founders and executives from the Tandem NSI initiative in Rosslyn on Friday, discussing ideas for how the state government can help startups grow.

Six companies from Tandem NSI — a public-private partnership between Arlington Economic Development and investment firm Amplifier Ventures focusing on turning national security innovations into private sector businesses– were on hand to demonstrate their products for McAuliffe.

“There are 31,000 tech jobs open in Northern Virginia that we cannot fill,” McAuliffe told the crowd of a few dozen entrepreneurs and staffers from the county. “We have 840,000 veterans in Virginia. Let’s get them credentialed and trained so they can join the workforce.”

McAuliffe seemed receptive to some new ideas the entrepreneurs had. One said that the Center for Innovative Technology Gap Funding that the state provides to Virginia-based startups isn’t enough.

“CIT gives $50,000 to cybersecurity firms,” said Steven Chen, a board member with Blue Venture Investors. “That doesn’t really move the needle. A company can move to Maryland and get $2 million.”

Another member of the audience said they had a product in testing, but the step from testing to the first client is a source of anxiety. She recommended the state become an early adopter of some startup technologies, both to help the state innovate and give credibility to Virginia startups.

“I think some of the startups that may have applications for us should come to us first,” McAuliffe said, telling his secretary of technology, Karen Jackson, to explore the possibility. “If we could be the first customer for a startup, that would be a great idea.”

McAuliffe pointed out that Virginia will continue to see its jobs from the Department of Defense cut due to sequestration over the next two years, and that the “Virginia economy of old where we relied on the federal government is over.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

World War II-era aircraft flyover on Sunday (Flickr pool photo by Keith Hall)

Three Arlington Restaurants in ‘Dining Guide’ — Three Arlington restaurants are in Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema’s annual Fall Dining Guide. The eateries getting the honor: Green Pig Bistro, Thai Square and Water & Wall. [Washington Post]

Arlington Woman Wins Army Ten-Miler — An Arlington woman was the top female finisher in the 30th annual Army Ten-Miler on Sunday. Kerri Gallagher, 25, won the race with a time of 54:50. Two other Arlington women cracked the top 10: eighth place finisher Samantha Diehl, 26, and tenth place finisher Amy Laskowske, 27. [Stars and Stripes, Army Ten-Miler]

Rare Photo of Arlington House Slave — The National Park Service unveiled a rare photo of Selina Norris Gray, a slave at Robert E. Lee’s Arlington House, over the weekend. The photo was purchased on eBay by a Park Service volunteer, who recognized Gray in the photo. It was sold by a seller in England who had found a box of “unwanted” photos at a yard sale. [Washington Post, WJLA]

Home Sales Up, Prices Down — The average home sale price in Arlington slid 2.8 percent in September, compared to one year prior, but the volume of sales rose by about 10 percent. [InsideNova]

Demolitions in Historic Districts — Since the beginning of the year, applications have been filed to demolish at least 25 homes in historic districts in Arlington. “The looming demolition of these houses and buildings represents an incredible loss of history, architecture, time, energy and materials,” the group Preservation Arlington said in a blog post. As previously reported, home demolitions are on pace for a record pace this year. [Preservation Arlington]

Flickr pool photo by Keith Hall

Crime Report: Armed Robbery at Pike 7-Eleven

By ARLnow.com
File photo

The 7-Eleven store at 3600 Columbia Pike was robbed at gunpoint in the early morning hours last Saturday.

The suspect, who was wearing a surgical mask, made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. From this week’s Arlington County crime report:

ARMED ROBBERY, 141004019, 3600 block of S. Columbia Pike. At 3:18 am on October 4, an unknown male subject brandished a firearm and robbed the cashier at 7-11. The suspect fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect is described as a Hispanic male in his thirties, approximately 5’6″ tall with an average build. He was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, black pants and had a white surgical mask covering his face.

Last Friday, a teen stole beer from the Giant supermarket at Penrose Square. He allegedly assaulted a security guard who tried to stop him as he fled the scene.

ROBBERY BY FORCE, 141003057, 2500 block of S. 9th Street. At 7:30 pm on October 3, a male subject concealed beer in a backpack at a grocery store and assaulted a security guard when he was confronted. The suspect fled the scene on foot. He is described as a teenage Hispanic male and approximately 5’6″ tall. He was wearing a white shirt with gray stripes.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump. All named suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.

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