Opinion

Morning Poll: Is a dip in home prices a good thing?

By ARLnow.com
For sale / contract pending real estate sign (file photo)

The once-hot real estate market in Northern Virginia is cooling as interest rates rise.

The median home sale price dipped slightly in July. While Arlington’s stats did not include a price drop — prices here have held up better than the outer suburbs — the number of home sales dropped.

More from the Sun Gazette:

The median sales price for homes that sold in Northern Virginia in July stood at $580,000, according to figures reported by the Virginia Realtors trade group.

While higher by nearly 5 percent than the $553,000 recorded in July 2021, the $580,000 figure trails the median sales price of $583,000 for the first seven months of 2022.

Put another way: While the year-to-date median sales price through July was up $13,100 (from $539,900 during the first seven months of 2021), July 2022’s sales price was down $3,000 from the same point a year before.

A sign of the apocalypse? No. But decidedly a sign of cooling. Especially as the summer months tend to be among the strongest, price-wise, in the local real-estate market.

Today we’re asking a somewhat counterintuitive question: do you, personally, think this dip in prices is a good thing?

After all, the run-up in home costs have come at the expense of affordability for first-time homebuyers, pricing many middle-income families out of the market for homes in places like Arlington, even as it has benefited existing homeowners.

So, purely from your perspective, do you see a home price swoon as a net negative or a net plus?

Most-read Arlington stories of the week: August 22-26

By ARLnow.com
Construction continues at Amazon’s HQ2 site in Pentagon City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

We’re calling it a week a touch early today, while most of you have already started your weekend, so we can better prep for next week.

While this month has been pretty slow overall, the week that will usher in the start of September promises to be a bit busier, with the start of school, some local business-related scoops, and other stories that are already in planning.

Not that this week was a snoozefest. Quite the opposite, in fact, considering that all of our top 10 most-read stories had more than 2,500 views.

Here are the top stories of the past week:

  1. New concept plan for Langston Blvd shows sweeping vision of greener corridor with taller buildings
  2. EXCLUSIVE: Scott Parker, Cowboy Cafe owners and manager partnering on Forest Inn replacement
  3. Police: Nude man attacked officer, ran into Ballston apartment
  4. NEW: Arlington ranks No. 3 on “top family-friendly cities” list
  5. Another commercial vehicle tow leads to another questionable call to police
  6. Man arrested after attack in front of library
  7. Arlington’s planetarium is looking to finally reopen this fall with a new director and modern projector
  8. NEW: “Old School” Italian restaurant and wine bar coming to Ballston area
  9. Metro says “plan now” for the eight-month-long Yellow Line shutdown that starts next month
  10. Starting as a Rosslyn food cart, District Taco is taking over the world “one taco at a time”

Feel free to discuss these stories or anything else of local interest in the comments. Have a great last weekend of August, Arlington!

Morning Poll: Where are you from, originally?

By ARLnow.com
Light streaks from cars on I-395 in Shirlington during a cloudy evening (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)

A decade ago, we asked readers where they were from, originally.

The poll found that only 11% of readers were from Arlington and only 20% from elsewhere in the D.C. area. Combined, that’s less than the just over 35% who said they were originally from the “north.”

On a Friday in late August, we’re asking that question again, but with the regions more precisely defined. Let’s see if the number of Arlington and D.C. area natives is higher than last time.

Morning Poll: What do you consider an ideal temperature range for outdoor exercise?

By ARLnow.com
A runner at Long Bridge Park (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

After a pretty nice couple of days, temperatures in the 90s are back — and sticking around for awhile.

That’s not great news if you’ve been waiting for cooler weather as fall approaches, so you can better enjoy your outdoor fitness routine.

The return of the heat has us wondering: what do you consider an ideal temperature for outdoor exercise — like running, biking, and tennis — or strenuous activities, like mowing the lawn?

Are you more a fan of sunny 75 degree afternoons, misty 45 degree mornings, or something else? Let us know in the poll and in the comments below.

Morning Poll: Has remote work made your team more productive?

By ARLnow.com
Person working on laptop (Photo by Burst on Unsplash)

Nearly half of remote and hybrid government workers say their team performance has improved during the course of the pandemic.

That’s according to new research from Crystal City-based consulting firm Eagle Hill Consulting.

From a press release:

 Forty-six percent of government employees who telework – both fully remote and hybrid employees – say their team’s performance improved during the past two years. Only 35 percent of in-person government workers say their team’s performance has improved during the period, according to new research from Eagle Hill Consulting.

And as the trend for remote work continues among both federal and state and local governments, more than half of the government workforce reports teleworking, either in a fully remote (26 percent) or hybrid environment (24 percent). A substantially higher number of younger workers in government report working fully remotely (34 percent) as compared to mid-career (24 percent) and older workers (11 percent). Those working in-person are far more likely to be older workers (70 percent).

Findings like this may lend further credence to the idea that hybrid and fully-remote work environments are not just a pandemic blip and are here to say, which will present significant challenges for both office building owners and local governments, including here in Arlington.

Today, we wanted to pose the performance question to readers, as well.

Are you working remotely, either on a full-time or hybrid basis? And, if so, do you think remote work has improved or hurt your team’s overall productivity?

Most-read Arlington stories of the week: August 15-19

By ARLnow.com
The U.S. Park Police helicopter over Thursday’s police incident in Lyon Park (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

This week was slow at times, news-wise, but next week appears to be shaping up to be more active.

Stay tuned for reporting on a number of important local topics. Oh, and we’ll also have polls, to keep readers engaged through end-of-summer summer vacations and back-to-school preps.

In the meantime, below are the most-read stories of the past week — excluding Friday night’s Four Courts coverage.

  1. Quick-thinking customers and first responders helped to save lives
  2. It’s Advanced vs. Amazon after delivery van towed from Buckingham apartments
  3. Seven lesser-known features of this week’s Arlington County Fair
  4. New membership program launches at several Arlington bars, providing beers and pizza slices
  5. Still unclear what led to fiery crash, but Four Courts hopes to rebuild
  6. Morning Poll: How big of a problem is cut-through traffic in Arlington?
  7. The $38 million overhaul of the new Washington-Liberty annex is nearly complete
  8. A volunteer firefighter at a going-away party helped to save lives at Ireland’s Four Courts
  9. UPDATED: Search for man with weapon closes roads in Lyon Park
  10. Police investigating gunshots fired in Green Valley
  11. Noisy utility covers that have annoyed neighbors in Ballston for years could get finally fixed
  12. ACPD investigating pair of retail robberies and a car wash gun brandishing

Speaking of Four Courts, here’s some late-breaking news from the pub, which is hoping to reopen in a limited capacity, presumably utilizing the rear section of the business that was not damaged.

Feel free to discuss these stories or anything else of local interest in the comments. Have a great weekend, Arlington!

This month’s Mike Mount cartoon: neighborhood names

By ARLnow.com
“So you live next to where the Taco Bell Cantina is going in. Nice, the ‘TaBeCa’ neighborhood will be jumpin’!”

“Stop. Just…stop.”

This week, Mike Mount is tackling the topic of recently-created neighborhood names.

Mike’s new cartoon pokes fun at modern place name inventions, perhaps given recent media attention for National Landing — the nearly four-year-old collective term for Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard — and its self-appointed “NaLa” nickname.

There is an obvious South Park reference to be made here, and the cartoon comes up with its own absurd new place name. But one thing that’s not fictional: there is, in fact, a Taco Bell Cantina coming soon — to Courthouse.

Catch all of Mike Mount’s local ‘toons in the ARLnow Press Club weekend newsletter.

Morning Poll: How big of a problem is cut-through traffic in Arlington?

By ARLnow.com
Neighborhood cut-through traffic near Duke Street in Alexandria (courtesy Jill Hoffman)

Cut-through traffic may not make many headlines here in Arlington, but it has been a big topic of conversation in our neighbor to the south.

Alexandria communities, particularly those along Duke Street, have long complained about drivers trying to beat the traffic on the main road by taking neighborhood streets. The city has even implemented a pilot program intended to cut down on cut-through traffic, which some residents say is made worse by navigation apps steering people around traffic congestion.

Outwardly, there has not been a similar outcry here in Arlington. In fact, the county — at least as of a few years ago — has actually seen traffic volumes decline on many major roads despite population growth.

But that doesn’t mean that cut-through traffic is not a concern for some. Last month a proposed new road segment in Douglas Park was put on hold, in part due to worries about cut-through traffic. Last year, cut-through traffic was brought up as VDOT considered various plans to turn Route 1 in Crystal City into an “urban boulevard,” which raised the possibility of some existing traffic spilling onto neighborhood streets.

In 2017, meanwhile, an Aurora Hills resident said in a letter to the editor that changes to S. Eads Street resulted in cut-through traffic in her neighborhood. (To our knowledge, that particular concern has faded in recent years.)

Typically, when traffic on local roads becomes a significant safety concern in Arlington, the go-to action for the county government is to slow rather than restrict traffic, by implementing traffic calming measures, like speed bumps, narrowed lanes and reduced speed limits. But there are still examples of local streets near schools, for instance, with restrictions intended to prohibit cut-through drivers, as well as other instances in which a road was split into two dead-end sections for similar reasons.

This morning we’re wondering whether, in 2022, Arlington residents consider cut-through traffic to be a significant problem here.

Most-read Arlington stories of the week: August 8-12

By ARLnow.com
Sunset cycle on the Mt. Vernon Trail (Flickr pool photo by Emma K. Alexandra)

After a steamy stretch, Mother Nature is rewarding us with a pair of new-perfect days.

We hope you are able to get out there and enjoy the weather tonight and tomorrow. In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to read, the past week’s most-read ARLnow articles are below.

  1. Severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings issued for Arlington (Aug. 10)
  2. Morning Poll: Clarendon gun store now open
  3. Restaurants and other local businesses currently listed for sale in Arlington
  4. Arlington officer arrested after alleged off-duty assault
  5. Arlington County is setting up public monkeypox vaccine clinics as cases rise
  6. Flood Watch in effect for Arlington and most of N. Va.
  7. Arlington eateries gearing up for summer Restaurant Week
  8. Regional park plan calls for expanding capacity of the W&OD Trail in Arlington
  9. Seven-year-old Jaxon Vega is Arlington’s skateboarding phenom
  10. DoD says drone seen flying near Pentagon was ‘security exercise’

Have a great weekend, Arlington! We’ll see you back here on Monday, but in the meantime feel free to discuss any topic of local interest in the comment section.

Flickr pool photo by Emma K. Alexandra

Morning Poll: When do you typically buy your first fall beer?

By ARLnow.com
Pumpkin beer in the Clarendon Trader Joe’s on Aug. 10, 2016

It will be hot again today but things should start cooling off by the weekend, providing an early preview of the season to come.

As the calendar marches inexorably towards September, there’s a certain feeling in the still-humid air: a sense that fall will be here sooner rather than later. And that’s only enforced by what we’re starting to see on store shelves around Arlington.

Exhibit A:

Yes, like it or not, those pumpkin and Oktoberfest beers are back. As Arrowine’s Beermonger column discussed last August, it seems that fall beers arrive earlier in the summer with each passing year. And while that outrages some summer stans, those whose vibe is more a hot coffee and a warm sweater seem to like it.

After all, the breweries wouldn’t be pushing their orange-clad cases out the door if people weren’t buying them.

So this morning we’re wondering — with apologies for asking a similar poll question on this exact day in 2016 — when do you typically make your first fall beer purchase?

Morning Poll: Clarendon gun store now open

By ARLnow.com
1/3

Gun store Nova Armory is now open in Clarendon, after moving from its previous Lyon Park location.

The store at 2607 Wilson Blvd opened on the same day that ARLnow reported on the move, according to a Facebook post.

So far, the storefront is not marked from the outside, though there is a sign on the door instructing delivery drivers not to leave boxes outside. Opposition to Nova Armory’s opening in Clarendon was more muted than its original opening in Lyon Park, which was subject to community meetings, a letter from local lawmakers and a lawsuit (filed by Nova Armory against its critics).

The store’s actual time in business has seen considerably less drama, save for several burglaries and large crowds of customers at the outset of the pandemic.

That all said, what do you think of a gun store operating in the Clarendon neighborhood? Does the Metro corridor location change youe opinion compared to the store’s current location near Route 50?

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