Comcast employee works on lines in 2010 (file photo)
As we have been reporting, local public access station Arlington Independent Media is at a crossroads as it vies for funding from Arlington County and local cable providers.
Despite some internal strife, a bigger force is driving the existential questions around AIM: the ongoing loss of cable TV subscribers known as cord cutting.
Cable providers are losing some 10% of video customers every year, as consumers rely instead on some combination of broadcast TV and streaming. For some, cutting the cord is all about saving on those steep cable bills, while for others it’s simply a matter of not wanting to watch commercial-laden cable channels anymore.
Whatever the case, cord cutting will have notable impacts on everything from cable access channels to local TV news to professional sports teams — which derive significant revenue from cable channels — in the coming years.
Given that, we’re wondering how many readers have decided to cut the cord so far.
Dogs playing in the snow (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)
It’s the Five and Five, where nonprofit Washington Consumers’ Checkbook provides five top-rated local businesses and five tips for getting great service and prices. ARLnow readers can access all of Checkbook’s ratings of local veterinarians until Jan. 15 at Checkbook.org/ARLnow/vets.
The following veterinary practices are best bets for Arlingtonians, according to the Washington Consumers’ Checkbook.
These five received a top rating for quality (as reported by their customers in Checkbook’s surveys).
Arlington Animal Hospital
2301 Columbia Pike #G-1
Arlington, VA 22204
703-920-5300
Caring Hands Animal Hospital
2955 S Glebe Rd #C
Arlington, VA 22206
703-535-3100
Elpaw Veterinary Clinic
33 S Pickett St
Alexandria, VA 22304
703-751-3707
Northside Veterinary Clinic
4003 Langston Blvd
Arlington, VA 22207
703-525-7115
NOVA Cat Clinic
3838 Cathedral Ln
Arlington, VA 22203
703-525-1955
Checkbook’s Top Five Tips for Getting Great Vet Care for Less Scratch
Size up veterinary practices. While you can’t assess all aspects of a veterinarian’s skills and expertise, you can judge many factors central to good medical care: Can you arrange to quickly get an appointment? Does the vet listen and communicate well? Spend enough time with you?
Look for a vet who will provide thorough advice and comprehensive materials to help you avoid future office visits. For the health of your pet—and your wallet—the vet should offer advice on disease prevention, ways to spot health problems on your own, and taking care of sick pets.
Shop for price. Checkbook’s undercover shoppers collected prices from local vets for six different procedures and found big price differences. To spay a seven-month-old, 25-pound dog, area practices charge fees ranging from $235 to $1,404.
Don’t put much weight in American Animal Hospital Association accreditation. Veterinary hospitals can become accredited by the AAHA by meeting certain minimum standards. Interestingly, among the veterinary practices evaluated by Checkbook, AAHA accreditation seems to have little relationship to service quality.
Think twice before buying pet insurance. Checkbook recently analyzed pet insurance policies and found that in most cases, even the best plans ended up costing more in premiums than they paid out over a pet’s lifetime.
Washington Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help consumers get the best service and lowest prices. We are supported by consumers and take no money from the service providers we evaluate.
Rendering of aerial view of Monumental Arena development (image courtesy of JBG SMITH)
Rendering of concert venue at Monumental Arena development (image courtesy of JBG SMITH)
Rendering of outdoor plaza at Monumental Arena development (image courtesy of JBG SMITH)
Map of Monumental Arena development (image courtesy of JBG SMITH)
The Washington Capitals and Wizards are planning to move to Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood.
The announcement was made this morning in tents set up next to the Potomac Yard Metro entrance, where a new sports arena and entertainment complex is planned — about a half mile from the Arlington border.
The project will be adjacent to the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in the Alexandria portion of National Landing — the collective term for Potomac Yard, Crystal City and Pentagon City.
“After many years of dreaming, many years of discussion, I’m pleased to announce that right here, in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard, we have a plan to unleash a brighter, more extraordinary future,” said [Virginia Gov. Glenn] Youngkin. “We will build a spectacular $2 billion dollar sports and entertainment district.”
[Team owner Ted] Leonsis said the move to Virginia is a “transformative step forward.”
“I have always believed there is a higher calling in sports — to unify our community, build a lasting legacy over multiple generations, and lift all our neighbors towards a shared sense of prosperity,” Leonsis said. “Today, we deepen that commitment as we enter a phase of rapid expansion in service to our fans, employees, and partners.”
Leonsis said starting a new stadium with a sense of tabula rasa was a big part of Potomac Yard’s appeal.
“When I saw 70 acres and the ability to start with a clean slate… to build a digital first experience, it really is a very romantic but also pragmatic vision that we can’t do anywhere else,” Leonsis said. “I got goosebumps again when I came here a week ago and looked at all of the expansion capabilities.”
As part of the deal, the construction and ownership of the arena would be overseen by a new Virginia stadium authority, and the arena would be leased to Monumental.
“Subject to legislative approval by the Virginia General Assembly, the Entertainment District will break ground in 2025 and open in late 2028,” said a press release from the governor’s office.
ARLnow is working to learn more about what this will mean for Arlington, from plans for changes to Route 1 to the Capitals practice facility moving from the Iceplex in Ballston.
In the meantime, we were wondering whether the move from Chinatown in D.C. to Potomac Yard will drive more game day attendance from Arlington residents. Do you think you will go to more games at an Alexandria facility, compared to your current attendance at Capital One Arena?
Christmas decorations weighed down by snow in North Arlington (staff photo)
Last week ARLnow received an interesting reader email.
The writer’s suggestion: we should beautify Arlington County by encouraging those with inflatable holiday decorations to keep them inflated at all times, rather than leaving them deflated during the day, as is often the case.
The email:
Suggest a public service announcement to make Arlington more beautiful over the holidays.
While many people keep their inflatable holiday decorations full during the day, several do not and for some reason choose only to fill them at night – thus resulting is what looks like piles of colored plastic bags laying on front yards.
Perhaps a positive message like:
“Thank you Arlingtonians for keeping your inflatable yard decorations full during the day, and not just at night – helping to keep Arlington looking good through the holidays”
Thanks
Now, some may see inflatables as a scourge, a tacky way for busy households to decorate for the holidays with minimal effort and storage space required. And others might have concerns about the electricity use of the fan-driven decorations.
But those who appreciate holiday decor in any form may find themselves agreeing with the letter writer.
Chances are you know someone who’s sick right now — if you’re not sick yourself.
We’re in the thick of cold and flu season, and each is on the rise alongside Covid and RSV, though the latter might be peaking. In at least one local drug store, meanwhile, ARLnow noted that Kleenex and Pedialyte seemed to be in short supply.
This morning, in light of the rising levels of illness, we’re wondering about vaccinations. Are you up-to-date on the vaxes for this year’s cold, flu and Covid season? Or are you just letting things play out and hoping for the best?
The Lee Heights Shops in May 2023 (via Google Maps)
It’s been a banner year so far for online holiday shopping.
Fresh records for online shopping were set on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There’s some question, however, as to whether the online holiday shopping growth — in total up 7.8% from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, according to Adobe — is a good sign or bad sign for brick-and-mortar merchants.
The segment makes up less than 16% of U.S. retail sales.
The National Retail Federation separately reported on Tuesday that more than 200 million people shopped online and in-person during the five day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday — exceeding last year’s record number of 196 million. […]
Thanksgiving fell early this year, which may have boosted numbers. Same goes for “favorable” weather, according to NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay.
On the other hand, overall traffic to in-person retail locations was down slightly. From Reuters:
Online shoppers rose 3.1% to 134.2 million during the Thanksgiving weekend, making up for a slight dip in the number of customers who visited brick-and-mortar stores. The period saw about 121.4 million in-store shoppers, down from 122.7 million in 2022, according to the retail body.
Today we’re wondering how these numbers translate locally. Are Arlingtonians shifting more of their holiday spending online? Or are they still supporting local shops?
We have two polls, below, to try to gauge the state of local retail.
People in Arlington, like people in many communities, enjoy complaining about certain things. Now imagine a house in Arlington so perfectly configured that you basically have an endless supply of things to complain about. That’s what is depicted above.
See Mike’s local ‘toons in the ARLnow Press Club weekend edition newsletter.
Inside the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall around the holidays (file photo)
Thanksgiving around the corner means that the most famous shopping period of them all is also almost here.
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday will bring big deals and throngs of customers to malls, shops and websites in Arlington and across the U.S.
In anticipation of the post-Thanksgiving shopping binge, we’re wondering how many ARLnow readers are actually planning to partake.
Are you planning to shop at some point Friday through Monday? Are you holding off until later? Or are you one of those organized people who have already completed your gift shopping?
The initial plan had HQ2 split between Arlington and New York City, but a few months later NYC was out and Arlington was the sole destination for the tech and retail giant.
In the five years since, Amazon has completed the first phase of its planned office complex and hired about 8,000 Arlington-based employees out of the 25,000 it says will eventually work here. Disappointing fans of the proposed “Helix” tower, however, it has delayed construction on the second phase of HQ2.
Arlington, and the dozens of cities that competed for HQ2, had visions of emerging as another Silicon Valley with the addition of a large Amazon presence. While Amazon certainly has provided a boost to the local tech scene, it’s hard to argue that Arlington is anywhere close to rivaling the Bay Area.
HQ2 is now a gleaming presence in Arlington, and adjacent Metropolitan Park has gotten a big upgrade from its former days as a defacto dog bathroom, but Pentagon City lacks the throngs of security-badged employees that one might expect around a major tech headquarters.
Meanwhile, fears of skyrocketing housing prices have only partially come to fruition. After the HQ2 announcement Arlington real estate prices rose disproportionately compared to the rest of the region, the Washington Business Journal reported, but that has since reversed, calling into question the true impact.
Housing prices and tech employment may be objective ways to measure the local HQ2 impact, but today we’re running a poll that takes a different approach: vibes.
Given your local knowledge, how do you assess the Amazon-driven changes in Arlington? How much of an impact do you think HQ2 has actually had?
Letter accompanying a Virginia tax rebate (photo courtesy anonymous)
Virginia residents have been receiving state tax rebates over the past week or so.
The rebates for those who paid taxes in 2022 — $200 for individual filers, $400 for joint filers — were approved by the Virginia General Assembly in a compromise budget and signed into law by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Putting aside the eyebrows raised by the checks going out during election week, we were wondering what our readers in Arlington are planning to do with their rebate.
Are you planning to go right out and spend it, invest it for the long term, or something in between?
This week, we invited the candidates running in competitive races in the Nov. 7 General Election to write a post about why Arlington residents should vote for them. Find information on how and where to vote here.
Below is the unedited response from David Henshaw, who is running for the 40th Virginia State Senate District as a Republican. His opponent, Democratic incumbent Barbara Favola, did not submit an essay.
My name is David Henshaw. I’m a Christian, husband, and father of two girls. I was privileged to serve our country as an Air Force pilot for over 24 years, and I remain passionate about fighting for our individual freedom and liberty. If elected to the State Senate, I promise to serve our community and ensure Arlington remains a great place to live.
My top priority is to protect the sanctity of the family by expanding the law to protect parent’s rights in our public schools. I believe parents know what is best for their children and should be at the head of the table. My opponent, Senator Favola, voted to allow students to hide gender dysphoria from their parents and against requiring parental review of sexually explicit material. Notification is required to go on a field trip or provide an aspirin — shouldn’t parents be notified about a major issue like dysphoria?
I also disagree with Senator Favola on whether male students should compete in female sports and use female locker rooms. While we should show compassion and protect transgender students from bullying and harassment, we need to do it in a way that is fair and safe. Males should not compete against girls — it’s not fair; and they should not use female locker rooms — it’s not safe.
Our schools were one of the last in the country to re-open after COVID, driving a tangible loss of learning that is reflected in the lowest 4th and 8th grade math and reading scores in over 20 years. I would provide parents a choice in their children’s education by offering Education Savings Accounts that enable them to use a portion of their tax money to invest in non-public options. I would also fund at least one school in each district with a year-round option, and expand the number of charter schools.
I support free-market policies while my opponent is for bigger government and higher taxes, despite inflation that is out of control and outpacing wage growth. Arlingtonians are tired of high gas prices and grocery bills that are up 27% since 2020. I would lower the corporate tax rate, lower the personal tax rates, and remove excessive regulation. I’d also tie the tax brackets to inflation — they haven’t changed since 1990 — and add brackets to ease the burden on the lower and middle class.
I’d also repeal both the Clean Car law and the Clean Economy Act. Both hurt the lower and middle class while providing miniscule benefit to the environment. Studies indicate that electric cars cost approximately $10,000 more than gas cars, and energy costs will increase $800/month for the average family under these laws.
Crime is up in Arlington every year since the 2020 “Defund the Police” campaign and legislation that my opponent supported. Several Arlingtonians tell me they no longer feel safe to walk alone in their neighborhoods. Crime was up 18% in the latest 2022 report, and the Arlington police chief indicated he’s short 100 law enforcement officers. We must recruit and hire more law enforcement heroes and fully fund our departments.
My goal was to present you with a clear distinction between my policy positions and those of my opponent. I hope you find my views commonsense and pragmatic, and respectfully request your vote on Nov 7th. Together we can make Virginia a beacon of success for the entire country and a great place to live, work, and raise a family.
