Chris Zimmerman

Crystal City Trying to Attract a Grocery Store

By ARLnow.com

Update at 12:55 p.m. — We’re told development at the space at 2121 Crystal Drive, referenced here, is a long-range goal and not set in stone. Vornado’s current and on-going effort to attract a grocery store is focused on existing spaces in Crystal City.

Crystal City has been without a grocery store for more than five years. But now, as developer Vornado works to attract more residents to the area, it’s also working hard to attract a new grocery store.

The Safeway that had served as Crystal City’s lone grocery store closed its doors in March 2005. The store had been an anchor tenant of the Crystal City Underground for 38 years, but decided to close when surface parking was eliminated as part of the revitalization of Crystal City.

Now, we hear, Vornado is touting the success of Crystal City’s Freshfarm market in an effort to attract a new grocery store. We don’t know much about the closely-held discussions with retailers, but we do know a likely site for a future store — the park in front of 2121 Crystal Drive.

The park is actually owned by Vornado, which wants to liven up the block by replacing the open space with low-rise retail and, possibly, condos. In order to do so, however, Vornado would need to convince the county board that the open space being developed would be replaced by more open space elsewhere in Crystal City.

We talked to Crystal City Business Improvement District President Angela Fox and County Board Vice-Chairman Chris Zimmerman about the potential development earlier this summer. Check out the video from that lively discussion (don’t worry, it’s short) after the jump.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Summers Doing Big Business During World Cup — Summers Restaurant in Courthouse was so crowded during yesterday’s World Cup match between the U.S. and Algeria that the fire marshal showed up, according to NBC Washington. The 300-capacity venue was deemed 25 people over-capacity.

Zimmerman Urges State to Reconsider Metro Defunding Threat — “The state should not break the promise made to its residents and regional partners,” WMATA and Arlington County board member Chris Zimmerman wrote in an op-ed on the Washington Post’s website. Zimmerman and fellow Northern Virginia WMATA board member Catherine Hudgins say that if the state withdraws $50 million in funding, as it has threatened to do if it doesn’t get two seats on the Metro board, then a cooperative $300 million per year infrastructure improvement plan “will fall apart.”

Flickr pool photo by brianmka.

Should WMATA Pay When Metrobus Pass Holders Ride ART?

By ARLnow.com

Arlington’s ART bus system may stop honoring Metrobus passes if WMATA doesn’t start sharing revenue, according to Michael Perkins at Greater Greater Washington.

While regional bus providers like ART are compensated when SmarTrip holders pay for individual rides, so far there is no revenue-sharing agreement for SmartTrip (and paper) “flash passes.”

Arlington County board member Chris Zimmerman, who also sits on WMATA’s Board of Directors, says that the current system is unfair to regional providers.

The county board has given ART the leeway to stop accepting the Metrobus pass if a revenue-sharing agreement cannot be reached. In that scenario, ART would instead issue its own pass, Perkins reports.

Republican Candidate Steps Up to Challenge Zimmerman

By ARLnow.com

Chris Zimmerman will face a general election challenge from the GOP, after all.

South Arlington resident Mark Kelly has accepted the Arlington County Republican Committee’s nomination to run against the incumbent Democrat in the fall.

Kelly, a lawyer who works as an outreach manager at the conservative Heritage Foundation, faces daunting electoral odds. No Republican has won a seat on the board in a general election since 1983 (Republican Mike Lane won a special election in 1999 and served on the board for about six months).

But none of that is stopping Kelly, who wrote on his campaign’s newly-minted Facebook page: “Tonight the Arlington County Republican Committee unanimously nominated me to be their candidate for Arlington County Board. I am proud to accept their nomination.”

Republican civic activist Jim Pebley says Kelly’s announcement was a surprise to many in the audience at the committee meeting.

“Mark just finished up his two year term as chairman of the ACRC and is very well regarded in the committee,” Pebley said. “This was an unexpected development as I didn’t think we’d have a candidate come forward, much less such a well seasoned one.”

Zimmerman Warns of Impending Doom at Metro

By ARLnow.com

Arlington County board vice chairman and Metro board member Chris Zimmerman says now “is the time to get scared” about Metro’s future.

In a Washington Post Op-Ed titled “The sky really is falling at Metro,” Zimmerman warns of dire consequences if the agency doesn’t get the full $11.4 billion it needs for infrastructure projects over the next decade. That “massive infusion of infrastructure investment” will only be possible if state and local leaders from D.C., Maryland and Virginia increase Metro’s funding, he writes.

Zimmerman proposes that localities, at minimum, maintain current funding levels while working to implement a new regional tax to fund Metro. Zimmerman also calls for the federal government to begin making annual payments to the agency.

Arlington is among the localities that currently contribute to Metro’s operating fund. The county board recently approved $24,191,077 in funding for Metro as part of its FY 2011 budget. Metro receives an annual subsidy of almost $600 million from local governments.

Zimmerman is campaigning for re-election to the county board this year.