Nova Armory in Clarendon had their door smashed in an attempted burglary (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington County police responded to a break-in at Nova Armory early this morning.
The Metro-accessible gun store at 2607 Wilson Blvd had its front door “smashed in” by a suspect, setting off a loud alarm. The suspect reportedly took items but not any guns — the retailer takes weapons off shelves and stores them securely at night.
“At approximately 1:48 a.m. on August 22, police were dispatched to the report of a burglary just occurred,” said today’s ACPD crime report. “Upon arrival, it was determined the unknown male suspect forced entry into the business by smashing a glass door. The suspect then rummaged through the interior of the store before fleeing the scene with stolen items.”
“No firearms were reported stolen,” an Arlington police spokesperson told ARLnow.
Officers searched the area for the suspect but could not locate him. Police were called to the store later today to retrieve video surveillance footage.
“This is an active and ongoing investigation and our detectives are reviewing all the information available to them to identify the suspect in this case,” said the ACPD spokesperson. “We encourage anyone who may have information regarding the incident to contact police.”
Nova Armory was previously burglarized at its former Lyon Park location. In 2022, after moving to Clarendon earlier in the year, a Nova Armory employee chased down an alleged thief who tried to run off with a gun. In March of this year a ski mask-wearing man robbed the store of a gun and ammunition but was arrested on a bus soon thereafter, according to police.
Coco B’s in Clarendon is set to open this week (photo courtesy of Christal Bramson)
Coco B’s in Clarendon is set to open this week (photo courtesy of Christal Bramson)
Coco B’s in Clarendon is set to open this week (photo courtesy of Christal Bramson)
Coco B’s in Clarendon is set to open this week (photo courtesy of Christal Bramson)
Coco B’s in Clarendon is set to open this week (photo courtesy of Christal Bramson)
Coco B’s in Clarendon is set to open this week (photo courtesy of Christal Bramson)
Coco B’s in Clarendon is set to open this week (photo courtesy of Christal Bramson)
The much-anticipated “tropical glam bar” Coco B’s in Clarendon hopes to open this weekend, co-owner Christal Bramson tells ARLnow.
Ownership is in the process of getting final permits before the doors can be thrown open, but the belief is that everything will be ready for the coming weekend.
The long-planned companion bar to B Live — or, for the moment, “Beach Bar Live” — at 2854 Wilson Blvd was originally supposed to start serving a full year ago. It was delayed a few times, however, due to construction and permits. But now the wait appears to almost be over.
Judging by photos, Coco B’s is set to be Arlington’s pink palace of nightlife. The color covers the 6,000 square feet of space, from the walls to the chair to the umbrellas, that the business is set to occupy inside and atop the building that was once Whitlow’s on Wilson.
While it’s the rooftop — featuring a mural of a flamingo wearing a hat — that many locals might be looking forward it, Bramson said the rest of the bar might actually be the real draw.
“I don’t think people realize that Coco’s is not only a rooftop, but has nearly 4,000 square feet directly below the rooftop (next to B Live),” Bramson wrote ARLnow in an email. “It’s a collection of three bays, with two gorgeous bars, dining room, and a stunning back patio.”
The main floor will feature pink chandeliers and clamshell chairs, while another bay is the “Bubble Bar,” a champagne-forward bar with lots more pink. The third bay is for private events.
The Carribean-inspired menu is set to be curated by Chef Juan Olivera, who previously worked at D.C.’s Lupo Verde. It will feature Caribbean delicacies like jerk chicken, ceviche, and Jamaican oxtail patties, Arlington Magazine reports.
Coco B’s will have signature cocktails, including the Dac-Dac-Doc. It will be served in half coconut shells with Caribbean rum, passion dragon fruit syrup, and coconut foam.
The opening of Coco B’s will mark another expansion of Christal and Mike Bramson’s Arlington nightlife empire under the B Social Hospitality banner. B Live opened last spring as a live music venue but has since shifted away from original acts to live karaoke. It also changed concepts, at least temporarily, earlier this month.
The Bramsons also own Pamplona on Clarendon Blvd, Roll’d in Ballston, run operations at Clarendon Ballroom, and are celebrating local beer garden The Lot’s last season before redevelopment happens on the site. The couple owns several restaurants in the District as well, including Rebel Taco and soon-to-open The Cove in the District’s Navy Yard neighborhood.
Elder Julio Basurto speaks during a County Board meeting in 2021 (via Arlington County)
A noted local community activist is facing more charges in connection to a second alleged sexual assault.
Arlington County police say that Julio Basurto would drive up to Clarendon’s nightlife district early in the morning and offer women a ride, then would sexually assault the victim in his car.
He’s facing charges in two incidents — in May of this year, as previously reported, and now in October 2021, as just announced. Police also said today that they’re seeking victims from four other possible incidents ranging from September 2021 to September 2022.
More from ACPD:
The Arlington County Police Department’s Special Victims Unit is announcing additional charges have been obtained stemming from an incident that occurred on October 10, 2021, and are seeking possible additional victims.
At approximately 9:55 a.m. on October 10, 2021, police met with the adult female victim who reported a sexual assault inside an unknown vehicle. The investigation determined that during the early morning hours, the victim exited a nightlife establishment in the 3100 block of Wilson Boulevard when the suspect approached in a black vehicle and the victim entered. The suspect proceeded to sexually assault the victim during the ride before she was able to exit the vehicle. Julio Basurto, 42, of Arlington, VA was subsequently identified as a suspect and in July 2023, he was charged with Abduction with the Intent to Defile, Object Sexual Penetration and Unlawful Filming.
Based on information obtained during the comprehensive criminal investigation, detectives believe there may be additional incidents which occurred during the early morning hours on the following dates and are seeking possible victims:
September 20, 2021
October 3, 2021
October 14, 2021
September 4, 2022
Anyone who may have experienced a similar incident or who has had past inappropriate encounters with this suspect is asked to contact the Arlington County Police Department’s tip line at 703-228-4180 or [email protected]. Information may also be provided anonymously through the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).
Carbonara, soon to open in the Ballston/Virginia Square area (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
As we move through the dog days of August, several highly anticipated local restaurants are looking ahead to openings in the coming late summer or early fall.
Coco B’s is finally set to open on the roof of Clarendon’s B Live next week, pending permits, co-owner Christal Bramson confirmed to ARLnow. Besides the roof, the “tropical glam bar” consists of nearly 4,000 square feet of bars, dining rooms, and a back patio. Coco B’s has been in the works for a year and was originally supposed to open this past spring. This comes as B Live continues to revamp, including shifting away from hosting original acts and debuting a new beach bar concept this weekend.
Astro Beer Hall in Shirlington was also finally hoping for an opening this month, but that’s being pushed back at least a few weeks. While no exact timetable has been set for the two-level bar and coffee shop, a spokesperson confirmed a debut is likely coming next month. So, it will be a bit before its donut robot starts its world takeover, one pastry at a time.
Peruvian Brothers is aiming for a “soft opening” at Amazon HQ2 as soon as later this month, co-owner Giuseppe Lanzone told ARLnow. A grand opening is scheduled for September in Pentagon City, he said. It was July 2022 when the fast-casual Peruvian restaurant announced it was moving into 1400 S. Eads Street. The initial hope was to open earlier in the summer, but permitting is again the culprit.
Westover Taco also had planned to start serving this month, but that’s been pushed back. Co-owner Scott Parker told ARLnow that the new spot in Westover will “for sure” open this year but couldn’t provide an exact timetable yet. It was almost exactly a year ago when ARLnow first reported that Parker, along with owners of Lost Dog Cafe, was taking over the space once home to Forest Inn.
Carbonara, the self-described “old school” Italian restaurant in the Ballston area, is now aiming for a November debut, a spokesperson told ARLnow. The Italian eatery and wine bar is moving into the former home of Next Day Blinds on Wilson Blvd and was originally supposed to open this summer. But “difficulty with [the] mechanical system” and permitting hang-ups has pushed it to later in the fall.
Wagamama in Clarendon is coming along. While the British restaurant chain has announced several timelines for opening, none have proven to be the case. Construction does appear underway, but a spokesperson declined to give ARLnow any substantial information. “There are no updates to share regarding the opening timeline for Wagamama Arlington,” they wrote in an email.
Several other notable restaurants are also looking to open later in 2024, including Kirby Club in Clarendon and Yunnan By Potomac in Pentagon City. They are both aiming to open in the spring.
Colada Shop is opening in Clarendon early next year (staff photo by Matt Blitz)
The Cuban-inspired Colada Shop plans to open a Clarendon outpost early next year.
The Sterling-based Cuban cafe is moving into a 2,200-square-foot space next to Tatte and Seamore’s at the intersection of N. Edgewood Street and Clarendon Blvd. The hope is to open by “early 2024,” per a spokesperson.
This will be the fifth Colada Shop location, including one that opened in the Mosaic District in 2021. The bar space at the Clarendon shop will be what separates it from the other locations, a press release notes.
“The Clarendon store boasts a spacious interior and available seating on the inviting patio. The highlight of this new location is undoubtedly the bar space, which has been thoughtfully designed to create a lively and convivial atmosphere for guests to relax, mingle, and indulge in an array of delectable Cuban-inspired libations,” the release reads.
The exact address is 1440 N. Edgewood Street, Suite 160 and no other Arlington locations are being planned at the moment, a spokesperson told ARLnow.
Colada Shop is known for its coffee, cocktails, and Cuban-style empanadas, croquetas, and sandwiches. The first location opened in Sterling in 2016 before quickly expanding to D.C.
The building that Colada Shop is moving into dates back to 1941 but has been renovated and rebranded in recent years. Along with Tatte, Seamore’s, and now Colada Shop, Life Time fitness center and cafe opened there last month.
A vacant office building in Courthouse in December 2022 (via Google Maps)
(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) One pocket of Arlington County has the most office space on the market and seeking tenants in the D.C. area, according to a new report.
A submarket made up of Courthouse, Clarendon and Virginia Square tops the charts for its “availability rate” — which includes any offices that can be leased now or in the next year — because of its high concentration of older office buildings.
“There are a number of dated 1980s-constructed buildings that sit idle as tenants continue to re-evaluate their office needs and often move to newer or renovated buildings in different submarkets,” says Ben Plaisted, vice chairman at commercial real estate company Savills, which produced the report.
In this submarket, Arlington Economic Development staff says 80% of offices were built more than 20 years ago.
“National and regional trends show that new leases tend to prefer buildings built in the past 10 years,” the county’s economic development arm said in a statement. “As a result, submarkets with newer product tend to have lower availability and submarkets with older product tend to have higher availability.”
Across Arlington, vacancy is concentrated in older buildings: about 75% of vacant square footage is within buildings at least 30 years old, says AED.
In response, why Arlington County is trying to infuse old office buildings with a mix of emerging businesses, such as research and development, artisan workshops, breweries and distilleries, and even pickleball courts.
Office availability rates and rents in the D.C. area (courtesy Savills)
AED provided a few caveats to the report.
It says Savills combined Courthouse, Clarendon and Virginia Square into one submarket, while another real estate company, CoStar, only combines Courthouse and Clarendon. That changes the overall availability rate.
Without Virginia Square, Clarendon-Courthouse has the second-highest availability rate in Northern Virginia and the D.C. area, behind Herndon, according to July 2023 data from CoStar, AED said.
Including Virginia Square means adding one major construction project to the mix: George Mason University’s FUSE building, says AED. The new facility has over 100,000 square feet listed as available for tenants.
The economic development division also says availability rates should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Availability rates can mask available square feet, as submarkets vary greatly in size,” AED said. “Therefore, the same amount of available square footage would appear as much lower availability rates in larger submarkets.”
Like other parts of the nation, Arlington is seeing tenants seek out smaller offices in higher-quality buildings, dubbed the “flight to quality.”
Overall, the report notes Arlington has some of the highest rent prices in the D.C. area, which is due to building quality plus proximity to D.C. and Metro. Over 60% of Arlington’s office product is listed by CoStar as Class A, or those built recently with attractive amenities and high rents, among other features.
“[Tenants] are willing to pay top dollar for high quality space but by reducing their footprint, they are not increasing their overall real estate costs,” Plaisted said. “The war for talent continues to be prevalent in the market and occupiers are looking to incentivize staff to be at the office by upgrading their physical location and space.”
Not everyone is reducing their footprint, however. AED says a half-dozen Arlington-based firms, from consulting firms to to government contractors, expanded their offices over the last year.
Meanwhile, a handful of British tech firms recently opened outposts in Arlington, while shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls moved some of its offices from D.C. to National Landing.
Arlington has scored some commercial real estate wins with retention of tenants. The only notable tenant that AED says — to their knowledge — fully moved out of Arlington over the past year is the tech company Ostendio, which is now fully virtual.
Natalia Vyberg, owner of The Beauty (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Natalia’s daughter Anna in The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Natalia Vyberg, owner of The Beauty (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The outside of The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The Beauty Clarendon (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
A mother-daughter duo, originally from Ukraine, are offering Eastern European beauty services in Clarendon.
Natalia Vyberg and her daughter Anna moved to the U.S. four years ago. Upon their arrival, the duo opened two salons in Northern Virginia: Beauty Bar Lashes and Beauty Bar Nails.
Energized by the success of their original locations, they combined them into one salon, now in Clarendon: The Beauty at 3110 Washington Blvd. It offers eyelash services, facials, manicures and pedicures.
Through a translator, Natalia told ARLnow her Ukrainian techniques draw U.S. customers to The Beauty and keep them coming back.
“In Ukraine, beauty services are held to a high standard. Our clients get those high standards of a Ukrainian service that is focused on perfection at The Beauty. It takes a special technique and materials to do this,” she said.
To meet those standards, Natalia, who owns The Beauty, also orders most of her tools and products from Ukraine.
The Vybergs are originally from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city and one of Russia’s main targets since invading Ukraine last year 2022. Natalia, a 20-year veteran of the beauty industry, opened five salons in Kyiv before opening salons states-side.
Her daughter Anna followed in her footsteps, opening a salon in New York City after The Beauty in Clarendon took off.
Now, she travels almost weekly from Arlington to New York to help run and work at both salons, noted an employee at The Beauty. The employee said this is partly because some clients only want Anna to handle their beauty regimens.
Her mother requires all her employees go through Ukrainian beauty training courses. Natalia said she mostly hires Ukrainian immigrants to work at The Beauty, though she made an exception for two from Russia.
“They are American citizens and have lived here for many years now,” she said. “We are not involved in politics or interested in political questions. We welcome anyone to work at the salon who can provide good services.”
Now, the mother-daughter duo are looking to hire new employees to handle their Clarendon customer base.
As of 9 a.m., Dominion is reporting 20,394 customers still without power in Arlington. That’s down from more than 34,000 immediately after the storm. Arlington makes up about two thirds of the 31,603 outages Dominion is reporting across Northern Virginia.
Dominion says it has 170 bucket trucks deployed and is working “as safely and quickly as possible to restore service.” Due to the large volume of trees and utility lines down across the region — particularly in Arlington — Dominion has not yet been able to provide estimates for when power will be restored.
Outage Update: 32,443 outages in Northern Va.
Our patrols continue to gather info on outages so we can set ETRs (estimated time of restoration)
170 bucket trucks are headed to damage locations. Our crews will work as safely & quickly as possible to restore service. pic.twitter.com/5NXKuTWa0m
Along with power outages, readers have reported Xfinity TV and internet service outages in parts of the county. The trees that brought down power lines also brought down cable lines in many locations.
The GW Parkway remains closed in both directions between the Beltway and Spout Run in Arlington due to a large number of downed trees.
From parkway spokesman Mark Maloy:
Due to the storm that moved through the northern Virginia area on Saturday afternoon, numerous trees fell across the travel lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Currently, the northern section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway (from Spout Run Parkway to the Capital Beltway) is closed as tree crews work to remove trees from the roadway. This closure will remain in place on Sunday until an assessment has been completed and all hazardous trees removed. There are numerous other trees downed in areas of the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Clara Barton Parkway and the National Park Service is continuing to assess the damage and clear trees. We encourage drivers to use caution in the area and if they encounter any downed trees on the George Washington Memorial Parkway to call US Park Police at 202-610-7500.
Among the more dramatic storm impacts was a large window that blew out of an apartment building in Clarendon amid the damaging wind gusts.
Witnesses tell ARLnow that the window came from the top of The Reserve at Clarendon building along Washington Blvd, between N. Highland and N. Garfield street.
“Windows missing from 11th floor unit at the Reserve, window frames and glass all over Washington Blvd, dented and damaged parked car [with] window frame next to it,” a reader tells ARLnow. “[The damaged] car was parked outside of Clarendon 1021, a block away. Cracked windows in the building where the Clarendon Orange Theory is (across the street from Reserve). Crazy!”
Police closed streets around the building due to the falling glass, though the roads have since reopened.
“At 7:05 p.m., police were dispatched to the 3000 block of Washington Boulevard for the report of two windowpanes that had fallen,” Arlington County police spokeswoman Ashley Savage confirmed to ARLnow. “No injuries were reported and the roads closed in the area have reopened.”
Videos posted online, below, show the intensity of the wind from Saturday’s storms.
— Arlington National Cemetery (@ArlingtonNatl) July 30, 2023
Update at 11:20 a.m. on 7/31/23 — The number of outages in Arlington is down to 3,154. The GW Parkway remains closed.
Update at 3:45 p.m. — Outages are now down to 14,313. Arlington County, meanwhile, is warning people to stay out of Gulf Branch downstream from Military Road due to sewage in the water from a pump failure.
AVOID Gulf Branch downstream of Military Road through Monday due to wastewater contamination from a failed pump caused by Saturday's storm. Trail access in the area is also temporarily closed until further notice. Seek alternate route. pic.twitter.com/BWZkSDp6ZU
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) July 30, 2023
Update at 1:25 p.m. — The number of outages in Arlington has ticked down to 17,811, according to Dominion. The power company is hoping to have power restored to “most customers” later tonight.
Arlington County says the curbside collection of storm debris may take “weeks.”
Outage Update:@DominionEnergy crews are out in force assessing damage, making repairs & working as safely & quickly as possible to restore power.
Most customers will have power restored by 11 p.m.
In some areas with significant damage, restoration will continue into Monday.
Crews are out surveying damage due to yesterday’s storm— prioritizing critical infrastructure. Please use caution when visiting parks and trails and report any downed trees or other maintenance needs through Report a Problem: https://t.co/n8lvg5HltM
Clarendon’s B Live is set to become a beach bar beginning early next month, while Coco B’s is set to finally open on the rooftop.
The live music venue and watering hole on Wilson Blvd is changing concepts, at least temporarily, and becoming a “divey beach bar popup,” co-owner Christal Bramson tells ARLnow. The shifting sands reflect what’s working at the former Whitlow’s space, Bramson says.
“Due to the popularity of the Jingle Bell Rock popup theme during the holidays, we temporarily closed to convert the space to a summer fling theme with an inland divey beach bar popup: Beach Bar Live,” she wrote in an email.
The outdoor patio will also change, becoming a tiki bar with an “aggressive happy hour.”
“Think Coyote Ugly on the beach,” Bramson writes.
A tipster had reached out, thinking that the business had shuttered permanently. B Live — er, Beach Bar Live — is currently closed for the makeover, but Bramson said the hope is to reopen by August 4 with updated decor, menu, drink specials, and vibes. The opening weekend of the new concept will feature complimentary food, drink specials, and a battle of the bands, she said.
Beach Bar Live on Wilson Blvd (image courtesy of Christal Bramson)
This is the second time in less than two months that the venue has made significant changes. In June, ownership decided to “pivot” towards having more live band karaoke while decreasing the number of live original acts it hosted.
Live karaoke as well as a limited number of original acts will continue at Beach Bar Live, Bramson said.
“Tropical glam bar” Coco B’s is also hoping for an opening in early next month on the rooftop. The long-planned rooftop compliment to B Live has been delayed for months, but it’s looking to finally open within the next two weeks “pending permits.”
“If you think of B Live as the male version of the two of us, then Coco B’s is the female version… the his and hers,” Christal Bramson told ARLnow in June 2022. “It’s definitely going to be more female-focused. There’s going to be a lot of pinks, velvets, feathers, and it’s going to attract the softer side of Arlington.”
For the moment, Beach Bar Live is being considered a pop-up but Bramson said that if the concept ends up being popular, it could stick — somewhat like wet sand at the beach.
“If the popup grows in popularity, there is a possibility of combining both spaces into one massive (inland) beach destination,” she said.
The future location of Kirby Club, moving into the former home of IOTA Club in Clarendon (photo via Google Maps)
A buzzy new Mediterranean restaurant in Clarendon has pushed back its opening again.
Kirby Club, which previously was set to be called Tawle, is now aiming for a March 2024 opening in the former IOTA Club space at 2832 Wilson Blvd, a restaurant spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow.
When it was first announced in May 2022 that a casual kebab-centric restaurant was coming to Clarendon, the hope was to open in about a year. That was later moved back to fall 2023. But, now, the eatery is looking at serving starting in early spring of next year.
No specific reason was given for the push.
“The restaurant plans are moving along as planned, just taking more time than originally planned,” a restaurant spokesperson told ARLnow.
Kirby Club comes from award-winning restaurateur Rose Previte, who recently won a RAMMY award for her work with D.C.’s Compass Rose and Maydan.
This will be the second location of the Eastern Mediterranean-inspired casual restaurant, with the other opening in Mosaic District late last year to plenty of fanfare and has received a number of accolades ever since.
A restaurant spokesperson said that diners should expect Clarendon’s Kirby Club to be “similar” to the Mosaic District location.
In an interview last year, Previte told ARLnow that she was excited to open in Clarendon because she had attended school at nearby George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and also had worked for Arlington Economic Development as part of a fellowship. While going to school and working, she often went out to Clarendon restaurants and bars.
“I maybe had too much fun in Clarendon because I was 25,” she said at the time. “So, to think we are going to have a bar and restaurant there is very cool.”
Historic photo of Clarendon (courtesy Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library)
Historic photo of Clarendon (via Clarendon Alliance)
Historic photo of Clarendon (courtesy Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library)
Historic photo of Clarendon (courtesy Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library)Court House, 1932
In 1922, Clarendon almost became a town.
The rallying cry was the neighborhood slogan, “Do it for Clarendon,” says local historian Sean Denniston.
Arlington County, formerly within the borders of what was then called Alexandria County, got its name in 1920, to avoid confusion with the City of Alexandria. Twenty years prior, however, residents already saw Clarendon as its own town.
Proud residents, unified by the “Do it for Clarendon” spirit, built their own town hall, volunteer fire department and schools, and created their own phone book, Denniston told people who came to his lecture on this little-known piece of Arlington history. He gave the talk on Tuesday at Arlington Central Library in Virginia Square.
By 1922, the population swelled to around 2,500 people, mostly comprised of white families, he said. (As noted by the Gazette Leader, “Restrictive covenants on the original land sales ensured that Clarendon at the time was an all-white community.”)
In addition to standing up their own municipal services, local residents formed the Clarendon Civic Association — with membership restricted to adult men — and formed audit and public order committees.
These neighborhood leaders began to chafe against what they considered to be a non-cooperative and unhelpful government, Denniston said. They criticized the county for being unable to provide for the good of the community, citing the lack of robust water and sewage systems and poor roads.
“Bennett v. Garrett was really a fight between Clarendon and county interests — and to put it nicely, majority interests,” Denniston said. “Really, minority interests were not given much mind except to bolster one or other arguments.”
Incorporating as a town was a way to break free from this. They proposed boundaries stretching from N. Veitch Street to N. Quincy Street, an area of about 702 acres, and housing the town hall in what is today Northside Social on Wilson Blvd.
“Feeling that they’d been doing their own show for a long time, trying to become their own town seemed like a logical next step,” Denniston said. “[Clarendon residents] feared that the district would get autocratic control, and that they’d have no stake in future planning.”
The Clarendonians took their case to court, where they argued that Clarendon was separate and distinct from other neighborhoods in Arlington. They said the neighborhood could afford to be self-sufficient and the majority of residents supported incorporating as a town.
When the local courts struck down their case, they appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court.
In Bennett v. Garrett, the state ruled against the Clarendon residents. The court said forming an independent municipality would not promote the general good. This case set forth the precedent Arlington would not be subdivided in any way because it is “continuous, contiguous and homogeneous.”
That legacy can be felt today, in Arlington’s distinct communities and “urban villages” making up the nation’s smallest self-governing county.
Denniston mused that, while Clarendon’s secession attempt failed, the saga may have galvanized an imperfect understanding of how Arlington is, or is not, homogeneous.
“In no danger of new towns, is [Arlington’s] county structure, cost of living and changing demographics excluding ethnic and economic voices?” Denniston asked. “While the town of Clarendon and county elites weren’t worried about such things, we do care about ‘One Arlington.'”
