complaint

Democrats Upset Over Tricky Text Messages

By Katie Pyzyk

The Democratic Party of Virginia says it has been getting reports of residents receiving unsolicited political text messages.

The text messages sharply criticize Democratic political candidates in Virginia. The party says the texts are unsolicited and likely illegal.

“The DPVA has reason to believe that these text messages are illegal and we are doing everything we can to determine where they are coming from,” the party said in an email. “Virginia Republicans… [have] resorted to the usual underhanded tricks trying to scare, intimidate or confuse voters.”

This morning, an ARLnow.com reader reported having received the texts. The reader called the messages “pretty dirty” and wondered who was sending them. (The texts reportedly came from the same 410 area code phone number that sends out Arlington Alert text messages.)

The readouts of the reader’s messages are as follows:

SUBJ:Taxes
MSG:OBAMA & his VA DEMOCRAT allies want to RAISE YOUR TAXES. Send a message. DO NOT vote for VA Democrats on 11/08/11

FRM:Concerned Parents
SUBJ:Busted
MSG:Dave Marsden voted to allow Ffx County Schools to HIDE FROM PARENTS when they discipline kids. Ask Dave why.

The DPVA wants anybody who has received an unsolicited text message to call a hotline at 866-529-7620, file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission and file a complaint in small claims court.

“Please help us hold the Republicans accountable for these underhanded and illegal tricks,” the party said.

A spokesman for Republican Party of Virginia said they heard about the problem, but have no involvement with sending unsolicited texts and in no way condone the behavior.

W-L Softball Parents Demand Better Field

By ARLnow.com

A group of parents are threatening to file a Title IX complaint against Arlington Public Schools for what they say are inadequate and inequitable facilities for the Washington-Lee High School girl’s softball team.

Parents say the team’s field — located in the public Quincy Park, near Arlington Central Library — is not regulation size, is in poor condition and is frequently befouled by dogs and homeless persons. Parents are demanding better facilities — at least in line with the baseball team’s field, also located in Quincy Park — or else they may file a formal discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

While the W-L boys baseball team utilizes a regulation-size field, parents say, the softball team must make use of a field designed for and used by adult men’s slow pitch softball games.

“The dimensions of the skinned slow pitch infield are too large for fast pitch softball,” parents wrote in a letter to school officials. “The outfield fences are about 100 feet too deep.”

Also, parents say, the softball field lacks a press box, a PA system, a pitcher warm-up area, a flag pole (for the Pledge of Allegiance) and adequate bleachers — all of which the baseball field has.

The field itself is rutted and in such poor condition that it “represents a hazard for the girls who must play there,” the letter continued.

“The softball infield, unlike baseball, is rock hard and drains poorly,” parents say.

“Unlike the baseball field, which is covered in the off-season for maintenance and more consistently maintained during the season, the softball field is never covered, the outfield grass is mowed infrequently… and the infield often is improperly lined for high school competition on game days,” the letter said. “Umpires this spring threatened on at least one occasion not to allow games to be played for this reason.”

Additionally, parents cited various security concerns, like the half-mile walk from the high school and the lack of security lighting or an emergency call box.

“On at least one occasion in 2011 when the varsity team returned home after an away game to use the storage facility in a dark area… girls were surprised by a homeless person sleeping near the storage shed,” parents wrote.

Parents say that homeless individuals frequently sleep in the dugouts, which cannot be locked, unlike the boy’s baseball dugouts (pictured, left). “Drug paraphernalia” was found in one of the unlocked batting cages this spring, they added, noting that they’ve been told the cages cannot be locked because Quincy is a public park.

Further, “the unsecured softball field at Quincy is used as a dog park; the presence of animal waste on the field (often tracked into the dugout) represents a public health hazard,” parents wrote.

Yesterday the school system asked the group for another two weeks to respond to their letter, which was sent on Aug. 13, according to parent Christopher Prins. The letter was sent after months of dialogue between parents and school administrators.

“If we don’t hear back by Sept. 9, with something substantive that advances this discussion, then we will move forward,” Prins said. “We don’t like being blown off for essentially five months.”

Assistant Superintendent Meg Tuccillo says the school system has “limited green space” in which to accommodate student sports, but they nonetheless “intend to work with the families.”

(more…)

UPDATED: Snow Complaints By The Numbers

By ARLnow.com

Update at 12:05 p.m. — The county has informed us that the previous numbers we were given were wrong. The article now reflects the updated numbers.

Last week’s snow and ice storm has resulted in a total of 679 complaints to Arlington County through its new Report a Snow Issue form, according to the county’s Department of Environmental Services.

As of last night, here’s the breakdown of what citizens are reporting:

  • 406 — This street has never been plowed or needs additional plowing
  • 189 — Sidewalk concern
  • 52 — Other
  • 32 — This street is icy

By comparison, TBD reported that 30 complaints were submitted after 2-3 inches of snow fell on Dec. 16.

The county’s new snow removal ordinance says that snow and ice must be removed from public sidewalks 24 hours after precipitation stops falling. So far, however, no fines have been issued as a result of the ordinance.

“Our collective focus this year has been on education and compliance,” said Department of Environmental Services spokeswoman Myllisa Kennedy. “To date, there have not been any civil infractions issued according to Code Enforcement.”

Police Inspections of Food Trucks Continue in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

It’s like an initiation rite for new food trucks in Arlington.

For several weeks, the newbies are subjected to a barrage of visits from police officers, who themselves are responding to complaints from local businesses. Most of the complaints are made when the trucks are in Rosslyn or Crystal City. In almost every case, an officer responds, checks the truck’s license and leaves after verifying the truck is licensed and not illegally parked.

We started paying attention to this trend in October, when the BBQ Bandidos truck was the target of police visits (see photo, left). In December, we felt compelled to write about the Bada Bing truck’s travails as it was inspected at least eight times.

Now, the Big Cheese truck is becoming a frequent destination for license-checking officers.

On Friday, while the truck was parked on North Lynn Street in Rosslyn, police were called to check its license.

“Showed him my permit and he was on his way. I love Arlington,” truck owner Patrick Rathbone tweeted at the time. Today, while the truck was serving customers in Crystal City, another call for police.

“The police checked my permits then moved but the yellow jacket [Crystal City Shops] security guys are lurking,” Rathbone wrote.

According to Arlington Police spokeswoman Det. Crystal Nosal, police must respond whenever they receive a complaint.

“Dispatchers are required to send officers out,” Nosal said. “We cannot pick and choose what calls we go to.”

Nosal also noted that the detective in charge of issuing vending licenses will often respond to specific complaints and will make random checks of food trucks he does not recognize.

Morning Poll: Rate Your Experience With Comcast

By Scott Brodbeck

Last night I had my most horrid Comcast customer service experience to date, and that’s really saying something. I’ll spare the details, but suffice to say that it was an hour and a half of my all-too-rare free time that I’m not getting back.

It’s not so much that the Comcast customer service agents themselves are that bad, it’s just that the customer service system in which they operate seems to be designed with the sole purpose of minimizing cost at the expense of producing meaningful solutions to customers’ problems and complaints.

Comcast has a partial monopoly in Arlington. Sure, Verizon FiOS and satellite TV are available to single family homes and certain apartment buildings and condos. But for many apartment and condo-dwellers, Comcast is the only game in town. The only option for those folks in the event of an unresolved grievance is to either grin and bear it, cancel service and forgo cable and/or internet altogether, or complain to the county’s cable administration office and hope for the best.

Competition is a customer’s best friend — a point of leverage in disputes. With any luck, FiOS will continue making inroads and internet-based TV will continue evolving into a viable alternative. Until that time, however, Comcast will continue to exasperate and frustrate those for whom going without internet or cable television service is not an option.

Rate your Comcast experience below, and feel free to vent in the comments. Who knows, maybe someone in a regulatory position will be listening.


Free Commercial Parking Bonanza Isn’t Just for Trucks

By ARLnow.com

Earlier this week we reported that some residents were upset with loophole in Arlington’s parking code that allows commercial trucks to park for extended periods of time in front of schools, libraries and other county properties.

But trucks aren’t the only hulking masses taking up space on the side of local roads. Here’s what one peeved resident wrote us this morning:

Storage pods are very popular nowadays with all the moving that goes on in Arlington, but usually they are picked up in a few days and require a county permit. This pod has been on 1st Road South in front of Butler Holmes Park for over three months. We have called the Boxcart company, and were told they would pick it up. They didn’t, and why would they – they are getting free storage of the pod courtesy of Arlington. We have called the county twice. They said they would look into it because they should be charging a fee to Boxcart – much more interested in revenue generation than getting this storage unit off our street. They didn’t even do that, as the storage unit is still sitting there with no permit.

Blind Item: Food Truck Follies

By ARLnow.com

It’s been a while since we did a blind item, but this one was too ridiculous to pass up.

Which Rosslyn and Crystal City businesses have been calling the police on the new Bada Bing sandwich truck? Cops have shown up at the truck at least eight times since it launched just over a month ago, we hear.

Officers show up, dutifully check out the truck’s license and examine whether it’s parked legally, and inevitably leave without finding a violation.

Two businesses in particular have been very proactive about calling the cops when Bada Bing shows up in their neighborhood.

“It happens at those two locations pretty much every time we go there, sometimes multiple times per day,” said Bada Bing owner Nicholas Terzella

Complaint of the Day: Don’t Come Knocking Edition

By ARLnow.com

Today’s complaint of the day isn’t so much a complaint so much as an amusing call to police.

Apparently, a neighbor called police after hearing noises coming from an apartment. The apartment in question belongs to a woman who’s diabetic, and the neighbor thought she might be having some sort of diabetic emergency. The caller said it sounded like the woman was yelling “yes, yes, yes.”

Shockingly, the woman did not come to the door when the neighbor knocked.

Arlington police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

Complaint of the Day: Dancing in the Street Edition

By ARLnow.com

Dancing in the street sounds like a fun, whimsical way to work off some extra energy on a beautiful, non-stormy summer evening. But it can also be a traffic hazard! Just ask the citizen who alerted police to the two juvenile males breakdancing in the middle of the 1900 block of North George Mason Drive, near Virginia Hospital Center.

Martha and the Vandellas would approve of letting loose in the public right-of-way, but Johnny Law dutifully responded to the area to tell the b-boy punks to move on.

Unanswered question: Wouldn’t breakdancing on asphalt hurt?

Sat Truck Still Parked on Park Drive

By ARLnow.com

Last week we gently poked fun at whoever called police to complain about a satellite truck that was illegally parked at Park Drive and South George Mason Drive. Well, guess what? The truck is still there, and people are still complaining about it.

Police received another call about the truck last night at 6:00. We checked it out and found not a single vehicle parked near it. We noted that the four hour zone parking restriction has already ended, so at that time the truck was actually legally parked.

Also of interest: There were no parking tickets visible on the truck’s windshield.

We called the company that operates the truck, PSSI Global Services, to find out why such an expensive piece of equipment has been parked on a random residential street for so long. The individual on the phone said a company representative would call back later that night. That, of course, never happened.

So the mystery of why the truck is parked there, and why people are so bothered by it that they’re still calling police, continues.

Complaint of the Day: Satellite Truck Edition

By ARLnow.com

If you spend enough time listening to Arlington’s police frequencies, you’ll notice that people love calling in to complain about things. Since complaining is so popular, we’re launching a periodic feature called the “complaint of the day,” to highlight the most humorous, outrageous or otherwise unseemly complaints received by police.

When it comes to citizen gripes in Arlington, noise complaints and “aggressive driver” complaints are common, but far and away the most frequent complaint is the parking complaint.

Vigilant civilians will call the police when a car is illegally parked in zone parking on any given weekday afternoon. They will also occasionally call to report expired meters.

This morning, someone called to report that a satellite truck — assumedly a news van — had been parked for more than four hours at North George Mason Drive and North Park Drive. We’d love to know the thought process involved with such a call — what was so bad about the truck being parked there that would justify asking police to possibly interrupt a broadcast being watched by thousands of people? (See comments.)

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