County Board

Arlington County Board to Vote on Plastic Bag Tax

By Jo DeVoe

The Arlington County Board is set to vote on adopting a 5-cent tax on disposable plastic shopping bags at its meeting next week.

Last March, the Virginia General Assembly gave municipalities the option to levy the tax with revenues earmarked for local environmental education and cleanup. The County Board discussed enacting a tax last year, but put it off over concerns about how this would financially impact low-income residents during the pandemic.

Now, the county is looking to tax plastic bags issued at grocery, convenience and drug store checkouts to help “reduce pollution and protect natural landscapes.” Similar efforts are underway in Alexandria and Fairfax County, meaning much of Northern Virginia could see a tax in effect by January 2022, the county said in a press release.

“The tax gives shoppers an incentive to bring their own reusable totes rather than accept single-use disposable plastic that can wind up polluting local waterways or simply tossed in with trash destined for incinerators and landfills,” it said.

Currently, Arlington’s residential recycling program does not accept plastic bags because they can damage sorting equipment, the county said. Many large supermarkets do offer bag bag drop-off bins, and some retailers in Arlington have given shoppers a checkout discount for using reusable bags.

Exempt from the tax will be: paper bags; task-specific bags, like those used for holding meat and seafood, vegetables and protecting dry cleaning; and bags that are products for purchase, like trash and pet waste bags.

Retailers who collect the tax can keep two cents per bag for the next two calendar years, and then one cent per bag in subsequent years. Collection is overseen by the state Department of Taxation, which then distributes revenues for localities to administer.

The county will develop strategies to address the equity impacts of this proposed change, Department of Environmental Services spokesman Peter Golkin tells ARLnow.

“We are pleased that the legislation allows proceeds of the tax to fund the purchase of reusable bags for WIC and SNAP program beneficiaries and we anticipate expanding that to others in our community,” he said.

This fall, the county will embark on an education campaign to help residents understand the program and its environmental benefits.

When the County Board last discussed the plastic bag tax in October 2020, staff had drafted a timeline for implementing it by summer of 2021. But Board members cautioned moving too quickly and not considering the unintended consequences on those who are vulnerable and low-income — especially during the pandemic.

“The most vulnerable suffer the most from pollution and will suffer the most when we try to clean it up,” Board Chair Libby Garvey said at the time. “We’re going to try and do it right and be aware of the pitfalls, and there are a lot.”

The public will be able to comment on the proposed tax at next Saturday’s meeting, before the Board vote.

Photo by Morgan Vander Hart on Unsplash

Arlington Opens Nominations for ‘Community COVID-19 Hero Awards’

By Vernon Miles

Arlington County is launching an awards program that aims to publicly recognize locals who stepped up to the plate to help their neighbors through the COVID-19.

Nominations for the “Community COVID-19 Hero Awards” are currently open online or in-person at any library.

Anyone who lives, works, or just spends “significant time” in Arlington can submit their nominee by Thursday, Sept. 30. According to a press release, the awards “honor Arlington residents, community groups and businesses which have made significant impact in the fight against the effects of the pandemic.”

Winners will be recognized at the October 16 County Board meeting.

“The County is home to many unsung heroes who have continually sacrificed to support others throughout the pandemic while enduring their own hardship — from driving neighbors to vaccine appointments, to donating meals from their small businesses, to organizing groups to share reliable health and safety information with those who may not otherwise have access to it, and beyond,” Aaron Miller, Director of the County’s Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management, said in the press release. “We want to thank them for all they’ve done and use their stories as examples of exemplary citizenry to encourage others to do the same.”

Black County Employee Finds ‘KKK’ Written Inside Courthouse Parking Garage

By Jo DeVoe
“KKK” written on a pillar in a parking garage in Courthouse used by Arlington County government employees (courtesy photo)

An Arlington County employee discovered “KKK” scrawled on a pillar in the parking garage below the county government’s Courthouse headquarters last week.

The employee, who is Black, found the message in the garage for the Ellen M. Bozman Government Center (2100 Clarendon Blvd) and reported the incident on Thursday morning to County Board members, County Manager Mark Schwartz, Chief Race and Equity Officer Samia Byrd and the Arlington branch of the NAACP, according to the local NAACP. The employee filed a police report yesterday (Monday).

The Arlington NAACP shared an excerpt from the email chain between the employee and the county that it said encapsulates how the incident harms more than just the individual who found it.

“It seems because I reported it, and because I happen to be Black, I am seen as a single victim,” the employee wrote to the county in an email, according to the NAACP. “I do not see myself in this way.”

In a statement to ARLnow, County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti condemned the message.

“It’s unfortunate and unacceptable to see racist graffiti anywhere in our community, let alone in our own parking garage,” de Ferranti said. “This garage is open to the public at all times and frequented by those using the businesses throughout the Courthouse neighborhood.”

Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services and property owner JBG Smith took steps to remove the writing from the pillar, he said.

“Our thanks go to the individual who reported it to us,” he added. “ACPD is also investigating, and we will have a more extensive response regarding the steps we have, are, and will be taking over the coming days.”

In a statement, the Arlington branch of the NAACP took a stronger stance, saying any county employee who parked in that garage was “victimized” by the message and emphasizing that this incident is not “graffiti.”

“Speech expressing hatred of a particular group of people is defined as ‘hate speech’ and is not ‘graffiti,'” the organization said. “The Arlington Branch NAACP condemns any form of hate speech and stands with the Black employees and any employee or citizen who reports hate speech.”

The NAACP asked county leadership to send a message to the county workforce that hate speech will not be tolerated anywhere.

“However, sadly, the County missed the opportunities to get in front of this and, as of Monday evening, four days later, still had not addressed these concerns with its employees,” it said.

Hateful messages have popped up elsewhere in Arlington in recent years.

“It’s OK to be white” was sprayed over a church’s racial justice sign last summer. “Heil Trump,” “KKK” and two swastikas were found on a dumpster two years ago — the same year racial and gender slurs were found on a building that serves people with developmental delays.

The full statement from the NAACP is below.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Local Real Estate Market Slowing — “When it comes to housing prices and sales, red-hot Arlington County cooled a bit last month compared to last summer — a modest slowdown that the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors says was typical throughout the region. NVAR reports the median price of a home that sold in Arlington County last month was 9% lower than a year ago, and the average number of days on the market, or how long it took to sell a home, was up 35% compared to last July.” [WTOP]

County Board Still Opposes Gondola — “This week, all five members of the Arlington County Board confirmed to the Washington Business Journal their position hasn’t changed. Even the two new Democrats to join the board since it penned that 2017 letter — current Chair Matt de Ferranti and Takis Karantonis — said in interviews that they remain unconvinced, despite the proponents’ recent success in pushing the District to budget $10 million toward the purchase of a potential D.C. landing site near the Key Bridge.” [Washington Business Journal]

Review of Pentagon City Irish Eatery — “Armstrong’s talented hand again showed itself when I sank my teeth into the corned beef. The chef says that each brisket takes three weeks of preparation before it’s ready for diners. He adds that corned beef is more of an Irish-American food than an Irish one, owing to a fusion of influences that met in New York or Boston. His version certainly owes a debt to Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine.” [Northern Virginia Magazine]

Arlies Voting: Urgent Care Clinic — Voting on the latest Arlies category ends Tuesday afternoon. Let us know about your favorite local urgent care clinic. [ARLnow]

Breakthrough Covid Cases Underreported? — “Virginia’s breakthrough case numbers are likely an undercount. Issues with data reporting made it difficult to report and verify cases among vaccinated people.” [Virginia Mercury]

Nearby: Car Swept Away in Flood Waters — “Here’s what can happen when a huge amount of rain causes flash flooding. A reader sent this photo of a car in the Upper Long Branch Stream between the cul-de-sacs at 6th Street and Glen Forest Drive in Bailey’s Crossroads.” Arlington County firefighters responded as mutual aid on this water rescue call, per scanner traffic last week. [Annandale Blog]

A Gutted Restaurant Near Courthouse Could Become a Daycare

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

(Updated 12:30 p.m.) A shuttered Vietnamese restaurant between Courthouse and Clarendon may be converted into a music-based childcare center.

Rock and Roll Daycare is requesting Arlington County approve child care as a use for the site, which comprises about 4,391 square feet of unused, ground-floor restaurant space at the corner of Wilson Blvd and N. Cleveland Street. Rock and Roll Daycare offers music-based Montessori instruction to infants, toddlers and preschool children, according to the company’s legal representation, land use lawyer Nick Cumings.

The company is eyeing the former location of Minh Vietnamese Restaurant, at the base of a five-story office building at 2500 Wilson Blvd. The building is lined with other ground-floor retail and has 189 parking spaces, wrote Cumings, from the firm Walsh Colucci, in a letter to the county dated February.

“The Applicant is a family-run daycare provider in Massachusetts that is seeking to establish its presence in the D.C. metropolitan area,” Cumings said. “Rock and Roll Daycare… provides a unique music and arts program, international cultural education, and self-directed learning programs tailored to each child.”

The pending franchise location in Arlington follows the opening of two others in the D.C. area, one in Alexandria and the other in Reston.

The daycare will provide five classrooms: one for preschoolers and two each for toddlers and infants, Cumings said. There will be eight to 10 staff members and up to 58 enrolled children. Classes will be held year-round, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

An outdoor play area about 995 square foot in size will be fenced in and contain play equipment, he said.

Approval “will bring a unique and much-desired child care option to Arlington County while continuing to activate the corner of Wilson Boulevard and North Cleveland Street,” Cumings said.

The request is one of five site plan applications that will be heard at a County Board meeting this fall. After the August recess ends, the County Board will begin meeting again on Saturday, Sept. 18, but a spokeswoman for the Department of Community Planning Housing and Development said she expects it will go before the board in October.

EXCLUSIVE: County and State Officials Look to Curb Noisy Cars in Local Neighborhoods

By Jo DeVoe

On a quiet residential street near Arlington Blvd, cars can be heard accelerating as they turn a corner, with their aftermarket exhaust giving off a loud “roar.”

Meanwhile, near Columbia Pike, cars rev up and drag race on S. Columbus Street by Wakefield High School.

“I’m eight stories up — not at street level, so to speak — so maybe you expect the noise to dissipate,” Betsy Thomassen tells ARLnow. “It’s Wednesday, and it’s happened five to six times… it’s just incredibly loud and a nuisance. In my condo, my furniture sometimes vibrates. That’s kind of incredible really.”

According to residents who have spoken to ARLnow, and who’ve posted on social media sites like Facebook and Nextdoor, there been a surge in modified cars speeding through neighborhoods. Some residents say the uptick is particularly bad along the Columbia Pike corridor and in the Clarendon area, and along the highways that crisscross the county.

“Anywhere there’s a corridor, you have high performance cars,” said Clarendon-Courthouse Civic Association President David Cheek, who even compiled a video, below, of modified cars roaring through his neighborhood. “It’s really rude to accelerate in an area with a lot of people, in a loud car, but there’s a ‘do whatever you want’ mentality.”

After nearly a year of receiving more complaints than usual, the County Board is preparing to take a number of steps to mitigate noise in Arlington and enforce noise maximums on cars and motorcycles, according to Board member Takis Karantonis.

One avenue members are pursuing is via the state legislature. The Board aims to have something on their legislative agenda for the next regular session in January, Karantonis said. They’re also looking to train police officers to engage drivers in conversations and get them to change their attitudes.

“I think that the County Board as a whole is interested in a way to enforce and discourage overwhelmingly noisy motoring in Arlington, especially in neighborhoods,” he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmfd3JI3lLo

Diagnosing the problem 

A lot of the especially noisy cars are running aftermarket exhaust systems made for racing, Cheek said. He theorizes that with extra time on their hands during the pandemic, more folks got interested in car modifications.

There is an entire, sophisticated industry around these mufflers, but there is very little regulation, Karantonis said, adding that he understands that modified cars sell like hotcakes in motoring and touring fairs.

One reader told ARLnow that the new noise isn’t always associated with higher speeds.

“They often ‘sound’ as though they are also speeding, yet I’ve seen several that are loud, but didn’t appear to be speeding,” one said. “I suspect that those nature of the modifications.”

As a car and motorcycle enthusiast, Cheek said he understands the appeal of modifying a vehicle and wanting to enjoy it.

“I feel for them,” he said. “But they have to understand there are a lot of people who’re upset about it — on Columbia Pike and in  Clarendon — and that it’s not fair to everyone else.”

He added that noise pollution “isn’t just annoying — it impacts your mental health, and it actually affects your life.”

Considering legislation

Karantonis said there are a few paths on the table, from enacting legislation to educating drivers.

Legislative action will be somewhat tricky, in part because a new state law went into effect in March that says police officers cannot initiate a traffic stop for, among other things, loud mufflers. The code still allows drivers to be ticketed for noise if they were pulled over for a violation such as speeding.

The law, sponsored by Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), was passed to reduce racial disparities in traffic stops, as some police officers historically used pretextual reasons — such as a loud car or expired tags — to pull over residents and search their cars.

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GoFundMe Page Started for Some Serrano Apartments Families

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

A new GoFundMe page was established over the weekend to raise money for five families who have been impacted by the pest infestations and mold at the Serrano Apartments.

These families have been relocated to temporary housing, in hotels and elsewhere, while their units are remediated and repaired. As of Monday afternoon, the fundraiser has raised $3,333 of its $18,738 goal.

It is the latest move by the community leaders and residents who have been calling on affordable housing nonprofit AHC, which owns the property, to improve conditions at the complex. After two years of advocacy, and after involvement from the NAACP and Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE), organizers say the Serrano Apartments and its residents are finally getting the attention they deserve.

In the case of the families for which funds are being raised, more support is needed, organizers say.

“These families, all with school-aged children, have to replace beds, furniture, clothes and other household items and prepare to get their children ready for back-to-school as they relocate, return and try to restabilize their homes and families,” they wrote on the GoFundMe page.

“These families have suffered significant losses and were unexpectedly uprooted due to the lack of maintenance and care at the Serrano Apartments,” the page continues. “These families work hard, living paycheck-to-paycheck, and do not have additional finances nor renter’s insurance to assist them in replacing their belongings and to address other costs involved with resettling and restabilizing their homes and families.”

Former School Board member Tannia Talento, Arlington Schools Hispanic Parents Association member Janeth Valenzuela, Rev. Ashley Goff and local NAACP President Julius “J.D.” Spain put together the fundraiser. They said they hope to raise $4,000 for four families that spent more than two months in hotel rooms, $2,000 for one family that suffered some significant loss of their belongings, but could relocate to another affordable housing residence, and $738 for the GoFundMe fees and transaction costs.

Meantime, AHC has made some structural changes since the conditions came to light, including the resignation of their CEO. AHC hired an interim CEO, former Independent County Board candidate Susan Cunningham, to take the helm.

“I’m a straight shooter,” she told County Board members during a meeting in mid-July, two days into her new post. “I’m not going to sugar coat. I care a lot about accountability: my own, yours, ours as a community, and the problem-solving that it takes to deliver the kind of quality that we expect in the county.”

AHC and Cunningham are working with advocates and tenants to address repairs, the pest infestation and maintenance issues.

The interim CEO told the board she plans to have an in-depth update on progress in September.

She said AHC has “made good progress” but is not done rehousing the nearly 30 families who were placed temporarily in hotels earlier this year. Although the majority are in permanent homes — some with AHC and some in other complexes — a handful are still in hotels and considering their options, she said.

Meanwhile, AHC has three vendors on site trying to tackle an extensive mouse problem.

“We are filling holes, and we are getting ready to pull cabinets,” she said. “I think we’re getting on top of it, but we won’t feel that for sure for a couple of weeks.”

Fundraiser organizers say the same.

“Change is slow, and while we anticipate AHC will make these families whole again, it may take weeks before anything comes to fruition,” they said in the GoFundMe.

County to Test Ranked-Choice Voting in Mock Election Tomorrow

By Anuj Khemka
Voting on June 8, 2021 at the Walter Reed Community Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington County will hold a mock election tomorrow (Tuesday) to test out ranked-choice voting.

Voting will be open to the public from 2-4 p.m at the Ellen M. Bozman Government Center (2100 Clarendon Blvd). Those interested can then attend a second session from 5 -7 p.m to witness the process by which the ballots are counted.

The county will use the mock election to get feedback from voters on ballot layout, voting instructions, and on “tabulation scenarios,” officials said.

Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank candidates by preference on their ballot. Advocates for the system say that it leads to elections that are less negative and reduces the chance of an extreme candidate being elected, compared to a traditional winner-takes-all format. Some communities have ditched the election format after adopting it, however.

Arlington County and other Virginia localities have state authorization from the General Assembly to try out ranked-choice voting, but so far the county has held back from adopting it. Regulations are still being finalized by the state and are unlikely to be ready in time for an election until 2022, the Sun Gazette reports.

At a County Board meeting on July 17, proponents for the election system expressed frustration about the lack of progress in the transition to ranked-choice voting. In response, Board Vice-Chair Katie Cristol noted that the mechanics of ranked-choice voting were “complicated,” according to the Sun Gazette.

Earlier in the year, the Arlington County Civic Federation held Zoom meetings to discuss county voting reforms, chief among them ranked-choice voting.

Although not yet in use by the County Board, the Arlington County Democratic Committee does use ranked-choice voting to decide its nominations for government seats.

Last May, the ranked-choice system propelled Takis Karantonis to victory in the Democratic primary, even though his opponent Barbara Kanninen, who now chairs the School Board, collected the most first-preference votes. Karantonis went on to win the special election to fill Erik Gutshall’s County Board seat in a landslide over his Republican and independent opponents.

“The Arlington Democrats have been using Ranked Choice Voting for our internal endorsement and nomination processes for several years, seeing a strong value in identifying the candidate that draws the broadest support from Democratic voters,” said Maggie Davis, deputy chairperson of Arlington Dems, after the Democratic primary last year.

At a statewide level, Virginia’s Republican Party embraced ranked-choice voting this May, using the system to nominate Glenn Youngkin as their candidate for governor.

Hat tip to Dave Schutz

‘Unusual’ Zoning Leads Arlington Woman to Seek County Board Approval for Deck Project

By Jo DeVoe
Marjorie Tarantino’s townhouse deck (courtesy of Marjorie Tarantino)

When Marjorie Tarantino was closing on the purchase of her townhouse this spring, she learned there were problems with the deck.

Tarantino had bought a property in the Richard Bassett subdivision, a 1970s-era development in the Waverly Hills neighborhood, just off of N. Glebe Road and Route 29. And when it was being inspected, Tarantino was informed her 10-foot by 12-foot deck was structurally unsound.

“It’s the middle of summer and I haven’t been outside,” she tells ARLnow. “I can’t go out there — it’s too dangerous.”

So she made plans to rebuild it. But when she told her neighbors about those plans, she got a foreboding response.

“My neighbors were like, ‘Good luck,'” she said.

Tarantino is not just rebuilding her existing 10-foot by 12-foot deck. Because she’s got extra space in her side yard, she plans to expand it slightly to be 12-foot by 19.5-foot. Originally, she said her builder was under the impression he could just get started on the project, but her architect said that with the extension, they probably need to go through the proper channels.

Those proper channels ended up more complicated than the trio could have expected. Tarantino had to file for a site plan amendment that needed County Board approval, which she received during its regular meeting on Saturday, and now she could be facing a $4,000 bill for the process.

“They’re discussing huge things like collective bargaining, and renaming Lee Highway, and then there’s my deck request,” she said. “I kept checking back in during an 8-hour meeting, wondering, ‘Did I get my deck? Did I get my deck? I just want my deck.”

Her townhouse is in what Site Plan Review Section Supervisor Matt Pfeiffer calls a “unique, legacy district.” It has a specific zoning code that was used for only a handful of townhouse developments in the newly-renamed Langston Blvd corridor, all built in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“Not only is this not common, it’s not common for townhouses,” Pfeiffer said.  “It appears to me, I don’t know the exact history, to have been a specific tool created in that time to respond to market demand for townhouse development in general. My speculation is that this was a zoning district created to respond to cluster development so as to preserve open space on the site.”

This particular subdivision had similar site plan amendments approved in 2010 and 2012, and in total, he said there have been five site plan amendments for this site.

“I will tell you that some of the site plan amendments at this particular development have been controversial,” he said. “I know, it seems crazy. But there’s a single family home-zoned street abutting this development, and there have been concerns from the neighbors about the impacts of these decks at a higher elevation than their properties.”

The site plan supervisor said he thinks the existing regulations will likely be maintained, in part because these projects are not uncontroversial and it impacts only a few dozen townhouses.

Talking to neighbors, Tarantino said she learned other potential projects were “defeated by red tape and hoops.” Her journey to minor site plan amendment approval involved getting documents notarized, sending disclosures and having her neighbors write to the county, as well as lots of correspondence between her and the county and her architect.

“I understand the need for rules,” she said. “But it’s confusing and seemingly meaningless.”

Tarantino is just looking forward to when she can grow herbs and host dinner parties on her new deck.

“The hard part of this is done [and] it looks like it’s going to happen,” she said.

Now, she just has to get a building permit.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Road Closures for Biden Event — “The public can anticipate large crowds and increased pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area related to the event. The following road closures will begin at 1:00pm: Park Drive from N. George Mason Drive to 3rd Street N., 3rd Street N. from N. Park Drive to N. Columbus Street. During the event, the following closure will also be in effect: George Mason Drive from N. Carlin Springs Road to N. Henderson Road.” [Arlington County]

Mahjong Bar Coming to Pentagon City — “Lo and Bun’d Up founder Scott Chung are taking the idea of post-dinner games one step further for their next business venture: Sparrow Room, a mahjong parlor and speakeasy-style dim sum bar tucked away behind Bun’d Up at Pentagon Row. During the day, patrons order Taiwanese-style gua bao stuffed with fried chicken or bulgogi beef at the fast-casual restaurant. Come evening, they can head to the dimly-lit, 42-seat bar for mahjong games, cocktails, and dim sum-style fare.” [Washingtonian]

In-Person Speakers Outnumber Virtual — “Two months after the Arlington County Board resumed in-person meetings, it appears members of the public are more comfortable showing up to voice their opinions. Of the 18 people signed up for the County Board’s July 17 ‘citizen comment’ portion kicking off the meeting, 13 were in-person speakers, the remainder checking in via Internet.” [Sun Gazette]

Fire Union Asks for Recognition — From the Arlington Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association, following the County Board authorizing collective bargaining with employee groups: “Start the collective bargaining process. We have petitioned the county to recognize us as the union representing all firefighters and paramedics in Arlington.” [Press Release, Twitter]

Flights Still Down at DCA — “The number of scheduled outbound passenger flights departing Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the third quarter of 2021 is expected to be down 35 percent from the same period in 2019 – among the biggest sustained downturns in the nation, but still a sign of incremental progress.” [Sun Gazette]

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