Leeway-Overlee

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Ballston Parking Garage Rate Hike Approved — On Saturday the Arlington County Board approved a proposed increase in parking rates at the Ballston Public Parking Garage. The parking rate hike, the first at the garage since 1996, will have the biggest impact on those who park on weekends, who were previously paying a $1 flat rate. The county said the increase was necessary to pay for repairs and upgrades to the garage. Also discussed: the effect of Arlington’s living wage requirement on personnel costs at the garage. [Arlington County]

New Streetlights Green-Lit for the Pike — Also on Saturday, the Board approved a $1.2 million contract to install new LED streetlights along part of Columbia Pike. County officials said the new streetlights will improve safety, energy efficiency and aesthetics along one of the busiest pedestrian sections of the Pike. [Arlington County]

‘Pipestem’ Compromise Reached — A developer and neighbors in the Leeway Overlee neighborhood reached a compromise on the developer’s controversial plan to build a new home on a “pipestem” lot on N. Nottingham Street. As part of the compromise, the house — located behind another home and connected to the street by only a thin strip of driveway — will be smaller than originally proposed and will include a detached garage. [Washington Post]

Home Prices Up in Arlington — Fewer homes were sold in January compared to a year ago, but the fact that there were fewer homes on the market helped to raise average and median sale prices by nearly 10 percent. The increase in home prices was led by double-digit increases in townhouse and condo prices. [Sun Gazette]

Flickr pool photo by Damiec

Shooting Suspect May Have Been Squatting in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

A man suspected in a shooting incident near the White House on Friday night might have been squatting in a vacant Arlington home.

Gunfire was heard around 9:30 Friday night on the 1600 block of Constitution Avenue NW, near the White House. According to news reports, a driver was later seen abandoning a car and fleeing across the Memorial Bridge into Arlington. An AK-47 rifle was recovered, according to the Secret Service.

The Highland Park/Overlee Knolls listserv is now abuzz with word that Oscar Ortega, who is wanted by U.S. Park Police for carrying a dangerous weapon in connection with the incident, may have been staying in their neighborhood.

According to an email sent to the listserv on Sunday: “I thought you all might like to know that the police informed my husband and one of our neighbors that they suspect that someone they are seeking in connection with a shooting incident near the White House was squatting in the house on the corner of N. 22nd and Madison that is currently empty and awaiting demolition.”

Spokespersons for Arlington County Police and U.S. Park Police said they were unaware of any investigation in the area. But two residents who spoke to ARLnow.com confirmed that there were at least four police cars parked near the house on Sunday morning.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega is described by police as a 21-year-old Hispanic male with brown eyes, black hair and a medium build. He’s 5’11” and 160 lbs, with tatoos on his right hand, upper back, chest and on the left side of his neck. Police say Ortega has ties to the state of Idaho.

Anyone with additional information is asked to call U.S. Park Police at 202-610-7500 or 202-610-8737.

Photo courtesy U.S. Park Police

For Sale: 18-Foot Tall Topless Wooden Mermaid

By ARLnow.com

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a huge, wooden mermaid with big, exposed breasts, now is your chance. All you need is three grand and a chainsaw.

The 18-foot tall mermaid has graced the front yard of Leeway Overlee resident Paul Jackson since 2004, when Paul and wife Nancy had the bright idea to carve something out of their dying 100+ year old white ash tree. Nancy, in a moment of benevolence, suggested a mermaid, to satisfy Paul’s dual loves of fish and women. The final product, carved by Frederick, Md. artist Scott Dustin, featured what the Washington Post’s Laura Sessions Stepp described as “a shapely derriere and bare breasts that must be at least size DD.”

The busty mermaid, named “Damaged Goods” or D.G. for short, has attracted neighborhood and media attention ever since her controversial creation. She received the aforementioned Washington Post write-up shortly after Labor Day 2004 — in an article entitled “Majestic or Monstrous?” — and, more recently, she was the focus of a Connection Newspapers piece entitled “From Controversy to Landmark.” She’s also listed on RoadsideAmerica.com, an “online guide to offbeat tourist attractions.”

All is not well in paradise, however. D.G.’s roots are weakening and Paul has decided to sell rather than watch her teeter. He’s asking for $3,000, and not a dime less.

“Buyer is responsible for ‘slicing her off’ and transporting her to her new home,” he writes on his Craigslist ad. If you want to inspect the goods, D.G. can be viewed from the street or the sidewalk, on the south side of the 6200 block of Lee Highway.

Hat tip to M. Crider

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Training Day — U.S. Navy Lt. Christine Flood, an Arlington native, trains Afghan National Army medics on basic nursing skills, infectious disease control and hospital trauma procedures at the Kandahar Regional Medical Hospital on June 5. [U.S. Army]

House Fire in Leeway-Overlee — A fire broke out in the back of a house on the 5500 block of 24th Street N. on Sunday afternoon, possibly due to a lightning strike. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze before it spread to other parts of the structure.

Streetcar Supporters Meet Tonight — The Northern Virginia Streetcar Coalition will meet tonight at Bangkok 54 (2919 Columbia Pike) to discuss “the development impacts of streetcar projects in the Washington-Metropolitan region,” including the Columbia Pike streetcar project. The discussion is being called “If you build it, they will come.” [Alexandria Times]

Crystal City BID Extended — The Crystal City Business Improvement District has been renewed. The BID, which sponsors events and performs other activities designed to boost the image of Crystal City while bringing more visitors to the neighborhood, was approaching the end of its original five-year sunset provision. The County Board voted to renew the BID in perpetuity, with a staff review in five years. The BID is funded by a tax surcharge on businesses within Crystal City. [Sun Gazette]

Military Man Becomes Priest — The Sun Gazette profiles Luke Dundon, one of the three new priests in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. Dundon is a Bishop O’Connell and a Naval Academy graduate, as well as an avid marathoner. [Sun Gazette]

Military photo by Sgt. Richard Andrade

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Report on BRAC Impacts — With the Base Realignment and Closure Act-mandated relocation of Defense Department offices delayed, BRAC’s impact on Arlington County will be eased considerably, according to a new report from real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. The report presents the drain of DoD offices from Crystal City and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor as a chance for building owners to update and redevelop. “If anything, we see this as an opportunity for Arlington County -as a whole – to reinvent itself somewhat, to update older inventory, and to cement its place as the leading submarket in the Metro D.C. area,” the report said. [Citybizlist]

Wakefield Groundbreaking Scheduled — The public is invited to attend a groundbreaking for the new Wakefield High School next week. The groundbreaking will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 9, outside the Aquatics Center. Construction of the new 380,000 square foot building is expected to begin next month, with students expected to start using the building in the fall of 2013. [Arlington Public Schools]

Leeway Overlee Community Day and Yard Sale — The 33rd annual Leeway Overlee Community Day and Yard sale will be held along the John Marshall/Ohio Street greenway from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. “About 100 local families and other vendors offer a wide range of items for sale, including plants, clothes, sports equipment, and furniture,” organizers say. [Craigslist]

Don Quixote Opening — Synetic Theater’s production of Don Quixote will have its opening night Saturday in Crystal City (1800 South Bell Street). The show starts at 8:00 p.m. The production runs through July 3.

Flickr pool photo by Mark C. White

Club’s Renovation Plan Includes Tearing Down 1890s House

By ARLnow.com

Members of the Overlee Community Association (6020 Lee Highway) voted last night to move forward with a renovation plan that includes tearing down a late 19th century structure that currently serves as the association’s clubhouse.

By a vote of 55 to 4, members approved a $3.1 million renovation plan (see: Option C-2) that includes enhancements to the club’s three pools, more terrace space and a new clubhouse. The existing Victorian-style clubhouse, built in the 1890s and known as the Febrey-Kincheloe House, is expected to be torn down by the end of the year.

Association President Pat Shapiro says the clubhouse is in poor condition and it would be too expensive to try to safely restore it.

“The facility now is at a point where it needs a tremendous amount of work structurally and otherwise,” Shapiro said.

“The deciding factor was cost and usability,” she continued. “[The structure] does not meet our needs as a clubhouse facility… [and] it would take a lot more money to renovate it.”

Although the building is not listed under the National Register of Historic Places, a number of tipsters have contacted ARLnow.com with concerns about losing one of the county’s oldest non-governmental buildings.

“It is a classic example in my opinion of people who are opposed to development and want to save historic structures — but now that it is their property and asset, they want to ‘do what is best for them,'” one tipster wrote. “The historic community is just about apoplectic and will have a huge outcry over this… It is just the easy way out.”

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