President Obama

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Korean Burger Joint Looks To Arlington — Kraze Burger is coming to the D.C. area, and the Korean company has its sights set on Arlington. So far, though, no leases have been signed in the county. More from the Washington Business Journal.

BBC Visits Ray’s Hell Burger — President Obama’s burger summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues to pay publicity dividends for Ray’s Hell Burger. BBC News recently came calling and got a tour of the über-busy burger joint from owner Michael Landrum.

Meet Ballston’s Twenty-Something Civic Leaders — TBD profiles James Schroll, 25, and Conor Marshall, 24 — roommates, recent University of Mary Washington grads, and the newly-elected president and vice president of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association.

Home Sales Volume Falls, Sale Prices Up — The Sun Gazette has the latest real estate stats for July.

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Obama and Medvedev Visit Ray’s Hell Burger

By ARLnow.com

President Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev had lunch at the recently-reopened Ray’s Hell Burger on Wilson Boulevard around noon today.

Obama ordered a cheddar cheeseburger with onions, lettuce, tomato and pickles, according to White House pool reports. Medvedev had a cheddar cheeseburger with onions, jalapeno peppers and mushrooms and a Coke.

Lunchtime crowds gathered on Wilson Boulevard to watch as the two presidents returned to the District via motorcade around 12:30.

Two couples visiting the area from North Carolina were seated at a table right next to the two world leaders.

“We were able to meet [President Obama] and shake his hand — it was just an awesome experience,” said Ricky Wadford, who also talked to Medvedev had his baseball cap signed by Obama.

President Obama is apparently quite a fan of Ray’s. He dined there last year with Vice President Joe Biden.

Two of the photos below are courtesy of Barry Skidmore of People Powered Arlington. See video of the motorcade after the jump.

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President Obama Speaks in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

President Obama spoke at OPOWER, a small energy efficiency business based in Courthouse, just before noon today.

A helicopter hovered overhead as roads around Courthouse were shut down for the president’s motorcade.

The president spoke for ten minutes about clean energy jobs. He also addressed new unemployment figures that revealed the loss of an additional 36,000 jobs in February.

“Even though it’s better than expected, it’s more than we should tolerate,” Mister Obama said of the job losses.

The president also took a tour of the OPOWER offices, greeting employees and cracking jokes. From the White House Pool Report:

Obama took a tour of the smallish office, stopping by each row of 12 two-computer rows to talk to employees, asking what they did. He joked a lot about the youth of the workforce. “Is there anybody over 30 who works here?” Obama asked, prompting laughs.

Here’s some background on OPOWER, which the president praised as “a model of what we want to be seeing all across the country.” The information is provided by the company.

OPOWER is a 75-person Smart Grid and Energy Efficiency software company that partners with utilities to help people use less energy by giving them better information.

OPOWER delivers its services to two million households and works with six of the ten largest utilities in the country and twenty-five utilities overall.

OPOWER is projected to save existing customers more than $250 million over the next three years. If the OPOWER model were deployed nationwide, it would save enough energy to power 3 million homes.

OPOWER grew from 30-60 people in 2009, and expects to add 100 new people in 2010.

The Administration’s focus and commitment on the creation of a clean energy economy – including the Recovery Act – has directly and indirectly supported OPOWER’s growth.

OPOWER’s corporate headquarters is located at 1515 N. Courthouse Road.

A transcript of the president’s speech, after the jump.

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