The forum will be held from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Arlington Central Library’s auditorium (1015 North Quincy Street).
As we reported earlier, Donnellan has said that her recommended budget will likely not include any further cuts for county parks or libraries, but it will include sizable cuts in other areas.
A delegation of parishioners and Remote Area Medical volunteers will be leaving for a two-week trip to Medor, Haiti on Sunday. Together, the group will conduct a medical clinic for the cholera-ravaged town of 40,000. They will also repair roads and build an airstrip to allow air ambulances to deliver critical supplies.
“Medor has no running water, no sewage or trash disposal, impassable roads and inadequate agriculture,” the church said in a press release. “Like the rest of Haiti, the village has been devastated by a succession of hurricanes, earthquakes and now the deadly cholera epidemic this year.”
Wag More Dogs owner Kim Houghton says she commissioned the $4,000 mural, which depicts dogs, bones and paw prints, to beautify the dog park, which her business abuts. But the county zoning office didn’t see the mural as art, it saw it as a 60 foot by 16 foot commercial sign — well beyond the 60 square feet of signage the store is allowed under the county sign ordinance. Had the mural depicted flowers or anything not dog-related, said county regulators, it would be permitted.
Shortly after that, Houghton linked up with the Institute for Justice, a Ballston-based libertarian public interest law firm. This morning Houghton and her attorneys filed a lawsuit and asked for a preliminary injunction that would allow the mural to be displayed while the lawsuit makes its way through the courts.
A seafood restaurant called The Lobster Pot is apparently coming to the ground floor of the Bennett Park apartment complex at 1650 Wilson Boulevard.
The restaurant applied for a license to serve wine and beer this morning. In the Virginia ABC application, the restaurant is described as having a seating capacity of between 101 and 150 seats.
Arlington funds its Convention and Visitors Service through a 0.25 percent surcharge on the standard 5 percent hotel tax. Each year, the county collects $21 million in hotel taxes, or about $5,000 per room, the highest rate in Virginia. Suffice to say that given the hoards of tourists who stay at hotels in Arlington as a cheaper alternative to the District, the surcharge isn’t much of a hindrance.
But the extra quarter of a percentage point, despite having the support of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the local hotel industry, may be a tough sell in Richmond.
Of those thousands of tows every year, only about 50 result in formal complaints being filed with the police. And of those complaints, the cases where the towing company actually violated a county ordinance is in the single digits, according to an extrapolation of Cooper’s numbers.
When we last wrote about Arlington’s biggest tow company, Advanced Towing, a torrent of hate was unleashed in the comment section. But if such a large percentage of tows are legitimate, then are more stringent regulations necessary?
Ballston Sweetgreen Opens Today — Ballston’s new froyo and salad destination is expected to open its doors today. Sweetgreen, located at 4075 Wilson Blvd, will give away free reusable salad bowls to the first 200 people who order a salad. More from We Love DC.
Arlington Couple Pledges $1 Million to Army Museum — An Arlington couple has become the first individual million dollar donors to the planned National Museum of the United States Army. Preston and Jeanne Caruthers say they’re proud to support the Army and honor its commitment to our country. More from the Sun Gazette.
