Crime Report: Armed Threats
In this week’s Arlington County crime report, a female escort is robbed by a man with a gun, and a man who threatened to get his gun is Tasered by police.
ROBBERY 12/08/10, 1200 block of N. Glebe Road. On December 8 at 12:15 pm, a man brandished a handgun and robbed a female escort in a hotel room. The suspect is described as an African American male, 5’9’ with a medium build. He was wearing a white shirt, black pants and black shoes.
ASSAULT ON POLICE-ARREST 12/14/10, 1200 block of S. Nash Street. On December 14 at 11:30 pm, a police officer towed a vehicle. The vehicle owner threatened to get a firearm from his residence, left the scene, and returned. When he did not comply with police commands, a tazer was deployed. John Pistolas, 47, of Arlington, was charged with Assault on Law Enforcement. He was held on a $1,000 bond.
The rest of the crime report, after the jump.
County Rolls Out Snow Removal Guidance, Reporting Form
(Updated at 4:00 p.m.) As the Washington area prepares for the first actual, bona fide snowfall of the season tomorrow, Arlington County has revealed some additional guidance for how it intends to enforce its new snow removal ordinance.
The ordinance calls for snow and ice to be removed from sidewalks within 24 to 36 hours of precipitation ending.
The chief means for enforcement of the ordinance will, essentially, be neighbors tattling on each other, via a new web-based reporting form.
Citizens will fill in the address of the problem area, refining it as necessary by clicking on a map. Then they will select from four preset “concerns” — either a concerns about the street or a sidewalk. Finally, users will type in their name and — optionally — contact information (for follow-ups, not for public dissemination) and press a submit button.
The complaint will go to county staff, who will review it and dispatch code enforcement agents as necessary.
According to Deputy County Manager Marsha Allgeier, enforcement agents will, at first, “try to give notification and warning” in lieu of the $50-$100 fine called for in the ordinance.
“They will try to find the entity that would be responsible for that sidewalk and try to make contact with that person to say ‘do you know we have a new ordinance?’” she said. Allgeier added that the county will specifically target “high-traffic and high-density areas” for enforcement.
The goal, officials say, is voluntary compliance.
“We will remain flexible, and use a good dose of common sense along the way,” said County Manager Barbara Donnellan. “We are hoping for a very light snow year, but nonetheless, our implementation plan is ready.”
Elderly and disabled individuals physically incapable of removing snow from their sidewalks will be exempt from the ordinance. For now, county staff will determine exempt status by contacting the homeowner directly; no exemption list will be maintained.
Big Cheese Truck Makes Crystal City Debut
(Updated at 2:40 p.m.) The Big Cheese truck made its first publicly-announced appearance in Arlington today.
Hawking $6.50 gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, the truck parked in Crystal City around noon today and attracted a few dedicated food truck aficionados willing to brave the blustery weather.
“Craft cheese with a ‘C’” is how owner Patrick Rathbone describes the difference between his grilled cheese and the pedestrian grilled cheese your mother used to make. (Sorry, mom.)
Ingredients include artisan Cowgirl Creamery cheeses, caramelized onions, grilled mushrooms and hardy bread. The end result is certainly the fanciest mobile grilled cheese this side of the west coast, where there are at least two other grilled cheese trucks in operation. You’ll want to take the sandwich out of the aluminum wrapping quickly, however, so the bread doesn’t get soggy.
The Big Cheese, operating out of what was once the Rebel Heroes truck, is licensed to operate in the District and apparently attracted a crowd near L’Enfant Plaza earlier this week.
Owner Patrick Rathbone, a Rosslyn resident, said he was undeterred by the comparatively slow business on Crystal Drive and is still planning on splitting his time between the District and various Arlington locations. Also in his plan: serving french toast at the Courthouse farmers market.
Big Cheese will be making its first hire in the next week, which should allow the truck to serve customers more efficiently. (Each made-to-order grilled cheese takes two minutes per side to grill.)
A marathon runner and triathlete, Rathbone says pulling off the launch by himself required physical and mental stamina.
“There are definitely some marathon days,” he said. “I’m doing everything.”
Rathbone says his long-term goal is to open a brick and mortar restaurant, something the owners of the District Taco and Pupatella Pizza carts were successful in doing this year. He says the food truck allowed him to start a business for a tenth of the cost of opening a restaurant.
The truck could return to Arlington as soon as Friday. Follow Big Cheese on Twitter to find out where it’s going to be next.
Open Discussion: Arlington Releases Financial Audit
As required by law, Arlington has completed a comprehensive audit of the county’s finances for fiscal year 2010.
The audit, conducted by the accounting firm of Clifton Gunderson LLP, was just posted on the county’s web site and discussed briefly by County Manager Barbara Donnellan at Tuesday afternoon’s board meeting.
“I’m glad to report that the county has once again received an unqualified or ‘clean’ opinion from our auditors,” Donnellan said. “Once again Arlington’s fiscal management has been found to be strong.”
The 216-page report can be downloaded in PDF format here. Instead of attempting what would likely be a woefully incomplete analysis, we’ll open up the comment section to anyone who wants to examine specific sections of the document.
If we can find a couple hundred food critics, there have got to be a few accountants out there, right?
Is This the House of a Terrorist?
This is the house on 11th Street South in the Arlington View neighborhood where alleged “wannabe jihadist” Awais Younis lived with family members.
Younis, also known as Sundullah Ghizai and Mohhanme Khan, was arrested by the FBI last week and charged with threatening — via Facebook — to set off pipe bombs in Georgetown and on Metro trains.
Younis, graduated from Arlington’s Washington-Lee High School in 2004. A high school classmate and neighbor said the Afghanistan native was “real quiet.”
“He stayed to himself, kind of like an outsider,” LaRondre Gaskins told WUSA 9. “No friends but certain things that happened he was real weird about, like when 9-11 happened… he clapped about it in class.”
A family member, meanwhile, called the charges “bullsh-t.”
Younis, who is in his mid-20s, will undergo a court-ordered mental health evaluation. A court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 21.
All was quiet at Younis’ house this morning. There was little activity on the street, save an elderly woman taking items out of her SUV.
On the porch in front of the red brick home, Encyclopedia Britannicas were stacked haphazardly in a potato chip box. Down the side of the house, an Afghan rug was folded next to a Dell computer box, apparently waiting to be taken away as trash.
County Board Appoints New Leadership, Looks Back on 2010
The county board reflected on 2010 at its meeting yesterday evening. Board members were treated to a five-minute year-in-review video prepared by the staff of the county’s cable channel.
From environmental initiatives to Long Bridge Park to Arlington’s “car free” push, the video’s unspoken, underlying message was that the county has remained proactive about pursuing larger policy and infrastructure goals despite the tough economic times. (The video never actually mentioned the economic climate.)
Also at yesterday’s meeting, the board announced, as expected, that it has selected Chris Zimmerman to take over as chairman on Jan. 1, succeeding Jay Fisette.
The board tapped Mary Hynes to succeed Zimmerman as vice chairman.
In Arlington, the chair and vice chair serve a one-year term, typically corresponding with whoever is up for re-election. Zimmerman was re-elected this year, and Hynes faces re-election in 2011.
Another Tire-Slashing Spree in Langston-Brown
It was a pretty lousy start to the morning for a number of residents of the Langston-Brown neighborhood.
We’re hearing that the tires were slashed on more than 30 cars overnight. Investigators are on scene taking photos.
Among the streets hit were Culpepper Street and 19th Street, near Glebe Elementary School.
This incident comes less than two months after another tire-slashing spree in the same neighborhood. On Oct. 20 we reported that a vandal slashed the tires on 15-20 cars in the area.
Morning Poll: Chinese Food in Arlington
I have yet to encounter anyone who thinks the quality of Chinese food in Arlington is better than average.
Sure, there are some who will testify that the Chinese restaurants here are no different than anywhere else. But there are also plenty of people who have said emphatically that Chinese food was soooo much better wherever they lived before Arlington (New York City, for instance). For them, finding one — just one — comparable restaurant in Arlington remains a challenge.
What do you think? Feel free to share your restaurant recommendations in the comments.
Morning Notes
Pentagon Metro Station Closed — The Pentagon Metro Station has been closed due to a suspicious package, reports Dr. Gridlock. Trains are still passing through the station.
Boy Scouts Enter Homeless Shelter Debate – At the county board meeting over the weekend, there was an unusual moment when a speaker used his time at the podium to ask questions rather than pontificate. That questioner was Spencer Cobb of Boy Scout Troop 167, who was inquiring about the possibility of a year-round homeless shelter as part of his citizenship project. There are 530 homeless individuals in Arlington, county officials estimate. More from the Sun Gazette.
Eventide General Manager Departs – Changes may be in the works at Clarendon’s Eventide restaurant, which just lost its general manager and bar manager to “differences” with restaurant partners. More from TBD.
SoberRide Nears Milestone — The regional SoberRide program, which funds free cab rides for people who’ve had too much to drink on certain holidays, is approaching its 50,000th ride. Organizers hope to reach that mark by New Year’s Day. Of note: Arlington’s Red Top Cab provides and staffs the call center that dispatches the cabs, a service worth nearly $50,000. More from the Washington Post.
Flickr pool photo by Reid Kasprowicz
