Around Town

Snowhite wrote on his blog this morning that shortly after parking in the Roaches Run parking lot (across from Gravelly Point, the lot is frequented by limo drivers waiting for airport arrivals) an animal control officer arrived on scene and started trying to round up the wily birds, who seemed determined to not be evicted from their South Arlington home. To assist the effort, Snowhite and his fishing buddy got out their nets and joined the chase. After 20 minutes of fruitless effort, the trio gave up — an outcome that was cheered by some bystanders who told the men to leave the chickens alone.

The two fishermen continued on with their fly fishing mission at the sanctuary, marveling at the prospect of wild chickens living near an urban pond but lamenting the unsuccessful chicken chase.


News

The total cost of the projects — which are expected to improve the appearance and safety of the streetscape — is estimated at $2.8 million. Of the five projects, all but one are in North Arlington.

The Neighborhood Conservation program allows neighborhoods to compete with one another to receive funding for public improvements requested by residents. The five projects expected to receive funding over the weekend include:


Around Town

This weekend the Arlington County Board is expected to approve a nearly $400,000 contract to upgrade bus stops in various “County designated high-priority zones.”

“Improvements include improved crossings, curb ramps, the addition or replacement of bus shelters, benches and trash receptacles, the addition or upgrade of existing sidewalks, and landscaping,” according to the board report. “As the construction progresses, periodic traffic restrictions may be required upon roadways in the vicinity of the active construction zone.”


Around Town

If you’re a regular ARLnow.com reader, you may have noticed that the site started loading noticeably faster last week. You may have even noticed that the site never got knocked offline last week, as it did several times in August due to high demand.

There’s a reason for that — over Labor Day weekend we upgraded to a new server and refined some of our website coding.


Events

The meeting is being held following a number of recent bicycle/vehicle collisions at the intersection, which serves vehicles exiting I-66 and approaching Key Bridge, as well as cyclists and pedestrians on the Custis Trail.

“Arlington County staff will be on hand to explain and discuss future plans to improve the intersection,” according to organizers.


News

It turns out that Google’s massive data centers and its corporate offices consume a mind-boggling amount of electricity: 2.26 billion kilowatt hours in 2010. The company’s power consumption — 260 million watts at any given moment — is about a quarter of the output of a nuclear power plant, according to the New York Times.

To further put that in perspective, Arlington as a whole (homes, businesses and governmental entities) consumed 2.76 billion kilowatt hours in 2007, according to a recent county report — a half billion kilowatts more than Google. The 210,000 people who live in Arlington consume far less electricity at home, however. Arlington households (single-family homes, condos and apartment buildings) consume about 0.73 billion kilowatt hours per year — less than a third of Google’s consumption.


Around Town

On Saturday night Arlington County held a ceremony to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.

The ceremony, held at the Air Force Memorial, was attended by Arlington police officers and firefighters who responded to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as top county officials, military personnel and interested citizens.


News

Somber Anniversary at the Pentagon — A crowd of 1,600 people — including survivors and loved ones of victims — gathered at the Pentagon yesterday to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11 attacks. Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Adm. Mike Mullen were among the speakers. President Obama arrived later in the afternoon and laid a wreath at the Pentagon Memorial. [Washington Post, New York Times]

‘Walmart’ Ordinance May Be Delayed — The County Board was supposed to vote this month on a new ordinance designed to give the board final approval on all ‘big-box’ development in Arlington, but county staff wants another month to write the ordinance. [Sun Gazette]


News

Roads are closed in front of the county office building at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard, in Courthouse, while authorities investigate a suspicious envelope.

Police were unable to provide any additional information about the investigation, but a photo of the scene shows the county’s Bomb Squad truck and a Bomb Squad member in full blast gear.