Around Town

Controversy Erupts Over Dog Murals, But Help May Be On The Way

By ARLnow.com

Painted on the side of a cinder block warehouse and facing the popular Shirlington dog park, a large mural of happy dogs, bones and paw prints seems like a nice addition. And it would be fine with county regulators — if it wasn’t for the fact that a dog-related business commissioned it. But since the mural belongs to a small doggy daycare it’s considered advertising under county zoning code — and may eventually have to be painted over. For now, a blue tarp covers the $4,000 mural.

Thus is the paradox of county regulations intended to protect Arlington from commercial eyesores but permit public artwork — even if the “advertisement” is actually beautifying a monolithic wall in a run-down neighborhood, it is considered a violation. Yet if the doggie daycare were to paint airplanes or fire trucks or elephants on the side of the wall — which is in plain sight of a steady procession of defecating dogs — it would be perfectly fine.

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News

Will The Virginia Square Hero Please Step Forward?

By ARLnow.com

Update at 2:30 p.m. — We found him, and we’re hoping he can get permission from his employer to talk with us. Thanks, everybody.

We’re trying to get in touch with the guy who risked life and limb yesterday to help save a man who had fallen on the tracks at the Virginia Square Metro station. We’d love to find out how he had the courage to jump in the path of an arriving train, and how he got the idea to roll in the space under platform had the train not stopped short.

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Around Town

Shoppers Flock to Newly-Opened Nordstrom Rack in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

The new Nordstrom Rack in Pentagon City opened its doors this morning to a large crowd eager to get their hands on some fashion bargains.

After the store opened, it ‘all hands on deck’ as the newly-hired employees manned every available checkout aisle and held signs aloft to show shoppers where the end of the checkout line was.

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Around Town

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

More on Bayou Bakery — On Tuesday we broke the news that David Guas finally picked out the perfect spot for his Bayou Bakery concept: the old Camille’s space in Courthouse. Now the venerable Tom Sietsema has scooped us and a half dozen other local reporters who had been waiting patiently for an interview about the Louisiana-inspired cafe. Guas tells Sietsema that the Bakery will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and will feature, among other things “muffalettas, layer cakes, root beer floats, blue plate specials,” and a beer selection.

The End of Free Parking in Clarendon? — Starting August 31, the Department of Human Services parking garage in Clarendon will no longer be free to the public between 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. With DHS moved out of the building, a private parking lot operator will be taking over. Even though garage parking rates in Clarendon are reasonable, the loss of free parking could result in even more cars coming into the Lyon Village neighborhood looking for street parking at night. More from TBD.

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Around Town

Complaint of the Day: Don’t Come Knocking Edition

By ARLnow.com

Today’s complaint of the day isn’t so much a complaint so much as an amusing call to police.

Apparently, a neighbor called police after hearing noises coming from an apartment. The apartment in question belongs to a woman who’s diabetic, and the neighbor thought she might be having some sort of diabetic emergency. The caller said it sounded like the woman was yelling “yes, yes, yes.”

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News

Crime Report: Peeping and Creeping

By ARLnow.com

This week’s Arlington County Crime Report contains a five creepy incidents that all occurred in north Arlington. Four incidents happened at night, but one happened yesterday in Ballston during the day. In the first incident, at least the suspect had the good sense to apologize.

SEXUAL BATTERY 08/22/10, 700 block of N. Wayne Street. On August 22 at 2:15 am, an unknown man approached a woman from behind and put his hand up her skirt. The victim confronted the suspect and he apologized and left the area. The suspect is described as an African American male in his late 20’s, 5’7″, wearing a black tank top and dark basketball shorts.

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News

Rent on the Rise in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

The rise in residential rent comes at a time when a number of Pentagon City apartment complexes have sold at sky-high valuations. The Hampton Apartments at 1425 South Eads Street recently sold for $33.5 million, and the Metropolitan at Pentagon City luxury high-rise at 901 South 15th Street just sold for $125 million, according to the GlobeSt.com article.

RED’s report states that between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, Pentagon City posted the fastest rate of multifamily rent growth of any Northern Virginia submarket. The 4.9 percent year-over-year growth in Pentagon City compares to 2.4 percent growth along Columbia Pike and -1.4 percent rent growth along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.

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News

Man Falls Onto Track at Virginia Square Station

By ARLnow.com

Firefighters and paramedics responded to the Virginia Square Metro station this afternoon, after a Metro employee rider had an epileptic seizure and fell onto the trackbed.

Other customers immediately came to the man’s aid and helped him get back up to the platform according to WMATA spokesperson Ron Holzer. An Orange Line train was arriving at the station the time of the incident, but came to a stop before it reached the fallen man. Power to the third rail was turned off shortly after he fell, Holzer said.

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Traffic

Could BRAC Cause Traffic Jams in Arlington?

By ARLnow.com

Arlington BRAC coordinator Andrea Morris tells WAMU that she expects that many workers who have been relocated to Alexandria will have to make trips back and forth from the Pentagon. Those trips will increase traffic on I-395 and, as I-395 becomes backed up, overflow traffic may spill onto Arlington’s residential streets, Morris suggests.

It seems that one solution to the problem — if it is, in fact, a problem — could be to increase capacity on I-395. What do you think?

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