Wakefield High School held its annual Prom Promise anti-drunk-driving event today, but it was a bit different than years past.
Instead of a large indoor assembly with PowerPoint slides, a speaker and staged demonstrations, the police department decided to take things outside. Groups of students lined up to try their hand at driving golf carts around a cone course while wearing “drunk goggles.”
The “Sweet Fleet” truck is making its public debut today in Ballston, Rosslyn, Courthouse and Shirlington. The truck features cupcakes, cookies and other treats baked by Jason Reaves, a pastry chef and an upcoming competitor on TV’s Food Network Challenge.
Prices range from $3.00 to $3.50 for individual cupcakes and $2.00 for cookies. The truck will serve “all of Arlington,” managers say. You can follow its location on Facebook and Twitter.
“The history of this place has not been good,” admitted owner Farhad Assari, a former international investment banker who left a lucrative gig in Dubai to move closer to his family and pursue his culinary dreams. Like many other food entrepreneurs these days, Assari started small — launching several food trucks that served hearty world cuisine — before trying to translate his street success into a four-walls-and-a-roof restaurant.
Despite the building’s ignominious past and off-the-beaten-path location near Four Mile Run, Assari said he couldn’t imagine opening the restaurant anywhere else.
A quarter of the proceeds will go to the medical care of Ryan Diviney, the WVU student from Ashburn who was badly beaten outside a convenience store in 2009 and left in a persistent vegetative state.
Another 70 percent of the money raised will benefit the American Cancer Society. The rest will be donated to Arlington’s police and firefighters.
Actor Jeff Bridges, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Gov. Bob McDonnell will help launch a new statewide anti-hunger campaign at Barcroft Elementary School (625 S. Wakefield Street) next week.
The Academy Award winner is the national spokesperson for No Kid Hungry, a campaign that aims to “end childhood hunger in America by 2015.” The organization says they hope to do so by creating “public-private partnerships at the state level to break down barriers that prevent kids from accessing the food they need.”
After about eight years in business as Greenberry’s, the new owner of the coffee shop between Rosslyn and Clarendon has decided to go “indie.” Out is the Charlottesville franchise that just won a “Best of NoVA” award in the latest issue of Northern Virginia Magazine. In is “Bean Good: The Coffee Pub,” a brand of owner Shain Noorali’s own creation.
Without the legal constraints of a franchise, says Noorali, the cafe will be able to offer more items, including locally-roasted coffee, locally-sourced food and, of course, beer and wine.
“Discriminatory” Rolling Thunder Checkpoint? — The American Motorcyclist Association has a beef with Arlington County. The group says that Arlington police conducted a “motorcycle-only checkpoint” on Saturday during Rolling Thunder. Calling the practice “discriminatory,” the association has sent letters expressing “concern” to Gov. Bob McDonnell, Arlington Police Chief Doug Scott and Virginia legislative leaders. [Speed TV]
Mormon Singles Gather in Crystal City — Crystal City’s new 23rd Street Chapel is a place for young, single members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to gather. The chapel claims hundreds of single members, many of whom are specifically on the look-out for a wife or husband. The Washington area reportedly has one of the highest concentration of Mormons outside of Utah. [Washington Post]
Much of the Pike — with four travel lanes, a turn lane and, eventually, a streetcar line — does not have room for bike lanes. Meanwhile, traffic tends to be too fast and too congested for safe shared use by bicyclists. And the sidewalks are too narrow for bicyclists and pedestrians to safely co-exist.
So what are cyclists — and county planners — to do? The solution being discussed tonight, which has been in the works since 2004, would create two “bicycle boulevards” that run on quiet residential streets parallel to the Pike.
Arlington and the rest of the region is under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch through 10:00 tonight.
Forecasters say today’s scorching temperatures — we’re also under a Heat Advisory through 8:00 p.m. — will help fuel potentially severe storms late this afternoon or early this evening. The scattered storms will accompany a cold front that is heading toward the region from the west.
With about 30 new Capital Bikeshare stations planned for the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor over the next 6-12 months, the county is seeking input as to where exactly the new stations should go.
Planners have already identified 33 potential CaBi expansion sites throughout the corridor. They have now scheduled a public meeting to discuss the proposed station locations and to gather additional location suggestions. The selection criteria for new stations stipulate that the stations get 4+ hours of direct sunlight daily, be on flat ground and avoid creating “a dangerous situation for street users,” among other requirements.
Rep. Jim Moran has inserted an amendment into an agricultural funding bill that will continue to ban federal inspections of horse meat. The ban effectively prevents the slaughter of horse meat for interstate or foreign export.
Moran’s office has issued the following press release about the amendment.
The new “Boccato Lounge” will serve as a “place for families and the community to gather,” according to co-owner Cristian Velasco. Featuring beer, wine and live entertainment, the lounge will similar to Tryst in Adams Morgan — a hybrid coffee/alcohol hang-out spot.
Velasco says the lounge will allow Boccato to give its coffee and espresso program the attention it deserves, while giving customers more room to enjoy their drinks. There will, of course, be free WiFi.
