Morning Notes

Columns

by Katie Pyzyk July 25, 2011 at 8:30 am 2,962 63 Comments

Favola Gets Endorsement — The Washington Post announces its picks for three Northern Virginia primaries. WaPo is endorsing Barbara Favola, saying she’s “clearly the stronger and more substantive choice” over Jaime Areizaga-Soto. [Link]

Urban Dairy Dilemma — Arlington County leaders are trying to figure out exactly what to do with the area’s last working dairy farm. The historic property has sat untouched since the county purchased it a decade ago. [Link]

Neighborhood Improvement — Curry’s Auto Service is getting recognized for hiring an artist to reflect the spirit and diversity of Arlington in a colorful mural. [Link]

ArlingtonCountyTaxpayer

disappointed in the POST. Agree on the experience part. But the campaign has shown Babs true colors. A non-endorsement would have been more correct.
KalashniKEV

Who’s Katie Pyzyk?
- CW
  
  Looks like she has a couple past articles to her name too; an introduction probably would have been warranted unless we missed it.
Rosslynite

Nice photo of Spout Run. Your Morning Notes photos are always eye-catching. Although I do question why you did not use a photo of Donaldson Run instead…… 🙂
- Joe Hoya
  
  Donaldson Run is too prone to flash floods. Stopping to take a photo would have been extremely risky.
- doodly
  
  Donaldson Run isn’t part of Arlington, silly.
CW

I hope they got proper approval for that mural…
- KalashniKEV
  
  Probably won’t be necessary… Arlington County loves the “D”
- SomeGuy
  
  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Curry’s building, nor have I read every line of the local sign ordinances, but why is their mural more acceptable than the pet shop owner’s mural that got so much press? Is it simply because the Curry’s mural doesn’t show an automobile and/or a vehicle tire?
  - CW
    
    The short answer is yes. This mural is unrelated enough that it could not be deemed an advertisement.
  - NoVapologist
    
    “The problem, according to county officials, was that the [Wag More] mural, which depicts running cartoon dogs, paw prints, and doggie bones, was in fact a sign promoting her business. Had the mural depicted something else – flowers, dragons or ponies, for example – the mural would be left alone. ”
    
    http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/virginia/2011/02/wag-more-dogs-mural-lawsuit-dismissed#ixzz1T8BBDtKd
    - KalashniKEV
      
      That was the justification- but there were no words contained in the mural advertising the business, and it was (appropriately) facing a Dog Park.
      
      This was simple harassment by the county.
      - ZoningVictim
        
        While the case is running its course, she should put up a tarp that has a gory mural of dragons eating overbearing government bureaucrats. It doesn’t have anything to do with her business, so it should be fine.
      - Bluemontsince1961
        
        LOL! Good one!
  - Maria
    
    And maybe they actually got permission from the county first?
Relax Preppy

Does anyone know what happened yesterday on Washington Blvd in front of Lyon Hall? My gf said there was a large crowd and the area was cordoned off, but I haven’t found anything in the news.
- CW
  
  I live right there but didn’t see anything.
  
  There was a curious little crash on Wilson at Highland this morning. An econobox was missing its front end facing south on Highland in front of Hard Times, and a Toyota pickup had spun all the way around and was siting on the curb facing the wrong way on Wilson.
- ARL Native
  
  Vehicle overturned accident
  - J
    
    I didn’t see the incident as it was happening, but got there right as police were arriving. Some SUV had overturned on Wash Blvd in front of the 7-11, with the hood facing north; lots of glass everywhere. There looked like some other cars, although nothing nearly as dramatic. It looked pretty spectacular, but emergency crews didn’t seem to be rushing around too crazily, and everyone was sitting around rather calmly, so hopefully everyone was okay.
John Fontain

Is Reevesland the place that many people refer to as “the best place to go sledding in Arlington”?
- Lou
  
  That would be the practice range at WGCC.
- Sgt. Hartman
  
  The Reevesland hill is a fantastic spot for sledding.
- doodly
  
  Yes, but only when there is snow on the ground.
BoredHouseWife

make it a functional urban dairy farm and sell the products
- CW
  
  Or a functional learning farm of sorts. Do schools have 4-H and FFA around here, or is the fact that I was raised in the country starting to show? While these kids aren’t likely to go into careers in agriculture, raising a pig or cow to show at the fair (is there even a fair?) and then auction off or slaughter meshes well with the whole locavore thing anyhow.
  - OddNumber
    
    Yes, there is an Arlington County Fair: http://arlingtoncountyfair.us. I don’t think they have the typical agricultural animal competitions that you are familiar with though.
  - ZoningVictim
    
    I just checked the zoning regs, and they have enough land to raise livestock. Anyone in Arlington can raise livestock, but they can’t “roam at large” and their yard/housing has to be at least 100 ft. from any street or lot line.
  - Schmex_dc
    
    Arlington does have a 4-H program. Due to zoning restrictions (see anything related to chickens) we don’t have traditional livestock programs. However, 4-H is more than just agriculture, and can be very successful in an urban county. Most clubs in Arlington are based in the schools and not project based like other local 4-H programs.
    
    http://offices.ext.vt.edu/arlington/programs/4h/
Richard Cranium

Make it a ground-floor Walmart with a condo-hotel on top and a rooftop, kids-free dog park. The Walmart should feature a Taco-Bell lunch counter and a Drinks by Dremos stand.
- Josh85
  
  That’s a terrible idea!! What is with you people anyway!!?
  - Richard Cranium
    
    What – you think the dog park should be on the ground level?
- Rosslynite
  
  Just so long as they sell guns at that location. There really need to be more options in that part of the County.
Arlington Public Library

For more on the Reevesland property, check out: http://virginiaroomarlingtonva.blogspot.com/2007/05/when-cows-were-local.html
- doodly
  
  Cool, thanks, Library.
ArlingtonNative

Lived about 3-houses from the Reeves for 9-years, when both were still alive. Use to help them with their cars when they had trouble and checked on them in the winter when they couldn’t get out.
The Reeves were wonderful people and it would be great if the county could find a meaningful use for the property and that great old house.
They kept an amazing veggie garden going for years … that could be revived as a teaching resource for the schools with the produce sold at the farmers market to help fund it.
- charlie
  
  i knew the family as well.
  they gave this property to Arlington for the SOLE PURPOSE of it becoming part of the park and being an interpertation of old-Arlington. The County’s stewardship has been a tragedy. I know that the County just hopes it falls down. tragic. not as glamorous as the new park on I-395. But neither are Gulf Branch, Lubber Run or the Planetarium.
FredA

Not sure that this deserves a separate post, but I just walked over to the Ballston Mall and there is a very annoying high-pitched noise at the entrance, obviously being piped in to deter people from standing around. Is there anywhere else in town that has started using this tactic?
- Lou
  
  Oh God, are you serious? They were doing something like that at Metro Center. Supposedly only young people can hear it.
  - Lou
    
    scratch that, I think it was Gallery Place. Outside the station on private property, of course.
- CW
  
  Whoa, seriously? That was a big deal when they did it at the Chinatown station.
  
  (Moderation warning…link to potentially-competing site ensuing):
  
  http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/7008/teens-and-young-adults-arent-mosquitoes/
  - Lee-n-Glebe
    
    Wow – I didn’t hear about this when it happened in DC. This just seems like one of those ideas that would make a property manager, when presented with it, say “you’ve got to be kidding me – no freaking way.”
  - Aaron
    
    Speaking of GGW, their posters have been credited for successfully cowing Metro into shortening the unwieldy names of several DC stations. The ball appears to be in Arlington and every other jurisdiction’s court to rename any of their stations before the next round of sign replacement.
    
    http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/07/metro-shorten-some-station-names-use-secondary-names
    - Josh S
      
      I don’t know if “cowing” is the right term here. It somehow implies that there was bullying of some sort. They petitioned Metro and convinced the agency directors that the signage didn’t need to include entire name at stations where the official name had become lengthy. I don’t think GGW readers have any particular power, but they did have a good argument and Metro leaders (undoubtedly after internal review) made a decision that went along with that argument.
- Lou
  
  Confirmed. The speakers are in plain sight too.
Thes

Kids can fight back by making their cell phone ringtones too high for parents and teachers to hear. Unfortunately, I can hear those tones well aimed well below my supposed age range.
othersideoftheriver

As I recall, one of the problems with using the house for any purpose but a private residence is ADA accessibility. The cost in both aesthetics and money to make it accessible would be prohibitive.
- Thes
  
  You must be new here, OSOTR. Soon you will learn from the posters here that all problems in Arlington are caused by the County Board. /s
  - Webster
    
    He’ll also learn to know Thes, the county’s designated staff watchdog of ARLnow.com, who is dispatched to defend the county in any thread where someone questions it.
    - Bugged
      
      I’m no one’s designated watchdog, but I agree with Thes!
- ZoningVictim
  
  It’s designated as historic, so I don’t think they could update it. Not to sound overly callous, but it’s silly to deny usage of the building to educate children because less than .5% of our population, most of whom are elderly, will have difficulty using it or not be able to use it. If they used it as some kind of training center for the young, surely they could help the few disabled children they’d have to get around. If it were mostly agricultural in nature, then they wouldn’t really need to be in the house itself, anyway.
  - doodly
    
    No, they can update it. There is no restriction on the building in that regard. They could completely remodel it or even tear it down, not that that’s likely.
    - ZoningVictim
      
      Oh, that’s cool. Then like you said, they could just use the first floor of it. I hope they find something to do with it without too many modifications, soon.
      - doodly
        
        The county is doing a study on what upgrades are needed and the cost right now. Once they have a price tag, they’ll figure out what to do with it. They’ve dragged their feet too long–the house is going to just fall over if they don’t do something.
- doodly
  
  One option that has been considered is just opening the ground floor to the public to avoid expensive ADA upgrades. That might be relatively cheap.
  - Lou
    
    Opening it up as what though?
    - doodly
      
      That’s the unanswered question. Whatever it is, it would be only on one floor.
      
      The real cost is going to be upgrades to the foundation and HVAC.
      - Lou
        
        Do you have a link to anything that talks about that option, and any other options?
      - doodly
        
        Sorry, I don’t. I went to a county meeting about it, that’s how I know. They’re doing an engineer’s study, asking for costs of a few options. They’ll use that to help decide what to do. In the discussion, the staff talked about the details, such as using only the first floor.
      - Lou
        
        That’s what I’m trying to figure out. What were the other options discussed at the meeting you went to?
      - doodly
        
        As I recall, the options were use it as public space, sell it to a private party but for public use (like a non-profit) or sell it to a private party to use as a private home. I’m not sure I got that just right.
        
        But that doesn’t mean the options are equally likely, just that they have to put all of them on the table for comparison.
    - Meme Reciter
      
      Cupcakery, Pizzeria, Fro-Yoteria, BrgrBistro, Goth Bar (there’s a shortage apparently) . . . the possibilities are limitless!
      - Lou
        
        What about Dremo’s?
      - Meme Reciter
        
        Nah – turns out they’re looking to build a floating bar in Donaldson Run.

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