ARLnow Weekend Discussion

It was a slow, holiday-shortened week in Arlington that saw the calendar turn to the neatly symmetrical year of 2020.

(Pro tip: there’s no need to comment with “slow news week?” on a week that’s obviously a slow news week.)

All signs point to the 2020s being the Roaring ’20s for Arlington, with Amazon continuing to hire for HQ2 at a fast clip and the Amazon glow driving significant interest in local office space. Economic growth, however, may lead to higher housing prices and other challenges — and County Board members are pledging to tackle those issues head-on in 2020.

With Arlington’s location and new-found prestige helping the county to sell itself, local leaders made the interesting choice last month to bring on a new head of economic development, Telly Tucker, whose bonafides are mostly around building regional partnerships and helping small businesses, not attracting huge new employers. Tucker is set to get to work mid-month.

Here are the most-read stories of the past week:

1. Gone Today, Here Tomorrow: Local Openings and Closings in 2019 and Beyond
2. Bank Robbed in Courthouse
3. Cosi Closes in Ballston
4. Kabob Restaurant, Optometrist Coming to New Ballston Development
5. ACPD Investigating Shooting Near Pentagon City

Feel free to discuss those articles or any other topics of local interest in the comments. Have a nice weekend!