Author: Dan Egitto

Dan Egitto is an editor and reporter at ARLnow. Originally from Central Florida, he graduated from Duke University and previously reported at the Palatka Daily News in Florida and the Vallejo Times-Herald in California. Dan joined ARLnow in January 2024.

Around Town

For Five Coffee Roasters’ new Rosslyn café is now open

By Dan Egitto
For Five Coffee Roasters' first day in Rosslyn (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

For Five Coffee Roasters’ Rosslyn location was already bustling with activity just hours after opening its doors for the first time on Friday.

“I’m so excited!” customer Laura Durie exclaimed to a companion as she looked at the coffee shop’s menu. “Look, they have an omelet!”

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News

Arlington’s existing sewage infrastructure can support at least 20 years of growth, county says

By Dan Egitto
An Arlington Water, Sewer and Streets crew (via Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services)

The Arlington County Board could approve a new sewer plan for the first time in 22 years tomorrow (Saturday).

The proposed Sanitary Sewer Collection System Plan is designed to prepare the county for continued growth through 2045. Despite the surge in development planned for the county over the next two decades, the plan does not call for expanding Arlington’s current sewer infrastructure.

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News

County vies to recover solar panel program participation after slump in 2023

By Dan Egitto
Workers installing solar panels (via Arlington DES)

A proposed county contract aims to incentivize Arlington residents to resume buying as many solar panels as they once did.

The Arlington County Board on Saturday is set to consider whether to approve an agreement with Solar United Neighbors (SUN), which runs the Capital Area Solar Switch program, a co-op that provides financial incentives to people who buy solar panels from local vendors.

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Schools

New committee to study how technology impacts academic performance among APS students

By Dan Egitto
Chris Woolfe, chair of the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (via APS)

A newly formed committee says it aims to learn more about how Arlington Public Schools students use their school-provided devices both in and out of the classroom.

The Educational Technology Advisory Committee, which formed last year, consists of parents, technology specialists and APS personnel. One of their top priorities is determining the educational impacts of the iPads and MacBooks that APS provides all students.

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News

Sewer repair project under Spout Run Pkwy and I-66 on track to finish this spring

By Dan Egitto
A map of the Spout Run Deep Sanitary Sewer Relining project (via Arlington County)

A sewer repair project running underneath homes, parkland and highway lanes between the Spout Run Pkwy and Rosslyn is set to wrap up this spring.

Contractor AM-Liner East is scheduled to finish relining 3,400 linear feet of aging wastewater pipe, some of which is 115 feet below ground, by March 1.

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News

Feedback requested on a Crystal City apartment building proposal pitched as development on a ‘human scale’

By Dan Egitto
Renderings of JBG Smith's proposed "Block W" redevelopment in Crystal City (courtesy JBG Smith)

Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day to submit feedback on a proposed 370-unit apartment building in Crystal City.

The design is less than half the height recommended in the Crystal City Sector Plan, but developer JBG Smith argues that it would function on a more “human scale.”

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Around Town

Owner of Arlington’s Wild Birds Unlimited looks to fly the coop, ending 32-year career

By Dan Egitto
Michael Zuiker (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

The owner of Arlington’s Wild Birds Unlimited is seeking to retire after 32 years in the birding business —  right after he finds a successor.

Michael Zuiker wants to make it clear: the long-standing storefront in the Lee Harrison Shopping Center in Yorktown isn’t going anywhere. But after more than three decades, Zuiker is looking for someone new to fill his role of chatting with customers, keeping up with change and encouraging busy Arlingtonians to take time to enjoy the natural world.

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Around Town

Ship’s Hatch announces departure from Crystal City in another blow to underground shopping center

By Dan Egitto
Ship's Hatch in February 2024 (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

After more than 45 years of business, Ship’s Hatch is lifting anchor from its place in Crystal City’s underground mall.

The eye-catching store founded in the 1970s will still sell merchandise and take personalized engraving orders online at shipshatch.com. But at the end of this month, its whimsical porthole windows and array of military gifts and souvenirs will set sail from the subterranean shopping plaza at 1677 Crystal Drive.

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News

Arlington attorneys file suit over deputy accused of catfishing 15-year-old, killing her mother and grandparents

By Dan Egitto
Austin Edwards (via the city of Riverside)

Two Arlington attorneys are suing a Virginia sheriff’s office over a brutal triple homicide carried out by a deputy who, court documents allege, was hired illegally.

The deputy, 28-year-old Austin Edwards, reportedly lied about his age while soliciting sexual photos from a 15-year-old girl in California in 2022. When the teen rejected Edwards’ advances, he drove to California, claimed authority as a deputy to gain entry into a home and killed her mother and grandparents, according to legal filings.

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News

Arlington agency, parks dept. remain at odds over how to cull deer as new data suggests levels are too high in local forests

By Dan Egitto
Deer grazing in the forest (via Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation/YouTube)

The concentration of deer in Arlington’s parks is up to 16 times above desired levels, based on a newly released analysis of county data.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) has raised doubts about the new numbers, which county staff revealed at a virtual information session last Thursday. What the numbers mean for Arlington’s much-debated deer management strategy remains to be seen.

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Schools

‘My son’s life mattered’ — Arlington advocates demand better after-school programs to fight teen overdoses

By Dan Egitto
Children advocating for more after-school programs in Arlington (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

(Updated 2/19) Advocates are calling for Arlington County to invest $2 million in additional programs to stop students from dying of drug overdoses.

The mother of an Arlington ninth grader who died of an apparent fentanyl overdose in September joined over 250 others on Wednesday to demand additional funding for free after-school programs. Organizers say a scarcity of accessible, interesting programming makes students more likely to fall into drug addiction.

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News

Arlington is the safest county in the U.S. by these measures

By Dan Egitto
A crossing guard at an Arlington elementary school (file photo)

Arlington County residents are some of the safest in the country, by at least one measure.

Just 3.8 out of every 100,000 Arlington County residents died either by homicide or in a land transport collision between 2018 and 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s a lower death rate than any other county in the nation with a population of at least 100,000 people.

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