The Wizards could have a chance to sweep the Bulls on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at the Verizon Center. If you’re not a basketball fan, or want to DVR the game, check out some open houses this weekend.
See our real estate section for a full listing of open houses. Here are a few highlights:
Four Sisters Grill, the fast-casual Vietnamese restaurant in the former Fat Shorty’s space, is now open to the public.
Owner Hoa Lai opened the restaurant, at 3035 Clarendon Blvd, on April 17 and, other than having to close for minor repairs for two days this week, he said the initial community response has been promising.
Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Team Cathell, “Your Orange Line Specialists.”
Arlington has now hit a new high in inventory this week hitting 470 active listings of properties for sale.
Thirteen of the trees are in North Arlington and five are in South Arlington. Most of them are on private property and owned by the residents, who are granted either a certificate or a plaque. The trees, according to the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation, “may be nominated for their size, age, species, historical interest or because they have a special significance to the neighborhood.”
“It is an honor to be a part of a culture that values and recognizes its tree canopy,” Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette said in a press release. “All of the nominees and winners should take great pride in their efforts and dedication to a flourishing environment.”
Staff consulted an ad hoc committee of condo owners in Ballston who want police to issue citations whenever they can hear noise in their apartments that originates from at least 50 feet away. The condo owners want the enforcement period to start at 10:00 p.m. on weeknights, 11:00 p.m. on weekends and from noon to 6:00 p.m. on Sundays.
In voting to advertise changes to the noise ordinance on Tuesday night, the County Board gave itself the flexibility to decide whether to make the minimum distance 50, 100 or 200 feet, and to decide when the noise ordinance should be enforced.
Local Democrats are upset with Garvey over her outspoken opposition to the streetcar and her support of Republican-endorsed independent John Vihstadt in the County Board special election. Vihstadt defeated Democratic nominee Alan Howze earlier this month. Garvey was elected in 2012 on the Democratic ticket and now in her first full term on the County Board, following a decade and a half on the School Board.
At the committee’s meeting Monday night, Garvey will have a hearing where she can defend her decision to support a non-Democrat and appeal to stay a member of the Arlington Democrats. The hearing will be heard by a special committee made up largely of the ACDC leadership, according to ACDC Chairman Kip Malinosky. Malinosky said he will be presenting the case against Garvey, so he recused himself from the committee.
Arlington officials and real estate developer JBG Companies broke ground this morning on the 31-story residential skyscraper at 1823 N. Moore Street in Rosslyn called Central Place.
The development, which is expected to be complete in 2017, will have two floors of retail, a 17,00-square-foot public plaza and six levels of parking — three below ground and three above. Once the residential tower, which will be one of, if not the tallest, residential building the D.C. area, is complete, JBG will begin construction on an accompanying office space next door, between N. Lynn and Moore Streets.
Garvey made a presentation during yesterday’s County Board meeting, challenging the return on investment (ROI) study a consultant performed on contract with the county and presented last month.
Garvey said the study makes faulty comparisons, disputed the $3.1 billion ROI claim, said that calling the streetcar a “seamless ride” is nonsensical since a bus would do the same, and claimed it ignored contrary analysis, among other assertions.
It was the first running of what many view as the world’s premier distance race since last year’s race was marred by the bombings that killed three and left hundreds injured.
Michael Wardian was the top finisher from Arlington, finishing in 2:23:32, good for third in the 40-44-year-old men’s division and 44th overall. Wardian, who turned 40 on April 12, won the North Pole marathon by nearly an hour less than two weeks ago and completed two other races — the GW Parkway 10 Miler and a 5K — between then and Monday.
The survey was conducted as part of the county’s “Envision Courthouse Square” initiative, which is trying to get the public involved in the process of planning the future development of the 9-acre area surrounding the county’s large surface parking lot.
That lot in particular was the subject of many survey respondent’s suggestions, who desire to see it become an underground parking lot with a different use for the surface area up top.
From 10:00 to 10:30 p.m., the students in Woodlawn’s Earth Force Group want everyone to dim or turn off unnecessary lights, and draw their shades or curtains to prevent light pollution. The half hour of observance coincides with Earth Day today, Arlington’s Green Expo on Saturday, International Dark Sky Week and, according to sixth-grader Samara Cathirell, “the peak migration of birds over our region.”
“Studies have linked various cancers to over-exposure to artificial lighting, including breast and prostate cancer,” said the Earth Force press release credited to Samara. “Some amphibians have been shown to come out later to feed and are missing their prey opportunities. Millions of birds die each year by flying into tall artificially lit buildings. Algae continues to grow excessively at night under the artificial lights polluting streams, and nitric oxides and C02 (a greenhouse gas) and SO2 are building up contributing to pollution.”
TechShop, a subscription-based, high-tech workshop, has opened its 20,000-square-foot space at 2110-B Crystal Drive, in the Crystal City Shops.
The shop opened last Wednesday after eight weeks of construction. It offers its members access to millions of dollars worth of equipment to use to build prototypes, new inventions or anything else they can dream up.
