Jo DeVoe | ARLnow

Published September 13, 2021 at 3:55PM

Judith Davis speaking at the School Board meeting on Thursday about the German program (via Arlington Public Schools)

Parents and students are once more rallying behind the German language program at Arlington Public Schools, the future of which is unclear.

When students returned to school on Monday, Aug. 30, those enrolled in German 2 and 3 found out they had no in-person teacher. They instead received links to virtual German classes taught by Fuel Ed and Oklahoma State University, respectively, while German I students were told to choose another language, as virtual education would not be conducive for beginning instruction.

Feature

Virtual Hiring Events Company Grows Amid Remote Work, Labor Shortages

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 13, 2021 at 12:35PM | Updated September 13, 2021 at 1:00PM

Ryan Healy and Ed Barrientos of Brazen, in 2015

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.

Founded in 2007, Clarendon-based Brazen experienced significant growth since the start of the pandemic.

Opinion

Morning Poll: Second Rosslyn Station and New Georgetown Stop?

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 13, 2021 at 9:45AM

Transit planners have come up with four different ways that they say could solve congestion at the Rosslyn Metro Station while planning for future ridership needs.

Unfortunately, a Metrorail line through Columbia Pike — supported by nearly 70% of ARLnow poll respondents — did not make the cut. But each of the potential future projects does start with changes that some Arlingtonians could see as benefits: a second Metro station in Rosslyn and a first-ever Georgetown stop.

News

Arlington Man Sentenced to Prison for 2018 Killing in Douglas Park

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 10, 2021 at 9:05AM

Gavel (Flickr photo by Joe Gratz)

An Arlington man has been sentenced to decades in prison for killing a man in the Douglas Park neighborhood three years ago.

Michael Nash, 29, is set to spend nearly 35 years behind bars. Five years and one month of the 40 years sentence was suspended. Nash will have five years of supervised probation.

News

County Board Candidates Talk Ranked-Choice Voting, Housing and Sustainability

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 9, 2021 at 3:55PM | Updated October 17, 2022 at 11:26AM

A screenshot of the four candidates for the County Board (via Arlington Committee of 100/Facebook)

Ranked-choice voting is supported by all four candidates for County Board, according to their comments at an Arlington Committee of 100 candidate forum held last night (Wednesday).

The event was the first candidate forum of the fall general election season.

News

Arlington County Board to Vote on Plastic Bag Tax

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 9, 2021 at 9:10AM

Plastic bag in a fence (Photo by Morgan Vander Hart on Unsplash)

The Arlington County Board is set to vote on adopting a 5-cent tax on disposable plastic shopping bags at its meeting next week.

Last March, the Virginia General Assembly gave municipalities the option to levy the tax with revenues earmarked for local environmental education and cleanup. The County Board discussed enacting a tax last year, but put it off over concerns about how this would financially impact low-income residents during the pandemic.

News

Columbia Pike Metro Expansion Nixed For Now

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 8, 2021 at 3:55PM | Updated September 8, 2021 at 4:15PM

It looks like the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is not going to consider a Metro line through Columbia Pike any time soon.

For the last year and a half, there were some signs that such an expansion — which was part of initial Metro planning in the 1960s but was never built — was an actual possibility.

News

County Solicits Public Input on Plans for Vacant Wendy’s Lot

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 8, 2021 at 1:00PM | Updated September 8, 2021 at 1:24PM

Renderings of the 16-story apartment building Greystar proposes for the Wendy's lot (via Arlington County)

Arlington County is inviting the public to provide feedback on the planned development for the vacant Wendy’s lot at 2025 Clarendon Blvd.

Greystar Real Estate Partners is proposing to turn the 0.57-acre lot about a block from the Courthouse Metro station into a 16-story apartment building, with up to 231 residential units and 4,000 square feet of retail.

News

Construction to Start on Office Building, Public Plaza in Virginia Square

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 8, 2021 at 10:00AM

A rendering of 3901 N. Fairfax Drive (courtesy photo)

Developer and construction company Skanska announced it will be breaking ground on a nine-story office building in the Virginia Square area this fall.

The site, at 3901 N. Fairfax Drive, is an undeveloped parcel near Quincy Park currently operating as a temporary parking lot. Skanska intends to build an office building with ground-floor retail and a public plaza.

Schools

Staff Shortages Cause ‘Frustrating and Unacceptable’ Start to New APS Virtual Learning Program

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 7, 2021 at 3:45PM | Updated September 8, 2021 at 9:32AM

Arlington Public Schools headquarters (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated 9:25 a.m. on 9/8/21) The new virtual learning program in Arlington Public Schools, available to anyone uncomfortable with going to school in-person, has gotten off to a rocky start due to severe teacher shortages.

During the first week of school, 340 of the more than 700 students enrolled in the program were assigned subs rather than permanent teachers, and many did not receive class schedules. Instead, many virtual students saw their classes canceled or they were shuffled into multi-grade classes and “virtual waiting rooms” without teachers or monitors.

News

Arlington County Launches Food Scrap Collection Service

By Jo DeVoe

Published September 7, 2021 at 10:00AM

If Arlington County collects your yard waste, you can now add food scraps to your green organics cart starting this week.

This collection service, which started on Monday, is now part of the county’s regular weekly trash, recycling and yard waste collection routes. Food scraps and yard waste will be delivered together to a professional composting facility in Prince William County.

Around Town