A few restaurants in Arlington are reducing their food waste through a new app called Too Good To Go.
And the restaurateurs say the platform not only helps them recover profits on food that would otherwise get tossed — it also makes their businesses more sustainable and helps them reach new clientele.
Arlington’s top prosecutor said she is working with Arlington County Police Department to establish a multi-agency cooperative effort to tackle the carjackings and vehicle tamperings here and in the D.C. area.
“My philosophy has always been to focus on crimes that are a public safety risk,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti tells ARLnow. “Car tamperings and car thefts, I don’t look at those as simple ‘property crimes’ because those are things that make people feel vulnerable and set people up for dangerous situations.”
As COVID-19 cases surged in Arlington County last year, so did carjackings, assaults, trespassings and opioid overdoses, according to a new annual report from Arlington County Police Department.
Meanwhile, alcohol-related crimes and vehicle crashes saw significant decreases.
Mariflor Ventura made headlines earlier this year for helping her Buckingham neighbors during the pandemic.
Dubbed an “Arlington superwoman” by ABC 7, Ventura has been finding and distributing donations and handing out food and basic supplies for a year — an experience that has changed her life.
The county plans to resurface a stretch of Wilson Blvd in Bluemont to improve the driving, cycling and walking experience.
The project is part of Arlington County’s annual effort to resurface about 100 lane miles of roadway annually, prioritizing those in the most need of upgrades and those adjacent to development or other capital projects.
(Updated at 2:20 p.m.) Patrons at nine restaurants in Arlington may have noticed new cocktail napkins and coasters with QR codes floating around last week.
These coasters and napkins are courtesy of Arlington County as part of its vaccination effort, county communications director Bryna Helfer tells ARLnow.
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A mobility advocacy group is asking the county to build a three-year plan for funding projects that make non-car transit faster, more desirable and safer.
And the group, Sustainable Mobility, is trying to capitalize on signs that people are interested in bicycling and walking more coming out of the pandemic.
"We have to seize that opportunity before everybody gets into their cars again," said Chris Slatt, the group's president, who is also chair of the Transportation Commission and an opinion columnist on ARLnow. "This is an inflection point. Arlington has let too many opportunities pass during COVID-19 -- we never achieved open streets, when people demanded more space to walk, sit and eat -- we need them to do better now."
Its recommendations respond to a draft document outlining the large projects that Arlington County intends to embark on over the next three years. This plan, called the Capital Improvement Plan, is winding its way through review processes and is set to be approved by the County Board in July.
Volunteers from Sustainable Mobility, or SusMo, combed through the transportation projects and identified a handful to nix, postpone or kick to developers for funding and implementation, which they say could free up about $17 million that could fund 20 projects or programs.
The alternative projects fall into five of SusMo's priority areas:
"None of what's in our plan is really our idea," Slatt said. "It is all things that are in sector plans, projects that... the county already has [identified], projects that were identified in the bicycle element of the Master Transportation Plan, or just ways to fund priorities that Arlington says they already have."
Highlights include:
Some projects are already in the County Manager's draft Capital Improvement Program proposal, including a feasibility study for a trail underpass under Shirlington Road near the Weenie Beenie, and a new trail along the Arlington National Cemetery wall between Columbia Pike and Memorial Avenue.
A long-stalled affordable housing development project in Ballston has secured the funding it needs to move forward.
On Saturday, the County Board approved an allocation of nearly $16 million for an 8-story building at the Central United Methodist Church site on Fairfax Drive near the Ballston Metro station.
It’s official: The Virginia Department of Transportation recommends turning Route 1, which is elevated over 12th, 15th and 18th streets, into an at-grade urban boulevard.
“An at-grade configuration for Route 1 provides most desirable characteristics that meet the multimodal and community vision for National Landing,” according to presentation materials from a virtual VDOT meeting Wednesday.
County Board members demanded AHC Inc. answer for the deteriorating conditions at the Serrano Apartments and to convince them it will actually fix things during their meeting on Tuesday.
The discussion happened as county staff outlined the flurry of work at the property. Separately, the Board voted 5-0 to enter into an agreement allowing AHC to refinance its loan for the apartments through a new lender before its current loan expires in less than two months.
A new farmers market in Cherrydale will open in a few weeks following a vote by the County Board last night (Tuesday).
Ahead of the vote, some residents — chiefly worried about noise early in the morning — told Board members the market will be a rotten deal for their neighborhood. The issue drew 14 speakers for and against the proposal and the discussion lasted one hour, prompting some Board members to hasten to a vote and move on.
Fewer COVID-19 cases. Lower unemployment. Higher hotel occupancy rates. These and other signs point to Arlington County’s continued recovery, according to Board Chair Matt de Ferranti.
During the annual State of the County address, the chair said Arlington County is well on the road to economic recovery but it has a ways to go before it enters into a period of renewal. The event was hosted virtually yesterday morning (Tuesday) by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, with a Q&A moderated by ARLnow founder Scott Brodbeck.
