Author: Scott McCaffrey

A Northern Virginia native, Scott McCaffrey has four decades of reporting, editing and newsroom experience in the local area plus Florida, South Carolina and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. He spent 26 years as editor of the Sun Gazette newspaper chain. For Local News Now, he covers government and civic issues in Arlington, Fairfax County and Falls Church.

News

Officials seek new early-voting site ahead of Madison Community Center renovations

By Scott McCaffrey
Early voting at the Madison Community Center on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 (staff photo)

Renovations at a North Arlington community center have county election officials on the lookout for a new early-voting site in 2026.

Madison Community Center (3829 N. Stafford Street), which is closing in the spring for about a year of renovations, serves as a regular polling place on Election Day and one of two satellite centers open for early voting in the weeks leading up to elections.

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News

County Board joins push for $460M more funding for Metro each year

By Scott McCaffrey
Clarendon Metro station (staff photo)

The Arlington County Board is throwing its weight behind a region-wide proposal to provide more funding for Metro.

County Board members on Tuesday voted unanimously to encourage General Assembly action on the regional DMV Moves plan for sustained increases in transit funds.

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News

Arlington faces $13M shortfall from low consumer spending and real estate revenue

By Scott McCaffrey
Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz (via Arlington County/YouTube)

Arlington County’s tax revenue was millions of dollars short of what was expected in the first months of this fiscal year, resulting in cutbacks on some expenditures.

County revenue from real estate taxes and taxes on public consumption — like sales, meals and lodging taxes — was $13 million behind projections during the first four months of the fiscal year that began July 1, County Manager Mark Schwartz said in a County Board briefing yesterday (Tuesday).

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Schools

Construction delays at new Career Center building push up against 2026-27 school year

By Scott McCaffrey
Construction in August at the forthcoming Grace Hopper Center, located next to the current Arlington Career Center (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

The new home of the Arlington Career Center is still on track to be ready for the start of the 2026-27 school year, but the margin of error is getting increasingly narrow.

School Board members are preparing to discuss a staff request to appropriate $670,000 in contingency funds on Thursday, aiming to meet the most recent challenges for the new Grace Hopper Center at 816 S. Walter Reed Drive.

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News

Historic cemetery on Langston Blvd to receive fencing and a bench from county

By Scott McCaffrey
Grave markers at Calloway United Methodist Church (via Arlington County)

A new partnership between the county government and a local church aims to preserve, improve and maintain public access to a historic cemetery.

The county government plans to install perimeter fencing, access gates and a bench at Calloway United Methodist Church’s cemetery at 5000 Langston Blvd, one of the oldest church-affiliated African American graveyards in all of Arlington.

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News

Revised plan for affordable housing building near Langston Blvd wins praise at meeting

By Scott McCaffrey
Plans for the Leckey Gardens site at 2031 N. Woodrow Street (via Arlington County)

An updated plan for an affordable housing building near Langston Blvd has received mostly praise but some criticism from the Housing Commission.

The Housing Commission was provided an update on Dec. 4 on the plan to replace 40 garden-style apartments at the Leckey Gardens apartment complex with a 10-story apartment building with 249 committed-affordable units.

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News

Panel seeks solutions to snow on sidewalks at intersections in Arlington

By Scott McCaffrey
An icy crosswalk in Crystal City on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

Members of a local advisory committee are looking for ways to make Arlington more walkable after snow falls.

In focus for the Pedestrian Advisory Committee this year are curb cuts leading from sidewalks into intersections, which often fill up with snow from plows and, at times, people shoveling sidewalks.

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News

Plan for 743-unit expansion to RiverHouse in Pentagon City receives approval

By Scott McCaffrey
Seven-story residential building proposed for RiverHouse site (via Arlington County)

After years of discussion and hours of public testimony this weekend, the County Board has approved a substantial expansion to Pentagon City’s RiverHouse development.

In a series of 5-0 votes, Board members approved JBG Smith’s proposal to add 132 four-story townhome-style properties as well as two mid-rise multifamily buildings, one of 102 units and the second of 509, at the 36-acre RiverHouse site along Army Navy Drive and S. Joyce Street.

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Around Town

Yorktown sophomore wins piano competition, will perform with National Chamber Ensemble

By Scott McCaffrey
Yorktown High School student pianist Sam Brose (courtesy National Chamber Ensemble)

A 15-year-old Yorktown High School sophomore has become the first from Arlington to win a regional competition spotlighting youth pianists.

Sam Brose was selected as the winner among eight finalists in the  2025 Nancy Peery Marriott Young Artist Competition. He and two other young honorees will be spotlighted at the upcoming holiday concert of the National Chamber Ensemble.

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News

Lyon Park residents demand answers after iconic tree removed from median

By Scott McCaffrey
Removal of tree in Lyon Park (photo courtesy Natalie Roy)

County Board members are promising a detailed written response after Lyon Park residents accused the local government of cutting down and carting off a “gateway” tree without cause.

The removal came despite efforts of the Lyon Park Citizens Association to preserve the tree, which had been located for the past 40 years on an island in the middle of N. Fillmore Street near 3rd Street N.

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News

Arlington home prices edge upwards despite ‘cautious’ buyer activity

By Scott McCaffrey
Real estate for sale sign (photo illustration by ARLnow)

Arlington per-square-foot sales prices for homes hovered just below $500 in November, the second-highest in the region and up ever so slightly from a year ago.

For the month, the average cost per square foot for the 145 residential properties changing hands in Arlington was $498, according to figures reported Dec. 10 by MarketStats by ShowingTime. That was up by just under 1% from a year before, but slightly trailed the average of $504 recorded in Arlington for the first 11 months of the year.

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