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

County Board members staying mum until written Missing Middle ruling arrives

By Scott McCaffrey
Scene from after the County Board's Missing Middle housing vote in 2023 (staff photo)

Arlington’s elected leadership is not saying much about the future of the county’s Missing Middle policy — at least not from the dais.

Pressed to make some comment on what will happen with the residential zoning change — known alternately as Expanded Housing Options (EHO) — County Board members on Saturday (Oct. 19) opted to stay mum.

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Schools

APS’s chronic absenteeism dips year over year, but remains well above ultimate goal

By Scott McCaffrey
An APS school bus (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

New figures show efforts to reduce absenteeism in Arlington public schools may be bearing fruit.

When Arlington School Board members approved the system’s fiscal 2025 budget in the spring, they set a goal of ultimately reducing chronic absenteeism from the then-current level of 13.5% to less than 8%. In recently updated data, there was a bit of progress on that front.

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News

County leaders say community activism helped to save native trees along GW Parkway

By Scott McCaffrey
Construction and lane closures along the GW Parkway (via National Park Service)

Arlington leaders believe people-power helped sway National Park Service officials to re-evaluate plans for clearing more trees and vegetation adjacent to the George Washington Memorial Parkway in the county.

The acting superintendent of the GW Parkway announced on Friday (Oct. 18) that a “full review” would be conducted before anything else happens in the verdant buffer area between the roadway and the Potomac River below it.

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News

County zoning tweak will help Fairlington residents with home-renovation projects

By Scott McCaffrey
Condos in the Fairlington neighborhood (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The Arlington County Board has tidied up a section of the county’s zoning ordinance that caused the Fairlington neighborhood fits.

County Board members on Saturday (Oct. 19) approved zoning amendments removing bureaucratic hurdles that had been placed on interior renovations and expansions of older townhouse and condominium properties.

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News

Farmers market for Green Valley wins County Board authorization

By Scott McCaffrey
Produce at a farmers market (file photo)

Arlington County Board members today (Saturday) green-lighted the operation of a weekly farmers market in the Green Valley community that will start next year.

The action, voted on as part of the board’s consent agenda of non-controversial items, will allow a local non-profit to host up to 19 vendors Fridays from 4-7 p.m. from April to Thanksgiving each year.

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News

Requests for Halloween street closures proving a challenge for Falls Church

By Scott McCaffrey
City Council agenda-setting meeting (City of Falls Church)

Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields and his staff currently are attempting to juggle requests from various organizations to close streets for Halloween-themed events.

At least six have come in, double the typical number of street closings allowed on any given day, city officials say.

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Around Town

Arlington House salutes Marquis de Lafayette, 200 years after his triumphant visit

By Scott McCaffrey
Historian/author Elizabeth Reese discusses the Marquis de Lafayette (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)

Casually work the name Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier into a conversation, and you’re likely to get blank stares from all but the most intense history buffs.

But substitute his better-known aristocratic title — the Marquis de Lafayette — and many will know of whom you speak, even if they might not know the intricacies of his long, complex and decidedly eventful life.

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News

Training and collaboration saved lives in 2023 house explosion, public safety leaders say

By Scott McCaffrey
Federal investigators on scene of Bluemont explosion (photo via @ATFWashington/Twitter)

Decades of preparation were put to the test when Arlington’s public-safety community came face to face with chaos last December.

And that training and collaboration paid off when neither first-responders nor those in the general public suffered significant injuries from a house explosion following a tense standoff in the Bluemont neighborhood.

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News

More “aggressive” approach to housing needed, F.C. Council aspirants say

By Scott McCaffrey
City Council candidates Laura Downs and John Murphy (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)

The two contenders for an open seat on the Falls Church City Council used the same word to describe how city leaders should address housing policy going forward.

“We have to attack it in different ways. We have to be aggressive,” said Laura Downs.

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Around Town

Updated ‘bike-comfort map’ uses data to rate Arlington roadways

By Scott McCaffrey
2024 Bike Comfort Map (via Arlington County)

The Arlington government’s updated “bike-comfort map” will rely more on available data to help bicyclists get where they want to go.

With five levels of color coding, numerical scores for each stretch of road and more prominent notices of hills, the new design builds on previous evaluations of all major roads in Arlington.

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News

Revised green-building incentive program could expand options for Arlington developers

By Scott McCaffrey
Arlington construction (file photo)

The first update in five years to Arlington’s Green Building Incentive Program is likely to have more stringent rules but also more pathways for developers to meet them.

The Arlington government in 1999 began providing incentives for developers willing to go beyond minimum requirements in environmentally friendly design. The program was updated in 2014 and again in 2020.

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News

A Trump victory could reconfigure Falls Church’s legislative priorities

By Scott McCaffrey
Donald Trump speaks at Truong Tien Restaurant in Falls Church, August 2024 (via C-SPAN)

The prospect of a Donald Trump presidential-election victory could bring Falls Church leaders back to the drawing board when it comes to developing their 2025 legislative priorities.

But they will have a small window of opportunity: Election Day is Nov. 5 and the City Council is expected to review its draft 2025 legislative package on Nov. 11.

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