News | ARLnow.com

County Likely to Extend Agreement with Verizon for FiOS Service

Published June 11, 2021 at 1:30PM

Tomorrow (Saturday), the County Board is slated to extend an agreement it has with Verizon so the company can continue providing its fiber optic-based TV and internet service in Arlington.

The current franchise agreement with Verizon — called a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity — expires on Tuesday, June 22. According to the county, the pandemic derailed its efforts to negotiate a new agreement with Verizon and this one-year extension would maintain Verizon’s services through that renegotiating process.

EXCLUSIVE: Man Pleads Guilty to Year-Long Mail Theft Spree in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Published June 11, 2021 at 11:35AM

U.S. Postal Inspection officer at the N. George Mason Drive Post Office on Oct. 13, 2020

One of five individuals implicated in a scheme to steal mail from Postal Service boxes around Arlington County has pleaded guilty.

Aaron Kyle Johnson pleaded guilty in Alexandria federal court on May 28 in connection to the scheme, which lasted more than a year, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office tells ARLnow.

EXCLUSIVE: Records Show Why Arlington Police Encrypted More Channels

By David Taube

Published June 11, 2021 at 10:10AM | Updated June 11, 2021 at 10:37AM

A police officer keeps watch during Walk and Bike to School Day 2012 at Oakridge Elementary School (staff photo)

(Updated at 10:35 a.m.) A public-records request sheds light on how the Arlington County Police Department justified a change to what the public can hear via police radio channels.

The Freedom of Information Act inquiry by ARLnow uncovered documents about the department’s March change to encrypt more radio chatter. The documents cited safety and security concerns, including some related to last summer’s police reform protests and the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 11, 2021 at 7:30AM | Updated June 11, 2021 at 8:23AM

APS Working With Nonprofit on ‘Cultural Competence’ — “This week, RISE, a national nonprofit that educates and empowers the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, began facilitating interactive workshops with Arlington Public Schools Student-Athlete Advisory Council members and coaches. This is the first in a series of interactive cultural competence workshops that APS and RISE will be providing to athletes and coaches as part of a new partnership.” [Arlington Public Schools]

Northam to Sign Bill at Marymount — “This coming Monday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam will be visiting Marymount University to hold a ceremonial bill signing for House Bill 2123 and Senate Bill 1387. The legislation will make Virginia students eligible for state financial aid if they are eligible for in-state tuition in the fall of 2022, regardless of citizenship or immigration status.” [Press Release]

How Telework Could Impact Arlington’s Office and Real Estate Markets

By Jo DeVoe

Published June 10, 2021 at 3:55PM | Updated June 11, 2021 at 8:40AM

(Updated at 8:40 a.m.) Some federal agencies are looking to continue remote and hybrid working options for employees post-pandemic — a shift with potential impacts on Arlington’s office and residential real estate markets.

The Biden administration expects White House staff to return for full-time, in-person work in July, but on Thursday federal agencies were told that they will be able to offer increased work-from-home flexibility, even after the pandemic. Remote work may become a permanent option for some federal workers, just as is happening for many private-sector workers.

Anti-ICE Protest Planned at County Government HQ This Afternoon

By ARLnow.com

Published June 10, 2021 at 3:00PM

Arlington County government headquarters in Courthouse (file photo)

Protesters from a long list of advocacy groups are planning to spend a hot Thursday afternoon protesting ICE in Arlington.

The protest is set to kick off at 4 p.m. today (Thursday) in front of county government headquarters, at 2100 Clarendon Blvd in Courthouse.

County, Developer Envision Days Inn Site as ‘Gateway’ to Lyon Park

By Jo DeVoe

Published June 10, 2021 at 2:00PM

Building massing for a possible mixed-use development that could replace a Days Inn Motel near Lyon Park (Via Arlington County)

Arlington-based Shooshan Company is looking to redevelop the mid-century Days Inn Motel across the street from the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.

The site, at the intersection Arlington Blvd and N. Pershing Drive, has development potential as “the de facto neighborhood gateway,” wrote Jonathan Kinney and Matthew Roberts, land-use lawyers representing Shooshan, in a letter to the county.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 10, 2021 at 7:30AM | Updated June 10, 2021 at 1:49PM

Clouds roll in over the Amazon HQ2 construction site in Pentagon City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Report Details ACPD Actions at Lafayette Park — “The ACPD civil disturbance unit commander told us that ACPD officers were not equipped with chemical irritants other than rounds similar to pepper ball but said the ACPD did deploy inert smoke and a flash bang grenade on 16th Street during the clearing operation.” [Dept. of Interior, DCist]

Arlington Sit-ins Remembered With Art — “Sixty-one years ago this month, several Howard University students and allies walked into the People’s Drug Store on Lee Highway in Arlington. For the next two weeks, they participated in sit-ins to protest white-only lunch counters across the county. Now, there is a special exhibit and letter pressed cards to mark this moment of Arlington’s civil rights history.” [NBC 4]

County Considers Lower Speeds Along Seven Corridors

By Jo DeVoe

Published June 9, 2021 at 3:55PM

Army Navy Drive from S. Joyce Street to 25th Street S. (Via Google Maps)

Arlington County is considering lowering the speed limit along a number of corridors with lots of pedestrian activity.

On Saturday, the County Board will decide whether to authorize a public hearing next month to discuss and potentially approve the reductions, which would impact seven corridors throughout Arlington.

New Covid Cases Remain Low in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Published June 9, 2021 at 2:50PM

The net count of coronavirus cases in Arlington has barely budged over the past 2 to 3 weeks.

On May 22, the Virginia Dept. of Health reported a cumulative total of 15,289 cases in Arlington over the course of the pandemic. Today, June 9, that number is 15,290, after five cases were removed overnight.

Arlington Will Start Collecting Food Scraps in September

By Jo DeVoe

Published June 9, 2021 at 2:00PM | Updated June 9, 2021 at 3:59PM

(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) Arlington County will start collecting residents’ food scraps on Labor Day.

Residents receiving county curbside collection services — mostly those in single-family homes and townhouses — will be able to toss unused food into their green yard waste bins and bring them to the curb on collection day, starting Monday, Sept. 6. Those scraps will be composted in Prince William County and returned to Arlington as soil.

Tend, a Luxury Dentistry Practice, is Coming to Ballston Later This Year

By Matt Blitz

Published June 9, 2021 at 11:30AM | Updated June 9, 2021 at 4:26PM

Rendering of Tend, a luxury dental office in Ballston (Photo courtesy of Tend)

(Updated 4:30 p.m.) Tend, a company that says it treats going to the dentist as a spa-like experience, will be opening in Ballston later this year.

Located at 4201 Wilson Blvd, in the Ballston Exchange complex across the street from Ballston Quarter mall, the new location is targeting a fall 2021 opening, a company representative tells ARLnow.