Some residents in and around Crystal City want to open up the Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary to more walking and hiking — with help from JBG Smith.
The developer owns property around Roaches Run and is interested in converting parts of its private land into a public connection accessible from the surrounding neighborhood.
Ranked Choice Voting Faces Hurdles — “The biggest current challenge? Election software used by the county allows for ranked-choice voting, but only in elections with three or fewer candidates. A pending software upgrade would bring that to five candidates, but ‘I don’t think legally we can limit the number of candidates that can run,’ Reinemeyer said.” [InsideNova]
Levine Running for Lt. Gov. — “Virginia Del. Mark Levine on Monday announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor, joining a roster of nearly a dozen candidates vying for the position. Levine, a 54-year-old Democrat from Alexandria, has served in the state’s House of Delegates since 2016 and represents parts of Arlington County, Fairfax County, and the city of Alexandria.” [DCist]
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As coronavirus cases rise in Arlington County, the number of residents in need of fresh, free food for their families is also increasing.
Executive Director and CEO Charles Meng said the Arlington Food Assistance Center is seeing record-high numbers of visitors each week and month.
"Between October and November, we saw a 9.4% increase, serving 3,440 families at some point during the month," Meng said in an email. "(We) responded to 11,255 visits for food during the month, with many families having to visit multiple weeks during the month."
This morning (Monday), families lined up at AFAC to receive a Christmas special -- a whole frozen chicken -- as well as fresh veggies, desserts, milk and eggs. Volunteers split time de-stalking Brussels sprouts and briskly moving families through the line.
AFAC has seen people coming more frequently for food during the pandemic, likely because personal budgets that could pay for part of a family's food needs are now slimmer or non-existent, according to Meng. He added that there has also been an uptick in people coming to AFAC for the first time.
"Many of our families are service workers at hotels, restaurants and airports -- the hardest hit during the pandemic," Meng said. "We are seeing the families who would normally access our services come more often and the new families are more regularly coming for needed food."
The number of clients served by AFAC last peaked in August, with the organization serving 3,364 over the course of the month. When the pandemic started, the number of families being referred to AFAC jumped by 45%, Meng told MSNBC earlier this month.
The demand for food at AFAC has attracted both national and international media attention, with a BBC reporter visiting the organization's distribution center near Shirlington last week.
https://twitter.com/LarryMadowo/status/1339190910970712064
The rise in demand locally tracks with trends seen nationwide.
An Associated Press analysis of Feeding America data from 181 food banks in its network found the organization has distributed nearly 57 percent more food in the third quarter of the year, compared with the same period in 2019.
Food and financial donations are enough to keep up with demand, but as numbers continue to increase, Meng told ARLnow more help will be needed.
"We have sufficient supplies to address our needs for the foreseeable future," he said. "Financial donations have also been good, but with increasing numbers we need all (the money) that people can spare."
The annual Boy Scout food drive, which usually brings in 50,000 pounds, was cancelled, but several scout groups still came through with smaller-scale drives, bringing in 36,000 pounds, he said.
Donations from grocery stores are about level with last year, and individual donations have been "very strong," he said.
Nationwide, food banks are seeing fewer volunteers during the pandemic, NPR reports. In some cases, the usual group of volunteers includes older people, who are staying home due to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
AFAC also runs on the work of volunteers, who Meng commended for making sure the food bank handles the increase in visits despite the danger posed by the pandemic.
"Distributing food is one of the things we do well," he told ARLnow. "We have a dedicated cadre of volunteers who have stepped up to help -- they are the real heroes of AFAC."
Two people, one from Arlington and another from Alexandria, have been arrested after a series of burglaries and vehicle tamperings.
The incidents happened early this past Friday morning, in the Rosslyn and Clarendon areas.
With performances canceled and potential gatherings impacted by COVID-19, a local nonprofit says that catastrophe looms for arts organizations without assistance from Arlington County.
Embracing Arlington Arts released its “State of the Arts in Arlington” survey earlier this month, and the results revealed a decimated local industry that has lost more than $10 million this year.
After a week-long dip in cases, Arlington’s already-high average daily case count is heading back up.
The county recorded 154 coronavirus cases on Sunday alone, a new record. Today (Monday) the cumulative case count crossed 8,000, with 79 new cases, bringing the seven-day trailing average to 84.4 cases per day.
JBG Smith announced today that it has acquired the Americana Hotel in Crystal City and intends to redevelop the property as an apartment building.
The family-owned hotel at 1400 Richmond Highway closed earlier this month after nearly 50 years in business and at least one appearance in a major motion picture.
What was once a watering hole and lunch spot for Rosslyn office workers may itself become an office.
The Arlington County Board last weekend approved a Site Plan Amendment for Commonwealth Tower, at 1300 Wilson Blvd, that will allow the building’s street-level restaurant space to instead be used as an office or a “retail-equivalent use,” like a doctor’s office.
Lovings Might Not Want Name Used for Road — “The problem with these efforts [to rename Lee Highway as “Loving Avenue”] is that the surviving family has strong feelings about these efforts, statues, renaming of roads etc. They do not want this and the attention it brings. We in Caroline [County] try to be sensitive to their wishes and how they view these efforts and the Loving story. I would like nothing better than to see her remembered in this way, but must defer to the wishes of the family.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Barcroft Field Getting Video Screen — “Tucker Field at Barcroft Park will have an enhanced look for the 2021 season, as it was announced on Friday, Dec. 16 that construction has begun on a new videoboard to be used by the GW Baseball program. The project, entirely privately funded, was made possible due to a lead gift from Joe and Leslie Barmakian, parents of current GW student-athlete and baseball team member, Steve Barmakian.” [GW Sports]
The week started with a bang, literally.
The demolition of the former Rosslyn Holiday Inn hotel tower on Sunday, with photos and video from ARLnow staff photographer Jay Westcott, was far and away our most-read story of the week.
(Updated at 4:55 p.m.) In addition to elementary students, more middle- and high-school students in Arlington Public Schools are struggling to make passing grades this year, according to a new APS report.
Black and Hispanic students, English-language learning students, and students with disabilities are experiencing the deepest drops.
After a myriad of controversies, Purple Lounge is set to vacate the property at 3111 Columbia Pike.
Property owner Jorge Escobar confirmed that the lease for the business runs out in January, at which point the Purple Lounge will leave the premises. A “for lease” sign currently hangs from the second story of the building.
