(Updated at 1:25 p.m.) Around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a motorcade arrived at a Rosslyn office building.
Out stepped former Arlington resident Mike Pence. The vice president then made his way up to the offices of the Trump-Pence 2020 reelection campaign to rally the troops amid falling poll numbers.
Vigil Planned Saturday in Green Valley — Updated at noon — “Delegate Alfonso Lopez, Black Parents of Arlington and Yolande Kwinana will be hosting a vigil at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School Field, to honor those who have died at the hands of police. Speakers will enlighten the community on what they can do to help enact change in our Arlington.” [Facebook]
Ballston Macy’s Redevelopment Proposal Delayed — “The owner of air rights above the [potentially for sale] Macy’s building in Ballston will have additional time to move forward with a planned redevelopment of the space, if County Board members act on its request June 13. Board members are being asked to extend until July 2023 the ability of the owner to come to the county government with a development plan. The current site plan, which sets out development parameters for the parcel, was set to expire in several weeks.” [InsideNova]
(Updated at 4:35 p.m.) Homes and businesses in several north Arlington neighborhoods were without power late Wednesday afternoon.
The outages, roughly centered around Virginia Hospital Center, were reported after the fire department was dispatched to the intersection of N. George Mason Drive and Washington Blvd for a report of a utility pole on fire.
The Arlington branch of the NAACP has thrown its voice into the push for body-worn cameras to be implemented in the Arlington County Police Department.
A Change.org petition calling for Arlington County leadership to prioritize body-worn cameras sits at 2,409 of its 2,500 goal at the time of writing.
While some parts of the country are seeing a worrisome resurgence of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Arlington’s numbers have remained relatively low over the past week.
The total known cases in the county reached 2,280 overnight, an increase of 15 since the day before, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data. The seven-day trailing total of new cases ticked up a bit, to 138, reflecting a bump in new cases over the weekend that followed a week-long lull.
Death of WeLive? — “WeWork is exploring ending its push into communal living, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The New York-based office-sharing company is working with an adviser and holding talks about handing over operations of its WeLive location in Crystal City, near Washington D.C.” [Bloomberg]
No Fair This Summer? — “Whether the Arlington County Fair will be held as scheduled in August, and how it might change due to the impacts of COVID-19, remain an open question. ‘We continue to closely monitor the evolving situation and are committed to following the facts and recommendations provided by public-health officials,’ organizers of the fair said.” [InsideNova]
(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) Arlingtonians are marching in the streets protesting for racial justice, but 60 years ago that fight took the form of sit-ins at Arlington lunch counters.
This day in 1960 marked the start of a series of demonstrations that remained peaceful despite harassment by local white students, police, and Neo-Nazis. The sit-ins went on for 13 days and were a pivotal moment in local civil rights history.
Protests over the death of George Floyd and others killed at the hands of police have sparked a debate: should police budgets be cut and the money re-allocated to social services?
The “defund the police” movement has been a particularly hot topic on social media, where some proponents have shared charts showing police budgets in U.S. cities dwarfing other expenditures, including education. The charts are misleading, though, according to fact checks — while police budgets are indeed significant, they are smaller than expenditures on schools.
If you’ve been waiting for the opportunity to dine inside a restaurant or work out in a gym again, the time is almost here.
Gov. Ralph Northam announced at a 2 p.m. press conference that Northern Virginia will enter Phase 2 of its reopening this Friday, June 12. That will permit larger social gatherings and the reopening of restaurant dining rooms and indoor gyms, along with certain entertainment and recreation venues.
(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) A second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station could be built and opened by the end of 2023, under a proposal under consideration by the Arlington County Board.
Developer JBG Smith, the preeminent property owner in Crystal City, has proposed a public-private partnership that would accelerate the construction of the station entrance by at least 1-2 years. The proposal is set to be discussed at this weekend’s County Board meeting and potentially voted upon in mid-July.
The new Wiseguy Pizza location in Pentagon City is set to begin its soft opening today.
The latest outpost for the acclaimed local New York-style pizza chain is on the ground floor of the Witmer, a new 26-story luxury apartment building at the corner of 12th Street S. and S. Hayes Street. It’s the second Wiseguy Pizza in Arlington; the first is in Rosslyn.
(Updated at 10:45 a.m.) A fanny pack-clad man exposed himself to female jogger on a local trail, according to Arlington County Police.
The incident happened around 11 a.m. Monday. A crime report lists the location as being in proximity to intersection of 15th Street N. and N. Quincy Street, on the Custis trail near Washington-Liberty High School.”
