A pair of agreements on Saturday’s County Board docket could strengthen the ties between the water systems operated by Arlington and Fairfax counties.
One agreement would formalize an existing arrangement, in which each water system serves a few hundred of the other county’s customers. Arlington currently serves 369 Fairfax customers along Powhatan Street in the McLean/Falls Church area, while Fairfax serves 313 Arlington customers in the Boulevard Manor and Dominion Hills neighborhoods.
Arlingtonians have recycled over a million pounds of glass at the drop-off center since January, a record likely to keep up if everyone stays bottled up in quarantine.
Last April, Arlington County ditched its curbside glass recycling program as separating out and recycling glass had become overly expensive. Instead, Arlingtonians were asked to drop off their glass recycling at dedicated containers that were then taken to Fairfax County for reuse in construction, building, and — more recently — recycling into new glass products.
A new walk-up coronavirus testing site opened Tuesday along Columbia Pike.
The testing center is a partnership of Arlington County, Virginia Hospital Center and Arlington Free Clinic. At a media briefing yesterday, officials from all three spoke about the importance of the facility in the fight against the virus.
County Scaling Down Capital Improvement Plan — “As the County continues to experience the economic impacts of COVID-19, County Manager Mark Schwartz intends to present the Arlington County Board with a short-term proposed Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) rather than the traditional 10-year plan.” [Arlington County]
Metro May Require Masks — “Metro riders may not see service fully restored until spring 2021, but the WMATA is now making plans to gradually get trains and buses running more frequently. News4’s Adam Tuss has learned that officials are considering requiring all riders to wear face masks on buses and trains and applying social distancing measures.” [NBC 4]
Arlington County Police are looking for a teenager accused of trying to rob a scooter rider in Virginia Square.
Police were dispatched to N. Lincoln Street, in the area of Arlington Science Focus School and Hayes Park, Monday afternoon for a reported robbery by force.
A sequence of events led to the side of an apartment building in the Long Branch Creek neighborhood catching on fire Monday evening.
The Arlington County Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire on the 2400 block of 27th Court S. around 7:30 p.m. Residents were evacuated as firefighters worked to extinguish the smoky fire.
(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) Arlington and other Northern Virginia locales will be allowed to delay reopening until May 28, after Memorial Day, following a new executive order from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
The announcement follows pushback from local officials concerned that a potential reopening this Friday would be too soon. Arlington and neighboring localities have seen higher rates of coronavirus cases than less populous parts of the state, with 72% of new cases reported over the past 24 hours coming from the Northern Virginia region.
(Updated at 11 a.m.) Arlington saw the biggest one-day rise in reported coronavirus deaths since April 30 overnight, while the rate of new cases continues to fall.
According to the latest Virginia Dept. of Health data, there are now 1,416 known COVID-19 cases in Arlington, up just 17 since Monday. Hospitalizations are up two overnight, to 288, while reported deaths — which typically trails reported cases by a week or two — jumped from 60 to 66, a 10% rise.
Another series of vehicle break-ins was reported last week, as thieves continue to take advantage of unlocked car doors in Arlington neighborhoods.
The latest break-in series was discovered in the Barcroft neighborhood Thursday morning. Nine cars were tampered with and stolen from, police said in a crime report.
APS Working to Keep School Construction on Track — “Top Arlington school-system staff are recommending doing whatever it takes – including shuffling money away from other projects – to ensure construction of a new elementary school in Westover does not fall behind schedule.” [InsideNova]
Yard Waste Collection Suspended Again — After a one-week reprieve, Arlington has again suspended its residential yard waste collection service. There’s no word on when it will resume, though the county has opened two yard waste drop-off centers. [Arlington County]
In an online town hall meeting on Friday, County Board members decried the plan to partially reopen Virginia as premature for Arlington and discussed further restrictions, like a requirement to wear a mask when in public.
“If we consider the closing of bars and restaurants, if just one locality were to loosen restrictions and allow bars to reopen before other jurisdictions,” County Board member Christian Dorsey warned, “those establishments would become magnets for patrons who could access them, which is very easy with our limited regional geography and great connectivity in the transportation network. This could result in spread across many jurisdictions and make it more difficult for public health officials to do the necessary testing and tracing to control outbreaks.”
A Maryland man was kicked out of a rideshare vehicle and later arrested after inappropriate sexual conduct, according to Arlington County Police.
The incident happened Saturday afternoon, around 2:30 p.m. Police were dispatched to westbound I-66 near the Rosslyn tunnel, after getting a call about a man that had exposed himself.
