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Morning Notes

Published October 23, 2018 at 9:00AM | Updated October 23, 2018 at 9:42AM

Effort Returns $68K to Arlington Residents — Staff from the Virginia Dept. of the Treasury were on hand at county government headquarters in Courthouse earlier this month to encourage those coming to pay their local taxes at the deadline to see if they have any unclaimed cash or property being held by the state. In all, the officials were able to return about $68,000 to people who stopped by. [InsideNova]

Population Growth Outstripping New Housing — A potential major worry should Amazon bring its HQ2 to the D.C. area is what it will do to the cost of housing. The region has fallen significantly short of housing production since 2010, according to a new report: “While the inner region’s population increased 7 percent, the number of housing units increased only 3 percent.” [Urban Institute]

DEVELOPING: Police Investigating Fall from Ballston Apartment Building

By ARLnow.com

Published October 22, 2018 at 5:05PM

Police on scene of an incident at Randolph Towers in Ballston on 10/22/18

Arlington County Police are investigating an incident that resulted in a man suffering serious injuries at a Ballston apartment building Monday evening.

Shortly after 4 p.m. police were dispatched to Randolph Towers (4001 9th Street N.) for a report of a person who fell from a 6th floor balcony in the rear of the building onto a ground floor patio below.

Police Investigate Man Spotted with Pants Unzipped

By ARLnow.com

Published October 22, 2018 at 3:15PM

File photo

Police were called to the Arlington Mill neighborhood, north of Columbia Pike, over the weekend for a report of a man standing around with his pants unzipped.

According to Arlington County Police, a resident of the 800 block of S. Frederick Street spotted the man standing in the woods, staring with him, around 6 p.m. on Saturday. The man’s pants, according to the resident, were unzipped.

Police: Credit Card Thieves Caught on Camera at Arlington Grocery Store

By ARLnow.com

Published October 22, 2018 at 10:00AM

Credit card theft suspects at an Arlington Harris Teeter store (photo courtesy FCPD)

Fairfax County Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying suspects in a credit card theft case with an Arlington connection.

FCPD says credit cards were stolen from a vehicle in the Kingstowne community south of the Beltway — home to the “Alexandria” Top Golf and the Kingstowne Towne Center shopping center — but were then used to buy prepaid gift cards at a Harris Teeter store in Arlington.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published October 22, 2018 at 9:00AM | Updated October 22, 2018 at 9:18AM

Major Crystal City Development Approved — “The Arlington County Board today approved a two-phase plan to redevelop a portion of Crystal Square, in the heart of Crystal City. The project will add 100,000 square feet of street-oriented retail businesses, including a new Alamo Drafthouse movie theater and a grocery store, to Crystal Drive, and upgrade an existing office building to ‘Class A’ office space.” [Arlington County]

Sunflower Restaurant Closed in Falls Church — Vegetarian restaurant Sunflower recently closed its location in Seven Corners. In its place, Bawadi Mediterranean restaurant has opened. Meanwhile, Sunflower has a location in Vienna that remains open. [Twitter]

BREAKING: Condominium Building Fire in Rosslyn Area

By ARLnow.com

Published October 21, 2018 at 1:55PM | Updated October 22, 2018 at 8:56AM

Rosslyn area condo fire (photo courtesy @mlewan3)

(Updated at 8:55 a.m.) Firefighters battled an condo building fire in the Rosslyn area Sunday afternoon.

The fire broke out around 1 p.m. at a large four-story residential building on the 1400 block of N. Rhodes Street, sending dark smoke billowing into the sky.

County Manager Proposes Rolling Over Most Unspent Funds from Last Budget

By ARLnow.com

Published October 19, 2018 at 3:10PM | Updated October 19, 2018 at 3:26PM

Facing a combined budget gap of up to $75 million, Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz is eschewing the usual divvying up of leftover funds from the last fiscal year and instead proposing to roll them over with an eye on next year’s budget.

Schwartz will recommend at Saturday’s County Board meeting that the $21.9 million in unspent funds available to the county remain primarily unallocated, with $16.5 million being set aside to give the Board more options going into the next budget process.

Fmr. Arlington State Dept. Employee Sentenced on Child Porn Charges

By ARLnow.com

Published October 19, 2018 at 2:05PM

Gavel (Flickr photo by Joe Gratz)

Skydance MacMahon, who worked as a Digital Media Administrator for the State Department in Arlington, conspired with a Canadian woman to “produce over a thousand sexually explicit images and videos of minor children in Canada,” federal prosecutors said. As previously reported, he did so in part using a work-issued cell phone.

The Arlington County Police Department and Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office assisted in the case, as did Canadian authorities and various federal agencies.

Despite Delay, Developer Looks Ready to Slash Parking at Red Top Cab Site in Clarendon

By Alex Koma

Published October 19, 2018 at 10:45AM

Shooshan/Red Top redevelopment rendering (photo via Arlington County)

After a brief delay, the developers of the Red Top Cab properties in Clarendon look set to win permission to include fewer parking spaces as part of a major redevelopment of the area into mixed-use buildings.

The Shooshan Company has hoped for weeks now to slash 178 parking spaces from its previously approved plans for the site, located where Washington Boulevard meets 13th Street N. The developer has long planned on transforming the space into three buildings offering 584 multifamily units, 1,295 square feet of retail space and two parking garages, but hoped to cut back on some of the parking at the site to save a bit of money.

Tax Hikes and Service Cuts Look Increasingly Likely Next Year, County Leaders Warn

By Alex Koma

Published October 19, 2018 at 9:45AM

Arlington officials expect a mix of across-the-board service cuts and tax rate increases is the surest way for the county to tackle its widening budget gap next year.

With a funding gap that could ballon as large as $78 million for fiscal year 2020, County Manager Mark Schwartz has repeatedly warned that some tough times are ahead for the county government. He repeated those gloomy projections at a budget-focused town hall with community leaders last night (Wednesday), noting that factors ranging from swelling school enrollment levels to dwindling county revenues to increasing Metro funding obligations will all squeeze county coffers once more.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published October 19, 2018 at 9:00AM

Pumpkins for sale in Arlington (Flickr pool photo by John Sonderman)

Renewed HQ2 Buzz — The New York Times has published a lengthy look at Crystal City, which is being discussed as a frontrunner to land Amazon’s second headquarters. “All of the signs are pointing to Crystal City,” one of the people quoted in the article said. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reports that only some of the 20 HQ2 finalist cities — including New York City, Newark, N.J., Chicago and the D.C. area — have received second visits from Amazon officials. [New York Times, Wall Street Journal]

Former Wizard Selling Home in Arlington — Former Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat has listed his house in Arlington’s Cherrydale neighborhood for $1.9 million. [Real House Life of Arlington]

BREAKING: Arlington Man Arrested After Sexual Assault, Homicide in Douglas Park

By ARLnow.com

Published October 19, 2018 at 12:55AM | Updated October 19, 2018 at 11:32AM

(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) An Arlington man has been arrested and now faces accusations of a litany of crimes from sexual assault to murder to robbery after a night of violence in the Douglas Park neighborhood.

The reported crime spree started shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday in the area of Doctor’s Run Park, south of Columbia Pike.