This week has had all manner of interesting news: police-related stories, restaurant openings and the impending closure of a local grocery store.
Here are the top 5 most-read articles of the week:
Opinion
At the end of April, County Manager Mark Schwartz presented the County Board with a plan to put the construction of the Long Bridge Aquatics Center back on track. The timing of the announcement came as a surprise to many, but was met with excitement from those who have long pushed for a facility.
The facility had been shelved three years ago because the County Manager could not find a bid to build out the original plans with the $79 million available. According to some familiar with the process, none of the bids on the 116,000 square foot facility were even close. And there was little political will at the time to go back to the voters for more funding.
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By Alfonso Lopez
On April 29, tens of thousands of people – including many Arlingtonians – made their way to the Nation’s Capital to march and demand action on climate change.
According to the Capital Weather Gang, today was the second wettest day of the year so far at Reagan National Airport, after 1.61 inches of rain fell during this morning’s stormy weather.
And perhaps the rain and colder temperatures had some of you yearning for the warm days of summer, based on some of this week’s most-read articles.
It’s been another busy week in Arlington, as the county looks to the future with several projects in the pipeline.
Some of our most popular stories have been a first look at the revamped Market Common in Clarendon, the County Board’s approval of changes at the “Five Points” intersection in Cherrydale, price increases coming to the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse and the decision to move ahead with the Long Bridge Aquatics Center.
Last night Arlington Republicans honored longtime community activist Jim Pebley. Pebley is retiring and heading south to North Carolina.
From the Planning Commission to the Civic Federation, to leading community efforts on the U.S.S. Arlington and much more, Pebley built a stellar reputation across party lines for working to make Arlington a better place to live, work and raise a family. The only thing missing from his resume was holding elected office, something many of us tried to convince him to do over the years.
Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
Last week, ARLnow.com reported that the Neighborhood Advisory Conservation Committee voted to suspend its spring funding round.
By Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz
Early this year, the County Board and School Board voted to create the Joint Facilities Advisory Commission. I am honored to join 20 other Arlingtonians as JFAC members.
It’s been quite a week for well-known national businesses getting set up in Arlington.
Some of our most popular stories have included the new Dunkin’ Donuts on N. Glebe Road, signs going up for a new McDonald’s in Rosslyn and Starbucks‘ impending move into Marymount University’s “Newside” building.
Arlington spent around $300 million building three new high schools over the past decade. The most logical solution to the need for additional classroom seats would be to add on to the existing structures.
The problem: those schools were largely planned when school officials were betting on studies showing school enrollments stable or going down, not up. As a result, little thought was given to the ability to expand those facilities at a later date.
Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
A grudging admission by a representative of the county’s department of parks and recreation at a civic association meeting last week underscores that DPR still has a very long way to go to improve its civic engagement practices.
By Rip Sullivan
This year’s General Assembly session saw one highly partisan bill after another pass both Republican-controlled chambers, with little or no apparent interest in seeking input from Democrats.