This past Friday the social media account Eat DC had a hot take: Ballston is nice. But also, it’s not.

The reasoning came down to Ballston’s stores and restaurants being predominantly chains (of various sizes) and the neighborhood — home to the densest census tract in the D.C. area — giving off “sterile” vibes.


ARLnow has long avoided covering high school and youth sports, instead deferring to the coverage of the Sun Gazette (now the GazetteLeader) and the Washington Post.

While we’ll link to sports stories of particular note in the Morning Notes, by and large the decision has been to focus on general local news coverage.


An article this week about an arguably historic, 70-year-old mansion in Arlington possibly being set for demolition had a subplot that could have been a story all on its own.

From Charlie Clark, reporting in the Falls-Church News Press (emphasis ours):


You knew it was coming. This week’s Mike Mount cartoon is about that controversial Missing Middle vote last week.

Tired of reading about it? Well, might want to steel yourself this week, as ARLnow has a series of follow up articles planned. And it’s clearly what many locals are continuing to talk about (in real life and in cartoon form).


Last week, after years of housing policy discussion, the Arlington County Board made the bold move of rezoning most of the county’s residential areas.

The unanimous final vote did not reflect just how contentious the issue was locally, with multiple groups and County Board candidates opposing the changes, holding rallies and blanketing the county with mailings.


For those who travel, especially, it’s a common experience.

Someone not from the D.C. area will ask where you live. And if you’re an Arlington resident, you then face a mini dilemma.


Ahh pickleball, the hottest thing going with senior citizens, Tom Brady’s retirement sport of choice, and an unlikely candidate for the second-most controversial story of the decade in Arlington.

As ARLnow was first to report last year, many neighbors of Arlington’s recently-established pickleball courts have come to vehemently oppose it, owing to the loud “pop” the ball makes when it hits a paddle. The percussive sound can be heard within nearby houses, at all hours of the day and — in the case of lighted courts — into the night.


Temperatures today could reach 80 degrees, which would surpass the circa-1874 record of 78.

On one hand, it’s hard to argue against temperatures in the 70s in isolation. On the other hand, there is just something disconcerting about experiencing that in February.


Being a school board member is a tough job, which perhaps explains why it can sometimes be difficult to find candidates who want to run for the position.

Nonetheless, elected officials in charge of steering a large public school system are not immune from criticism, no matter how thankless the job may be.


When we last asked, in 2017, just under 20% of you said you planned to go out for Valentine’s Day that year.

That includes both singles (28.5% of overall respondents) and those in a relationship (71.5% of respondents). Those in a relationship were only slightly more likely to be planning to head out: 20% of those in a relationship said they were going out to 17% for singles.


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