Opinion

Two Views on Artisphere

By ARLnow.com

Depends who you ask.

Artisphere turned one year old yesterday, but the young venue has yet to become a consistent draw or even a household name. Instead, scenes of young people having fun at an Artisphere birthday bash over the weekend contrast with the cold, hard numbers from a recent Washington Post article: attendance 70 percent below expectations, operating expenses more than 25 percent over budget. Although Arlington County taxpayers helped front Artisphere’s $6.7 million build-out cost, only 28 percent of visitors are actually from Arlington.

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Morning Poll: Local Political Debates

By ARLnow.com

“Merrick, who is running against Democrat Barbara Favola for the 31st state Senate seat, has declined to appear at a number of joint appearances in Arlington,” McCaffrey wrote. “It’s happened so often, it must be a strategy rather than a series of coincidences.”

While skipping neighborhood-level political debates may not seem on its face like a great strategy, one wonders how much damage it could really do.

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Morning Poll: Which Mobile Phone Do You Use?

By ARLnow.com

According to the rumor mill, today’s announcement may only reveal an incremental improvement to the existing iPhone 4. Die-hard Apple fans may be disappointed, as tech blogs predict an “iPhone 4S” to be revealed, as opposed to a more thoroughly-redesigned “iPhone 5.”

Nationally, the iPhone has 27 percent of the overall smartphone market, according to the latest data from Reston-based comScore. The smartphone platform leader is actually Google, which has 42 percent of the market thanks to its Android operating system. Blackberry’s market share is falling rapidly, but it still claims about 22 percent of smartphone users.

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Morning Poll: Renaming Arlington’s Confederate Roads

By ARLnow.com

“I have a problem with ‘Jefferson Davis,'” Zimmerman said of the former Confederate president. “I don’t believe Jefferson Davis has a historic connection to anything in Arlington… He wasn’t from Virginia. I don’t really see why we need to honor him.”

Though last week’s vote may be a victory for the anti-Jefferson Davis crowd, it only renames a narrow, pothole-ridden backroad that connects Crystal City with a future county park. The much larger and more heavily-traveled State Route 1 will continue to be known as Jefferson Davis Highway.

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First Look: Ray’s to the Third in Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

With no formal announcement to speak of, save a modest “now open” sign outside the door, restauranteur Michael Landrum opened his latest “Ray’s” restaurant in Rosslyn last night.

“Ray’s to the Third” (1650 Wilson Blvd) is, at first blush, a casual-ified version of Ray’s the Steaks, with a bar. The menu, which is still being worked on, consisted primarily of steak and seafood items from Ray’s the Steaks (2300 Wilson Blvd) at a slightly lower price point. (The familiar Ray’s steak dishes are now all served as steak frites.)

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Morning Poll: ‘Terrible Traffic Tuesday’ Takes its Toll

By ARLnow.com

The monicker, which comes from AAA Mid-Atlantic, refers to the sudden, jolting return to heavy traffic that occurs when Washingtonians return from their summer vacations and head back to work — while students in Virginia, at the same time, head back to school.

Among other traffic jams, nearly the entire length of northbound I-395 was slow this morning, from the 14th Street Bridge through Alexandria.

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Morning Poll: Post-Labor Day Events

By ARLnow.com

The first major event after Labor Day is the Rosslyn Jazz Festival on Saturday, Sept. 10. Jazz luminaries Dee Dee Bridgewater, Henry Butler and Grace Kelly will perform at the annual event, which is held in Rossslyn’s Gateway Park.

The annual Vintage Crystal wine and jazz festival is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 18. The event, held in a Crystal City parking lot, features wine tastings and food samples, as well as jazz and dance performances, all with a “Latin twist.”

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A Note About Our Newsletter

By ARLnow.com

If you were expecting to get our daily ARLnow.com Afternoon Update email newsletter, rest assured that it is still coming, but a bit later than usual.

We’ve temporarily adjusted the timing of the mass mailing in order to protect against a spike in web traffic. With more than 3,000 email subscribers, many of whom click on articles simultaneously after receiving the newsletter, we’ve had difficulty keeping our server stable during the otherwise high-traffic time between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.

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Morning Poll: Hurricane Irene Expectations

By ARLnow.com

Switch on the TV last week, and it sounded like a disaster movie in the making. As it approached, evacuations were ordered on the coast and local residents stocked up on supplies. Then, as Hurricane Irene finally made its way up the eastern seaboard, local TV stations and the cable news channels went with wall-to-wall coverage.

No doubt you’ve already seen the damage reports and the damage photos. In your mind, was the storm’s impact worse than or not as bad as expected?

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