Contrary to popular belief, the Friday after Thanksgiving is not the busiest shopping day of the year. Americans actually buy more in the days leading up to Christmas.
But Black Friday is one of the biggest “traffic” days of the year at shopping centers, as consumers, unburdened by work or the need to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner, head out to the mall just for the sake of getting out and doing something. And of course there are those doorbuster specials, too.
That’s a 11 percent increase over least year and the highest number of area residents heading out for Thanksgiving since 2007.
“The Washington metro area has one of the strongest economies in the nation, and as evidence of this, we will likely see a double digit up-tick in the number of area residents traveling 50 miles or more from home for the holiday,” AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesperson John B. Townsend II said in a statement.
Rep. Jim Moran couldn’t give a hoot about the controversial “naked” body scans and saucy pat-downs now in place at America’s airports.
The recently re-elected congressman told TBD’s NewsTalk that he supports measures to make air travel safer, even if they’re invasive or embarrassing.
The company is now hoping that Arlington applies to the program.
“There could be a number of ways for IBM to help in Arlington, from traffic problems to Metro efficiency and safety,” said IBM rep Max Luckey. “The IBM grant could help fund new infrastructure improvements, streamline administration costs, or even help with projects like the Rosslyn Gateway Park redevelopment.”
While noting the praise heaped on Arlington for being a model of smart growth, WTOP reporter Adam Tuss says that the county’s resistance to highway transportation projects has opened it up for criticism.
“There are others that scoff at the county, saying its officials take a parochial transportation view and only think about Arlington at the expense of the entire D.C. region,” Tuss reports.
Travel + Leisure magazine recently published a list of America’s most and least attractive cities. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the much-maligned D.C. area ranked near the bottom of the list, as the country’s #6 least attractive city.
But does Arlington share the blame for the ugliness? If you take a walk around Clarendon on a Friday night, do you find the bar-goers more or less attractive than, say, the bar-goers walking around Adams Morgan on a Friday night?
Only in Arlington would someone (allegedly) attempt a robbery using a wine opener as a weapon.
From ACPD:
ARLnow.com has been nominated for an ABBIE, under the category “Arlington’s Best Place to Learn Something New.” However, we’re facing tough competition from the category’s reigning champ, the Arlington Public Library system.
Our odds are especially long, considering that the library isn’t any old small business — it’s a large government entity with nine locations around town, dozens of staff members and thousands of customers — who receive its services for free. Plus, while the general public is limited to one vote per computer, ABBIE rules specifically state that publicly-accessible computers at the library are exempt.
Since Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, Arlington must first ask the state legislature for permission to pursue policies not specifically allowed by state law. In past years, the state government has been reluctant to grant Arlington any new taxing power.
Arlington will make its unlikely bag request during the General Assembly session starting Jan. 12.
Greater Greater Washington’s Michael Perkins has an interesting thesis. He says that instead of shutting down at 6:00 p.m., parking meters in Arlington should run after dark in neighborhoods like Clarendon, Crystal City and Rosslyn.
Perkins says such a move would free up more street parking in Arlington’s business districts at night. It would also encourage more people to take transit, he says.
An interception ended Donovan McNabb and the Redskins’ valiant comeback attempt against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts last night on Sunday Night Football.
A company says it can save 1,600 tons of paper each year by discontinuing a free publication that only 11 percent of recipients actually use.
That company is Verizon, and the publication is all local White Pages directories in Virginia. The company placed an official notice in the Virginia edition of the Washington Post classifieds today, announcing that it’s lobbying the state for permission to stop sending out residential phone books. The Yellow Pages would still be printed.
