A new week, a new category to vote on in the summer Arlies but first, the results from last week’s voting.
Your favorite sports bar is Crystal City Sports Pub, followed by First Down Sports Bar & Grill and Ireland’s Four Courts.
Opinion
I am becoming a kindergarten parent this year and so I’m officially joining the Arlington Public Schools community. During the past 18 months, I’ve watched with sympathy as kids were kept out of school.
Arlington’s public schools were closed, or in a hybrid model, because elected leaders didn’t prioritize the mitigation strategies in our community that would have allowed safe in-classroom instruction. I was lucky to have my kids in full-time daycare for most of the pandemic. We were never exposed to Covid-19 from the center, despite limited mitigation practices.
Some relief from the heat is on tap this weekend, though it will come at the cost of enduring a bit of rain.
It was quite a week on the site, despite some of our staff members being out of town. Here are the most-read articles of the past week on ARLnow:
Friday the 13th lore is at least a century old, and relates to various things, from Jesus’ last supper to the Knights Templar to Norse mythology.
While some may consider superstition about Friday the 13th irrational or silly, others have an actual fear of the day.
As some say, local government is primarily pothole politics. Why aren’t the water fountains working? When will the snow be removed? How do I make sure dogs are leashed in my local park? How do I fix this big crack in the sidewalk on my path to the coffee shop? Why is the crosswalk sign not working?
Some of these things like snow removal, sidewalk repair, or crosswalk sign maintenance can be done as simply as using the Service Request/Report a Problem function on the County’s website. For items that fall into this category it consistently amazes me how quickly and efficiently the system works. If all other venues don’t work, you can always tweet the Arlington Department of Environmental Services and our personal miracle worker seems to never fail.
Go to What’s Next: Empowering Communities to Recommend Improvements in Their Neighborhoods
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August is the month of vacations.
Congress goes on recess, schools are still on summer break, and legions of D.C. area residents head out of town, to the beach or elsewhere. That leads to less local traffic and more out-of-office email replies.
Peter’s Take is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
Over the past 18 months — due to the pandemic — the majority of APS students, particularly minority populations and those with disabilities, have suffered severe learning losses.
The Arlington County Board is in the middle of its traditional August break. As such, it is a good time for a performance review.
What should we expect from local government?
A new week of voting in the summer Arlies is here. First, the results from last week’s voting.
Arlington’s favorite gym/fitness studio is Gold’s Gym, followed by Arlington Jazzercise and a three-way tie among MADabolic, Earth Treks and Vida Fitness.
ARLnow was the first local news outlet to report on the mysterious, highly itchy bug bites many residents were reporting.
Following our article two weeks ago, the bites — red, relentlessly itchy and lasting up to two weeks — have become the talk of the town. Our reporting has been echoed by TV stations, the Post, national outlets, and our friends at PoPville.
By Gabe and Dolores Rubalcava
The editors of Progressive Voice recently talked with long-time Arlington residents Gabe and Dolores Rubalcava to hear their opinions on how Arlington has changed over the past decades, and what strategic decisions are most important now for county decision-makers.
In recent months, parents across the country have disrupted school board meetings and threatened school board members.
The issues drawing the ire of parents include wearing masks, school reopening, transgender student policies, and critical race theory.