It’s hard to believe, but the Fourth of July is just around the corner.
Fireworks viewing on the National Mall is a go this year. Like last year, there’s no formal viewing event in Arlington, but expect crowds to congregate at the usual spots, like the Iwo Jima memorial, Key Bridge, the Air Force Memorial, Rosslyn Gateway Park and Long Bridge Park.
Progressive Voice is a bi-weekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
By Rev. Jonathan Linman
It has been a slow week readership-wise on ARLnow, but we still had plenty to write about.
The big news of the week, of course, is Whitlow’s closing. The long-time Clarendon watering hole will be throwing one last bash on Saturday before locking the doors. We hope they are able to find a new location soon — Arlington is a better place with a place like Whitlow’s than without.
Ed Talk is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
Tonight, the Arlington School Board is likely to vote to remove School Resource Officers (SROs) as a daily presence in schools.
It is not often that we see the opportunity for a major cultural shift in our society unfold before our eyes.
One of the many inequities that the COVID-19 pandemic elucidated was in the child care system, which represents larger gender and racial imbalances in our nation. Arlington County and the Commonwealth of Virginia have made great investments in expanding access to child care, and must continue to support our child care heroes to save the day.
Another week and another round of voting for the newest categories in the summer Arlies. First, the results of last week’s voting.
Your favorite Arlington food truck is Tacos El Chilango, followed by La Tingeria and Tacos Los Primos.
Every year, Arlington loses market-rate affordable housing (MARKs) as redevelopment and reinvestment turns older, lower-cost apartments into newer, higher-cost apartments.
We also lose committed affordable housing (CAFs) when the income and rental restrictions on properties built with public funds expire, typically after 30-60 years.
It only became official yesterday afternoon, but this is now a long federal holiday weekend.
We join the rest of the Arlington community in commemorating and reflecting on Juneteenth today and tomorrow.
Lyon’s Legacy is a limited-run opinion column on the history of housing in Arlington. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
I grew up in Arlington because, in the 90s, it was a place where middle-class parents could afford to own a home and raise two children. I loved my childhood here. But because of Arlington’s economically-exclusive zoning laws and their contribution to rising housing prices, I don’t expect to be able to give my kids the same.
This Sunday is the last day to provide feedback on “Plan Lee Highway“, a multi-year planning process for the corridor that has now produced specific proposals for development levels, street improvements, stormwater impact, and other significant changes.
My biggest piece of feedback on Plan Lee Highway and every ongoing area and sector plan is the lack of consideration for our schools. We should be including school generation factors in our area and sector planning process.
The long-planned and long-debated Long Bridge Park Aquatics and Fitness Center is set to open this summer, perhaps as early as July.
The $60 million facility, construction of which was approved in 2017, is located north of Crystal City and south of the 14th Street Bridge, offering monumental views across the Potomac. It features a 50-meter competition pool with diving towers, a whirlpool, a family pool with a splash pad, a water slide, water volleyball and basketball areas, and a lazy river — in addition to an 8,000-square-foot fitness center and rooms for for classes, parties and events.
The Superintendent presented APS’s latest Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) at a May 6 School Board meeting, and APS is committed to adopt its final CIP on June 24.
Inexplicably, APS published its May 6 plan prior to getting detailed cost estimates, and staff’s June 14 cost projections belatedly reveal that the project is $77.8 million over budget.
