A mayoral candidate in the city of Reims, France is promoting a stronger Sister City relationship with Arlington in his campaign.
Éric Quénard is the Socialist Party candidate who will lead a center-left coalition in the 2026 mayor’s race in Reims, one of Arlington’s five sister cities. His campaign reached out to ARLnow to uplift his desire for tighter ties between the two locales.
The solid 9-1 start enjoyed by the Washington-Liberty Generals this season is the best in at least 35 years for the girls high-school basketball team.
After a season-opening 10-point road loss to the Oakton Cougars, the W-L squad has run the table with nine straight victories.
This regularly scheduled column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].
Question: How much of an impact do you think the ROAD to Housing Act will have on housing affordability in Arlington?
Answer: The Road to Housing Act became law ten days ago, with the stated goal of improving housing affordability in the United States.
I don’t see many policies in the Act that will improve affordability in the Arlington/Northern VA/DC Metro markets, outside of incentives for more affordable multi-family housing, but there are policies that should improve affordability in other markets that are more saturated with institutional investors that own swaths of single-family homes (e.g. Atlanta and Phoenix) and for manufactured/mobile homes.
The Local Conversation Needs to Change
If we are going to improve affordability in our market, most of the change has to be done locally/regionally, not nationally, but it requires a paradigm shift in how we discuss and solve for housing affordability.
Affordability Disconnect: Near Term Expectations Not Realistic
A disconnect between housing affordability expectations and reality prevents the right community and political conversations from happening. We expect/demand housing affordability immediately, ignoring the difficulty, and consequences, of achieving it that quickly.
Stable and healthy housing affordability is a long-term process requiring gradual change over a 10-15+ year period.
Demand-Side Solutions Won’t Work
Demand-side solutions, such as lower interest rates or easier financing, artificially inflate home values, as seen during the COVID-era housing boom and early 2000s. They are not a good long-term solution to affordability because they push values even higher (along with your property taxes) and affordability gets worse when rates/lending normalize and no longer provide artificially low monthly payments.
Supply-Side Solutions Are Not Immediate
Most policy discussions focus on supply-side solutions: building more/faster and denser housing (e.g. Arlington’s Missing Middle/Expanded Housing Option), incentivizing more existing home sales, or disincentivizing concentrated ownership by companies and individuals. Econ 101 tells us that more supply = lower prices = affordable housing (winner winner!).
This is the only path to stable, long-term housing affordability…BUT, at current interest rates, prices must drop 30-35% in the United States to become affordable, at current income levels. A 30-35% drop in home values would devastate the economy, so a supply-side solution won’t (shouldn’t) provide immediate affordability. (more…)
The unexpected departure of a major pro-transit voice in the Virginia General Assembly has created a void that an Arlington legislator appears primed to fill.
Del. Adele McClure (D-2), who sits on the House Committee on Transportation, has provided a key voice in various recent discussions on transit. In the 2026 General Assembly session, she could step into the shoes left behind by former Del. Mark Sickles (D-17), who is leaving his elected post to become Virginia’s next Secretary of Finance.
A Democrat is taking over for a Republican on the Arlington Electoral Board in the new year.
David Leichtman, a veteran political activist, will succeed electoral board vice chair Richard Samp, a Republican whose term expires Dec. 31.
*Mamistad Groups meet IN PERSON-only the introductory Zoom call is virtual. :)
Pregnancy and new mom groups are a lifesaver when it comes to normalizing those feelings we just can’t be prepared for.
Redevelopment Site Sold — “A pair of south Arlington hotel properties at the South Glebe Road interchange with Interstate 395 slated for redevelopment as more than 500 residential units have sold for $50 million. CC Rock Arlington Owner LLC, an affiliate of Crescent Communities and the Rockefeller Group, acquired the Green Valley site of its fully entitled future development in two transactions.” [WBJ]
PTAs Respond to Food Need — “PTAs and parent teacher student organizations across Arlington have long considered ways to help students who might be experiencing food insecurity. But in recent months, in the aftermath of the government shutdown and uncertainty surrounding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, they’ve stepped in to address the increased need.” [WTOP]
Photo: A Very Bad Idea — “Someone made a balcony bonfire tonight in Pentagon City… Fire department came [shortly] after the fire started.” [Reddit]
Robbery in Courthouse — “at approximately 3:10 p.m., the male suspect attempted to exit a store without paying for merchandise when he was confronted by employees. The suspect allegedly became aggressive, threatened employees and spat on an employee before fleeing the scene on foot.” [ACPD]
Local Civic Figure Dies — “Linda Kathleen Stalls Beverly, 76, died Thursday, December 11… She was a longtime member of Arlington County’s Civic Coalition for Minority Affairs. Linda also founded the advocacy group Concerned Parents of Arlington and co-chaired the African-American Parent Network. In 2003, she was among 14 residents to be recognized by the Arlington School Board as “Honored Citizens” for outstanding volunteer service to Arlington Public Schools.” [Everly-Wheatley Funeral Home]
Yellow Line Changes — “Metro riders on the Yellow Line can travel further into D.C. and Maryland beginning today (Wednesday). The Yellow Line has extended with service to Maryland’s Greenbelt station for the first time since 2023, according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Trains on that line previously ended service at Mount Vernon Square in D.C.” [ALXnow]
Changes Coming to Golf Courses — “President Donald Trump’s campaign to reshape the nation’s capital in his image is setting its focus on Washington’s public golf courses. The National Links Trust — the nonprofit organization that has managed East Potomac Golf Links, Rock Creek Park Golf and Langston Golf Course since 2020 — said on Wednesday that the Trump administration has terminated the group’s 50-year lease with the National Park Service.” [Politico, CBS News]
It’s Friday — The weather will transition from mostly cloudy to sunny, reaching a high of around 41 degrees. In the afternoon, calm winds will shift to northwest at approximately 6 mph. During Friday night, expect mostly cloudy skies and a low temperature of around 26 degrees, accompanied by a north wind blowing at 3 to 5 mph. [NWS]
Good Wednesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Dec 31, 2025.
Here is what’s going on Thursday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Apologies, but there was an error with the forecast. To ensure accuracy, please manually add the forecast information. See more from Weather.gov.
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
– Alfred Lord Tennyson
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! If you have something to say about an issue of local note not covered today, feel free to post it as a letter to the editor on our new forum.
Firefighters quickly extinguished a house fire in the Rock Spring neighborhood early Wednesday morning.
The fire started around 1:30 a.m. in the kitchen and extended to the rear of the house, on the 3400 block of N. George Mason Drive, according to the Arlington County Fire Department.
With the new year just hours away, we’re closing out 2025 with a roundup of ARLnow’s top 10 stories this year.
Representing a mix of fast-moving breaking coverage and stories only made possible through our team’s deep sourcing in this community, these stories offer a snapshot of an eventful year for Arlington and for this newsroom.
As we welcome 2026, we’re so grateful for readers like you who make ARLnow part of your daily routine. If local news matters to you, consider taking the next step by joining the ARLnow Press Club.
Your support helps fund deeper reporting, more local stories, and more comprehensive coverage of the issues affecting our community.
