Scolapasta has shifted gears in Ballston.
The fast-casual Italian restaurant has abandoned its plans to open this summer at 4219 Fairfax Drive, across the street from the Ballston Metro. Instead, owner Burak Temel told ARLnow that he intends to open a kiosk in the food court at Ballston Quarter.
The Arlington School Board has pushed back a final budget vote to give officials time to finish crunching numbers.
The vote on the budget is now scheduled to happen on Thursday, May 15 as leaders determine the effects of recent funding decisions at the state level.
When Eddie Kaufholz and his family moved to Arlington nearly five years ago, they were not thinking about starting a business. They wanted to live in a place that was diverse, interesting and full of opportunity, with a school system they could rely on. Arlington fit.
In the years that followed, working out of a home office off Columbia Pike, he consulted with organizations across Northern Virginia and around the country: nonprofits, advocacy groups, mid-sized companies, agencies of various sizes. The work itself was good. But somewhere across all those projects, he started to notice a pattern.
”The agency model has gotten really bloated,” Kaufholz says. ”Layers, handoffs, middle management. The senior people who pitch the work often disappear once it starts. The idea with PILLAR was to strip all of that down; keep senior people on the work, approach each client with humility and care, do world-class strategy and execution, and pass the efficiency back to the client instead of absorbing it as agency margin.”
That thinking, slowly, became PILLAR, the Arlington-headquartered creative, communications and marketing agency Kaufholz founded.
PILLAR, he says, is built on an old idea. ”An idea that has always been possible but rarely practiced: that an agency should be structured to serve the work itself.” The team that delivers the work is assembled around the specific needs of each client and only stays as long as the work calls for them.
”The senior strategist on your kick-off call is the senior strategist writing your messaging,” Kaufholz says. ”Every person on a project is there because the work specifically calls for them.”
PILLAR’s recent work has spanned human rights, executive leadership, higher education, advocacy and direct-to-consumer ecommerce. The roster has included national nonprofits, a national multimillion-dollar direct-to-consumer brand and a number of institutions navigating significant moments of strategic change. The model is built to scale up to be the agency of record for a national brand, or to scale down to design a logo for a neighborhood nonprofit. PILLAR takes equal pride and care in both.
What Kaufholz did not understand when he started, he said, was how much the County itself would matter in making any of it possible. (more…)
The Arlington County Police Department will begin hosting quarterly “community meetings” starting this month.
At the meetings, police will be “covering community issues, crime prevention tips and addressing quality of life concerns,” ACPD announced in a press release. Topics include the following.
This Memorial Weekend: Argentine Festival USA Returns May 23
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
The Falls Church City Council marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon last week with a celebration of the city’s Vietnamese-American community.
“Thank you for being part of Falls Church,” Mayor Letty Hardi said at Monday’s Council meeting, attended by several dozen community representatives.
Join the Pentagon MMA Kick-a-thon Fundraiser and Fight for a Cause! 🥊
Get ready to kick with purpose! Pentagon MMA is proud to once again host our Kick-a-thon Fundraiser in support of the incredible work of the Arlington Free Clinic.
New Proposal for Pike Property — “Plans to redevelop a strip mall along Columbia Pike are back in the works after a hiatus. Toll Brothers filed an application with Arlington County earlier this week to construct a six-story residential building with 262 apartments, 311 parking spaces and approximately 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail at 2601 Columbia Pike.” [UrbanTurf]
Missing Arlington Man — “Charles Sayles, 77, was last seen in the 3400 block of Washington Boulevard, Arlington County police said Wednesday morning. The location is a few blocks from the Virginia Square-GMU Metro station, near the Clarendon area. Police said Sayles is considered a critically missing person because of health or mental health concerns… Sayles is a blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter who released albums starting in the ‘70s and has performed with Pete Seeger.” [NBC 4]
Car Towed With Kid Inside — “A 6-year-old child was inside a car that was towed Saturday morning, according to police. Officers responded to a dispute at the 4100 block of S. Four Mile Run Drive at 9:11 a.m. Saturday. Police found that a car was towed from private property with the child still inside, according to the Arlington County Police Department (ACPD). Officers found the child at the tow company, Advanced Towing, nearby.” [WJLA]
Fox Tests Positive for Rabies — “The Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) said that at around noon on April 25, Arlington County Animal Control removed an injured fox in the 6000 block of 22nd Street North. AWLA said the fox then tested positive for rabies. Anyone who came in contact with the fox or may have pets who did, needs to call Animal County Animal Control at (703) 931-9241.” [DC News Now]
Sentencing for Fentanyl Trafficker — “An Alexandria man was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison for distributing fentanyl… Page was convicted twice previously on drug charges in Arlington County. On March 14, 2008, Page was convicted of distribution of cocaine and the distribution of an imitation controlled substance. On July 16, 2018, Page was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.” [U.S. DOJ]
Intra-Arlington Acquisition — “AeroVironment Inc., a Crystal City defense contractor best known for its autonomous military drones, has closed its $4.1 billion acquisition of Arlington peer BlueHalo LLC and is retiring both company names in favor of a new brand: AV Inc. The all-stock deal, announced in November, will also see BlueHalo’s staff who report to 4601 Fairfax Drive in Ballston eventually move to the AV’s (NASDAQ: AVAV) corporate headquarters at 241 18th St. South.” [WBJ]
Paper Wants Advance Payment — The Falls Church News-Press is calling on the City of Falls Church to “immediately release $50,000 of $100,000 earlier authorized to the News-Press as payment in advance for advertising to augment its expanded distribution with the launch of a new Page 1 campaign, ‘Dine Along Falls Church’s World Famous Restaurant Row.'” [FCNP]
Crash Fells Walk Signal — “Walk/Don’t Walk sign becomes victim to a driver making a right turn from the left turn lane. It happened a short time ago at Washington Blvd. and N. Pershing Drive in Lyon Park.” [Dave Statter/X]
It’s Monday — Patchy fog will clear by 10am, followed by showers and a possible thunderstorm after 2pm, and a high near 76°F. East winds will range from 5 to 8 mph, and there’s a 90% chance of precipitation. Tonight, anticipate showers and a potential thunderstorm before 2am, and a low around 62°F. The chance of nighttime precipitation is 80%. [NWS]
Today’s Morning Notes are brought to you by Industrious. ARLnow has been in an Industrious office for years and we love the convenience — you get to focus on your work rather than worrying about brewing your own coffee or keeping the copy machine stocked. Industrious has several Metro-accessible coworking locations in Arlington.
Arlington County police are investigating a crash near the Pentagon that killed two teens Saturday night.
The crash happened around 11:20 p.m. on southbound Route 110 at Washington Blvd.
Arlington and much of the D.C. area is now under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch.
The watch was issued just after 4:30 p.m. and is in effect until 10 p.m. Strong storms are possible this evening, forecasters say, with hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph.
The Wakefield Warriors continued a solid boys soccer season with a recent 2-1 victory over the Yorktown Patriots in an all-Arlington clash.
That victory, coupled with 4-1 win over Marshall in another recent match then a 2-1 loss to the Washington-Liberty Generals in another all-Arlington match, gave Wakefield an overall record of 7-4-2.
Close baseball games? It’s been the norm for the Washington-Liberty Generals high-school team over the past two seasons.
And in recent action, the trend has continued.
