Art showcased at a past Arlington Festival of the Arts Festival (courtesy of Howard Alan Events)
The Arlington Festival of the Arts returns to Clarendon this weekend, bringing back its free outdoor arts showcase for an 11th year.
The annual festival — featuring paintings, sculptures, jewelry and photography from over 125 artists — will take place from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday at 1051 N. Highland Street.
A Virginia State Police chase through Fairfax County ended in a fleeing vehicle striking a Metrobus and a minivan near Fairlington on Saturday.
No passengers were on board the bus and the driver was uninjured, while the minivan driver was hospitalized for injuries that were not life-threatening, according to a press release.
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…)
Green Valley farmers market (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)
With beautiful weather and tables loaded with local goods, the new Green Valley farmers market’s second week in business attracted a host of vendors and shoppers.
The market’s opening day earlier this month had been marred by a combination of cold and rainy weather. On Friday, however, plentiful sunshine and temperatures in the 70s — combined with plentiful fresh produce and ready-to-eat offerings — made for an almost picture-perfect evening from 4-7 p.m.
Bike racks, an ART bus, a bench, the Clarendon Metro station and a friendly dog outside Trader Joe’s (staff photo by Katie Taranto)
Dispute Leads to Brandishing, Hit and Run — “The two male victims and the two male suspects, who are known to each other, became engaged in a verbal dispute outside a residential building. The dispute escalated when Suspect One attempted to strike one of the victims and brandished what appeared to be a firearm. The two suspects then entered a vehicle and attempted to flee the scene during which they struck the other victim with their vehicle, described as a white sedan, before leaving the area. No injuries were reported.” [ACPD]
Immigration Arrests in Arlington — “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested two men for felony charges in Arlington, Virginia, according to X posts by the ICE Washington bureau on Saturday. Francisco Reyes-Ramirez from El Salvador was charged with felony drug possession and distribution charges and faces removal from the United States, according to ICE.” [WJLA]
Va. Dems Campaign Against Musk — “Virginia Democrats vying to shield their statehouse majority and flip the governor’s mansion in November raised millions of dollars more than Republicans in the first three months of 2025, according to newly released campaign finance reports, securing a cash advantage in their pursuit of voters frustrated with Republican tech billionaire Elon Musk.” [Associated Press]
Dems Planning Another Town Hall — “Back by popular demand – the Arlington Democrats are hosting a Federal Employees & Contractors Town Hall featuring an expert panel at Arlington Central Library on May 6th from 6-8pm.” [Arlington Democrats/X]
Migratory Bird Event Returns — “Tiny hummingbirds and fierce osprey are some of the many birds migrating northward this spring. Come learn about these and other fabulous flyers with hands-on activities, games, crafts, bird walks and more at this bilingual event on Sat., May 10 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lacey Woods Park. Free!” [Arlington County]
It’s Monday — Expect partly sunny conditions and a high of 71°F with southeast winds at 8-11 mph. There is a slight chance of rain later in the day. Showers are more likely after 8pm, with mostly cloudy skies and a low of 63°F. Nighttime winds range from 5-9 mph, with gusts up to 18 mph. There is a 40% chance of precipitation. [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.
The above establishment is applying to the VIRGINIA ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL AUTHORITY (ABC) for a
Retail Restaurant or Caterer Application – Restaurant, Wine, Beer, Consumed On and Off Premises
(Type(s) of license(s) applied for) license to sell or manufacture alcoholic beverages.
Trading as: Yu Noodles
(Trade Name)
1515 Wilson BLVD, STE 102
(Exact street address of where business will trade)
Arlington
(City/Town)
Arlington County Virginia 22209
(County) (State) (Zip + 4)
NOTE: Objections to the issuance of this license must be submitted to ABC no later than 30 days from the publishing date of the first of two required newspaper legal notices. Objections should be registered at www.abc.virginia.gov or (800) 552-3200.
Bruce Hanson, middle, accepts his award (courtesy of Cory Royster/DC Touchdown Club)
The renowned D.C. Touchdown Club recently recognized former longtime Yorktown High School head football coach Bruce Hanson for his highly successful career and amassing 302 career victories over more than 40 years in the game.
Hanson was honored at the club’s annual awards dinner on April 10 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, receiving the Circle of Legends award.
Marymount baseball coach Mike Cassidy (courtesy of Marymount athletics)
Reaching the milestone of 100 career wins came quickly for Marymount University head baseball coach Mike Cassidy.
Cassidy, who took the reins of the Saints’ Division III program to start the 2022 campaign, earned the century mark for victories when Marymount defeated Atlantic East Conference rival Neumann University, 22-6, Sunday (April 13) at Barcroft Park.
The Swanson swimming champs (courtesy of Swanson swim team)
Led by one swimmer who won three races and another with two victories, the Swanson Admirals won this year’s Arlington County middle-school team swimming championship.
Swanson finished first with 1,397 points in the six-team event at Wakefield High School, followed by eight-time defending champion Dorothy Hamm with 1,210 then Williamsburg with 932.