A stretch of 12th Street S. in Pentagon City will be off-limits to drivers for about a year as the county extends a bus rapid transit corridor.
Closing the street during the expansion will be safer and allow the work to be completed more quickly, county staff said during a March 11 briefing of the county’s Transit Advisory Committee.
It’s Pi Day, and local bakeries and pizzerias alike are celebrating with sweet and savory deals in honor of that important figure, 3.14.
From $3.14-per-slice discounts to treat boxes and taste tests, here’s a look at some of the Pi Day specials happening in Arlington and Falls Church today.
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…)
Judge Nixes Some DOGE Firings — “U.S. District Judge William Alsup said at a court hearing that the personnel office — which serves as the federal government’s human resources agency — had no legal authority to direct the mass firings in conference calls and written communications last month. He added that individual agencies could downsize their staffs by following the steps laid out in the federal Reduction in Force Act, a process that administration officials have already put in motion.” [Washington Post]
Shutdown May Be Averted — “Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, on Thursday broke with many in his party and said he would vote for a Republican-written stopgap spending bill to keep federal funding flowing past a midnight deadline on Friday, making a forceful case for why Democrats could not allow a shutdown that most of them have demanded.” [New York Times]
ICE Touts N. Va. Arrests — “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and law enforcement partners apprehended 214 illegal aliens during an enhanced targeted enforcement operation focusing on transnational organized crime, gangs, and egregious illegal alien offenders in Northern Virginia March 1 to 13.” [ICE]
Wine Shop Opens in Crystal City — “Flight, a popular wine tasting, café and retail store in the D.C.’s Chinatown that closed last year after a decade, returns with a new location at Virginia’s National Landing on Friday. Now called Flight Wine Shop, it is owned and operated by Flight’s original team.” [WTOP]
Parent Night Out Options — “Need a night off? Let these local gyms and rec centers entertain your kids with water park fun, tumbling, arts and crafts and pizza.” [Arlington Magazine]
Closet Showroom Proposed in F.C. — “Econize Closets presented their revision of a site plan for a new design headquarters at 821 W Broad Street at the corner with S Spring Street, at the Planning Commission meeting on March 5, 2025. The basement level may be remote workspace with individual offices planned.” [Falls Church Pulse]
It’s Friday — Patchy fog will dissipate by 9am, leading to cloudy conditions that will gradually become mostly sunny with the temperature reaching around 59°F. Expect a northeast wind of 6-8 mph, shifting to southeast in the afternoon. Expect increasing clouds Friday night, with a low around around 44°F and patchy fog returning after 3am. [NWS]
Looking to get the pollen all off your car? We bring premium mobile detailing straight to your home or office. Skip the wait and drive something that feels brand new again. We provide interior deep cleans, exterior washes, paint shine, stain removal, and attention to every detail. Reliable, convenient, and built around your schedule.
Book your detail today and let us do all the work!
Good Thursday 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 — Mar 13, 2025.
Here is what’s going on Friday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Patchy fog will dissipate by 9am, leading to initially cloudy conditions that will gradually become mostly sunny with the temperature reaching around 59°F. Expect a northeast wind of 6-8 mph, shifting to southeast in the afternoon. For Friday night, patchy fog will return after 3am. The sky will see increasing clouds, and temperatures will drop to around 44°F. A southeast wind of around 8 mph will be present. See more from Weather.gov.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
– African Proverb
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
Join DC Road Runners and Potomac Valley Track Club for our annual Family Night at the Track and Meet of Miles. The event is open to runners of all ages and paces as well as nonmembers.
This event hosts 400 meter and 800 meter races for kids ages 1-8, as well as multiple 1-mile heats for participants of all ages. There is also a 3K race that is open to participants of all ages.
Amid mass federal layoffs, local businesses and resource centers are responding to a surge in Arlington residents seeking jobs.
While business owners say they’ve received a flood of inquiries from people now out of work, the Arlington Employment Center has seen a 45% year-over-year increase in people accessing services.
An Arlington-based nonprofit offering music lessons to low-income students is aiming to double its program size through new community engagement efforts.
Play it Forward, a nonprofit by local music organization Piano & More, provides free piano lessons, resources and mentorship to students at Title I schools. With an eye on expanding, Piano & More launched new sponsorships this month and intends to apply for more grants later in the year.
Arlington drivers may be experiencing some bumpier-than-usual commutes as the county continues to fix potholes formed during a cold and snowy winter.
Between Nov. 1 and March 1, the county’s Water, Sewer and Streets team recorded 499 potholes — the highest number since the winter of 2022, county spokesperson Kiara Candelaria Nieves told ARLnow.
First responders across the D.C. area were honored yesterday (Wednesday) for their actions in the aftermath of the fatal aircraft collision over the Potomac River.
Among the agencies saluted were the Arlington County Police Department, the Arlington County Fire Department, and Arlington Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management.
The spring sports season is beginning in earnest starting this week and next for the majority of teams at all four high schools in Arlington.
A few teams have played regular-season events this week, while others are still participating in scrimmage events.
