With earlier sunsets ahead, two Arlington County organizations are distributing free bike lights, reflective vests and other safety gear this week.
Representatives from BikeArlington and WalkArlington be handing out gear from 4-6 p.m. at “Lighten Up, Arlington!” events on the following dates.
Arlington’s Trespassing Towing Advisory Board (TTAB) thinks “booting” illegally parked vehicles might, in some cases, be preferable to towing them.
County Board members appear to disagree.
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…)
A public hearing on plans to replace a 60-year-old bridge over N. Glebe Road is happening tonight.
The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to rebuild the Old Glebe Road bridge, just up the hill from Chain Bridge, with a wider sidewalk on the eastern side and an additional sidewalk on the western side.
Uncertain Future for Courthouse Building — “The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. is looking to short sell a mostly empty office building it owns in Arlington’s Courthouse, billing it as residential or hotel redevelopment opportunity. MetLife’s building at 1320 N. Courthouse Road, a block south of the Courthouse Metro station and catty-cornered to the county courthouse and jail, is currently 18% leased to three tenants.” [WBJ]
Marine Corps Marathon Recap — “Marine Major Kyle King claimed victory with a finish time of 2:25:06, outpacing 16,556 other racers. This will be King’s second time winning the men’s MCM, after his first triumph in 2022. Arlington-native Tessa Barrett, won the women’s MCM with a finish time of 2:39:36, vanquishing 6,214 other female competitors.” [Stars and Stripes]
Another Gun Stopped at DCA — “Transportation Security Administration officers prevented an Arkansas woman from bringing a loaded gun onto a plane leaving Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday. TSA officers found the 22 caliber firearm loaded with five bullets in the traveler’s carry-on items at one of the airport’s security checkpoints.” [Patch]
Local Woman’s Long Bike Journey — “Meet Miranda Baltaxe, a recent college graduate and native of Arlington, Virginia, in the midst on an incredible journey from Maine, to Key West on the East Coast Greenway route.” [Twitter, YouTube]
Thirsty Bat Rescued — From the Animal Welfare League of Arlington: “This handsome Eastern Red Bat was rescued this week after he was found a bit dehydrated. Thanks to one of our amazing rehabbers he’s getting some much-needed hydration and rest.” [Twitter]
Arlington ‘Tomb Raiders’ — “In late October 1976, police discovered a gruesome scene inside the Abbey Mausoleum, a once grand burial place next to Arlington National Cemetery. Vandals had tampered with a dozen caskets and 15 urns, placing a copy of Circus (a now-defunct music magazine) into one opened coffin. In the gray cremains from an overturned urn, someone had drawn a smiley face. It wouldn’t be the tomb’s only raid. ” [Arlington Magazine]
Funding for Ballston Tech Co. — “Interos Inc., an Arlington tech firm that helps companies monitor and respond to supply chain threats, has obtained $40 million in new funding to expand product capabilities following several executive leadership appointments.” [WBJ]
Funding for Another Local Startup — “Fixify, an Arlington startup automating IT help desk jobs for companies with up to 2,000 employees, has raised $25 million from investors and will use a chunk of the proceeds to beef up its sales team.” [WBJ]
More Arlington Tech News — “CoStar Group, the Arlington-based provider of online real estate marketplaces… said it will acquire New Jersey-based Visual Lease, the developer of a software platform for lease management… …Arlington-based FU Associates, a provider of analytic and technology services to government health clients, said it has rebranded as Inclined.” [Potomac Tech Wire]
No Charges for Fmr. F.C. Official — “The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington-Falls Church announced it is declining to… seek charges against former City of Falls Church Council member Caroline Lian. Because the instructions on the Virginia Economic Interest Disclosure are ambiguous and subject to interpretation, the Office has determined… that there is no good faith basis for criminal charges.” [Falls Church News-Press]
It’s Monday — Patchy frost will clear up by 9am, making way for sunny skies and a high of around 63°F. Expect a 5-7 mph southeast wind in the afternoon. Monday night will see partly cloudy conditions and a low near 44°F. [NWS]
Today’s Morning Notes are brought to you by Industrious. Need a workspace where you can focus on what matters? ARLnow’s team knows firsthand how Industrious’s fully-stocked Arlington offices eliminate daily workplace hassles. With multiple Metro-accessible locations, you can leave office management to them while you get down to business.
Flickr pool photo by Jason Gooljar
Live standup comedy in Arlington on Friday July 31 starring Jim Bryan, Kim Villamera, and Greg Billet.
Friday, July 31, 2026
Leading in the second half, there was a chance the Bishop O’Connell Knights might have ended their nagging, three-season-long losing streak against conference football rivals.
But it didn’t happen. The host Knights (1-7, 0-2) lost to the Carroll Lions, 34-17, Oct. 26 in a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Metro Division high-school game, its ninth straight league setback.
A Freeze Watch has been issued for Arlington and much of the D.C. area.
The watch is in effect late Sunday into Monday. The first freeze of the season could damage unprotected plans and exposed water pipes.
Two years ago, during a Washington-Liberty High School choral-department trip to New York City, students had the chance to tour Radio City Music Hall and even stand on its famous stage.
Now, they are gearing up to perform on it.
The Arlington government’s new LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee held its first meeting this week, electing a chair and vice chair and beginning to set priorities.
“I want to hear the different ideas everyone has, and how we can work together,” said Laman Ben-Trahoret, a committee member, on Monday (Oct. 21).
At the recent Falls Church Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, the two aspirants running in the special election for City Council were posed this hypothetical situation.
“If you had $50 million handed to you,” they were asked, “how would you use it to make transportation better in the city?”
