News
“Summer time” flag in the Old Glebe neighborhood (staff photo)

Development Plan Along Langston Blvd — “Rooney Properties has filed plans with Arlington County for a 12-story, 276-unit building at 3130 Langston Boulevard, a site that is currently home to a Walgreens pharmacy. The L-shaped building, designed by dcs design, will have a pool deck with a courtyard on the third level, as well as a 5,000 square-foot public park and dog run.” [UrbanTurf, Washington Business Journal]

Flyovers Planned Today — From AlertDC: “The US Military will conduct a flyover in the National Capital Region over Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, August 15th, 2024, at 11:25 AM… [and] at 3:10 PM.”

Gun Arrest in Ashton Heights — “The officer initiated a foot pursuit during which they observed the suspect discard a firearm. The officer recovered the firearm while additional arriving officers took the suspect into custody in the area of N. Piedmont Street and 6th Street N. No injuries were reported. During the course of the investigation, suspected narcotics were recovered.” [ACPD]

Police Game Day Date Change — “NEW DATE AND LOCATION! The Police Playoffs: Game Day event scheduled for Friday, August 23 has been rescheduled to Friday, August 16 from 12-2 PM at Rocky Run Park, 1109 N. Barton Street.” [ACPD, Twitter]

APS College List — “The following is a list of the colleges and universities where Arlington Public Schools (APS) high school graduates (Class of 2024) applied and where they were accepted.” [Arlington Magazine]

Sewage Game at the Fair — From Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services: “A County Fair What-to-Flush toss game featuring smiling poo bean bags?? Be there. Thomas Jefferson Community Center, Saturday only, 5-10pm.” [Twitter]

Fmr. Yorktown QB Honored — “Former Yorktown High School standout quarterback Tim Reynolds recently was chosen to the Ferrum College Sports Hall of Fame for his performance with the Division III team during his football career in Ferrum, Va.” [Gazette Leader]

VDOT Work Planned in F.C. — “Learn about the planned replacement of the Sherrow Ave culvert over Tripps Run in @FallsChurchGov! Attend a public information meeting Tue 8/20, 7:30 pm-9:30 pm at Oak Street Elementary School – presentation begins at 7:30.” [Twitter]

It’s Thursday — Expect sunny conditions and a high near 88, accompanied by a mild north wind at about 5 mph. The evening will transition to partly cloudy skies with a low temperature around 68. [NWS]


Around Town

Good Wednesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Aug 14, 2024.

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Thursday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

  • No events today. Have one to promote? Submit it to the calendar.

☀️ Thursday’s forecast

Expect sunny conditions and a high near 88, accompanied by a mild north wind at about 5 mph. The evening will transition to partly cloudy skies with a low temperature around 68 and a gentle south breeze. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“Do not wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.”
– Zoey Sayward

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

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.


Sponsored

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…)


News

Numerous Arlington businesses have once again made the newly released Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

A total of 21 Arlington organizations, including many consulting firms and other businesses working with the federal government, earned a spot on the national rankings released Tuesday.


Around Town

Mr Wash is offering free car washes tomorrow — Thursday, Aug. 15 — in honor of back-to-school season.

All 11 Mr Wash locations in Northern Virginia, Maryland and Delaware — including the Arlington spots at 4148 S. Four Mile Run Drive and 101 N. Glebe Road — are participating in the promotion. To claim the offer, customers don’t need to do anything other than visit a Mr Wash, the company said.


Around Town

After eight months in the making, Dumpling District opened its “flagship” location alongside a new Kung Fu Tea in Pentagon City last week.

The two businesses share a space in the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, next to Häagen-Dazs on the mall’s Metro level entrance. Though Dumpling District has four other spots across the D.C. area, this is its first ever dine-in location with sit-down service.


News

Stephen Oxenrider, a beloved former Arlington Public Schools teacher, passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 12, after nearly two years of battling pancreatic cancer. He was 73.

Oxenrider taught English as a Second Language (ESL) for 35 years in Arlington, beginning at Kenmore Middle School before transferring to Swanson Middle School, where he stayed until retiring in 2007, per his obituary.


News
Cyclists ride past Minor’s Hill (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Local Marine Died Attempting Rescue — “Alexia and Bart Collart braced for a hard visit. Marines came to their home in Arlington, Virginia, last week to brief them on what caused the Osprey crash in Australia last year that resulted in the death of their son and two other Marines. But they weren’t expecting to hear these words: Your son didn’t die in the crash… Collart ‘heroically reentered the burning cockpit of the aircraft in an attempt to rescue the trapped pilots,’ the official Marine Corps investigation into the crash found. ‘He perished during this effort.'” [CBS News]

From Tragedy to Wedding — “Spencer’s family met Waser for the first time at the funeral. This time it was Waser who put on dress blues to serve as a pallbearer and escort his best friend’s remains from Dover Air Force Base to Arlington National Cemetery. Spencer’s younger sister, Gwyneth Collart, felt instant chemistry. Her parents saw it too… Gwyneth Collart and Waser married July 6 in Arlington and held their reception at Top of the Town, a ballroom that has a terrace overlooking Arlington National Cemetery.” [Associated Press, YouTube]

County Fair Starts Today — “With free entertainment, family friendly attractions and food eating championships galore, the Arlington County Fair is returning next week. New this year at the fair — which opens on Wednesday, Aug. 14 and runs through Sunday, Aug. 18. — is an additional eating competition. A burrito eating contest hosted by Los Chamacos.” [ARLnow]

School Board Mulls Budget Changes — “School leaders are working sooner rather than later to address the possibility that the good times might stop rolling. School Board members and top school-system staff in July gathered in a retreat setting to take ‘a very strategic look’ at budgeting going forward, Superintendent Francisco Durán said at the Aug. 1 School Board meeting.” [Gazette Leader]

Weenie Beenie Anniversary — “A business in Arlington County, Virginia, may have the funny name of “Weenie Beenie,” but it has a serious reputation for cooking up wildly popular food. This year, the eatery is celebrating its 70th anniversary, having been around since 1954.” [WTOP]

VSP Steps Up I-66 Enforcement — “The Virginia State Police Culpeper and Fairfax Divisions will be conducting Operation DISS-rupt on all 76 miles of Interstate 66 in Virginia on August 16-17, 2024. The traffic enforcement and educational safety initiative focuses on Distracted driving, Impaired driving, Speed compliance and Seat belt safety.” [Press Release]

Local Home Sales Flat — “Both sales and average sales prices in Arlington’s single-family homes market in July were as flat as could be compared to a year before. The 78 sales of single-family properties represented no change from a year before. The average sales price of $1,413,294 was up less than $1,000 (.07%) from a year ago.” [Gazette Leader]

F.C. Asks for Special Election — “At its Monday, August 12, 2024, City Council meeting, the Council voted to petition the Arlington Circuit Court to allow a Special Election, concurrent with the General and Special Elections on November 5, 2024, to fill the vacancy after the resignation of former Council Member Caroline Lian.” [City of Falls Church]

It’s Wednesday — Expect sunny conditions with a high near 86 and a north wind of 5 to 8 mph. Wednesday night will be mostly clear, with a low around 66 and a light northwest wind. [NWS]


Around Town

Good Tuesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Aug 13, 2024.

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Wednesday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

☀️ Wednesday’s forecast

Expect sunny conditions with a high near 86 and a north wind of 5 to 8 mph. Wednesday night will be mostly clear, with a low around 66 and a light northwest wind. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.”
– Nikos Kazantzakis

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

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.