As temperatures have climbed past the 90s over the past few days, one apartment complex just off Columbia Pike hasn’t been able to turn on the air — and that has some residents steamed.
Staff at the Dominion Towers Apartments (1201 S. Courthouse Road) were hoping to switch on the air conditioning system this past Thursday (May 3), giving people living in the building’s 330 units their first chance to cool down their homes for the year.
Robbery Foiled By Lack of Cash — An attempted armed robbery in Arlington’s Columbia Heights neighborhood was foiled when the would-be victims told the knife-wielding robber that they did not have any money. “When the victims advised they did not have any cash, the suspect fled the scene,” said a crime report. [Arlington County]
Average Home Price Exceeds $1 Million — The average sale price of a single-family home in Arlington in June rose 2.7 percent to $1,007,044. Condo and townhouse prices, however, fell. [InsideNova]
On Saturday morning, police found “numerous vehicles” in the East Falls Church area with tires slashed and body panels “keyed.”
The vandalism was centered around the 2400 block of N. Sycamore Street, near Bishop O’Connell High School.
A rare white or albino squirrel was spotted near Columbia Pike this week.
Reader Joan O’Keefe sent along the above photo, showing the squirrel from a distance on 12th Street S. near S. Cleveland Street, in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, two blocks from Columbia Pike.
The incident happened around 10:45 p.m. Monday, on the 2700 block of 16th Street S. Police say a pizza delivery driver — a spokeswoman declined to say from which company — was delivering an order on the street but didn’t have an exact address.
Three women in their 20s, who were wearing dark clothing, flagged the driver down and said they ordered the pizza. Then, according to a police report, they pepper sprayed the driver and ran off with two pizzas.
(Updated on Aug. 27 at 10:50 a.m.) Might a monorail-like system be the solution to Columbia Pike’s transit woes?
Someone smashed a police cruiser’s windshield in the Columbia Heights neighborhood last Thursday.
The incident happened around lunchtime. From this week’s Arlington County crime report:
A woman was sexually assaulted last night as she walked into her apartment building in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. The victim managed to fight back, however, and the suspect left some incriminating evidence at the scene as he fled.
From this week’s Arlington County crime report:
The quake reportedly damaged the elevator shaft at the Columbia Knoll condominium building at 5111 8th Road S. in Columbia Heights West. The building’s two main elevators were cordoned off last night and the county Fire Marshal was on the scene to assess the damage.
Other than the damaged elevator shaft, however, no other major structural damage has been reported in Arlington.
A granite sign that went missing from the side of Columbia Pike has been found.
The sign (shown above, before it went missing) was placed on the east end of Columbia Heights to announce to drivers that they were entering the neighborhood. On Tuesday we reported that it had disappered.
The sign announced to folks heading westbound on the Pike that they were entering the Columbia Heights neighborhood. It was installed several months after the County Board approved a $12,500 neighborhood sign project for Columbia Heights.
Christine Nixon, chief of the county’s Neighborhood Services Division, says the sign itself cost about $900.
The county’s gas infrastructure includes older gas lines from the 1930s and 1940s that may be especially prone to failure. This winter, changes in temperatures have been especially unkind.
Most leaks are reported to be outside and underground. Generally, those are less dangerous, although larger leaks can sometimes prompt authorities to cordon off the area around the leak. Occasionally, the leak is inside a building, which is usually considered more dangerous due to the potential for the gas to build up in the structure. Inside gas leaks often require the building to be evacuated.
