(Updated at 5:25 p.m.) Arlington County police are investigating a deadly armed robbery at a Columbia Pike jewelry store.
The body of a 52-year-old man was found inside Capital Jewelers in the 3200 block of Columbia Pike just before midnight yesterday (Friday). According to police, he was declared dead at the scene from an injury he sustained.
The new public plaza at the Penrose Square development along Columbia Pike is still expected to open this fall, despite a recent setback.
The contractor working on the $2 million project found and accidentally ruptured an oil tank earlier this month during excavation work, we’re told. The rupture contaminated part of the site, but the county and contractors worked quickly to remedy the situation.
Police are investigating an armed robbery at a check cashing store on Columbia Pike.
According to police, an employee had been walking up to the door of the store in the 4700 block of Columbia Pike around 9:00 this morning to begin her shift. Two men approached her and forced her to unlock the door. According to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck, one of the suspects held a knife to the woman’s neck, and the other held a gun to her head.
The plan involves increasing density along the Pike — as many as 14,800 new apartments and condo units over the next 30 years — partially through allowing the construction of taller buildings. It also includes retaining approximately 4,500 affordable housing units, with all of them available at 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). Those units are privately owned and operated, with the possibility of the county providing incentives for property owners. It also calls for the county, over the next 30 years, to develop 2,150 new rental units along the Pike that will be contractually committed to remain affordable.
“This is the most ambitious set of actions the county has ever adopted for preserving affordable housing as part of an area plan,” said Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes. “Our experience has taught us that if we do not plan for affordable housing from the outset, rising property values make maintaining our diversity in housing choices and rents very difficult.”
Boathouse Meeting Today — A public meeting regarding a proposed boathouse along Arlington’s Potomac River shoreline is being held tonight. The National Park Service is holding the meeting at Washington-Lee High School (1301 N. Stafford Street) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Senor Pan Closes — After just 6 months in business, Columbia Pike-area cafe/bakery Senor Pan has apparently closed, according to the Pike Wire Twitter feed. Senor Pan was located at 922 S. Walter Reed Drive.
The Board followed county staff’s recommendation in endorsing the streetcar over enhanced or articulated bus service. Many speakers, including Pike residents plus Republican and Green Party members, urged the Board to consider enhanced or articulated bus service as a cheaper alternative to increasing transit capacity along the Pike.
“I do not believe in the trolley because I just don’t think we have the money,” said resident Paulette Gray. “When you lose your income you don’t keep the cable and you don’t build the big addition.”
The controversial vote is scheduled to take place at tonight’s County Board meeting, which will start at 6:30 p.m.
Republican County Board candidate Matt Wavro and Green Party candidate Audrey Clement — who will be facing Democratic County Board member Libby Garvey in November — both say that the streetcar is a bad idea.
Update at 4:45 p.m. — The closed section of road has reopened.
As if the construction along S. Joyce Street weren’t enough of a headache, this morning there’s another obstacle for drivers on that stretch of road. The storms last night (Thursday) have flooded part of the street and it’s shut down.
Organizations such as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee (ABAC) haven’t yet taken an official position on the streetcar plan, considering it hasn’t been officially approved yet. Still, individual members of the organizations are raising red flags for potentially dangerous situations.
Shane Farthing, Executive Director of WABA, explains that the streetcar tracks pose a particular problem because bicycle wheels could become caught in them. In addition to such a scenario making it possible for a cyclist to tip over, it increases the danger of being hit by a vehicle.
An Alternative Analysis/Environmental Analysis (AA/EA) was performed as part of the Columbia Pike Transit Initiative, examining transit along the five mile corridor from the Pentagon City area to the Skyline area in Fairfax. The AA/EA included three options besides the streetcar; two involved improving bus service and the final one involved taking no action. The project team recommends the County Board supports the “Streetcar Build Alternative.”
The staff report states that improved mobility along Columbia Pike would have positive economic impacts such as increased property values, an increased pace of development and additional tax revenues. It says the streetcar will attract new riders and encourage more residents to incorporate public transit into their daily lives. The report says the streetcar plan “will best achieve the vision for the Columbia Pike corridor as a vibrant, diverse, and pedestrian and transit oriented community.”
The incident happened around 1:00 a.m. on the 1200 block of S. Scott Street, in front of the Wellington apartments, near Columbia Pike. Police say seven men had been drinking when a fight broke out between two of them in the middle of the street.
During the fight, one of the men was stabbed multiple times with a broken beer bottle. The man suffered stab wounds to his groin, leg and throat, and an arterial cut to his arm. The latter wound gushed blood, and police say all seven men were covered in blood by the time officers arrived on scene.
It’s Friday the 13th — According to superstition, it’s a day of supreme unluckiness. According to one Dutch statistics keeper, it’s actually less unlucky than other days. [Wikipedia]
Reminder: Blue, Yellow Line Work — As a reminder, track work will shut down the Blue and Yellow lines between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road stations this weekend. That means the Crystal City and National Airport stations will be closed. Free shuttle bus service will be provided.
