Fulfilling a long-delayed promise, Arlington County Board member Christian Dorsey dropped off a cashier’s check for $10,000 to the headquarters of the Amalgamated Transit Union International yesterday.
The action is, one would assume, the last chapter in the saga of a political donation that caused Dorsey to lose his seat on the WMATA Board and lose the trust of some of his constituents in Arlington.
Arlington County has taken an initial step towards the construction of a new elevator for the Pentagon City Metro station.
At a recent meeting, the County Board approved a nearly $750,000 contract with a construction consultancy to manage construction of a new elevator near the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall. The new elevator will provide an alternative to an existing Metro elevator on the eastern side of the street, which will also receive some upgrades as part of the $5.1 million project.
The Arlington County Board voted Thursday night to sue President Trump.
The County Board last night unanimously approved consideration of a new ordinance that would effectively ban carrying firearms on county-owned property.
The move is the first step towards making the ordinance part of county policy, though it will still need to undergo a public hearing and a vote at the Board’s next meeting.
A proposal to expand public television station WETA’s Shirlington headquarters has been approved by the Arlington County Board.
The station is planning to construct a four-story addition between the existing office building, at 3939 Campbell Avenue, and its parking garage. The 17,000 square foot addition would then house the WETA studios that produce the national PBS NewsHour broadcast, allowing the current NewsHour studios to be razed and used to expand Jennie Dean Park.
The Arlington County Board appears likely to consider a tax on plastic shopping bags later this year.
At the Board’s Saturday meeting, a volunteer from the group EcoAction Arlington spoke in favor of a five-cent tax on plastic bags, similar to that which has been implemented in D.C. and other cities, during the public comment period.
Changes at Prosecutor’s Office — Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti has announced a reorganization of her office to implement a “vertical prosecution” model. The new structure “requires that one prosecutor be assigned to each case from start to finish; it permits the assigned attorney to work early and closely with law enforcement, victims, witnesses, and defense attorneys.” The office has also recently stopped its courtroom involvement with certain types of minor traffic offenses. [Press Release, Twitter]
Man Pleads Guilty to Arlington Carjacking — “A Washington, D.C. man pleaded guilty today to his role in an armed robbery and carjacking that led to a high-speed police chase and resulted in injuries to two police officers. According to court documents, Jovan Doir Johnson, 30, together with another individual, obtained a stolen vehicle at gunpoint in Arlington and then used it to rob a 7-Eleven in Lorton.” [Dept. of Justice]
The Arlington County Board has approved road improvement projects on three arterial streets and two neighborhood streets.
The arterial street projects involve Americans with Disabilities Act improvements to bus stops and ramps, improvements to crosswalks, and other changes to S. Arlington Ridge Road, N. Carlin Springs Road and Military Road — at an estimated cost of $550,000.
A second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station is closer to becoming a reality.
Developer JBG Smith will be performing preliminary engineering work on the planned second entrance, under a public-private partnership approved by the Arlington County Board over the weekend.
Arlington County has accepted a grant that will help expand the county’s Behavioral Health Docket program — a service that diverts people with mental illnesses into treatment rather into jail.
The program accepts people who have diagnosed mental illnesses and have been charged with misdemeanors. Last November, a requirement for those in the program to plead guilty was eliminated.
The Arlington County Board took a first step towards the future redevelopment of Shirlington over the weekend.
The Board approved a new “Shirlington Special General Land Use Plan (GLUP) Study,” which has been in the works since December 2017 after being requested by Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT), owner of the Village at Shirlington retail center.
(Updated at 11:40 a.m.) Arlington’s Lee Highway Alliance, with the county’s blessing, is embarking on a renaming process for Lee Highway.
In a press release this morning, the nonprofit said it will be convening a working group to compile a “shortlist” of new names for Lee Highway, which will be sent to the County Board for consideration. The county is expected to coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions on the name.
