Arlington County is losing its top communications official.
Bryna Helfer, Assistant County Manager and Director of Communications and Public Engagement, will be departing from the county’s leadership ranks at the end of this month.
county government
JBG Smith may be bowing out of a deal with the county to build a public library in Crystal City within one of its existing office buildings.
Instead of building the facility, JBG Smith now proposes paying a total of $5.8 million across seven years of annual payments, per a minor site plan amendment filed late last month.
Arlington’s public safety drones are ready to fly, the county announced this morning.
The drones “are an additional tool for first responders and provide enhanced operational capability, safety, and situational awareness in support of public safety,” the county said.
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Three years into his tenure as Penrose Neighborhood Association president, Alex Sakes can proudly say he got a grocery store to corral its shopping carts roaming Columbia Pike.
An uptick in childcare centers in Arlington has made a dent in the local care shortage, according to new county data.
Since 2017, the number of childcare center slots increased by 47%, or 1,690 slots. That may be good news for tackling low availability in Arlington — which stands out among Northern Virginia neighbors for how few slots it has — but one shortage remains.
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(Updated on 1/29/23) Arlington County suffered another defeat last week in the pre-trial proceedings for the Missing Middle lawsuit.
It appealed an earlier court decision that the 10 residents suing Arlington County — alleging the County Board illegally approved the Missing Middle zoning amendments — have standing to do so.
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The value of residential properties is up in Arlington, but the torrid growth of past years has slowed.
Arlington County announced today that residential property assessments are up 3.2% for 2024. The overall property assessment growth was 2.5%, with commercial properties up 1.6%. New construction contributed significantly to the overall growth.
Crews are working to clean up a park and a trail following Monday’s house explosion in Bluemont.
Arlington County provided an update about the incident late Thursday afternoon, noting that the exact cause of the explosion — which followed a police standoff with a resident now presumed dead — remains unknown.
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Arlington’s first public statement on the Israel-Hamas war came during a County Board work session Tuesday afternoon.
Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey spoke about the latest Middle East violence — which has left more than 1,000 dead on both sides of the Gaza border after starting with a surprise Hamas attack on Israeli civilians — at the start of a work session on commercial resiliency.
A cavernous space inside the recently-refurbished county headquarters in Courthouse could one day be filled with public art.
Arlington County has commissioned acclaimed artist Kipp Kobayashi, known for his art displays in hospitals, airports and government buildings, to suspend a public art project in the lobby of the Bozman Government Center at 2100 Clarendon Blvd.
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Arlington County’s tourism arm has a new look and a new slogan.
On Thursday, the county unveiled a new marketing campaign, which officials hope will boost tourism. While Arlington remains a top destination in Virginia, it has seen a significant drop in visitors due to the pandemic.
The impacts from Saturday’s severe storms were so widespread that Arlington County is still assessing damage.
Power has since been restored to the more than 34,000 Dominion customers in the dark after the storms, and the GW Parkway completed its reopening yesterday after crews removed hundreds of fallen and potentially hazardous trees. But other damage to both private and county property is still being addressed in Arlington.