county government | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published January 10, 2017 at 8:45AM

Clarendon Restaurant Opening Basement Lounge — New Clarendon restaurant Ambar is planning to open a cafe, restaurant and cocktail lounge called Baba later this month. The basement space will have a separate kitchen and will serve craft cocktails and La Colombe coffee. [Washington Post, Facebook]

Four Mile DMV Still Closed — Though it was originally supposed to reopen on Monday, the Four Mile Run Virginia DMV office renovations are taking a bit longer than expected. “The reopen date for the Four Mile Run office is now tentatively January 12,” a DMV spokeswoman told ARLnow.com. “Our contractor is working hard to put the finishing touches on everything.”

News

Fisette, Cristol Snag Arlington County Board’s Top Spots, Bucking Tradition

By Tim Regan

Published January 4, 2017 at 11:30AM | Updated January 5, 2017 at 9:28AM

Jay Fisette was unanimously elected County Board Chair during the Board’s annual organizational meeting last night. This is Fisette’s fifth time serving as chair since he was first elected to the Board nearly 20 years ago.

It is a long-standing tradition that Board chairmanship rotate among members by seniority, with the vice chair assuming the chairmanship the next year. Often it corresponds with election cycles, with the member who is up for reelection the following year being elected vice chair. But the Board broke with tradition by electing one of its newest members, Democrat Katie Cristol, over independent John Vihstadt.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published December 29, 2016 at 9:15AM | Updated December 29, 2016 at 9:38AM

Struggling Skyline Sold — Vornado has taken its properties in Skyline off of its balance sheet after the 2.6 million-square-foot, half-vacant complex sold at a foreclosure auction last week. The cancelled Columbia Pike streetcar project would have run to Skyline, with Fairfax County set to pay 20 percent of the project’s cost. [Washington Business Journal]

More on ‘Pop-Up’ Hotel — The inauguration will be the big test for WhyHotel, the “pop-up” hotel in the new Bartlett apartment building in Pentagon City. Developer Vornado sees this as an experiment that could yield temporary revenue while a building is leased up. Arlington County planning commissioner Erik Gutshall says the county could benefit from additional tax revenue and a more lively streetscape. [Washington Post]

Around Town

County Facilities to Be Closed Next Two Mondays

By ARLnow.com

Published December 23, 2016 at 10:30AM

County government offices, courts, libraries and facilities will be closed on Sunday, Dec. 25 and Monday, Dec. 26 for Christmas, and on Sunday, Jan. 1 and Monday, Jan. 2 for New Year’s.

Parking meters will not be enforced during that time, though trash and recycling collection will proceed as normal.

Around Town

Things We Learned From Arlington’s 2016 Year in Review Video

By ARLnow.com

Published December 20, 2016 at 11:00AM

Arlington County has released its year-in-review video for 2016.

News

Arlington Boathouse Plan Slowly Moves Forward

By Katie Pyzyk

Published December 13, 2016 at 11:15AM | Updated December 14, 2016 at 5:06PM

View of Key Bridge, the Potomac River and D.C. from the Waterview building in Rosslyn

There’s a renewed push for action on the decades-old plan to build a boathouse in the Rosslyn area.

County and federal officials want the public to know that although the project has stopped and restarted several times, it definitely hasn’t been scrapped.

News

Podcast: Arlington County Communications Director Bryna Helfer

By ARLnow.com

Published December 2, 2016 at 4:45PM

Helfer joined county government as Assistant County Manager for Communications and Public Engagement in September and has been seeking input on the county’s public outreach since.

On this week’s 26 Square Miles podcast, we asked Helfer about her position at the county, about technology and its role in updating the “Arlington Way” system of public outreach, and about why residents occasionally feel “blindsided” by the county’s decision-making process.

News

County Considering Land Swap, Self-Storage Facility Across from W-L

By ARLnow.com

Published November 30, 2016 at 10:40AM | Updated November 30, 2016 at 11:02AM

Arcland Property Company, which owns a swath of industrial land near Shirlington, wants to swap those 3.5 acres for 2.3 acres of the 6.1 acre “Buck property” site across from W-L, which the county has an option to purchase for $30 million.

Arlington, which is already leasing a portion of the Shirlington property for parking, would get an even larger piece of property for its expanding ART bus fleet — it’s expected to grow from 65 to 90 vehicles by 2020 — and would save $4 million in lease payments.

News

New Comcast Franchise Agreement Reached, AIM Urges Members’ Support

By ARLnow.com

Published November 18, 2016 at 11:45AM

The former Arlington Independent Media site in Clarendon (file photo)

Arlington Independent Media, the local public access cable channel and media education center, is asking its members to support a new cable franchise agreement the county has reportedly reached with Comcast.

The franchise agreement is what allows Comcast to serve customers in Arlington, to the exclusion of other traditional cable providers. (Verizon’s FiOS service has its own franchise agreement in Arlington.)

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published November 16, 2016 at 9:05AM

APS Receives Top Ranking — Arlington Public Schools is the top school division in Virginia and in the D.C. area, according to new rankings from Niche.com. All three comprehensive high schools in Arlington ranked in the top 10 in Virginia, according to the website. [Arlington Public Schools]

Alleged Racial Confrontation at Metro Station — A local man says a trio of older white men confronted him last week in the Courthouse Metro station, a few days after the election, and told him “good thing you’ll all be gone soon” — an apparent racially-motivated comment — and “it’ll be great again soon.” [Patch]

Around Town

Arlington County: We’re Ready for Winter

By ARLnow.com

Published November 14, 2016 at 10:20AM

It’s likely to be a colder-than-usual winter with slightly above average snowfall. That seems to be the general consensus of the D.C. area’s television meteorologists.

Another huge blizzard, like the kind that walloped the region earlier this year, may not be in the cards, forecasters say, but the strongest consensus was around colder temperatures.

News

Arlington Hires New Auditor, Launches Public Fraud and Abuse Hotline

By ARLnow.com

Published November 11, 2016 at 11:30AM

The hotline, which launches on Tuesday, Nov. 15, “will offer a confidential and secure way to report suspected incidents of financial fraud, waste and abuse.” It expands on a similar hotline for County employees to report activity that negatively impacts County operations.

“Ethics are at the core of what we do as public stewards,” Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz said in a statement. “Our employees, by and large, do the right thing every day. We successfully launched an employee financial waste, fraud and abuse hotline in May of 2015. We are pleased to expand this hotline to the public, as another easy way for anyone to report suspected instances of financial fraud, waste and abuse.”