Update at 4:15 p.m. — The gas leak has been stopped and all lanes of westbound Route 50 are now open.
Earlier: The westbound lanes of Route 50 have been shut down near Fairfax Drive in Courthouse due to a gas line rupture.
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Courthouse
Clarendon and Courthouse have changed — a lot — over the past couple of decades.
The arrival of Metro in the late 1970s and early 1980s heralded the demise of many small mom-and-pop retailers and ethnic restaurants that once gave the area its unique character. It also helped speed along the end of large department and five & dime stores.
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Grand Opening for USAA Office in Pentagon City — A new USAA branch has opened on Pentagon Row. The “financial center” — in company parlance — will hold its grand opening celebration from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. The branch is located at 1301 South Joyce Street.
Doorways Job Featured — Arlington-based Doorways for Women and Families is looking for a new executive director. The job was featured as the MyFoxDC.com “Job of the Day” yesterday. The listing notes that Doorways’ annual operating budget has more than doubled in the past five years, to $3.1 million. [MyFoxDC]
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Update at 1:55 p.m. — Dominion spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson says: “Approximately 5,000 customers lost power this afternoon for about 30 minutes. We are still investigating the root cause of the outage, but in the meantime, were able to reroute the flow of electricity to get customers restored quickly and safely.”
A major power outage has been reported along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.
On-going utility work has kept the far left-hand westbound lane closed well past its originally planned July 2010 reopening date. We heard in September that the lane would likely be closed through the end of last year. Alas, construction crews are still working and westbound Route 50 is still reduced to just two lanes.
VDOT spokeswoman Jennifer McCord says the lane will reopen in mid-April “if the weather cooperates.”
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Ragtime (1345 North Courthouse Road) — Ragtime is holding its 10th annual Mardi Gras party tonight. The restaurant is serving a special Cajun menu all day, Hurricanes and Cyclones are on special, and the Le Bon Temps Krew will be playing New Orleans jazz music from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. And yes, there will be beads.
Iota Club & Cafe (2832 Wilson Blvd) — Iota is hosting a parade viewing party on its front porch. After the parade, local southern acoustic rock outfit Brother Shamus will take the stage. Admission is $5 after the parade, free before.
Former Dremo’s owner Andrew Stewart says he has gotten tantalizingly close to securing a new location for the former Arlington landmark, but to no avail. In previous interviews Stewart said he would like Dremo’s to remain in the Courthouse or Clarendon area, but the cost has been prohibitive.
“We have come close a couple of time,” Stewart wrote in an email. “The large companies that lease these spaces don’t take a mom-and-pop, like us, seriously.”
Capital Bikeshare Stations Coming to R-B Corridor — Crystal City and Pentagon City have had all the Capital Bikeshare fun so far, but now it’s North Arlington’s turn. The approximate locations for the first four Bikeshare stations in Rosslyn and Courthouse have been decided, with installation expected to take place next month. Also decided: the stations will be placed on the street, likely replacing existing parking spaces. [People-Powered Arlington, TBD]
Bill Could Make Common Traffic Offenses Misdemeanors — If a bill currently under consideration in the Virginia General Assembly becomes law, it could make rolling stops at traffic lights and other common traffic offenses misdemeanors punishable by jail time or a hefty fine. The bill is intended to give police the flexibility of charging drivers with reckless driving when a specific situation warrants. Supporters, including Del. David Englin (D), say the bill could help improve pedestrian safety. [We Love DC, Richmond Sunlight]
Guas is one of ten chefs nominated for the award in the Mid-Atlantic region, and one of 100 chefs nominated nationwide. Other local nominees include Kyle Bailey of Birch & Barley, Dan Giusti of 1789 Restaurant, and Nicholas Stefanelli of Bibiana.
The ultimate winner will be decided by an online vote. The winners in each of the ten geographic regions will be featured in the July issue of Food and Wine.
The cleanup is still on-going at Arlington’s courthouse building, which was damaged by a burst hot water pipe early Friday morning.
The pipe burst in a wall of a courtroom on the the third floor of the building. Water leaked down to the second and first floors, as well as the parking garage. Crews worked throughout the weekend to dry out damaged carpets, chairs and other furniture.
The 76-minute power outage forced restaurants like Fireworks in Courthouse to close for the night, while it drove business to other establishments where the lights stayed on, like Adams Corner and Spider Kelly’s.
Dominion spokesperson Le-Ha Anderson said 9,500 customers were affected by the outage, which occurred when a piece of equipment failed at the company’s substation at 3245 Wilson Boulevard.
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A reader, Christine, wrote in to ask about a parking ticket she recently received in Courthouse. Here’s her story:
I’m writing because I’d like to find out if any of your other readers have had the same issue I ran into last week. I received a $50 parking ticket for pulling front-end first into an angled parking space in Courthouse. These are the spots right next to the big AMC lot (cannot remember what street). Apparently the parking spaces were “Back-in Only”, which I failed to notice (admittedly this is my own fault). What I don’t understand is why Arlington is charging me $50 for pulling into a spot facing the wrong direction?! It’s not as if I was parking in a zone I didn’t have a permit for, or parked over a line taking up two spaces. It also seems like a pretty easy mistake to make, considering the street is 2-way and there is only parking on one side.