The convention is billed as the “42nd annual meeting of pro-life grassroots leaders and experts from across the country.” The three day event starts on Thursday, July 28, and will feature six “major sessions,” more than 100 pro-life speakers and more than 70 workshops.
Speakers will include House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
The Arlington County Board is expected to vote Saturday on the agreement, which would implement the streetcar as a two-phase project. County staff has recommended it be approved.
Under the proposed agreement, Arlington would proceed with the construction of a streetcar line in Crystal City while Alexandria focuses on building a new Potomac Yard Metro station. Arlington would complete an Environmental Assessment for the streetcar project in late 2013, while Alexandria would begin an Alternatives Analysis and environmental studies for its potential extension of the streetcar line in early 2014, after the final location of the Potomac Yard station has been decided.
The Arlington County Fire Department and numerous other local fire departments are participating in a month-and-a-half-long study in Crystal City that could help save lives.
The “Fire Fighter Safety and Deployment Study,” organized and funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), is putting real-world firefighters in realistic firefighting simulations in a vacant Crystal City high rise. The goal of the study is to determine how firefighters can be most safely and effectively deployed in the event of a fire in a high rise building.
The Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID) announced this morning that it is launching a pilot program called “Food Truck Thursdays.”
The lunchtime event — kicking off tomorrow, June 7 — will draw food trucks to a parking lot near the Crystal City Metro station for what BID president Angela Fox describes as “a fun and energetic dining option that will enhance the food truck and overall lunchtime experience.”
This Saturday, June 9, the event kicks off with the Clarendon Cup, near the Clarendon Metro. There will be a number of races throughout the day for men and women of various abilities. There will also be a children’s event. On Sunday, June 10, the action moves to Crystal Drive in Crystal City.
Registration can be found online, and the schedule is as follows:
Starting next Monday, June 4, the movies will be shown in the courtyard at 1850 S. Bell Street. They’ll run every Monday through August 27, starting at sundown.
Attendees are encouraged to make the event a date night by bringing a blanket and picnic gear. Short chairs are allowed, but courtesy for other visitors trying to see the movie is requested. Organizers are asking that moviegoers leave their pets at home.
The eatery is going in on the 2400 block of Crystal Drive, right next to Buffalo Wild Wings. The Mexican restaurant will compete with a Chipotle right down the street, at 2231 Crystal Drive.
This will be the Bethesda chain’s third Arlington location, joining the ones in Courthouse (2057 Wilson Blvd) and Reagan National Airport.
The incident happened just after 3:00 a.m. According to police, four people were posing for photos behind a vehicle parked in front of a hotel on the 2700 block of Jefferson Davis Highway when an unknown suspect fired between 3 and 6 gunshots. The hotel desk staff heard the shots and called police.
Responding units found a male victim shot in both ankles. The man was treated by medics and taken to George Washington University Hospital, according to police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Four bullet casings were found at the scene.
Making a case for the large investment required to build a streetcar system, Hynes argued that the streetcar is part of Arlington’s “smart growth” philosophy.
“Traffic on many major Arlington streets is less than it was in 1970, even though our population has doubled in that time,” Hynes wrote. “The secret sauce is Arlington’s commitment to ‘smart growth’ planning — our commitment to transit-oriented development that keeps density along our transit corridors, while preserving neighborhoods. In fact, more than half of Arlington’s real property values are on just 11 percent of our land — our Metrorail corridors. It is a philosophy that is the backbone to Arlington’s success, the envy of many in the region and the nation.”
Residents who live along I-395 and Route 1 can expect to hear the roar of motorcycle engines tomorrow, May 25, as the bikers head to hotels in Crystal City — including the rally’s official hotel, the Hyatt Regency at 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway — and to a candlelight vigil at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C.
On Sunday, Rolling Thunder will rumble over to the Pentagon parking lot at 6:45 a.m. for an event that will be followed by a convoy into D.C. at noon. In order to safely accommodate the rally, Arlington County Police will close Washington Boulevard from I-395 to the Memorial Bridge from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., according to a press release. During that time, Arlington National Cemetery will only be accessible from southbound George Washington Memorial Parkway or northbound Route 110.
Billed as “the Washington area’s biggest free creative arts event,” Artomatic is the collective, unjuried work of more than 1,300 artists, spread across 10 floors of a former Department of Defense office building at 1851 S. Bell Street.
The sheer scale of Artomatic is mind-boggling: 5,000+ pieces of art (much of it for sale by the artists) in 380,000 square feet of office space. There are also more than 300 planned performances by more than 750 performers on 6 separate stages. Some 80,000 visitors are expected over the festival’s five week run, and they will have 3 cafes at which to buy food and drink. Artomatic is made possible by sponsors and an estimated 27,325 volunteer hours, much of which is put in by the artists themselves.
Artomatic Starts Tonight — Artomatic, described as “the D.C. area’s biggest unjuried arts extravaganza,” will kick off in Crystal City tonight. The five-week event is being held in a former Department of Defense office building at 1851 S. Bell Street, and will feature 10 floors of work by local artists. Artomatic was last held in the District in 2009. [Express]
Affordable Housing Push — A coalition of Arlington affordable housing advocates are preparing a public relations push to make the case for more affordable housing in Arlington. Supporters will be attending community events over the next six month to educate residents about the loss of affordable housing in the county. Currently, affordable housing initiatives are about 5 percent of Arlington County’s $1 billion budget. [Sun Gazette]
