For the second time in three years, Arlington is on the hunt for a new economic development director.
Ryan Touhill will be departing Arlington Economic Development (AED) in early November. Katharine Ange, currently deputy director, will serve as acting director during the search for a successor.
Arlington Economic Development is pursuing new options to market the county as a travel destination after the county attorney’s office halted its original plans.
At issue is whether Arlington County could use a 2021 state law to set up a tourism improvement district, or TID, to fund promotional efforts on behalf of the county’s hospitality industry. The county currently pursues such efforts in-house through the Arlington Convention and Visitors Service.
County Board Chair Takis Karantonis attempted to fend off criticism of the county’s Democratic political monopoly during the first debate of the general-election season.
“Challenging times require experience and leadership — without having to compromise our values,” Karantonis said at a Tuesday campaign forum sponsored by the Arlington County Civic Federation.
Arlington’s unemployment rate ticked up once again in July, continuing a months-long trend that has paralleled federal downsizing across the region.
The county’s unemployment rate stood at 3.5% last month, slightly above 3.4% in June and a major increase from 2.5% in July 2024.
Arlington County is the most expensive place in the United States for child care, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
It costs about $147,000 to foot the bill for five years of day care in Arlington — more than triple the country’s median cost of $44,000, according to the WSJ. The report highlights an everyday economic struggle for many Arlington households, local leaders say.
As interest in building and renting many varieties of office space declines in Arlington, more focus is falling on creative solutions.
Only a single new office building is currently under construction in all of Northern Virginia — although demand for offices with at least 50,000 square feet of space remains relatively strong, according to a new office market report from CBRE Research.
Arlington County staff hope to leverage strengths in the county’s location and workforce as advances in AI bring shake-ups to the nature of work.
Despite recent forecasts that AI will lead to corporate layoffs at Amazon in coming years, Ryan Touhill, director of Arlington Economic Development, told ARLnow that he believes the county has the potential to come out on top amid rapid technological changes.
Debate over Arlington County’s relationship with an agency helping Israeli companies build their operations in Virginia broke out anew last weekend.
Activists criticized past cooperation between Arlington Economic Development and the Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB), a state-funded agency.
Arlington’s unemployment figures remained high in April after a surge the previous month, new data shows.
Preliminary jobless figures for April, released last week, indicate a sizeable 64% year-over-year increase in Arlington’s jobless claims. A total of 4,862 residents were looking for work that month, compared to 2,972 in April 2024.
A slowdown in new restaurant openings could be on the horizon in Arlington.
While dozens of new eateries remain on track to open over the next few months, one data source suggests that some restaurateurs could be tapping the brakes on new projects.
Simpler, more flexible rules for posting signs at commercial buildings could be coming to Arlington.
The Zoning Ordinance Committee of the Planning Commission considered various possible zoning amendments at a meeting last week.
In a cost-saving move, Falls Church leaders on Monday (May 12) voted to reconfigure how the city oversees its economic-development, planning, zoning and permitting operations.
In adopting the fiscal 2026 budget, City Council members eliminated the position of Community Planning and Economic Development Services director.
