Madison Manor Park is getting a face-lift.
Renovations at the park at 6225 12th Road N. in the Madison Manor neighborhood will include redesigning the playground, basketball court, picnic shelter, multi-use field, water fountain, park furniture, irrigation walkways, fences and landscaping. The park will also be brought up to current standards, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The county has been soliciting input from users of the park on its future with a chalkboard where people can write suggestions for what they would like to see and what they would not like to see.
The “information gathering” process for the upgrades is happening summer. The design process is set to begin in September and last until November.
Under a timeline proposed by staff, the Arlington County Board is projected to approve a contract for construction by fall 2018 so work can get underway soon after. The county hopes to have the renovation completed by summer 2019.
The county’s Capital Maintenance Fund will pay for this project. The fund is used for projects that bring existing parks up to current standards.
Despite a pair of arrests earlier this week, car break-ins are continuing in Arlington.
Someone broke into at least 16 cars — most of them unlocked — between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the Madison Manor neighborhood. Items of value were stolen.
Arlington County Police have repeatedly advised residents to lock their cars and remove valuables.
More from an ACPD crime report:
LARCENY FROM AUTO (Series), 2017-06210061, 800 block of N. Nottingham Street. At approximately 7:20 a.m. on June 21, officers responded to the report of a larceny from auto. Upon arrival, it was determined between 10:00 p.m. on June 20 and 7:10 a.m. on June 21, an unknown(s) suspect entered at least 16 mostly unlocked vehicles and stole items of value. A resident in the area called to report suspicious activity after witnessing an unknown suspect enter several vehicles. The suspect fled the scene on foot prior to police arrival. The suspect is described as a black male in his early twenties, approximately 5’9″ tall and weighed 150-160 lbs. He was wearing dark clothing. The investigation is ongoing.
A victim was robbed by two armed men along Columbia Pike last night after the trio met to exchange cash as part of a sale arranged online.
That’s according to this week’s Arlington County Police Department crime report.
Police set up a perimeter and used a K-9 to try to track the suspects but they remain at large. More from ACPD:
ARMED ROBBERY, 2017-06200273, 1400 block of S. Queen Street. At approximately 9:14 p.m. on June 20, officers responded to the report of an armed robbery. Upon arrival, it was determined that the victim and the two unknown male suspects were connected through an online classified and had arranged to meet for a cash transaction. During the transaction, one suspect brandished a firearm and stole the victim’s cash. The suspects then fled the scene on foot. The first suspect is described as a black male, wearing a white tank top and shorts. The second suspect is described as a black male. The investigation is ongoing.
Also on Tuesday, police arrested two Falls Church men for a series of car break-ins in the Madison Manor neighborhood, near the East Falls Church Metro station.
LARCENY FROM AUTO(Series), 2017-06200005, 1100 block of N. Powhatan Street. At approximately 12:25 a.m. on June 20, officers responded to the report of a tampering. Upon arrival, it was determined two suspects entered at least four vehicles and stole items of value. Officers located and apprehended both suspects in the area shortly after. Louis Earl Blount Jr., 18, of Falls Church VA, and David Evans-Herring, 20, of Falls Church VA, were arrested and charged with petit larceny and tampering with auto. Both suspects are being held without bond.
The rest of the past week’s crime report highlights, including some that we’ve already reported, after the jump.
Arlington County Police are searching for a masked suspect who chased children around Madison Manor Park, near the W&OD trail, this morning.
The incident was reported just after 11 a.m. It comes amid “creepy clown” threats against schools and sightings of threatening figures in clown masks.
The suspect in this morning’s incident was wearing a gray sweatshirt and a clown “skull” mask, according to a police lookout. It was initially reported that the suspect was wielding an axe; later it was reported that it was actually a skateboard.
Multiple kids reported seeing the “clown.” Police are now searching for the suspect around the park and up and down the trail.
Most elementary and middle school students in Arlington do not have school today due to parent-teacher conferences.
Update at 11:40 a.m. — Another witness told officers that the suspect was a teenager with red hair, whom she saw take off the mask and run off with two other teen boys, according to police radio traffic.
File photo
(Updated at 4 p.m.) Arlington County Police are investigating a series of two home burglaries that were reported Thursday morning in the Madison Manor neighborhood.
The burglaries occurred on the 6200 block of 12th Street N. and on the 1000 block of N. Quintana Street.
“As we were investigating these burglaries, we received a report from two witnesses that they saw two Hispanic males approach a residence in the 900 block of N. Quesada where they attempted to steal a bicycle,” said ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage. “The suspects fled the area on foot.”
An earlier version of this article reported that more than two homes were broken into, which is incorrect, Savage clarified.
From an ACPD crime report:
BURGLARY(series), 160331013, 6200 block of N. 12th Street. Between 9:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. on March 31, two male subjects forced entry into a residence and stole an undisclosed amount of cash and several items of value. A second residence was entered in the same fashion and an undisclosed amount of cash was stolen. Two witnesses described seeing two Hispanic males with backpacks and short black hair approach a residence in the area around the same time as the incident. Investigation is ongoing.
**This series is related to case numbers 160331015 1000 block of N. Quintana Street, 160331018 900 block of N. Quesada Street
A construction worker had to be rescued by Arlington firefighters after falling through the back porch of a house in North Arlington.
The incident happened just before 1 p.m. on the 1300 block of N. Quintana Street, near Madison Manor Park and the Four Mile Run trail
A worker was reportedly jackhammering the porch when he fell through into some sort of concrete pit or recessed area. The man’s leg was pinned but the first arriving firefighters were able to extricate him before a technical rescue team arrived, according to ACFD spokesman Lt. Shawn Pendo.
The man suffered “minor injuries” — a broken leg, according to scanner traffic — and was transported to a local hospital, Pendo said.
McKinley Elementary School will grow by about 241 seats thanks to a $20.5 million expansion approved by the Arlington County Board at its meeting on Saturday.
The expansion will add a 33,040-square-foot addition in the northeast corner of the school, at 1030 N. McKinley Road, and smaller additions in the southwest corner and at the main entrance to the school. The project is expected to be complete by the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year.
An expansion of this size would, according to the county’s Zoning Ordinance, necessitate that Arlington Public Schools add 108 parking spaces. But because open space and a number of mature trees surround McKinley, the County Board approved plans to add just 20 spaces to the existing 36 spaces. Even those 20 spaces were the source of controversy; the county’s Planning Commission and Transportation Commission recommended adding no spaces and instead using street parking to accommodate the additional staff and parent vehicles.
Advocates from the school and community who were a part of the planning process, including McKinley Principal Colin Brown, spoke in favor of adding the 20 spaces.
“I’ve said from the start that we enjoy a fantastic day-to-day relationship with the neighbors and the community,” Brown told the Board. “At this point, the neighborhood is able to handle the volume of staff and parents parking on the street given the current capacity of the parking lot. We’re at a tipping point. We need to maintain a fine and delicate balance.”
Ultimately, County Manager Barbara Donnellan recommended keeping the 20 spaces in the plan, and the County Board approved it unanimously. Only three members of the general public spoke, two of whom, School Board candidate Audrey Clement and Jim Hurysz, decried APS’ inability to expand schools “up, not out,” which would save green space. Despite that opposition, County Board Chair Jay Fisette marveled at the lack of animosity toward the plan, which marked the expansion of Ashlawn Elementary School.
“I think it is quite a testament to this process that we had three speakers,” he said. “This is one of the easiest things I’ve seen to come before the Board.”
To make way for the school expansion, 78 trees will be removed — 12 of which are gingko trees that will be transplanted elsewhere in the county. Nearly 150 trees will be planted once construction is complete, according to APS Director of Design and Construction Scott Prisco.
“We feel strongly this is a sensitive approach to the neighbors, and it will meet our needs as a school system,” Prisco said.
In total, the expansion will mean a net increase of 32,250 square feet and include 10 new classrooms, two art rooms, two music rooms and expand the gymnasium to have enough space for the entire, expanded school. The expansion will also add a stage. Construction will include pedestrian improvements on N. McKinley Road and 11th Street N.
Photo via APS
Update at 10:00 a.m. — According to Dominion, the number of customers without power in Arlington is down to 258.
A power outage is affecting the northwestern section of Arlington County this morning.
Dominion is reporting that 1,673 customers in Arlington are currently without power. The company’s power outage map says the outage is a result of a circuit problem, and estimates that power will be restored between 10:00 a.m. and noon.
Impacted neighborhoods reportedly include Dominion Hills, Madison Manor and East Falls Church. Among the intersections where traffic lights are dark are Wilson Boulevard and Patrick Henry Drive, and Wilson Boulevard and N. McKinley Road.
A search for a teenager spotted with a gun on the W&OD trail this morning caused some anxious moments but turned up nothing.
The call came in to police around 11:15 a.m., stating that a young male wearing a black ski mask and holding something that looked like an assault rifle was spotted in the Madison Manor neighborhood. The teen and a companion were heading toward the pedestrian bridge that crosses I-66 near Ohio Street, just east of East Falls Church on the W&OD trail.
Police officers swarmed the area. At least three witnesses reported seeing the same teen, who was accompanied by another young male who was carrying a camera bag and a camera.
A half-hour search of the Madison Manor, Westover and East Falls Church neighborhoods turned up nothing, and eventually the search was called off. During the search extra security measures were put in place at McKinley Elementary School. One tipster reported that some roads were blocked in the area during the search.
