Crime didn’t completely take a holiday over the weekend, but it certainly was at lower-than-usual levels.
Here are the two Grinchiest moments in Arlington, with both occurring on Christmas Eve.
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Metro
Zimmerman Talks Metro — County board member Chris Zimmerman, who recently announced that he was stepping down from the WMATA Board of Directors, has given what may be his first comprehensive interview since his surprise announcement last week. Zimmerman echoed his stance that Metro needs more funding to survive, and is at the mercy of “external” forces. “These are not things that are going to be fixed by a magical general manager,” Zimmerman said. “They’re not going to be fixed by any configuration of the board of directors.” More from We Love DC.
APS Students Give Back — A new “Snapshots” video from the county’s educational TV channel takes a look at how Arlington Public School students are giving back for the holidays.
But lately Zimmerman had been expressing frustration, both publicly and privately, with what he sees as the inability of federal, state and local governments to properly fund Metro. In fact, at last Tuesday’s county board meeting — just two days before he would announce his resignation — Zimmerman spoke about the issue during a discussion of the county’s transit development plan.
Specifically, Zimmerman was addressing a question about adding more eight car trains on the Orange Line — something that Metro had promised but only partially delivered. Here’s what Zimmerman said:
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Zimmerman has represented Arlington on the Metro board since January 1998. He also serves on several other regional transportation boards.
Gordon Linton, a Metro board member representing Montgomery County, also resigned at a board meeting today.
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This is the house on 11th Street South in the Arlington View neighborhood where alleged “wannabe jihadist” Awais Younis lived with family members.
Younis, also known as Sundullah Ghizai and Mohhanme Khan, was arrested by the FBI last week and charged with threatening — via Facebook — to set off pipe bombs in Georgetown and on Metro trains.
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The FBI’s terrorism task force has arrested a 25-year-old Arlington man on suspicion of making bomb threats via Facebook.
Awais Younis was taken into custody on Dec. 7. In court documents, he’s accused of threatening to use pipe bombs to blow up a busy section of Georgetown. He’s also accused of threatening to place bombs on Metro trains.
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After all, if yesterday morning’s Orange Line problems demonstrated anything, it’s that for all the suckage, the people you saw jammed onto the platforms still, at that point, considered Metro to be their best transportation option. (Same applies to today’s Blue, Orange and Yellow Line delays.)
But perhaps some are changing their minds.
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A small fire in a light fixture at the Metro Center station is having major repercussions for Metro commuters this morning.
We’re hearing on Twitter that it’s taking 40 minutes just to travel a couple of stops on the Orange Line. Delays have also been reported on the Blue Line.
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For the past two days, the SmarTrip sensors have been out of order at the Rosslyn Metro station, creating a chaotic scene during rush hour, according to TBD.
Now we’re hearing that Metro is having even more problems, this time system-wide.
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A kid involved in the theft of watches from a store in the Pentagon City Mall went to great lengths to try to avoid getting caught by police.
According to this week’s crime report, the juvenile fled to the Pentagon City Metro station and then ran through a Metro tunnel with police in hot pursuit. He was eventually arrested at the Pentagon Metro station.
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But while setting the record may sound like a positive development for the beleaguered Metro system, those who actually took Metrorail before and after the rally told tales of overcrowded trains and stations.
It was so bad after the rally that some local residents decided to return to Arlington on foot rather than brave the “zoo” at the Metro stations near the mall.
The good news is that Metro will be opening at 5:00 a.m., two hours earlier than usual, to accommodate marathon runners and spectators (the race starts at 8:15 a.m.). Metro will be running additional Blue Line trains for much of the day, but the agency says riders should expect the system to be especially busy.
“Customers can expect crowded conditions, especially after the race as people will have to wait in long lines to get back into the rail stations,” Metro said in a statement.