About a dozen residents of the Bluemont and Arlington Forest neighborhoods woke up Tuesday morning only to find that their vehicles were broken in to overnight.
According to police, an unknown suspect broke in to at least 12 unlocked vehicles on the 100 block of N. Columbus Street, the 500 block of N. Jefferson Street, and the 5600 blocks of N. 5th and N. 7th Streets. All four streets are within easy walking distance of the Bluemont and W&OD trails.
Mark Center Parking Capped — A roughly 2,000 spot parking cap is being put in place at the Mark Center in Alexandria, thanks to language placed in a federal appropriations bill. The cap should avert a feared traffic congestion nightmare around the Mark Center, located at the Seminary Road exit off of I-395. Thousands of Department of Defense jobs from Arlington and elsewhere are being transferred to the Mark Center, but transportation infrastructure improvement projects around the Center are still underway. [Rep. Jim Moran]
Ballston BID’s New Director — The new Ballston Business Improvement District formally announced last week that it has hired Tina Leone as its first executive director. Leone was previously president and CEO of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. [Ballston BID]
Maliki and the president participated in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, to honor American troops killed in Iraq. The visit coincides with the planned exit of nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of this month.
Traffic was blocked in the area of the Memorial Bridge during the roughly 30 minute visit. Arlington County police assisted with the closures.
Star Wars Event at Library — Arlington Central Library hosted a Star Wars costuming event over the weekend, as the above photo (uploaded to the library’s Facebook page) demonstrates.
School Stats Released — The class of 2011 at Arlington Public Schools had an on-time graduation rate of more than 87 percent, just above the state average of 86.6 percent. Arlington’s drop-out rate is declining, meanwhile. The rate was 9.8 percent in 2011, compared to 12.5 percent in 2008. [Arlington Public Schools]
On the same day, half a world away, Maj. Brian Mullery, an Arlington native and Marine plans officer, will participate in a Marine Corps Marathon-sponsored “satellite marathon” at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.
Mullery, whose love of distance running began during his recruit training nearly 29 years ago, says he’s looking forward to what will be his lucky seventh marathon. It’s also the second marathon he’ll have run while deployed.
Gay and lesbian service members may now publicly reveal their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out of the military. The repeal comes nine months after President Obama signed the initial DADT repeal law and two months after the president certified that conditions for the appeal — including extra training for military personnel — had been met.
To celebrate the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance will be holding two separate events. Tonight from 8:00 to 11:00 AGLA will host “Yes We Did DADT Karaoke” at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant (555 23rd Street S.) in Crystal City. The free event is also sponsored by the Arlington Democrats and the Arlington Greens.
In July we reported that Barcroft residents were concerned about the influx of an additional 1,200 workers, whose jobs were being moved to Arlington Hall as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure Act. Congestion on George Mason Drive was part of the concern, and the fact that parking is only available for one in four new workers was another part. In response, Rep. Jim Moran requested that the military speed up approval of shuttle buses between the facility and the Pentagon Transit Center.
On Aug. 19, Moran’s office was notified that the shuttle service had been approved. Today, those shuttle buses started running, according to Moran spokeswoman Anne Hughes.
The annual race will be held on Sept. 10 this year. Registration is $25 today, $30 from Aug. 5 to Sept. 9 and $35 on race day. Teams (including firefighter, law enforcement and military teams) need to be registered by Sept. 1.
The race will kick off at 6:00 p.m. from the DoubleTree Hotel in Pentagon City (300 Army Navy Drive). Runners will follow a course that will take them past parts of the Pentagon. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trader Center and the Pentagon.
The Army National Guard had put in a request for shuttle service to the Pentagon Transit Center from Arlington Hall Station, but so far the additional service has not been granted. Moran has now asked the Director of the Washington Headquarter Service to expedite the request.
The Arlington Hall Station shuttle already provides service from nearby Metro train stops to the National Guard facility. However, it currently doesn’t have access to the Pentagon Transit Center, despite a request for service in June 2009. Moran says that adding service between the Arlington Hall Station and the Pentagon will “undoubtedly reduce the use of single occupancy vehicles commuting to and parking near the bureau facility.”
The personnel are being added to the Army National Guard Readiness Center, in the Arlington Hall complex, at George Mason Drive and Route 50. Many of them are coming from Crystal City offices, but only a couple hundred have made the move so far. The bulk of staff members are expected to arrive mid-July. This flood of workers has some residents in surrounding neighborhoods worried about an increase in parking and traffic issues.
Although a new parking structure was built to accommodate the additional workers, per the National Capital Planning Commission’s specifications there is only one parking spot for every four workers. That’s creating concern about where all the new employees will park. There are already reports of more cars parked in neighboring residential areas, and residents would like to see that stop.
President Obama will be among the dignitaries in attendance at the ceremony, which is expected to get underway at the Pentagon around 9:45 a.m. A military spokesman was unable to release any other details about the event.
Route 110 will be closed tomorrow from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. Northbound traffic will be diverted to I-395 and southbound traffic will be diverted to Washington Boulevard, according to Arlington’s Office of Emergency Management.
According to a local newspaper, the couple is glad they moved.
“It’s easier to breathe down here,” Chris Arnold told the Huntsville Times. “There’s more space, and it’s not that same kind of pressure on your chest as you have when you’re in a heavily populated area… D.C. was a concrete jungle.”
