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It was a bold move — trying to defeat a county parking boot just steps away from Arlington police headquarters in Courthouse. Unfortunately for the driver accused of attempting it, cops caught up with him before he could get away.

Police received a call around 5:00 last night for a man who had his booted car jacked up in the county surface parking lot across from police headquarters. The man allegedly removed the wheel with the boot on it, placed it in the trunk and replaced it with a “donut” spare tire.


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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.


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To that end, a public forum will be held tonight at 6:30 at the the Aurora Hills Community Center at 735 18th Street S.

“An artist has been commissioned to create public art along the corridor,” a flyer advertising tonight’s meeting says. “Join us as we help the artist gain a greater understanding of the Crystal City and Potomac Yard communities so she can develop truly site-specific work that meets the goals of your community.”


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That would be a departure from the lax enforcement system that has been in place for a while. In January we reported that the Harris Teeter — which had just installed parking meters for its reserved spaces in the garage — was not planning on “actively” enforcing its parking rules at the time.

McCaffrey writes that he witnessed parking enforcement monitoring the one-hour-only, non-reserved spaces on the second level of the garage.


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Residents are quite opposed to the county taking away parking on one side of narrow neighborhood streets to allow fire engines and garbage trucks to operate safely. But they also want more zone parking to keep outsiders from parking on the same streets. And at least one gentleman wanted folks who rent houses to have their street parking limited to just two cars.

Residents expressed indignation that their streets weren’t plowed during snow storms, making navigation treacherous. Then some asked if there was any way streets could be closed to through traffic. One man earnestly suggested quadrupling the number of speed humps and lowering the speed limit to 15 miles per hour.


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Last week, residents of N. Danville Street and several other Lyon Village streets noticed county staff measuring street widths. Staff were reportedly checking to see if the streets were too narrow for trash trucks and fire trucks, as was the case with N. Edgewood Street in Lyon Park.

According to Lyon Village Citizens Association President H.K. Park, the county is considering restricting parking to one side of Danville and other neighborhood streets that county staffers have deemed too narrow. On Monday, the LVCA will meet to discuss the possible parking changes with county staff.


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For those who asked, we now have a list of the Clarendon-area streets that impose zone parking until the early morning hours. Only residents —  or anyone they give a temporary pass to — are permitted to park on the side of the street from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on these blocks.

In order to obtain the extended hours, residents of each block had to go through the county’s residential permit parking process. First, at least 60 percent of residents signed a petition requesting zone parking hours be extended. Then, county staff studied whether cars from outside the neighborhood were parking on the block, in order to confirm eligibility for the extended hours.


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Arlington to Install Parking Cameras? — Arlington is considering installing sensors or cameras that monitor parking space usage and using the data to hike parking rates to a more market-based price. One system the county is considering would use the same technology as the license plate readers used by police. [Greater Greater Washington]

Clarendon Metro Park To Get Overhaul — The Clarendon Metro plaza and the park adjacent to it will be getting some improvements over the next several months. The improvements will provide more room for the Wednesday farmers market and allow events to be held in the park. [TBD]


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County staff notified residents that they intended to restrict parking to one side Edgewood Street between 1st Road and 2nd Road after finding that some fire trucks are too wide to fit down the narrow street with cars parked on both sides. As we reported after the Feb. 12 board meeting, members of the board seemed sympathetic to the association’s request that the restrictions to be put on hold until the county and neighbors could come to a mutually agreeable solution.

In a letter to County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman, LPCA President Natalie Roy makes it clear that the association views the parking question as an issue of county-wide importance. Roy says the group is worried about how the county plans to implement restrictions on other narrow streets.


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