It’s May the 4th, which means this reporter is swooping back to ARLnow like the clones arriving at Geonosis.
Today’s poll addresses one of the all-time great questions: what are your top three favorite Star Wars movies? Since the top two spots are almost guaranteed to be A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, a “Top 3” poll allows for some third-spot surprises.
We’re now into the back third of meteorological spring and it’s feeling more like… the beginning?
It has been a notably cool (and wet) end to April and start of May, right around when one might have been expecting some warmer weather to move in.
This past Friday the social media account Eat DC had a hot take: Ballston is nice. But also, it’s not.
The reasoning came down to Ballston’s stores and restaurants being predominantly chains (of various sizes) and the neighborhood — home to the densest census tract in the D.C. area — giving off “sterile” vibes.
ARLnow has long avoided covering high school and youth sports, instead deferring to the coverage of the Sun Gazette (now the GazetteLeader) and the Washington Post.
While we’ll link to sports stories of particular note in the Morning Notes, by and large the decision has been to focus on general local news coverage.
An article this week about an arguably historic, 70-year-old mansion in Arlington possibly being set for demolition had a subplot that could have been a story all on its own.
From Charlie Clark, reporting in the Falls-Church News Press (emphasis ours):
Last week, after years of housing policy discussion, the Arlington County Board made the bold move of rezoning most of the county’s residential areas.
The unanimous final vote did not reflect just how contentious the issue was locally, with multiple groups and County Board candidates opposing the changes, holding rallies and blanketing the county with mailings.
St. Patrick’s Day is here and many of you are ready to embrace the Irish spirit.
But how, exactly, is today’s poll question.
For those who travel, especially, it’s a common experience.
Someone not from the D.C. area will ask where you live. And if you’re an Arlington resident, you then face a mini dilemma.
Ahh pickleball, the hottest thing going with senior citizens, Tom Brady’s retirement sport of choice, and an unlikely candidate for the second-most controversial story of the decade in Arlington.
As ARLnow was first to report last year, many neighbors of Arlington’s recently-established pickleball courts have come to vehemently oppose it, owing to the loud “pop” the ball makes when it hits a paddle. The percussive sound can be heard within nearby houses, at all hours of the day and — in the case of lighted courts — into the night.
Temperatures today could reach 80 degrees, which would surpass the circa-1874 record of 78.
On one hand, it’s hard to argue against temperatures in the 70s in isolation. On the other hand, there is just something disconcerting about experiencing that in February.
When we last asked, in 2017, just under 20% of you said you planned to go out for Valentine’s Day that year.
That includes both singles (28.5% of overall respondents) and those in a relationship (71.5% of respondents). Those in a relationship were only slightly more likely to be planning to head out: 20% of those in a relationship said they were going out to 17% for singles.
ARLnow has been hearing for some time that readers are interested in reviews of local restaurants.
Just one problem: we’re far from being food critics. And we don’t have the time and funds to try multiple dishes at numerous new restaurants each year.
