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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Survey Says: Resident Satisfaction High — Resident satisfaction with Arlington County is high, according to Arlington County. The county’s fourth Resident Satisfaction Survey, conducted by an outside research firm, suggested an 89 percent overall satisfaction rate with the quality of county services. “Just two percent of residents were dissatisfied with the overall quality of County services,” said a press release. One notable area for improvement: maintenance of county streets, with a satisfaction level of only 42 percent. [Arlington County]

Peak Memorial Day Traffic Expected Thursday — Contrary to conventional wisdom, the worst Memorial Day holiday traffic in the D.C. area will be Thursday evening, not Friday. According to an analysis of average travel speeds, drivers hoping to escape local holiday traffic should leave at night, around lunchtime Wednesday or Thursday, or Friday morning. [Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments]

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Arlington Historical Society Looking for Volunteers

By Ethan Rothstein

The AHS has put out the call for volunteers to sign up to be docents — who serve as guides and helpers — at the museum at The Hume School (1805 S. Arlington Ridge Road) and the Ball-Sellers House (5620 3rd Street S.), the oldest school building and house, respectively, in the county.

“With the right mix of volunteer docents we could not only preserve … visiting hours but also expand weekend hours and — most eagerly sought — add at least one weekday afternoon to our schedule,” AHS said in a posting on the Volunteer Arlington website. “At present many potential visitors, including school students, simply can’t explore the museum during the week, which means that whole sectors of visitors never have the opportunity to see what we have to show them. Museum certification organizations and many grant-makers also require weekday opening hours, which prohibits us from upgrading and expanding the museum.”

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Arlington Looking for Summer Camp Volunteers

By Ethan Rothstein

The county looks for teenagers every year to help plan and lead activities for the young children who attend the camps. Volunteers must be 13 years or older by May 1 and at least two years older than the campers they supervise.

Arlington is offering more than 100 different camps this summer for kids from ages 3 to 13, in everything from fly fishing to ultimate Frisbee to “fashion boot camp.”

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

‘Damn Yankees’ Was Written in Arlington Home — The book that was the basis for the musical “Damn Yankees” was written in Alcova, a historic home in Arlington. A family of four now lives in the house, after buying it for $950,000 in 2012. [Falls Church News-Press]

Shirlington Library Temporarily Closed — Shirlington Branch Library was closed Thursday and is expected to reopen this morning following “a maintenance issue with the building HVAC system.” [Library Blog]

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Cherry Trees Planted at Library — As part of its Neighborhood Tree Planting Program, the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Japan-America Society of Washington planted three cherry trees in front of Arlington Central Library yesterday. The program “is an effort to celebrate and share the gift of cherry blossom trees throughout the DC-metro region… and helps create new National Cherry Blossom Festival traditions beyond the Tidal Basin,” festival organizers said in a statement. [Facebook]

Whole Foods Deli, Chicken Counter Stay Closed — The main grocery store and much of the prepared foods sections at the Clarendon Whole Foods (2700 Wilson Blvd) are open following Tuesday’s fire, but county officials say the market deli and chicken counter will stay closed until the health inspector approves its reopening.

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AFAC Expands Program to Fight Child Hunger

By ARLnow.com

Last week, Fair Share Education Fund released a report showing eligibility for free or reduced price school lunches is growing faster in suburbs like Arlington than in cities. Although the report focused on 2010-2011, an Arlington Food Assistance Center spokeswoman confirmed the organization still saw a huge increase in Arlington families using its services for the 2014 fiscal year, which ended on June 30.

AFAC served 1,400 families each week as of July 2013, and that bumped up to 2,000 families each week by this summer, which is a 40 percent increase. That equals about 5,000 individuals every week, of which 36 percent are children.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

CEB May Anchor New Rosslyn Skyscraper — The Corporate Executive Board is considering jumping ship from its current Rosslyn office to anchor the planned office skyscraper in JBG’s Central Place development in Rosslyn. Should a deal with JBG go through, construction would start on the office skyscraper, which is currently on hold even though its companion residential skyscraper is being built. [Washington Business Journal]

WaPo Takes on Clarendon — “In the past decade and a half, Clarendon has seen a steady influx of hip eateries, high-rise condo buildings and happy 20-somethings in search of organic quinoa,” writes the Washington Post, in an article about “what to do in Clarendon.” [Washington Post]

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Volunteer Opportunities: Swim Instructor for Kids with Disabilities

By Ethan Rothstein

Starting this week, the Arlington Department of Parks and Recreation is looking for swim instructors to help children with disabilities learn how to swim. Volunteers will be in the pool providing swimming assistance as well as support and encouragement, and, according to the volunteer announcement, “an important element of this class is building a relationship with ‘your’ class participant.”

Those interested, and free on either Wednesdays or Sundays, should call Kathryn Salyers at (703) 228-4738 or go online. Here are some other opportunities to get involved around the county (from Volunteer Arlington):

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Airlines to Drop 17 Nonstop Flights at DCA — American Airlines and US Airways are dropping nonstop service to 17 cities — including Detroit, San Diego, Minneapolis, Myrtle Beach and Nassau, Bahamas — from Reagan National Airport. The move is part of a deal with the government that was struck in order to win approval for the merger of the two airlines. [WJLA/Associated Press]

Preservationists Worry About Home Tear-Downs — The pace of home tear-downs in Arlington has been steadily rising over the past five years. Preservation Arlington says 179 houses, out of the county’s stock of 28,400 single-family homes, received permits to be torn down in 2013. “The looming demolition of these houses and buildings represents an incredible loss of history, architecture, time, energy, and materials,” the group said in a blog post. [Washington Post, Preservation Arlington]

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Volunteer Opportunities: The Holidays and Beyond

By Katie Pyzyk

There’s an immediate need for people to help this week with sorting and distributing donated coats, or next week with distributing donated children’s holiday gifts. In the coming months, people are asked to help out with tasks like income tax preparation.

Numerous opportunities can be found on the Volunteer Arlington website, such as the following:

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