Police are on the lookout for a man who has been spotted masturbating multiple times near the Walter Reed pickleball courts.

Cops have been called to the Walter Reed Community Center at 2909 16th Street S. at least two times in the past two weeks, each time in the late morning, according to Arlington County police crime reports.

“At approximately 10:49 a.m. on April 21, police were dispatched to the report of an exposure,” the first crime report said. “Upon arrival, it was determined approximately 30 minutes prior, the reporting party observed the unknown male suspect allegedly masturbating in a wooded area.”

“At approximately 11:42 a.m. on April 26, police were dispatched to the report of an exposure,” said the second. “Upon arrival, it was determined the reporting party observed the unknown male suspect allegedly masturbating by the courts.”

On both days — a Friday and a Wednesday — “responding officers checked the area and the suspect was not located,” ACPD said.

A tipster told ARLnow about a possible third incident, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

“This is concerning as there are many users of the park, including children,” the tipster said about the incidents.

The Walter Reed pickleball courts have recently been the source of some controversy, as some neighbors have opposed voter-approved plans to add more courts outside of the community center.

Resident concerns range from “bullying of our children by pickleball players” to “public urination on playground and sensory garden” to causing “excessive continuous noise from dawn to 10 p.m. every day,” according to a flyer that was distributed around the neighborhood.

One person’s vacant building is another’s future pickleball facility.

Not to be topped by a County Board candidate’s suggestion to put pickleball facilities at the condemned Key Bridge Marriott, Board Vice-Chair Libbey Garvey mulled whether vacant office buildings could be retrofitted for courts.

“We’ve got these office buildings that are kind of empty, and we’re trying to figure out what to do with them,” she asked at the Board’s Tuesday meeting. “Is that a possibility?”

Already recognized in some rankings as a great place to play pickleball, Arlington County is looking to add more courts in response to the sport’s booming popularity. But it has found itself in a pickle, balancing pressure to add courts with pressure to address pickleball-related noise and land use concerns from some neighbors.

During the Arlington County Board conversation with the Dept. of Parks and Recreation, members took a diplomatic approach, in contrast to the threats of legal action, accusations of bullying and public urination, and late night TV lampooning that have characterized the ongoing local pickleball battle.

In addition to Garvey’s vision for pickleball taking over vacant office buildings, others floated nudging private clubs to get in on the fun. They said private courts could ease the burden on the local government to add facilities, mute the “pop” the paddles emit and help address the stubborn office vacancy rate.

Such possibilities would require working with Arlington Economic Development, said Dept. of Parks and Recreation Director Jane Rudolph.

“There’d have to be an evaluation with others who understand layouts of office building and warehouses and things and with [Arlington Economic Development] colleagues about what we could be doing in existing private spaces and if they could be built out,” she said.

Arlington Economic Development’s Director of Real Estate Development Marc McCauley told ARLnow that zoning changes the Arlington County Board approved on Saturday do open up opportunities for private pickleball facilities in vacant retail and commercial spaces.

“These private facilities, such as national operator Chicken N Pickle” — a sport, restaurant and event space — “are emerging concepts that could theoretically relieve some demand pressure on use of pickleball courts in public facilities,” McCauley said. “Challenges may include ceiling height, floor plate size and noise attenuation, but those issues would need to be studied by a property owner and potential tenant on a case by case basis.”

Another example is Kraken Kourts, with two locations in D.C. that offer pickleball, axe throwing, roller skating and a rage room — a place to break things to let off steam.

Board Chair Christian Dorsey asked whether DPR has considered how the the county could “encourage some operators to set up some pickleball facilities so that this doesn’t become solely a government responsibility.”

In communities known for their pickleball amenities, Dorsey observed there are major, private indoor-outdoor facilities which sometimes have “really substantial membership costs or drop-in fee costs.”

This includes, Board member Takis Karantonis noted, “some very private places with a lot of tennis courts — a lot of new tennis courts, actually.”

Read More

An Arlington-based group wants to “take over pickleball nation” and become the sport’s most talked-about organization within three years.

The Iron Paddles Pickleball Club is a 115-person-strong organization that sets up tournaments, clinics, and league play throughout the region. The club is locally-based but calls the courts at Walter Reed Community Center home.

The aim is higher than just Arlington or the D.C. area, co-founder Jimmy Brown told ARLnow.

“We are trying to take over pickleball nation, not just here,” Brown said. “When people think of pickleball, we want to be the first organization that comes to mind. From clinics to unique events… to pop-up tournaments to individual lessons, we want to be the brand that people think about three years from now when they think about pickleball in this country.”

Brown said about 80% of the current members are from Arlington or Alexandria, though there are members from Woodbridge, D.C., and Maryland.

Iron Paddles launched about two and half years ago at the height of the pandemic, when a smaller group was playing pickleball “really early in the morning” at Walter Reed, per Brown. They’d play so often and get so competitive that several regular players considered going pro.

“A lot of us… are pretty good players [now] and are trying to eventually get where they can eventually make some money in this sport,” Brown said.

That includes Brown, who lives in the Claremont neighborhood near Wakefield High School. He’s the son of former NFL football player Tom Brown, who played for the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s and won multiple Super Bowls. The younger Brown plans to join the senior pickleball tour in five years, when he turns 50.

“[My dad] always said, ‘If you play better competition, it’s going to make you better.’ So, I surround myself with better players than myself… who kick my butt every day,” Brown said.

He’s a school teacher, so he plays early in the morning — particularly in the summers when school is out — and in the afternoon after school is dismissed. He and 15 or 20 other Iron Paddle members can often be found playing into the evening at Walter Reed.

Brown admits he was one of those people who was playing at the community center courts at 6 a.m. last summer. The noise from the courts, mainly the infamous “pickleball pop,” led to some neighbors threatening legal action late last year.

He says he “completely understands” if some people got mad about being woken up to the thucks and pops of pickleball. The group has since moved to other courts for their early morning ritual, though he wouldn’t say exactly where.

Once the clock strikes 8 a.m., however, residents have to deal with the noise, Brown said.

“You chose to live by a rec center. After 8 a.m., it’s free reign. I’m sorry,” he said. “Turn the TV up a bit louder and shut your windows. I’m sorry. I know that sounds harsh, but people are trying to work out.”

As for the accusations of bullying children earlier this year, Brown said that is not true. Whenever kids have wanted to come to play basketball or tennis, the pickleballers he knows are “accommodating” and sometimes move the nets so they can play.

“If it’s super packed, now that’s a different story,” he said. “But nobody’s ever been belligerent and nobody’s ever been nasty.”

Read More

(Updated on 2/14/23) The fight over the new pickleball courts coming to Walter Reed Community Center appears to have escalated.

In a flyer that’s now being disseminated around the neighborhood, opponents are leveling accusations of “bullying of our children by pickleball players,” “public urination on playground and sensory garden,” and causing “excessive continuous noise from dawn to 10 p.m. every day.”

If more pickleball courts are added, it will even be more of a “public nuisance” the flyer says. It does not go into greater detail about the accusations.

“Arlington County is giving away our rights to Walter Reed Community Center (WRCC) to build a dedicated Pickleball Cluster,” it reads. “Current issues will get worse with conversion of 3 tennis to 9 pickleball courts.”

The flyer also lists “large crowds,” “parking issues,” and “tennis and basketball hijacked” as problems. It asks residents to fill out a Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation survey, attend upcoming Columbia Heights Civic Association meetings, and be at this week’s public meeting to make their concerns known.

In November, Arlington residents approved a countywide bond referendum that included spending $2 million to add more pickleball courts in the county including at Walter Reed Community Center.

The plan is to convert the current outdoor tennis courts to pickleball courts by adding netting, pavement, lighting, signage, fencing, and “sound reduction measures.”

The basketball court, which currently is stripped for pickleball, will be converted back to its original use.

The project’s completion is still at least two years away. Feedback through online surveys and community meetings will be gathered throughout 2023, per a recently-published county timeline. Construction could begin in the spring of 2024 with early 2025 as the current goal for it to be completed.

A group that is calling itself the “Walter Reed Neighborhood Group” is behind the flyers, ARLnow has learned. It’s a core group of about 10 to 15 nearby residents who have handed out about 600 flyers around the neighborhood, we’re told.

The group is not trying to start an “all-out war” on pickleball, a number of neighbors said in a conversation earlier today. They are disputing the process that resulted in the decision to build a cluster of courts near their homes.

“The county has… created the situation and they’re putting pickleballers against local residents,” neighbor Armand Ciccarelli told ARLnow.

He and the others in the group said that the court score assessment process DPR used to determine that Walter Reed was the best option for the cluster of courts was “flawed.” Walter Reed Community Center beat out several other options by a single point, per the county-produced chart.

“Arlington is ramping up [the building of courts] and throwing them in South Arlington,” Ciccarelli said. “The county is ignoring us.”

The construction of nine new pickleball courts won’t simply attract county residents, neighbors said, but players from across the region.

“By having a large cluster here, we are attracting pickleballers from all over the place,” Jacquelyn, a group member and a pickleball player herself, said. “This will no longer be a community center for the community, it will become pickleball central for the entire DMV area. And our little neighborhood can’t handle that.”

Of course, not everyone agrees with the group and its assessment of the ills of pickleball.

Out here doing some street research on this pickle ball thing – don’t see much urinating or bullying currently – will stick around for a few hours tho just in case pic.twitter.com/s17nATIjo0

— SRtwofourfour (@SRtwofourfour) February 10, 2023

As the sport has rapidly gained popularity — more than 36 million people played pickleball between August 2021 and August 2022, according to a new report — players have been lobbying localities like Arlington for more courts.

Ciccarelli did acknowledge that the anti-pickleball flyers could be interpreted as inflammatory, but that was a deliberate choice to get more attention. He said that “99%” of locals the group has talked to do not have “any awareness of this project.”

Read More

Local residents can now weigh in on the “future of pickleball” at the Walter Reed Community Center.

A survey was sent out earlier this week by the Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation (DPR) asking the community to provide input and feedback about the new outdoor pickleball courts coming to the community center at 2909 16th Street S., south of Columbia Pike.

The dedicated courts will replace the tennis courts that are currently there.

The survey asks a series of questions, some with multiple choice answers and some with a text box, including the survey taker’s “current relationship” with the community center, how often they use the pickleball courts already there, and when they typically play.

There’s also a question that addresses the noise coming from the courts, a prickly topic that has led to threats of legal action.

“Noise is a concern associated with pickleball play,” reads the question. “The County is committed to incorporating sound reduction measures as part of this project. What are some creative ideas to consider?”

Locals have through Tuesday, February 28 to provide the county with their thoughts.

Residents voted in November, as part of the bond referendum, to spend $2 million to convert and update existing tennis courts into pickleball courts across the county, including at Walter Reed.

The plan is to convert the current tennis court area into nine dedicated pickleball courts by adding pavement, netting, lighting, fencing, and other needed equipment. There will also be seating, shade, signage, landscaping, ADA-accessible walkways, and “sound reduction measures.” As part of the project, the basketball court will also be converted back to its original use.

This online survey is actually the “start” of the engagement process for the project, DPR spokesperson Martha Holland told ARLnow in an email.

“The County wants to hear from all stakeholders to create a project that serves the pickleball community while fitting into the community context,” she wrote. “The online feedback form is the first step to gather input to inform concept designs. The County hopes to learn and gain insights on a wide range of issues from uses and user experience, as well as considerations, designs, and demographics – to ensure we’re hearing from as many community members as possible.”

Community meetings are set to be held throughout this year to discuss the project, per a recently published timeline on the county’s website. The first is planned for Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. at Walter Reed, Holland said.

There are expected to be additional community meetings and online surveys throughout the year, with several currently scheduled for the spring and summer.

“It is important to make sure that as many people as possible are aware of this project and have a chance to provide input throughout,” Holland said.

With all of this community engagement, construction of the pickleball courts is being pushed back.

Construction is not expected to start for more than a year from now, in spring 2024, per the timeline. Completion is estimated for early 2025, a full two years from now.

In recent years, pickleball has become a hot-button issue in Arlington. The sport soared in popularity during the pandemic, with the county adding more courts to meet demand.

As courts increased, though, so did complaints from some locals about the noise.

When a pickleball hits a paddle, it can often produce a loud pop sound that has become infamously known as “pickleball pop.” This has led DPR to close certain public courts that are situated near homes. At least one court was eventually reopened.

Then, late last year, two citizen groups threatened legal action against the county.

This included a number of neighbors who live across the street from Walter Reed with one resident saying the noise already coming from the courts was “excessive” and “intrusive.” That resident told ARLnow at the time they did not support the plan to build even more outdoor courts.

“It sounds really comical, but when you live across the street from an endless stream of just popping, it’s not funny,” they said.

More neighbors are threatening legal action because of the infamous pickleball pop.

A resident living near the Walter Reed Community Center tells ARLnow that the noise coming from the nearby pickleball courts is “excessive” and constant, to the point that that a group of neighbors is “contemplating a lawsuit of our own” against the county.

“Our community center, with its 9 courts, has become ‘pickleball central,'” Ashley, a resident who lives near the community center, wrote to ARLnow in an email. “We believe the excessive playtime that generates a loud, constant popping sound negatively impacts our quality of life and property value.”

ARLnow received an additional call from a nearby resident, reiterating many of these claims and decrying the loud “pop” made when a pickleball hits a paddle.

The eight households involved all live on 16th Street S., across the street from the community center. They have joined together in asking the county to do something about the crowds and noise coming from the pickleball courts, per Ashley. She’s asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons.

In recent weeks, the residents met with Arlington’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation, a couple of County Board members, and the Columbia Heights Civic Association to make their concerns known.

So far, discussions haven’t produced the outcome they are hoping for: enforcing court hours, closing some pickleball courts, and reconsideration of plans to potentially add more courts. They believe that the noise coming from the courts is in violation of the county’s noise ordinance.

The group says they’re considering legal action along similar lines to what the Old Glebe Civic Association has discussed, as previously reported by ARLnow.

“None of us want to put an end to pickleball. Everybody has a right to use the park and its services,” Ashley said. “It’s just excessive. It’s loud and it’s very intrusive.”

Earlier this month, Old Glebe Civic Association also began considering legal action due to the ending of a pilot program that had closed a pickleball court at Glebe Road Park. The court’s recent reopening has made the noise issue even “more contentious,” with the civic association’s leadership saying that “a solution short of litigation appears unlikely.”

Ashley said when she and her neighbors read that story, it seemed like confirmation that their situation also would not be resolved without some sort of legal action. Ashley has lived in her home on 16th Street S. for about five years, but it was this past summer when the noise became “maddening.”

Pickleball has taken Arlington — and the U.S. generally — by storm over the last few years. This year, however, the sport seemingly grew beyond the county’s current capacity, prompting a tug-of-war between those who want more pickleball facilities, neighbors concerned about noise, and the players of other sports — particularly tennis — who stand to lose courts to the pickleball juggernaut.

Ashley said that there were times over the summer and into the fall when she could hear the pop of the ball hitting the paddle starting at 5 a.m. and not stopping until 11 p.m — 18 hours a day.

Reading the comments on previous ARLnow pickleball stories, she knows her complaints can seem ridiculous to some, but she insists they are legit.

“It sounds really comical, but when you live across the street from an endless stream of just popping, it’s not funny,” she said.

Ashley and other neighbors met with local parks and rec officials in October, a meeting the department confirmed to ARLnow. The neighbors asked DPR to limit court hours, close some courts to pickleball to allow other sports to be played, and better monitor the noise coming from the courts.

They also expressed their disappointment in not being formally consulted about the possibility of new courts coming to Walter Reed.

“We were not consulted as a community, nor do we support this plan,” she said.

Read More

If conquering Arlington wasn’t enough, pickleball is now headed to Iceland thanks to two locals.

This past weekend, Arlington-based pickleball coaches Ruth Ellis and Helen White hosted a group of Icelandic tennis players at the Walter Reed Community Center to kick start a collaboration between Arlington’s pickleball community and Tennishöllin, a tennis club in Kopavógur, Iceland.

In a return volley, Ellis and White are set to head to Kopavógur next month to lead several pickleball workshops for the general public there.

The hope is to start a pickleball craze in Iceland, much like what’s happened here in Arlington.

“So many people I’m meeting have been to Iceland. So, there’s a lot of sport tourism possibilities for a place like Iceland,” Helen White, a leader in Arlington’s pickleball community and a local ambassador for the sport, told ARLnow. “Yes, you want to see the country, but if you’re a pickleball player, you also want to play with local pickleball players.”

The idea for the collaboration with the tennis club in Kopavógur came from Ellis, who was born in Iceland and goes back often to visit family. She’s an avid pickleball player and, while thinking about her next trip home, realized that it could be tough for her to find a game.

“I was trying to see if I could play pickleball while I was there, and there’s nobody playing there,” said Ellis, who actually lives in D.C. but plays mostly in Arlington. “There’s no active pickleball scene in Iceland at the moment. To me, that looked like a situation that needed to be remedied.”

While it was popular prior to the pandemic, pickleball has boomed in Arlington in recent years. Courts across the county are often full, with residents asking for more. The Department of Parks and Recreation has dedicated $2 million to build more courts and restripe tennis courts, though it might take some time before those are ready for a match.

However, not everyone loves the game. The sound of the ball hitting the paddle — the infamous pickleball pop — can be loud, so much so that the county shut down a court this summer because the pop sound was annoying the neighbors.

While the game has continued to grow in Arlington and the United States as a whole — with sports stars buying newly-formed professional teams — in Iceland tennis remains the favored paddle sport. But Ellis wants to change that.

She reached out to White, who was game for the project. Then, after emailing “dozens” of Icelanders, Ellis was put in touch with a woman who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Iceland. In turn, that person paired Ellis with the owners of Tennishöllin.

Read More

More pickleball courts are likely coming to Arlington as local players urge the county to provide more support.

Last week, County Board member Libby Garvey and Nakish Jordan from Arlington’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation paid a visit to the outdoor pickleball courts at Walter Reed Park, near the community center. They were there to talk about what the county was doing to create more courts for a sport that continues to grow in popularity.

That includes striping more courts and potentially building dedicated outdoor pickleball courts at Walter Reed Park.

Today (July 18), the County Board is set to vote on a new Capital Improvement Plan that includes $2 million for more pickleball courts. If the plan is approved, several tennis courts at Walter Reed Park would be converted into dedicated pickleball courts, Jordan told players.

“This is central county. Lots of people come out. There’s plenty of parking [here],” Jordan said about why this was a good spot for more courts. “And there are bathrooms here.”

Even if the plan gets approved today by the County Board, though, it could take a couple of years before new courts are built.

Voters would need to pass a bond referendum in November and, then, community engagement would happen early next year, DPR spokesperson Susan Kalish told ARLnow in an email. After that, design and permitting could happen mid to late next year. Finally, construction could begin in late 2023 and be completed sometime in the summer of 2024.

The timeframe for restriping a number of existing tennis and basketball courts for multi-use so that pickleball could be played on them as well is a bit quicker. Kalish noted that could be done by next spring, provided the CIP and bond referendum both get passed.

In total, the CIP dedicates $2 million to pickleball projects, including the Walter Reed Park courts and the restriping project.

Despite these assurances about the future, a number of players expressed their annoyance to the county officials about a lack of courts amid burgeoning demand. The courts are often filled to capacity, several people said, leaving players with long waits for their turn to put paddle to ball.

“We need more pickleball lines on under-used tennis courts,” said a resident. “While [the Walter Reed Park courts] are being renovated, we will need other places to play.”

Garvey noted that there isn’t only so much court space in the county. Despite pickleball’s growth, players need to share the space with other sports, she said.

“We need to keep in mind everyone who needs things… as a County Board member, I need to think about everybody,” Garvey said. “Even the people who aren’t here and we don’t hear from — [we need to] make sure we are serving them as well. We are going have to find a way to co-exist.”

There are currently 11 indoor and 20 outdoor multi-use courts where pickleball can be played in the county.

However, one popular court at Glebe Road Park has been shut down over the summer due to the sound the ball makes when it hits the paddle drawing complaints from neighbors.

Soldiers spent four years in Arlington during the Civil War, and county residents can get a small taste of what they went through next weekend.

The re-enactment event Civil War Camp Day will show how soldiers lived by walking through encampment displays, practicing military drills and trying on Civil War uniforms. It takes place May 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Walter Reed Community Center and Park (2909 16th Street S.)

Union troops arrived in Arlington in 1861 on the orders of President Abraham Lincoln. For the next four years, tens of thousands of northern soldiers manned the Arlington Line, a series of fortifications and camps that stretched from Rosslyn to the Pentagon.

A schedule of the day’s events is below:

• 10 a.m. – The camp is open to visitors, with displays on how soldiers lived in camp, what gear they used and the music they listened to.
• 11 a.m. – A presentation on Arlington’s role during the Civil War, especially as a center for training.
• Noon – Cooking and a presentation on what soldiers ate.
• 1 p.m. – A presentation on Arlington’s role during the Civil War, especially as a center for training.
• 2-4 p.m. – The camp is open to visitors, with displays on how soldiers lived in camp, what gear they used and the music they listened to.