Do not call it a Bird Bash. What the fuck, Arlington Now.
Bird lovers of all feathers can head to Bluemont this weekend for a morning of avian education and exploration.
“World Migratory Bird Day Festival” will feature bird walks, games, activities, and free coffee from 9-11 a.m. Saturday at Lacey Woods Park, organizers say. Attendees to the free event are asked to meet at the park’s basketball court near the intersection of Washington Blvd and N. George Mason Drive.
The Wildlife Rescue League will also showcase some of its live feathered friends, including a blue jay named “Snafu.”
Arlington County naturalists Jennifer Soles and Ken Rosenthal are organizing the weekend event. Rosenthal told ARLnow on Monday that festival attendees have a chance to spot interesting birds because several species often flock to Lacey Woods Park, which he described as a “green oasis that will get the birds in.”
Last year, Rosenthal said attendees spotted a blackpoll warbler. These songbirds typically weigh less than an ounce but migrate over 1,800 miles across North America, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and 88% of blackpoll populations have died out in the last half century.
Many other birds that can be spotted in Arlington migrate between North to Central America — such as hummingbirds and osprey.
Soles and Rosenthal say all the printed materials for the event are in English and Spanish, but they are seeking one to two volunteers who can help translate some of the discussions on Saturday into Spanish.
Soles said these migratory birds “live half their lives in Spanish-speaking countries” and hopes that Arlingtonians with roots in Central American countries like El Salvador and Guatemala will attend the event and get a chance to recognize some familiar species.
“We sort of share these birds between us,” said Soles.
Arlington County is asking a state transportation board to rename Jefferson Davis Highway.
As expected, the Arlington County Board voted last night to approve a resolution asking that Jefferson Davis Highway, also known as Route 1, be renamed Richmond Highway within Arlington’s borders.
The unanimous vote was framed in a county press release as a move that will make driving on Route 1 through Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County — which also uses the Richmond Highway name — less confusing for motorists.
The costs and disruption, according to the county, would be minimal.
“Arlington would pay for the new street signs (estimated to cost about $17,000),” says the press release. “No street numbers will be changed, and the United States Postal Service will, in perpetuity, continue to deliver mail to the businesses and residences along the highway addressed to Jefferson Davis Highway.”
Google Maps, meanwhile, already renamed Route 1 “Richmond Highway” in Arlington a few months ago.
More from the press release, after the jump.
The Arlington County Board on Thursday, April 25, voted unanimously to approve a resolution asking that the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), rename the 2.56-mile portion of Jefferson Davis Highway that lies within the County’s borders “Richmond Highway.”
The move comes after the City of Alexandria changed the name of the roadway within its borders, effective January 1, 2019.
“Arlington has long sought to rename the stretch of Jefferson Davis Highway that runs through our County,” Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said. “For several years, we have included renaming the highway within our boundaries in our state Legislative Package. We participated in Alexandria’s ad hoc commission that recommended in 2018 that the City rename its portion of the highway ‘Richmond Highway.’ We said then we hoped to be able to soon follow suit.
“Renaming our portion of the highway will make it easier for drivers heading from Fairfax County through the City of Alexandria and then Arlington should be traveling on a highway that bears one name,” Dorsey said. Dorsey noted that, should the CTB elect to rename the roadway “Richmond Boulevard,” the County would also welcome that name.
In its resolution, the Board said that if the CTB approves the name change at its May meeting, it would take effect no later than Oct. 1, 2019. Arlington would pay for the new street signs (estimated to cost about $17,000). No street numbers will be changed, and the United States Postal Service will, in perpetuity, continue to deliver mail to the businesses and residences along the highway addressed to Jefferson Davis Highway.
The Board voted unanimously to adopt the resolution. To read the resolution and view the Chair’s presentation on this item, visit the County website. Scroll to Item No. 45 on the agenda for the Thursday, April 25, 2019 Recessed County Board Meeting.
Public outreach
The County mailed postcards to the residences, property owners and businesses along the portion of the highway that lies within Arlington, informing them of the Board’s intent, and providing information about the April 25, 2019 public hearing before the Board on the proposed resolution.
If the CTB approves the name change, the County will post answers to frequently asked questions, including information on what, if any, records need to be changed by businesses or residents, on the County website: keyword search “Jefferson Davis Highway.” The County will continue its outreach to the community through a variety of avenues, to ensure a smooth transition.
Background
The Virginia General Assembly, in 1922, named the roadway known as Route 1 in the federal highway system “Jefferson Davis Highway” in honor of the president of the Confederacy. Before 2012, State law expressly prohibited the CTB from renaming highways, bridges, or interchanges that were named by the General Assembly. In 2012, the General Assembly changed the statute, granting the CTB the authority to change the name of a primary highway, such as Jefferson Davis Highway, originally named by the General Assembly.
With its compact growth habit and small, inconspicuous flowers tucked under its leaves, it seems like Guthriea capensis doesn’t want to be noticed. Indeed, it has earned itself the common name of '“hidden flower.” That’s not to say this plant is unsuccessful. In fact, it seems to do just fine tucked in among high-elevation rock crevices of its home range along the Drakensberg escarpment of South Africa. Despite its cryptic nature, something must be pollinating these plants and recent research has finally figured that out. It appears that the hidden flower has a friend in some local reptiles.
Lizard pollination is not unheard of ([1] & [2]), however, it is by no means a common pollination syndrome. This could have something to do with the fact that we haven’t been looking. Pollination studies are notoriously tricky. Just because something visits a flower does not mean its an effective pollinator. To investigate this properly, one needs ample hours of close observation and some manipulative experiments to get to the bottom of it. Before we get to that, however, its worth getting to know this strange plant in a little more detail.
The hidden flower is a member of an obscure family called Achariaceae. Though a few members have managed to catch our attention economically, most genera are poorly studied. The hidden flower itself appears to be adapted to high elevation environments, hence its compact growth form. By hugging the substrate, this little herb is able to avoid the punishing winds that characterize montane habitats. Plants are dioecious meaning individuals produce either male or female flowers, never both. The most interesting aspect of its flowers, however, are how inconspicuous they are.
The hidden flower (Guthriea capensis) in situ.
Flowers are produced at the base of the plant, out of site from most organisms. They are small and mostly green in color except for the presence of a few bright orange glands near the base of the style, deep within the floral tube. What they lack in visibility, they make up for in nectar and smell. Each flower produced copious amounts of sticky, sugar-rich nectar. They are also scented. Taken together, these traits usually signal a pollination syndrome with tiny rodents but this assumption appears to be wrong.
Based on hours of video footage and a handful of clever experiments, a team of researchers from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of the Free State have been able to demonstrate that lizards, not mammals, birds, or insects are the main pollinators of this cryptic plant. Two species of lizard native to this region, Pseudocordylus melanotus and Tropidosaura gularis, were the main floral visitors over the duration of the study period.
Pseudocordylus melanotus
Tropidosaura gularis
Visiting lizards would spend time lapping up nectar from several flowers before moving off and in doing so, picked up lots of pollen in the process. Being covered in scales means that pollen can have a difficult time sticking to the face of a reptile but the researchers believe that this is where the sticky pollen comes into play. It is clear that the pollen adheres to the lizards’ face thanks to the fact that they are usually covered in sticky nectar. By examining repeated feeding attempts on different flowers, they also observed that not only do the lizards pick up plenty of pollen, they deposit it in just the right spot on the stigma for pollination to be successful. Insect visitors, on the other hand, were not as effective at proper pollen transfer.
Conspicuously absent from the visitation roster were rodents. The reason for this could lie in some of the compounds produced within the nectar. The team found high levels of a chemical called safranal, which is responsible for the smell of the flowers. Safranal is also bitter to the taste and it could very well serve as a deterrent to rodents and shrews. More work will be needed to confirm this hypothesis. Whatever the case, safranal does not seem to deter lizards and may even be the initial cue that lures them to the plant in the first place. Tongue flicking was observed in visiting lizards, which is often associated with finding food in other reptiles.
Male flower (a) and female flower (b). Note the presence of the orange glands at the base.
Another interesting observation is that the color of the floral tube and the orange glands within appear to match the colors of one of the lizard pollinators (Pseudocordylus subviridis ). Is it possible that this is further entices the lizards to visit the flowers? Other reptile pollination systems have demonstrated that lizards appear to respond well to color patterns for which they already have some sort of sensory bias. Is it possible that these flowers evolved in response to such a bias? Again, more work will be needed to say for sure.
By excluding vertebrates from visiting the flowers, the team was able to show that indeed lizards appear to be the main pollinators of these plants. Without pollen transfer, seed set is reduced by 95% wheres the additional exclusion of insects only reduced reproductive success by a further 4%. Taken together, it is clear that lizards are the main pollinators of the enigmatic hidden flower. This discovery expands on our limited knowledge of lizard pollination syndromes and rises many interesting questions about how such relationships evolve.
Today we dub 10-year-old boxer Lab mix Huxley as the Arlington pet of the week.
Here’s how Huxley’s owner Lyndsey described the rescue pup:
We wanted a lazy, friendly dog and that’s just what we got in Huxley. While his snaggle tooth
can be scary, he is sweet as the day is long. He weighs around
100lbs, sleeps 20 hours a day and is friendly to everyone he meets,
except the Amazon delivery guy.
Life has changed a lot for Huxley over these 10 years. Early on he
was an adventurer – swallowing a razor blade as a curious puppy and
battling rattlesnake near Skyline Drive. Now he is dog-brother to
three wild kids, age five and under. The responsibility has grayed
his fur, but he maintains a spring in his step while perusing his
hobbies of chasing rabbits in the backyard. He exhibits great
patience each morning while waiting for our three-year old to
sloooooowly scoop his dog food. For this, and many more reasons, he
deserves to be Pet of the Week! We love you Hux!
Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email arlingtonnews@gmail.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet. Please don’t send vertical photos, they don’t fit in our photo galleries!
Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks. Becky’s Pet Care is the winner of six consecutive Angie’s List Super Service Awards, the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year and a proud supporter of the Arlington County Pawsitively Prepared Campaign.
Becky’s Pet Care provides professional dog walking and pet sitting in Arlington and all of Northern Virginia, as well as PetPrep training courses for Pet Care, CPR and emergency preparedness.
Some seeds can get pretty sticky when water gets involved. Anyone that has ever tried to grow a Chia pet or put chia seeds into water will know what I mean. The seeds of chia (Salvia hispanica) are but one example of seeds that turn gooey with water. The question is, why do they do this? What role does sticky mucilage play in the reproductive cycle of plants around the globe?
It turns out that seed mucilage is an extremely useful trait for many plants. For starters, it can aid in dispersal of seeds. For some plants this simply means being sticky enough to attach to an animal that brushes up against ripe seeds. Mucilage can get stuck on everything from fur to feathers, and even scales. This is yet another form of seed dispersal known as epizoochory. Amazingly, mucilage has shown to be an effective trait for aiding in wind dispersal as well. Such is the case for a small mustard called Alyssum minus. This may seem counterintuitive as one would think that mucilage would weigh a seed down, not send it aloft. In this example, the mucilage forms a tiny wing that surrounds the seed after it has dried out. This wing made out of dried, papery mucilage significantly increased seed dispersal distances on windy days.
Chia seeds in water swell with mucilage, making them look more like frog eggs than seeds.
Following dispersal, the role of seed mucilage becomes even more important. Just as it can help seeds stick to potential seed dispersers, the mucilage can also help the seeds stick to the ground. This is especially useful for plants growing in sandy soils that move around a lot easier than more mesic soils. By sticking to the substrate, the mucilage helps the seed maintain good soil to seed contact, which is essential for successful germination. Without it, seeds would easily blow around and never rest in a place long enough to establish.
Adhering the soil also aids in water uptake for the seed. This is a prerequisite for any seed to successfully germinate. However, simply acting like a conduit for water to move from soil to seed isn’t the only advantage the mucilage provides. By swelling up with water, the mucilage acts as a tiny water reservoir, which buffers the seed from potential water stress. Again, this is especially useful for plants growing in xeric habitats. By keeping water around the seed longer than it would be if the seed was directly exposed to the environment, the mucilage speeds up germination and increases the chances of success for the resulting seedling.
Finally, seed mucilage can also protect seeds from predators. Seeds are tiny packets of concentrated nutrients and many animals don’t hesitate to gobble them up. By covering their seeds in sticky mucilage, plants are able to deter at least some potential seed predators like ants from moving and eating their seeds. Also, aside from gumming up the mouths of seed predators, the fact that the seeds stick to the substrate makes them difficult to move. With any luck, seed predators will tire of the chore and move on to easier meals.
Now if we think back to those Chia Pets, we can see why chia seeds are able to germinate on wet ceramic. Their mucilaginous coating not only enables them to adhear to the surface of the structure, it protects them from drying out by holding onto water. It kind of makes you look at those goofy gifts as a subtle way of displaying an interesting evolutionary mechanism in action.
WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER CONTINUES TO COMMENT ON E-BIKES IN ARLINGTON
Capital Bikeshare is currently removing electric bikes after concerns about the brakes.
The bikeshare provider announced on Sunday it had “received a small number of reports from riders who experienced stronger than expected braking force on the front wheel” and decided to remove the black bikes from its fleets “out of an abundance of caution.”
Several D.C. riders shared experiences on social media of CaBi’s strong brakes causing their e-bikes to flip, or come close to doing so.
Also happened to me. Flipped over the bars while going 6 mph.
— Judd Lumberjack Isbell (@JuddLumberjack) April 14, 2019
New York City’s bikeshare program “Citibike” also pulled its e-bikes from the streets on Sunday, citing the same braking problem.
The Arlington Department of Environment Services (DES) shared the news by continuing its repartee on social media with actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame.
DES retweeted CaBi’s weekend announcement, writing, “We’re bummed too, @WilliamShatner.”
Shatner, who is a brand rep for e-bike Pedego, responded by saying, “They should get Pedego bikes!”
Previously, the actor sparred with DES over the county banning e-bikes on trails — a policy he called “barbaric.” The e-bike ban was lifted on NOVA park trails last month. A DES spokesman told ARLnow at the time that officials were also considering lifting it on county trails.
CaBi first debuted 80 of the bikes in September as part of a pilot program with the District Department of Transportation.
Within two months, data showed that the electric-pedal assist bikes were twice as popular as the normal CaBi bikes, with the e-bikes making up only 2 percent of the total CaBi fleet, but generating 4 percent of total trips, according to data analysis by Greater Greater Washington.
The new recall is not affecting dockless bike providers, such as Lime which added 150 e-bikes to Arlington in December.
Read below for the full statement from CaBi:
Since Capital Bikeshare first deployed electric bikes last year, riders have taken thousands of rides and shared with us incredibly helpful and overwhelmingly positive feedback.
However, we recently received a small number of reports from riders who experienced stronger than expected braking force on the front wheel. Out of an abundance of caution, we are proactively removing the electric bikes from service for the time being. We know this is disappointing to the many people who love the current experience — but reliability and safety come first.
In the meantime, we will temporarily replace the electric bikes with pedal bikes.
We would like to take a moment to thank all our customers, staff, local breweries and overall supporters who have made Meridian Pint in Columbia Heights their home for the past 9 years.
We are honored to have served you the best American Craft Beers in the city along with having been your neighborhood gathering place for so many years.We are proud to have brought you a safe community space to cheer on your favorite teams, meet new friends, host great events, and spend time with the people you care about. We thank you all for believing in us and having made us part of what you love about being in DC.
During the last 9 years a lot has changed in regards to the evolving needs of our staff, our customers, our lives and our city. With change comes new opportunities for us all to grow in different directions. Therefore, we are very excited to announce that Meridian Pint will be moving to Arlington, VA to expand our passion for American craft beer into Northern Virginia. As a result, we are sad to announce that our Meridian Pint Columbia Heights location will have it’s final Easter Brunch on Sunday, April 21st, 2019 then permanently close at 4pm.
We invite you to join us for this final week of saying goodbye to the place where so many of us have shared memories and good times.
The Pint Group (Smoke & Barrel, Brookland Pint, & our new Meridian Pint-Arlington) will continue to serve wonderful craft beer and food with our mission to provide a neighborhood gathering space for all.
Thank you so much for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you all throughout this final week of celebration in Columbia Heights.”
Pre-Meridian Pint back in 2008
Ed. Note: This is a huge loss for Columbia Heights. You can see my thought on how important Meridian Pint has been to 11th Street/Columbia Heights here. Meridian Pint’s moving follows the recent closure of Maple (new Italian restaurant coming) and Good Silver (now open as the Queens English.). Updates as we learn what becomes of the former Meridian Pint space.
This may be the sleepiest fucking corner of Arlington... Oh dear
(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) Meridian Pint hopes to open up in Arlington by mid-May, according to owner John Andrade.
Andrade told ARLnow today (Wednesday) that his new Dominion Hills location is slated to open around May 15, pending final county inspections this month.
The new pub is inside the Dominion Hills Centre shopping plaza at 6035 Wilson Blvd. Andrade said he’s applying the “last layers of polyurethane” to the space.
On Monday, he announced his flagship “Pint” in Columbia Heights will close Sunday after nine years in business. In a statement shared by PoPville Andrade cited “evolving needs of our staff, our customers, our lives and our city” as a reason for packing up shop.
It's with a heavy heart that we will be saying goodbye to Columbia Heights. https://t.co/23I6tDiPSM
Construction of the Arlington space began last fall, two year ago after he announced plans to expand across the Potomac. Now he says he’s hiring servers, bartenders, and cooks, and redesigning the Columbia Heights menu to fit an Arlington clientele.
“IPAs are very popular in Northern Virginia, so you’ll definitely see a nice selection of that,” said Andrade.
“From the food perspective, we expect to cater to a lot more families here,” he added. “The kids menu is going to be very nice, and well-manicured to make sure we’re giving kids healthy options and at the same time satisfying the kids’ palate as well.”
Andrade, who is an Arlington resident, said last year he looked forward to pub being within walking distance of his neighborhood.
“It’s just a great opportunity,” he said. “Especially for those of us that live slightly more than walking distance from Ballston or Clarendon, or have multiple kids, and don’t really want to do the dance of finding a parking garage or hunting down a metered space to go explore out that way.”
Given all of the recent news about about go-go music, I suddenly realized that I know very little about DC’s signature sound. For those who want to get to know go-go, what albums and artists should they listen to?”
I haven't heard this much go-go around town since Chuck Brown died (RIP). It's pretty great. #DontMuteDC
Thanks to Roderick for sending this guy from 1800 F Street, NW this morning. And that my friends is called hitting the trifecta. Turkey, chicken, duck. Or a Turducken if you will.
And while we wait for ducklings, this is pretty great stuff from the Humane Rescue Alliance:
“Last night, the Humane Rescue Alliance received a call of two fox kits trapped in a basement window well.
When HRA Animal Control Officer Jesien arrived on scene, he observed two fox kits who appeared to be about 6 weeks old, consistent with the developmental stage of initial ventures away from their mother/den areas.
Officer Jesien proceeded to towel wrap both kits and removed them from the window well. After he placed the kits on the grass, they immediately ran off toward a heavily forested area, demonstrating excellent maneuverability and speed. When Officer Jesien moved his flashlight toward the tree line, he observed a healthy adult female fox — the mom, who was watching the rescue nearby from the woods.”
If you spot a hawk or any interesting wildlife around town, lunching or otherwise, and get a good photo please send where you spotted it to princeofpetworth@gmail.com and I’ll add it to the queue. Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.
“St. Vincent will be located at 3212-3216 Georgia Ave NW in the Park View neighborhood (union drinkery/sundevich space) The 6814 sq.ft. of indoor space will comprise of a retail wine shop specializing in eclectic wines and craft beers, and a modern cocktail bar with seating/lounge space upstairs. An additional almost 4,000 sq.ft. of outdoor space will be converted into an “urban wine garden”.
Guests will purchase wine from the store and be invited to consume it on-premise, either in the garden or upstairs in the bar/ lounge area. St. Vincent will offer cheese, charcuterie, sandwiches and gourmet desserts. St. Vincent’s hours of operation will begin at 11am and end at last call daily.”
“While D.C. doesn’t have anything quite like Saint Vincent, New Orleans does. Uku and Sherwood were inspired by Bacchanal Wine, which also combines a wine shop and a lush backyard. There’s also a live music component at the NOLA hotspot. Uku and Sherwood traveled there in March 2018 to scout it out.”
Peyton Sherwood is also the owner of Midlands beer garden that opened in late 2016 just up the block.
If all goes well they hope to open in the fall!! STAY TUNED. There will be many updates as St. Vincent gets closer to opening.
What a magnificent weekend. And I’m not talking cherry blossoms. Oh yes, It’s Turkey Time. Thanks to all who emailed/messaged – keep ’em coming!!
“Crossing Ontario between Florida and Kalorama”. Video by Judith
Video from Michigan Avenue NE by Sara
Photo from Michigan Avenue NE by Sara
Many many more sightings:
Photo by Benjamin Weinberg in Adams Morgan
Photo by Terra
“Ontario & Kalorama. My husband actually saw it fly up. Amazing such a huge bird has this much lift!”
Photo at Marie Reed in Adams Morgan by Tucker
Photo by Nathan in Marie Reed
Another Adams Morgan shot by Sara
Photo by Tim Lim in Adams Morgan
Photo by Tim Lim
Photo by Judith in Adams Morgan.
Marie Photo by Penny Cavachon
If you spot a hawk or any interesting wildlife around town, lunching or otherwise, and get a good photo please send where you spotted it to princeofpetworth@gmail.com and I’ll add it to the queue. Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.
If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood. If you love the animal fix and want to ensure PoPville’s long term viability please consider donating to our Patreonhere.
“soon to be 14 yo kitty, Beauregard! Adams Morgan”
Arlington’s new Pet of the Week is Bitey, a one-year-old dog mysteriously born from a Bernese mountain mother and miniature poodle father.
Here is what Bitey’s owner, Dan, had to say:
Long before she joined her family, her owner’s decided over a decade ago (and perhaps over a few too many drinks) that if they ever did get a dog it would be named Bitey. Now that she’s here, her name prompts other parents to pull their kids closer, and other dog owners to pull taut their leashes. But once she bounds upon them looking for pets and hugs, all is well, assuming she doesn’t tumble them with enthusiasm.
When not out and about, Bitey is an ineffective but relentless backyard squirrel chaser, a gourmand consumer of toilet paper rolls, an incessant dispenser of licks and a huge proponent of lying near her dog bed but not on it. Highlights of her day include waking up the adults an hour before they need to, waking up all the kids for school (especially on Saturdays), and waking up the neighbors by barking. She is a huge fan of chase games at the dog park, and despite her 23 pound frame size she loves nothing more than shutting up bigger dogs that have far more bark than bite.
Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Emailarlingtonnews@gmail.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet. Please don’t send vertical photos, they don’t fit in our photo galleries!
Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks. Becky’s Pet Care is the winner of six consecutive Angie’s List Super Service Awards, the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year and a proud supporter of the Arlington County Pawsitively Prepared Campaign.
Becky’s Pet Care provides professional dog walking and pet sitting in Arlington and all of Northern Virginia, as well as PetPrep training courses for Pet Care, CPR and emergency preparedness.
Nearly a year ago, Howard University narrowed down the teams in the running to redevelop the 2.2 acres between Georgia Avenue and 8th Street NW between V and W Streets. Now, a development team has been selected and the vision for the site is coming into focus.
On Monday, Howard University announced that The Bond Partnership would transform the Bond Bread Factory and Washington Railway & Electric Company buildings at 2112-2146 Georgia Avenue NW (map) into a 600,000 square-foot mixed-use destination. Howard University Real Estate Executive Anthony Freeman shared with UrbanTurf that the development is expected to include roughly 450 residential units, 156 hotel rooms, and up to 300 parking spaces, all subject to zoning and historic preservation approval.
Thanks to deenagee for sending the update this morning. First spotted on 14th Street then later we had reports from 16th Street – clearly we’ve got a pattern. OK, until we see a rafter of them I think we are safe. Keep in mind, if you don’t bother the giant Turkey, the giant Turkey won’t bother you. Having said that for the safety of your pets, I’d have them on a short leash just in case s/he’s super hungry. Be safe all.
If you spot a hawk or any interesting wildlife around town, lunching or otherwise, and get a good photo please send where you spotted it to princeofpetworth@gmail.com and I’ll add it to the queue. Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.
(Updated at 3:25 p.m.) Arlington County is planning to start forwarding public records requests about Amazon to the company, despite not yet having finalized the agreement to do, officials say.
Arlington County agreed to alert the tech and retail giant whenever someone files a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for public records involving the company. Both Arlington County and the Commonwealth of Virginia have agreed to the deal, which has been criticized by open government advocates who fear it make public records harder to access.
The deal is part of a $23 million incentive package the County Board unanimously approved last month to lure the company and its promise of at least 25,000 jobs to the county. However, county officials still need to sign on the dotted line to seal the FOIA deal — something Arlington County spokeswoman Jennifer Smith says they will do within the next two weeks.
“Since the agreement has not yet been fully executed, the provision is not yet in effect,” Smith said of the FOIA deal. “Nonetheless, we will likely notify Amazon of requests for records if and when they come in.”
Smith did not answer a question about why the county decided to honor the agreement before executing it.
Arlington’s FOIA agreement says the county will “give Amazon not less than two (2) business days written notice of the request to allow Amazon to take such steps as it deems appropriate with regard to the requested disclosure of records.”
It also stipulates that the county agrees to, “disclose only such records as are subject to mandatory disclosure under VaFOIA or other applicable law or regulation,” referring to the state laws requiring a response within five days to public requests and that the government apply exemptions narrowly.
County Attorney Stephen MacIsaac told ARLnow through a spokeswoman the agreement with Amazon is a “courtesy” and that it “will not change the County’s response to the request” of public records.
“It provides Amazon with awareness of the FOIA request, giving the company the opportunity to protect records it believes are entitled to protection in the event the County intends to release the records,” he said.
This gives Amazon time to file a “reverse open records request” case in court preventing the county from sharing information, according to FOIA expert Professor John Cary Sims of the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.
Sims said sometimes courts step in and force records to be released, or filers can sue if they believe an exemption was applied improperly, but it’s a long process to unearth records that would otherwise be buried.
“It’s only if there is a lawsuit that somehow forces disclosure that anyone knows about it,” said Sims.
Rhyne has blogged about the differences between this agreement and others Arlington previously struck up like with Nestlé in 2017. She says the language specifying the warning window (48 hours) and requiring Arlington to only release only the “mandatory” records is new.
“If it were just going to be the same, they had templates out there that they could have followed,” Rhyne told ARLnow. “By doing something different usually there is an intent to do something different.”
One concern advocates have is whether requiring FOIA officers to forward requests to Amazon could slow down the response process.
“That is a real concern for the workflow for the county,” Rhyne said. “They’ve given themselves more work.”
“We know in many instances that it has delayed responses to FOIA requests,” said Adam Marshall, a staff attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “I think we’d have to see how it works in practice in Virginia. It certainly has the potential to delay responses.”
Marshall added that if this happens in Arlington, filers can try to sue but the litigation process is too long and too costly for many members of the public. As a result? “A lot of these timing violations don’t get enforced,” he said.
ARLnow has documented the county’s sometimes slow response and steep fees for FOIAs before.
MacIssac disagreed that forwarding FOIAs to Amazon will slow down the process or add to staff’s workload.
“When the request is received, it will simply be forwarded to Amazon for its information,” he said. “No further staff effort is anticipated.”
One of the reasons the request may not require much work for FOIA officers is that the county is planning to forward FOIAs to Amazon without redacting filers’ personal information, ARLnow learned. Arlington’s FOIA request forms require people fill out their name, address, phone number, and signature.
“If there is a specific request to not disclose certain information, the County will take that into consideration,” said county spokesperson Jennifer Smith.
Arlington County also publishes its responses to FOIA requests online, but does not include the requester’s information.
“We are excited about our new headquarters in Virginia,” an Amazon spokeswoman said to ARLnow in a statement Monday.
“Our goal was to be as transparent as possible with cities and states during our selection process and we shared non-public information about Amazon that we thought was necessary to have earnest conversations,” the statement continued. “In order to allow for a free flow of information, we needed to be comfortable that the non-public information we shared would not be disclosed more broadly.”
A spokeswoman for the County Board did not return requests for comment for this story.
Sims says FOIA-warning agreements like this set a precedence for more.
“People realize that, ‘Oh wait they put in this advanced notice requirement and that allowed them to do this, that, and that. So okay we’ll do that, too’,” he said.
Amazon did strike the same deal in New York City, where it scouted for the second half of its new headquarters before dropping the location in February. City officials originally denied the existence of the agreement then later admitted they had agreed to forward FOIAs to Amazon.
Officials in Hilliard, Ohio agreed to give Amazon five days notice before completing public records requests that involved the company or its local data center, reported the Columbia Journalism Review, and Facebook also bargained a three day early warning in Albany, New York.
“All these interactions that government is having with this business are interactions that the government is doing in our names and on our behalf,” Rhyne said. “And as members of the public we have the right to monitor what those actions are and hold those government officials accountable.”
Historian Sarah Shoenfeld, co-director of PrologueDC , will lead a walking tour of DC’s Bloomingdale neighborhood. Racially restrictive deed covenants kept much of this neighborhood off-limits to African Americans until the 1940s. A series of legal challenges to covenants in Bloomingdale culminated in the 1948 case Hurd v. Hodge, which was heard by the Supreme Court. This tour will feature some of the houses and blocks subject to battles over covenants along the shifting geographic lines that divided African Americans from their white neighbors here during the first half of the 20th century, and commemorates the 50th anniversary of The Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act.
Mapping Segregation in Washington DC is documenting the historic segregation of DC’s housing, schools, playgrounds, and other public spaces. To date the project has focused on racially restrictive housing covenants, which had a dramatic impact on the development of the nation’s capital decades before government-sanctioned redlining policies were implemented in cities across the country.
The tour will start at the small park across from Big Bear Café at First and R Streets NW and will take 1.5 to 2 hours. Please arrive prior to 2 PM.
Made possible in part by support from the DC Commission of the Arts & Humanities and the Capitol Hill Community Foundation.
Arlington County is making the case, in a recently published video, that trees make good economic sense for residents.
For one, “homes on tree lined streets, versus streets that have no trees on them, sell faster and for more than homes” without trees, according to local real estate agent Eli Tucker, who also pens a sponsored real estate column on ARLnow.
Trees can increase a home’s value by 15 percent, Tucker said.
Another reason for keeping a tree canopy around your house: mature trees can help reduce the risk of flooding and can save on heating and air conditioning costs — to the tune of an up to 25 percent savings on energy costs.
The video was created by Arlington TV, the county government’s video production arm and cable channel.
Excuse me, but we have William Shatner commenting on our policies?
Arlington cyclists can now ride e-bikes on NOVA Parks trails, including the popular W&OD Trail, thanks to a new change in the rules.
“Last Thursday, the NOVA Parks Board adopted the attached changes to our regulations that now allow for electric assist bikes on our trails, including but not limited to the W&OD Trail,” NOVA Parks Executive Director Paul Gilbert told ARLnow.
“This is for all NOVA Parks properties which is 12,200 acres over three counties and three cities,” he said.
The trails span Arlington, as well as parts of Fairfax and Falls Church. However, each jurisdiction has their own regulations for e-bikes on their local trails.
A spokesperson for Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services confirmed Arlington does not currently allow the electric bikes on local county trails but change could be coming down the road.
“Regarding allowing e-bikes on County trails, we’ll look at it this summer during the evaluation of our shared mobility devices demonstration project,” said department spokesman Eric Baillet.
It’s a direction that pleases William Shatner, of Star Trek fame, who took Arlington to task for making its trails one of the final frontiers for local e-bike riders.
Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services had tagged the e-bike-enthused actor in November during an exchange about the bikes were banned from trails. It was a policy Shatner called “barbaric” at the time.
“Remember this?” Shatner tweeted Wednesday with a link to the November conversation, “Now I can!”
“See you and your e-bike on the W&OD, Bill,” the department responded. “As to getting it on the non-NOVA trails around here, stay tuned for a rule review in coming months.”
NOVA Parks’ new regulations apply to pedal bikes with electric motors that assist riders, but not mopeds, per a copy of the amendments tweeted by NOVA Parks Board Chairman Michael Nardolilli.
The regional parks authority proposed lifting the ban back in February, after the regional authority commissioned a study on the impact e-bikes in Prince William County, San Jose, California, and Sweden.
The study, conducted by Silver Spring-based Toole Design Group, said it found that e-bike riders displayed “nearly identical safety behaviors.”
Toole Design also found that although e-bike riders typically travel faster than regular bicycles on roadways, e-bike riders travelled slower than regular cyclists on shared bike paths.
Toole Design Group concluded that:
Research indicates that E-bikes pose no significant safety concerns when compared with regular bicycles, and that E-bikes make cycling more accessible and attractive to a larger segment of the population. Specifically, E-bikes may help attract cyclists that are less able-bodied and more utilitarian in their cycling preferences, which could help explain why many studies seem to show a decrease in potentially risky behavior when E-cyclists are around other vulnerable road users.
The Virginia General Assembly approved legislation in 2013 allowing “electric power-assisted bicycles” on bike paths.
The Fairfax County Park Authority has since amended their local park regulations to allow e-bikes on local trails, according to Gilbert.
Electric bikes are growing in popularity with companies Lime and JUMP both offering them in Arlington, as well as a new e-bike initiative from Capital Bikeshare.
If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood. If you love the animal fix and want to ensure PoPville’s long term viability please consider donating to our Patreonhere.
“A very wet and floofy Finnegan of Penn Quarter!”
“Here’s Macho enjoying (?) the snow from his rooftop on 14th St”
This is one of the more bizarre maps that we’ve uncovered. It certainly demonstrates how different the times were with such a high incidence of death due to diarrhea in the 19th century. Sanitation wasn’t exactly high caliber as you can read in a few of our posts about Swampoodle and Murder Bay.
A shocking new UN report, the most comprehensive assessment of its kind, reveals our devastating impact on nature.
♂️ They should get @PEDEGO bikes!
https://t.co/KHRwM4kEX0
@PEDEGO https://t.co/NvK5rDbKcO
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![[3]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tropidosaura_gularis03.jpg){kind=link}
