V.w.verweij

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. Your photos will go into the queue (usually 2 weeks wait) and will be posted in the order I receive them. If you’ve already entered your pet and would like to do so again – that’s no problem – just space the entries out a bit. Please try to send horizontal photos 640×480 (medium size on your iphone) if possible. If you’re not using an iphone any size is fine.

“Lola in Mount Vernon Triangle”

“Here is Priscilla from Old Town Alexandria.”

“Vespa, 12 week old cane corso from Trinidad NW. Vespa is wondering why her humans choose to go to work all day when they could be doing THIS.”

Thanks a lot, heathens.

My new series illustratedinternet.com is now up on Line Webtoon! Here’s the first comic, based on the ICONIC tweet by JNalv!

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Another spell from the Book of Magick

Arlington’s animal control agency is warning residents that a rabid raccoon was recently found in the Dominion Hills neighborhood.

An animal control officer found the raccoon, oddly, in a cardboard box with a water bowl.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington is asking those who may have had contact with the animal — or those whose pets may have had contact with it — to contact them.

From the AWLA:

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington seeks information about any people or pets who may have had physical exposure to a raccoon that has tested positive for rabies. An animal control officer found a sick raccoon in a cardboard box left on the street in the 1000 block of North Manchester Street on August 23, 2016. The box also contained a plastic bowl of water. The raccoon was brought to the animal shelter where it was humanely euthanized. When it was sent for testing, the raccoon was positive for rabies. We ask that anyone who may have had contact or whose pets may have had contact with any raccoon in that vicinity, please call the League at 703-931-9241.

Georgia and Otis Pl, NW

Back in May 2015, Fish in the Hood first added some shade to their outdoor patio. We’re about to reach phase three:

Arlington County is the hardest-working “city” in the United States, at least according to a new set of rankings.

The financial website SmartAsset has Arlington ranked No. 1 on its list of the “hardest-working cities in America.” The website ranked 113 U.S. cities by labor market data on the average number of hours worked in a week and the average number of weeks worked per year.

The four hardest-working cities after Arlington were Anchorage, Alaska; Lincoln, Nebraska; Plano, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Detroit ranked last on the list

People in Arlington work an average of 41.5 hours per week and 40.15 weeks per year, according to SmartAsset. The company said that Arlington benefitted from steady employment at the Pentagon and other federal government offices.

Thanks in part to a large federal government presence, the Arlington, VA economy is largely immune to the economic shocks which sometimes rock the rest of the country. Government agencies like the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security are headquartered here. In fact, the Pentagon where the Department of Defense is headquartered is the largest office building in the world.

In Arlington people work an average of 41.5 hours per week. This figure is the highest in the country and a big reason Arlington comes in as the hardest-working city in America.

The largest private companies (in terms of employees) in the city are Deloitte and Accenture. Other large private companies owe their presence to the nearby Department of Defense, like Lockheed Martin. All in all, workers in Arlington work an average of 1,431 hours per year.

A “serial pooper” has left a No. 2 on the Ft. Barnard Park playground for the second time in as many weeks.

The ill-placed excrement was spotted this morning, conveniently while county crews were at the park for routine landscaping work.

“Unfortunately, the serial pooper struck again this morning,” a nearby resident told ARLnow.com. “This time it was not covered by a shirt, but a pile of human feces was found on the playground by some benches. County landscapers were already on the scene when it was found and called their office to arrange for cleanup and to discuss other methods to deter or catch the pooper. I guess this makes him the very brazen serial pooper.”

Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish confirmed that feces was found and that employees promptly took action to remove it.

“Yes, we found some more this morning,” Kalish said. “It is being cleaned up. We’ve notified police, rangers and are also working with homeless advocates.”

Kalish relayed some bullet points from the parks department regarding the defecation situation, including the somewhat surprising revelation that poop is pretty common in parks.

This is unacceptable behavior.

• To reiterate – please do not poop in public places. This is something your mom should have taught you long ago.

When we know about it, we remove it immediately.

• General practice is to remove waste on natural surfaces such as grass or mulch. However if the waste is on a surface such as concrete, paving or playgrounds, staff removes the waste and the cleans the area with disinfectant.
• Staff has turned the issue over to police and park rangers to continue investigating in an effort to stop the issue.

We regret this sometimes happens.

• As surprising as it may sound, it is not uncommon to find human waste in a park.
• A couple months ago we noticed sporadically the waste in Ft. Barnard Park. It stood out because someone puts a t-shirt on top of it.
• It became more common over the last month so park maintenance staff started pro-active check-ins at the park.
• It seems that the waste is deposited overnight.

As of 11 a.m. this morning, it appeared that the latest droppings had been cleaned up and about a dozen children and caretakers were in the park, playing on the playground.

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. Your photos will go into the queue (usually 2 weeks wait) and will be posted in the order I receive them. If you’ve already entered your pet and would like to do so again – that’s no problem – just space the entries out a bit. Please try to send horizontal photos 640×480 (medium size on your iphone) if possible. If you’re not using an iphone any size is fine.

“Rescue kittens Maxie (left) and Duke (right) sitting for glamour shots in Logan Circle!”

“Millie from Petworth”

“Cotton (Cleveland Park) trying so hard to fit that paw into the big toe strap…”

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By: Max Burns

A little over a month since its blockbuster launch, Arlingtonians have probably seen the massive crowds of people engaging in the latest summer trend — Pokémon Go.

Now the most popular mobile game in history, Pokémon Go encourages players and their friends to venture into community parks and open spaces to capture the 151 Pokémon that became a global craze in the mid-1990s.

There’s a massive thread on Reddit’s Northern Virginia board sharing the best locations for catching Pokémon, battling other players in “gyms”, and meeting up for conversations and Happy Hours. It’s difficult to visit a local park — or even walk Wilson Boulevard — without encountering hundreds of eager players striving to be the very best.

But Pokémon Go may be more than just a mobile game. It’s also an opportunity for Arlington County officials to engage a tough-to-reach demographic on an issue that is often not at the forefront of their attention: community parks.

Look around a County Board meeting or any meeting of parks advocates and you likely won’t see many Millennials. Discussions about projects like the Long Bridge Park Aquatic Center largely target other demographics. But with the surge in youth utilization of parks after Pokémon Go’s release, younger Arlingtonians may be primed to think about parks as their concern.

There’s evidence that Arlington’s Pokémon Go players are increasingly conscious of the greenspace and public land that makes up the game’s field of play. I reached out to several players hunting Pokémon in stop-rich Clarendon and along Columbia Pike for their experiences playing in Arlington.

“It’s brilliant seeing parks that used to have three or four people and their dogs now have four or five times as many Pokémon fans using them,” a level 33 player who goes by Fulliautomatix, said. “The game has spurred a greater connection — a real connection — between folks in the neighborhood and the parks in the community.”

There’s merit to Fulliautomatix’s sentiment. A casual tour of Pokémon gyms and stops in Arlington shows a diverse collection of ages, races and genders swapping stories from the hunt and commending the accessibility and safety of Arlington parks. Nationally, Pokémon Go also received commendations for bringing players with Asperger’s and other social disorders into their communities.

Pokémon Go has mobilized a broad demographic of players who previously paid little attention to dry debates about Arlington parks. It’s a unique opportunity for the Arlington County Board, Parks and Recreation Commission, and County staff to develop and promote entertaining and educational events and programming targeting an often overlooked audience of young Arlingtonians who during this time are much more aware of and more likely to use community greenspace.

They wouldn’t be alone in such a response. Nationally, the National Parks Service has leaned into the Pokémon Go craze by urging rangers to engage tourists visiting national forests and monuments. Last month, Fairfax County hosted a community “Pokethon” that combined neighborhood walks with discussions of safety and the importance of maintaining community spaces. Hundreds turned out.

“I don’t know if I cared about parks around here as much before Pokémon Go,” level 24 player LiteraryCritic said between captures at Windy Run Park last weekend. “I went on the Parks and Rec website to find good spots, and actually found a lot of things I’d get involved with.”

Pokémon Go may be a summer trend destined to fade. But its growth shows no signs of slowing, and the enthusiasm of its players shouldn’t be overlooked by County officials. Engaging even a fraction of active players in Arlington County would represent an incredible change in the community audience engaged on greenspace issues.

And it’s the kind of tech-forward experiment in civic engagement that could encourage more Millennials to participate in County processes and make a long-term commitment to involvement in their community. We’ve already heard multiple County Board members — including new members Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey — urge innovation in County outreach to Millennials. Here’s a tailor-made opportunity. Piggybacking discussions of community greenspace onto a mobile game may seem like an unorthodox method to start public policy conversations, but if creating new support for parks and park resources are a priority for Arlington County, it’s an attempt worth pursuing.

Max Burns is the Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia Technology Working Group. He is also a former President of the Arlington Young Democrats.

hotcomicsforcoolpeople:

Cool Dad Comics

Written by Brandon Sheffield
Drawn by Dami Lee
Inspired by MrWasteland!

A modern-looking plaque across the street from the Madison Community Center and Fort Ethan Allen Park is sporting some seriously outdated lingo.

The plaque reads:

FORT ETHAN ALLEN CHAIN BRIDGE GULF BRANCH SANCTUARY FOR WILDLIFE AND NOT SO WILDLIFE HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS …

THE SANCTUARY

… HISTORICAL SITE OF CIVIL WAR FORT ETHAN ALLEN WHICH COMMANDED ALL THE APPROACHES SOUTH OF PIMMIT RUN TO CHAIN BRIDGE DURING THE WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION (1861-1865)

Of particular interest is the phrase “War of Northern Aggression.” It’s safe to say that this term, used by some southerners to refer to the Civil War, has been out of favor in Arlington for some time.

The plaque is attached to a large stone on the corner of N. Richmond and Stafford streets, near where the fort once stood. Behind it is a small but lush green space, surrounded by a wood rail fence. But “the Sanctuary,” according to neighbors, is the name a housing developer gave to the homes he built in the area.

Many residents of this 18-home community, who say their homes were built on land owned and developed by the Caruthers family, find the plaque near the entrance to their neighborhood a little strange. (We were unable to reach the Caruthers family to comment on the plaque.)

“The thing that mentions the War of Northern Aggression?” said Maxwell Denney. “I mean, it’s just ridiculous.”

Other locals also find the terminology out of place.

“I thought this plaque… was rather odd,” said a tipster who emailed ARLnow.com. “While I recognize that Virginia seceded at the Civil War, a modern-day reference to the ‘War of Northern Aggression’ (at the site of a Union fort) strikes me as somewhat peculiar.”

Officials we talked to said they are not sure of the story behind the plaque.

The Arlington County Historic Preservation program, Arlington Public Schools, the Arlington Department of Parks and Recreation, and even the people at the Madison Community Center — none knew anything about the plaque. Arlington historic preservation officials said the plaque does not belong to the county and they had no record of its installation.

Update at 5:05 p.m. — Commenter AnonymousArlingtonian linked to a 2011 Arlington Connection article that points to Preston Caruthers as the plaque’s builder. The plaque also was mentioned in a Falls Church News-Press column in 2011, but the author of that column, Charlie Clark, told us today he doesn’t believe Caruthers installed it.

Update at 6:45 p.m. on July 24 — Clark has updated his previous assertion, saying he has since confirmed the plaque was indeed installed by Caruthers.

Something knocked down a lamppost in Courthouse this afternoon.

The light toppled over in front of the CVS Pharmacy, near the Metro station. Luckily, no one was reported to be hurt by the falling mass of metal and glass.

The lamppost is located next to a bus stop. However, by the time an ARLnow.com reporter arrived on scene the lamppost had already been moved out of the middle of the sidewalk and none of the buses idling nearby had any sign of damage.

A 1,892 lb grizzly bear was set to be euthanized again onWednesday, days after it killed an entire department of police officers who attempted to shoot it after it killed the last rangers who were trying to euthanize it for killing several campers in the Angelica National Forest above Altadente, officials said. But the small army of rangers who were assigned the task of euthanizing the bear this time were also slain as soon as they tried. The bear’s known body count is now 73.

The bear was found about 12 hours after a string of campground attacks last Saturday, and was walking casually, leaving a trail of blood and entrails south of Millgard Campground said Chuck Dinkler spokesman for the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Fish and Wildlife officials shot tranquilizers into the bear and took it to a nearby facility, where authorities worked to determine whether it was the same ursine that killed nearly 40 campers.

Biologists took saliva, feces, hair and fiber samples from the bear and compared those with evidence collected at the campsites, he said. The department’s Wildlife Forensics Laboratory works to identify bears involved in human attacks by sampling their saliva and hair left at the scene.

Because the nearly 5-year-old bear killed campers, Fish and Wildlife officials decided to euthanize the animal based on the risk posed to public safety.

But the moment they attempted to euthanize the bear, it tore free from the operating table and killed everyone in the building, then escaped. The police were called, but every officer sent to the scene, even though in large numbers, were also slain as they attempted to chase the bear through the forest.

“At one point the bear had come out onto highway 7 and was being pursued by six police vehicles,” said Sergeant Morin of the Altadente police department. “But when one of the cruisers tried to ram the bear, the vehicle flipped and caused a pile up. The bear ate everyone.”

With no police left in the area, 19 rangers from out of state who specialized in animal euthanizations were brought in on a bus. The team was dispatched into the forest Wednesday and their remains were found Thursday morning.

“It was bad luck for the rangers and bad luck for the boys in blue,” he said. “And then also bad luck for the other rangers.”

According to the Fish and Wildlife Department, “habituated bears are not candidates for moving and shall either be humanely euthanized or placed with a permitted animal care facility upon failure of the corrective measures.” The grizzly who has yet to be euthanized was deemed unfit to be placed in animal care early in the investigation. Officials said the public-safety risk was incredibly high and that euthanization was the only option. Despite losing several rangers, Fish and Wildlife says they will continue their attempts to euthanize the creature.

The decision has not been made about who will be sent next. “Whoever we send next will probably die too,” said Dinkler, “that’s just the risk that comes with the job.”

Ethan Nicolle July 28, 2016 

#mypubliclandsroadtrip stops by Meadowood, Virginia, on the way to Washington, D.C.

The Mason Neck peninsula, approximately 18 miles south of Washington, D.C., is also the site of Gunston Hall - historic home of George Mason IV, author of the Virginia Bill of Rights. Additional public lands on Mason Neck include the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mason Neck State Park, and Pohick Bay Regional Park.

Also nearby, the BLM manages the 800-acre Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area for recreation, environmental education, and wild horse and burro interpretation. The Meadowood Trail System includes dynamic  multiple use trails for horseback riding, hiking and mountain biking–making it the perfect stop to recreate on your way to tour the Nation’s Capitol.

Habitat is provided for migratory and resident waterfowl, bald eagle, nesting, feeding, and roosting, and enhancement of species diversity for a variety of wildlife, including blue heron, wood ducks, wood ducks, screech owls, bluebirds, and tree frogs.