2016 NEWS
Latest News (as of 9/14/2016)
September Newsletter is out
read the latest news here.
SAVE THE DATE: NEXT CCCA MEETING ON DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORTATION IN CRYSTAL CITY (See the agenda here)
RIBBON CUTTING FOR THE CONNECTION: CRYSTAL CITY LIBRARY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2016
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CRYSTAL CITY LIBRARY COMING IN SEPTEMBER
If you missed the informational meeting August 16, watch the space in the Underground across from the Tech Shop and facing Au Bon Pain: "The Connection." The Arlington County library hopes to open its temporary pop-up library by the end of September.
The library is increasingly looking for greater outreach to connect with communities and to embed its libraries inside the community. There will be library tablets available preloaded... with magazines and reference material. There will be daily delivery of books Monday to Friday, but can be open on Saturdays. The online survey showed three key areas of interest: 1) best sellers; 2) DIY materials; and, surprisingly, 3) DVDs. Library staff are also considering the borrowing of “things”; e.g., tools, games. There can be events, under room usage guidelines published on the library’s website; e.g., authors, topics, CCCA meetings, NGO meetings, game night. Some participants asked for a children’s nook and after school (5-7 pm) and Saturday morning activities for children, noting that there are indeed quite a few school children in the apartment buildings. There was some discussion of workshops for younger kids, perhaps in partnership with the Tech Shop, which cannot host the workshops due to liability concerns.
You can follow updates on the library's website: http://library.arlingtonva.us/locations/connection-crystal-city/
Exciting News: The Connection Library
Crystal City has been chosen as the prototype for Arlington County's innovative pop-up library format: designed to appeal to our community dwellers. Technology, DIY information, tool lending library, events, meetings, etc.
The CCCA is co-sponsoring an informational presentation August 18 from 7-9 in the Tech Shop, right next to the library under construction in the underground. Be sure to join us to add your input on what we need in this new temporary library. The space will open in mid-September, and this is a chance for us to make the library the "beacon" for Crystal City.
The online survey has now closed, but see the announcement of the August 16 meeting here.
Breaking News: Innovative Pop Up Library for Crystal City
At our Annual General Meeting last November, Guest speaker Diane Kresh, Arlington County Director of Libraries, presented her general/countywide topics and visions for high-density areas in Arlington, like Crystal City. She then applied that to Crystal City, where we have no library, and discussed with us what might be possible to do to improve our situation. Our local library is the small Aurora Hills Library, which has only one small room serving as a "community center" for three areas: Aurora Highlands, Arlington Ridge, and Crystal City. See the summary for a full description of the meeting.
During a lively question and answer period, many speakers supported the innovative idea of a “pop up” library—a temporary space in one of the vacant areas in the Crystal City underground. It's going to happen! The CCCA has been following up on the issue and is pleased that negotiations between Vornado and the County have led to a positive outcome.
Ms. Kresh announced July 19 that a temporary “pop-up” library will open this September in Crystal City next to the Tech Shop in the former Mens Wearhouse space at 2100 Crystal Drive: "Connection: Crystal City." Library Director Diane Kresh sees the pop-up facility as a low-cost way to push library services into more neighborhoods and introduce people of all ages to the wide scope of what the County’s public library system has to offer. In addition, the Crystal City pop-up branch is expected to help enliven the Crystal City Shops. “We chose Crystal City as the first neighborhood to experiment with a pop-up library both because we have found that Route 1, which runs through Crystal City, poses a physical barrier to access for many people to the nearest community library, and because people in the neighborhood expressed interest in the approach,” Kresh said.
Watch this space, our Facebook page, and emails for notice of an informational meeting the CCCA plans to co-host in August with the Public Library for Crystal City residents so we can provide input to help make the pop-up library a "beacon" for Crystal City: lots of electronic access; books geared to DYI; book groups and author presentations; etc...
https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/release/arlington-to-open-crystal-city-pop-up-library/
Biophilic Cities: Incorporating Nature into Arlington’s Urban Landscape
How do humans benefit from being close to nature? How can we foster connections with nature as Arlington County becomes more urbanized? How will these connections improve livability and quality of life?
Join us to learn about the benefits of a Biophilic City and how Arlington can participate in this movement on Thurs. Sept. 15 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Navy League Building, 2300 Wilson Blvd, Arlington. Learn from Timothy Beatley, Professor of Sustainable Communities at University of Virginia School of Architecture and Stella Tarnay, an advisor at George Mason University’s Sustainable Landscape Design Program and Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy.
Registration and networking are from 5:30-6 p.m. with light refreshments.
Timothy Beatley
Sponsored by Arlington County’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Environmental Services.
Atlantic Gateway Project and Crystal City
-- Extend 95 Express Lanes seven miles north to the Potomac River and improve access to the Pentagon at the Eads Street interchange.
-- Build 14 miles of new track to ease the movement of VRE and Amtrak trains as well as freight. This rail part of Atlantic Gateway will include initial steps to rebuild the Long Bridge, the span that takes rail traffic across the Potomac River, as well as the widening of track segments in Northern Virginia.
The CCCA is planning to invite speakers to upcoming meetings in September and November to brief us and seek community feedback. Stay tuned for more information in coming weeks.
Arlington County Detailed Bond Issue
Read the Washington Post article July 25 on how the Arlington County Board and school officials will spell out in unprecedented detail this fall how they plan to spend borrowed money for long-term capital projects — a response to several years’ demands from residents for more transparency.
Voters will be asked in November, as they are every two years, whether to allow the county to borrow money by issuing general obligation bonds to pay for new schools, facilities, transportation and parks projects.
But while in 2014 a typical ballot question sought $105.8 million in bonds to “fund the design and construction of various school facility projects including new elementary schools, building additions for additional classroom space and maintenance capital projects,” a question on the ballot this fall for $138.8 million in school construction will spell out five specific schools or projects, with costs attached to each one.
Metro Provides Real-Time Train Information
Fulfilling a commitment made earlier this year, Metro General Manager/CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld announced July 19 that Metro is making available the real-time location of trains, allowing developers to create more accurate and advanced mobile apps that will enhance the rider experience. To help riders easily discover and download helpful transit apps, Metro plans to create an “App Gallery” on wmata.com in the coming weeks. The App Gallery will direct customers to validated apps that have been submitted by developers using this form.
http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=6136
MetPark6
The Arlington County Board approved July 16 the Phase 6 site plan for the Metropolitan Park development in Pentagon City. Developer Vornado plans a new apartment building with of 577 units and 9,665 square feet of ground floor retail space. The building will incorporate multiple rooflines with a maximum height of 22 stories. The community will gain three new open space areas, including the completion of the Metropolitan Park Central Park, a public courtyard open space and an enhanced streetscape treatment along S. Eads Street.
CIP Meeting Highlights, July 1, 2016
On June 22, the County Board held a public meeting to hear input from Arlington residents on the proposed Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) which is to be voted on July 19, 2016. Four work sessions have been scheduled on individual agenda items, with the last one July 12 before the final vote. In the meantime, you can read the CIP survey comments or visit Engage Arlington for more opportunities to give online feedback on other topics.
There were approximately 44 interventions, about half of them urging the Board to approve Phase 2 of the Long Bridge Park plan, in order to meet core community needs. The facility would include two bodies of water (a 50-meter X 25 yard pool and a combined teaching pool/family pool), health and fitness space, and support of the core program elements with two (2) wet classrooms, a community room, spectator seating, facility administration and locker facilities. The building will be approximately 73,000 SF in size, which is a reduction of approximately 37% from the previous design and has associated reductions to capital and operating costs. The project also includes 10.5 acres of park development including parking, continuation of the esplanade, public art, event lawns, rain gardens, and environmental remediation. The revised project will be designed and built within existing funds.
Speakers on the LBP plan came from Crystal City residents; soccer, swimming, and diving associations; and the Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID). All were positive. Several supported Board efforts to seek partners in order to add the more expensive elements not included in the existing budget for Phase 2: the 10 meter diving pool and a therapy pool.
Other Crystal City residents urged the Board to consider an alternate route for the Transitway in northern Crystal City, to circle around 15th Street and S. Clark Streets--the western, commercial side of the megablock between 15th and 12th Streets--instead of the residential side on Crystal Drive. The Crystal Gateway Condo Board Vice President presented a petition with over 300 signatures from residents and workers/visitors to Crystal City and Long Bridge Park supporting the alternate route. County Board member Christian Dorsey had suggested at the last CCCA general meeting that such a petition might help Board consideration of the alternate route.
One speaker noted that Crystal City residents will be interested in seeing the proposed design for the development of the 15th Street mini park and the Gateway park entrance to LBP, which local residents hope will remain a passive park, not a noisy, active one.
Other interventions dealt with non-Crystal City issues. The meeting was videotaped and can be viewed on the County’s website: http://arlington.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=3154
2016 July 4th Celebration @ Long Bridge Park
The 5th annual July 4th Celebration @ Long Bridge Park will be held on Monday, July 4, 2016 from 5-10 p.m. at Long Bridge Park. Event-goers can take part in the various activities happening at the park that day, including a food truck rally, drop-in kickball games and contests, drop-in lawn games, free face painting, moon bounces (weather permitting) and balloon art, live music from exciting acts and great views of the Washington, DC fireworks display.
View the event flyer (English) (Espanol
​Check the road closures here.
Long Bridge Park Playgrounds Open July 4
As part of the July 4th Celebration @ Long Bridge Park festivities, a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. to celebrate the completion of Phase 3A of the Long Bridge Park project. This phase of the project focused on the 6th Street S side of the park and included new children's play features. To learn more about the project, visit the project page.
https://projects.arlingtonva.us/…/long-bridge-park-phase-3…/
Arlington is the best place to live in America
It seems that Arlington County has a lot going for it. A solid public-school system, a healthy population, ample nightlife venues and accessible public transit. All of this makes the Northern Virginia county the best place to live in America, according to a new report.
The ranking from Niche, a website that says it helps people find which neighborhoods and cities are the best fit, looked at 227 cities, counties and jurisdictions, then ranked them based on the area’s amenities, crime rates, school options and more.
Arlington got an A+ for its schools, family life, nightlife, and health and fitness, which looks at obesity rates and access to health resources. The county received a B+ in the jobs category, which accounted for factors such as the unemployment rate and the ratio of the median monthly housing cost for homeowners to the median monthly household income.
June Newsletter is Out
Check out the latest information for Crystal City and Arlington. Always remember that breaking news is posted on our Facebook page.
The newest County Board members, Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey, met with residents to provide their take on Arlington and Crystal City issues. Residents asked many questions, including:
What can be done about bikes feeling safe on Crystal Drive in the bike lane?
What is the status of Long Bridge Park Fitness and Aquatics Center?
What can be done about the intersection of ArmyNavy and Fern?
How can the police better help traffic?
What can be done about homeless people?
New CCCA Board Member
Welcome to Teresa Rusin, who has been appointed by the Board to fill the vacant position of Membership Liaison until the next elections. Teresa works at the TechShop on Crystal Drive and lives at the new WeLive housing complex. We welcome her input.
New Options for Long Bridge Park
On April 12 Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz presented the County Board with options for moving forward with both the replacement of the Lubber Run Community Center and development of 10.5 more acres of open space and a reduced aquatics, health and fitness facility at Long Bridge Park. The correct estimated construction costs of the aquatics health and fitness facility and development of 10.5 more acres of parkland is between $46 million and $50.5 million.
The Board’s work session on the two projects helped frame the community’s upcoming discussion on updating the Capital Improvement Program, the County’s 10-year blueprint for funding major facilities and infrastructure. The work session, Chair Libby Garvey noted, “is the beginning of the process” of engaging the community on both projects.
The revised plan for Long Bridge Park reduces the size of the facility by 37 percent, to about 73,000 square feet. The reductions are achieved by reducing the number of pools from the three proposed in 2012 to two, reducing the number of lobbies, circulation areas and storage space. The smaller building, fewer pools, and a less expensive HVAC system all contribute to lower construction and operating costs. The family pool and teaching pool would be combined into a single pool under the new proposal, and the therapy pool and three dive towers eliminated. Space for a health and fitness center would be retained. See press release.
Op Ed on Long Bridge Park by Tobin Smith
The chair of the Long Bridge Citizen Advisory Committee and former Chair of the Arlington Park and Recreation Committee Tobin Smith supports the design and construction of a new aquatics, health, and Fitness Center at Long Bridge Park. See his Op Ed in ArlNow.Com.
MetPark 6 Open House
With the Metropolitan Park Phase 6 Site Plan, the last section of the “Central Open Space” will be built. The community is welcome to come to an open house on April 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to provide input on the future open space! At this meeting there will also be information about future improvements to the section of S Eads Street along Metropolitan Park. For more information about the Metropolitan Park Project go to the Arlington County Website and search Metropolitan Park. Please contact me if you have questions.
MetPark_6_April 6_Public_Open_House.pdf
March 16 CCCA General Meeting
Did you miss this? What a fun evening about Arts, Crafts, Food and Entertainment in Crystal City. See the write up in the April Newsletter.
We Need a New School in 22202
Representatives of the CCCA have been participating in the South Arlington Working Group on Arlington County Schools, emphasizing the need for a school in our area to meet the growing population. (The Newsletter has provided regular updates on this pro9ess.) Attached is the letter sent electronically to the Arlington County School Board (with a cc to the Arlington County Board) request that the Arlington Public Schools budget for a new elementary school with in zip code 22202. Four civic associations, including the CCCA, were signatories to the letter.
Understanding Transit Lanes
Check out the latest Fact Sheet with Qs and As on the Crystal City/Potomac Yard Transitway. The FAQ provides clear/reassuring answers beyond what the flyer explains. For example:
· If I am exiting a driveway next to the bus lane, can I use the bus lane to merge into general traffic?
· Yes. Drivers may exit the driveway into the bus lane and then safely merge into the general traffic lane.
If you have a question about or suggestion for our FAQs, send it to [email protected]. The County is not however speculating about the precise implementation date.
http://transportation.arlingtonva.us/transit-lanes/#faqs
Wednesday Night Spins in Crystal City
Calling all cyclists and adrenaline junkies! Registration is open for Wednesday Night Spins. The race series brings indoor bike races to Crystal City every Wednesday in March. Due to popular demand, this year’s series includes a Women’s Open Race. With the unpredictable weather and a quiet local race calendar, March is the perfect time for an indoor race and provides the perfect pre-season training program. Wednesdays in March - 6pm to 9pm.
OAR’s 8th Annual Second Chance Fundraising Breakfast
April 6 - 7:45 AM to 9:00 AM
Crystal Gateway Marriott - 1700 Jefferson Davis Hwy
OAR will hold its 8th Annual Second Chance Fundraising Breakfast on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 from 7:45am to 9:00am at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City. This event is the organization’s largest annual fundraiser. 600 guests are expected this year including elected officials, dignitaries, community partners, donors, volunteers, and those interested in learning more about OAR. Guests are treated to a free, hot breakfast and a program full of guest speakers, client stories and a video about OAR’s programs. Attendees are asked to consider making a donation to OAR, with no minimum or maximum donation required. Please RSVP here.
Long Bridge Drive and I-395 Interchange Update
The county is working to complete Long Bridge Drive and redesign the entire interchange. Work on some of the utilities and preliminary street work should begin later this year. The interchange design continues and progress is being made. The current schedule is for reconstruction of the interchange to occur in 2018.
For more information about the different alternatives, please check the county’s webpage for the project:
http://projects.arlingtonva.
Arlington County’s Transit Development Plan (TDP)
Arlington is developing its 10-year plan for bus service. This Transit Development Plan is analyzing service throughout the County and will recommend future improvements. The plan is also studying how to enhance bus service along Columbia Pike and in Crystal City-Pentagon City.
Draft recommendations
36 bus routes across Arlington are recommended for improvements during the next 10 years. Route-by-route details of the proposed improvements are listed below. Learn how to comment on this proposal in the next section.
- Overview of Recommendations – County-wide recommendations and changes proposed for Columbia Pike and Crystal City-Pentagon City
- ART Proposed Improvements – Route-by-route details for ART bus service
- Metrobus Proposed Improvements – Route-by-route details for Metrobus service
- Arlington System Map 2026 – What Arlington’s transit system would look like in 2026 with the proposed changes
I’d like to have a say in this plan. What can I do?
Fill out the online comment form – After reviewing the draft recommendations above, use our comment form to provide feedback on proposed route changes. The comment form will close March 11. [Also available in Spanish]
In-person feedback – Staff will be at six locations to discuss the draft recommendations and collect feedback. Please stop by anytime during the hours shown to share your thoughts with a staff member.
A copy of the event flyer is attached to this email (English and Spanish).
- Tuesday, Feb. 23 from 4 to 7 pm: Commuter Store in the Crystal City Shops (251 18th St. S., Arlington, VA 22202)
