Taryn Luntz

3 Minute Interview-Farbstein

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein is the public face of a very public transit system. She got her start as a sports reporter and made a stop at the community relations office of Arlington County Public Schools before moving to Metro’s communications office in 2001. What’s your least favorite part of your job? Getting paged by reporters at all times of day and night — and on weekends and holidays. It’s way too common for me to get paged at hours like 3:30 a.m., when TV stations are preparing for the morning news. I’ve been paged on the golf course and I’ve talked to reporters by candlelight when I was sitting at my house without electricity. What’s...

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Metro makes new appeal for loan aid before Wednesday deadline

Metro officials are renewing their pleas for the Treasury Department to help the transit agency prevent an imminent financial crisis as a temporary reprieve from a Belgian bank that is demanding $43 million from Metro expires Wednesday. Metro and bank KBC Group are scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday to determine whether the bank can collect the money immediately or whether it must wait until the matter winds its way through court. “If the worst case happens, then we have a problem — we have a major problem,” Metro General Manager John Catoe said. “We can only take [the money] from the funds that are set aside for this year.” Metro’s capital...

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Bus-to-Metro riders will get a transfer discount

Metro riders who transfer from bus to rail soon will receive a discount on their rail fare, much as rail-to-bus riders have received discounted bus fares for years. Riders who move from bus to rail within a three-hour window will receive a 50-cent discount when they pay their fares with a SmarTrip card. At the same time, the 90-cent discount rail riders receive when they transfer to buses will be reduced to 50 cents, and the transfer window will be extended from two hours three hours. Bus-to-bus riders still will receive free transfers and also will have their transfer windows extended from two hours to three, according to the plan. The new system will cost the transit agency about $2...

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Metro eyes SmarTrip card upgrades

Metro is planning to speed up the upgrades to its SmarTrip system to make it easier for riders to buy, reload and track their cards. Transit officials are aiming to have a Web site available by September 2009 that will allow riders to use credit cards to refill their SmarTrip cards and that will let them track their past transactions. Currently, riders can use credit cards to load their SmarTrip cards at Metro stations and can use cash to load them on Metrobuses. Metro also is exploring technology that would give riders the option of simply touching their credit cards or debit cards to the fare gates instead of their SmarTrip cards, similar to a system being tested on New York’s...

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Warner romps in Va.

Virginia will have two Democrats in the U.S. Senate for the first time in 38 years after Mark Warner trounced his opponent in a bid for retiring Republican Senator John Warner's seat. Mark Warner, a Democratic former governor popular for his centrist record, won a resounding 63-36 victory over conservative former governor Jim Gilmore, with 85 percent of precincts reporting. Warner entered Tuesday with a 30-point polling lead after successfully painting Gilmore as a failed governor who left the state with a $6 billion deficit. Succeeding Gilmore as governor, Warner won the support of Democrats and moderate Republicans to push through a $1.5 billion tax increase in 2004 to balance the...

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Metro to increase surveillance

Metro is moving forward with plans to install surveillance cameras outside 10 high-crime Metro stations in D.C. and two in Virginia. The District will pay $200,000 to install security cameras at the Rhode Island Avenue, Congress Heights, Deanwood, Minnesota Avenue, Fort Totten, Takoma, Brookland-CUA, Columbia Heights, Georgia Avenue-Petworth and Tenleytown stations. Fairfax County will pay $75,000 to have cameras installed at Vienna and Franconia-Springfield, the two highest-crime Metro stations in Virginia. There were 48 crimes, including 39 vehicle crimes, reported at the Vienna station between January and the end of September, and 35 crimes, including 29 auto-related incidents,...

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Virginians could see fewer cul-de-sacs, traffic lights

Virginia plans to create a slew of new traffic management rules that would restrict the number of cul-de-sacs, traffic lights and strip-mall driveways developers can build along state and local roads. The changes, part of a plan mandated last year by the General Assembly, are designed to help the state ensure drivers access and use major roads in a way that limits congestion and traffic accidents. The Virginia Department of Transportation, which has purview over almost every Virginia road, can enforce the new rules when developers apply for building permits. The agency is accepting public comments on the plan through Dec. 15. “As Virginia becomes more populated, as our roads...

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Fairfax eyes raising bus fares

A Fairfax County proposal to increase commuter bus fares also would raise Metrobus fares by between 25 and 35 percent along more than 20 county routes. The county pays Metro $44 million a year to subsidize 22 Metrobus routes that run solely inside Fairfax County, allowing the transit agency to charge $1 for a ride on those routes instead of the $1.35 fare that is standard in the rest of the region. Under the county’s new plan, which would begin Jan. 4 if approved by the county Board of Supervisors, the subsidy would be eliminated and those routes, with all Fairfax Connector commuter bus routes, would be raised from $1 to $1.35, or $1.25 if the rider uses a SmarTrip...

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Bank agrees to defer claim for $43 million Metro payment

A bank that was demanding a $43 million payment from Metro by today agreed in federal court Thursday to defer its claim for 10 business days. The payment to KBC Bank is for the termination of a deal that is one of many made by Metro, all of which are in trouble after insurers such as American International Group, which backed Metro’s financial agreements, lost their high credit ratings amid the economic crisis. The deal terms require the insurers to maintain a AAA credit rating. “We’re pleased with the judge’s decision,” said Metro Chief Financial Officer Carol Kissal. “But Metro could find still itself in default and on the hook for millions of...

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Metro trying to stop Belgian bank from collecting $25 milion

Metro has requested a temporary restraining order in federal court against a Belgian bank that is forcing Metro to pay $25 million by the end of the week because of a technicality in a financial deal. Without federal intervention or a court-granted restraining order, the cash-strapped transit agency will be forced to make the payment using money from its 2009 capital budget, which would hurt its ability to pay for new equipment, or risk defaulting on the payment and facing a downgraded credit rating that would hurt its ability to finance future projects. Metro officials asked the Treasury Department Tuesday for help and filed the restraining order against KBC Bank Wednesday. The deal is...

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Restraining order filed by Metro against Belgian bank

Metro has requested a temporary restraining order in federal court against a Belgian bank that is forcing Metro to pay $25 million by the end of the week because of a technicality in a financial deal. Without federal intervention or a court-granted restraining order, the cash-strapped transit agency will be forced to make the payment using money from its 2009 capital budget, which would hurt its ability to pay for new equipment, or risk defaulting on the payment and facing a downgraded credit rating that would hurt its ability to finance future projects. Metro officials asked the Treasury Department Tuesday for help and filed the restraining order against KBC Bank Wednesday. The deal is...

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Metro chief orders second set of budget cuts

Metro General Manager John Catoe is asking agency department heads to trim their budgets by 5 percent, the second round of cuts he has ordered in preparation for a potentially bleak financial landscape in 2009. Managers also are being asked to outline what effect a 10 percent budget cut would have on their departments and on Metro riders, according to an e-mail Catoe sent to staff Friday. “These are difficult times,” Catoe wrote. “The times call for hard choices. We have very specific financial goals to meet, and we must meet them. As we meet those financial goals, we must also meet our service goals. This is not an either-or proposition.” Catoe earlier this month...

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Metro officers to randomly search passengers’ bags

Metro police officers will begin randomly searching riders’ bags and packages at rail stations and in Metrobuses in an effort to deter potential terrorist attacks, the transit agency said Monday. The new security measure, which has been under consideration at Metro for the last several years, is not the result of any direct threat, but rather a response to ongoing security concerns and the upcoming presidential election and inauguration, General Manager John Catoe said. Metro has trained about 15 of its 410 active transit police officers to conduct the searches. The officers will work in conjunction with bomb-sniffing dogs, Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn said. Groups of five...

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U.S. House members unite to aid cash-strapped Metro

The Washington area’s congressional delegation united Monday to call for federal help in preventing the nation’s ballooning credit crisis from grinding Metro to a halt this week. The cash-strapped transit agency could be required to make bank payments of up to $400 million, more than $40 million of it by Wednesday, after the collapse of an insurance group that guaranteed Metro’s financial deals. Insurance giant AIG backed deals in which banks bought costly railcars for Metro and then leased them back to the transit agency. Metro engaged in 16 of the lease deals between 1997 and 2003, all of which are now defunct. Banks now can force the transit agency to settle its...

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Gas prices cut traffic; delays persist

Rush-hour traffic congestion has eased in the D.C. area as the result of this year’s swollen gas prices, but not as much as in most other cities, a new traffic study says. The amount of extra time commuters spend on the roads due to traffic dropped 23 percent in the first half of 2008 compared to the same months in 2007, according to traffic data provider INRIX. But that’s lower than the national average of 26 percent, despite a spike in gas prices in the Washington area greater than most other cities. “Fuel prices had significantly higher influence on traffic in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and Las Vegas than, surprisingly, in areas with heavy public transportation...

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Arlington officials increase projected budget shortfall to $14M

Arlington officials increased the county’s projected budget gap by 40 percent Wednesday, calling for a $14 million shortfall instead of the $10 million one estimated earlier this month. County Budget Manager Ron Carlee ordered a hiring freeze two weeks ago and is now projecting the county will have to downsize staff by about 5 percent in preparation for what is expected to be an even tougher budget environment next year. Arlington employs 3,738 people. County department heads have been told to suggest cuts in discretionary spending — an area that includes overtime, travel, food and supplies — and officials will evaluate potential reductions in county services over the...

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MTA may trim service for buses, MARC to fight looming shortfall

The Maryland Transportation Authority is moving to eliminate MARC train service and commuter bus service on some holidays and to cut some bus and train service year-round in an effort to combat a looming budget shortage. The proposal comes as demand for public transportation is booming, with MARC ridership climbing almost 10 percent over the past year. Under the proposal, service would halt on all three MARC lines on Columbus Day, Veterans Day, the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas. The system averages about 34,000 riders daily, but about 9,900 on holidays, officials said. The trains would operate on a limited holiday schedule on Christmas Eve and the week between...

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Report: Inspector missed Metro problems

A June Metro train derailment was caused by a track inspector’s failure to notice a section of misaligned tracks between the Rosslyn and Courthouse Metro stations, officials said after an internal investigation into the incident. The tracks had widened in that area because the fasteners that hold them down had loosened, officials said. A track inspector had surveyed that section of the Orange Line track the day of the June 9 derailment but failed to notice the poor track conditions, according to Metro. “The probable cause of this derailment was ‘out of tolerance track conditions’ including wide gage track conditions [the width between the tracks], loose track...

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Virginia eyes cutting $2.1B to $2.6B from roads

Virginia must slash its transportation budget by between $2.1 billion and $2.6 billion over the next six years, with impending cuts to highway, transit and ferry programs likely to affect virtually every commuter in the state, officials said Wednesday. The cuts are in addition to a $1.1 billion reduction in state transportation funds made in June. “It will impact the way we take care of the right-of-ways,” Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer said. “You’ll probably see it first in mowing, you may see it in our rest areas, in our ferry services, and you may see it starting to grow then in our snow and ice services. It will be across the board — it...

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Metro making large budget cuts, eliminating numerous vacant jobs

Metro General Manager John Catoe has eliminated 100 administrative positions and ordered steep departmental budget cuts to brace for the possibility that struggling state and local governments will have to slash their contributions to the transit agency next year. The eliminated positions had been vacant for six months or more and layoffs aren’t planned, although “everything is on the table” as the 11,000-employee agency prepares to present a balanced fiscal 2010 budget in January, he said. “The last thing we will do of course is eliminate services,” Catoe told The Examiner on Wednesday. “Before I eliminate services, I will reduce our staff.” The...

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Virginia bans political garb at polls

Virginia voters must eschew clothing that features John McCain or Barack Obama when they head to the polls in November, a state agency ruled Tuesday. The board of elections voted to ban clothing, hats, buttons or other wearable items that expressly promote the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. Virginia, with most other states, prohibits electioneering within 40 feet of a polling place to prevent voters from being intimidated or unfairly influenced. But the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the new rule is a breach of the First Amendment right to free speech. “A political button or sticker that is handed to a prospective voter at the polling place is...

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Metro considers expanding express routes

Metro planners have created a tentative schedule for creating six new express bus routes over the next three years, part of a long-term proposal to dramatically increase the number of such routes in the region. A new limited-stop service on the S Line, which runs down 16th Street NW, would be running by the end of next year, according to the schedule. The S1, S2 and S4 lines together average 16,000 passengers per weekday, making the route the third most popular in the system. In 2010, limited-stop service would be available on the Q2 Line, which runs along Veirs Mill Road in Montgomery County, and on the 28 Line along Leesburg Pike in Northern Virginia. Express service would follow on...

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Plan advances for Potomac Yard Metro stop

Plans to add a Metro station to Alexandria’s rapidly developing Potomac Yard area are advancing, with city officials scheduling a Tuesday vote to form a group to report on the feasibility of the idea. The group will analyze potential funding for the project, review construction costs and evaluate potential ridership, according to city documents. It is scheduled to report on its findings by December 2009. The City Council earlier this year allocated half a million dollars to studying the viability of a Potomac Yard Metro station, which is projected to cost between $125 million and $150 million to build. Council members have said that they strongly support adding a Metro station...

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Arlington projects $10 million shortfall, must cut services

Arlington County officials ordered an immediate hiring freeze and budget cuts after projecting a $10 million budget shortfall amid declining property and sales tax revenues. The shortfall, which represents 1.6 percent of the county’s operations budget, must be recovered through slashing employee discretionary spending and cutting nonessential city services, County Manager Ron Carlee said. “Some programs and service levels valued by the community will not be affordable in these times of retrenchment,” Carlee said in a memo to county employees last week. Details about the elimination of discretionary spending, a category that includes travel expenses and office supplies...

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D.C. Council weighing fines for drivers who drift into bike lanes

The D.C. Council is considering legislation that would impose a $100 fine on drivers who infringe on bicycle lanes and would mandate a 3-foot clearance between cars and cyclists. The bill’s introduction comes three months after 22-year-old Alice Swanson was struck and killed by a garbage truck in Dupont Circle while riding her bike to work, an event that intensified advocates' calls for increased city measures that protect cyclists and pedestrians. “Alice was doing exactly what we encourage residents to do — get out of their cars in favor of healthier, lower-cost, environmentally friendly transportation options,” said D.C. Council Member Jim Graham, who introduced...

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Metro may add line, increasing Blue Line wait times

Metro may add a new color to its rail map, creating a shortcut for some riders while leaving some Blue Line commuters waiting longer for rush-hour trains, officials said Tuesday. Transit planners are recommending creating a new rail line. Some northbound Blue Line trains would reroute at the Pentagon to L’Enfant Plaza, then follow the Yellow and Green lines’ route to Greenbelt in Maryland. Metro’s planning maps depict the new route as a brown line, but officials said no color has yet been chosen. The proposal, presented earlier this year, would boost the number of trains south of the Pentagon that directly serve eastern downtown D.C., but would reduce direct service...

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Gallery Place residents fed up with rowdy weekend crowds

The area around the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro station has seen such an overwhelming swarm of rowdy teenagers on recent Saturday nights that station employees have dubbed it “7th and Hell” and local residents are asking for help. “On Friday and Saturday nights in particular we’ve seen a pretty drastic increase in crowds in the couple of months, particularly of juveniles,” Metro Transit Police Deputy Chief Jeff Delinski said of the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro station entrance at 7th and H streets. “We attribute it to the movie theaters and the nightlife in the area,” Delinski said. “There are under-21 clubs opening up.” The...

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3 Minute Interview-Cothran

Washington has never been known as a fashion mecca, but that doesn’t stop Rachel Cothran from seeking out evidence of style in the nation’s capital. Cothran writes popular blog Project Beltway, which stays on top of local fashion events and documents the clothing and accessory choices of stylish strangers she encounters on the street. Why did you start Project Beltway? I just straight-up didn’t think there were enough people talking about fashion and style in D.C. At that time (the blog launched in early 2007), very few people were writing about it at all. It seemed to me that there was a lot of opportunity there. Why D.C., which isn’t exactly famous for its...

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Hearing set for proposed I-66 widening project

A project to widen inside-the-Beltway stretches of Interstate 66 to three lanes will take a step forward this month as the Virginia Department of Transportation presents its design proposal. The $75 million project, which has been in the works since 2004, would extend a third lane between on-ramps and off-ramps at three westbound sections of the highway. The new 1- and 2-mile lanes would be exit-only, but would improve safety by providing drivers with more time to merge into and out of through lanes, officials said. VDOT will hold a public hearing on the preliminary design at Washington and Lee High School in Arlington on Oct. 27. The project has faced criticism from Arlington and...

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Metro operator’s Redskins celebration causes complaints

A Metro operator’s Monday morning attempt to celebrate the Redskins’ win over the Dallas Cowboys offended riders who heard him equate turban-wearers with terrorists over the train’s loudspeaker system. “Don’t be afraid if you see a bunch of people wearing towels on their heads today,” the Orange Line operator said to a train full of people, according to riders. “They’re not terrorists; they’re with the Dallas Cowboys. Go Redskins.” Athletes whose teams are nearing defeat can often be seen throwing towels over their heads as they slump on the bench. But the allusion to the derogatory term “towelhead” for people who...

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Metro funding bill a ‘ray of sunshine’ in bleak budget times

A $1.5 billion Metro funding bill that won final approval from Congress this week would go a long way toward alleviating Metro’s many ailments, General Manager John Catoe said Thursday. “The passage of this bill comes at the perfect moment,” Catoe said of the measure, which was championed by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and drew fierce support from other local legislators, but which failed twice before in Congress. Catoe announced late last month that Metro needs $7.4 billion over 10 years just to keep the system running at its current level of service — a request that comes as the local jurisdictions that fund the...

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Feds suing Metro, alleging religious discrimination

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Metro, alleging religious discrimination over the transit agency’s policy of barring employees from altering their uniforms to comply with their religious beliefs. The lawsuit cites the case of Gloria Jones, an Apostolic Pentecostal Christian, who in 2005 applied to be a Metro bus driver but was allegedly denied because her religious beliefs prohibit her from wearing pants, which are part of a bus driver’s uniform. Metro’s driver uniforms do not include a skirt option. “WMATA’s policy and practice is to deny all requests for religious accommodations to its uniform policies, regardless of whether reasonable accommodations...

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Area home values continue falling

A key index showed Tuesday that housing prices tumbled 15.8 percent in the D.C. area between July 2007 and July 2008, a dramatic decline that is slowing in pace but shows no signs of reversing. Nationally, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index, which evaluates housing prices in 20 major cities, registered a record 16.3 percent decline. “We’re all giving back some of this ill-gained wealth,” said Stephen Fuller, director of the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis. “Metro areas that typically had a very strong economy during the last five years, like we did, had very big price increases in housing,” he said. “It really was...

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$1.5B Metro funding bill passes key Senate vote

A congressional bill authorizing $1.5 billion in federal funding for Metro cleared a key vote in the Senate on Monday after passing a final vote in the House last week. The Metro funding measure, which has died in Congress twice before, is wrapped into a large rail safety overhaul bill that has gained momentum in the wake of a Sept. 12 Metrolink commuter train accident that killed 25 people in California. The Senate voted 69-17 Monday to close debate on the bill and proceed to a final vote, which Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., indicated would be held Wednesday. The measure must win 51 votes in the Senate and be signed by President Bush to become law. Metro General Manager John...

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Commute options to change during Metro station construction

Thousands of commuters who use the Silver Spring Metro station and MARC station will have to change their routes starting today. Construction began on a multi-level transit facility next to the Silver Spring Metro Center on Friday, shifting the existing bus stops, taxis and Kiss & Ride area from outside the station to surrounding areas beginning today. Taxis will be near the intersection of Ramsey Street and Wayne Avenue, bicycle racks will be moved to the Colesville Road entrance to the station, and Ride On bus stops will be at Wayne and Dixon avenues and Bonifant Street, officials said. The Kiss & Ride area, short-term parking and Zipcars will be in the Montgomery County...

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Alexandria’s predicted $8M shortfall could grow

Alexandria officials are projecting an $8 million revenue shortfall this year as property values and sales tax receipts decline more sharply than anticipated, and are bracing for a deeper gap should the state reduce its contributions to the city. Alexandria budget director Bruce Johnson called the city’s projected budget dip a “preliminary assessment” based on a recent 5 percent drop in real estate values, which affect the city’s property tax revenues. Alexandria’s budget was created on the presumption that real estate values would hold steady. “Things could get worse before they get better,” Johnson said. “But it’s easier the sooner...

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Metro riders pleased despite problems

Metro passengers remain largely satisfied with their rides despite a historic fare increase, a crush of new riders crowding trains and an uptick in crime, according to the agency’s annual survey. Of the 1,455 Metrorail riders surveyed over the past year, 85 percent reported being satisfied overall with Metro. That’s a two-point drop from last year, a three-point dip from 2006 and on par with results from 2005. Of the 947 Metrobus riders surveyed, 78 percent said they were satisfied with the service, a three-point dip from last year and the same percentage as reported being happy in 2006. The survey, conducted by an outside contractor, was commissioned in a year when the...

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Metro board expresses skepticism over proposed new railcar model

Metro’s proposed new railcar model was met with skepticism from the agency’s board of directors Thursday because the new cars would be incompatible with the agency’s existing models, giving Metro less flexibility when moving trains through the system. The proposed 7000 Series cars would be higher tech and lighter weight than Metro’s current railcars, but would be linked in groups of four instead of in pairs, forcing the agency to take four cars out of service when one malfunctions. Currently, only two cars must be removed from service when one malfunctions. The new cars would be able to operate only with each other and could not be combined with cars from other...

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Metro expecting delays

Metro riders can expect delays of 15 or 20 minutes on the Red, Blue, Orange and Green lines this weekend as the transit agency performs track maintenance that will cause trains moving in both directions to take turns sharing one track. On Friday night, the work will affect Green Line riders traveling between Fort Totten and Prince George’s Plaza. Yellow Line trains will terminate at Mount Vernon Square during that time. On Saturday and Sunday, the work will affect Red Line riders traveling between the Fort Totten and Silver Spring stations, and Blue and Orange Line riders traveling between the Eastern Market and Stadium-Armory stations. Work on those lines will conclude by 7 p.m. on...

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D.C. maintains rank as nation’s second-longest commute

Washingtonians have the second-longest commutes in the nation and spend an average of 33.4 minutes getting to work every day, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2007 survey figures place the region just behind the New York metropolitan area, whose commuters clock in at an average of 34.8 minutes on the way to work. Slightly more than 16 percent of workers surveyed in the Washington area said they spend an hour or more traveling to their jobs, and 13 percent said they spend between 45 minutes and an hour on their morning commutes. Despite swelling congestion in Washington, the average 33.4-minute commute time has remained static over the past three years,...

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Review: Metro system needs billions worth of upgrades

Metro needs $11.3 billion over the next 10 years to maintain and upgrade its aging system, General Manager John Catoe said after a comprehensive review of the system’s state. More than $7 billion is needed just to maintain current service levels as much of the rail system’s equipment and infrastructure reaches the end of it 35-year life span, Catoe said. That includes $900 million for 300 new railcars to replace Metro’s original Rohr cars, now 32 years old and among the system’s most unreliable. New railcars take three to five years to manufacture. The $7 billion also would include money to replace about 100 buses a year, fix leaky tunnels and crumbling station...

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D.C. to upgrade transit in Columbia Heights

The streets of Columbia Heights are about to receive a $15 million makeover, part of a District Department of Transportation project slated to begin in the next two months. The first phase of construction will focus on the area surrounding the intersection of 14th Street and Park Road Northwest and will include wider sidewalks, curb extensions, improved crosswalks and on-street parking. The area also will be spruced up with ornamental trees, public art, lighting and a large, fountain-filled plaza, which officials hope will serve as a community gathering place. DDOT, which awarded the contract for the work to Civil Construction LLC last week, described the project as “an ambitious...

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D.C. Council OKs massive increase in driving fines

The D.C. Council has approved a fivefold increase in the fine for drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians, bringing the $50 penalty for such infractions to $250 and three license points in an effort to curb the city’s escalating number of pedestrian deaths. The original proposal, to raise the fine to $500, which was put forward earlier in the summer, would have made it one of the costliest citations in the nation for such an offense. “We wanted to strike the right balance,” said D.C. Councilman Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, who heads the committee that drafted the legislation. “Too high a fine and the police won’t issue an infraction; too low a fine and it is...

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Fairfax strike may slow bus service for 2nd day

A strike by Fairfax County commuter bus drivers that slowed bus service Monday was poised to continue into today as the drivers union and the county’s contractor failed to reach a contract agreement. Fairfax Connector bus service in the south half of the county, which runs every 15 minutes or half-hour, depending on location and time of day, was operating hourly Monday with 22 buses in service. The service usually operates with 74 buses on weekdays. About 160 of the 174 bus operators who belong to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union Local 3001 participated in the strike Monday, union attorney Charles D. Smith said. Ten bus drivers crossed the picket...

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Metro service for disabled hit with influx of new riders

Metro’s overstressed and cost-intensive transit service for people with disabilities is being burdened with an influx of new passengers after a recent decision by the District to cut transport service for some Medicaid patients and shuffle them to MetroAccess. “We first became aware of this when Medicaid customers started to get letters telling them their service was discontinued and that they needed to contact Metro.” said Christian Kent, director of Metro’s Access Services. “Our understanding is that the cost of that program was starting to become problematic for the District.” But the cost now could become problematic for Metro, which received 900...

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Metro eyes enlisting riders to fight crime

Metro is considering recruiting a new breed of crime fighter: its riders. The transit agency is weighing a program that would allow passengers to text or e-mail Metro Transit Police from their cell phones or BlackBerrys to report a crime in the system. The idea, which sprung from an employee, will be tested among employees who ride the system, Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn said. “We are in the planning and development process at this time — we’re still a few weeks away from launching it,” he said. “If it’s successful, we could look at how it could work with the public.” The texts or e-mails would be sent to the police dispatcher, who would...

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Serious crime on Metro set to rise 15 percent in 2008

Metro is on track to see a 15 percent jump in serious crime on the system this year, based on statistics from January through July. The spike is fueled largely by an uptick in robberies, defined as taking something by force or intimidation, which are on pace to climb 36 percent in 2008. Larcenies, defined as thefts of personal property that do not involve force or intimidation, are on course to grow 14 percent. A large portion of the crimes are “snatch and grabs,” in which thieves whisk iPods or cell phones out of riders’ hands and dart out of the train as the doors are closing, Metro Transit Police Deputy Chief Jeff Delinski said. Pickpockets and violent thefts fill the...

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Sunday and evening ridership on Metro jumps significantly

Metro is seeing a dramatic increase in evening weekend passengers, with an average of 7.8 percent more people crowding the system on Sundays in the year that ended in June. Evening ridership spiked 6.6 percent over the past fiscal year. “There seems to be a change in people’s behavior,” Metro budget director Rick Harcum said. The good news is we can handle that — we have the capacity during those hours.” Metro has blasted through ridership records this year, with gasoline prices driving more commuters to public transit, but the agency Thursday released a detailed look at passenger numbers that show the most drastic growth occurred during off-peak hours....

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Va. youth smoking rate drops to lowest level since 2001

Smoking among Virginia middle school and high school students dropped to its lowest levels last year since state officials began surveying youth in 2001, Gov. Tim Kaine announced. About 16 percent of the 2,600 Virginia students surveyed said they are smokers, down from 22 percent in 2005 and lower than the 20 percent reported nationally last year. Almost 29 percent of Virginia students, and students nationally, reported being smokers when the survey began in 2001. Anti-smoking advocates jumped on the study as evidence that youth prevention campaigns work and should be better funded. “Virginia has shown remarkable progress over the past two years in its effort to keep kids from...

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Arlington eyes opening traffic cameras to public viewing

Arlington County is planning to soon add its 24 traffic cameras to the growing list of ones available for free public viewing online. If approved by the County Board, real-time feeds from Arlington’s traffic surveillance cameras, which are now available only to emergency personnel, will appear on TrafficLand.com, a site that started in 2001 with feeds from 32 Virginia Department of Transportation traffic cameras. The site has grown to include information from nearly 6,000 traffic cameras in 60 markets nationwide, including those from VDOT, the District Department of Transportation and Montgomery County. The addition of Arlington’s cameras would make available live images of...

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The 3-Minute Interview: Joe Carmack

Joe Carmack owns Garden District, an indoor and outdoor plant and garden shop in the middle of the bustling 14th Street corridor. Carmack left his marketing and sales job to open the outdoor store at 14th and S streets in 2002 and added a new indoor store a few blocks away in the spring. What prompted you to start a garden shop in the middle of the city? It’s just something that I’ve always wanted to do. I was already there — I’ve lived here for 15 years, always on this side of town. I saw the potential on 14th Street, and I wanted to be a part of it. I also wanted to break out and do something on my own. How did you prepare for your new role as owner of a garden...

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Nonprofits worry about future of donations from Fannie, Freddie

The directors of local nonprofit organizations that count on donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are holding their breath until the federal government decides what to do about the mortgage giants’ charitable giving. The federal takeover of the two foundering locally based lenders, announced Sunday as a move aimed to bolster the housing and financial markets, left the future of several local charities uncertain. Fannie Mae and its foundation have contributed more than $100 million to Washington-area organizations over the past five years, including money for schools infrastructure and to combat homelessness, according to the company. Freddie Mac and its foundation invested...

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Federal government taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in wake of mortgage crisis

The federal government is taking over locally based mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an unprecedented, publicly funded effort to spare the housing and financial markets from further collapse, officials announced Sunday. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are so large and so interwoven in our financial system that a failure of either of them would cause great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said about the federal rescue, which could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. The federally backed mortgage houses, which together own or guarantee about half of the nation’s home loans, have been...

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Agency: Metrobuses arrived late a quarter of time in July

New GPS data reveals widespread unreliability Metrobuses leave riders waiting on the curb more than a quarter of the time, according to July statistics — the first time Metro has collected data to quantify its poor on-time performance. Using a new system that reads bus GPS tracking data, Metro officials are now able to gauge exactly how far Metrobuses deviate from their planned schedules. The system, which is one symbol of the agency’s new focus on improving the quality of its bus service, showed that buses arrived on schedule a dismal 73 percent of the time in July, the only month for which Metro has data. Metrobuses are considered to be on time if they arrive within two...

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Hanna to pass over Md., Va. on Saturday

The National Hurricane Center placed the Washington area under a tropical storm watch Thursday afternoon, calling for the center of Tropical Storm Hanna to come close to the region. As of 5 p.m., the center was predicting the storm’s center wouldn’t stay offshore, as was earlier expected, but would pass over inland areas of Virginia and Maryland east of the Chesapeake Bay on Saturday. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency Thursday morning, saying southeaster areas such as Hampton Roads are likely to be hardest hit. “Virginians do need to prepare for this now as a serious storm,” Kaine said. “Current forecasts predict Hanna will bring tropical...

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My Washington: Barbara Meade

FAVORITE RESTAURANT Obelisk WHERE: 2029 P St. NW #101 My partner, Carla Cohen, and I always go there on our birthdays because we love Peter Pastan’s cooking. BEST MODE OF TRANSPORTATION Our sidewalks are so broad and underpopulated, which makes walking the best way to get around. BEST SEASON TO BE IN WASHINGTON Nobody in their lifetime should miss spring in Washington. The azaleas, in particular, but the cherry blossoms and other flowering shrubs and trees put on a display that I have never seen matched anywhere else. BEST VIEW OF THE CITY The Washington Cathedral grounds is the best place to be on the Fourth of July. BEST HOLIDAY SHOPPING Politics and Prose WHERE: 5015...

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Heavy travel still expected for holiday weekend

Gas prices, construction delays not deterring drivers It will take more than bank-breaking gas prices to keep Washingtonians from their summer jaunts. While the historic surge in fuel prices is prompting more people to buy smaller cars, take public transit and cut back on unnecessary driving, it apparently won’t keep many of them from their Labor Day trips, according to AAA figures. The auto club projects 686,000 Washington-area residents will travel 50 miles or more over the weekend — only 0.6 percent fewer than last year, despite a 90-cent-per-gallon rise in gas prices. The travelers represent 12.8 percent of the area’s population. Of that group, 81 percent will...

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Train operators opening doors too soon

Metro operators have opened train doors before all the cars reach the station platform once this month and twice in July, bringing the total recorded number of such incidents to 23 since January, Metro officials said. The July and August numbers represent a significant slowdown in the pace of the errors, which occurred as frequently as four times a week in the first month after Metro disabled its automatic doors system in April, forcing operators to open doors manually by pushing a button. The most recent incidents occurred at the Dupont Circle station the morning of July 22, at West Falls Church the afternoon of July 25, and at Judiciary Square mid-day Aug. 3. Almost all of the...

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Metro repairs to affect service to airport this weekend

Metro is undertaking a major rehabilitation project that will shut down direct Blue and Yellow Line service to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from the south on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. Metro workers are scheduled to overhaul the tracks between the Braddock Road and National Airport Metro stations on Labor Day weekend, beginning at 9 p.m. Friday and ending at 4 a.m. Tuesday. Metro officials said passengers in that area should build 30 extra minutes into their travel plans to allow for shuttle service between the two stations. While Metro frequently completes such projects during a series of short nightly bursts when the system is closed, doing the work...

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Metro reports 7 percent rise in ridership over last August

Metro is carrying an average of 50,000 more rail passengers each weekday than it did last August, marking a dramatic 7 percent ridership increase in what is traditionally one of the slowest months for the system. Metro attracted a record number of passengers in July, breaking the 20 million mark for the first time in they system’s history and smashing eight of the agency’s top-10 daily ridership records. While the transit system has seen steady ridership growth over the past decade, Metro usually sees passenger numbers jump between 2 and 3 percent a year. The July numbers represented a 5.5 percent ridership increase from July 2007, part of a trend experts believe is tied to...

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Train kills Amtrak track inspector

An Acela Express train struck and killed an Amtrak track inspector near New Carrollton Wednesday morning, halting all rail traffic between Washington and Baltimore for an hour and a half and sending heavy delays cascading down the lines for hours afterward. The track inspector, an Amtrak employee in his 30s, was taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to a spokesman for Prince George’s County Fire and Emergency Medical Services. He died later Tuesday, Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said. His name was not released. Amtrak train 2150, heading for Boston, left Washington at 5 a.m. Wednesday and struck the worker at 5:08 a.m., Romero said. None of the 25 passengers...

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Wholesale prices jump for seventh straight month

The cost of everything from cream cheese to car repairs rose again last month, as wholesale prices increased for the seventh month in a row, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The price producers paid for goods — often passed on to consumers — jumped 1.2 percent in July after a 1.8 percent increase in June, bringing prices up an average of 9.8 percent from a year ago. Analysts had predicted last month’s increase would be 0.5 percent. The steep seven-month climb means that prices have risen faster in the past 12 months than in any year since 1981. Locally, shoppers are feeling the pinch. District resident Deborah Stinnie said she has cut down on buying fruit and other...

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200,000 area households to lose TV service in switch to digital, study says

Almost 200,000 households in the Washington area rely solely on over-the-air television broadcast signals and will lose television service after the February transition to digital, according to Nielsen statistics. The numbers represent 8.6 percent of television households in the Washington-Hagerstown television market and place the region on the Federal Communications Commission’s list of high-priority areas for educational outreach about the transition. FCC officials announced Monday that the five agency commissioners and other staff will travel to each of the 82 priority markets before February to host public events about the initiative and to work with local broadcasters and...

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VRE eyes hiking fares 10 percent or more

Virginia Railway Express officials are considering raising fares by 10 percent or more next year in what would be the largest percentage increase in the commuter line’s history. VRE raised fares by 3 percent last month, but officials said additional money is needed to help offset high fuel costs and the loss of $25 million in annual funds from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, which had its taxing powers taken away by a February state supreme court ruling. The proposed January increase would help offset a projected $1.6 million shortfall in VRE’s operating budget for the current fiscal year. The local jurisdictions that fund VRE, struggling in the wake of a...

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Online map helps D.C. area cyclists navigate best route

Bicyclists in the Washington area have a new online map to help them decide how best to traverse the region’s traffic-clogged streets and trails. The Capital Bikeways map, created by intrepid local bloggers and cyclists, combines information from jurisdictional bike maps with listings for local bike shops, pictures of tricky crossings or intersections, and write-ups of recent bike-related incidents on a Google map. The site also shows the 10 existing stations for SmartBike DC, the city’s bike-sharing program that debuted Wednesday. “It pulls from several different sources, some of which anyone can update and some of which can only be updated by certain users,”...

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The 3-minute interview: Eric Schwartz

Eric Schwartz has been a real-estate appraiser for 28 years and has been based in the D.C. area for eight. He also serves on the national board of the Appraisal Institute. The Examiner recently asked him how the turmoil in the housing market has changed appraisals in the region.Foreclosures in the D.C. area are low compared with most other large metropolitan areas, but they’re still up six-fold from last year. Are they having an affect on appraisals here?Yeah, they will. Any appraiser worth his or her salt is going to......

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The 3-minute interview: RitaHoltz

Rita Holtz is a library assistant in the Special Collections Department of the Alexandria Library. She and her colleague Julie Patton just published "The Historic Photos of Alexandria," a 10-by-10 gift book showing the history of Alexandria through archive photos, some of which have never before......

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The 3-minute interview: Robert E. Simon

As the founder of Reston, Robert E. Simon was one of the first to bring the "new town" concept to the suburbs, creating a community from the ground up in which people could live, work and play without driving long distances. Extremely popular now, "new towns" are blanketing Northern Virginia as the area develops. At 93, Simon reflects on his creation of and return to the town to which he lent his initials.In the 1960s, "new towns" were almost unheard of. What was your inspiration for Reston?My main spark plug......

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The 3-minute interview: Mel Krupin

Mel Krupin is the 78-year-old maitre d’ of the downtown D.C. McCormick and Schmick’s, and is almost as well-known as the power lobbyists and politicians who come to the restaurant to see him. He was the maitre d’ at the swanky Duke Zieberts in Farragut North from 1968 until 1978, and opened his restaurant, Mel Krupin’s, in 1980. He came out of retirement seven years ago to work at McCormick and Schmick’s, where he still practices his witty one-liners on the clients. You moved here from Brooklyn in the ’60s......

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The 3-minute interview: Wes Foster

Wes Foster is the co-founder and CEO of locally based Long & Foster Real Estate, the largest privately owned real estate firm in the country, which sold $38.2 billion of property in 2006. Last year, his alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute, named its football field for him, ­and the school recently appointed him to its governing board.To what do you credit your success in the real estate business?I credit VMI a lot with my success. It’s been awfully good to me, and I think the education I got there,......

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The 3-minute interview: Cindy McCartney

Cindy McCartney opened her shop, Diva Designer Consignment and Other Delights, in Alexandria in October of 2006. The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce named it New Business of the Year in 2007.What made you decide to open a consignment store? I had been in the cosmetic industry for 23 years and worked with corporate, and I think I just reached......

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The 3-minute interview: Bobby Kilberg

Bobby Kilberg is the president of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a trade membership association for the technology companies in Northern Virginia, which is one of the biggest tech hubs in the world. NVTC just formed a task force on green technology and energy. Why are environmental issues important to tech companies?They are users of energy, and they understand that an important part of having sufficient energy in......

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The 3-minute interview: Nicole Gorman

Nicole Gorman and her mother, father and brother own I. Gorman Jewelers, a store that has been in Farragut North for 28 years and recently moved across the street from its original 20th Street Northwest location. Why did you decide to move the store?We outgrew our small, old space, and we wanted something that would fit more with the design of our jewelry. The new space is more open, more spacious and more contemporary.How did your family get started in......

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The 3-minute interview: Sophie LaMontagne

Sophie LaMontagne, 30, and her sister Katherine Kallinis, 28, opened tiny bakery Georgetown Cupake on Valentine’s Day. Since then, word of their inventive cupcake flavors and creative garnishes has spread. It’s not uncommon to see the line outside the shop stretching around the block, or to see customers waiting outside before the bakery opens in the mornings. The sisters have just hired five employees and ordered an additional oven to......

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The 3-minute interview: Polly Hanson

Polly Hanson has worked for Metro since 1981, just five years after the transit police department was born. She came to Metro after spending four years at her first job as a Park Police dispatcher. Now, after 27 years, five of them spent as chief of Transit Police, Hanson is retiring from Metro.What drew you to work in D.C.?I grew up here, and I’m a product of District schools. I’m 52, so there was no subway yet, but I actually......

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The 3-minute interview: Carin Rosenberg Levine

Childhood friends Carin Rosenberg Levine and Julia Lichtman Kepniss opened trendy Georgetown bridal salon Hitched two and half years ago.Do brides ever come in with their fiancés?Yeah, we do get that from time to time, but not frequently — I’d say only about 10 or 20 percent of ourbrides do that. ... I think actually the people who bring their fiancés end up realizing it’s easier to shop alone.How do you choose......

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The 3-minute interview: Leann Trowbridge

Leann Trowbridge is co-owner of Meeps, a small, popular Adams Morgan vintage clothing store that is stuffed full of funky men’s and women’s clothes and accessories. Meeps opened in 1992, but Trowbridge and Danni Shirkey took it over in 2001.Why did you decide to buy the store?We had been working at a clothing boutique in D.C., and we just heard that they wanted......

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The 3-minute interview: Rony Wise

Rony Wise was recently promoted from manager of records at the Alexandria Detention Center to the newly created position of director. For 11 years, he has had the unsung job of processing and reviewing inmate records and ensuring criminals aren’t accidentally released from jail. Before that, he wasa sheriff’s deputy.Why did you go into the law enforcement business?I was originally an operations specialist in the Navy, but I got......

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Juveniles make up nearly half of robbery arrests on Metro lines

Juveniles accounted for almost half of all robbery arrests on Metro so far this year, and transit police continue to struggle with rowdy and sometimes violent children who congregate at stations after school. Metro arrested or cited juveniles in 239 incidents during the last school year, including 53 assaults, 39 cases of disorderly behavior and 27 robberies. The youths were carrying weapons in 15 of those cases. School starts Aug. 25 in the District of Columbia. “Our leading problem has been assaults and fights among [the juveniles] and in some cases against our customers,” Metro Transit Police Lieutenant Greg Hanna said. Since January, Metro has arrested 16 juveniles...

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Track fires persistent problem for Metro

Metro passengers were frustrated Thursday when a track fire at Metro Center brought Red Line trains to a standstill during the morning rush hour, and statistics show the system averaged one such incident a week over the past year. There were 54 track fires in fiscal 2008, officials said, many of them due to older, worn out track bolts catching fire in or near stations. But that represents a 42 percent drop from fiscal 2007, when 94 fires appeared on the transit system's tracks - a drastic drop that officials attributed to several new fire-prevention initiatives. Earlier this year, Metro identified a list of the system's urgent but unfunded needs, which included $45 million to replace...

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Metro worker accepts deal to avoid charges

The Metro custodian accused of selling herself for sex with the help of a Metro station manager has accepted a deal from prosecutors to avoid criminal charges. Pamela D. Goins, 45, of Capitol Heights, agreed to steer clear of being arrested over the next six months and to complete 40 hours of community service within that time in return for a record clear of prostitution charges, her attorney said. Goins rejected the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s original offer to drop the charges against her if she enrolled in prostitute rehabilitation program called Angel’s Project Power — a deal Metro Red Line station manager Sharon Waters accepted last month. She instead opted...

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The 3-minute interview: Nicolas Jammet

Nicolas Jammet and two of his Georgetown University classmates cooked up the idea for Georgetown frozen yogurt and salad joint Sweetgreen when they were still undergraduates. Now, with business booming, the trio is opening a second location in Dupont Circle and possibly a third one elsewhere in the city later this year. How did you come up with the idea for Sweetgreen? Basically, going to Georgetown for four years, we knew what the market was like. I’m from New York and my two partners are from L.A. — we kind of knew there were these new quick-service options opening up, but we didn’t see anything like that in D.C. We were seniors a year and a half ago and started...

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Metro rider robberies up nearly 40 percent

Robberies on the Metro system have spiked almost 40 percent this year from last year, the transit agency’s mid year crime statistics show. There were 272 robberies reported to Metro Transit Police in the first six months of 2008, a 38 percent jump from the 197 reported during the same period in 2007. While aggravated assaults and attempted motor vehicle thefts have dropped slightly, the dramatic jump in robberies — defined as taking something by force or intimidation — and a slight climb in auto thefts have raised the transit system’s overall crime rate. Larcenies, defined as thefts of personal property that do not involve force or intimidation, are up 12...

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Redskins end shuttle service from Landover to stadium

The Washington Redskins no longer will provide shuttle bus service from the Landover Metro station to FedEx Field during home games, the team said Tuesday. New federal regulations prohibit Metro from running charter bus services — which the transit agency has traditionally done for organizations such as the Redskins and Wolf Trap — if there are private companies willing to do it. The Redskins applied for a federal waiver from the new rules to allow the Metro shuttle bus service to continue but was granted a reprieve for only the first three weeks of the season, which officials opted not to take. Redskins spokesman Karl Swanson said private charter service would increase the...

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Landowner could lose rights to build on property to another developer

An Alexandria landowner who planned to build a high-end development on his 10-acre plot is now watching as a local agency considers handing his building rights to another site’s developer. Charles Hooff has been locked in a years-long battle with the Alexandria Sanitation Authority, an independent body that for the past year has been trying to seize his property under eminent domain to expand the city’s wastewater plant. But recently, Hooff learned that if the authority wins the site, the city would consider transferring the unused density from it to developer JM Zell Partners to build what could be Alexandria’s tallest building at a nearby location. “It is...

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Report: Existing-home sales drop 2.6 percent last month

Sales of existing homes fell 2.6 percent last month and brought the supply of unsold houses to its second highest level in 24 years, according to a National Association of Realtors report Thursday.The depressed June numbers, which followed a brief rebound inMay, brought sales of existing homes down 15.5 percent from where they were in June 2007 and to a 10-year low. The median home sale price dropped 6.1 percent from a year ago.The June numbers received a cold......

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Metro board backs Red Line project but seeks info on delays

Metro’s board of directors gave preliminary approval to an extensive rehabilitation plan for the Red Line on Thursday but asked staff to return with details about the delays riders will face during the project.The four-year plan to replace the aging infrastructure on the system’s oldest rail line would be the first in a series of years-long projects planned for every line in the system, and would involve running trains on single tracks after the evening rush hour to allow contractors to work on the track for long stretches of time.Metro......

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Red Line riders face major delays as four-year repair project looms

Metro officials are preparing to begin a massive, four-year rehabilitation of the Red Line that would cause delays for riders on the system’s busiest rail line.If approved, the effort to fix or replace the aging infrastructure on Metro’s oldest line would mean single-tracking trains along one stretch at a time on weekends and after the evening rush hour on weekdays so contractors can work on the track. It also would mean nighttime and weekend delays in those areas at a time when Metro ridership is smashing record after record.Metro is......

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Computer failure slows all lines

Metro riders are used to scrolling alerts on the transit agency’s Web site warning them about service disruptions on particular rail lines or at certain stations.  But passengers were baffled by the one that popped up Monday evening: "Metrorail is currently experiencing service disruptions at All Stations station," it read. "Rail line(s) affected: All Lines.""Basically, the computers went down in our operations control center from about 5:30 p.m. until about 8 p.m.," Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato said. "It happens on occasion."Metro’s control center workers were unable to monitor train movements......

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New Metro bus style gets public debut

Metro showed off a sleek silver-and-red design for its buses Monday, the first tangible step in what officials have promised will be a new era of comfort, speed and reliability for the agency’s notoriously unpredictable bus network."It’s really our hope that people who wouldn’t normally take the bus will see this beautiful bus and want to take it," Metro bus chief Milo Victoria said.Metro will have 22 of the 60-foot accordion-style buses in service by late August, Victoria said, although planners......

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D.C. drivers most accident-prone in nation, insurance study finds

D.C. drivers are more likely to be in auto accidents than drivers in any other city in the country, and Alexandria and Arlington drivers follow closely behind, according to a new study.D.C. drivers average one accident every 5.4 years, making them almost three times more collision-prone that drivers in Sioux Falls, S.D., which ranked as the......

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Board to vote on allowing rental units in homes

The Arlington County Board is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a zoning proposal that would allow rental units in single-family homes.The proposal, which would let homeowners create separate apartments in their basements or other livable space for no morethan two renters, would boost the county’s dwindling supply of affordable housing, supporters say.Critics counter that such units lead to noise and parking issues, a lack of concern for the appearance of the property, and that they are impossible for the county......

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Six arrested in counterfeit Metro card scam

Metro police have arrested six people in connection with a "sophisticated" farecard scam that officials said has cost the transit agency at least $16,000 and likely much more."They created counterfeit farecards that were detectable to people who looked at the cards but were not detectable to our equipment," General Manager John Catoe said.The accused thieves, who were arrested Wednesday and Thursday, inserted the bogus cards into farecard machines and traded them in for legitimate ones, which they then sold on the......

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Transportation board votes to delay road, transit projects

A regional transportation board voted Wednesday to delay a slew of road and transit projects in Northern Virginia because state lawmakers failed to agree on a way to fund them during an emergency legislative session this month.The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board — which must sign off on projects for them to move forward — passed a six-year rolling transportation plan that delayed or nixed projects in every Northern Virginia jurisdiction and for the Virginia Railway Express commuter train.The widening of a congested and rapidly developing stretch of Eisenhower......

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Economy continues slide with no relief on horizon

The prices of everything from vegetables to car insurance rose in June, the sixth consecutive month that wholesale prices increased, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Tuesday that consumers can expect to be pounded for a while longer."With gasoline and other consumer energy prices rising in recent weeks, inflation seems likely to move temporarily higher in the near term," Bernanke told the Senate Banking......

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Metro police target high-crime stations to benefit from ourdoor camera program

The Rhode Island Avenue, New Carrollton and Franconia-Springfield Metro stations are among the most crime-ridden in the system and top the list of stations that would benefit most from outdoor crime cameras, Metro Transit Police said Thursday.The list, compiled by transit police at the request of Metro’s board of directors, identifies the 10 stations with the highest crime rates in each jurisdiction that are able to accommodate cameras at station entrances.High-volume,......

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Metro manager accused of prostitution agrees to life skills, education program

The Metro station manager accused of running a prostitution ring out of the Dupont Circle station is avoiding criminal charges by signing up for a program that teaches life skills — including entrepreneurship — and provides therapy to prostitutes.Sharon Waters, whom some transit agency employees have dubbed the "Metro madam," was arrested last month on prostitution charges after an undercover Metro Transit......

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Diversion program would allow Waters to avoid criminal charges

The program former Metro station manager Sharon Waters will participate in is the only diversion program offered through the D.C. court system for people arrested on prostitution charges.Angel’s Project Power director Jacqueline McReynolds said the program averages about 45 enrollees at any time, including those who tested positive for drugs at the time of their arrest and must submit to inpatient treatment."We offer life skills classes, anger management classes, health and wellness......

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Masses flock to Metro

Metro steamrolled through yet another ridership record, carrying 7 million more passengers over the past year than during any other time in the rail system’s 32-year history, transit agency officials said Tuesday.More than 215 million riders hopped on Metro over the past 12 months ending June 30, a 3.6 percent jump over the year before, which also was a record year, according to the agency’s statistics.The record comes as surging fuel prices push commuters from cars to mass transit and as Metro struggles to maintain infrastructure that is reaching the......

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As Metro ridership soars, area road traffic shrinks

While Metro ridership is reaching new heights, the area’s roads are seeing a drop in wear and tear from drivers, statistics show.Maryland and Virginia drivers logged between 1 percent and 5 percent fewer miles in January, March and April of 2008 than they did during the same months the year before, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Transportation figures, while the miles......

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Metro testing out system aimed at timely bus service

Metro is testing a new system that for the first time will give transit officials the ability to gauge how far Metrobuses deviate from their planned schedules."We're gathering the information from the system to analyze and set benchmarks, and we'll be reporting that to you in September," Metrobus chief Milo Victoria told the agency's board of directors at a recent meeting.Metro's erratic bus service has long been the top customer complaint in the system.Metro officials report to-the-minute delay statistics on the......

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Metro trying to make room for private bus service

Metro officials are struggling to identify Metrobus stops that can accommodate private charter buses in the wake of a change in federal rules that are effectively taking the transit agency out of the shuttle bus business.The rule, which is designed to ensure that publicly funded transit systems don’t infringe on the private charter bus industry, means that private companies will take over services that have long been provided by Metro, including running shuttle buses during Washington Redskins home games, Wolf Trap......

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Councilman stalls streetcar plans in Anacostia

D.C. Councilman Jim Graham is putting the brakes on plans to install a streetcar system in Anacostia until transportation officials explain why it is worthy of District money."My concerns run pretty much the gamut from A to Z," Graham said. "As best I can determine, we have never really had a focused oversight hearing on this rather large expenditure of funds."Graham has issued a resolution to disapprove a budget request that would shift $11 million from the long-planned 11th Street Bridge......

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DDOT halts plan to restrict loading sites

The District Department of Transportation has decided to scrap a program that would have forced many of D.C.’s low-cost regional buses to load passengers at a designated location near L’Enfant Plaza after news of the change was met with hostility."We have opted to suspend the rulemaking until we’ve had an option to review the locations and other options of the program," DDOT spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc said.Bus operators and customers have said current......

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City mulls Mirant pollution controls

Alexandria city officials are poised to decide today whether to approve a settlement with the Mirant Corp. after a seven-year-long battle over pollution control measures at the company’s Potomac River Generating Plant.Under the settlement, the company would be allowed to merge five smokestacks into two and operate three boilers instead of five but would have to commit $34 million for pollution control upgrades at......

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FTA proposal would bar Metrobus rides to school

The District’s long-standing system of taking students to school on Metrobus would be prohibited under a federal proposal to tighten the rules that govern public transit agencies.The stricter Federal Transit Administration rules, which just completed the public comment process, would apply to all transit systems that receive federal funds and could be in place as soon as August. Metro receives $200 million in federal funding annually.The rule is designed to ensure that publicly funded transit systems don’t infringe on the......

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Metro, developer settle land sale suit

Metro reached a settlement Thursday with a prominent D.C. developer that filed a federal lawsuit against the transit agency over Metro’s decision to sell 2.2 acres near the Washington Nationals ballpark to a competitor.The land will be divided between the two companies, under the mediated settlement.Monument Realty had charged its $60 million bid for Metro’s Southeast Bus Garage property should have beat out the Continued...

 

Metro looks to new radio system to eliminate tunnel ‘dead zones’

Metro is preparing to roll out a new radio system for its railcars that officials said will help eliminate tunnel "dead zones" where operators are unable to communicate with the agency's control center.Metro bought the new $73 million Motorola radio system in 2000, but the agency and the company have been unable to get it to perform up to standard in the underground parts of the rail system."The whole intention was to get a very robust system that's better than what......

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Metro workers snagged in sex sting

A Metro station manager and a Metro custodian were arrested on prostitution charges after an undercover transit police investigation found they arranged sexual trysts for money from inside the Dupont Circle Metro station.At one point the employees used the Metro loudspeaker system to facilitate an illicit sexual arrangement, according to police who arrested the pair last week.Sharon Waters, a Red Line station manager, told an undercover police officer at the Dupont Circle......

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Recent charges latest in string of embarrassments

The arrest of two Metro employees on prostitution charges is the latest in a recent series of sexual misconduct charges filed against transit agency workers.Police charged Metro custodian Dolaron Allen with misdemeanor sexual abuse after he had sex with a woman in the customer bathroom at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station June 14, court documents said.According to the charges, Dolaron, who was hired in 2007 and was no longer employed by Metro as of June 19, forced the woman to perform......

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Kaine touts public-private cooperation on transportation projects

Virginia must rely increasingly on partnerships with private companies for its transportation projects as state and federal funds dwindle for the state’s growing needs, Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday."We’re all in the business in state government of diversifying our portfolios these days," Kaine said at the National Governors Association transportation summit. "[Public-private partnerships] are a big and important part of what we need......

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Washington Post top editor to step down after 17 years

The Washington Post announced Monday that the newspaper’s longtime executive editor, Leonard Downie Jr., is stepping down in September.Downie, 66, has been the Post’s top editor since 1991 and has led the paper to 25 Pulitzer Prizes, including one for a 2005 story exposing the existence of secret CIA prisons,......

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D.C. zoo's panda could be expecting

A panda frenzy may – or may not – descend upon Washington next month.Scientists at the National Zoo found a spike in hormone levels in Mei Xiang, the zoo’s female giant panda, that could mean she’s carrying the region’s next baby panda.But since the bamboo-munching mammals commonly have false pregnancies that are virtually indistinguishable from real ones until the last weeks before giving birth, scientists are hopeful, but not certain, that Mei Xiang......

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Speed limit on busy Beltway section to adjust according to traffic flow

A high-traffic segment of the Beltway soon will see electronic speed limit signs with speeds that change according to traffic conditions.The Virginia Department of Transportation has installed cameras and sensors along the stretch of the Outer Loop leading to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and plans to begin adjusting speed limits there in July during the night, when the agency will be working on constructing the Telegraph Road Interchange."The......

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D.C. region to coordinate on traffic, transit information

Washington’s transportation leaders are preparing to unveil a system that would give Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Metro unprecedented access to each other’s traffic and transit information, revolutionizing how the region communicates and responds to major disruptions."Almost every week we have new reminders that the region needs a more coordinated transportation response and public communication capability," said Continued...

 

Alexandria to hike towing fees 26 percent, citing program costs

Parking illegally is about to get riskier in Alexandria — the city is raising its towing fees 26 percent starting in July."We hadn’t raised those fees in excess of five years," said Richard Baier, Alexandria’s director of Transportation and Environmental Services. The raised fees will cover the cost of administering the program as expenses rise, he said.The city’s towing fee will jump from $135 to $170 July 1, a move the City Council......

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Metro chief to discourage buying touted railcar series

Metro General Manager John Catoe said he will recommend against buying the fleet of high-tech railcars that the agency has been promoting for months and instead advocate sticking with the existing model when Metro’s board of directors meets in July.Metro must order 128 new railcars this year if the agency is to be ready in time for the opening of the planned Silver Line rail extension to Washington Dulles International......

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Area motorcycle deaths disproportionate

Yearly motorcycle deaths have more than doubled across the nation over the past 10 years and account for a disproportionate number of motor vehicle deaths in the Washington region, according to a study by the Governors Highway Safety Association.Motorcycles represented 13 percent of all motor vehicle deaths in Maryland but 3 percent of registered vehicles in 2006, the most recent year for which......

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Officials consider altering where trains stop in stations

Some Metro operators are still opening car doors before trains fully reach the station platforms, but Metro General Manager John Catoe said he was reluctant to order a procedural change that could stem the errors because it would inconvenience riders.The errors occur when operators forget they are driving an eight-car train and pull their train up to the six-car stop, leaving the back railcar hanging in the tunnel.Though nobody has been injured in the incidents — which have occurred at least......

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Area bottlenecks rank D.C. 4th on list of worst traffic

The northbound stretch of Interstate-395 just before the 14th Street Bridge has won the title of the region’s worst bottleneck, according to a national traffic study.The study, which is scheduled to be released today by traffic information provider Inrix, ranked the region’s 25 worst bottlenecks according to hours of congestion and found the Washington area has the fourth-worst overall congestion in the nation.Los Angeles,......

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Metro board slams officials for lack of communication

Metro officials were admonished Thursday for the agency’s poor communication during a series of events that crippled the Orange Line over the past week and a half.Metro did not alert customers waiting on packed platforms that trains would not be coming, did not communicate with jurisdictions to ensure smooth shuttle bus service during last week's storm and did not notify Arlington's emergency workers about Monday's derailment until the train had been stopped for 15 minutes, Board of Directors members said."We have communications......

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Millions meant for drug abuse services used for other purposes, study finds

Virginia spent $106 million on substance abuse services in 2006, but most state agencies failed to evaluate whether their programs worked and $18 million set aside for the programs went unspent, a legislative study found.The state's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission determined that the majority of Virginia agencies that provide substance abuse services don't evaluate the effectiveness of their treatment programs, despite being legally required to do so."While it is largely unknown whether Virginia prevention programs yield positive results, the allocation......

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U.S. House approves measure to provide Metro $1.5B funding

The U.S. House approved a measure Wednesday that would authorize $1.5 billion in federal funds for cash-strapped Metro after the Washington area's congressional delegation attached an amendment to the Amtrak funding bill.Area representatives have been angling to push a Metro funding bill through Congress but have been blocked in the Senate by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a fiscal conservative who has put......

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More riders squeezing onto Metrorail as gas costs force commuters off roads

Metro’s already-packed railcars are being crammed even tighter as area residents flee the highways.With the transit system experiencing record-breaking ridership days in rapid succession as gas prices surge, Metro officials are considering putting retired buses back in service and adding more eight-car trains if the trend escalates, General Manager John Catoe said in an exclusive interview with The Examiner."Every day now we’re getting closer to 800,000 per day on the rail system, and that’s been happening very quickly," Catoe said. "The......

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Google maps to include Metro schedules, routes

Metro is working with Google to add its bus and rail schedules to the popular search engine's mapping feature, ensuring that public transit routes show up when Web surfers search Google for directions in the Washington area.Metro gave Google its schedules and maps three months ago. The program is currently in the testing phase because the itineraries generated by Google Maps are not always......

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Georgetown studied for traffic overhaul

Georgetown's streets could see parking rule changes, bus-only lanes and wider sidewalks under options being considering to help ease traffic in the perpetually congested neighborhood.A draft study released by the District Department of Transportation gave seven of 25 Georgetown intersections an "F" during peak periods, with average delays exceeding three minutes in some of those spots.By 2015, 12 of the 25 intersections will receive "F's," with average delays reaching more than 10 minutes at 35th Street and Reservoir Road NW, the study......

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Alexandria eyes adding Potomac Yard Metro station

Alexandria officials are moving toward adding a Metro station to the rapidly developing Potomac Yard area and have allocated a half million dollars toward studying the idea.The City Council will decide this month whether to approve a proposal to shift 765,000 square feet of planned office space from the south side of the development to the north side to help create a bigger town center that could support a Metro station.City Council members......

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Officials urge increase in federal funds for Metro

Regional transportation leaders and the area’s congressional delegation issued a joint cry Thursday for an increase in federal funding for Metro but acknowledged that a key funding bill is unlikely to help the transit agency this year.Metro, which is the only major transit system in the country without a dedicated source of funding, is scrounging for money to fix $489 million in urgent, unbudgeted capital needs for the aging rail system.The agency also is scramblingto come up with money for its considerable capital needs, such as for old railcars and......

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Tree felled by storm kills person in Fairfax County

At least one person died in the Washington region and hundreds of thousands were left in the dark as severe weather felled trees and power lines and tornado reports sent schoolchildren running for cover Wednesday afternoon.The fast-moving storm pummeled the area with 60 mph winds and sent a tree falling onto a vehicle on Hummer Road in the Annandale area of Fairfax County, killing one......

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New schools chief vows to increase accessibility

Alexandria’s newly appointed superintendent doesn’t sleep much."It’s probably not a healthy thing," Morton Sherman said during a teleconference with reporters Tuesday. "If you send me an e-mail at 3:30 in the morning, there’s a bit of a chance you’ll get an e-mail back in a half-hour."Sherman,who will leave Tenafly Public Schools in New Jersey to head......

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Kennedy surgery ‘successful’ — chemo, radiation up next

Sen. Edward Kennedy faces chemotherapy and radiation treatment after undergoing a "successful" three-hour surgery Monday aimed at shrinking the size of a malignant brain tumor.The surgery, designed to render the tumor in Kennedy’s brain more treatable, marked "just the first step in Senator Kennedy’s treatment plan," his doctor said."After a brief recuperation, he will begin a targeted radiation and chemotherapy treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital," said Continued...

 

Senator’s operation not intended to cure malignant brain tumor

The brain surgery Sen. Edward Kennedy underwent Monday was not intended to cure the senator’s malignant brain tumor, area doctors said."It won’t affect a cure of the tumor — it will slow it down and allow the radiation and the chemotherapy to be more affective," said Dr. Anthony Caputy, chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Continued...

 

Alexandria School Board chooses new superintendent from N.J.

The oft-divided Alexandria School Board voted unanimously Monday night to appoint the superintendent of Tenafly Public Schools in New Jersey as Alexandria’s new superintendent.Morton Sherman has been superintendent of Tenafly schools since 2005 and was superintendent of the Cherry Hill, N.J., school district for eight......

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Gas prices send travelers to Amtrak

Amtrak has seen a windfall from ballooning gas prices that are sending increasing numbers of Northeast travelers from cars to trains.The government-owned company served 6,333,027 riders in the Northeast corridor between October and April, 11.2 percent more than during the same months the year before, Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell said. Nationally, the company had a 10.6 percent ridership increase during that period."We’re attributing about half of that to gas prices — that’s what......

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Judge kills Arlington school redistricting plan

An Arlington plan to redistrict some elementary schools to relieve overcrowding, which drew passionate responses from parents and underwent a drastic revision before passing the School Board in February, was voided by a circuit court Thursday on a procedural technicality.An Arlington County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of six Tuckahoe Elementary School parents who argued that, among other things, the board did......

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Norfolk Southern's ethanol use draws ire of Alexandria

Alexandria leaders are incensed that they were unaware that a shipping company had been filling up tankers with thousands of gallons of ethanol near an elementary school even though the city's fire department had no equipment to fight fires caused by the highly flammable fuel.Mayor Bill Euille and the City Council did not find out that Norfolk Southern had begun transferring about......

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Arlington to wheel out bike-sharing program

Arlington County is preparing to roll out a bike-sharing program in the fall that local officials hope will help fuel demand for bike transit and help relieve congested roadways and trains.The program, called Nextbike, will feature between 100 and 200 bikes that will be tied up with cable locks at an estimated 40 orange Zipcar poles along the Rosslyn-Continued...

 

To speed service on Metrobus, agency eyes spacing out stops

Metrobus customers may soon have to walk an extra block to catch a ride.Metro officials are considering spacing out bus stops — which are placed on almost every block along many routes — as part of a broader plan to improve the speed and reliability of the bus network."That’s one thing we’re looking at — spacing out the bus stops," Metro Assistant General Manager Gerald Francis said. "Right now, the buses stop all the time — that backs up traffic, and......

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Metro maps aim to ease, speed bus and rail use

Metro is rolling out new, hand-held maps at all of the transit system’s 117 station mezzanines that show customers where they are, how they can move among stations and bus lines, and how long it will take to do so.The maps will be tailored to individual stations and will show a "You Are Here" icon as well aspinpoint station exits and all of the bus stops and bus routes in the immediate area, officials said."If there’s some sort of major delay and passengers are leaving the station, these maps will......

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Summertime blues for area drivers

Just in time for the summer vacation season: $4 gas.The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit a record $3.83 Thursday, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic, but many energy analysts expect the cost to blow past $4 in the next month."The price rise is not over, and the really sharp rises are probably in front of us," said Larry Chorn, chief economist for energy research company Platts. "We probably won’t......

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Metro to shut down shuttle buses in light of new U.S. regulations

Metro no longer will provide shuttle bus services for the Washington Redskins and other local organizations because new federal regulations prohibit it, officials said.Both the Redskins and Wolf Trap contract Metro to run low-cost shuttles between the venues and their closest Metro station before and after events, charging customers $5 round-trip.The transit agency receives about 150 requests a year for charter bus services, including for D.C., Arlington County and Continued...

 

More than 1 in 3 Md., Va. drivers text message while on the road

More than one-third of drivers in Maryland and Virginia admit they have gotten into the dangerous habit of texting while driving.Drivers in the two states are some of the worst offenders in the nation, with 36 percent of Maryland drivers and 35.6 percent of Virginia drivers admitting they let their fingers do the talking when they’re on the road, according to a new survey.The states ranked fourth and sixth in the country, respectively, for......

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Senator faces bleak survival chances

Sen. Edward Kennedy likely has one of two main types of malignant gliomas — the highly aggressive glioblastoma or the only slightly less aggressive anaplastic astrocytoma, according to Dr. Walter Jean, director of surgical neuro-oncology for Georgetown University Hospital. Survival rates are bleak for both types — 50 percent of people with glioblastomas are dead within one year of diagnosis......

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Metro plannerspredict likely ridership surge

Metro is planning for the likelihood that skyrocketing gas prices will funnel hordes more commuters onto a transit system that already is packed with riders during peak travel times."If gasoline does hit $5 a gallon, or even $6, how will that affect our ridership?" General Manager John Catoe said in an e-mail to employees Friday. "There is a point at which we may see a massive move of commuters from driving to transit because of the cost," he said. "How many......

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Metro may bring changes in bus transit

Metro is proposing a dramatic increase in the number of express bus routes in the region and urging a fundamental change in the way local jurisdictions view bus transit.Agency officials want to create 18 new bus priority corridors during the next six years, bringing the total number to 24, in the hope that faster and more reliable bus service will lure drivers to public transit the way rail has.Ridership on Metro's buses, which are notoriously unpredictable, has been stagnant during the past several months while rail ridership has continued to......

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Rabid fox attacks Arlington woman

A rabid gray fox bit a woman in her south Arlington driveway last week — the second such case in Virginia’s Washington suburbs in a five-day span.The fox bit the woman May 9 in the 5200 block of South 12th Road before being captured and killed in her yard by animal control officers, county public health officials said Friday.A state laboratory confirmed Wednesday that the fox was rabid, and the woman is receiving anti-rabies......

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Damaged cable disrupts Comcast services in Arlington

Arlington County tree trimmers accidentally spliced through a Comcast fiber-optic cable Wednesday, cutting off phone, Internet and video service for thousands of customers in the southern half of the county.The outage, which occurred at 8:30 a.m., affected 2,500 phone customers in Crystal City, Arlington County officials said.Neither county nor Comcast officials could estimate how many Internet and video customers were affected.Ten county government......

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Air travelers may ease customs process in pilot program

International travelers who register with a pilot program at Washington Dulles International Airport will be able to avoid federal agents and use self-serve kiosks to speed through customs, officials said.The registered traveler program, run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, costs participating travelers $100 and is being tested at Dulles, John F. Kennedy International Airport......

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Arlington, Loudoun historic sites most at risk in Va.

An Arlington County shopping center and a Loudoun County community center are two of Virginia’s eight most endangered historic buildings, according to a list compiled by a nonprofit preservation organization. APVA Preservation Virginia cited the World War II-era Lee Shopping Center in Continued...

 

Arlington weighs allowing permanent vendor kiosks

Arlington County is looking to liven up its plazas and parks by allowing permanent vendor kiosks much like the ones that dot the National Mall.The county permits street vendors to sell their goods from moveable carts or card tables, but officials are considering allowing permanent, built-in-the-ground kiosks for selling such items as flowers, coffee, food or newspapers and magazines.The proposal also would allow food trucks to linger on public streets for up......

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Arlington pipe work to affect county roads

Arlington County this year will begin a years-long effort to replace its aging underground storm-water system, a feat that will require digging up some streets to reach an extensive network of deteriorating or too-small pipes.County staff are still working out the logistics of replacing 215 miles of the county’s 360-mile underground pipe network, which is reaching the end of its 50-year life, but plans have already been drawn up for some of the most critical projects.Failures in Continued...

 

Metro’s new focus is better bus service

Metro officials, who have been largely successful in improving on-time train performance over the past several months, are gearing up to get the agency's famously unpredictable buses to run on schedule. Assistant General Manager Gerald Francis said he will present Metro's Board of Directors with preliminary plans next month to raise the quality of bus service."We're going to make a gallant effort to get out there and see what we......

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Metro's hybrid buses poor peformers despite higher cost

Metro's hybrid-electric buses consistently break down more than the agency's other new buses despite the hybrid's higher cost, officials said. The Examiner reported in March that the Metro's fleet of 50 hybrid buses had faulty engines that the manufacturer was scheduled to replace this month. But transit officials said Thursday that the hybrids tend to perform more poorly than both the clean diesel and compressed natural gas buses even when the hybrid's engines are functioning properly. "Typically, they don't do as......

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Metro pushes for cameras throughout transit system

Metro is making a major push to install cameras throughout the system in an effort toimprove passenger safety.The transit agency is planning to install crime cameras at 10 Metro station entrances in the District of Columbia, apply for federal grants to install "smart cameras" throughout the system, and install 19 more cameras in its parking lots to bring the total to 32.The cameras at the station entrances are being installed at the city’s request.The District’s proposed fiscal 2009 budget includes $200,000......

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Reagan airport to bar District cabs operating without meters on June 1

D.C. cabs that don’t have meters installed in them will be barred from picking up passengers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport starting June 1.The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages Reagan and Washington Dulles International airports, has decided to enforce the same deadline for the switch from the zone system to time and distance meters......

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Bridge work to close lanes on Outer Loop

A Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction project will reduce Outer Loop Beltway traffic to one lane this weekend in preparation for a major traffic shift planned for next week.The current three Outer Loop lanes on and surrounding the bridge are set to close late Sunday as traffic moves to three newly constructed lanes.The first section of the three new lanes on the Virginia side is currently serving as an off-ramp from the......

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Weekend riders to face delays as Metro fixes tracks on Green and Yellow lines

Metro’s Green and Yellow line riders should brace for heavy delays over the next four weekends as the transit agency completes a track repair designed to correct a problem that led to a train derailment last year.The delays will coincide with two weekends of Washington Nationals home games.Metro is advising riders to build an extra 30 to 45 minutes into their travel schedules as all trains will share one track between L’Enfant......

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Stafford familicide region’s 6th in 14 months

A Stafford County man's slaying of his children and girlfriend Monday night was the sixth case of a father killing his family in the Washington region in the past 14 months.Three of the incidents — which criminologists call familicide — involved Montgomery County families.In March, a Rockville man who was separated from his wife drowned his......

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Metrorail passenger injuries down

Metro has made significant progress in preventing passenger injuries since the start of General Manager John Catoe’s first full fiscal year at the helm of the transit agency.Rail passenger injuries have dropped 44 percent in the first nine months of fiscal 2008, which began in July, from the same period the year before, according to a Metro safety report scheduled to be presented to a Board of Directors committee Thursday. Injuries that occurred on station platforms or in Metro parking lots......

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Alexandria City Council approves wide-ranging tax, fee increases

The Alexandria City Council unanimously adopted a budget Monday night that includes tax and fee increases on everything from real estate and trash collection to restaurant meals and ambulance trips.The council approved a 1.5-cent increase in the real estate tax, bringing the rate to 84.5 cents for every $100 of assessed value.The rate is still the lowest among major Northern Virginia jurisdictions, officials said. At the City Council’s request, Continued...

 

Metro parking rates not likely to rise; fare increase has raised enough money

Metro’s January fare increase has so far generated enough money for the transit agency that officials do not want to increase parking fees an additional 25 cents in July.The fare increase, approved by the Metro Board of Directors in December, included a 30- to 60-cent increase in rail fares and a 75-cent increase in parking fees.The new fares were expected to raise $107 million and all but erase an estimated $109 revenue shortfall in Metro’s fiscal 2009 operating budget.But......

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Taxes set to rise in Alexandria

The Alexandria City Council is expected Monday night to raise a slew of taxes on items ranging from meals and hotel stays to real estate.Despite asking City Manager James Hartmann in December to present a fiscal 2009 budget that did not include an increase in the residential real estate tax, the council is expected to approve a 1 to 2 cent increase for every $100 to help combat a faltering economy......

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Arlington police create MySpace page to deter online predators

Interns at the Arlington County Police Department have spent a lot of time on MySpace lately, but not because they’re goofing off.The department Thursday started its own Web page on the popular social networking site in an attempt to deter online predators from contacting children.Officials said they hoped children who use MySpace would add the police department to their list of "top friends," ensuring that the department’s picture — an......

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Metro operators jumping the gun on opening doors

Metro operators have opened the doors before the trains have fully reached the platform at least 13 times this year, including five times since operators began a new policy of opening the doors manually 16 days ago, Metro officials acknowledged.The number of incidents call into question the agency’s April 14 decision to disable the automatic door system because of four incidents of doors opening on the wrong side this year.The incidents comprise some of Metro’s most serious safety violations because passengers who are leaning on the car doors or who......

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Traffic congestion in area seen rising 50 percent in 25-30 years

The traffic-clogged Washington area will see a 50 percent increase in congestion over the next 25 to 30 years despite being one of the nation’s mass-transit success stories, according to a new report.A nationwide infrastructure analysis by the Urban Land Institute found that the Washington area — which is expected to see a 23 percent growth in population — will see a bigger increase in mass-transit use than any other metropolitan region......

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Arlington adds Montessori to middle school

Arlington Public Schools is adding its first middle school Montessori program to Gunston Middle School next year, county officials said.Arlington was one of the first publicly funded school systems to use Montessori, a specialized program that puts students in three-year age groups and gives them individual choice in research and work, focusing on uninterrupted work periods rather than group lessons.The county has 17 preschool and elementary Montessori classrooms spanning 10 schools.The program......

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One out of six Metro delays caused by sick passengers

Red Line riders were frustrated Friday morning when a sick passenger put rush-hour service at a standstill, but statistics show the situation is not uncommon.Sick passengers accounted for 16 percent of all major service disruptions in February, the most recent month for which data are available. Because Metro has only two tracks, a stopped train automatically causes a standstill on the line in the direction the train was traveling, or causes delays in both directions if the agency decides trains traveling in both directions will share one track. Metro’s rules......

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Arlington scales back rental rezoning plan

Arlington County has scaled back its plans to allow single-family homeowners to rent out their basements, garages or guesthouses as separate apartments after the initial proposal met with community opposition.A January plan by the county’s housing commission called for allowing homeowners to build the units in their basements without seeking permits, and in duplexes and detached buildings such as guesthouses with a permit.A county staff plan proposed last week would prohibit homeowners from building rental units in duplexes or in separate......

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City OKs moving Royal St. bus garage

Metro’s board of directors last week voted to begin relocating Old Town Alexandria’s Royal Street Bus Garage, a community nuisance that residents have long wanted moved."It no longer fits in the neighborhood," said Alexandria Mayor William Euille, who sits on Metro’s board. "It’s a heavy commercial-use building in a residential and historic district. I’ve been pushing for this for the eight and a half years I’ve been on the Metro board."The......

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Metro breaks ridership records in April

April has been a big month for Metro - the transit agency broke rail ridership records three times in two weeks. Metro carried 828,973 riders on Thursday - the third-highest ridership number in the transit agency's history. Tallies that high usually are reserved for presidential inaugurations or the Cherry Blossom Festival, but Thursday was marked by nothing more than fine weather and Washington Nationals game and Washington Wizards playoff game. Metro saw......

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Metro deploying ‘mystery riders’ to improve its customer service

Metro riders who complain about shoddy train service or rude station managers soon should have professionals to back them up.Metro’s board of directors Thursday voted to begin looking for a company to conduct a "mystery rider" program in which employees disguised as regular riders evaluate where Metro is failing to meet its own standards.Officials said the program — which showed up on a list of General Manager John Catoe’s goals in February — could be in place as soon as August."We need......

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Metro urges walkways between stations to help ease congestion

Metro officials Thursday recommended constructing underground walkways between stations and building inter-line rail connections to help the agency solve an impending capacity crisis.The stations least able to handle more riders are Metro Center, Farragut North, Gallery Place, L’Enfant Plaza and Shady Grove, according to staff analysis.To help ease platform and train crowding at Metro Center and Gallery Place, the planning staff wants to build a mezzanine-level walkway between the two transfer stations that would run directly above the trains. "Instead of......

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Cash-strapped Virginia counties raise driver fees, fines

Cash-strapped counties across Northern Virginia are turning to drivers to help them shore up their budgets.Counties are raising money by increasing auto and parking fees and cracking down on drivers with violations that were more likely to slip under the radar in wealthier times. Alexandria last month established a program that prevents drivers with unpaid parking tickets from renewing their car registrations at the Continued...

 

Arlington weighs ban on owning poisonous or dangerous snakes

Arlingtonians on the hunt for a pet python soon may have to settle for a garter snake instead.The county is considering banning the ownership of poisonous or dangerous snakes."Currently, there is no code against venomous snakes as long as they are contained and they are kept in a way that doesn’t endanger the public," said Richard Cole, the county’s environmental health bureau chief."We have knowledge that there are some homeowners in the county that may own them, and so out of......

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Metro testing rubber, stone floors to replace carpeting in railcars

Metro is testing four types of rubber and stone railcar floors as the transit agency moves away from using carpeting, which officials say is expensive and difficult to maintain.Metro has used carpet floors since its earliest days but began testing rubber, light-gray floors in two if its new 6000-series railcars in November.Early this year, the agency began testing two additional styles of floors — a black one with gray and white flecks and a gray one with black flecks.Metro now is also trying out gray quartz flooring in one railcar."Rail......

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Bullying prompts review of punishments

Alexandria school officials are looking to strengthen student punishment guidelines after a mother, calling the rules inadequate, pulled her child out of the city’s schools because of bullying."Some people were questioning whether [Alexandria’s] code of conduct does give too much flexibility," Alexandria schools spokeswoman Amy Carlini said.Alexandria’s student code of conduct specifies students who commit some offenses — such as bringing drugs to school — will at least be suspended. For other offenses,......

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Ridership still climbs after Metro fare hike

 Metro’s weekday ridership, three months after its fare increase, is still up slightly from last year, but far below the surprising 6 percent jump the agency saw in January and February. Average weekday ridership rose 1.3 percent in March over the same month last year.In 2007, before the fare increase, ridership rose about 3 percent. "February, I believe, was an anomaly because we had fairly good weather and it was a leap year, so we had an extra day," Metro Budget Director Rick......

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Metro eyes building Rosslyn-Georgetown line

Metro wants to build a new rail line from Rosslyn through Georgetown to help the agency handle expected increases in ridership. Metro planners predict daily ridership will reach nearly 1 million passengers by 2030 - a painful thought for passengers who already feel crowded with average daily ridership in the 700,000s. Metro staff are scheduled brief the agency's board of directors on the measure and other potential solutions at a meeting Thursday. Metro planning......

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Arlington to reintroduce red-light cameras

Arlington County police will begin using red-light cameras this summer to ticket drivers who speed through intersections after the light has changed.Red-light cameras — which are used in the District of Columbia — were used in Arlington between 1999 and 2004 as part of an experimental program the Virginia General Assembly authorized in several......

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School to get big face-lift, but other projects delayed

The Arlington school-building program proposed by the schools superintendent includes funding for the renovation of Yorktown High beginning this year, but pushes the renovation of Wakefield High to 2012 and does not fund the badly needed overhaul of Thomas Jefferson Middle School.School and county officials have been struggling to determine how to finance large capital projects with a deteriorating economy and escalating debt racked up......

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Metro operators to open doors manually

Metro has told its train operators to manually open car doors because its automatic system sometimes opens the doors on the wrong side.Doors have opened on the side without a platform at least four times this year, officials said — a tiny number for a system that opens doors 216,000 times a day, but pose a serious safety risk because a rider who accidentally exits the wrong way could plummet onto the tracks.Train operators now are manually pushing a button to open and close the doors each time a train......

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Chesapeake blue crab harvests cut

Virginia and Maryland will cut their female blue crab harvests in the Chesapeake Bay by 34 percent this year as the states’ signature crustaceans reach perilously low population levels.Govs. Tim Kaine and Martin O’Malley in a joint news conference announced the cuts Tuesday after releasing the results......

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Metro vehicles block D.C. bus stops

As Metro General Manager John Catoe seeks to crack down on drivers who park illegally in front of Metrobus stops, the transit agency blocks the stops with its own vehicles.Catoe said last week he would seek authority for Metro to issue parking tickets because illegally parked cars force buses to stop in moving lanes, clogging traffic and posing a safety risk to riders, pedestrians and other drivers. But a Metro service truck was blocking a bus stop in front of the......

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Metro to spend $250k, detour buses

Metro will spend $250,000 to accommodate the crushing crowds expected to swarm the transit system this week during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Washington.The transit agency will operate continuous rush-hour service until 7 p.m. Thursday — the day of the 10 a.m. Papal Mass at Nationals Park — but will charge nonpeak fares from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.Metro will have extra......

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Water supplier using faulty data for rate increase, Alexandria says

The company that supplies water to Alexandria appears to be using faulty data to justify a 17 percent rate increase in the city, Alexandria city staff said.Virginia American Water is asking the state to approve a rate increase that would raise the average water bill in Alexandria and Prince William County by 16 to 17 percent, citing higher water treatment, water delivery and infrastructure costs.City staff agreed that the $10......

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Metro budget for accident claims to rise to $43M in ’09

Lawsuits stemming from a series of fatal bus accidents in 2007 have forced Metro to set aside $43 million for settlements in next year’s budget, the most ever."We had some serious accidents last year," Metro budget director Rick Harcum said. "The money is for a combination of specific accidents that happened last year and longer-term accidents. We’ve had people who were injured years ago and who get workers’ comp forever."Metro’s budget for accident claims has climbed sharply over the past......

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New Arlington fire station opens today

Arlington officials Saturday will officially inaugurate the county's long-awaited new fire station, the first in the Washington area with gender-neutral sleeping areas to accommodate a growing number of female firefighters. Fire Station No. 5, which serves the Pentagon City area and the Pentagon, features 12 individual suites, each with a single bed,......

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Metro may ticket at bus stops

Metro wants to start handing out parking tickets to drivers who park illegally in front of bus stops."I observe all over the region that in bus zones, it says no parking, but it’s just ignored," Metro General Manager John Catoe said Thursday. "And in the District, giving out parking tickets in bus zones is not a priority."The illegal parkers force buses to stop in the middle of traffic, clogging traffic and posing a safety risk to pedestrians and riders, Catoe......

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Most kin of Tech shooting victims accept state’s offer

The families of most of the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting last April have agreed to accept a settlement offer from the state, their lawyers and Gov. Tim Kaine said Thursday, six days before the massacre’s anniversary."A proposal for resolution has now been accepted by a substantial majority of the victims and victims’ families," Kaine said. "At this time, details will remain confidential as the......

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Metro eyes adding police officers

Metro’s new transit police chief wants to add 25 police officers and three police sergeants to help battle a spike in crime in the system and to cope with the region’s growing number of special events.General Manager John Catoe told Metro’s board of directors that he will revise his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year to include $2.3 million for the new officers.Metro currently has 416 sworn officers and five unfilled spots."We looked at the overtime account, the growth......

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Interactive Newseum to open doors Friday

The $450 million Newseum, "the most technologically advanced and most interactive museum in the world," is an ambitious effort to imbue the public with a sense of awe and appreciation for the role of a vigorous free press, museumofficials said Tuesday. "We did not build this museum for journalists — we built it for the 20 million people who visit Washington every year," Newseum CEO Charles Overby said as......

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Alexandria picks new firm to aid schools superintendent search

The Alexandria School Board announced Tuesday that it selected a new firm to conduct the search for a superintendent after issuing a terse statement last week that it was ending its deal with consulting firm Ray and Associates. "The School Board is committed to finding a highly qualified, superior candidate for the position of Alexandria’s superintendent, and we will not compromise those high standards," Continued...

 

Elevator, escalator performances on the rise

Metro’s elevators and escalators, which can seem to be perpetually broken, have been performing better in recent months and are now reaching or surpassing Metro’s performance goals.Metro’s escalators were available 88.3 percent of the time in July 2006, but have been more reliable since then, reaching a 95.5 percent performance rate in January, the transit agency’s statistics show.That beats Metro’s goal of having escalators available 93 percent of the time. Elevator service climbed steadily from 93.4 percent in July 2006 to 97.1 percent in January — almost reaching Metro’s 97.5......

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Metro handles Nationals fans with little pain

Metro was bracing for crushing crowds on Monday — the night of the Washington Nationals’ first weekday night game — but riders said their commute was pretty painless."I work near here, and it’s a lot more crowded today," said Bryce Onaran, waiting in his Nationals hat at L’Enfant Plaza for a Green Line train to the Navy Yard station. "I......

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Metro advances cell-phone plan; some riders ask for courtesy

Metro is moving forward with plans to make cell phone service available to all customers, but some Metro riders are asking the agency to make sure something else is available too: Signs asking people to keep quiet."We were just thinking that everyone is an individual and some people like to ride the Metro in quiet, and some are fine with chatting with their neighbor," Riders Advisory Council Chairwoman Nancy Iacomini said. "As we bring more technology into the system, that gives people more opportunities to communicate, and I think we......

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Alexandria targeting scofflaws in effort to collect ticket funds

Alexandria is cracking down on thousands of drivers who have overdue parking tickets.Starting this month, delinquent ticket payers won’t be able to renew their car registrations at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles until they settle their parking debts and pay an extra $20.Virginians are required to renew their car registration every one or two years, depending on the option they select.The DMV’s Vehicle Registration Withholding Program already......

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Metro operators reminded to skip stations to get trains on schedule

Metro train operators are being warned they will be asked sometimes to skip stations to speed their trains up to schedule, as the transit agency struggles to improve its on-time performance."We now get daily reports on Headway Adherence, which measures our ability to keep trains separated based on our schedule," Blue/Orange line director Charles Dziduch wrote in a memo dated Feb. 22. "It is important for operators to maintain their schedule when we have no delays on the railroad, or,......

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Arlington school officials urged to curb spending

Arlington County schools are asking principals and program managers to curb their spending for the rest of the year as the rising costs of maintenance, fuel and school lunch ingredients are sending the schools over budget."We’re just asking them to try to save money and make sure that they’re only buying things that are necessary through the end of the year," Assistant Superintendent of Finance Mary Beth Chambers said."We built our 2009 budget with the anticipation of having a savings......

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District passes tougher penalties for assaulting Metro operators

The D.C. Council passed a bill Tuesday that stiffens the penalties for assaulting a Metro transit operator by 50 percent after the crimes spiked last year.There were 84 assaults against Metrobus drivers last year, with more than 50 of them in the District of Columbia."The assaults range from being spit on, to hit with sticks, bricks, poles, open hands, guns and knives, to fondling and attempting......

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After warning, Arlington delays Yorktown High reconstruction

Arlington County Schools is delaying a massive, 55-month reconstruction project at Yorktown High School in the wake of warnings from the county government about dwindling funds.Schools officials, who have $25 million in funding from a previous bond referendum to begin construction in June, were relying on voters passing another bond in November to fund the additional $75 million needed for the project.But Continued...

 

Alexandria officials targeting tour bus parking problems

Alexandria officials are struggling with wayward tour buses that clog the city's narrow streets and have a frustrating habit of parking wherever they want. "We really have to get our arms around this," Councilman Paul Smedberg said at a recent City Council meeting. "My fear is that … we're going to have a much higher level of tour buses coming to the city because of National Harbor." With its historic buildings......

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Alexandria seeks to increase taxes on car-title and payday lenders

Alexandria officials want to crack down on what they say are predatory lending practices by heavily taxing payday and car-title lenders.The city taxes financial services companies, which include stockbrokers, hedge funds and payday lenders, at a rate of 35 cents for every $100 of gross receipts. Councilman Justin Wilson has proposed creating a subcategory for payday lenders and car-title lenders and taxing them the state limit of 58 cents for every......

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Metro alters maintenance policy to relieve Red Line riders

Metro is adjusting its track maintenance policy to ensure that no line is overburdened with weekend delays after a series of projects frustrated Red Line riders for 11 straight weekends."There’s concern that if we schedule it in a way that we’re sort of dogging the same riders over and over again, we’re going to hurt our ridership," Metro Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said.The item appeared on Zimmerman and General Manager......

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Report: Alexandria Fire Department short of staff, equipment, funds

The Alexandria Fire Department is critically short of staff and equipment and needs $5.5 million - which Alexandria is ill-equipped to spend - to bring it up to speed, a city-hired consultant has found. City Manager James Hartmann hired consultant J. Gordon Routley in the wake of an August......

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Oldest Metro railcars’ floors cracking; officials say wear poses no risk to riders

Metro’s oldest railcars have become so worn, their aluminum floors are cracking.The floors near the doors on 21 railcars have cracked under the weight of 32 years worth of rush-hour travelers.Metro has 290 of the old 1000-seriesrailcars, which are deployed throughout the system every day. Metro Assistant General Manager Gerald Francis said the cracks pose no immediate safety risk to riders.When the cracks appear, said Metro’s railcar chief, Dave Kubicek, the cars are pulled from service and the aluminum is welded back together. "These types of issues are common due......

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Metro robberies double in first two months of 2008

Metro is on pace to see twice as many robberies on the transit system this year as last, based on January and February statistics.There were 96 robberies reported to Metro Transit Police during those two months, compared with 46 reported during that period last year.Robberies already had spiked 18 percent in 2007 from 2006, officials said in January.The agency reported 417 robberies on the transit system during all of 2007, with many of the incidents involving stolen personal electronics.While......

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Future Arlington school projects jeopardized by dwindling funds

Arlington Public Schools has spent hundreds of millions of dollars reconstructing two high schools, but funds are in jeopardy of drying up before the county’s third and lowest-income-area high school gets a makeover.Arlington County Manager Ron Carlee has indicated the county will cap the amount of money schools can finance through bonds, saying Arlington’s debt will reach a perilously high level unless the county and the schools curb their construction rates.Arlington......

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Reagan National to add 1,400 parking spaces

Construction is under way to add more than 1,400 parking spots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to keep pace with the airport’s swelling number of passengers.The spots, which are expected to be available in 2010, will represent a 27 percent increase in available garage parking, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages Reagan National and Continued...

 

Looking for a house? Hop on the foreclosure bus tour

At least one local real estate agent has found a silver lining to the current housing crisis.Alexandria real estate agent Christin Patti is organizing a free "foreclosure bus tour," scheduled to depart from Old Town April 19."Properties across Northern Virginia are being sold tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars lower than their assessed value and last sale price," Patti said......

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Metro uses YouTube to tout transit to Nationals Park

"'Two thumbs w-a-a-a-a-a-y up," says Roger Peepbert.'" That's how Metro began its faux news release about its YouTube movie showing three sugar-coated marshmallow Peeps trying to make their way to Nationals Park. The very low-budget video — Metro staffers used in-house equipment and sprung only for a box of Peeps - illustrates the message the agency and baseball officials have......

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State board rules Mirant plant must regulate harmful pollutant

Alexandria won a partial victory in its years-long battle with the Mirant power plant Thursday when a state panel ruled the plant must regulate a type of pollution that is particularly harmful to humans.A permit drafted by the state Department of Environmental Quality would have allowed the Alexandria coal-fired plant to merge its five smokestacks into two without regulating the emissions of a type of fine particulate matter — called PM......

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Navy Yard Metro stop ready for Nationals opening day

Workers were wiring fare boxes and laying paver tiles with a sense of urgency Thursday at the Navy Yard Metrorail station. The station’s dramatically expanded west entrance – which will serve as Metro’s primary gateway to Nationals Park – is scheduled to open a week from today after 15 months of construction.More than 24,000 people are expected to swarm the Green Line station two days later for the Nationals Sunday home opener.Metro has added an extra staircase from the......

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New red lights will be flashing at Metro stops

Metro is about to get redder. The agency will replace the white lights that line the edge of train platforms with red ones at 14 more stations over the next two months, officials said.The red, light-emitting diode lights first appeared as part of a pilot program at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Red Line station in February of last year.They popped up at seven other stations, including Metro Center, last summer, and were recently installed in the Navy Yard station.Officials say replacing the traditional white incandescent bulbs with the longer lasting red......

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Alexandria weighs moving local May elections

Alexandria officials are considering moving the city’s local elections from May to November to help pump up dismal voter turnout, contrary to the recommendation of an advisory group assembled by the city last year."Essentially, every three years, after we have another election and after the turnout gets ever lower, there’s a discussion among the community about what we can do, and one of the most popular solutions is to move it to November," Councilman Continued...

 

Ballston grapples to keep defense research agency

Arlington County is fighting to hold on to the thriving defense-technology industry in Ballston and to further develop the area as a science hub.The county already has had success keeping agencies that were supposed to have moved under the military’s 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations. Now, it is trying for more.When the Pentagon’s 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission......

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Reported rapes in Arlington increased by 23 percent in ’07

The number of rapes in Arlington County increased 23 percent in 2007, police said Tuesday.The statistic comes months after Arlington police urged women to beware of a spate of less serious sexual assaults occurring near the county’s Metro stations. There were 27 reported incidences of rape in Arlington last year, up from 22 the year before, according to county records.Police said few of the cases involved strangers and most involved people......

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Violent crime falls in Arlington

The overall rate of violent crime declined in Arlington by 14 percent last year.Homicides, robberies and aggravated assaults dropped by between 10 and 50 percent in 2007 from 2006 levels, police statistics show."As the drop in violent crime demonstrates, this is a safe community," said Police Chief M. Douglas Scott.Deputy Police Chief Dan Murray attributed the department’s success to the relationship......

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Metro officials: Red Line weekend maintenance to pause for one month

Red Line riders who have been stymied by lengthy weekend service delays over the past two months will get a temporary reprieve — thanks to the Washington Nationals.Metro officials said they were taking a one-month break from weekend track maintenance work to ensure that trains run smoothly throughout the system for the baseball team’s Sunday home opener March 30 and the following weekend games, which are expected to draw about 24,000 Metro riders each. Metro, D.C. and Nationals officials have......

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Classic Metro features disappear as transit system updates style

Love them or hate them, some of the signature features that have made Metro feel like Metro since the rail line’s early days are slowly disappearing.As Metro nears the end of its first generation — which for transit systems is 30 to 40 years, expert say — many of its original parts are being replaced and updated.First on the casualty list: the color scheme.Metro’s once-ubiquitous orange and brown seat cushions first were swapped for burgundy and blue ones when the agency ordered its 5000-series railcars in 1999."It was a fashion......

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Thousands to join rush hour traffic to attend April’s papal Mass

Metro is preparing for a crush of people to swarm the rail line during the morning rush hour when Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the papal Mass at Nationals Park next month.The April 17 event will mark the first papal visit to D.C. in 29 years. The transit agency anticipates that about 26,000 people will ride Metro to the 47,000-seat Mass, which is scheduled to be held at 10......

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Developer pushes second large development in Rosslyn

JBG Cos., fresh off winning approval for its massive Central Place project, is eyeing another large-scale development in Rosslyn. Rosslyn Commons would span almost an entire block of Clarendon Boulevard just west of its intersection with Wilson Boulevard, and would stretch south to 16th Road North, according to county documents. The development......

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Panel OKs steps to upgrade cell phone service in Metro

Metro can begin asking companies to submit proposals to build an underground wireless network that finally would give all riders cell phone service, a board of directors committee decided Thursday.But board members were dissatisfied with staff’s suggestion to allow the company that builds the system to determine how much to charge the other wireless networks to use it, fearing that astronomical rates could deter the other companies from the deal."We have no provision to prevent a monopoly, if it should occur," Continued...

 

Funds sought to redo slippery Metro floors

Metro wants to replace its signature brown floor tiles with concrete at the transit system’s 39 above-ground rail stations to help curb unwieldy maintenance costs and improve rider safety.The six-sided paver tiles — a staple on both indoor and outdoor Metro platforms since the rail system’s first days 32 years ago — can be a safety risk at outdoor stations because they become slippery in wet conditions, officials said.They are also prone to coming loose as a result of water damage. "We’re having a lot more problems in a lot......

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Impasse threatens affordable housing

A development that would preserve affordable housing on the banks of the Potomac River is being threatened by an impasse between the developer and the Virginia Department of Transportation.VDOT bought the Hunting Towers and Hunting Terrace apartment buildings in Alexandria in 2001 through eminent domain to use the area to store construction equipment for the nearby Continued...

 

Violent, serious crime declined in Alexandria in 2007

The rate of several types of violent and serious crime declined in Alexandria last year from already-low levels.Rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults dropped by between 10 and 37 percent in 2007 from 2006 levels, according to police records."This goes against a national trend of rather significant increases of violent crime," Police Chief David Baker said. "There has been a lot of focus and energy by the city concerning public safety, and......

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Metro seeks $489 million for upgrades that were unbudgeted, documents say

Metro urgently needs $489 million to improve railcar safety, replace worn equipment and redo the platforms at three deteriorating Metrorail stations, among other critical projects, according to agency documents.Metro staff is scheduled to brief a board of directors committee on the unbudgeted issues Thursday.The cash-strapped agency must find $45 million to replace 120,000 old track fasteners and replace some old wooden parts of track with concrete to help prevent rail fires.Metro needs more than $20 million for railcar safety enhancements, including $7.5 million to modify the doors on almost all......

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Metro finds flaw in hybrid buses

Metro's entire fleet of hybrid buses has faulty engines that sometimes fail to start."It started at the beginning of their service life, but it has really manifested itself across the fleet in the last six to eight months," said Phil Wallace, Metro's general superintendent for bus maintenance and engineering. "In the last three months, we put our finger on it."The flawed engines are responsible for the hybrid's high engine-failure rate compared with the agency's other new buses. Metro's 50 hybrids, which were rolled out in 2006, had a 26 percent......

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Metrorail to add new train for expected Nats crunch

Metro is adding a new six-car train to the Green Line to handle the rush of travelers expected to flood the line before and after Washington Nationals games, officials said.The transit agency is scheduled to receive 10 new 6000-series railcars this week — part of Metro’s initial order of 184 — and will deploy six of them for Green Line rush-hour service, Assistant General Manager Gerald Francis said Monday.That will......

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Metro slows down 12-month slide in on-time service for trains

Metro’s rush-hour trains ran on schedule more than 90 percent of the time in January, the first time the agency’s on-time performance has reached that mark since December 2006, records show.Metro staff came under fire from the board of directors in January after end-of-the-year service reports showed the agency’s 2007 on-time rush-hour performance dipped as low as 83 percent some months.Metro fell well below its goal of 95 percent on-time service last year, failing to break the 90 percent mark even once.Continued...

 

Metro Express buses to enjoy extra-long green traffic lights

Metro and the District of Columbia are getting ready to start a system that extends green lights for three to five seconds if a Metro Express bus is approaching an intersection. Metro has beentesting the bus-priority system near the Howard University section of its Georgia Avenue/Seventh Street express bus route and has equipped all of its Metro Extra buses with the technology. The technology should be turned on along the......

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Ruling threatens $50 million in Metro funding from NVTA

Last week’s Virginia Supreme Court ruling striking down new transportation taxes is jeopardizing cash-strapped Metro, which was relying on $50 million from the new money.The transit agency was depending on the money from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to help fund a much-needed new batch of railcars and other capital improvements."One-third of Metro’s fleet are the original railcars," Continued...

 

Arlington transit projects to suffer under court ruling

The state Supreme Court ruling striking down the authority of a Northern Virginia transportation body will lead to delays in some major Arlington County transit projects and will force the county to scramble to fund some projects that it can’t put off, officials said.The General Assembly authorized the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority to levy taxes on Northern Virginia......

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Refunds to be cut for cars not using clean fuel

Arlington drivers who own cars that use conventional fuels will get smaller refunds from the county this year to pay for an increasing number of their neighbors who drive Priuses and other clean-fuel autos.The county will pay owners of conventional-fuel vehicles 3 percent less as clean-fuel drivers eat up Arlington’s fixed amount of subsidy money, county officials said.Arlington taxes drivers 5 percent of their cars’ assessed values after exempting the first......

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Alexandria to build garage, expand DASH service

Alexandria is building a new $32 million bus garage that will allow the city to finally expand its DASH commuter bus service."The significance of all of this is we will have the capacity to store and maintain more buses, and that means that we can acquire more buses and have more routes," Vice Mayor Del Pepper said.The city has long planned to expand DASH service to meet increasing demand, but has......

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Metrorail to ditch idea of bench seating

Metro is abandoning the idea of bench seating on rail cars after tests proved the design was unpopular with riders."Our customers here are very driven about having the maximum number of seats," Metro’s rail manager Dave Kubicek said. "The bench-type seating just wouldn’t work for us."Tests showed that bench seating, which is similar to the configuration used on New York’s subway system, did not create more standing space, as was the agency’s intention."If we went off a purely engineering perspective, by the time you put that person in there, put......

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Virginia makes the grade in national report

Virginia and Maryland both ranked high in a report Monday evaluating how well states serve their citizens.The Pew Center’s 2008 "Grading the States" report, which looks at how states manage money, use technology, recruit employees and maintain roads and buildings, gave Virginia an A- and Maryland a B. Only 13 states surpassed the national average score of B-, and Virginia’s A- ranked......

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National fans to face Metro crunch on weekdays

Metro has extra train service planned for the Nationals Sunday home opener this month, but riding the rail system to the weekday, night games could be painful. The transit agency expects the number of riders on the Green Line, which serves the Navy Yard station near the ballpark, to more than triple on game days. But Metro can't add more cars to that section of the system during the week because all of its 820 railcars are committed to rush hour service, officials said.Nationals night games are scheduled to begin......

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Councilman asks for more action on 'dramatic' rat problem

The residents of an Arlandria apartment complex are suffering from a long-standing rat problem so severe, they are reluctant let their children in their backyards. City Council members questioned Code Enforcement Director John Catlett this week after seeing what Councilman Rob Krupicka called "dramatic" pictures of yards and trash bins overrun with rat holes at the 398-unit Presidential Greens apartment complex in the neighborhood between Continued...

 

Pentagon to test invisible gases in Crystal City

The Pentagon is scheduled to release an odorless, invisible, and yes, harmless, gases into the city Thursday to test how quickly they spread through buildings, officials said. The test is part of the military's national security preparation for the capital area. Over the past few years, the defense agency has worked with Arlington County to set up chemical sensors throughout the county, where thousands of defense employees work......

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Arlington County plans to target residents with out-of-state plates

Arlington County in April will begin targeting the 4,000 residents who have out-of-state license plates by issuing them a $100 annual fee for failing to register their cars in Virginia.State law requires that Virginia residents title and register their vehicles within 30 days of moving to the state.Arlington also requires residents to register their cars with the county within 60 days and......

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Metro to gauge progress by using ‘secret shoppers’

Metro Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said Thursday that Metro this year will employ "secret shoppers" to gauge the agency’s progress toward meeting its goals of improved service reliability and customer communications."Large retailers concerned about the customer’s experience in their stores have long employed "secret shoppers" as a way to help assess their performance," Zimmerman said at his first full board meeting as 2008 chairman. "This year Metro will implement a similar program as a tool to help management see the......

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District to limit street parking for Nationals Stadium visitors

Mayor Adrian Fenty announced a plan Wednesday that would severely limit street parking for Nationals fans by reserving the majority of spots around the ballpark for neighborhood residents and short-term parkers.Private parking at the 41,000-seat stadium is also projected to be a nightmare as the Nationals have struggled to secure enough spots for even just their season-ticket holders.The city will place two-hour parking limits or residents-only parking restrictions on most of the streets surrounding the stadium stretching as far as......

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Arlington County proposes property tax hike, service cut

Arlington County Manager Ron Carlee proposed a budget Tuesday that would raise property taxes, cut public library hours and freeze the annual cost-of-living increase for county employees in an effort to tackle Arlington’s escalating health care and construction costs."This budget, for the first time in my seven years as manager, includes almost $1 million in service reductions along with my first-ever recommendation to increase the tax rate," Carlee said. Carlee proposed......

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Metro allocates $1.5M to improve SmarTrip service

Metro is allocating $1.5 million toward SmarTrip customer service improvements as calls to the agency's customer service center have spiked to as many as 2,000 a day since the January fare increase."We've been experiencing unprecedented levels of call volumes," Metro Director of SmarTrip Operations and Policy Gregory Garback said. "Ridership continues to creep up, but the number of people holding our SmarTrip cards continues to grow as well."Garback said the $1.5 million will pay for five more customer service representatives at the Regional SmarTrip Customer Service Center in Continued...

 

Panel kills bill to raise gas tax

A Virginia House panel killed a bill Monday that would have raised the state’s 17.5-cent gasoline tax by a nickel over the next five years.The bill, which would have used the tax money to maintain the state’s highways, died in a 14-6 House Finance Committee vote after passing the Democrat-controlled Senate last week.The House panel killed a similar bill two weeks ago.The state recently revoked its abusive-driver fees, which were enacted last year to generate a......

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Nationals, Metro in talks over parking spots at garage

The Washington Nationals are in talks with Metro to lease the agency’s Southeast bus garage in a deal that could preserve 350 parking spots for the stadium’s opening season.Parking at the new ballpark is projected to be a nightmare as the team has struggled to piece together enough nearby parking spaces to meet the needs of just its season ticket holders.Metro approved the sale of its 2.2-acre Southeast bus garage, which sits a block from the stadium, to Continued...

 

Metro seeks more police as transit crime jumps

Metro is starting a recruitment effort to help fill the agency’s open transit police positions on the heels of announcing a jump in crime rates andbus operator assaults.Metro officials declined to discuss how many of the agency’s 423 police officer positions were vacant, but said the transit police had a 5 percent vacancy rate when administrative positions were included."It is a challenge to recruit, because you’re dealing with 27 different law agencies in D.C. alone, and then you have the feds and the surrounding states," said Continued...

 

Yorktown High will see new main building

Arlington County is moving forward with plans to overhaul Yorktown High School in a $92 million, four-and-a-half-year construction project that will modernize and redesign the aging building while classes are in session.The county has asked construction companies to present their qualifications and expects to ask for bids in April and begin the work in June, officials said. Yorktown High, which accommodates about 1,600 students, was constructed in 1949 as an elementary school and has seen several additions since then. In 2004 Arlington added a new 30-classroom building adjacent to themain......

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Arlington County budget expands language program

Arlington County would expand its foreign language program into four more elementary schools next year under the budget that was scheduled to be presented to the county’s school board Thursday night.Superintendent Robert G. Smith’s proposed $431 million annual budget is $5.2 million — or 1.2 percent — higher than last year’s because the school system expects increased state and federal money and savings from the 2008 fiscal year, officials said.Smith proposed using more than a quarter of that $5.2 million to add the Foreign Language Elementary School program to four......

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Metro Transit Police chief named

Metro appointed a new police chief Thursday, two weeks after the transit agency reported a rising crime rate in the Metro system.Michael Taborn, a 55-year-old former Metro Transit Police captain, has spent the past five years as director of the Office of Transit Safety and Security with the Continued...

 

Work at Van Ness station to cause weekend delays

Metro workers will replace 120 feet of critical track at the Van Ness Metrorail station in a $600,000 project that will slow weekend Red Line service for the next month by at least 30 minutes. Metro workers will replace the 27-year-old section of rail, called the "switch," that intersects to allow trains to move from one track to the other, officials said. Switches are strategically placed throughout the main line and have a life of 25 to 30 years before they must be replaced. "When we have sick customers......

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Pre-fabricated steel house becomes mobile home

New York’s famed Museum of Modern Art is hoping to borrow Arlington’s rare, World War II-era prefabricated steel house for the museum’s upcoming architecture exhibit.Arlington’s Lustron house — one of the 2,680 that were created in the U.S. between 1948 and 1950 as an affordable way to relieve the nation’s housing crunch — is currently sitting disassembled in storage while officials try to identify a permanent site for the historic dwelling.The unit, called the Krowne Lustron House, was donated to the county in 2006, when its owner decided to build......

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Water company seeks rate hikes of 17 percent in Alexandria, 16 percent in Prince William

The company that supplies water to Alexandria and Prince William County has asked the state to approve a rate increase that would raise the average water bill by 16 or 17 percent.Virginia American Water asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission, a state regulatory body that oversees utilities, to approve a 12.2 percent general rate increase to help the......

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Alexandria eyes rise in parking fees

Alexandria is considering raising its parking meter fees for the first time in more than 15 years. City Manager James Hartmann’s proposed annual budget, which he presented to the City Council last week, includes a recommendation to double the hourly parking meter rate in the upper King Street portion of Old Town from 50 cents to $1.Lower King Street, which currently has a 75-cent hourly parking rate, also would see an increase to $1.Hartmann’s budget also recommends raising DASH bus fares from $1 to $1.25. Those rates also have not......

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Condo, single-family home value assessments slip

The combined value of condos and single-family homes in Alexandria dropped 2 percent last year, with every section of the city seeing a dip in condo values, according to 2008 real estate assessments.The dip in value poses a sharp contrast to the climbing residential real estate values seen in Alexandria over the past five years, but is a smaller drop than farther-out counties such as Loudoun and Prince William......

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Metro staff to request opening wireless phone system to all

Metro staff will ask the transit agency’s board of directors in April to approve building a new wireless system that would be compatible with all of the wireless carriers’ systems and could make cell phone and wi-fi service available to all Metro riders.Metro’s current wireless system was built by Verizon and is compatible only with Verizon and Sprint cell phone technology, Continued...

 

Metro may add thousands of plasma, LCD screens

Metro is considering placing as many as 5,000 LCD or plasma screens that would broadcast real-time customerinformation and advertisements in Metro stations, railcars, buses and bus shelters.Under the current "Metro Channel" prototype, a third of each 42- to 65-inch screen would be dedicated to Metro customer information, such as train and bus arrival times and service disruptions, and the remaining two-thirds would be allocated to the advertiser’s moving content and to scrolling news headlines.Metro also would be able to take over the entire screen to broadcast updates and information when......

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Popular Alexandria programs on chopping block

Alexandria residents would see no increase in their property tax rate but would see some popular city programs cut under the $534 million annual operating budget proposed by the city manager Tuesday night.The modest 2.9 percent increase in the city’s draft fiscal 2009 budget is largely the result of a downturn in the economy and in the housing market that has translated into fewer state and federal grants and sluggish growth in property taxes.The budget presentation to the Alexandria City Council came only hours after Gov. Tim Kaine announced a......

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Blue Line posts poor ’07 performance

Metro’s Blue Line riders were indeed feeling blue last year as they experienced the rail system’s worst service.The Blue Line posted the poorest performance from July through November, and the second-worst service in December, according to Metro’s first report that evaluates performance by line.Only 85 to 89 percent of Blue Line trains arrived within two minutes of their scheduled times during the second half of last year, far less than Metro’s goal of 95 percent."One of the challenges that we have is the Blue and the Orange lines intersect at......

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Metro eyes Blue Line aiding Yellow

Metro is proposing a major change to the Blue Line that would double wait times during rush hour for riders at many of the stops along the line but would ease the crush on other congested lines.The plan to pull some trains from the Blue Line to the Yellow Line during peak hours is designed to accommodate growing ridership to the eastern part of downtown D.C. — an area that includes Penn Quarter, Chinatown and Eastern Market, Metro officials said.Under the plan, six of the 10 trains that originate every......

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Army chooses Alexandria, Springfield as potential locations for jobs influx

The U.S. Army has chosen two Alexandria sites as final contenders to house 6,200 military jobs that originally were slated to move to Fort Belvoir. The 19-acre Mark Center, bordered by Interstate 395, Beauregard Street and Seminary Road, and the Continued...

 

Suspect in assault is a sex offender

The man arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman in Falls Church on Wednesday night is a registered sex offender who was convicted of rape and sexual battery in two separate Fairfax County court cases.Local investigators say David Lee Foltz, 40, is also a suspect in 11 other similar attacks in Fairfax County, Alexandria and......

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Gov. Kaine orders state agencies to restrict hiring, limit contracts

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has directed state agencies to restrict hiring and limit consulting contracts because of a ballooning budget shortfall."I expect that you will only request approval for those positions that are absolutely essential, and you will need to certify this is the case," Kaine chief of staff Wayne Turnage said in a Feb. 4 memo to the state’s Cabinet secretaries.The directive does not apply to jobs in public safety, health......

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Airports surge in 2007

All three of the Washington region’s airports saw a surge in passengers last year, with Ronald Reagan Washington National and Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International setting highs.Reagan National saw 18.7 million passengers in 2007, topping the 2006 number by more than 100,000 passengers. It marked the third year in a row that......

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Va. police say they lack resources to prosecute nearly 20,000 hard drives filled with child porn

Virginia law enforcement officers have tracked 19,357 hard drives that contain hard-core child pornography but lack the resources to go after the offenders, they told state lawmakers Wednesday.Only 48 officers across Virginia are trained to target online predators, and most are assigned to the issue part time, according to Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for Del. Brian Moran."That’s 19,357 people that......

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Plans for Silver Spring Transit Center moves ahead in Montgomery County

The Silver Spring Transit Center has taken a crucial step forward, with Montgomery County officials opening the project for construction bids.The three-level structure, to be built on the stretch of pavement adjacent to the Silver Spring Metro Center, is slated to include space for Metrobuses, Ride On buses, taxis, Kiss ’N Ride drop off, and connections......

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Alexandria mulls commercial tax hike

Alexandria city officials soon will have to decide whether to raise the city’s commercial property tax rate to help future transportation projects, but first will hear recommendations this month from a panel appointed to study the issue. "We’re being very careful about this," said City Councilman Rob Krupicka. "We’re taking a very cautious look at it because we have a lot of small businesses in Alexandria that would be impacted by this." Virginia last year passed legislation granting jurisdictions permission to raise their commercial property tax rates by up to......

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Shortfall for unfunded Metro needs exceeds $5 billion, FTA official says

Metro has $5.12 billion in unfunded safety, maintenance and equipment needs — one of the reasons the federal government is reluctant to provide a critical $900 million for the faltering Dulles Rail extension, according to Federal Transit Administrator James Simpson.Simpson told The Examiner two weeks ago that Metro’s shortfall was $7 billion, but said late last week that he had miscalculated.He said in discussions between Metro officials and FTA officials in the last month, Metro highlighted $500 million in unfunded......

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Arlington prosecutor declines to file charges in GMU student’s death

The state’s attorney for Arlington County has decided not to file charges in the death of a George Mason University student whose friend reportedly placed him in a headlock for 10 minutes to calm him down.Singh’s family said they are outraged at the prosecutor’s decision and now are trying to file charges in federal court.According to police and prosecutor......

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Clarendon project gets go-ahead

Arlington County has given developer Saul Centers Inc. the official go-ahead to demolish two city blocks in central Clarendon to make way for the new Clarendon Center mixed-use project.Clarendon Center, bounded by Wilson Boulevard, North Highland Street, 11th Street North and North Garfield Street, will sit adjacent to the Clarendon Metro Center and was approved as part of Arlington’s transit-oriented development vision.The southern half of the project — which will undergo construction before the northern half — is slated to hold a 244-unit, 12-story residential tower, a nine-story office tower,......

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Alexandria officials tie development to new stations

Alexandria officials are hoping to capitalize on developer interest in Potomac Yard and the Eisenhower Valley to help fund two new Metrorail stations in those areas."We are facing the prospect of future redevelopment activity coming specifically in Potomac Yard over the next few months, and it is important that the council send a message, not just to the city staff, but also to the development community, that any plans [the city......

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Arlington police arrest two men suspected of stealing GPS units from cars

Arlington police arrested two men who are suspected of breaking into more than 20 vehicles in one day and stealing GPS systems and iPods from them Friday. Police believe the men could be responsible for a rash of car thefts targeting GPS units that has been plaguing the county, police spokesman John Lisle said. "This has been kind of an ongoing......

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Arlington OKs Whole Foods renovation

Arlington County last week approved plans for Whole Foods to renovate to its Clarendon store to make room for a new walk-up coffee and gelato bar, a wine cellar and wine tasting room, and a second-floor seating area. The County Board approved the upscale grocery store's plans to add about 905 square feet to its store and move its existing seating area to an upstairs space that now houses offices. The current seating area would be converted to accommodate an expanded prepared foods section, according to county documents. A Whole......

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New schools plan has fewer changes to boundaries

Arlington Schools Superintendent Robert G. Smith proposed a new plan to combat overcrowding in some elementary schools Wednesday after his original plan to shuffle more than 600 children throughout the county was met with hostility by the community and some members of the School Board.Smith this week released a less drastic proposal that would not completely relieve projected crowding at all of the schools in the northwest portion of the county, but that "recognizes the values expressed by individual board members and members of the public related to walk zones,......

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Metro needs up to $150 million to fix transit system, general manager says

Metro needs between $125 million and $150 million immediately to fix or improve the tracks, power stations and platforms for its aging rail system, General Manager John Catoe said Wednesday. The cash-strapped agency needs the money to fix eight sagging train platforms, as well as to replace melted track fasteners, which have been shown to cause rail fires, and to buy a special ultrasonic railcar that will detect rail problems early. Catoe said Metro also would use the funds to......

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Regional leaders collaborate on environmental energy initiative

The leaders of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia joined Tuesday to form a regional initiative to harness the area’s location as the seat of the federal government to make it a globally competitive powerhouse of innovation and a leader in green technology."We are IT leaders today," said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.......

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New law seeks to repair, not replace, Arlington tomb

A congressional bill signed into law this week has put the brakes on plans to replace the cracked 48-ton marble monument at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.The National Defense Authorization Bill, signed by President Bush Monday night, includes an amendment by Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Jim Webb, D-Virginia, that bars the replacement of the monument for at least 180 days.By then, the Army and Veterans Affairs secretaries must present Congress with a study on whether the monument could be repaired instead of replaced."Our position is......

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Metro’s weekday ridership climbs in first weeks of year

Metro’s weekday ridership numbers for the first three weeks of January rose more than 3 percent over ridership for the same time last year, an early sign that the biggest fare increase in the agency’s history might not lead customers to abandon the transit system."I don’t know why the numbers are up," said Jim Hughes, Metro’s managing director for Operations Support. "It will take time to understand."Although Metro did not provide the exact ridership tally, officials said the numbers include......

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Alexandria officials, firm spar as Mirant permit decision nears

Local officials voiced strong opposition Friday to a state permit that would allow the Mirant Company to merge smokestacks at its Alexandria coal-fired plant, the latest battle in the city’s years-long effort to impose stricter pollution-control requirements on the company."The facts and the science demonstrate that this permit does not adequately protect the public health," Alexandria City Councilman Paul Smedberg said.......

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Market catches up with Monarch condos

Old Town's new Monarch condo development, one of the landmark projects in the redeveloping Braddock Road Metro area, has fallen prey to the dismal real estate market and is temporarily converting to rental units, the project developer said. "This is a really tough market, and we were hoping that we would have more settlements," said Ahmed Alhussein, president of Diamond Properties, the project developer. "But people in this market walk away from their deposits, and we're faced with a problem......

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Alexandria and 3 taxi firms reach settlement

Alexandria has reached a settlement with three taxicab companies that were suing the city over its 2005 ordinance that required each cab company to average at least two dispatch calls per driver per day, The Examiner has learned.Columbus Cab, King Cab and VIP Cab were scheduled to lose their certificates at the end of the month for failing to meet the city’s quota, but have been granted a six-month extension under......

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Metro facing shortage of mechanics

Metro is facing a labor shortage for a position that is critical to keeping its stations open and its trains running on time: mechanics for its aging rail system."We have a large number of vacancies with mechanics," Metro General Manager John Catoe told board members this month when questioned about the agency’s sliding statistics for on-time rail performance. "People are retiring, people are moving on — we just don’t have the capacity."Metro has 50 open mechanic positions and is budgeted to add another 30 spots in May to help deal......

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NTSB: Metro’s culture deadly

A workplace culture that valued speed over safety contributed to two Metro train accidents that killed three employees in 2006, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday in a meeting that laid bare the glaring flaws in the transit agency’s safety procedures.Before a train running 40 mph hit and killed senior rail mechanic Jong Won Lee at the Dupont Circle station in May 2006, Metro had no policy requiring train operators to slow down when they approached work areas, the NTSB investigation found."Keeping the trains on time seemed to be......

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Arlington real estate values fluctuate by neighborhood

Real estate assessments for Arlington County’s single-family homes dropped an average of 1.25 percent for 2008, officials said last week, but numbers show the county’s real estate picture is all about location."The changes that have occurred in the real estate market many times are isolated to neighborhoods, types of properties and even price categories," said Thomas Rice, the county’s director of real estate assessments. "We’re seeing the downward shift with......

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Proposed bus lanes draw ire of Alexandria residents

A proposal to create a rapid-transit bus route along traffic-clogged Route 1 is drawing fire from Alexandria residents who say the bus system would wipe out their neighborhood parking and damage their historic homes.The draft proposal by Alexandria’s transportation policy task force is being circulated publicly and is scheduled to be taken up by the City Council for the first time next month. The task force suggests the city create three dedicated public transit corridors to help ease the increased traffic that is projected for the city by 2030.One corridor......

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Holiday, construction, testing slow Metro service

Metrorail riders should prepare for longer waits today as the transit agency operates on a special holiday schedule and finishes a leg of a Metro Center construction projectthat will slow Red, Blue and Orange line service, officials said.Though Metro’s Board of Directors last year approved operating regular weekday service on several Monday federal holidays, low ridership prompted the agency to revert to holiday schedules on those days this year. Yellow and Green line trains will depart from the......

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Arlington parents criticize plan to shift school boundaries

"Extreme," "shocking," "fatally flawed" and "dumbfounding" were just some of the descriptors livid parents called the Arlington schools chief's plan to dramatically shift elementary school boundaries during an emotionally charged public comment session at Thursday's night's school board meeting. "Almost half of my son's second-grade class is going to be moving if we enact this plan, and many of those kids now walk to school," Paul Kenneth Martin, who has......

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Alexandria OKs Braddock Metro project

The Alexandria City Council and the planning commission have approved a large-scale residential and retail development for a three-acre site that now houses a warehouse in the Braddock Metro station neighborhood. The 344-unit apartment and retail project, dubbed "The Madison," waited three years for the city’s blessing, said Jeff Miller, senior vice president of development for Trammell Crow Co., the project’s developer.The retail space was originally slated to hold a Harris Teeter, but the grocer dropped out because the approval process took too long, Miller said.The developer is now looking......

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Jurisdictions try to keep roads clear for morning commute

Maryland, Virginia and District officials said they were keeping snowplows and salt trucks out on the roads Thursday night until the area’s snow and sleet subsided, hoping to keep roads clear for the morning commute."We’ve got about 200 trucks deployed throughout the District putting out salt treatments and brine treatments that we’ve found to be very successful during these storms," Continued...

 

Arlington County School Board to hear massive redistricting plan

The Arlington County School Board will hear a proposaltonight that would move an estimated 500 children to different elementary schools in a dramatic effort to combat school overcrowding in the county’s northwest quarter.Under a plan by Schools Superintendent Robert Smith, students at 11 elementary schools would be moved to other schools while 19 schools would have students move in.Smith drafted the plan after considering recommendations from a committee......

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Metro Center platforms to be repaired during upcoming holiday weekends

Metro Center’s sagging train platforms will get a lift this weekend in the first part of a major construction project that will slow Red, Blue and Orange line travelers by 30 minutes over the Martin Luther King Jr. and Presidents Day weekends.The slight sag along the station’s upper loading platforms, where Red Line passengers board, poses no immediate threat to passengers, official said. But fixing it now will prevent further damage and costlier repairs."Metro Center was one of the original five stations to open in 1976," Metro’s engineering head Dave......

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Metro lands $34 million from federal government

Metro will receive $34.3 million from the federal government this year to help pay for 56 new rail cars in what is the second installment of a $104 million, three-year federal funding package, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., said Tuesday. "As Metro begins to show its age, we have a responsibility to invest in its revitalization," Cardin said, citing the 1.2 million passengers, including many federal government workers, the system transports daily. "The latest $34.3 million for rail cars is......

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Two obstetricians reprimanded over roles in childbirth injuries

Two Northern Virginia obstetricians who are immune from being sued were reprimanded by the state’s medical board last week for their roles in the devastating injuries of two children during childbirth. Dr. Evelyn Ruelaz, who has practices in Manassas and Chantilly, and Dr. Regina Burton, who practices in Continued...

 

Parking add-on nixed at Vienna Metro

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has placed an indefinite hold on plans to add more than 1,000 parking spots at the Vienna Metrorail station, citing parking improvements at nearby stations and a lack of public outcry when a surface lot at Vienna closed."The simple fact of the matter is, when we closed the temporary parking lot there, we didn’t get any complaints," said Board Supervisor Linda Q. Smyth, D. "We were expecting to be inundated, and we didn’t get any."The temporary 680-car lot, which was used to accommodate high......

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County considers new zoning rules

Arlington County is considering changing its zoning rules to allow homeowners to rent out their basements, garages or other livable space as separate apartments.Officials hope the move will boost the county’sdwindling supply of affordable housing and aid its growing elderly population."It helps people be able to afford to live in the county, and it can help a homeowner afford to keep their home," said Arlington County Board Member Jay Fisette.......

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MetroAccess service’s popularity exacerbates agency’s cash woes

MetroAccess, Metro’s federally mandated pickup and drop-off service for the disabled, has exploded in popularity, taxing the already cash-strapped agency and sending the service’s on-time performance to a year-and-a-half low at the end of last year. "We have an aging population, so we have more people who are desirous of this type of service," board member Gordon Linton said at a committee meeting last week. "This is a service that is unfunded and that continues to rise, and will continue to cause problems in our budget." About 5,000 people use......

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Columbia Pike Streetcar initiative gets a boost

The Columbia Pike Streetcar initiative got another boost this week when the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority approved almost $40 million in funding for the estimated $120 million project. "I think the streetcars will bring forward a lot of the development that we want to have happen in the area," said Arlington County Board Member Continued...

 

Va. teacher arrested in child-sex sting

Police arrested a Chantilly High School teacher Thursday in a sting operation that caught him allegedly trying to solicit sex with a minor. Matthew Edward McGuire, a 29-year-old Spanish teacher and track coach at Chantilly High School, was arrested after a months-long investigation that began when the teacher contacted a detective online who was posing as a minor, Continued...

 

Metro plans to spend more to improve on-time service

Metro’s general manager on Thursday proposed spending $19 million in the fiscal 2009 budget to improve on-time service on the cash-strapped agency’s rail cars and buses. The operating budget John Catoe proposed to a board of directors committee totals $1.3 billion for fiscal 2009, which begins in July. That’s $167 million higher than the 2008 budget, partly because of anticipated high fuel prices and higher electricity costs for running more trains and buses.The money also would be spent on operating......

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Metro wraps up investigation into August’s equipment woes

The bizarre series of fires, smoke and power outages that stymied Metrorail travelers over a two-day period in August was caused by a failing transformer, a buildup of paper and flammable debris along the tracks, and a stray current that ignited the bolts that hold the tracks together, according to Metro’s final report on the events.The report suggests taking preventive measures, such as installing infrared cameras throughout the system and replacing the stud bolts on the tracks, that would cost the transit agency $31 million, a Metro staffer will tell......

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Arlington’s historical district may get face-lift

A developer has set its sights on overhauling the modest retail centers at a popular intersection in Arlington’s Buckingham Historical District in favor of a large, mixed-use development.Georgetown Strategic Capital has drafted preliminary plans to tear down the buildings on the west side of the North Glebe Road and North Pershing Drive intersection, which currently house a CVS, Glebe Market, Popeye’s and several other small stores, and replace them with a......

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Kaine renews push to ban smoking in Va. restaurants

Gov. Tim Kaine said Monday that he is again advocating a statewide smoking ban in restaurants, a measure that has faced stiff opposition in Virginia, the country’s fourth-biggest exporter of tobacco.Kaine is proposing legislation that would bar smokers from lighting up in "any food establishment, including dining establishments of public and private clubs, where food is available for sale and consumption by the public," but excluding outdoor dining areas, according to......

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Dismay, resignation greet Metrorail rate increases

Metrorail riders shelled out a minimum of 30 cents more for their rush-hour rides Monday, reacting to the first work day of the biggest rate increase in Metro history with a combination of dismay and resignation."It’s ridiculous, because Metro doesn’t deliver the services," said T.J. Sesay, whose daily commute from the Pentagon Blue Line station to downtown jumped from $1.40 to $1.70. "I don’t mind if the service is consistently......

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Credit crunch is not hurting area’s commercial real estate

The nation’s credit crunch is hardly affecting the Washington area’s commercial real estate industry, according to local industry experts, although lenders and developers might be pickier about projects in 2008."Lending in this area has continued to be very competitive," Barbara Gertzog, senior vice president of SunTrust Bank, said at a recent panel discussion hosted by Women in Commercial Real Estate. "I think we’re looking a little more carefully at hotels, but we’re still looking heavily at D.C. for the bread and butter projects like offices and apartments."Small and midrange banks......

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Local piano restorer finds the keys to success

Rick Schaeffer sat down in front of the 1917 Steinway piano he spent 500 hours restoring and ran his hand over the thick, laser-cut Victorian music rack he commissioned for it. "There’s no reason on Earth to restore Steinways — you ask any restorer and they’ll tell you that," he said. "You can’t make a living out of it."But Schaeffer does it, anyway, as did his father, Albert, and grandfather John Pierre, a German cabinet-maker who started Schaeffer Piano Co. in 1901 at 8th and H streets Northeast.He is so......

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Blackstone Flats condos attract young, black female professionals

The two-bedroom Blackstone Flats condos are outfitted with hardwood floors and Italian marble tiling, done up with custom paint, granite countertops and walk-in closets — and start at $179,000. It’s just that they’re situated east of the Anacostia River, the perpetually neglected Southeast area that Blackstone Flats developer DBT, with a host of others, is seeing as the city’s newest condo gold mine."For the most part, it’s professionals — young, black females, college-educated — who are purchasing these properties," said Lisa Williams, principal broker for Senate Realty, which has found......

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New Web tools try to help buyers simplify their search for new homes

Two local companies have creatednew online tools to help D.C. homebuyers navigate something they’re not quite used to: a buyer’s market. Hotpads.com, a free online listing service that maps homes that are available for rent or for sale, recently created a tool to help home shoppers compare prices between the two in any chosen neighborhood.As browsers adjust their requirements — how much they’re willing to pay per month, how many bedrooms they want and other specs — icons for available apartments and houses pop up or disappear from the 3-D......

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Home remodeling industry showing little sign of sagging throughout area

The Washington area so far has largely avoided the drop in home remodeling the rest of the nation suffered in 2007 as a result of the housing market downswing, according to local home remodelers. Nationwide the home remodeling industry suffered in 2007 as a result of the housing market downswing, according to a Harvard University study, but local home remodelers say the region has been slow to see the trend. "As we are looking at 2008, we have a solid backlog in place leading us into the new year, probably......

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Hanger Network uses new approach to reach deep under consumers’ collars

Client: RogaineJob: To get Rogaine’s message into the consumer’s home on an environmentally friendly platformAgency: Hanger Network, based in New YorkConcept: The wire hangers that dry cleaners use go into consumers’ closets and often live there for several weeks. Eventually, they end up in U.S. landfills, benefiting nobody. Hanger Network saw an opportunity to use dry cleaning hangers as a way to get its advertising clients’ messages into consumers’ homes for little cost. Because hangers can stay in the homes for extended periods, the advertiser reaches the consumer on a......

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Rosenbaum family settles with hospital

The family of slain New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum has reached a settlement with Howard University Hospital, members of his family said Thursday.Rosenbaum was taken to Howard after he was attacked and beaten with a pipe in Northwest D.C. in January 2006, but was not seen by a doctor for more than 90 minutes and......

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Sprint names Hesse as new CEO

Sprint Nextel named Embarq chief Dan Hesse as the company’s new CEO on Tuesday in a move to bolster the faltering Reston-based mobile-service provider. "Dan’s mandate is to hone our strategy, improve our ability to serve our customers and execute in the marketplace," James H. Hance, the company’s nonexecutive chairman, said in a news release.Hesse, who was CEO of AT&T between 1997 and 2000, served as CEO of Sprint’s Local Telecommunications Division before the 2006 launch of Embarq, a Sprint offshoot company.Hesse will take the reigns from Paul Saleh, Sprint’s......

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Arlington board approves massive Rosslyn building

The Arlington County Board has approved a developer’s plans to build an enormous office building next to the Rosslyn Metrorail station in a deal that will net the county a new station entrance and the free use of the old Newseum site.Monday Properties Services’ proposed 600,000-square-foot, 470-foot-tall office building at 1812 N. Moore St. will tie with the JBG......

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FedEx workers report early to ease heaviest day

Santa had some serious help in the District Monday morning in the form of 200 FedEx Express employees who showed up early to brace for what was projected to be the heaviest shipping day of the year. "We started at 5 a.m. today — normally, on a Monday, we start at about 6:10, and 7 on other days" said Prentiss Gates, a FedEx carrier and facility coordinator, as packages......

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Metro may change development process

The Metro board of directors is expected to vote in January on whether to adopt guidelines that would overhaul its cumbersome and ineffective development process for the valuable land surrounding the region’s Metrorail stations.That land could be used for office, retail and residential projects that would spur two-way and off-peak ridership in those areas, helping Metro’s ailing bottom line. But developers have been crippled by the transit agency’s "broken" process, according to a June report by the Joint Development Task Force, formed in 2006 by former Metro general manager Continued...

 

Mayor chooses developers for Northwest One

Published: Dec 14, 2007

The William C. Smith Companies and Jair Lynch Companies will head a $700 million project to revitalize the poverty-plagued area surrounding the Sursum Corda housing cooperative, Mayor Adrian Fenty said Thursday.The developerswill tear down the low-income, 199-unit cooperative and build more than 1,600 units of housing that will include at least as many low-income units as are currently available in the area, as well as for-sale and for-rent housing for all income levels, the mayor’s office said."There is incredible development pressure in the community, with NoMa on one side and......

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Freddie posts anti-fraud tips on YouTube

Published: Dec 14, 2007

YouTube: a place to find political satire, old "Saturday Night Live" skits, your friends’ home videos and … professional foreclosure advice?After learning that 25 percent of delinquent borrowers go to the Internet before their bank or lender for mortgage information, McLean-based mortgage giant Freddie Mac posted a video re-enactment of a common foreclosure scam on YouTube to warn at-risk borrowers about it."It’s certainly starting to pick up hits," said company spokesman Brad German "We’re getting e-mails from people with a story about some mother or aunt who they wish had......

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Norton urges DHS to support Ward 8 after moving facilities

Published: Dec 13, 2007

The proposed new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at St. Elizabeths West Campus could bring 14,000 workers through Anacostia every day, sparking the development of stores, restaurants and entertainment venues and pouring money into D.C.’s poorest ward.Or it could enclose those employees in a high-security, walled enclave and give them little incentive to leave it, Continued...

 

Metro board expected to OK plans to spruce up Rosslyn station

Published: Dec 13, 2007

Metro’s board of directors today is expected to move forward with designs to spruce up the Rosslyn Metrorail station by adding three high-speed elevators that could move thousands more passengers an hour through the busy Orange and Blue Line transfer point."There are 32,000 people on an average weekday coming through the station’s entrances and exits," said Metro spokesman Steven Tuabenkibel. "The elevators would certainly help in terms of movement in......

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Area retail booming despite housing downturn

Published: Dec 11, 2007

The D.C. area’s retail market will remain strong despite a downturn in the housing market and a projected national economic slowdown, according to a year-end report by real estate research firm Delta Associates. The region added 5,600 retail jobs and saw $429 million worth of investment in grocery store-anchored shopping centers over the past year — both higher than 2006 totals. "Overall, it’s just a very healthy retail market," said Elizabeth Norton, mid-Atlantic research director for Delta Associates. "It continues to be a lot stronger in the suburbs just because......

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Local biotech firm partners with GE

Published: Dec 11, 2007

Rockville-based vaccine company Novavax announced Monday that it will collaborate with General Electric’s health care division to develop a way to produce a pandemic avian flu vaccine that is cheaper and faster than traditional methods, allowing for a quicker response to an outbreak.Novavax produces its H5N1 avian flu vaccine, which is still in the clinical trial period, by cloning the proteins from a live virus and using the genetic code to create a synthetic version of the virus using insect cells. The process takes about 12 weeks, the company said......

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Going green to keep the light on for ya

Published: Dec 10, 2007

Client: Willard InterContinental Job: To position the Willard InterContinental as a standard-bearer in the hotel industry for its commitment to sustainability and social and ecological consciousnessAgency: Willard InterContinental public relations teamTheme: "Willard InterContinental: The Next 100 Years"The concept: The Willard says a triple bottom line — people, profit and planet — is the way of doing business in the future. It wanted to prove that the hotel industry could adhere to socially and environmentally responsible practices while remaining economically viable.The plan: The Willard started a series of ongoing projects centered......

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D.C. lenders not part of mortgage deal

Published: Dec 07, 2007

Three of the Washington area’s top subprime mortgage lenders, which made at least one-third of local subprime loans last year, are not part of the alliance that agreed with the White House Thursday to freeze interest rates on mortgages for some subprime borrowers who would otherwise face foreclosure when their rates reset.Local borrowers tookout 54,007 subprime mortgage loans in 2006, according to federal data compiled by the Center for Responsible Lending. Many of those loans have adjustable interest rates that will jump in 2008 and 2009, pushing up mortgage rates......

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Massive development for Anacostia

Published: Dec 06, 2007

Developers have quietly slated the long-neglected Anacostia area for close to 10 million square feet and $3 billion worth of housing, offices and retail overthe next four years — almost 20 times as much development as the underserved area has seen during the past six years."It’s like the frontier," said Steve Moore, CEO of the Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership. "All of the pre-work — thinking, planning — is happening right now, and that’ll continue for another year. It’s hard to go now and see it, but that won’t last."Developers have......

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County may loosen hunting rules to help deal with deer

Published: Dec 05, 2007

Bambi beware: The Montgomery County Council voted unanimously Tuesday to loosen hunting firearm restrictions in an attempt to give hunters and farm owners more flexibility to deal with the county’s overabundance of deer.The new regulations would bring Montgomery more in line with state standards, which have always been less restrictive than the county’s."We’re dealing with a very serious problem in Montgomery County of an excessive deer population that is harming public safety and that is contributing to increases in Lyme disease and increasing crop and vegetation damage," council Vice President......

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Developers morphing condo projects into office buildings, apartment units

Published: Dec 04, 2007

Two District developers are converting their condo projects into office buildings as the region’s commercial real estate market continues to outpace the faltering residential sector. The move echoes the conversion of thousands of condo units into rentals.PN Hoffman, which had planned to build 140 luxury condos at 10th and G streets Northwest, recently announced they will build a 140,000-square-foot office building instead. Ellis Development Group, one of the developers for a planned 38-unit luxury condo project at 14th and T streets Northwest, also decided to switch its building to office......

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Bethesda firm wins revitalization bid

Published: Dec 01, 2007

Clark Realty won a U.S. Air Force contract this week to give Andrews Air Force Base's fading residential communities a $120 million face-lift. The Bethesda real estate group will lease the land from the Air Force for 50 years and will demolish 781 existing Andrews housing units, build 200 new homes and renovate215 others over a six-year initial development period. Clark Realty will collect the servicemembers' housing allowance as rent payment to finance the project's maintenance and construction. The new houses will have more spacious floor plans, upgraded amenities and......

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Verizon Center anchors a revitalized neighborhood

Published: Nov 30, 2007

When the Verizon Center, then called the MCI Center, sprung up downtown in 1997, it didn’t have much of a view."There were 125 surface parking lots, vacant lots and boarded up buildings downtown then. Now, there are 23," said Gerry Widdicombe, director of economic development for the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, which launched that same year. The 20,000-seat entertainment venue, which celebrates its 10th anniversary Saturday, has witnessed downtown’s transformation from a semislum to a thriving retail and entertainment destination. Since the center landed there, developers and investors have......

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Developer to add National Gateway to Potomac Yard

Published: Nov 29, 2007

The Potomac Yard development will be on its way to gaining another massive chunk of office and retail space when developer Meridian Group breaks ground on its 445,000-square-foot National Gateway building next week.Meridian is the master developer for a 40-acre plot of Potomac Yard that sits in Arlington. The area encompasses more than 300 acres and straddles Arlington County and the city of Alexandria, both of which began planning to redevelop it about seven years ago.The new building, which is next to a recently completed 386-unit apartment building and across......

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Arlington Co. discovers $26M in surplus funds

Published: Nov 29, 2007

Arlington County unexpectedly ended up $26 million in the black in fiscal 2007, county officials said this week, not long after predicting a $17 million budget shortfall for 2009."When we did our final reconciliation, it turns out there was a combination of additional revenue that we weren’t aware of in the spring and some savings related to lower-than-anticipated spending by some county departments," said county Chief Financial Officer Mark Schwartz.The 2007 fiscal year ended in June, but the budget was not closed out until the County Board meeting Tuesday night.While......

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Arlington may shrug off rise

Published: Nov 28, 2007

Arlington County’s prime location, public transportation system and relatively affordable office lease rates will shelter it from the Washington area’s predicted swell in office vacancy rates over the next two years, according to area experts.Arlington’s office vacancy rate is running at 10 percent, compared with 11.2 percent for Northern Virginia in general and 7 percent for the District, according to Bethesda real estate research firm CoStar Group.Office vacancy rates are predicted to rise as developers open up 18.5 million square feet of office space over the next two years, just......

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Foreclosures up 2,000%; crisis grows

Published: Nov 28, 2007

The number of foreclosure filings in Montgomery County spiked 2,000 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the same time last year, proving that even a county with the seventh-highest median household income in the nation is not immune to the fallout from the escalating subprime lending crisis.The county reported 1,009 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — between July and September of this year, 20 times more than the 48 filings made during those same months last year, according to national......

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Housing crash to slow regional economy by $4 billion in 2008

Published: Nov 27, 2007

The escalating housing market crisis will cost the D.C. metro area economy $4 billion next year asrevenue from new home construction, consumer spending and property taxes dips, according to a report that will be released today by the United States Conference of Mayors.The report, prepared by respected economic consulting firm Global Insight, forecast the gross domestic product — the value goods and services produced by an economy — for 361 metro areas in 2008. The D.C. area GDP will grow by 2.8 percent next year, about half a percentage point......

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Conserving what is ‘too precious to wear’

Published: Nov 26, 2007

Client: Four sponsoring foundations: Tiffany & Co. Foundation, the Kingfisher Foundation, the Henry Foundation and the Ocean FoundationJob: To recruit fashion leaders to help preserve the world’s corals by speaking out and by designing alternative-coral productsAgency: SeaWeb, based in Silver SpringTheme: "Too Precious to Wear"Concept: About 25 percent of ocean life depends on coral reefs for shelter, food or other support, but the planet has lost 11 percent of its coral cover over the past 30 years, according to SeaWeb. Corals are being threatened by overfishing, a continued demand for......

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Made in China doesn't deter shoppers

Published: Nov 24, 2007

Etch a Sketch? Hot Wheels? Giggle Elmo? All made in China, and all likely to be on thousands of parents Christmas lists this year. Despite recalls of millions of Chinese-manufactured toys in recent months, area shoppers at large-chain retailers seemed unconcerned with the countries in which toys were made Friday as they battled through store aisles on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. "It should be on my mind more than it is," said Sheeri Sirotsky, scouring toy racks for gifts for her 6-month-old and 3-year-old children......

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Region’s pay levels higher than the national average

Published: Nov 22, 2007

Workers in the Washington-Baltimore area are paid 7 percent more on average than the national average to do the same kinds of jobs, tying the pay levels of employees in Los Angeles but falling behind those found in 10 other metropolitan areas, according to a report released this week by a branch of the U.S. Department of Labor.San Francisco-area workers were paid most, earning an average 19 percent more than the national average. New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Diego all ranked higher than the Washington-Baltimore area, as......

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D.C.'s $40B agenda for development

Published: Nov 19, 2007

The District is due for $40 billion of development in the next four years — twice as much as it saw in the past six, according to a report released Friday by the Washington DC Economic Partnership.Most of the development that is planned or proposed from now through 2011 centers on the Anacostia waterfront, the area surrounding Union Station and the neighborhood that encompasses the new convention center, the report said."With as much change as D.C. has already seen, the bulk of the change in the city is actually ahead......

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Catching tourists in Baltimore’s Web

Published: Nov 19, 2007

Client: Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors AssociationJob: To help raise the visibility of Baltimore as a tourist destination and to attract visitors to the city.Agency: Web Ad.vantage, based in Havre de Grace, Md. The Concept: From Virginia Beach northward to New England, the East Coast is saturated with tourist destinations. To compete, the Greater Baltimore area needed a marketing campaign that would remind people about its attractions and position the city as a great drivable destination for visitors from D.C. and Philadelphia, and an affordable vacation option for national......

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Kimpton continues East Coast growth with opening of its hotel in Arlington

Published: Nov 16, 2007

Kimpton Hotels opened its ninth D.C. area boutique hotel in Rosslyn on Thursday and announced that the region will soon be the company’s largest market, surpassing its home base of San Francisco.The Hotel Palomar Arlington at Waterview marks the group’s first Arlington venture. Kimpton has seven hotels in the District and one in Old Town Alexandria.Old Town will soon see two more Kimpton hotels — the Monaco, which will open in January, and a yet unnamed hotel that is under construction.All told, the D.C. area will be home to 11......

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Most homes to be hurt by foreclosures

Published: Nov 16, 2007

The worst of the subprime mortgage fallout has yet to come, and rising foreclosure levels will likely push down the values of 81 percent of District homes by an average of $10,836, according to a national study released this week by the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending.The group predicted 2,150 District homes — still fewer than 1 percent of homes in the city — will enter foreclosure as a result of high-cost mortgage loans made to borrowers in 2005 and 2006, Those losses will dampen the values of surrounding homes,......

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Want to buy a business? Check the Internet

Published: Nov 15, 2007

If you’re in the market for a $1.5 million D.C. supermarket, you can currently snag one on San Francisco-based bizbuysell.com. You can also find a $145,000 police supply and equipment store, a $500,000 Subway and a $550,000 deli in a "great location across from a metro station."Those are just a few of the 1,028 businesses the Web site is listing for sale in the metro area.According to the company, if you’re looking to buy a business in the D.C. region, you’ll be asked to shell out a median of $250,000.......

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More than half of limousine agencies in phone book drive without license

Published: Nov 14, 2007

More than half of the limousine companies listed in the Montgomery County phone book are operating without a license, leaving customers vulnerable to unsafe cars, unreliable service and fraud, the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection said Tuesday."Consumers just sort of assume that someone in the Yellow Pages is not hiding the fact that they’re an underground limo company," consumer protection Director Eric Friedman said. "But it’s very difficult to know who’s on the other end of the phone with these companies. It just seems like it’s a little bit......

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Luxury homes selling as briskly as ever

Published: Nov 13, 2007

What housing market crash?That’s what the developers of a spectacular — and spectacularly expensive — luxury home community in Loudoun County are saying when they look at their sales log."Our goal this year was to sell 30 lots, and we’ve sold 26 so far," said Robert Shiels, vice president of sales and marketing for Creighton Farms, which sits on 906 acres just west of Leesburg. An additional five home sites have been reserved, he said.Creighton Farms, which started selling in January, offers buyers three- to six-acre lots, Ritz Carlton property......

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Appraisals, photos of every home to be compiled by startup company

Published: Nov 12, 2007

Your house is about to have its picture taken.In an attempt to modernize the appraisal industry, startup company Zaio Corp. is working to create a database that will include the photos and values of almost every house in the U.S."We believe that it is the only known company that has solved some very significant problems that are hitting the headlines these days," said Zaio Chief Executive Officer Tom Inserra, formerly the national chief appraiser for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which sets the federal guidelines for appraisers.In the wake of......

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Clicking to combat overlooked diseases

Published: Nov 12, 2007

Client: Global Network for Neglected Tropical DiseasesJob: To promote awareness of the campaign to put an end to the suffering caused by 13 neglected tropical diseases by driving people to the "StopNTD" Web siteAgency: TIG Global, based in Chevy ChaseTheme: "Stop neglected tropical diseases"The concept: Tropical diseases such as hookworm infection, elephantiasis, trachoma and 10 other parasitic and bacterial infections annually sicken, kill or disfigure 2.7 billion of the world’s poorest people — about half of the global population, according to the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. Seven of......

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Home sales dismal in October

Published: Nov 10, 2007

Home sales in Northern Virginia, Montgomery County and Prince George's County were dismal in October, plunging between 25 and 59 percent from the same time last year, according to new statistics from area Realtors associations. The District fared better - sales of single-family homes dropped 7.7 percent from October 2006, but condo sales rose 7.7 percent. And sales prices throughout the region came in much stronger than the number of sales. Prince George's County saw the most drastic sales declines - total home sales in the county were down 59......

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Real estate company to purchase struggling housing developments

Published: Nov 07, 2007

A local real estate executive is opening the mid-Atlantic branch of a firm seeking to capitalize on the housing market slump by investing in troubled residential real estate projects.LandCap Partners, which debuted last week and has offices in Los Angeles, Florida and Tysons Corner, has secured $350 million from private equity firms for its investments and plans to leverage upto $1 billion in available funding, the company said."The market is very volatile right now, and you have a lot of builders who are just trying to reposition their assets, and......

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Labor board charges contractor with threatening union organizers

Published: Nov 07, 2007

The National Labor Relations Board has charged local cleaning contractor American Painting and Janitorial Co. with violating federal law by threatening, interrogating and placing under surveillance janitors who are trying to unionize at a Rosslyn office building.The complaints originated from the local branch of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 9,000 cleaning service workers in the D.C. area and is currently organizing workers in Arlington.AP&J supervisor Fidel Olego told the cleaning workers at 1621 North Kent St. that he would call the police if they refused to stop talking......

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Study: D.C. economy ranked 4th in U.S.

Published: Nov 06, 2007

The D.C. area ranks fourth out of 363 U.S. metropolitan areas in its number and quality of jobs and contributes 2.8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to a study released Monday by the Brookings Institution.The three higher-ranking regions are the New York metro area, the Los Angeles metro area and the Chicago area.The think tank presented the study as part of its "Blueprint for American Prosperity," an initiative aimed at keeping America competitive by encouraging the federal government to empower individual metropolitan economies instead of maintaining a......

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Va. slips in national health rankings

Published: Nov 06, 2007

Virginia immunized 4 percent fewer children this year than last and plunged from a ranking of fifth in the nation to 21st in that area, according to a comprehensive national health report released Monday by the United Health Foundation.The study evaluated several key health indicators including state health spending, clinical care quality, and smoking, drinking and violent crime rates.Virginia ranked 22nd among the states in overall health, down from 21st in 2006, and placed 29th in infectious disease rate, which is affected by immunization rates."It makes no sense — immunizations......

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Report: District faces problems with crime, poverty, early death

Published: Nov 06, 2007

Virginia and Maryland trail the majority of states in two critical areas — infectious disease and infant mortality rates, and the District faces problems with crime, poverty and premature death, according to a comprehensive national health report released Monday by the United Health Foundation.The study evaluated several key health indicators including state health spending, clinical care quality, and smoking, drinking and violent crime rates.The District, which is not ranked among the states, faces health challenges in its high violent crime and premature death rates, as well as its 31.8 percent......

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Md. third highest in infectious disease

Published: Nov 06, 2007

Maryland has the third-highest rate of infectious diseasein the nation, according to a comprehensive national health report released Monday by the United Health Foundation.The study, which evaluated several key health indicators, including state health spending, clinical-care quality, and smoking, drinking and violent crime rates, found that Maryland and Virginia trail most states in two critical areas — infectious disease and infant mortality rates, though they have made some gains in the latter area.While Maryland climbed four places to 28th this year in overall health ratings, the state has 37 cases......

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Anheuser-Busch aims to prevent drunken driving

Published: Nov 05, 2007

Client: Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnellJob: To design a campaign to help prevent underage drinking and drunken driving in the state. Agency: Anheuser-Busch The concept: Recent surveys have found that 86 percent of Virginia 12- to 17-year-olds do not drink alcohol and that teens cite their parents as the No. 1 influence on their decision to drink. The Department of Transportation also says drunken-driving fatalities are down 56 percent statewide since 1982. Anheuser-Busch created public service announcements, designed to coincide with heavy-driving holidays such as Thanksgiving, to remind......

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Vietnam Memorial celebrates 25 years

Published: Nov 05, 2007

When Jan Scruggs, armed with his graduate school research into the psychosocial effect of the Vietnam War on military veterans, started his campaign to build a national monument to them, he envisioned it to be a therapeutic place. It was 1977. The wounds of the country, and of the veterans of the controversial war, were still raw."The idea was that this could be a symbol of healing for a nation that was very bitterly divided by the Vietnam War," said Scruggs, a Vietnam veteran himself. "This is just something I......

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Montgomery floats tax bills as counters, compromises to O’Malley’s increases

Published: Nov 05, 2007

Montgomery County lawmakers are proposing alternatives to Gov. Martin O’Malley’s plan to raise taxes for the state’s wealthiest residents, many of whom live in the county.Several legislators introduced bills last week proposing income tax increases that are lower than those being floated by O’Malley to help combat the state’s $1.7 billion deficit.O’Malley wants to raise the income tax from 4.75 percent to 6 percent for residents earning more than $150,000 and to 6.5 percent for people earning more than $500,000. Montgomery County residents would pay 80 percent of the increased......

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Alexandria condo auction nets 30 sales at discounted prices

Published: Nov 02, 2007

Developer Mid-City Urban, which staged one of the area’s first new condo auctions in years last weekend, sold all 30 of its available Alexandria units for an average of 7.5 to 11.5 percent below the asking price, the auction company said.Two-bedroom condos in the Parkside at Alexandria community that were priced at $339,000 sold for an average of $300,000, according to Jon Gollinger, CEO of Accelerated Marketing Partners East Coast, which facilitated the auction for Mid-City Urban.The three-bedroom condos, valued at $379,000, sold for an average of $350,000, he said.......

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Smithsonian to come to Landover site

Published: Nov 02, 2007

The Nation’s Attic is coming to Prince George’s County.The Smithsonian Institution will move some of its scattered storage, library, production and security-training facilities to a 360,000-square-foot facility in Landover, Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson said Thursday.Smithsonian will vacate a large warehouse in the District of Columbia, as well as buildings in Springfield and Newington, to consolidate its operations in the newly renovated Landover building at 3400 Pennsy Drive."Their decision to come to Landover is significant, because Landover is an underdeveloped area, for lack of a better term," said county......

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Judge freezes assets of Laurel business after alleged scam

Published: Nov 02, 2007

A Prince George’s County judge on Thursday froze the assets of a Laurel business that he ruled took about $50 million from more than 1,000 people.Circuit Judge Thomas P. Smith ruled that POS Dream Homes was running an unregistered investment scheme disguised as a mortgage payment plan. He froze the company’s assets, placing it under the financial control of the court.POS Dream Homes, which has offices in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia and also operates under the name Metropolitan Grapevine, gave its investors a chance to live mortgage-free......

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D.C. foreclosures soar 900%

Published: Nov 01, 2007

The mortgage market mess continues to pummel Maryland, with foreclosure filings in the third quarter leaping 65 percent higher than during the quarter before, a new report shows.Maryland households drew 8,340 filings during the period making the state the 16st worst in the nation, according to numbers released Wenesday by data provider RealtyTrac. District numbers jumped a drastic 900 percent during the third quarter with 331 filings, the city is still in better shape than much of the country. When ranked among the 50 states, D.C. placed 37th in number......

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Kaine, Fenty want region green

Published: Oct 31, 2007

Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty laid out their goals for turning the D.C. region into one of the nation's greenest Tuesday, calling on local universities to form a regional partnership to tackle the area's transportation, conservation and energy challenges. Speaking before the Greater Washington Board of Trade's Potomac Conference, in which many of the region's most influential business, government, nonprofit and academic leaders convened to develop a local green agenda, Kaine acknowledged that Virginia faces challenges in energy policy. "We've traditionally been a low-cost energy state,"......

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Congress to approve open-access bill for NIH research

Published: Oct 31, 2007

In a move aimed at boosting access to cutting-edge scientific and medical research, both the U.S. House and Senate have passed a bill that would require research funded by the National Institutes of Health be made freely available to the public one year after it is published - something scientific journal publishers have resisted for years. With widespread support from library and research organizations, Congress mandated that scientists funded by NIH, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, deposit their manuscripts into NIH's public database. Currently,......

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Cadillac, XM to promote show, Escalade

Published: Oct 29, 2007

Clients: Cadillac and XM Satellite RadioJob: To promote the 2008 Cadillac Escalade and D.C.-based XM Satellite Radio using XM’s weekly radio show featuring Bob Dylan.Agency: Modernista!, based in BostonConcept: One of XM’s key original-content shows is Bob Dylan’s hour-long "Theme Time Radio Hour" on Wednesdays. When XM officials learned he was planning a Cadillac-themed show highlighting the car’s influence on popular culture, they seized the opportunity to kick off a cross-promotional campaign for the satellite radio provider and Cadillac’s 2008 Escalade, as XM Radio comes standard with the car.The Plan:......

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Loudoun commercial real estate to suffer in short term, experts say

Published: Oct 29, 2007

When the Loudoun County business community, introspective after Volkswagen’s recent decision to move its U.S. headquarters to nearby Herndon, invited investors, developers and regional analysts to give them their unedited views about Loudoun’s commercial real estate market last week, two distinct pictures emerged.One was of a county 10 years down the road where aggressive population and job growth has fueled an urban center competitive with neighboring Fairfax County. The other was of a Loudoun two years from now that has struggled with its inconsistent politics and with a surge in......

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21K run Marine marathon

Published: Oct 29, 2007

Spectators turned out in droves Sunday to cheer the more than 21,000 runners racing in the Marine Corps Marathon.First-time marathon runner and Georgetown aluma Kristen Henehan, 28, a three-time All-American in track, won the event for the women in 2 hours, 51 minutes and 9 seconds. Ethiopian Tamrat Ayalew, 33, unseated two-time defending men's champion Ruben Garcia, finishing in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 18 seconds.Chicagoan Carol Platt, standing on 15th Street in front of the Washington Monument, cheered as her husband, daughter and four friends ran by at about......

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Waterfront Mall demolition project scheduled to start next week

Published: Oct 26, 2007

Wrecking Corp. of America is scheduled to begin demolishing Waterside Mall next week, kicking off years of planned construction that will bring retail and residential space and two D.C. agencies to Fourth and M streets SW."This is the largest single building in the District to be razed," Terry Anderson, vice president of the Alexandria company, said in a news release this week.Part of a greater vision of a revitalized Southwest waterfront area, the project involves the demolition of 1.2 million square feet of the desolate mall and construction of a......

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Firm wins FDA approval for wound product

Published: Oct 26, 2007

The FDA last week cleared a wound treatment product from Bethesda-based TraumaCure Inc. that is designed to quickly and easily stem the leading cause of death among soldiers in combat — high-pressure bleeding.The company says WoundStat, a mineral-based granular formula that pours out of a pouch and conforms to the shape of a wound, can be used on injuries in places where a tourniquet is not effective, such as the groin or the shoulder area."The No. 2 trauma killer for civilians — and No. 1 for soldiers — is bleeding......

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Rent for D.C. area apartments drop

Published: Oct 24, 2007

The average rent for a D.C.-area Class A apartment dropped this year for the first time since 2002, as developers and homeowners caught in the housing downturn flooded the market with units that had once been for sale, a recent market report shows. Rent for Class A apartments — those units in large, newer buildings with amenities like clubhouses or swimming pools — has dropped 0.8 percent region-wide over the past year, with high-rise apartments doing better than garden-style apartments, according to a third quarter report from Alexandria-based real estate......

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Enterprise wins $100 million in credits for development

Published: Oct 23, 2007

Enterprise Community Investment Inc., a Columbia-based firm that invests in the development of affordable homes and communities in low-income areas, was awarded $100 million in New Markets Tax Credits by the U.S. Treasury Department Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.This is the fifth time the company has received credits from the fund, which was established in 2000 to give developers tax incentives for investing in urban and rural low-income neighborhoods to help spur economic development. This latest round of credits brings the company's total NMTC allocations to $515 million — more......

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Broadcasters prepare country for switch to digital television

Published: Oct 22, 2007

Clients: Broadcast networks CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC and nearly 1,000 other television stations nationwide.Job: To raise consumer awareness of the Feb. 17, 2009, transition from analog to digital television.Agency: National Association of Broadcasters, based in D.C.Theme: "What you need to know about the Feb. 17, 2009, switch to DTV"The Concept: More than 34 million households that use TV antennas are at risk of losing their television signals if they are not prepared for the 2009 federally mandated switch from analog to digital broadcasting. The National Association of Broadcasters started a......

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Rain brings slight relief to area

Published: Oct 20, 2007

The Washington region has broken its dry spell at last, but meteorologists say that's not cause for too much excitement. "If you take [Friday's] event, I'd call it a drop in the bucket," said Brian LaSorsa, a local National Weather Service meteorologist. "If average rainfall amounts do end up being what we're predicting, we need another 20 of these events to bring the region up to normal levels." The National Weather Service was calling for about a quarter- to a half-inch of rain in the area by the end of......

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Legendary hardware store stays afloat with help from Home Depot

Published: Oct 19, 2007

One of the last places you can still find a 1-cent gumball machine may well be the entrance to the small hardware store that has sat on the plot of land at 100 W. Broad St. in Falls Church for 124 years.It wasn't called Broad Street when James W. Brown opened Brown's in 1883, tired of making $35 a month as a Loudoun County schoolteacher. It wasn't even a hardware store."It was a general store back then," said Hugh Brown, the 81-year-old grandson of James who has run the now-legendary......

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Arlington board OKs plan to preserve dwindling tree canopy on private land

Published: Oct 19, 2007

The Arlington County Board last week approved a new program that will use developer money to help preserve the county's dwindling tree canopy on private land.Officials say the county's program is unique in Virginia and that it allows them a way to work within state laws that limit counties' authority to regulate tree removal on private property."We really have an initiative in the county to increase our tree canopy cover, and where we're seeing the largest loss is from private property," said Jamie Bartalon, a supervisor for Arlington's parks department,......

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Web site helps sellers cut middleman

Published: Oct 18, 2007

When Eric Meany bought his U Street-area house in Northwest for $240,000 in 2002, he used a real estate agent to broker the deal. When he sold it for $565,000 in May, after spending about $100,000 in renovations, he worked alone."To save a lot money was the total goal," he said, noting that sellers generally pay a 3 percent commission to their real estate agent and another 3 percent to the buyer's agent.That adds up to $18,000 for a $300,000 home.Meany is not alone — foresalebyowner.com, the site he used......

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Va. district closes 21 schools for cleaning after student’s death

Published: Oct 18, 2007

A southern Virginia school district closed its 21 schools for cleaning Wednesday after a 17-year-old high school senior died Monday from what his mother said was adangerous strain of staph infection.The Bedford County school district has not yet received medical confirmation the boy had the drug-resistant form of staph called MRSA, but six other cases of MRSA have been confirmed in the district since school began in late August, Superintendent James G. Blevins said.While an estimated 30 percent of healthy people carry some form of staph on their skin or......

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D.C. investor to pump $500 million into energy-efficient building initiative

Published: Oct 16, 2007

Existing D.C.-area buildings will be on the receiving end of a half-billion-dollar investment from local investor Hannon Armstrong in what may be one of the largest multi-sector efforts in the country to increase energy efficiency and combat climate change on a local level.The brainchild of the Virginia Tech National Capital Region in Alexandria, the plan is for Pepco Energy Services to identify government and private buildings in the region that would benefit from being retrofitted with energy-efficient lighting, heating or cooling systems, or other products.Pepco will conduct the energy audit,......

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HotPads.com efforts ‘reaching customers’

Published: Oct 15, 2007

Clients: In negotiations with cable, satellite, Internet and telephone companies, banks, and moving and shipping companies.Job: To allow companies to do geographic-specific targeting to reach customers before they move to a new neighborhood.Agency: HotPads.com, based in D.C.Theme: "Reaching customers where they live"The Concept: HotPads.com is a Web portal for classified real estate rental listings that allows customers to view the properties on street-level maps to get a geographic sense of the area. HotPads can track which areas customers are viewing, giving advertisers an opportunity to target potential clients who may......

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DC one of the lowest foreclosure rates in nation last month

Published: Oct 12, 2007

The real estate picture in the District improved last month with the number of foreclosures filed in September plummeting to only 20 percent of those filed in August, according to statistics released Thursday by data provider RealtyTrac Inc.When ranked among the 50 states, D.C. placed 46th in number of foreclosures filed in September with a rate of 1 filing for every 5,669 households. The city ranked 20th in the nation in August, with 1 foreclosure for every 1,010 households.Virginia's September foreclosure rate dropped almost 50 percent from August's, improving the......

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September home sales in N.Va. plunge 30 percent from 2006

Published: Oct 11, 2007

Home sales in Northern Virginia in September plunged more than 30 percent compared to the same time last year, according to data released Wednesday by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.Other parts of the Washington area saw similar steep declines, with condo sales in the District dropping by 29 percent and single-family home sales down 42 percent, according to data from the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors. Montgomery County condo and single-family home sales fell by 36 and 42 percent, respectively, the organization said."[Area sales] were down this August......

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NIH expands alternative medicine research

Published: Oct 10, 2007

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health, is expanding its number of research centers by a third, adding programs to study such topics as the use of antioxidants from tomatoes, green tea and red grapes to treat or prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s and pancreatic cancer.Grants, which are expected to total about $20 million over five years, will fund three new centers at the University of California in Los Angeles, the Mount Sinai School of Public Medicine in New York and......

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Howard Hughes scientist wins Nobel Prize

Published: Oct 09, 2007

Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientist Mario R. Capecchi won the 2007 Nobel Prize for medicine Monday for his research leading to the development of powerful gene-targeting techniques that could result in the treatment or prevention of debilitating diseases in humans.Another American, University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill scientist Oliver Smithies, shared in the prestigious, $1.54 million prize, as did British scientist Sir Martin J. Evans.Capecchi is the 12th scientist in the Chevy Chase institute’s 54-year history to win a Nobel Prize. Craig C. Mello, also a scientist with the......

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Area condo sales drop sharply, but prices hold

Published: Oct 09, 2007

The number of new condos sold in the D.C. area fell more than 50 percent over the past year, but prices for those condos held steady in part because of a dwindling inventory of units for sale, according to data from local real estate research and consulting firm Delta Associates.Between September 2006 and September of this year, 4,337 new condo units were sold in the area. From September 2005 to September 2006, 9,486 were units sold, Delta Associates’ numbers show.The average price for a new condo in the metro area,......

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China gears up relations campaign

Published: Oct 08, 2007

Client: China National Tourism OrganizationJob: To raise the image and awareness of tourism opportunities in China to a U.S. audienceAgency: Partner Concepts LLC, based in AnnapolisTheme: "Welcome to China"The Concept: A healthy economy and a steady travel market in America make it a good time for China to promote itself as a desirable tourism destination, especially with the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the horizon.The Plan: Partner Concepts is running monthly, full-page color ads promoting China in the upscale magazine Conde Naste Traveler, and placing periodic half-page ads in The Wall......

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Alexandria condos go on auction block

Published: Oct 08, 2007

Silver Spring-based real estate developer Mid-City Urban is putting 30 Alexandria condos up for auction at the end of the month, seeking to purge the remaining unsold units in a 378-unit development. The two- and three-bedroom town house-style condos, part of the Parkside at Alexandria community on North Van Dorn Street, will be set at reserve prices of $225,000 and $275,000, respectively.The units were renovated in 2005 and converted from rental units to condos. Two-bedroom condos in the community recently sold for $340,000, the company said."In the Washington market there......

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D.C. developer to build ‘invincibility’ monument

Published: Oct 05, 2007

A well-established local real estate developer will present his plans today for a "Tower of Invincibility" monument that he plans to build on a publicly chosen site in the D.C. area.Jeffrey S. Abramson, a partner in the Bethesda-based Towers Cos., said he plans to build a 12-story, 20,000-square-foot marble monument that will house multimedia exhibits teaching visitors "technologies of consciousness" that include Transcendental Meditation, a mental technique that involves silently repeating a mantra for 20 minutes twice a day."It will be unlike any other monument ever built in Washington," Abramson......

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SE Waterfront project breaks ground

Published: Oct 04, 2007

Officials broke ground Wednesday on a major mixed-use development near the site of the new Nationals stadium officially marking the latest step toward the revitalization of the Anacostia waterfront.The 42-acre site, formerly called the Southeast Federal Center but now dubbed The Yards, will eventually house 2,800 affordable and market-rate residential units, 1.8 million square feet of office space, significant retail space and a 5.5-acre riverfront public park.The first phase of construction is scheduled to finish up in 2009 or 2010, though the entire project will take 20 years to complete.Mayor......

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Madame Tussauds wax museum opens tomorrow

Published: Oct 04, 2007

Think D.C. political types are so stiff and rehearsed they could be made of wax? Some of them now are. Madame Tussauds D.C. wax museum, complete with a wax Oval Office and teeming with iconic wax Washingtonians, opens to the public for a two-day preview starting tomorrow in the historic Woodward Lothrop building on F and 10th Streets Northwest. While guests can spend plenty of time with the nation's founding fathers and listen in on simulated World War II era phone calls between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill,......

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H Street community, developer, try for common ground

Published: Oct 03, 2007

After months of mediation, H-Street Corridor residents and neighborhood advocates are close to reaching an agreement with developer Dreyfus about construction of a large complex that would be the first major project to contend with H Street's recently adopted zoning and design guidelines.The Louis Dreyfus Property Group's Capitol Place project, a mixed-use development planned for H Street between Second and Third Streets Northeast, inflamed residents in 2005 when the developer applied for zoning changes to allow them to build a 433,000 square foot structure that would reach 110 feet in......

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Outsourcing deals boost consulting business

Published: Oct 02, 2007

Firms that advise on outsourcing deals are growing as old outsourcing contracts come up for renewal and companies seek advice on outsourcing higher-quality services and dealing with more complicated contract arrangements. While billion-dollar contracts outsourcing work to a single vendor are still routinely negotiated, more companies are seeking multi-vendor agreements that will provide them with higher levels of expertise in desired areas, according to an industry survey published earlier this year by Forrester Research, an independent market research company. Many large outsourcing contracts are also expiring this year, giving companies......

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D.C. to revamp Eckington

Published: Oct 02, 2007

D.C.'s Eckington neighborhood, which sits just north of the much-hyped and fast-developing NoMa neighborhood near Union Station, is seeing its dilapidated row houses and small apartment buildings quietly transformed into luxury condos and apartments as local developers seek to cash in on the inevitable influx of office workers to NoMa.NoMa, which stands for North of Massachusetts Avenue, was designated a business improvement district last year and is slated for 10 million square feet of commercial development. Developers have already turned row houses and storefronts on V Street, Rhode Island Avenue......

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Agency’s napkin ads target young adults

Published: Oct 01, 2007

Clients: Absolut Vodka, American Express and others.Job: To distribute the clients’ messages to the prime 18-34-year-old demographic or other targeted demographics in a unique way.Agency: JI Worldwide Inc. of Bethesda.Theme: "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words"The Concept: To provide bars, nightclubs, sports venues and airlines with free "HD" napkins that have clients’ attractive magazine ads printed in high-quality color on both the outside and inside panels.The Plan: JI Worldwide developed a method for clients to use their existing print ads to reach a wider audience. By providing bars and......

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GSA mulls moving Homeland Security to St. Elizabeths property

Published: Oct 01, 2007

The U.S. General Services Administration may remove 18 to 25 of the 62 designated historic buildings on St. Elizabeths Hospital’s west campus to make way for a new home for the Department of Homeland Security, according to recommendations the agency made in a recently released draft plan.The plan, along with a draft environmental impact study the GSA released Friday, is being reviewed by the National Capital Planning Commission, the federal agency responsible for federally owned land in the District.The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on the plan......

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George Mason to study avian flu, anthrax in new lab

Published: Sep 27, 2007

George Mason University will break ground today on a high-level biomedical research lab aimed at thrusting the university into the forefront of the nation’s counter-bioterrorism efforts.The lab, which is being built adjacent to George Mason’s Prince William campus in Manassas, will house laboratories that are designated Biosafety Level 3, allowing scientists to work with virulent strains of infectious diseases such as avian flu and SARS.The lab received a $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2005 as part of a federal effort to establish 13 such facilities......

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63 percent increase in density approved for Fairfax Corner

Published: Sep 26, 2007

Fairfax Corner, the popular 1.1 million-square-foot, mixed-use development that opened in central Fairfax in 2003, is about to get a whole lot denser.The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors decided Monday to let developer Peterson Cos. add more than 700,000 square feet of retail, office and residential space to the development.Peterson’s proposed plans are flexible to allow it to respond to future market demand, but one version would triple Fairfax Corner’s existing commercial office space and double its residential space, according to Paul Weinschenk, vice president of retail for the company."Based......

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Former AOL chairman uses Internet to create cheaper credit card service

Published: Sep 25, 2007

Former AOL chairman Steve Case is trying to revolutionize the credit card industry, using his D.C.-based investment firm, appropriately named Revolution LLC, to launch a web-based credit card company that will allow merchants to circumvent the transaction fees they pay to traditional credit card companies.Instead of paying credit card networks an average of 1.9 percent per transaction — a fee that nets them about $56 billion annually — merchants who use Revolution Money’s RevolutionCard will pay only .5 percent per transaction, the company announced Monday.Revolution Money’s Board of Directors includes......

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‘One Loudoun’ project could create 14,000 new jobs

Published: Sep 25, 2007

A massive Loudoun County development hoping to attract an international clientele officially breaks ground today in a ceremony attended by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and other state and local leaders.One Loudoun, a 360-acre project located at the southwest corner of Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway, will feature 3 million square feet of office space, a luxury hotel, a movie theater, a residential neighborhood and up to700,000 square feet of upscale retail.The development will also include the World Trade Center Dulles Airport, an office building housing service organizations whose collective......

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D.C. announces convention hotel deal

Published: Sep 25, 2007

After months of stalled negotiations, the District of Columbia has struck a deal with Marriott to build a 1,150-room hotel across the street from the new convention center, clearing the way for further development in the Shaw neighborhood, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced Monday.The hotel is considered by District officials to be essential in making D.C. a competitive convention center destination.The Marriott Marquis will be built on Ninth Street NW between Massachusetts Avenue and L Street on land owned by the District and developer Kingdon Gould III. Gould will trade his......

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250 foreclosed D.C.-area homes to go up for auction

Published: Sep 24, 2007

About 250 Washington-area houses will hit the auction block in October as the nation’s largest real estate auction firm that deals with foreclosures makes its first D.C. stop in five years.Dallas-based Hudson and Marshall will hold auctions Oct. 6 at the Hilton Crystal City and Oct. 7 at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, selling foreclosed properties mainly in Northern Virginia. The properties — ranging in value from $30,000 to more than $600,000 — are available for online auction now on the company’s Web site."It’s not unusual at these auctions to......

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Real estate in inner suburbs on the rise

Published: Sep 21, 2007

The worst of the housing downswing is overin the D.C. area, and prices, buoyed by job growth, should start rising moderately in about 18 months, regional housing expert Stephen Fuller predicted Thursday."Housing prices are still soft," Fuller told The Examiner, "but the market is beginning to correct this year in Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax."Prices in those areas have stopped falling and are actually up marginally, said Fuller, head of the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis.Housing prices never dropped in suburban Maryland, nor did the price of single-family detached......

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District agency has $11 million to aid D.C. firms

Published: Sep 19, 2007

If your business is small, D.C.-based and, like so many local firms, in need of some extra cash, Erik A. Moses may be the man to see.In a first for the agency, the D.C. Department of Small and Local Business Development is jumping into the grant and loan business — and it has $11 million to start with, director Moses said."We’re trying to build a comprehensive small business support agency," Moses said. "Financing is something we never really had a role in. "Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who is seeking to......

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P St. eateries seek boost from valets

Published: Sep 18, 2007

Restaurant owners on P Street who have suffered devastating business loss since a streetscaping project began there in January are betting on a unified valet system and the possibility of low-interest loans from the D.C. government to keep them afloat.The construction between NW 23rd Street and Dupont Circle has shut down lanes and stretches of sidewalk on P Street and trapped restaurants behind street barriers and construction crews for months at time, funneling clients to areas of Dupont that are easier to navigate.The loss of foot and street traffic has......

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D.C. ranks 20th in foreclosures nationwide

Published: Sep 18, 2007

D.C. ranked 20th in the nation in number of foreclosure filings in August, according to numbers released yesterday by data provider RealtyTrac Inc. The District had a total of 275 foreclosure filings last month, or one filing for every 1,010 households. Virginia ranked 17th, with one filing for every 832 households and Maryland ranked 14th , with one filing for every 688 households. Area homeowners are in somewhat better shape than many - the national foreclosure rate for August was one filing for every 510 households, up 115 percent from......

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FBI agent charged with abducting woman

Published: Sep 13, 2007

An FBI agent was accused of holding a woman against her will for more than five hours in her Crystal City apartment with the intent to sexually abuse her, according to the Arlington County Police Department.Carl Lee Spicocchi, 54, was arrested the night of Aug. 23 after the woman, 50, escaped and called the police, police spokesman John Lisle said. Spicocchi was found in the woman’s apartment building carrying a handgun, Lisle said. Spicocchi and the woman knew each other, and the woman suffered minor injuries, Lisle said.Spicocchi, who also......

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Drivers to be reimbursed for 8,000-ticket 'glitch'

Published: Sep 12, 2007

Thousands of drivers along the Dulles Toll Road and the Powhite Parkway Extension will either be reimbursed for $25 tickets or won’t have to pay the fines after state officials determined the citations had been issued in error."We started getting calls from customers that they were receiving violation notices after they had thrown their change in the toll," Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Joan Morris said. "Looking at the data, there was definitely a glitch."The department dismissed all 8,000 tickets issued between February and May and will return a total......

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