Fox is president of the Crystal City Business Improvement District, which uses a variety of events to promote the neighborhood as a good place to live, work or play.
What are the main ways BID tries to highlight the benefits Crystal City has to offer?
We have four main program areas that we focus on. There are active programs, which are all of our races. … Artful, that’s all of our theaters, our wine festivals, and movie nights. … Accessible, that’s Wi-Fi in the courtyard and everything we do to show how easy it is to get here and park, and then green, which is farmers markets, street recycling, compost, and community supported agriculture.
What’s your favorite thing you’re currently working on?
Right now I love our Artful program. I love putting our local artists’ work up on the walls, I love turning a former conference space into a theater, which was a temporary home for Arena Stage and is now opening with Phinetic Theater, so we’re using our assets and actually taking it to another level.
A lot of talk in Crystal City lately is about transportation. What programs do you have for that?
We have a strong bike culture. We brought Capital Bikeshare — we partnered with the county to invest in that project. … We do cycling in a lot of ways, so we really promote cycling from the standpoint of commuting, because it’s green, and it’s really a healthy way to get to work.
Is there anything big coming?
Our biggest event that we’re currently planning for is the Marine Corps Marathon [this Sunday]. We host a kids festival where we get mile markers 22 and 23 of the marathon that come through Crystal City, and we line the streets with flags and cowbells and music for the runners to invigorate them for that last push. We get about 15,000 spectators, and 1,000 of them usually kids. – Ben Giles
