<b>Woman Sought in Armed Robbery</b>
Detectives from the Arlington County Police Department's Homicide/Robbery Unit are looking for a woman in connection with an armed robbery that occurred in the 1100 block of N. Fillmore St. on Wednesday evening, Dec. 3.
At 10:09 p.m., a 24-year-old woman was walking on the sidewalk when a vehicle pulled alongside her. The driver, a female, displayed a shotgun and demanded the victim's purse. The victim complied, and the suspect drove away from the scene.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the suspect used the victim's credit card at a store in the Seven Corners area. Police released images taken from a surveillance camera in the store.
The suspect is described as a 25- to 35-year-old female, light complexion, approximately 5-feet-3-inches tall. She was last seen wearing a dark coat, green scarf, dark pants with a vertical white stripe on the side, green "Chuck Taylor"-type athletic shoes and dark-rimmed glasses. She may speak with an accent. The suspect vehicle is described as a late model, dark-colored, four-door sedan with Virginia license plates and a loud engine.
This suspect may have been involved in two other armed robberies: one in Fairfax County, and another in Arlington. The woman is considered armed and dangerous, and anyone who comes into contact with her should call 911 immediately.
Anyone with information about this suspect is asked to call Arlington County Crime Solvers toll free at 800-673-2777. Crime Solvers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of this suspect. Callers to Crime Solvers remain anonymous and do not need to testify in court.
<b>County Approves ‘Green’ Building Program</b>
At their Dec. 6 meeting, County Board members expanded the county’s “green building” incentive program for commercial office projects. Under the new ordinance, the program will include other building types and a broader range of green components.
With these changes, Arlington’s program — one of a handful in the nation, and the first to offer bonus density incentives — now will apply to additional building types, including apartment and condo projects.
Green buildings and their surrounding landscapes are designed, constructed and operated to minimize negative impacts on the environment. They are evaluated in several categories, including water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor air quality.
The enhanced program will continue to offer additional density – up to 0.25 floor-area ratio – for projects rated “Silver” under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system for evaluating green buildings.
In addition, it includes new options to achieve from 0.15 to 0.35 density bonuses for lower (Certified) and higher (Gold or Platinum) ratings.
The Board also established a Green Building Fund that will be used for education and outreach activities for developers and the community on green building issues. Developers of site plan projects will contribute 3 cents per square foot into the fund. However, the fee would be refunded or waived if a developer applies for and obtains LEED certification.
Additionally, under the expanded program all site plan projects will be required to have a LEED-accredited professional on the development team. Projects will include a comprehensive evaluation of green building components based on the LEED program. These green building components will be formalized in the site plan conditions and will be enforced through the permit issuance process.
Under a previous pilot program, launched in 2000, the Navy League of the United States is building a 200,000-square-foot project in the Courthouse neighborhood, including approximately 10,000 additional square feet of space for building to the LEED Silver standard.
Arlington has made a commitment to build and rehabilitate its public facilities to LEED standards as well. The Langston Brown School and Community Center, which opened this fall, is the first LEED Silver-certified project in Virginia. Arlington County is incorporating green building components in the renovation of the Courthouse Plaza office building and recently installed a vegetated green roof on a portion of the building.
More information on LEED standards is available online at <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/leed/leed_main.asp">www.usgbc.org/leed/leed_main.asp</a>.
<b>Police Seek Burglar</b>
Detectives from the Arlington Police burglary unit are looking for a man in connection with three burglaries that occurred on Nov. 23. The suspect, who was photographed by a security camera, broke into three offices in a building on the 1600 block of North George Mason Drive, stealing several thousand dollars' worth of computer equipment.
At 11:43 a.m. on Nov. 23, the suspect was confronted inside a locked office. The suspect fled the office and was stopped by a security guard. After briefly talking with the guard, the suspect again fled and escaped before police officers arrived. The next day, two additional offices in the same building reported that they had been burglarized.
The suspect is described as a black male in his mid-20s, approximately 5-feet-10-inches tall, weighing about 170 pounds. He was wearing a baggy light-gray sweatshirt, dark blue jeans and tan hiking boots.
Anyone with information about this suspect is asked to call Arlington County Crime Solvers toll free at 800-673-2777. Crime Solvers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of this suspect. Callers to Crime Solvers remain anonymous and do not need to testify in court.
<b>Goodwill Accepts Late Donations</b>
Five Goodwill donation centers in the Washington area will stay open until 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Goodwill normally averages about 12,000 donors a month, but more than 10,000 people will wait to contribute during the last week of December, according to Gene Ficarra, vice president for contributed goods at Goodwill of Greater Washington.
The Goodwill donation center in Arlington is at 10 S. Glebe Road, at the corner of Route 50. The center is open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. Sundays. More information on the Arlington center, and other sites, is available online at <a href="http://www.dcgoodwill.org">www.dcgoodwill.org</a>, or by calling 703-769-3711.
For monetary donations, checks and postmarks must be dated before the end of the year. Vehicles donations must also be received before the end of the year, too, but due to high demand and the limited availability of tow trucks the last two weeks of the month, vehicle donors are highly encouraged to donate before Dec. 15. Log on to <a href="http://www.GWCars.org">www.GWCars.org</a> or call 1-866-GWCars-0.
All donations help support Goodwill’s employment, job training and placement programs for people with disabilities and disadvantages in the Washington metropolitan area.
<b>Solid Waste Management Plan Public Hearing</b>
Monday, Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m., at Courthouse Plaza #1, 2100 Clarendon Blvd. The Environment and Energy Conservation Commission (E2C2) will be holding a public hearing on the draft policy recommendations for the Solid Waste Management Plan. The pubic hearing will include a presentation by E2C2's Solid Waste Committee on the proposed policy recommendations for the County's new Solid Waste Management Plan and an opportunity for the public to comment on these proposed policy recommendations. Proposed policy changes affect the County's refuse and recycling programs.
<b>County Approves 2nd NRECA Building</b>
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) will build a second building in Ballston under a proposed site plan approved Saturday, Dec. 6, by the County Board.
In keeping with Arlington’s overall strategic priorities, the new building will be mixed-use, with ground-floor retail planned. NRECA hopes to achieve LEED certification by incorporating environmentally friendly “green building” features. NRECA also will continue its transit policies, encouraging employees to use mass transit, carpooling, and other smart growth programs. The new building will bring an estimated $500,000 in taxes to Arlington.
NRECA relocated to Arlington in 1995 from the District of Columbia and employs 600 people at its Ballston office. When it moved to Arlington, NRECA purchased a parcel for its headquarters office, with long-range plans for a twin building.
The companion building, known as “The Ellipse at 4401 Wilson Boulevard,” will have 11 floors and 260,000 square feet. The project is being managed by WDG Architects and is expected to be completed and open within two years.
As part of its commitment to the Arlington community, NRECA makes its conference center available free of charge to Arlington’s non-profit and cultural arts community. Last year, NRECA hosted 437 community events; as of the end of November 2003, NRECA this year hosted 360 community events. The space donation costs — valued at several hundred thousand dollars a year — are absorbed by NRECA, and this community benefit will continue.
NRECA is the national organization representing the national interests of the cooperative electric utilities and the consumers they serve. NRECA was founded in 1942, and organized specifically to overcome World War II shortages of electric construction materials, to obtain insurance coverage for newly constructed rural electric cooperatives, and to mitigate wholesale power problems. Since those early days, NRECA has been an advocate for consumer-owned cooperatives on energy and operational issues as well as rural community and economic development.
NRECA has nearly 1,000 member cooperatives that serve 36 million people in 47 states. Most of the 875 distribution systems are consumer-owned cooperatives; some are public power districts.