Arlington Sends Most Unintentionally Funny Press Release Ever

Many a visitor to The Green Miles has found it unintentionally funny that Arlington has something known as a Beaver Pond. I have not only taken part in Beaver Pond cleanups with fellow Arlington Community Volunteer Network alumnus Dan Silverman, pictured here. I've taken Arlington visitors to the pond so they could take pictures in front of it so they can prove to friends back home that it exists.

Arlington is moving to renovate the pond, which is great. Will clean storm runoff, provide better wildlife habitat, good stuff.

But did the press release announcing the renovations have to go out of its way to put "Beaver" in quotes? Or make repeated, vague references to the pond's not-so-fresh feeling? And the capper -- a county board member saying one of the goals is to make it "easier to access"?

Come on, Arlington County. Grow up.

Saturday: ACE Green Living Expo

Ready for some spring greening? Here's a great event coming up on Saturday:

ACE Green Living Expo
Saturday, March 20, 2010
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
4301 Wilson Blvd. in Ballston

On March 20, Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE) will be sponsoring a Green Living Expo. The Expo will feature green suppliers, products from local and national businesses, exhibits and seminars from government agencies and nonprofits, and a free Going Green Guide for Apartment Renters! [...]

The Expo will also include seminars, a raffle, and plenty of activities for children. It will provide an important venue to showcase new technology and products available that can help soften our carbon footprints in Arlington. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), is located near the Ballston metro and several bus routes. The Green Living Expo is family-friendly and free and open to the general public.

Children's activities will include:

• Native seedling planting
• Crafts
• Nature games
• Naturalists with animals to meet

Wait, children's activities? What if certain adults are wildly excited to meet the wildlife?

Ballston: Now With Even More Frosting!

We may not have gotten a day off out of it, but the snow is at least nice to look at. Here's my view from Ballston:

Tuesday in Ballston: Cafe Scientifique on Climate Policy

Climate talk? Happy hour specials like half-priced burgers? I'm in:

Cafe Scientifique: Climate Change Policy at Home and Abroad
Sponsored by The Ballston Science and Technology Alliance
Date: January 5, 2010
Time: 6:15 pm to 8:15 pm
Location: The Front Page Restaurant, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA
Free - Open to the public

President Obama, Governors of both parties around the country, and key international allies have made addressing climate change a top priority. This cafe will discuss the state-of-play in the development of U.S. and international climate change policy. The speaker will be Nikki Roy, Vice President of Federal Government Outreach for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

Register for the event at ArlingtonVirginiaUSA.com.

Tonight: ACE Sustainability Social in Ballston

Here are some details on an Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment event coming up tonight in Ballston:

Sustainability Social
Monday, October 26, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Sangam Restaurant, 1211 N. Glebe Rd.

Learn more about living green, ACE volunteer opportunities, mingling, and delicious Indian food. ACE board member Takis Karantonis will be delivering a "Plastics Recycling 123" presentation, designed to answer all your questions about what those plastic recycling numbers mean. We'll have information about upcoming volunteer opportunities and ongoing volunteer positions. And everyone can meet fellow volunteers committed to protecting our local environment.

To RSVP, please email Lily or call 703-228-6406.

There's limited parking at Sangam (in the Comfort Inn lot) so Metro's the best bet to get there. Sangam (corner of Glebe & Washington) is only a 10 minute walk from Ballston Metro. You can find a full list of upcoming ACE events here!

What If They'd Used a Green Bus in "Speed"?

It might have looked something like this:


An Arlington Rapid Transit (ART) bus plowed through a low brick wall last night in front of The Green Miles' apartment building at the corner of Washington & Glebe in Ballston. The bus was traveling east on Washington across from the Sunoco station. Our front desk attendant overheard the driver tell a police officer that he swerved to avoid something.

If he'd swerved just 10 feet earlier or later, the bus would've just rolled over some shrubs. But instead it slammed into the brick wall, sending some bricks flying as far as 70 feet across the cul-de-sac.

The attendant said he heard a "thump," then ran out to see what had happened. All the passengers appeared to be OK, though he laughed that may change today when they talk to their lawyers. He said one woman got off the bus ... and never even slowed down, last seen heading south on Glebe towards Ballston. As I took these cell phone pics, a tow truck was being brought in to lift the natural gas-powered bus off the wall and tow it away.

Tonight in Ballston: Cafe Scientifique on Climate Change

I've never been to one of these, but I've heard good things:

Aug 4, 2009 Cafe Scientifique: Weather and Climate

Short presentation starts at 6:30 p.m. The current location is at the atrium in the National Science Foundation (NSF) building in cooperation with The Front Page Restaurant, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington between Wilson Boulevard and Fairfax Drive, and one block south of the Ballston-Marymount University Metro stop on the Orange Line.

Some added incentive to check it out -- according to Arlington's Twitter feed, there are also half-priced burgers starting at 5:30pm.

Scene from the Sidewalk: Ballston Birds

I was canvassing in Ballston yesterday when I came upon this house on Columbus Street near Washington Boulevard. It had a small pond with a fountain out front and two Mallards were happily swimming in it.

When I knocked on the door, I was less interested in pitching my campaign than I was in hearing about the yard. Were the ducks regular neighborhood nesters?

"They nested last year, but the eggs didn't hatch," the homeowner told me. "I think it was their first time. She didn't seem to have the hang of it yet."

More Oil Runoff Problems at Metro's Ballston Bus Lot

Remember Metro's Ballston bus lot? The one that had oil runoff problems? Well, they're not getting better. In fact, they might be getting worse. Here's a picture from July:

Heavy rains had washed oil and trash from the lot out one corner and into the grass between the sidewalk and the street, then into the street. There had been a tree at that corner of the grass, but it's long since died and been removed. Gee, I wonder why?

The only oil collection method in that corner are some curb-high white tubes. I sent the above picture to Metro asking what they were doing to reduce the oil runoff but never heard back, so I sent the picture to Arlington's Department of Environmental Services.

Magically, the next day the corner looked like this:

It's a miracle! Everyone stand up and shout hallelujah! The oil-soaked grass had been replaced, the sidewalk had been washed, and you can see new white oil-collecting tubes next to the wheels of the bus.

Wait.

Worst miracle ever:

The new grass is oil-soaked and trash-covered again. And when the remains of Tropical Storm Hanna come through this weekend, I'm sure the lot will get a nice power-washing -- with the wastewater going right out the corner of the lot into the storm drain, where it will go straight into an Arlington river or stream untreated, like all of Arlington's storm drain runoff.

Metro's feeling seems to be that since the bus lot will shut down anyway in March to make way for a major redevelopment of the block, it's content with what it considers stopgap measures. But as the continuing oil runoff problems show, that gap ain't gettin' stopped. It's up to Arlington DES to decide if and how the problem should be addressed.

Watering the Pavement

Seen at the corner of Wilson Blvd. and Randolph St. last Wednesday morning while walking to the Ballston Metro:That's not a power-washing -- the water's dribbling out of the hose. As you can see with the two bits of junk to the right of the planter in the foreground, it didn't clear stuff off the sidewalk. The worker watered the sidewalk all the way around the building -- with some quick-and-dirty math, roughly 6,000 square feet of sidewalk.

It's a waste of water, sure. But really, my critique here is an economic one, not an environmental one. Is it really worth paying someone to spend an hour doing this every morning? Or any morning?

Sunday: Serve God, Save the Planet

Here's a heads up on an event coming up in Ballston on Sunday:

Serve God, Save the Planet
On March 9 – Learn how each of us can make a difference to God’s creation.

Hear Matthew Sleeth, author of “Serve God, Save the Planet,” preach at Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church in Arlington (his book has a 4.5-star rating on Amazon!). Mt.Olivet is the first church in Arlington to be certified as a "Green Church" in the Arlington district of the Virginia United Methodist Conference.

Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth and his family lived in a big house, had two luxury cars, loads of money, and lots of stuff. As chief of the medical staff at a large hospital, Sleeth was living the “American Dream” – until he realized something was terribly wrong. Learn more about his personal and spiritual journey to environmental stewardship.

When: March 9, 2008, 11a.m. & 4:30 p.m. services

Where: 1500 N. Glebe Rd., Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church

Getting There: Church is located on the corner of 16th St. and N. Glebe Rd. Served by bus from Ballston Metro (even on Sundays). Also an easy walk from the Ballston Metro. Parking lot also available; enter from Glebe Road.

Another Mordecai Sighting

I was walking down Wilson Boulevard in the Virginia Square area Sunday afternoon and made another Cooper's Hawk sighting, the bird that recently scared the hell out of the animals in my backyard. I pulled out my cell phone camera, but unfortunately the hawk was circling very high overhead and the camera quality is lousy, so all I got was this:
From an Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment friend who's a major birder:

This seems to be a good winter for Cooper's Hawks. In your neighborhood, keep an eye out for (endangered) Peregrines. We lived for a year in Randolph towers on the 20th floor and would often see one when we were out on the balcony. I suspect they nest on some high-rise there in Ballston.

Any cool hawk sightings to report?

Dead Trees, Scorched Grass, and Cigarette Butts: Welcome to Mosaic Park

I live less than a block away from Ballston's Mosaic Park. Should be one of my favorite spots, right?

In the three years I've lived here, I've used Mosaic Park twice. Maybe three times.

Why? Mosaic Park is a lot closer to a parking lot than an actual park. Grass doesn't do well in DC's blistering summer sun unless it's watered, so the park is only green for parts of spring and fall. Without grass to slow the ball, you can't play soccer or toss a baseball -- in either case, any errant ball keeps rolling straight into traffic.

Plain and simple, the park looks like no one cares about it. Small trees were planted but never watered, and at least half are now little more than vertical sticks. As you can see in the picture, litter accumulates around the edge of the park, especially cigarette butts. In the winter, the County doesn't bother shoveling the adjacent sidewalk.

A jungle gym and small climbing wall were added to one end of the park a couple of years ago, so toddlers get some use out of that. But when we first moved in back in 2004, the Arlington Parks Department told us a basketball court would soon be going in. Since my roommate and I love to play (even though our combined vertical leap is approximately 13 inches), we were psyched. But 2004 came and went with no court, and in early 2005 we were told there was no money to build it.

Now there's talk of the park being part of a huge mixed-use redevelopment of the neighboring Metro bus yard. Which would be cool, although Ballston's version of "mixed-use" tends to be "a boring rectangular condo or office tower with a Blimpee on the first floor." And a quick net search shows this isn't the first time a redevelopment of that spot has been planned. Others have fallen through before and so far, the sometimes-leaky bus yard remains.

A little depressing? At least for The Green Miles' style? You're probably right. Let's balance it out with Mission Sqwerlpossible (via cuteoverload.com).

The World's Shortest Sidewalk

This sidewalk lies on N. Pollard St. near the corner with Wilson Blvd. across from the Ballston Gold's Gym. It's a total of two squares long, one on each side of the driveway.

When I see sidewalks like this, I want to meet their designer. Did they plan for just two squares of sidewalk? Did they plan a whole sidewalk, then run out of money after just two squares? Were they caught in the grips of the Great Concrete Shortage of '96?

The Washington Post documented the phenomenon in a great story back in 2004. A Walk on the Wild Side chronicled the reporter's attempt to walk the length of Route 50, encountering abruptly-ending sidewalks (and worse) all along the way.

What's your nominee for least-pedestrian friendly road in Arlington (or Virginia or DC)?

Ask The Green Miles: Beavers in Ballston?

This Saturday (July 28) at 5pm, Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment and Community Role Models will co-host the Ballston Beaver Pond Cleanup!

Most Ballston residents don't even know the pond exists. It's right next to the Fairfax Drive I66 on-ramp. You can see 66 in the background of this picture ... and in the foreground, trash floating in the pond.

Most cleanups are limited to just picking up trash on the water's edge, but we're going all-out for this one. ACE has arranged for two boats and skimmers, so some intrepid volunteers will be able to get out in the water to get every bit of trash in the pond.

Once the cleanup is over, we'll head over to Bailey's in the Ballston Common Mall. Always a friend of volunteer groups, Bailey's is providing us with free appetizers. Even if you can't make the cleanup, please join us at Bailey's! We should be there around 7pm.

Sign up here! Here's a question from a volunteer:

Are there really beavers in this pond??

I went to Elenor of Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment for the answer:

Good question. Not right now but there definitely have been off and on over the last few years. They tend to be transient, I guess like other residents of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.

It is a good wildlife spot with lots of birds. In general, a nice little oasis in the midst of I-66/Ballston high rises.

If you have an environmental question, Ask The Green Miles!

The Green Miles Investigates: Metro Bus Lot Oil

Blogs often remind me of my dad's favorite New Yorker cartoon, illustrating both management's self-importance and self-imposed impotence.

Bloggers can be eager to point out problems, but reluctant to do anything to solve them. It's a shame because having a blog that's well-read, respected, or both gives you more a much louder voice than that of the average person.

The Green Miles has always tried to find solutions whenever possible, like back in March when Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment & OneBrick volunteers found a trash dumping problem along Four Mile Run. We alerted the Parks Department, the business involved agreed to clean up the trash, and the Parks Dept. will monitor that area more closely in the future.

Last week, I was walking down to Front Page in Ballston to meet a friend for brunch. It was raining hard, and I noticed an oil slick running down the driveway of the Metro bus parking lot at the corner of Wilson and N. Quincy. I took cell phone camera pictures of the slick, which didn't capture the bright rainbow very well, but give you an idea of how big it looked.

I thought the photos might be blog-worthy, but didn't want to just post it and never have the problem (if there was one) get solved. So I emailed the photos to a friend in the Arlington environmental community with a note saying, "Does this look like a typical runoff from a busy bus lot after a heavy rain, or could it be something more serious?"

She wrote back saying it looked like it was more than just residual oil. I then looked up the email of a Metro spokesperson on the Metro website and emailed the photos to her.

She immediately wrote back to say she'd contact the Bus Department, whose response came in less than two hours:

A bus blew a transmission oil filter gasket last week while parked at the Wilson Blvd. gate. The spilled transmission fluid was contained and cleaned with floor scrubber. Apparently the product remained in the concrete and cobblestone and when we experienced the weekend rains the fluid came to the surface. We will have the area reinspected and cleaned.

The spill is unfortunate, but it's nice that Metro responded so quickly and plans to follow it up with action.