26 Square Miles - An Arlington Podcast

Matt Hussman is the executive director of the Clarendon Alliance, the organization that is charged with improving "the health and vitality of the Clarendon corridor." The alliance is a booster for local businesses and helps to put on the annual Clarendon Day festival and a number of other events. We asked Matt about the current state of Clarendon, about turnover among restaurants and retailers, and about the future of the neighborhood including development projects in progress.

With nearly 5,400 followers on Instagram, Discover Arlington is one of the hottest social media presences in Arlington at the moment. The account highlights local restaurants, events and other happenings around Arlington -- an engaging introduction to the county for newcomers and a way to discover new places for even long-time Arlingtonians. Two couple behind Discover Arlington is Blake Davenport and Leah Virbitsky. Having moved here two years ago, they may not be the longest-tenured local residents, but they do have an uncommon passion for all things Arlington.

Chris Teale recently joined ARLnow after nearly two years at the Alexandria Times. You might see him out and about, reporting at meetings and community events, but if not this interview can serve as an introduction. We chatted with Chris about Alexandria, development, Potomac Yard, Taco Bell, beer, soccer, the hated Oxford comma and about growing up in England (after being born in the US).

Media personality Sarah Fraser has been on the D.C. radio and TV airwaves for a decade. What you might not know about her is that she's a Virginia Square resident and does a lot locally here in Arlington. We talked with Sarah about her podcast and new media ventures, about the business of broadcasting, and about Arlington restaurants from Oz to Crystal City Restaurant.

Jim VandeHei was a political writer for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post before co-founding Politico in 2006. A decade later, Politico is a major force in the news industry and VandeHei has moved on to found another media startup: Axios. Launched in January and based in Clarendon, Axios has made some big hires, broken some big stories and is growing rapidly, thanks in part to investment from major media companies. We talked with Jim about the vision for Axios, the current state of the media industry and his take on what's happening inside the Trump White House.

Angela Fox is the president and CEO of the Crystal City Business Improvement District, the organization charged 10 years ago with "reinventing" Crystal City, changing perceptions about one of the area's biggest business districts and creating experiences that make it a more dynamic place to live, work and play. That was not an easy task, especially when half the jobs in the area were set to pick up and leave due to BRAC. We asked Angie about how the BID tackled that challenge, what kind of events it's hosting this year, and about the changes to Crystal City that could be coming soon. 

Vanessa Reisis, along with her husband and kids, have been running Goody's Pizza (3125 Wilson Blvd) since it opened in Clarendon in 2006. When we last checked in with "Momma Goody" last summer, she said the family-owned shop was struggling to keep up with high rent and lots of competition. The good news is that since then business has picked up, Reisis told us on this week's podcast.

We often refer to Remy Munasifi as the "Arlington Rap guy." But now that he has a prominent role in a new Netflix series, Brown Nation, we might have to tweak that description. We sat down with Remy, who recently moved from Clarendon to Falls Church, to talk about his career, the making of the Arlington Rap, Donald Trump (of course), making money on YouTube and about his latest music video.

Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah to all of our listeners! We close out 2016 with a special holiday podcast, featuring Rev. Sarah Harrison-McQueen of Central United Methodist Church in Ballston, Dr. Leonard L. Hamlin Sr. of Macedonia Baptist Church in Nauck, Rabbi Lia Bass of Congregation Etz Hayim along Route 50, and an exclusive interview with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. This is a family-friendly episode that you can feel free to let your kids listen to.

Chris Farley is the owner of Arlington-based Pacers Running, which operates local running stores and organizes local races. We talked with Chris, a native Arlingtonian, about how Pacers came to be and how the business grew over the past dozen or so years. We also asked him about his podcast, Pace the Nation, about some of his famous clients and about the retail climate in Arlington County.

As leader of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Kate Bate has lately taken an active role on issues like trespass towing and Airbnb rentals. We asked Kate about that, about the current business climate in Arlington and about her ascension to President and CEO of the Chamber at a relatively young age.

Bryna Helfer is trying to improve and modernize the way Arlington County communicates with its residents and businesses. Helfer joined county government as Assistant County Manager for Community and Public Engagement in September and has been seeking input on the county's public outreach since. We asked her about her position at the county, about technology and its role in updating the "Arlington Way" system of public outreach, and about why residents occasionally feel "blindsided" by the county's decision making process.

Nick Freshman is a native Arlingtonian who is the co-owner of Spider Kelly’s and was the co-owner of the former Eventide Restaurant in Clarendon. We talked with Nick about the current state of Arlington's restaurant business, why so many restaurants are closing, and why he's decided to start investing in and advising new restaurants.

On election night 2016, ARLnow conducted a live video broadcast from an election watch party in Clarendon. In the second half of our broadcast, we heard election night speeches from local Democratic officials and later interviewed County Board Chair Libby Garvey, County Board member Jay Fisette and state Senator Adam Ebbin. Among other things, we asked Garvey about her relationship with the Democratic party, we asked Fisette whether he'll run for reelection next year and we asked Ebbin about the possibility of marijuana decriminalization in Virginia.

On election night -- Nov. 8, 2016 -- ARLnow conducted a live video broadcast from an election watch party in Clarendon. We interviewed a number of local officials and politicos on a range of topics. Among the interviewees in Part 1 of the broadcast: Arlington Co. Democratic Committee Chair Kip Malinosky, ARLnow columnist Peter Rousselot, School Board member-elect Tannia Talento and School Board member Nancy Van Doren.

After fending off a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Erik Gutshall, Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey is now running for reelection against independent candidate Audrey Clement. In this week's podcast, we ask Garvey about a number of local issues, from development to transit along Columbia Pike to preparations for snow removal this winter.

Audrey Clement is running for Arlington County Board... again. Clement may be a perennial candidate, but she has dedicated supporters and, more importantly, she goes to the trouble of running for local office when other serious challengers to the Democratic candidate are often nowhere to be found. Clement's ideas may seem incongruous -- she bikes everywhere but doesn't like bike races, she is in favor of affordable housing but generally against high-density development -- but she is consistent in her views. We asked Clement about her opposition to those bike races; her opposition to development, particularly recent projects in Westover; her support of renewable energy; and her desire to lessen the tax burden on Arlington residents.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) is a freshman member of Congress who's running in his first reelection campaign. Since taking over for long-time congressman Jim Moran, Beyer has been focused on a number of issues of importance to voters in the Eighth District of Virginia, which includes Arlington. We asked Beyer about some of those issues, like the rehabilitation of the Memorial Bridge and aircraft noise from Reagan National Airport, as well as this year's election and, of course, the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump.

At a time when Donald Trump is at the top of the Republican Party's ticket, GOP congressional hopeful Charles Hernick is, well, not anything like Donald Trump. He's an economic conservative who doesn't have much to say about social issues. He thinks he can do a better job in office than Rep. Don Beyer (D), but doesn't think he should be jailed. In fact, Hernick acknowledges that Beyer is basically free of skeletons in his closet, which makes running against him even more of an uphill battle than he would otherwise face in the deep blue Eighth District of Virginia. We talked with Hernick about the issues, about Trump and about Hernick's own one-time intra-party foe, the ever-entertaining Mike Webb.

This week's episode is a wide-ranging chat with Ethan Rothstein, the former editor of ARLnow.com. Ethan, who's now the East Coast Editor for Bisnow, talks with Scott about what it was like to report for ARLnow. They also discuss the future of Arlington's economy, how everyone seems to hate Advanced Towing, the story behind the million dollar bus stop, the Arlington streetcar saga and the current state of the news business. This is a long episode but is a must-listen for any local news nerds who want to know what happens behind the scenes at ARLnow and what journalists really think about some big local issues.