power up with Rosslyn's solar charger

The park at the corner of Moore St. & 19th St. in Rosslyn offers everyone free power from the sun. This solar charging station emphasizes Rosslyn's leadership in green technology and its warm hospitality to everyone.

More street high-tech is on the way. Rosslyn BID, which installed the solar charger, is currently exploring custom-designed street lights. These street lights will "use solar power, create ambient light that changes color, charge cellphones and cars, and bring WiFi to Rosslyn." Rosslyn is not only historic, but also futuristic.

Realize Rosslyn process panel meeting this Monday

The full Realize Rosslyn process panel will meet this Monday, February 2, at 7pm in the Arlington County Board room at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. All Rosslyn residents, workers, relatives, and friends are welcomed to attend. Update: draft meeting materials are now available.

At last week's Rosebud Film Festival, Rosslyn worker Jay Korff was selected as a showcase winner for his Stillbrave 100 video. That video commemorates the dedication and determination of Tattoo Tom to help children with cancer. That's the kind of dedication and determination that will carry the Realize Rosslyn planning process to a successful conclusion.

green wall growing lushly in Rosslyn's Artisphere

Refusing to be withered by fear of the future, Artisphere's green wall is growing gloriously. This is the Rosslyn way, virid and eternal.

Rosslyn's Wilson School declared historic

On January 21, the Arlington County Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) unanimously voted to declare Rosslyn's Wilson School a historical district. Wilson School thus joins the historically important Westmoreland Terrance Condominiums and other Rosslyn sites as being officially recognized as historic. This historic designation will now go to the School Board for consideration in the context of planned redevelopment of the Wilson School site. If the School Board doesn't at least vote to erect a historic marker, Rosslyn is likely to rise in revolt.

The application for designating Wilson School as a historic district offers much interesting information about the history of Wilson School.  Built in 1910, it was originally called the Fort Myer Heights School. It was renamed as Wilson School in 1925. It's the second oldest extant school building in Arlington. The school was designed by the renowned Richmond-based architect Charles Morrison Robinson.

The photo above shows seventh and eighth grades at Fort Myer Heights School, probably in 1910-11. These students look as happy to be in Rosslyn as residents are today.

Sunday's video

Tribune explorer penetrates virgin Rosslyn wildlands

Despite Rosslyn's reputation for being a fast-charging urban place, Rosslyn still has wildlands. If you head up the Custis trail from Rosslyn's Key Bridge, about a quarter mile after the trail heads away from Lee Highway you see a trail overpass that deadends into wildlands.

The Tribune explorer recently penetrated this virgin Rosslyn wildlands, It's mountainous and filled with dense bush. It's nature in all its natural beauty. Go and explore there yourself. But be careful, because wildlands are inherently dangerous.

Rosebud Film Festive and Shocked & Amazed coming up at Rosslyn's Artisphere

The prestigious Rosebud Film & Video Festival is this Saturday, January 24, at Rosslyn's Artisphere starting at 12:30pm. Out of 60 submissions, 20 were selected for the showing. The complete list of films and times is available here. You can see some film descriptions and previews on the Rosebud facebook page. Rosslyn is a leading location for film & video shoots. Expect to see in the best films some footage of Rosslyn.

The following Saturday, January 31, will be Shocked & Amazed's Strange for Hire. This show represents well Rosslyn's rich culture:

As a variety show of the oddest persuasion, Strange for Hire draws from the world of circus, sideshow, vaudeville and burlesque. Join Mr. Donny V, the Gentleman Oddity, Frankie Sin the Bad Girl of Broadway, and Insectavora the Fiery Femme Fatale for an event that invites you to step into the bizarre world of the carnival, sponsored by Ripley's Believe It Or Not (Baltimore) and Shocked and Amazed to bring you an evening of the most delightfully unusual entertainment money can buy!

This fine event will be at 9pm in Artisphere's Black Box Theatere.  Tickets are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. Keep Rosslyn weird!

guy with pickup truck does local hauling and moving

One day you may need to get some furniture or other stuff moved locally. If you don't have a golden-hearted friend with a pickup truck and a few hours to spend doing heavy work, don't despair. You can call Dan Pitcher at 703 309-2227. He's a get a regular desk job, but he does some local hauling and moving to help folks out and earn some additional money. He's strong, reliable, and easy to work with. He also charges very reasonable rates for local hauling and moving jobs. Based on the Ode Street Tribune's use of his services, we strongly endorse him.

The Ode Street Tribune's 2020 Forward Vision five-year strategic plan centers on renovating the Tribune's board room. The main goal is to create an atmosphere of gravitas consistent with Tribune's position as a world-class, industry-leading, traditional Rosslyn newspaper. The Tribune's Facilities Manager was tasked with purchasing a table around which the board could debate each day what was truly the day's front-page news.

The Tribune's Facilities Manager found a suitable table on sale at Costco in Pentagon City. The problem was how to get this massive table from Costco to the Tribune's third-floor corporate headquarters in Rosslyn. Renting a U-Haul truck would have been a pain in the ass. The Facilities Manager checked Craigslist and stumbled on Dan's ad. You never know what you're going to get on Craigslist. Dan turned out to be a  great find.

We arranged to meet at 9:20am Saturday morning. There he was at 9:20am Saturday morning on the minute. The whole job went so smoothly it was almost even fun. Dan helped to put the legs on the table and get it upright at a very reasonable hourly rate. He also provided the service of getting the old table and chairs out of corporate headquarters and taking them away to be sold or donated.

Local news doesn't just happen. Editors sitting around a table make the news. The Tribune would not be in its current news-making position without Dan Pitcher's excellent local hauling and moving service.

Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board discussing Wilson School this Wednesday

Arlington County's Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board will hold a public hearing on the designation of a local historic district at Wilson School in Rosslyn. This meeting is required under County law. The meeting will occur at Wednesday, January 21, 2015, at 7:30 pm, at 2100 Clarendon Blvd, County Board Room 307. All interested residents are invited to attend.

With Buffalo soldiers, the first passenger death in a plane crash, and the Deep Throat parking lot, Rosslyn has a lot of history. And its getting more every day.

Capital Bikeshare sign better than VDOT sign

A Capital Bikeshare sign about a mile west of the center of Rosslyn provides key information to potential bikeshare users. The sign declares: "7 minutes to Rosslyn from here." That's much faster than walking to Rosslyn. The faster folks can get to Rosslyn, the happier they are.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) should follow Capital Bikeshare's lead in providing useful and needed traveler information.

beware of ice on path through Rosslyn Vista Park

Unfortunately the path through the scenic Rosslyn Vista Park collects water that freezes into ice. A dusting of snow hides the ice. But now you know. Stay informed and safe with the Ode Street Tribune.

9 Songwriter Series at Artisphere this Friday

Go out and experience some solo songwriter singing at Rosslyn's Dome Theatre this Friday night. This performance of the 9 Songwriter Series will offer intimate and varied music organized by local singer-songwriter Justin Trawick. Tickets are just $12. That's about the price of two beers. Artisphere is better than bars for your stomach and your ears.

don't stop short of Rosslyn

Many geese, after flying thousands of miles, happily enjoy the lush, plentiful green grass and scenic view in Rosslyn Vista Park. Unfortunately, last Thursday night, some geese settled down to sleep in the Potomac River, just short of Rosslyn. The next morning the geese found themselves frozen into the ice.

The lesson is obvious. No matter how tired you are, make sure you get to Rosslyn before you settle down to sleep.

Sunday's video

key school star points to Rosslyn

The Arlington County School Board voted on Dec. 22, 2014, to redevelop Rosslyn's Wilson School site. The School Board plans to build a new school seating an estimated 775 students. H-B Woodlawn School's Secondary, ESOL/HILT, and Asperger’s programs (all currently located at the Stratford site) will be moved to Rosslyn's new school. The project is estimated to cost no more than $80,200,000. How the new school will support Rosslyn's deep historical connections to Mongolia remains to be seen.

Keen interest in moving students and school programs to Rosslyn isn't surprising. Students realize that Rosslyn beckons as a place of opportunity. That's evident in a wonderful sculpture at the Key Elementary School. That sculpture features a student and a star pointing toward Rosslyn.

Transportation Technies to solve parking in Rosslyn this Thurs. night

The Transportation Technies meetup group will be parking in Rosslyn this Thursday night. The group will meet from 6pm to 9pm at Rosslyn's beloved and beautiful Artisphere. The agenda is impressive:

• Nikola Ivanov of CATT Lab will present "Real-World Problems, Real-World Solutions," talking about probe vehicle data analytics, and showing us the Regional Integrated Transportation Information System (RITIS). 
• James Bain of ParkingPanda will talk about their app that lets drivers reserve parking in advance. 
• The folks at Metropia will talk about their vision to connect commuters, businesses, employers and government agencies to drive improvements in metro mobility. 
• Matthew George of Bridj will tell us how they are how they're making cities smarter by crunching millions of data points to see how people are traveling throughout the city. 
• Eric Meyer of Haystack will talk about his app that connects people exchanging parking spots. 

This group is surely capable of solving the problem of parking in Rosslyn.

be careful of black ice after snow storm

A major snow storm struck the Rosslyn region yesterday, delaying publication of the Ode Street Tribune, causing minor accidents, and turning cars white. The hill on Rosslyn's 14th St. heading toward the Iwo Jima Memorial is particularly treacherous after snow. Exercise extra caution in that area.

Efforts to support traffic on the key Virginia-Rosslyn-Washington multi-user expressway were impressive. The section from the northern gate of Rosslyn's Arlington National Cemetery around to the main gate was treated with de-icing solution on Monday afternoon. A number of cyclists braved the trail Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon it was fully plowed.

The most significant hazard now for anyone going outside is black ice. Black ice is particularly likely to lurk in parking lots. Be careful walking across parking lots and getting into cars. One slip could cause you a long period of pain.

Tribune ups offer to attract new journalist

Attracting top journalistic talent to the traditional newspaper business is widely recognized to be difficult. In response to claims that the journalist job at the Ode Street Tribune "isn't worth beans," Tribune management augmented its salary and benefit offering to include an opportunity to apply for a community garden plot. That bold move enabled the Tribune to attract of a new journalist and resume publication.

Community gardens exist in the greater Rosslyn metropolitan region at 1600 Key Boulevard and at the corner of N. Barton St. & 10th St. N. Here's the online application for a plot. Even if you don't have the needs of a journalist, you can still apply for a garden plot.