Month: August 2021

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (WDVM) – Residents of Alexandria will have to wait a little longer for the new Potomac Yard Metrorail station to open.

The Washington Metropolitan Transit Area Authority (WMATA) announced a five-month delay in the construction of the station and said the original design of the automatic train control system did not meet all safety requirements.

Originally, the opening should take place in April 2022, the completion date is now set for autumn 2022.

In a press release, WMATA said the redesign was the result of project management decisions for which they are responsible.

Metro is working with the contractor to reduce delays in the project schedule and ensure system security. The construction of the station will largely continue as planned, but some track-related construction elements are dependent on the completion of the ATC design.

Washington Metropolitan Transit Area Authority

The Potomac Yard Station will be located near the National Landing between Braddock Road and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport stations. According to WMATA, the station will provide residents in the northeast of the city with walking access to regional transportation systems.

One of the bidders in the upcoming sale of the Arlington Park property, Roy Arnold of the Endeavor Hotel Group, expressed frustration at Churchill Downs Inc.’s recent decision not to apply for the 2022 race dates.

With CDI’s move, it is unlikely that there will be live races at the historic circuit in the Chicago suburbs next year.

“I’m disappointed that they wouldn’t have done that,” said Arnold. “It’s hard for me to understand why you wouldn’t put a placeholder there because that wouldn’t oblige you to race, but would certainly have retained the value for a potential buyer.”

Arnold’s offer for the property, which was submitted in June, included plans to renovate the track surface, as well as the grandstands and infield. The area around the track is also to be developed, with the possibility of residential areas, shopping opportunities and a lower league hockey arena.

RELATED: End of the line: No 2022 race dates for Arlington Park

Arnold said a sports betting license would be applied for “immediately”. He also mentioned trying to incorporate augmented and virtual reality capabilities into the Arlington viewing experience.

The plan was widely praised among Illinois riders including Mike Campbell, president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Racing Association.

“Not only do we keep track of things, but we are making these 326 acres the most prestigious residential, retail and entertainment district in the world,” said Campbell shortly after the bid was submitted.

Arnold said there was communication with another bidder for the Arlington property: the NFL’s Chicago Bears. He said the 326-acre Arlington property has room for both a racetrack and a football stadium.

“Some of our development partners have had informal conversations with members of the Bears organization,” said Arnold. “Basically, this doesn’t have to be a binary decision for either of us. We can work together and we would definitely like to do that. “

The Bears declined to comment when asked by Horse Racing Nation in June if their plan would keep running on the property.

Arnold, who previously served as President of Arlington Park through 2010, questioned how CDI plans to keep its TwinSpires ADW platform operational in Illinois.

“If they didn’t have a double-secret probation plan, TwinSpires would go out of business (in Illinois),” Arnold said. “I’m sure the riders, how they’re feeling right now, would certainly question any attempt to license the platform in the state, so it’s confusing to me from that perspective alone.”

Churchill Downs Inc. did not respond to a request for comment on its decision not to apply for race dates in Arlington.

Despite the setback, Arnold said he would stick with his attempt to buy the track even if the live race couldn’t resume until 2023. plus the time could be used for improvements to the property.

“We (CDI) made it clear that this would not prevent us from continuing with our offer, and we told the riders that,” said Arnold. “But we had always planned that after the closing, which we had only really foreseen in the first quarter of 2022, we would start a large (investment) program.”

He also said that he would hope to continue doing business with CDI if his offer on the track is selected.

“I would have thought that they would have been in a stronger negotiating position if they had succeeded us in a fictitious race appointment request,” said Arnold. “We had no objections, there is no reason for us to have a hostile relationship with CDI, they have a platform, they have a purchasing company. … Why shouldn’t we sit down with them to talk about a deal to continue TwinSpires’ access to the market? “

CDI has provided no information on who the property will be sold to, but CEO Bill Carstanjen mentioned the property during a conference call Thursday.

“We have received numerous offers from interested parties for the country and are working on selecting the final award bid,” said Carstanjen.

The current meeting in Arlington should take place until September 25th.

Construction is rapidly growing on The Nova, a 24-story residential project on 41-05 29th Street in Long Island City, Queens. Designed by Fogarty Finger and developed by SB Development Group, the 290-foot structure will feature 86 ground floor apartments and retail space on a triangular lot at the confluence of 29th Street and 41st Avenues. The developers recently secured a $ 55 million construction loan from SCALE Lending to complete the project.

The Nova at 41-05 29th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The Nova at 41-05 29th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The last update of YIMBY in April 2019 showed early stages of the excavation, with the piling machines preparing to begin work. More than two years later, the reinforced concrete superstructure was raised over a quarter. The upper levels are loaded with wooden formwork that supports the outer pillars, walls, and floor slabs, and the curved corner becomes more noticeable as the building increases.

The Nova at 41-05 29th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The Nova at 41-05 29th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The Nova at 41-05 29th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The rendering shows a white facade that breaks up the window grid into sections of six floors. Each four-storey part consists of seven columns of vertically aligned rectangular frames that are repeated about five times towards the flat roof parapet. An interesting architectural element can be found in the lower area of ​​the narrow facade, where a pair of columns gently bend away from the base towards the flat sides of the building.

The Nova will result in around 95,000 square meters of newly built space. Most recently, it was reported that the retail space on the ground floor will occupy around 2,050 square feet, while the 86 residential units will each average 797 square feet. Residential facilities include a fitness center, library, children’s lounge, on-site storage room, and 41 bicycle parking spaces. Trains E, M, and R are two blocks away at Queens Plaza Station, and trains 7, N, and W are five blocks away at Queensboro Plaza Station.

The completion date June 1, 2024 is specified on the construction board.

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Sullivan Ballou was a successful 32-year-old lawyer in Providence, Rhode Island when Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to Fort Sumter. In response to his nation’s appeal, the former Rhode Island House Speaker joined the Rhode Island 2nd Infantry where he was elected major. By mid-July, the swirling events of the summer of 1861 had brought Ballou and his unit to a class camp in the country’s capital. With the imminent move of federal troops to Virginia, Sullivan Ballou wrote this letter to his wife. His concern that he “should fall on the battlefield” proved all too true. A week after his writing, when the first great battle of the war began in earnest on the plains of Manassas, Ballou was defeated and killed as the Rhode Islanders advanced from Matthews Hill.

Unfortunately, the Sullivan Ballou story doesn’t end with the death of a hero on the battlefield and a penetrating letter to a young widow. In the weeks and months that followed the battle, Confederate forces occupying the area of ​​the battlefield desecrated the graves of many fallen states. To seek some sort of vengeance on the Union regiment at whose hand they had suffered, a Georgia regiment sought retaliation against the 2nd Rhode Island.

Assuming they dug up the body of Colonel John Slocum, the Rhode Islanders commander during the battle, the Confederates desecrated the body and dumped it in a ravine near Sudley Methodist Church. Immediately after the Confederate evacuation from the Manassas area in March 1862, a contingent of Rhode Island officials, including Governor William Sprague, visited the Bull Run battlefield to exhume their fallen sons and return them to their homes. The group led to the contaminated body, examined the remains and a shredded remnant of uniform insignia, and concluded that the Confederates had mistakenly discovered the body of Major Sullivan Ballou and not his commanding officer. The remains of his body were transported back to Rhode Island, where they were interred in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

Of the tens of thousands of letters written in the days leading up to the First Battle of Manassas, none is more famous than the last letter from Major Sullivan Ballou. As poignant as it is prescient, Ballou’s epistle not only captures the spirit of patriotic righteousness that has drawn many men into the recruiting office, but also makes it clear that war casualties were not confined to the battlefield. There were hundreds of thousands of soldiers who would not return to their families for the next four years, leaving behind a Sarah or a Willie and Edgar who “would never see a father’s love and care.” Few, however, had the foresight or eloquence to leave a legacy as touching as that of Sullivan Ballou to his grieving family.

Sullivan Ballou was fatally wounded in the first Battle of Bull Run on July 29, 1861. He died a week after the battle.

July 14, 1861

Washington, DC

My very dear Sarah:

There are very strong signs that we’re moving in a few days – maybe tomorrow. So that I can no longer write to you, I feel compelled to write lines that you might see when I am no longer there.

Our movement can last for a few days and be full of joy – and it can be a difficult struggle and death for me. Not my will, but yours, O God, be done. When it is necessary for me to fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no doubts or lack of trust in the cause I am standing up for, and my courage persists. I know how much American civilization now relies on the triumph of government, and how much debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the revolution. And I am willing – perfectly willing – to put down all of my joys in this life, to maintain this government, and to pay off these debts.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I am laying down almost all of yours and replacing them in this life with sorrows and sorrows – if, after long years of eating the bitter fruit of the orphanage myself, I offer it to mine dear young children as the only food – is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my intention is calmly and proudly blowing in the wind, that my boundless love for you, my beloved wife and children, fights in fierce battle, though useless, vies with my love for the country.

Sarah, my love for you is immortal, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but omnipotence could break; and yet my love of home comes over me like a strong wind and carries me irresistibly to the battlefield with all these chains.

The memories of the blissful moments that I spent with you overwhelm me and I am very grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And it is difficult for me to give up on them and to burn the hopes of the next few years to ashes, if God wants us to have still lived and loved together and that our sons grew into honorable masculinity around us. I have, I know, few and small claims on Divine Providence, but something whispers to me – perhaps it is the waving prayer of my little Edgar – that I will return to my loved ones unharmed. If I don’t, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and if I miss my last breath on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many mistakes and the many pains that I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have often been! How I would love to wash out every little spot on your happiness with my tears and fight with all the unhappiness in this world to protect you and my children from harm. But I can not. I have to watch you from the ghost land and hover near you while you beat the storms with your precious little cargo and wait with sad patience until we meet so as not to part any more.

But, oh Sarah! When the dead can return to this earth and dart around their loved ones unseen, I will always be near you; in the brightest day and in the darkest night – in the midst of your happiest scenes and darkest hours – always, always; and if a gentle breeze blows on your cheek, let it be my breath; or the cool air blows your throbbing temples, it should be my ghost that passes by.

Sarah, don’t mourn me dead; I think I’m gone and wait for me, because we’ll meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow up like me and never know a father’s love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue-eyed Edgar will be one of the darkest childhood memories of my exuberance. Sarah, I have absolute confidence in your maternal care and the development of her characters. Tell my two mothers that I am calling God’s blessings on them. O Sarah, I am waiting for you there! Come to me and take my children there.

Sullivan

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FAIRFAX COUNTY, Virginia (WDVM) – An officer was hit by a car during a traffic stop on Saturday morning.

At 2:15 a.m., Fairfax County Police conducted a traffic control on Centerville Rd. and Compton Road. in Centerville when a car didn’t slow down and hit one of the cops driving by. The car is described as a black four-door sedan which is believed to be a Honda.

Sgt. Tara Gerhard of the Fairfax County Police Department says the officer was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Do you know the driver of this limousine who hit our officer? At 2:15 p.m., an officer was at a traffic stop on Centerville Rd & Compton Rd in Centerville. The driver of a black 4-door sedan, possibly a Honda, hit our policeman in the lower body. https://t.co/fqInar9vSp. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/KjtAkibda8

– Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) July 31, 2021

“When the substitute officer arrived and parked his cruiser and he got out. He went up to the other policeman to check on him and you can see that a vehicle essentially drove a policeman to the side and hit him in the lower part of his body during this traffic control, ”said Gerhard.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sully District Station at 703-814-7000.