26 Square Miles - An Arlington Podcast

Mike Cordero is one of the most prolific restaurateurs in Arlington. He's the man behind local hotspots like Don Tito, The G.O.A.T., Barley Mac and soon -- The Bronson and Taco Rock. Also, you might have seen him cruising the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in his Bentley. We talked with Cordero about his background, the success of his restaurants, the partnerships that helped build that success, and his new concepts.

On his last day on the job, we sat down with outgoing ARLnow managing editor Alex Koma to talk about Arlington, Amazon, ARLnow, our new editor Airey and a bunch of other topics that don't start with "A."

As editor-in-chief of the Washington Business Journal, Doug Fruehling has been overseeing coverage of Amazon's forthcoming HQ2 in Arlington. On the latest 26 Square Miles podcast, Fruehling discusses the ramifications of Amazon coming to "National Landing" and how the subscription-based Business Journal has managed to expand its coverage in the face of news industry struggles.

The state legislature is now in session and among those representing Arlington in Richmond is Del. Patrick Hope (D). In an interview over the phone from his office at the state capital, Hope discussed his decision to refuse donations from Dominion, the state incentives offered to Amazon, his bill to limit solitary confinement in state prisons, why the effort to rename Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington is stalled, and more. And, at the end, Hope surprised us with a very candid answer to the question of whether he's running for reelection this year.

Amazon's arrival in Arlington has been hailed as a massive boon for the county and the Commonwealth of Virginia. But are the incentives offered to the company worth the economic development benefits it promises to bring? We discussed Amazon and the HQ2 process with Michael Farren, a researcher at GMU's Mercatus Center who studies the effects of government favoritism toward particular businesses.

Facebook has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons, so we checked in with Justin Bensan, Social Communications Specialist at the Rosslyn Business Improvement District, to talk about what's going on in the world of social media. This episode was recorded prior to Amazon's HQ2 announcement, but we asked Justin about what it means for a place like Rosslyn nonetheless.

Local nightlife king Scott Parker is branching into fitness, launching BASH Boxing with fitness instructor and manager Alex Trakas. We asked Parker and Trakas about their new venture and also talked with Scott about the state of the local bar scene and about that time the Washington Capitals brought the Stanley Cup to Don Tito.

ARLnow's Scott Brodbeck moderated a Oct. 10 debate between the two contenders for County Board: independent incumbent John Vihstadt and Democratic challenger Matt de Ferranti. The event was hosted by Arlington's Committee of 100.

The D.C. Metrorail system has been "rebuilding" for years and now has a dedicated stream of funding. On top of that, its general manager just received a big vote of confidence from the Metro board: a new contract and a sizable raise. So why does Metro still kind of suck? On today's 26 Square Miles podcast we talked with the semi-anonymous creator of Unsuck DC Metro, a blog and Twitter account that is perhaps Metro's biggest and most vocal critic. We talked about Paul Wiedefeld's new contract, his adversarial relationship with Metro's main union, the system's new railcars and more -- and tried to arrive at an explanation for why Metro is in its current state.

Justin Tirelli is currently an Arlington County Fire Department captain, but 17 years ago he was a rookie firefighter in the ACFD ranks. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Tirelli was responding to a fire call in Rosslyn when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the west side of the Pentagon. As his engine company was diverted to join the massive and heroic emergency response to the terror attack, Tirelli and his fellow firefighters focused on the task at hand -- not realizing that it would change them and the community they served forever. In this special episode of the 26 Square Miles podcast, we talked with Tirelli about what it was like to be a first responder at the Pentagon on that fateful day.

For more than two decades, Jim Pebley worked to make Arlington a better place. Pebley is now retired and last year moved to a more leisurely locale in North Carolina, but not before receiving plenty of plaudits from across the Arlington civic and political spectrum. We decided to check in with Jim, see how he's doing and get his take on the current state of the county. We covered everything from the safety of Reagan National Airport, the cost of school construction, the potential of Amazon's HQ2 in Arlington and why he decided to decamp for elsewhere.

Matt de Ferranti, the Democratic nominee challenging John Vihstadt for a spot on the County Board this fall, discusses his vision for Arlington's economy, his view on the potential fallout from Amazon's arrival, the politics behind the 2018 race and more.

Political strategist Ben Tribbett joined us on this week's podcast to talk about local, state and national politics -- and a bit of sports betting.

Arlington's economic outlook is "so bright you need to wear shades," says Terry Clower, an expert on the D.C. region over at George Mason University.

Anna Merod's time as a spring intern at ARLnow is almost up, but before she leaves, she stopped by for a podcast conversation with reporter Alex Koma. Topics included some of Anna's favorite stories, like an analysis of racial disparities in suspensions in Arlington Public Schools and in-depth look at why millenials struggle to buy homes in Arlington, and what she's learned in her time growing up in and covering the county.

Plenty of big changes are on the way for Ballston, and Business Improvement District CEO Tina Leone has a front seat to all the latest developments. Join Leone and ARLnow's Alex Koma for a conversation about the future of the Ballston Quarter development, the shifting landscape of the neighborhood's transportation needs and much more.  

Join ARLnow assistant managing editor Bridget Reed Morawski and Arlington's own Virginia teacher of the year, Michelle Cottrell-Williams, as the two talk about world language reductions, the one-to-one technology program, and guns in schools.    

Frank O'Leary served as Treasurer of Arlington County for more than three decades and has seen it all. During his time in office, O'Leary brought the tax delinquency rate down from 9 percent to less than 1 percent, but somehow managed to win friends in the process. O'Leary, 74, is retired but still avidly follows and offers predictions about about Arlington elections. We talked to him about his time in office, whether names like Jefferson Davis Highway and Washington-Lee High School need to change, his predictions for the upcoming November elections, and why restaurants are among the hardest businesses from which to collect taxes, among other topics.

Bridget Reed Morawski joined ARLnow as our new assistant managing editor earlier this month. Morawski and ARLnow editor-in-chief Scott Brodbeck had a free-wheeling discussion about Arlington, the website and what's next for both.

On this week's 26 Square Miles podcast, Arlington Economic Development director Victor Hoskins discussed the county's amazon bid, the office vacancy rate and more.