<b>Police Nab Armed Robbery Suspects</b>
<bt> Arlington police arrested three suspects in a series of armed robberies this weekend.
The first call came to police at 10 a.m. Saturday, when a man and a woman told officers they had been robbed at gunpoint while standing in the street in the 6800 block of Lee Highway.
Another robbery was reported a short time later in the 100 block of North Quincy Street. A 38-year-old man there told police he was walking to the nearby 7-11 when someone called out to him. The man turned, and saw another man, holding a gun and demanding his wallet. The victim gave the robber all the money in his wallet, and the robber fled in a car.
Saturday afternoon, a caller told police of a suspicious vehicle parked at 26th Street South and South Grant Street, a car that fit descriptions from both robberies that morning.
A few minutes later, the car pulled alongside a 23-year-old man walking in the 1400 block of South Joyce Street, and a man in the passenger seat pulled a gun on the victim, demanding all the money in his wallet.
Police cordoned off the Crystal City area, and an officer soon spotted the car involved in the robberies heading south on Route 1. Police tried to stop the car, and the suspects fled towards Alexandria.
During the course of the pursuit the car collided with several others, continuing on before stopping after another collision in front of Potomac Yard Mall.
All the suspects fled from the vehicle towards the shopping center. Two were captured in the parking lot and a third was found in Barnes & Noble.
Police are holding the three suspects for identification. A gun was found at the scene, and the car the three men were driving, a gray 1989 Buick Century, is believed to be stolen from Prince George’s County.
No serious injuries were reported in any of the accidents. One Arlington police officer suffered a minor head injury while attempting to arrest one of the suspects.
<b>Board OKs More Market Commons</b>
<bt>Arlington County Board members approved the second phase of the Market Common project, in Clarendon, on Saturday.
Plans for Phase II call for a $10 million building on Clarendon Boulevard between North Fillmore and North Edgewood streets. The four-story building would add 149 parking spaces in a parking structure built on top of 22,753 square feet of ground-level shopping space.
The site is currently occupied by Blockbuster Video. Demolition of that building will begin this summer, and completion of the Market Common project is slated for fall, 2003.
<b>County Takes New
Look at Ballston Garage</b>
<bt>Saturday was a busy day for the parking garage at Ballston Common Mall.
County Board members gave their unanimous approval to a plan to build ice rinks and offices, a new home to the Washington Capitals, on top of the seven-story tower.
At the same time, the board approved $130,000 for a consultant’s study of the 2,950-space garage, owned by the county. The two phase plan will end up designing new traffic flow patterns for the garage, with new interior lights.
Board members also asked that the study consider ways to allow dropoffs inside the garage, allowing drivers to leave by making a single left or U-turn, without driving through the rest of the structure.
<b>Arlington to Make Columbia
Pike More Bus Friendly</b>
<bt>County Board members approved a $500,000 contract Saturday with Wilbur Smith Associates, a Falls Church company, to design and engineer a signal priority system for mass transit and emergency vehicles.
The system would let buses stay on schedule by giving late buses longer green lights, and keeping lights green for ambulances, police and fire vehicles.