Introducing Arlington Patch

Say hello to Arlington Patch — a rebranding of our former Ballston-Virginia Square site that reflects our commitment to comprehensive coverage of the news that matters most to people who live, work and play in Arlington County.

The name changed Thursday afternoon. 

Arlington is clearly a very connected place. While individual neighborhoods have their own identity, each part working in harmony is what makes this a complete community.

People in North Arlington may bike to Crystal City. Friends may work together in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and have a night out in Shirlington. And everyone, it seems, has an opinion on the future of Columbia Pike, .

An Arlington Patch is the perfect umbrella to cover all of those areas, and it gives Clarendon-Courthouse Patch more room to create its own identity in the heart of Arlington's original downtown.

Patch is growing. Thursday also saw the birth of Tysons Corner Patch. Next month, we'll launch a Patch for Alexandria's West End. 

Creating a central Arlington site puts us in the position we need to be in as we look toward 2013 and beyond. It gives our readers a single place to find all of their Arlington news, events and community announcements. It gives our advertisers a vehicle to reach beyond the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. And the new name is more inclusive for people who may not be familiar with Patch. We certainly met a lot of them this month , and hundreds of them signed up for our free morning newsletter.

So, drop us a line and let us know what you think. If you'd like to blog for Patch, click the button on our home page or drop me a line at jason.spencer@patch.com. We're particularly interested in recruiting bloggers from Shirlington, Crystal City, Columbia Pike and several North Arlington neighborhoods.

Arlington County wouldn't be the great place it is today if not for the contributions of each individual neighborhood.

Now, we are better able to shine a spotlight on those neighborhoods and provide a daily record of the parts that make up the whole.

Jason Spencer

Editor, Arlington Patch