After enduring months of construction, Vienna residents and town officials officially welcomed the Cedar Park Shopping Center back to the neighborhood with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a Shop and Stroll event on Saturday (Nov. 14).
Located at the corner of Park Street and Cedar Lane, the 75,472 square-foot shopping center has been transformed by an extensive renovation that introduced new façades for the buildings and a reconfigured parking lot.
“Cedar Park was thoughtfully redesigned with the community in mind and now better reflects the Town of Vienna, which is known for its rich history and small-town culture,” First Washington Reality senior vice president and national director of leasing Wright Sigmund said.
First Washington Realty has owned the Cedar Park Shopping Center for the past 13 years, and much of that time had been spent in conversations about how to update the property, according to CEO Alex Nyhan.
Work on a revitalization began in earnest about five years ago with the goal of creating a more contemporary, welcoming environment for both visitors and tenants. JL Architects designed the new look, which includes new signage and outdoor benches.
However, the most substantial undertaking of the multimillion-dollar renovation project was the parking lot redesign.
In addition to sporting a repaved surface and additional crosswalks, the lot has been reoriented to run parallel to the storefronts, instead of perpendicular, making it safer, more accessible, and easier to navigate.
Nyhan admits that revamping the parking lot was a challenge, but the effort was worthwhile to attract new tenants while retaining longtime Cedar Park occupants like Dollar Tree, McDonalds, and Hunan Delight.
“We’ve had some wonderful merchants with us here at this center for a long time,” Nyhan said. “…In the end, our ability to create this community gathering place has everything to do with the merchants and their ability to invest in their people and their stores and deliver wonderful services to this community.”
Still anchored by CVS Pharmacy, Cedar Park Shopping Center added three new tenants while it was undergoing construction, which started on Jan. 25 and finished on Oct. 15:
- El Sol Restaurant & Tequileria, which specializes in traditional Mexican street food and has a mezcal bar
- Simply Social Coffee, a café with locally roasted, gourmet coffee and comfort foods, including salads, sandwiches, and breakfast food
- Born 2 Dance, a dance studio whose headquarters were previously located on Maple Avenue
Cedar Park’s relaunch comes at a critical time for the center’s businesses after the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the challenges of operating during a construction project that closed off foot traffic. Read More
Vienna resident Varun Srivastav, 23, has been identified as the victim in a shooting that took place at the Sharpshooters Range in Lorton last week, Fairfax County police reported today (Tuesday).
Police officers responded to a shooting report at 8194M Terminal Road in Lorton at 8:51 p.m. on Nov. 11 and found two adult men who had both sustained gunshot wounds to their upper bodies.
Both men were transported to the hospital, where Srivastav succumbed to his injuries on Nov. 13. The Fairfax County Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide on Monday morning after conducting an autopsy.
The Fairfax County Police Department says that detectives have determined that the suspected shooter was Srivastav’s father, 63-year-old Ajay Srivastav, also of Vienna, alleging that he shot his son inside a car before shooting himself.
“Due to Ajay being released from the hospital prior to Varun’s death, he was charged with aggravated malicious wounding and firearm use in the commission of a felony,” the FCPD said today. “Detectives anticipate Ajay’s charges will be amended to reflect Varun’s passing.”
Detectives charge father following domestic-related shooting https://t.co/8XMRYS4emf #FCPD #FairfaxCounty pic.twitter.com/vWKVEB4bmu
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) November 17, 2020
Ajay Srivastav is currently being detained without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
The investigation remains active as detectives are still examining evidence and interviewing witnesses.
The incident at Sharpshooters Range was one of three shootings in Fairfax County that occurred within 36 hours last week.
Police also responded to a shooting at a Motel 6 in Springfield on Nov. 10 and a shooting that was reported in Burke at 11:45 a.m. on Nov. 11. In the latter case, a 17-year-old boy was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries after suffering an apparent gunshot wound to the upper body.
There have been 13 homicides in Fairfax County this year, according to the FCPD.
“I am deeply appreciate of all [our detectives] have done on each of these important cases and the others they are assigned,” FCPD Major Crimes Bureau Commander Major Ed O’Carroll said. “The women and men of the Fairfax County Police Department work tirelessly to safeguard our community against any act of violence as we recognize how detrimental they are to the stability of our community.”
Falls Church City Public Schools will revert to online-only classes for the shortened week leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, FCCPS Superintendent Peter Noonan announced on Monday (Nov. 16).
Students already attending in-person classes at Mount Daniel Elementary School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School will continue doing so, but the one day of in-person learning that had been scheduled for next week will instead be virtual for all students.
Athletics and other activities at Henderson Middle School and George Mason High School have been suspended for the week of Nov. 23 to 27, which was already truncated since Thanksgiving is on Nov. 26. FCCPS will also not provide daycare in any of its buildings that week.
“Today’s data we received from the Virginia Department of Health and Fairfax County Health District is not moving in a good direction,” Noonan said in a letter to families. “While we remain in the moderate category overall, we are continuing to see a rise in the NOVA region data and our home community.”
The five-school system joins its much larger Fairfax County counterpart in reevaluating its plans to provide in-person classes for students after seeing a steady rise in COVID-19 case rates both locally and statewide.
The City of Falls Church has not reported any new COVID-19 cases since it saw four on Nov. 11, but school officials are concerned by trends in Northern Virginia, including an average 7.6% test positivity rate across the region’s four health districts and a rate of 17.6 new cases per 100,000 people as of Nov. 16.
After closing its campuses on Mar. 13 when the novel coronavirus pandemic first hit the area, FCCPS has been phasing groups of students into a hybrid learning model with in-person and virtual instruction since approximately 80 special education and English-language-learning students returned on Oct. 6.
Kindergarten and third-grade students started hybrid learning on Nov. 10. Plans to start in-person classes for elementary school students in first, second, fourth, and fifth grades today were not affected by Noonan’s announcement about Thanksgiving week.
Unlike Fairfax County Public Schools, which reported its first outbreaks last week, FCCPS has not seen any outbreaks since starting in-person instruction, but as of Nov. 16, two staff members and one contractor have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the FCCPS COVID metrics dashboard.
Noonan says the city school system is currently planning to resume hybrid learning after the Thanksgiving break. He urged community members to follow public health guidelines, including avoiding travel unless absolutely necessary and limiting celebrations to household members.
“This temporary pause is vital for our collective school community,” Noonan said. “It provides time and space to ‘hunker down’ and stay in our family configurations to slow and stop the spread of COVID…If we all do our part, we will be able to continue to ‘dial-up’ and reopen schools.”
Photo via FCCPS/Facebook
ID.me will hire 1,000 new workers in Northern Virginia over the next year, the McLean-based identity verification provider announced this morning.
With many workplaces going virtual this year amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, ID.me has experienced significant growth that has enabled it to hire over 300 new employees and open two new office locations in Tysons since the start of 2020, according to a press release.
“Since the onset of the pandemic, ID.me has experienced explosive growth as consumers have shifted the majority of their shopping, banking, healthcare, and government interactions online due to social distancing protocols,” the company said.
While ID.me’s offices are currently closed except to essential workers, the company plans to expand its workforce through the end of 2021 with openings in its engineering, sales and marketing, and customer support departments.
Originally a military-focused startup called TroopSwap, ID.me launched in 2013 as an online network designed to let people more easily and securely share and authenticate their identity.
In addition to serving individuals and businesses, the company’s clients include federal and state government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the Treasury Department and the Social Security Administration, according to ID.me public relations and communications manager Nicholas Michael.
ID.me opened two new offices in Tysons earlier this year to accommodate a larger workforce.
All employees are given “generous” benefits that include sponsored healthcare plans, unlimited paid time off, and three months of parental leave. ID.me also allows employees to participate in its stock option plan, the company says.
“We are looking for candidates that are not only passionate about technology but are motivated to help make billions of people’s lives better with more trust and convenience online,” ID.me founder and CEO Blake Hall said.
Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash
Fairfax County Public Schools will no longer bring additional students back into the classroom this week for in-person learning, FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand announced today (Monday).
6,800 kindergarten, preschool, and special education students had been set to resume in-person instruction tomorrow under the timeline that FCPS established with its Return to School plan, which gives students the option to remain virtual or to enter a hybrid model that combines in-person and virtual learning.
However, the Virginia Department of Health reported today that Fairfax County has recorded 211.2 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people within the past 14 days, exceeding the 200-case threshold that FCPS set as a metric for determining whether a new group of students can begin in-person instruction.
At 7.4%, Fairfax County’s current seven-day positivity rate for PCR-RT tests remains below the 8% limit required by FCPS to start in-person instruction.
The students who were scheduled to go back into the classroom on Nov. 17 will now remain all virtual until at least Nov. 30, and all new concurrent learning pilot programs that were supposed to start then have been put on hold.
“We made this decision as soon as new health metrics were released and are communicating it to you immediately as promised,” Brabrand said in a letter to the FCPS community. “We always anticipated the need to potentially adjust our return to school plans as necessary during this ongoing pandemic.”
The 8,000-plus students that have already returned to physical classrooms since students started getting phased in on Oct. 5 will continue with hybrid learning, though that could change in the future if COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the county.
The Fairfax County Federation of Teachers called FCPS’s decision to pause its return-to-school plans “a good step in the right direction” but expressed concern that the school system has moved the possible resumption date to Nov. 30, immediately after the Thanksgiving holidays.
“Experts have said this period will be a hot bed for new cases because of expected small group gatherings,” FCFT President Tina Williams said. “We need real metrics from FCPS. We urge FCPS to transition all students and staff to virtual learning immediately until there is controlled community spread of COVID-19.”
The Fairfax Education Association joined other teachers’ unions in Northern Virginia for a press conference this morning to urge Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to dial the entire Commonwealth back to Phase Two of his reopening strategy and recommend that public schools return to virtual learning.
Northam tightened restrictions on social gatherings, mask-wearing, and alcohol service in restaurants starting Nov. 15, but educational settings were explicitly exempted from the new 25-person limit on gatherings.
FEA President Kimberly Adams says the union was “very happy” to see FCPS pause its return-to-school plans in accordance with its established metrics, but the association will continue pushing for Virginia to issue stronger restrictions and provide additional support for school districts that return to all-virtual learning.
Adams says the FEA is still hearing from staff members who say they have not received the personal protective equipment that they need to work in-person, but district-level administrators have stepped in to address many concerns, including ensuring that face shields are available at a school where the principal had initially declined to provide them.
Of the 214 COVID-19 cases that FCPS has recorded since Sept. 8 based on self-reporting, 177 of the people infected have been employees.
“Educators want to be with their students,” Adams said. “Right now, they’re very torn between wanting to be there for their kids but having to protect their own health and that of their families. This unfortunately is setting us up for a clash between those two feelings.”
Fairfax County recorded a massive jump of 400 COVID-19 cases today (Monday), up from 174 yesterday, due to a backlog in data reporting on the part of the Virginia Department of Health.
The Fairfax Health District added 1,366 cases over the past week for a seven-day average of 195.1 cases, the highest rate since the district saw an average of 197.7 cases over seven days on June 8.
Fairfax County also reported three deaths from COVID-19 over the past week, raising the county’s death toll to 625 people. The county has now reported 27,095 total cases, and 2,440 people have been hospitalized since the Fairfax Health District identified its first presumptive positive case in early March.
The Fairfax Health District currently has a total testing positivity rate of 8.3% out of 392,064 testing encounters, according to the VDH.
Because of the data reporting backlog, the 2,677 cases that the VDH reported today statewide are the most that Virginia has recorded in a single day at any point during the pandemic.
While Virginia’s COVID-19 infection rate remains one of the lowest in the U.S., the clear upward trend in cases that the state has seen over the past 90 days led Gov. Ralph Northam to tighten restrictions on social gatherings and businesses in an effort to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“While cases are not rising in Virginia as rapidly as in some other states, I do not intend to wait until they are,” Northam said when announcing the new measures on Nov. 13. “We are acting now to prevent this health crisis from getting worse.”
Effective as of midnight on Sunday (Nov. 15), the cap on public and private in-person gatherings has dropped from 250 people to 25. The revised executive order defines gatherings as indoor and outdoor parties, celebrations, and other social events, but the limit does not apply to educational settings.
Religious services can also have more than 25 people in attendance if they adhere to health and social distancing protocols, including having at least six feet of separation between individuals and practicing routine cleaning and disinfection of frequently-contacted surfaces.
A mask mandate requiring all individuals 10 and older to wear face coverings in indoor public settings that has been in place since May 29 has been expanded to include all individuals aged 5 and over.
Northam has also prohibited the on-site sale, consumption, and possession of alcohol after 10 p.m. in any restaurant, bar, or other food and beverage service establishment.
Finally, violations of social distancing, mask-wearing, and cleaning guidelines by essential retail businesses, including grocery stores and pharmacies, are now punishable by the state health department as Class One misdemeanors.
Photo via Governor of Virginia/Facebook, Virginia Department of Health
Like many other winter traditions, the Town of Vienna’s annual holiday decorating contest is going to look a little different this year.
Ordinarily, the competition involves local businesses vying to have the most impressive holiday-themed window display, but this year, the town has decided to let residents participate as well.
“I think it’s neat that we’re also doing it for our residents this year,” Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert said. “I think this is a time when everybody needs just some fun things to do that are low-risk activities.”
The town announced on Nov. 13 that the theme for this year’s contest is “Light up Vienna.”
This will be the fourth iteration of the decorating contest since the Vienna Town Business Liaison Committee started organizing them in 2017 as a means of drawing attention to local businesses and encouraging people to do their holiday shopping in the town.
Both businesses and residents must be located within the Town of Vienna’s limits to be eligible for the contest, and decorations have to be visible from the street or sidewalk, though they “may be as simple or elaborate as desired,” according to a town press release.
The contest will kick off on Dec. 1 with a deadline of midnight on Dec. 16 for residents to vote in the “People’s Choice” awards for their favorite displays.
Businesses will receive first, second, and third-place awards, while the awards for residential applicants will be given in separate categories for single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and apartment patios.
Interested residents and businesses can register at viennava.gov/holiday. Participants must finish their decorations and submit photos of their displays to Vienna special events coordinator Lily Widman at [email protected] by Dec. 7.
The Town of Vienna will announce the award winners on social media on Dec. 17.
Like former Mayor Laurie DiRocco did in previous years, Colbert will spend an hour helping the winning business as a guest employee during the holiday season. She will also present gift card prizes from local businesses to the residential winners.
To ensure people get a chance to see all the competing displays, the Town of Vienna will release a “porch parade” route on its website and through social media on Dec. 8 that features all of the participating businesses and residences.
Colbert says the holiday decorating contest has been well-received in the past by businesses that appreciate the support and by residents who enjoy the festive atmosphere that it creates.
“It just really brightens our town, makes it cheerier,” Colbert said. “The businesses go to a lot of effort, and I think it will help them also this holiday season.”
Photo courtesy Town of Vienna
Public Can Vote to Name National Zoo’s Giant Panda Cub — “The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is asking the public to help name the male giant panda cub, now 9.2 pounds of adorable, at the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat.” [Smithsonian’s National Zoo]
Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Rules Cash Bond Unconstitutional — “The opinion is not binding and only speaks to the facts of the case in which it was issued, but could be read as a message to lower court judges in Fairfax to reconsider how and when they use bonds.” [Inside Nova/Virginia Mercury]
I-66 Overnight Lane Closures to Continue through Nov. 19 — “Overnight lane closures on I-66 East and West approaching Gallows Road are scheduled to continue next week during the overnight hours Monday, November 16, through Thursday, November 19, for overhead bridge work at the new Gallows Road Bridge over I-66. Work is part of the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway Project.” [VDOT]
Vehicle Crash Closes Hunter Mill near Lawyers in Vienna on Nov. 14 — “Two people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.” [Fairfax County Police Department/Twitter]
GDIT Sells Falls Church Headquarters for $90 Million — “The building is 100% leased ‘on a long-term basis,’ serving as the global headquarters of GDIT, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reston-based federal contracting mammoth General Dynamics Corp.” [Washington Business Journal]
Image via Smithsonian National Zoo
A man from Falls Church was killed in a car crash in the City of Richmond early this morning, Virginia State Police reported on Friday (Nov. 13).
Muhammad Kahn, 22, was struck by a 2005 Volvo S80 traveling north on Interstate 95. He was in the center lane at the 75-mile marker and died at the scene.
Virginia State Police responded to the crash at approximately 12:27 a.m. Identified by police as a 35-year-old man, the Volvo driver was wearing a seatbelt and did not report any injuries.
“Speed is not being considered a factor in the crash,” VSP Richmond public information officer Sgt. Dylan Davenport said in an email.
Fairfax County Public Schools administrators reaffirmed their commitment to bringing more students back for in-person learning during a Fairfax County School Board work session last night (Thursday), despite increasing levels of COVID-19 transmission in Northern Virginia.
After introducing more than 8,000 students to hybrid learning – which consists of two days of in-person instruction and two days of virtual instruction – over the past month, FCPS is preparing to welcome an additional 6,800 students back into classrooms on Nov. 17, Superintendent Scott Brabrand told the school board.
Under a newly revised timeline, another cohort of approximately 13,500 students, including first and second-graders as well as students with disabilities, will start hybrid learning on Dec. 8, a week later than previously proposed.
Students in grades three to six will now be phased in on Jan. 12 instead of Jan. 4. Middle and high school students are still scheduled to return on Jan. 26.
“As we make preparations for additional students and staff to return, we are very mindful of the national, state, and local COVID trends,” Brabrand said. “COVID remains a fluid situation, and I want to emphasize these are my recommendations as of today, this evening.”
For now, FCPS will forge ahead with its Return to School plan even as COVID-19 cases rise in Fairfax County at a rate not seen since early June and the public school system reports its first outbreaks of the pandemic.
According to FCPS, Justice High School in Falls Church and Woodson High School in Fairfax had outbreaks on Nov. 10 that involved staff members, but no students. An outbreak is defined as more than two cases of COVID-19 that are epidemiologically linked.
FCPS sent out letters reporting the outbreaks to the affected school communities and is working with the Fairfax County Health Department to support its contact tracing investigations.
“Those outbreaks are concerning to us, and we take that seriously,” FCPS Department of Special Services Assistant Superintendent Michelle Boyd said. “We’re following up on what may have contributed to the transmission in our schools.”
As of this morning, FCPS has recorded 192 COVID-19 cases since Sept. 8, including 28 cases involving students, though the vast majority of infected individuals have been employees. 40 cases have been reported just this week starting on Nov. 8.
The unions that represent FCPS educators have argued that the school system should halt its plans for bringing in more students. Read More
