The Vienna Inn has plans to celebrate National Hot Day Day on Wednesday (July 17).
Neary 60 years old, the Vienna Inn (120 E. Maple Avenue) is known for its hot dogs.
“We have many customers that have been coming in since they were kids and now, they come in with their children and even grandchildren, it’s become a rite of passage,” Owner Marty Volk said in a press release.
The restaurant will serve up $1.99 hot dogs and $2.29 chili dogs, which normally cost between $2.20-$2.60, the press release said. Diners can get their hot dogs plain or with cheese, chili, mustard or onions.
National Hot Dog Day is an annual event during National Hot Dog Month in July.
“The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council created National Hot Dog Day. The day was established in 1991 to coincide with a hot dog lunch on Capitol Hill every year on a Wednesday in July,” according to National Calendar Day.
Photo 1 via Vienna Inn/Twitter, photo 2 courtesy Vienna Inn
A massive development proposed for Tysons and the Defense Health Agency’s expansion plans in Falls Church are set to go before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors later today (Tuesday).
According to the agenda, the board will hold public hearings on the two proposals. If approved, both of the projects would come to areas of the county facing urbanization.
Proposed for Tysons’ North Central neighborhood, The Mile would transform 38 acres of office park into 10 mixed-use buildings with residential, retail, office, hotel and storage locations.
Unlike some developments recently proposed and built in Tysons, The Mile aims to add six new parks totaling more than 10 acres.
Signature Park, the largest park in the development, would encompass an entire block in the development — about 5 acres — and include retail, a performance stage, areas for games, trails and more. A dog park, linear park, recreation park and two urban parks are also planned for the development.
Over by Pine Spring Elementary School, the Defense Health Agency wants to add an L-shaped office building to its Falls Church headquarters.
The government agency oversees health care to active duty and retired U.S. military personnel and their families.
In addition to the roughly 195,000-square-foot building, the plans also include an 815-space parking garage. The new space would allow for about 600 more employees, according to county documents.
Images via Fairfax County
Runoff from construction sites reportedly caused a number of drainage issues around McLean following major flooding last Monday (July 8).
Fairfax County received several complaints last week about construction sites mentioning stormwater runoff and water and mud flooding, according to the Sites Construction Complaints Report, which shows complaints submitted in the last 30 days to Land Development Services.
“Most of the complainants who called this week seemed to think the issues were definitely caused by the heavy rains,” Hanna Kras, a Land Development Services staffer, wrote in an email obtained by Tysons Reporter.
Kras noted that inspectors’ resolutions to complaints will “give a better picture about whether or not these issues were driven by the flooding.”
“After a rain event like this, our inspectors respond to emails and phone calls about run-off and debris from construction sites that are impacting neighboring properties,” Anne Cissel, the spokeswoman for Land Development Services, told Tysons Reporter.
Cissel added that inspectors are “still catching up on filing their reports into the system.”
In a complaint last Wednesday (July 10), a woman reported that new construction in the 6500 block of Smoot Drive switched the grade from facing toward the street to facing toward her mom’s house, resulting in runoff.
Inspectors told the builder to fix a silt fence that “was breached due to Monday’s flood flush.” The inspectors were scheduled to meet with the complainant this morning.
Last Thursday (July 11), someone also complained about trash and portable toilet spill at 7006 Elizabeth Drive: “Due to recent flooding, a drainage problem has been noted. Portable toilet spill. Construction debris spill.”
In another complaint on Friday, July 12, someone reported worsening gravel and debris issues at 6500 Tucker Avenue, adding that “with the recent rain downpours, it has gotten even worse, spreading all over the roads making them hazardous in our area.”
These three complaints are still marked as “open” or “in progress” as of this afternoon.
One complaint the county closed was from last Wednesday (July 10) about a blocked drain that flooded a street and nearby yard. The inspectors found that the contractor at 1629 Wrightson Drive “had inlet protection at the storm structure… [The contractor] will remove inlet protection when expecting heavy rain.”
When asked if crews had trouble getting to the sites because of the storm damage, Cissel responded, “Kirby Road is closed and Benjamin [Street] was also impacted.”
Photo via @SteveML9022/Twitter
As Fairfax County’s new, permanent ‘LOVE’ sign nears the end of its county-wide tour, the tourist attraction recently arrived at Wolf Trap.
The sign popped up at the national park (1551 Trap Road) on Friday (July 12) and will be there until next Wednesday (July 24).
The sign and its tour are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the “Virginia is for Lovers” slogan. Since the tour launched in Tysons Corner Center in May, the sign made another Tysons-area stop: Caboose Commons in Merrifield.
After an upcoming stop at Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon, the sign will head to its permanent display at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton where artists will bedazzle the letters.
Coming to a performance between July 12 to July 24? Snap a photo with the iconic LOVE sign at the show + share the love using #WolfTrap, #LoveVA, and #ShareWhatYouLove for a chance to be featured in social media + emails + more! pic.twitter.com/sQ5QkzdDfN
— Wolf Trap (@Wolf_Trap) July 12, 2019
Photo courtesy Visit Fairfax
Fairfax County police are investigating a burglary at Iron Chef House in the Mosaic District.
“Someone broke into the business and stole cash and electronics,” according to the police report.
The incident occurred between 3-4 a.m. last Wednesday (July 10) at 2985 District Avenue.
Photo via Iron Chef House Mosaic/Facebook
Botched Bolts Behind Metro Mishap — “A Metro train pulled apart on the tracks last year because the agency was using the wrong parts, installing parts that were used incorrectly, and not checking to ensure things were done right… The 51-page report approved Thursday by the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission details a litany of failures that led up to an eight-car Silver Line train bound for D.C. coming apart outside the McLean Station on Aug. 25.” [WTOP]
New School Rules — “The new Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook, which was approved by the board on Thursday, includes more than two dozen changes meant to standardize the way discipline is handed down in the school system.” The changes go into effect this fall. [WTOP]
County Seeking Tysons Traffic Solutions — “A number of options to relieve traffic congestion around McLean and Tysons were presented at a previous community meeting. Fairfax County’s transportation department is seeking feedback on those options, and the deadline for comments has been extended to July 31.” [Patch]
Large Music Library in Falls Church Home — “A long-time local resident who is once again kicking off the Creative Cauldron’s summer cabaret series also happens to curate one of the most interesting home collections of the Tin Pan Alley era of music.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Virginia Nabs Top Spot on CNBC List — CNBC ranked Virginia #1 on its recently released “America’s Top States for Business” list. [CNBC]
Firework Sparklers Behind McLean House Fire — “The garage of a McLean home caught fire on [July 3] due to firework sparklers that were improperly disposed of.” [ABC7]
Egyptian Art Coming to Falls Church — “Falls Church Arts (FCA) is excited to be the first gallery to exhibit this unique collection of Egyptian Contemporary art by these wonderful artists from the Luxor, Alexandria, and Cairo regions of Egypt. These artworks were created over the last several weeks on papyrus especially for this exhibition, the first of its kind in the U.S.” [Falls Church News-Press]
(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) Earlier this week, the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority announced that it had poached Arlington’s top economic development official, Victor Hoskins.
Currently the head of Arlington Economic Development, Hoskins recently wooed Amazon and its HQ2 to Arlington County. Come August, he will become FCEDA’s new president and CEO — one year after its now-retired and longtime leader, Gerry Gordon, announced his plans to leave.
Tysons Reporter talked to Hoskins about how he plans to head up one of the largest economic development agencies in the country.
“I’m done in Arlington.”
Hoskins said he entered the process for the FCEDA role back in May during the agency’s second hiring search for the position.
Back in December, he told ARLnow that he planned to work for Arlington County until the office vacancy rate dropped from its then-18 percent rate to 10 or 12 percent.
With a current rate of 16.7 percent, Hoskins said that Arlington County has “nothing to worry about” with Amazon coming in. Hoskins said that the career move is coming at the right time — “Yes, I’m done in Arlington.”
“If you look at my history, I pretty much do what I need to do and move on,” he said. In the case of both his former economic development role in D.C. and his Arlington County job, Hoskins, who describes himself as a person who likes to finish projects, said that he leaves once he’s accomplished the specific challenges of a job.
New Challenges Ahead
“What I look for in a career change is a challenge,” he said. “This is a different kind of challenge. Just the size of the market is pretty amazing.”
Hoskins said he is looking forward to encouraging companies in Fairfax County to recruit and train more top workers with a talent-focused strategy.
“We already have a lot of talent residing [in Fairfax County],” he said. “We need to keep the people we have.” A part of that will include offering more opportunities to retrain employees with skills like cybersecurity coding, he added.
He also said he would like to see FCEDA get more closely involved with the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development, in addition to continuing work with the Planning Commission, Virginia Department of Transportation and other county agencies to set priorities.
Additionally, Hoskins said that the county could use more work on placemaking.
“The size of Fairfax County makes it difficult to create places — concentrated nodes of activity,” he said, which could include creating more urban villages around the Silver Line stations and making “a nexus between residential and commercial nodes.”
Another area Hoskins wants to work on is making Fairfax County more attractive to millennials.
Some ideas he has: creating places where people want to work and eat outside, offering more housing choices, making “interesting environments” and strengthening mass transportation.
Hoskins was quick to note that many of the challenges he mentioned are not unique to the county, which he praised for its global reputation and competition with places like London and Paris.
“Fairfax is amazing right now,” he said, lauding the county’s quality of life, including its public schools and parks. “Fairfax has it all. What we’re trying to do it to move it to the next level.”
Amazon’s Impact on Fairfax County
While Fairfax County lost its bid for Amazon, Hoskins said that the tech giant will impact Northern Virginia, from adding a plethora of new job opportunities to a “back and forth between employees and employers” with Amazon and local companies.
Hoskins also mentioned a recent report by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis, which estimated that roughly 33 percent of Amazon’s workforce would live in Fairfax County, while 16.4 percent would live in Arlington.
“It’s a higher percentage than [Amazon employees who] will live and work in Arlington,” Hoskins said.
On a larger scale, Hoskins said Amazon will transform Northern Virginia into a more innovative environment that will increase the private sector.
“[Amazon will bring an] innovation focus to the region where companies begin thinking differently about how they work,” he said.
Hoskins starts his new role on Aug. 5. Until then, he said he will help with the leadership transition at his current job before having two to three days off.
“Building an economy is more like solving a very complex puzzle,” he said.
Photo courtesy Fairfax County Economic Development Authority
Another McLean road requires lengthy repairs after suffering damage from Monday’s major flash flooding.
In addition to Kirby Road’s closure due to severe storm damage, Swinks Mill Road by Scott’s Run is also closed, Jennifer McCord, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, told Tysons Reporter.
“We are making plans for permanent repairs at all locations that will likely take at least several weeks,” McCord said.
The two roads are the only remaining ones closed in Fairfax County for long-term repairs, McCord said.
“Crews worked around the clock on cleanup this week, clearing debris, assessing damages and making temporary repairs to reopen roads, and continued to respond to heavy rains received yesterday evening,” McCord said.
Flood Update: All roads have reopened except Swinks Mill, Kirby & Princedale (long-term closures). Reopened roads may be a little rough, so pls use caution. Crews continue to assess damage & work on repairs. Report damage at https://t.co/12wxgee8pi or 800-FOR-ROAD. Thanks! pic.twitter.com/UBlvuum9NT
— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) July 12, 2019
Photos courtesy @jase700/Twitter, map via Google Maps
Vienna police arrested a 29-year-old man who allegedly hit a boy at Foster’s Grille.
The incident occurred at noon on Sunday (July 7) at the restaurant’s Vienna location (138 W. Maple Avenue).
From the police report:
A citizen was in Foster’s Grill with her juvenile son. A man was seated at the bar, randomly yelling and making the other customers uncomfortable. At one point, the man got up, went behind the juvenile, and struck him on the back. The man then left the restaurant.
Officers located the man in the area and found him to be incoherent. The man became irate with the officers, and it was determined that he may be a danger to himself or others.
Police arrested the man, who is a resident of Cornflower Court in Vienna, on an Emergency Custody Order and took him to a nearby medical facility for an evaluation.
Police told the mom about the warrant process if she wants to pursue charges against the man for misdemeanor assault on her son.
Around 12:40 p.m. while police were investigating the alleged assault, a different man came up to the boy and asked about the police activity, according to the report.
“The man was advised by officers to continue on his way,” police said, adding that the man walked through the middle of the investigation. “At one point, the man approached the juvenile and made a statement that concerned the juvenile.”
Police said that the man eventually left the area.
In a separate incident, Vienna police are looking for the man who allegedly exposed himself in Patrick Henry Library last month.
The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. on June 27. Police said a woman reported that “she was in the library when an unknown man exposed himself in front of her.”
The man then left the library (101 E. Maple Avenue), and police were not able to find him, according to the police report.
Photo via Facebook
(Updated at 10:50 a.m.) A fallen tree briefly closed Georgetown Pike in McLean this morning.
The Fairfax County Police Department tweeted at 10:33 a.m. about the closure, which was on Georgetown Pike between Boyle Lane and Potomac River Road.
Then at 10:48 a.m., police tweeted that Georgetown Pike had reopened.
UPDATE: Georgetown Pike is now open.https://t.co/ZDlZEc1Rxl
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) July 12, 2019
Photo via FCPD/Twitter, map via Google Maps
