The Fairfax County Police Department is looking to keep pace with Tysons’ rapid urbanization with completely different service from the rest of the county.
Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. talked to Tysons Reporter about the new, urban-style police station and service model he hopes to bring to Tysons in the future.
“It’s going to be different from all of the other stations,” he said. “In Fairfax right now it’s isolated. It’s got gates. It’s got cars.”
Roessler said that the station will be “very small” and that the officers will be trained for flexible policing styles that include: rail, retail, nightlife, vertical in high risers, bike and foot patrol.
“I envision it as that old school, early 1900s police station where it’s just part of the environment,” he said. “You see a small police station — it’s part of the fabric of the community.”
While the police department considered Segways for Tysons earlier this year, Roessler said that the pilot program showed they were “too clunky to work right now.”
Roessler started thinking about adding a Tysons station back in 2003 when he was a patrol major working with the county’s zoning staff on a strategic staffing plan.
He said that he helped to put together a team that traveled to Boston, Chicago, New York City and San Diego to find out how their police stations handled rapid urbanization in the 1890s-1920s. The takeaway: police departments need to plan ahead of time to make sure they have the personnel and equipment in order to avoid making quick changes to respond to a tragedy.
Working with the county’s zoning staff is a “really crucial piece” as the process for a Tysons station continues, he said.
For the last few years, Roessler said that he’s been working with different county agencies to get a land purchase or proffer for a Tysons police station — even if it’s just two floors in a mixed-use development.
“We’ve come close several times to getting a proffer in a mixed-use facility to have that urban station, but we continue to work on finding an area that would be conducive to a police station there,” he said.
Currently, nine full-time officers are assigned to the Tysons urban community — a number Roessler said he’d like to boost in the five-year staffing plan, which would also hopefully address the police department’s understaffing issue.
Tysons, Reston and Merrifield are the urban centers where Roessler plans to switch from “this 1940s-style of one person per patrol car” to a range of policing styles.
“We have to patrol like in Tysons, Reston in pairs because we have to go up 30 plus floors and it’s not fair for the community for one patrol officer ti come and wait for the other one,” he said. “It expands the response time.”
A new Lorton station within the next two years is part of larger redistricting effort that will shrink police district stations’ response areas countywide.
With tighter boundaries and the same amount of personnel, Roessler said that policing will become more efficient and engage in the community within smaller geographic areas, which will lead to detecting more crime. The police department will then need more support personnel for more cases, he said.
After the Lorton facility opens, Fairfax County Police Department will hold community meetings across the county about redistricting each district station to ensure a continuity of service, he said.
“I hope within five years we’re going to have a date inked in where we can have another station,” he said.
Metro recently closed several stations on the Blue and Yellow lines south of Ronald Reagan National Airport for platform reconstruction that will last until September.
The temporary shutdown is a part of Metro’s plan to reconstruct its 20 outdoor concrete platforms.
Ahead of the closures, Metro got the word out about Metrobuses, free shuttles and other bus options — like the Fairfax Connector — for affected riders. (The 494 Fairfax Connector runs from Lorton to Tysons, passing through Springfield.)
Tysons Partnership has information about carpools and vanpools, which travel for free in express lanes.
From social media and news reports, the transition has caused commuting headaches for some people — from getting stuck in traffic to bus drivers getting lost to stranded riders. Others have reported few or no issues with alternative transportation.
Let us know below if the Metro shutdown will affect you during the summer.
Fairfax County police officers decided to chip in to buy a new car seat for a Merrifield mom after she was in a car crash.
It all started when Officer E.J. Green from the McLean District Station stopped to make sure everyone in a two-car crash in Merrifield on Sunday (May 26) was all right.
No one was hurt, although one of the cars needed to be towed. Its driver — a mom who lives in Merrifield — decided to walk home.
“Green offered to take her child’s car seat to her so she wouldn’t have to carry it, but quickly noticed that the car seat was old and in rough shape,” the Fairfax County Police Department wrote in a Facebook post.
Green then talked to the rest of the McLean daywork — the A squad — about how the car seat wouldn’t protect the child, and they all decided to pool their money to buy a new car seat for the mom.
Green and Officer Brian Hungarter surprised the mom and her daughter with the new car seat about an hour and a half later at 1:30 p.m., a spokesperson for the police department told Tysons Reporter.
“The woman was grateful, calling the officers’ actions sweet, kind and unexpected,” the police department wrote on Facebook. “We applaud these officers for making a positive difference in the lives of our community members!”
Photo via Facebook
A Vienna high school student is hosting a fashion show in Tysons Corner Center tomorrow (Friday) night to fundraise for a local nonprofit.
Kaela G., a freshman at James Madison High School, is the event coordinator for the fashion show at Lord and Taylor (7950 Tyson’s Corner Center).
Here is the fashion show’s event description:
Wondering what the hot summer vacation trends are? Can’t decide what to wear for that perfect date? Come see the Madison HS basketball players model the latest fashions and hear what a local nonprofit, Second Story, is doing in our community for at-risk teens.
The night will include models, DJ Squirrel, Raffles, Refreshments, and a private shopping event. All purchases made the night of the event will receive 15% off Cosmetics, and 30% off all other merchandise.
General admission is $20 and VIP admission, which includes preferred seating and automatic entry into a raffle for a skincare and cosmetic gift basket worth $200, is $40.
All ticket sales will get donated to the Second Story, a local nonprofit that provides safe havens for kids and their families.
People who can’t attend the event but still want to donate can purchase a donation ticket.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The fashion show runs from 7-9 p.m.
Updated at 2:50 p.m. — NWS has a Severe Thunderstorm Warning in effect for Fairfax County until 3:15 p.m.
More from NWS:
…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 315 PM EDT FOR SOUTHEASTERN LOUDOUN…FAIRFAX…NORTH CENTRAL FAUQUIER…AND NORTHWESTERN PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTIES…THE CITY OF FAIRFAX…THE CITY OF MANASSAS PARK AND THE NORTHEASTERN CITY OF ANASSAS…
At 244 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Haymarket, or near South Riding, moving east at 40 mph.
HAZARD…60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE…Radar indicated.
IMPACT…Damaging winds will cause some trees and large branches to fall. This could injure those outdoors, as well as damage homes and vehicles. Roadways may become blocked by downed trees. Localized power outages are possible. Unsecured light objects may become projectiles.
Earlier: A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for Fairfax County.
The watch is in effect until 9 p.m. today (Thursday) and also covers several surrounding localities across Northern Virginia, D.C. and Maryland.
NWS tweeted out the watch at 1:58 p.m., saying that a tornado is possible, along with isolated, ping-pong sized hail and scattered winds up to 65 miles per hour.
MT @NWS_BaltWash: Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Centreville VA, Reston VA, Burke VA until 3:15 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/FwqBfQf3MH
— Fairfax County Government 🇺🇸 (@fairfaxcounty) May 30, 2019
2:13 pm: Severe thunderstorm watch is up for the area until 9 pm. Storms gathering strength west, moving into and through western suburbs in the hour or two ahead. https://t.co/veX4ig5glw pic.twitter.com/VT0zC0DDDF
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) May 30, 2019
Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 9pm for the majority of the DC Metro. Damaging winds are most likely in storms this afternoon and evening, isolated hail is possible along with an isolated tornado. pic.twitter.com/Ki28tgmOYR
— Alex Liggitt (@AlexLiggittWX) May 30, 2019
File photo
With the primary less than two weeks away, the Democratic candidates running to chair the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will debate in McLean tonight (May 30).
The Democratic candidates are Reston developer Timothy Chapman, Fairfax County School Board Member At-Large Ryan McElveen, Lee District Supervisor Jeffrey McKay and Georgetown Law Professor Alicia Edith Plerhoples.
Peggy Fox, an Emmy-winning reporter for WUSA9, will moderate the debate.
Hosted by the Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce, the debate is free to attend. It runs from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue).
The Democratic primary is June 11 and the upcoming election for the county’s Board of Supervisors will take place on Nov. 5.
Co-working area Spaces is coming to The Boro development later this year, adding to its growing D.C.-area presence.
The Meridian Group, the developers behind The Boro, announced the newcomer today (May 30).
“Spaces specializes in building creative workspaces, and The Loft will be a perfect home for this dynamic company,” Tom Boylan, the senior vice president of The Meridian Group, said in a press release.
Spaces will occupy the fourth and fifth floors in The Loft (1640 Boro Place), an industrial-style, five-story-tall building with three floors of office space and two stories of retail. The co-working company is leasing about 50,000 square feet — 66 percent of the office space in The Loft, according to the press release.
Spaces is a coworking brand that provides flexible workspaces under the parent company IWG, which has more than 50 U.S. locations. Michael Beretta, the vice president on network development for IWG, said that Spaces plans to double its number of locations this year.
“The entire DC metro area has seen a meteoric rise in startups looking to call this area home base,” Beretta said in the press release. “As a result, we’ve seen an increase in demand from businesses of all sizes that are looking for flexible working solutions.”
Currently, Spaces has three spots in Virginia — Reston, Arlington and Alexandria — and an upcoming one totaling two in D.C.
“[Spaces’] new home in Tysons will be a perfect complement to our growing community,” Boylan said.
Photo via Facebook and rendering courtesy The Meridian Group
Two McLean and one Falls Church public schools are recent recipients of a statewide education award.
Five schools statewide earned the 2019 Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence, according to a press release from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
The local schools to receive the award include:
- Chesterbrook Elementary School (1753 Kirby Road)
- Cooper Middle School (977 Balls Hill Road)
- Longfellow Middle School (2000 Westmoreland Street)
One other FCPS school — Carson Middle School in Herndon — received the award. The fifth school was Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington.
“The schools and school divisions that have earned these awards are not only the highest-performing schools in our Commonwealth, but are among the best schools in the nation,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a press release.
The Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence is the highest recognition in the Virginia Index of Performance awards for advanced learning and achievement, according to the press release.
Image via Google Maps
An eatery plans to start serving “wild and yummy” tacos in Falls Church in June.
A sign outside 7167 Lee Highway — the former home of Milan Bakery and Miss Donuts — says that Wild Tacoz is coming later this summer.
Owned by Teddy Koumarianos, Wild Tacoz will be the first location for Kool Foods, a company that uses organic ingredients from the Amish community.
“The plan is now to open the doors for business in the first half of June 2019,” according to a Wild Tacoz Facebook post from May 5.
A previous sign last June said that it was coming in fall 2018. “There was a delay on the construction due to the age of the building, but through modern technology, construction is moving along at a much faster pace,” the eatery posted this March.
Recently, the space had new drywall, according to another Facebook post.
Photo via Facebook
Every Fairfax County high school student will soon have a school-issued laptop for the 2019-2020 school year.
The upcoming rollout is part of the plan by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) to issue computers to every student by 2023 with an initiative called FCPSOn.
FCPSOn aims to help students access a digital device for learning at school and possibly at home depending on the school and grade level.
“This 1-to-1 computing initiative will better prepare students for college and careers,” according to an FCPS press release, adding that the computers won’t replace teachers.
Last week, the Fairfax County School Board adopted the FCPS FY 2020 Approved Budget, which includes $16.1 million for instructional programs — where the FCPSOn initiative falls under.
The budget includes a little more than $4 million to implement FCPSOn for the high schools and a new technology fee of $50 per high school student per year, FCPS said will cover repairs or replacements for equipment.
FCPSOn started as a pilot program in the Chantilly High School pyramid and eLearning Backpack high schools in the 2016-2017 school year. Phase 1 was funded through a combination of FCPS and the VDOE e-Learning Backpack grant funding.
The remaining timeline — pending approval — is:
- school year 2020-21: middle schools
- school year 2021-22 elementary grades 5-6
- school year 2022-23: elementary grades 3-4
McLean High School is looking for volunteers to help with distribution from August 12-15 from 12-7:30 p.m.
Image via FCPS
