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What’s to Come with Capital Improvement Projects in the Town of Vienna

With road fixtures, building renovations, and other uncertain town repairs and purchases, Town of Vienna leadership met to discuss future capital improvement projects.

Town Manager Mercury Payton, hosted a forum with several directors to discuss what major projects Vienna can expect to see in the near-future.

“Basically, our CIP [Capital Improvement Plan] is a long-range plan that talks about how we look at scoping out and planning for our long-range projects… everything from our road projects, to structures and buildings and everything in between,” Payton said. “We like to plan those out years in advance and make sure that we’re thoughtful about those projects.”

Payton outlines a few capital improvement projects that the Town of Vienna can expect over the next few years, including:

The panel of directors consisted of Vienna’s Directors of Finance, Public Works, Recreation, and Economic Development Manager. The town attorney and police chief were also present.

Marion Serfass, the director of finance, described recent capital improvement projects as, “projects like road improvements, sidewalk improvements, storm-water improvements, the town green, the community center renovation and other buildings. Generally, to be a capital project or to be considered for a capital project, it’s a big long-term project like that and has to cost at least $5,000 and many of those projects cost a lot more than that.”

The process of choosing which projects to fund also consists of a budget committee and strategic planning.

“We do the CIP every fall and every spring,” Serfass said. “We put out a call to directors… what sort of projects do they think they need to help improve the delivery of town services and help with the infrastructure of the town. And then we take in all those, the budget committee gets to look through those, department heads make their case about why this project is important, how it fits into the strategic plan. In the meantime, the finance department is forecasting the meals tax revenues because we borrow money for capital projects, we pay it back with our meals taxes, so we don’t want to exceed what we can comfortably pay back in our meals taxes, plus leave a cash reserve.”

Residents of the Town of Vienna were also asked to provide insight about possible repairs or construction their communities may need.

“I would encourage them to reach out to their council people,” Serfass said. “Our website is www.viennava.gov and our council members’ emails are there, under ‘town council’.”

Photo via Town of Vienna/Facebook

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Weekly Planner: Book Clubs, Sunset Cinema and Farmers Market

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve searched the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (Sept. 22)

Wednesday (Sept. 23)

Thursday (Sept. 24)

Friday (Sept. 25)

  • Virtual Story Time — 11 a.m. — FIT4MOM reads children’s books that celebrate diversity every Friday morning at 11 on its Facebook page.
  • Sunset Cinema: Onward (Reservation Required) — 7:45 p.m. at Cherry Hill Park (312 Park Ave.) — Sunset Cinema returns with the showing of “Onward.” This event is limited to 20 families in a reservation system, the website said. To register, use this website.

Saturday (Sept. 26)

  • Falls Church Farmers Market — 8 a.m.-12 p.m. at City Hall Parking Lot (300 Park Ave.) — Enjoy fresh, local produce, meat, dairy, flowers & plants, honey, music, and so much more at the Falls Church Farmers Market, the website said.
  • Vienna Farmers Market -8 a.m.-12 p.m. at Vienna Community Center Parking Lot (120 Cherry Street SE ) — Sponsored by the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna, the Vienna Farmers Market features approximately 30 vendors from across the region offering locally sourced fruits, vegetables, and homemade eats, the website said.

Photo via Mary Riley Styles Public Library 

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Weekly Planner: Sunset Cinema, Farmers Market and Virtual Bingo

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve searched the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (Sept. 15)

  • Mayor @ Your Service — 7:30 p.m. at Vienna Town Hall (127 Center Street S.) —  Mayor Laurie DiRocco will have a presentation and conversation about Town programs and initiatives, Vienna history, or other topics of interest, the website said.

Thursday (Sept. 17)

Friday (Sept. 18)

  • Mayor’s Walk –9:30 a.m. at Vienna Town Hall (127 Center Street S.) —  Walk and talk the town with Mayor Linda Colbert.
  • Vienna Virtual Bingo Fun (Online) — 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.– Join Town of Vienna’s Program Coordinator, Kathy Blevins, for a fun hour of bingo through Zoom, the website said. Email [email protected] to register or call 703-255-7801 for more information.
  • Sunset Cinema: Moana (Reservation Required) –7:45 p.m. at Cherry Hill Park (312 Park Ave.) — Sunset Cinema returns with the showing of “Moana.” This event is limited to 20 families in a reservation system, the website said. To register, use this website.

Saturday (Sept. 19)

  • Falls Church Farmers Market — 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at City Hall Parking Lot (300 Park Ave.) — Enjoy fresh, local produce, meat, dairy, flowers & plants, honey, music, and so much more at the Falls Church Farmers Market, the website said.
  • Vienna Farmers Market –8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Vienna Community Center Parking Lot (120 Cherry Street SE ) — Sponsored by the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna, the Vienna Farmers Market features approximately 30 vendors from across the region offering locally sourced fruits, vegetables, and homemade eats, the website said.

Photo via Falls Church Farmers Market/Facebook

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Here’s What’s Closed for Labor Day Around Tysons

Labor Day is around the corner and there will be closures around the area.

All Fairfax County government offices, public schools, and public libraries will be closed on Monday (Sept. 7), according to the county website.

Trash and recycling will be collected on a regular schedule if community members are customers of Fairfax County, the website said, which added that people with a private company should contact the company directly. However, the administrative office will be closed on Monday.

The Fairfax Connector will be running on a Sunday Schedule on Monday.

The Metro will be running on a Sunday Schedule from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Monday, according to the WMATA website.

The Mary Riley Styles Library in Falls Church (120 N. Virginia Ave) will be closed on Monday, according to the website, along with all city offices.

In the Town of Vienna, all government offices and the Vienna Community Center will be closed but waste collection will run on a regular schedule, according to the website.

The McLean Community Center will be closed on Monday.

Tysons Reporter will also have the day off Monday.

Photo via Jon Sailer/Unsplash

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Helen Hayes Awards Announces Wins for Local Theaters

Two Tysons-area theaters are recent recipients of the 36th annual Helen Hayes Awards.

Tysons-based 1st Stage Theatre and Falls Church-based Creative Cauldron were both nominated in several categories earlier this year. In total, 1st Stage Theatre has 18 nominations, while Creative Cauldron has nine this year.

While the awards show is slated for later this month, recent announcements revealed that the theaters have won some awards.

Award announcements began Aug. 31 and will continue until Sept. 11. So far, 1st Stage has won “Outstanding Lighting Design (Hayes)” for “The Brothers Size” and Creative Cauldron has nabbed the “Outstanding Lead Performers in a Musical (Helen)” award for Nora Palka in “On Air.”

Each year, Theatre Washington presents awards to over 90 theatres and artists around the D.C. area in honor of Helen Hayes, who is known as the “First Lady of American Theatre,” according to Theatre Washington. The year-long nomination process for the Helen Hayes Awards includes 40 judges attending around 200 productions.

An in-person Helen Hayes Awards Ceremony was supposed to be May 18th, but due to COVID-19, it was moved to a virtual ceremony. This year’s virtual ceremony will be held on Friday (Sept. 25).

People will have to wait to see if the two local theaters have more of their nominations turned into awards.

Photo via Rob Laughter/Unsplash

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