Fairfax County could be getting more money from opioid settlements, funding that local leaders said is desperately needed to stem a growing crisis.
Opioid Task Force Coordinator Ellen Volo spoke to the Board of Supervisors’ Health and Human Services Committee at a meeting last Tuesday (Feb. 28).
“Across the state, there’s been a shocking increase in overdoses in the last couple of years,” Volo said. “We’ve seen an increase across all ages locally as well.”
Volo said Fairfax County has seen a concerning increase in youth overdoses. Nearly all of them involved fentanyl.
The report to the Board of Supervisors said fatal and non-fatal overdoses for youth trended higher in 2022 compared to previous years.
The report also indicated that 6 out of every 10 counterfeit prescription pills in a Drug Enforcement Agency test contained a lethal dose.
Volo said Fairfax County’s focus is on expanding substance abuse treatment facilities.
“The big bucket of work has been enhancing and expanding substance abuse treatment for youth,” Volo said. “When you look at the nation, certainly the region as well, there is a scarcity of appropriate treatment options.”
Volo said a regional, multi-pronged approach is needed to build capacity for substance abuse treatment, but Fairfax County has hit some stumbling blocks along the way.
“It’s been difficult to find providers of detox and residential service,” she said. “We’re working to establish partnerships. It’s ideal to have this capacity in the region and in-house.”
For the opioid settlements, Volo said the situation is “very fluid” in terms of how much money is available, but it’s clear that the funds must be used for abatement purposes.
In the near-term, Fairfax County should apply this spring to the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority to fund detox and treatment services at a regional level, Volo said. The county should also launch a survey to gather local and regional input on substance abuse treatment services and other opioid resource needs.
In the October 2023 to April 2024 time frame, Volo said the county should undergo an internal process to organize requests for funding to opioid-related projects and an Opioid Settlement Executive Committee will vet the proposed projects.
County leaders said the help can’t come soon enough.
“We lost a 17-year-old student in my community last summer,” Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk said. “We’ve heard consistently [there’s a] need for additional treatment service, for inpatient and outpatient services, but the outpatient ones are critical.”
Photo via DEA/Flickr
As a steady drizzle of rain provided an appropriately somber atmosphere, the parents of Timothy McCree Johnson and their supporters gathered in front of the Fairfax County Government Center on Friday (March 3) to call for justice after his recent death in a police shooting outside Tysons Corner Center.
With support from the Fairfax County NAACP, top among the family’s demands are the continued call for an independent investigation of the shooting and the prompt release of body-worn camera footage captured by the two police officers who fired their guns.
The Fairfax County Police Department maintains that the footage will be made public within 30 days of the shooting, in accordance with its information release policy, but Johnson’s mother, Melissa Johnson, questioned why she and her family needs to wait that long to see what happened to her son.
“The Johnson family needs to see the unedited footage of the body-worn cameras, and they need to see it now,” said Carl Crews, an attorney for the family. “They need to know what the officer perceived that he thought was a threat to his life from Timothy, that was running away from him. The longer it takes for us, for the Johnson family to see the footage, the more time we will have to simply speculate as to what happened.”
A 37-year-old D.C. resident, Johnson was shot once in the chest around 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 22 by officers who pursued him after he was allegedly seen trying to shoplift a pair of sunglasses from Nordstorm.
The FCPD identified the officers involved as Sgt. Wesley Shifflett, a 7-year veteran of the department, and Police Officer First Class James Sadler, an 8-year veteran, on March 4 — exactly 10 days after the shooting, as required by its policy.
Shifflett and Sadler were assigned to the Tysons Urban Team, a 12-officer unit based in Tysons Corner Center that was introduced in 2013. They both have certificates of valor from the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which honored Shifflett in 2020 and Sadler in 2018.
They’re currently on restricted duty status as criminal and administrative investigations into Johnson’s shooting continue.
The identification of the officers hasn’t changed the Johnson family’s desire to see the body camera video or have the shooting investigated by an entity outside the police department, Crews told FFXnow.
The FCPD announced on Friday that the D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) will examine officer-involved shootings since 2021, but the review will focus on overall trends, rather than specific incidents.
“I don’t have a comment about that,” Melissa Johnson said when asked about the PERF review. “Let the police take care of what they need to do to earn public trust or to police themselves.”
Even with the rain, Friday’s vigil drew about 50 attendees, including General Assembly candidates Saddam Azlan Salim and Shyamali Roy Hauth.
Fairfax County NAACP President Michelle Leete and Rev. Dr. Vernon Walton, a senior pastor at the First Baptist Church of Vienna, placed Johnson among other victims of police violence, invoking names like Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Natasha McKenna, who died after being restrained and shocked by Fairfax County sheriff’s deputies in 2015.
Police still too often use deadly force against Black and brown individuals in particular, despite efforts to train officers to deescalate situations and widespread protests that have increased awareness of racism in the justice system, they said.
“I don’t want to be here, but Tim Johnson’s life meant more than an inanimate object,” Leete said.
Melissa Johnson expressed appreciation for the activists and other community members who came to the vigil.
She said she felt it was important to “return to the atmosphere in which Timothy took his last breath.” While her son had struggles in the past, including a conviction on felony gun charges, none of that is related to or justifies the police shooting and killing him, she said.
“Timothy is loved, Timothy is beloved, and I really wanted to bring humanness, that this is not a check-the-box template of what we do when such tragedies happen,” Melissa Johnson said. “This was my son, and this is a case-by-case basis, so we’re going to stand patiently and we’re going to wait to see what happens, but we’re watching.”
The Mosaic District roller skating rink won’t come back this year, but the development is still holding out hope for ice skating in the future.
Rink Management Services Corporation, which operates Mosaic Skateland, has decided it won’t “be doing any roller skating during this warm weather season,” Fairfax County’s planning staff told the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) at a Feb. 1 meeting.
With no roller skating planned for this summer, the company asked the BZA for another continuance of the public hearing on its request for a special permit that would allow roller skating and ice skating on a seasonal basis in the Merrifield neighborhood.
“They’re reevaluating their plans for perhaps next winter,” staff coordinator Brandon McCadden told the BZA. “At this point, they’ve asked to continue later into the spring to give them time to work on their plans for a winter ice event that would occur starting next November, December.”
A decision on the case has now been postponed four times after the board unanimously agreed to grant the continuance.
EDENS, the property owner and developer behind the Mosaic District, didn’t respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Mosaic Skateland was introduced in June 2021 with a launch event tied into LGBTQ Pride Month. The temporary roller rink returned in a different location by Barnes & Noble last year.
The developer and Rink Management Services filed for a special permit from the county last April, proposing that the roller rink become a regular pop-up every spring and that an ice rink be added during the winter months.
However, Mosaic residents took issue with the proposed facilities at a July 13 public hearing, worrying about the potential noise and traffic impacts, and the BZA later criticized the applicant’s public outreach efforts as lacking.
County staff indicated at an Oct. 19 meeting that the rink proposal will likely be “substantially” different when it next goes before the board.
At last month’s meeting, McCadden noted that the county may get updates before June, but for now, the case won’t return to the BZA until June 14.
Several parks in the county will get a funding boost for renovation work through a matching fund grant approved by the Fairfax County Park Authority earlier this month.
The grant program, Mastenbook Volunteer Matching Fund Grant, will power community-led restoration projects at three parks and the batting facility at Chantilly Park.
So far, the FCPA has allocated roughly $31,000 for the projects, which are expected to cost nearly $72,000.
The largest grant allocated $20,000 to the expansion of the Chantilly Park batting facility, which will replace the two existing cages with three hitting stations, while keeping four “soft-toss stations for additional practice space,” according to the park authority’s news release.
A chemical treatment plan to restore the habitat in the Churchill Road and Lewinsville parks in McLean will be funded by roughly $4,000 from the FCPA.
The project will follow work by the McLean Trees Foundation, which planted and maintained 28 native trees in the area and managed the removal of invasive plant species.
“Progress on these efforts has been slowed by the persistent regrowth of invasive species,” the park authority says. “MTF has proposed to launch a more sustainable chemical treatment plan to be implemented by an FCPA-managed contractor to accelerate the habitat restoration.”
Additionally, roughly $7,340 was allocated to restore a family garden next to the recently restored Miller’s House at Colvin Run Mill.
The funds were requested by Friends of Colvin Run Mill to clean the area, repair the stone border, remove invasive plants, plant, much and install interactive markers in the area. The organization will contribute $7,338 to complete funds for the project.
The Mastenbook grant program was established to bridge the gap between bond funding and community desires for new neighborhood facilities. Since it started in 1999, the program has awarded roughly $2 million in grants.
Regional Earthquake Fundraiser Officially Launches — “On Friday, March 3, Northern Virginia elected leaders and officials gathered to launch a fundraising effort organized by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) to collect money to purchase food packages for those impacted by the earthquakes” that hit Turkey and Syria in early February. [Fairfax County]
Person Burned in Herndon Townhouse Fire — “Units are on scene of a townhouse fire in the 300 block of Reneau Way in Herndon. Arriving units found and quickly extinguished a fire on a deck. One person transported with burn injuries. No reported firefighter injuries.” [FCFRD/Twitter]
Strangulation Cases Rise in Fairfax County — “In 2022, there were 217 instances in which Fairfax County authorities charged someone with strangulation, or knowingly applying pressure to a person’s neck, according to data provided by police. That is an increase of 83 cases from the year before…But authorities say that although arrests are rising, prosecutions that end in convictions remain sparse.” [The Washington Post]
New Turkish/Greek Restaurant Opens in Franconia — “Smyrna Restaurant, an Aegean kitchen located at Hayfield Shopping Center, is owned by executive chef Zeynep Gungoren and her husband Alp who serves as business manager…The couple, who live in the City of Alexandria, decided to launch a start-up restaurant at the Telegraph Road location, and it opened its doors in January.” [On the MoVe]
Tysons-Based EV Company Plans Manufacturing Plant — “Scout Motors Inc., the spinoff electric vehicle company of German automaker Volkswagen AG, said Friday it will build a $2 billion manufacturing plant near Columbia, South Carolina…The headquarters may ultimately settle in South Carolina, but Scout is currently advertising about a dozen jobs in the D.C. area” [Washington Business Journal]
Livestreaming Paused for Herndon Council Meetings — “During the month of March, the Council Chambers will be undergoing an audio-visual upgrade. There will be no live broadcasts/webcasts throughout the duration of the upgrade work; meetings that are normally broadcasted live will be recorded and posted by the end of the next day at Herndon-va.gov/Meetings.” [Town of Herndon]
Statewide Tornado Drill Tomorrow — “Every school, business, workplace and family in Fairfax County (and across the Commonwealth of Virginia) is strongly encouraged to participate in the statewide tornado drill, Tuesday, March 7, at 9:45 a.m., a part of Virginia’s Severe Weather Awareness Week (March 6-10).” [Fairfax County Emergency Information]
Learn About Early American Female Poets — “Celebrate Women’s History Month and join Tamara Harvey, @GeorgeMasonU Associate Professor of English, at Pohick Regional Library Monday as she discusses early American women poets and how they were treated as exceptional in their own time.” [Fairfax County Public Library/Twitter]
It’s Monday — Partly cloudy throughout the day. High of 57 and low of 36. Sunrise at 6:35 am and sunset at 6:07 pm. [Weather.gov]
The spirit of Black History Month will extend into March at The Alden in McLean.
For tomorrow (Saturday) only, the McLean Community Center’s theater will host a one-act play by the Ohio-based company Mad River Theater Works “that brings the history of the Underground Railroad to life,” according a news release.
The sole performance of “Freedom Flight” will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. Featuring original music, the play is based on the true story of Addison White, who escaped slavery in Kentucky and later served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
“Freedom Flight” is a one-act play with music by Mad River that revolves around Ohio’s most famous incident in the history of the Underground Railroad: the story of Addison White, an escaped slave, and his rescue by the citizens of the town of Mechanicsburg, Ohio. When Evelyn, a descendant of Addison White, confronts her own difficulties with racism, an array of characters tell and relive their family history.
Founded in 1978, Mad River Theater Works produces original plays that “challenge racism, sexism and intolerance” by finding inspiring stories in American history, according to its website.
Tickets for tomorrow’s play cost $15 for all residents of MCC’s tax district and $25 for non-residents, though seniors and students pay just $20. The Alden is a 383-seat theater in the community center at 1234 Ingleside Avenue.
In February, MCC marked Black History Month with a performance by the all-female, a capella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock. The center also hosted “The 1619 Project” creator Nikole Hannah-Jones, who was invited to speak by Fairfax County Public Library.
The Fairfax County Police Department has agreed to undergo an independent review of its policies and practices after seeing an increase in shootings by officers over the past year.
The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a D.C.-based nonprofit that has looked at the department before, will conduct a “broad examination” of officer shootings since 2021 to “identify any performance patterns, deficiencies, or trends,” the FCPD said today (Friday).
“PERF will share training and policy recommendations to ensure FCPD continues to adopt industry best practices,” the department said. “PERF will begin its work immediately and will present its findings and recommendations to FCPD in a brief report.”
In the news release, Police Chief Kevin Davis stresses that the review will not constitute “a focused, independent examination” of the most recent shooting, where two officers shot and killed Timothy McCree Johnson in response to an alleged shoplifting attempt at Tysons Corner Center on Feb. 22.
Johnson’s mother and local civil rights groups have called for an independent investigation into the incident, questioning why officers used their firearms on a man accused of only stealing sunglasses and Davis’s description of Johnson as someone with a “violent criminal history” in the shooting’s immediate aftermath.
PERF previously reviewed the FCPD’s use-of-force policy and practices in 2015 as part of the county’s effort to reform the department after Springfield resident John Geer was fatally shot in 2013.
With this new review, the nonprofit will provide guidance on a potential policy dictating when officers should engage in foot chases, according to police.
The Fairfax County NAACP and ACLU People Power Fairfax have urged the FCPD to adopt a foot pursuit policy in the wake of Johnson’s death, noting that one was recommended by a separate 2021 use-of-force study by the University of Texas.
Fairfax County police officers have been involved in eight shootings since Davis became chief in 2021, including six incidents in 2022. According to FCPD data, there were nine officer-involved shootings total from 2013 to 2020.
(Updated at 2:15 p.m.) Opening day is on the horizon for South Block’s new McLean cafe.
The local juice and smoothie chain will open its latest location at 8 a.m. on Monday in the Chesterbrook Shopping Center (6246 Old Dominion Drive), according to a spokesperson and the website.
While this will be the 14th store for South Block, it holds special significance for owner, founder and CEO Amir Mostafavi, who grew up in McLean and is a graduate of McLean High School.
“I am most excited about being back in the community where I grew up,” Mostafavi said. “I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new people in the community. It’s truly a full circle moment for me to open a business in the same town and community where my dad opened his video store.”
As he previously told FFXnow, Mostafavi got his first taste of the retail world as a worker at Box Office Video, the video rental business his parents owned for about two decades. The locally owned alternative to Blockbuster is now closed, but it once had stores around McLean and Falls Church.
In a stroke of fortuitous timing, Mostafavi is now the same age that his dad was when the first Box Office Video opened at the Langley Shopping Center — just two miles away from the new South Block.
Started in Clarendon in 2011, South Block sells cold-pressed juice, smoothies and acai bowls with a focus on fresh, healthy ingredients and community involvement. The business also has a Vienna location and one in the works for the first phase of Amazon’s HQ2 campus in Arlington.
“South Block continues to prove that real food has the power to transform your life and Mostafavi is committed to growing his thriving business to new markets and more people,” the company said.
The McLean store will operate from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. A block party is being planned to celebrate its grand opening on April 22. More details will be shared on South Block’s Instagram, Mostafavi says.
Anchored by Safeway, Chesterbrook Shopping Center is undergoing an $8.5 million renovation. The façade is on track to finish this year, while the amenity spaces are scheduled for a 2024 completion, per a news release.
The center added Kosmo Nail Bar last fall, and the clothing store J. McLaughlin is expected to open this summer, according to property manager Federal Realty.
Fairfax Connector could be free for all children ages 12 and under.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation’s current policy is kids under 5 years old do not need to pay a fare. The new policy would extend that to all children under 12.
Older children can already get a free student bus pass: all Fairfax County middle and high school students can ride on all Fairfax County routes and some Metrobus routes for free between 5 a.m.-10 p.m. with a student bus pass. The transportation department said in a presentation the change would “close a gap” in the county’s fare-free policy for kids.
Those children would still obviously need to be accompanied by a fare-paying adult to receive a free fare.
In a presentation, the Department of Transportation said there are several potential benefits to the change.
- Closes the gap in fare-free travel for children between ages 5-12
- Increases accessibility and removes barriers to travel for parents. Especially beneficial for trips to access medical or social services
- This change will help children become acclimated to using public transit from an early age thereby creating increased transportation alternatives
FCDOT is collecting feedback on the proposed change until next Friday, March 10.
The policy change is scheduled to be presented to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on April 11. If approved, it would take effect on April 30.
Fairfax Connector launched a pilot last month allowing low-income riders to get half-price fares.
GW Parkway Will Be Closed on Sunday — “The northbound lanes of the GW Parkway will be closed this Sunday between Spout Run in Arlington and Chain Bridge Road in McLean. The closure, from about 6 a.m.-4 p.m., is for the removal of ‘an abandoned vehicle that is below the road near the Potomac River.'” [ARLnow]
Alexandria Man Found Guilty in Springfield Killing — “A 28-year-old man who fled to Ethiopia after the killing of a young couple in Virginia was convicted for a second time in connection with the December 2016 deaths, authorities announced Thursday. Yohannes Nessibu was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm in commission of a felony in the shooting of 22-year-old Henok Yohannes.” [The Washington Post]
Reston Station Signs New Commercial Tenants — “Comstock Holding Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: CHCI) has signed both government contractor CACI International Inc. (NYSE: CACI) and The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State for its Commerce District of Reston Station development at 11400 Commerce Park Drive.” The 10-year leases are for 41,000 square feet for CACI and 34,560 square feet for Penn State. [Washington Business Journal]
Proposed Emissions Waiver for Data Centers Criticized — “Dozens of residents and nonprofit environmental representatives from across the region descended upon the [Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s]…office in Woodbridge to oppose the temporary variance.” The proposal would suspend air emissions rules from mid-March to July 31 so data centers in Prince William, Loudoun and Fairfax counties can “run approximately 4,000 diesel generators to power its facilities in the event of a power grid failure.” [Inside NoVA]
County’s School Age Child Care and Teen Centers Add 3D Printers — “Makerbot Sketch 3D printers were installed at 144 SACC centers in February 2023. In addition, all 13 NCS Technology Centers now offer Makerbot 3D printers, providing expanded access to the same technology for students, families and other community members.” [NCS]
Metrorail Ridership Hits High for Pandemic — “Transit officials announced on Twitter that about 318,000 trips were taken Wednesday on Metrorail, which is 5,500 more than Metro’s previous pandemic-era high on Oct. 12. Metro also recorded at least three days last month that were among the 10 highest ridership days since the start of the pandemic.” [The Washington Post]
Economic Development Leader Honored by White House — “Victor Hoskins, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, was honored to receive a President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from The White House because of his lifelong commitment to building a strong nation through volunteering…He was presented with the recognition by Elisha Pulivarti, CEO, U.S. India SME Council, on Feb 28, 2023, at University of North America in Fairfax.” [FCEDA]
Annandale Private School Nears Finish on Expansion — “After undergoing a major renovation and expansion, the Oakwood School in Annandale will be able to serve more students. The private school…focuses on specialized instructional methods for students with learning disabilities who struggled in their previous school. The expansion project is about 95 percent complete, says Head of School Lane McIntyre.” [Annandale Today]
Walkinshaw Launches Reelection Campaign — “James Walkinshaw officially announced that he is running for re-election as the Braddock District’s representative on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors…Walkinshaw, who launched his re-election campaign in Annandale on Sunday, was joined by more than 100 supporters and constituents.” [Patch]
It’s Friday — Rain throughout the day. High of 61 and low of 38. Sunrise at 6:39 am and sunset at 6:04 pm. [Weather.gov]
