The novel coronavirus pandemic did not dampen Noel and Jasmine Bourroughs’ first summer running a mobile Kona Ice truck in Fairfax and the City of Falls Church.

In fact, their first season of operating the franchise was so successful they decided to expand. By next March, the couple anticipates opening two more trucks that serve Arlington and McLean.

“It is exciting,” Noel said. “I believe wholeheartedly in the company, and the company and I think it’s going to be a winner. “

For the Bourroughs, who live outside the City of Fairfax, the opportunities to support the community through shaved ice distinguished Kona from the other franchise options they mulled over this spring.

“The more I looked at it, the more I liked it,” Noel said. “The philosophy of the company is fantastic, and owning a business that has the flexibility to give back is satisfying.”

Some jobs limit opportunities for charitable work to allowing employees to participate in a company’s plans, he said. Kona, which has more than 1,600 trucks in 49 states, encourages franchise owners to donate to organizations close to home.

Since the company’s launch in June 2007, it has contributed more than $82 million to community organizations.

“I have the freedom to do as much charity as I can fit into my schedule,” he said.

The Bourroughs pledge to continue the mobile franchise’s tradition of donating thousands of dollars each year to local school groups, teams, and community organizations.

This season, which lasted from July 3 to mid-November, the Bourroughs parked outside an apartment complex at the request of the management and raised money to sponsor a cyclist in a Bike for Multiple Sclerosis event. Another Saturday morning, the couple raised several hundred dollars for two brothers in need of a bone marrow transplant.

“Noel and Jasmine share our commitment to giving back,” Kona Ice founder and president Tony Lamb said in a statement. “They want to have a positive influence on the people in their community, whether it’s new textbooks, sports uniforms or, simply, a smile. We are proud to have them on-board. Together, we are excited to make a difference in the lives of those around us.”

After the season ended two weekends ago, the Bourroughs are in planning mode for next year, although several franchise trucks have switched to cozy winter drinks. He has a good feeling about next season because of the promise of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“If we can get that distributed early in the year, then we should be back on track for a lot of events that were cancelled from this year,” he said. “I’m very enthusiastic about that.”

This season, the truck put up signs reminding people to stay distanced, but the coolest safety-related change was the addition of a self-serve machine that dispenses 10 flavors that customers can mix. Customers insert their spoons into a handle that releases the syrup for a completely touch-free experience.

Those who want to learn more about the Kona Ice of Fairfax or book an event are encouraged to contact the Bourroughs by email at [email protected] or by phone at (703) 953-0114.

Image courtesy Jessica Tcholakov/All Points PR

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors praised election workers and volunteers yesterday (Tuesday) for their work on the 2020 general election, which presented local voters with new opportunities and unprecedented obstacles.

With voters turning out in record numbers, Fairfax County’s election staff had to adapt to the logistical challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic on top of implementing a slew of new state laws to improve voting accessibility, including the introduction of no-excuse absentee voting and the elimination of photo identification requirements.

“There’s no doubt we had an amazing year,” Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck said. “[The election staff] came through with flying colors, and we definitely have to recognize that and appreciate that.”

While this year’s 79.4% turnout rate fell short of the 82.5% high mark set in 2016, the 605,023 ballots cast for the Nov. 3 general election were the most in Fairfax County history. There were also about 80,000 more active registered voters than in 2016 and only 25,667 inactive voters, compared to 64,041 in 2016.

Fairfax County Electoral Board Secretary Katherine Hanley confirmed again in a presentation to the Board of Supervisors that absentee voting drove turnout this year, with only 186,253 people voting in person on Election Day, an even lower number than election officials predicted.

By contrast, there were 414,381 absentee votes. The county received 222,003 by-mail absentee ballots, including approximately 85,000 that were returned through a drop box, and 192,398 people voted in person before Election Day at one of 15 early voting locations.

Fairfax County also had 4,389 provisional ballots.

According to Hanley, the Fairfax County Office of Elections contacted 2,113 voters about small issues with their mail ballots. 1,315 of those voters fixed their ballots, a 63% cure rate.

One thing that surprised election officials was the 17,633 ballots that were either surrendered or goldenrod, meaning that it was never received, lost, or left at home by the voter.

“That’s a much bigger number than we thought there would be,” Hanley said.

Because COVID-19 both triggered and coincided with so many changes in Virginia’s election policies, it is difficult to tell whether 2020 was an anomaly or a harbinger of long-lasting shifts in voter behavior, Hanley says. Read More

Metro Seeks Public Input on Name Change for West Falls Church Station — “As of April 2020, The University of Virginia (UVA) no longer has a presence near West Falls Church. Accordingly, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is requesting that ‘UVA’ be removed from the station’s name in maps and signage.” [WMATA]

Fairfax County Prosecutors Charge Four Men in Burglary Ring — “Most of the suspects lived in New York, but police said they traveled to Virginia to carry out roughly 40 burglaries between October 2018 and February 2020 in homes in Oakton, Fair Oaks, McLean and other locations.” [Washington Post]

McLean Filmmaker Presents Short Film Inspired by McLean Bible Church Trip — “The Other Side seeks to raise awareness for Ethiopia’s abandoned children crisis through narrative film, and the team is currently seeking partners for the development of a feature-length version of the film.” [McLean Connection]

American Legion and Rotary Clubs Laud Service of Veterans in McLean — “The annual event, sponsored by American Legion Post 270 and the Rotary Clubs of McLean and Tysons Corner, began outside in the rain at McLean High School and ended in one of the school’s gymnasiums.” [Inside NOVA]

Staff Photo by Jay Westcott

Inova Health System will open a new cancer screening and prevention center on its Center for Personalized Health campus in Merrifield, the nonprofit healthcare network announced on Nov. 10.

Expected to open in fall 2021, the new 24,000 square-foot cancer screening center will be an expansion of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, which opened on Innovation Park Drive in May 2019.

The center is being supported by a $20 million donation from Paul and Linda Saville, Inova says.

Paul Saville is the president and CEO of the Reston-based home construction company NVR, Inc., whose founder and chairman, Dwight Schar, and his wife Martha donated $50 million to build the Schar Cancer Institute, according to the Washington Business Journal.

“We’ve all been impacted by cancer, and many of us know someone who has died from cancer due to a late diagnosis,” Paul Saville said. “We hope that many more people will have access to early detection and treatment and avoid serious disease.”

Inova says the new center made possible by the Savilles’ donation will be the first of its kind in Northern Virginia, which currently lacks a “comprehensive, multidisciplinary, organized cancer screening and prevention program.”

The center will provide screenings to detect breast, lung, prostate, bladder, pancreatic, colorectal, head and neck, skin, cervical, uterine, ovarian, and other cancers.

Preventative resources for patients who may be at high risk of developing cancer will include genetic testing, opportunities for clinical trials, and education on nutrition and exercise.

“The Savilles’ commitment to help us create a state-of-the-art early detection and prevention center is bringing us a giant step closer to becoming the leading cancer institute in our region,” Inova Health System President and CEO J. Stephen Jones said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently list cancer as the second most frequent cause of death in the U.S. after heart disease, but that appears to be based on data from 2018.

According to Inova, cancer surpassed cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in America this year.

“By providing members of our community accessible, multidisciplinary screening and prevention services in a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach, we hope to cure more cancers by catching them early,” Schar Cancer Institute President John Deeken said. “And through programs such as smoking cessation, as well as dietary and exercise interventions, we hope to prevent more and more cancers in the years ahead.”

Photo via Google Maps

Metrorail and Metrobus users in Fairfax County may be seeing service changes next year.

Proposed by Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority staff to help close a $176.5 million-gap in the budget for this fiscal year, the changes span management actions to service changes to deferred capital projects. WMATA staff say the Silver Line expansion will not be impacted.

The proposed budget revisions are currently under review and will be voted on by the WMATA Board of Directors this Thursday (Nov. 19).

This deficit is mostly a result of an 80% reduction in revenue from ridership, WMATA Virginia Government Relations Officer Gregory Potts told the Greater Tysons Citizens Coalition during a meeting on Nov. 12.

The Metro saw a 90% drop in ridership across the board, including Tysons, Potts said. The declines in train and bus usage began in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they persist today.

Nine months into the pandemic, Metrobus ridership is down by 60%, a slight recovery from the 80% drop seen earlier in the year. That change can be partly attributed to the number of essential workers who may not be able to afford a car but still need to get to their jobs, Potts said.

“It’s been pretty eye-opening to us how important the bus is to the region,” Potts said. “Sometimes rail gets all the attention, but the bus system is really important to a lot of individuals. It’s an equity issue for us.”

WMATA staff are recommending Board members vote to authorize management actions and save $30.5 million, to defer non-safety related capital projects and save $30 million, and to make service reductions amounting to $116 million in savings.

The cuts could have been worse. A first draft of the plan released in September had more changes and cuts, because the deficit was projected to be $212 million. The plan was revised after WMATA opened up the plan for public comment, pushed its CARES Act money further, and found additional savings in operating costs.

WMATA initially projected the $546 million it received from the CARES Act would only last through 2020, but the agency now says it will stretch until March 2021. It also saved $35.5 million that would have paid for overtime, fuel, utilities and other costs.

Despite public objection to some reductions in services, a few bus lines that have been suspended in Fairfax County will remain on hold under WMATA’s updated budget plan.

It is hard to pinpoint when transit rates could return, Potts said.

“If you’re talking about pre-COVID-19 rates or more generally, some talk of ‘normalcy,’ where there are people wearing masks but more people riding, for transit, there will be an impact for longer than we want to imagine right now,” Potts said.

Currently, WMATA cleans buses, trains, and high touch-points daily, and it disinfects on demand with an electrostatic fogger machine, he said. Staff are providing riders with masks. Bus riders board from the back and the operators are protected by plastic shields.

Earlier this year, the Metro board approved a six-month deferral of the fare changes that will last through November.

To eliminate contact with employees, WMATA launched a SmartTrip app for Apple in September that enables contactless mobile fare payment. An Android app will be available by the end of the year, according to Potts.

“That’s good for convenience and safety,” he said.

Despite initial concerns about people contracting the novel coronavirus while using public transit, some preliminary studies internationally have demonstrated that “transit has not been known to be a transmitter in the way that other facilities may be,” Potts said.

Another positive development is that platform renovations to improve safety and accessibility at the Metrorail stations in Vienna, Dunn Loring, East Falls Church, and West Falls Church were completed on time.

“We’ve finished 10 platforms in the last year and a half,” Potts said. “It’s really moving along well. With the pandemic, they could actually maintain their schedule.”

Staff photo by Jay Westcott, slides via WMATA

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

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!

Monday (Nov. 16)

• Light Up McLean Holiday Decorating Contest — (Nov. 16 – Dec. 9) — The Light Up McLean Holiday Decorating Competition is your opportunity to show off your home in all its holiday splendor, the website says. The competition is open to the first 15 registered households. To register, use this link.
• Monday Game Challenge (Online) — 3:30-6:30 p.m. — During this event hosted by the McLean Community Center, participants will play Call of Duty: Warzone. To register, use this link.

Tuesday (Nov. 17)

• Affordable Housing Community Conversation (Online) — 7 p.m. — Falls Church residents will have a conversation about affordable housing, featuring a panel of local experts on social equity, the website says. The conversation will take place via Zoom. Email Pete Sullivan, [email protected], to register.

Wednesday (Nov. 18)

• Turkey in Trouble Crafternoon (Online) — 3-3:3o p.m. — Join the Mary Riley Styles Public Library on Facebook to talk about camouflage and strategies to keep turkey from being eaten. Craft kits are available for pick up at MRSPL (120 N. Virginia Ave.) through Nov. 24. The craft video will remain on the MRSPL Facebook page in the Crafternoon playlist.
• Virtual Improv Show (Online) — 7 p.m.– The Alden‘s professional teen improv company, The Unruly Theatre Project, is dedicated to bringing comedic productions to the community, the website says. To register, use this link.

Friday (Nov. 20)

• Photos with Santa (Nov. 20 – Dec. 24) — 12-8 p.m. at Tysons Corner Center (1961 Chain Bridge Road) — Santa will be in Tysons Corner Center’s Fashion Court at the intersection of the Nordstrom and Bloomingdale wings starting Nov. 20, the website says. A visit with Santa will be free, and photo packages will be available for purchase.
• Mayor’s Walk — 9:30 a.m. at Vienna Town Hall (127 Center St. S.) — Enjoy a chat and stroll through the Town of Vienna with Mayor Linda Colbert, the website says.
• Virtual Family Fun Night (Online) — 7-9 p.m. — Gather the whole family around the computer or tablet and get ready for some socially distant trivia, according to the McLean Community Center website. The cost is $5 for resident families and $8 for non-resident families. To register, use this link.

Photo via DrZ/Unsplash