(Updated at 12:05 on 10/30/2020) Town of Vienna residents and visitors are invited to enjoy the crisp fall weather and live entertainment while supporting local retail during the town’s first-ever Vienna Shop & Stroll.
It is the biggest and longest initiative organized by the Town of Vienna Economic Development Office, which will soon celebrate its one-year anniversary after being formed in November 2019. The town’s business liaison committee and the Vienna Business Association are partners on the event series.
Each Saturday through Dec. 12, designated shopping centers will host safe and socially distant seasonal activities and in-store promotions. Locals and visitors are encouraged to meet business owners and learn more about the history of the shopping centers.
“It grew out of the fact that we need to come up with creative ideas throughout this time,” said Natalie Monkou, the economic development manager for the Town of Vienna. “The more creativity, the better.”
The Vienna Shop & Stroll kicked off last Saturday (Oct. 24) at the Vienna Shopping Center (180 Maple Avenue), where seven businesses participated. It featured two pop-up opera concerts by emerging artists at the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera. The singers performed two micro-concerts from the Concert Truck, a Maryland-based pop-up truck that aims to make classical music more accessible.
“I’m actually pretty pleased with what happened on Saturday,” Monkou said. “It was set at one of the busiest shopping centers in town, so it was a great place to kick off what we could do for other locations.”
The pop-up concert truck was “a great way to remind people that Vienna is accessible to all,” Monkou said.
Future special programming will remain in the realm of music and art to avoid direct competition with the shopping centers. Concerts are also family-friendly and a great way to manage social-distancing guidelines, Monkou says.
“If we are going to provide something, we want it to be something that we can count on families to enjoy with little ones,” she said.
Because the Economic Development Department is so new, “everything we’re doing is a pilot,” Monkou said. “Depending on the participation from tenants and property managers, we’ll see if the [Shop & Stroll] is an annual thing.”
She emphasized engaging property owners because they have a role to play in the success of the town.
“When their businesses don’t do well, we all suffer,” she said. “We all benefit when we come together to do something that’s off the beaten path.”
Here are the dates and locations for upcoming Shop & Stroll Saturdays:
- Nov. 7: Danor Plaza
- Nov. 14: Cedar Park
- Nov. 21: Jades Shopping Center + Vienna Plaza
- Nov. 28: Small Biz Saturday on Church Street and surrounding streets off Church
- Dec. 5: Village Green
- Dec. 12: Glyndon Plaza
Correction: This article previously described the Vienna Business Association as the organizer of Shop & Stroll. The VBA is a partner with Vienna’s economic development office as the main organizer.
Amid a year where national policing reforms were brought into the spotlight, Fairfax County is reviewing a suite of changes at a local level to improve police accountability.
At a Public Safety Committee Meeting, Chairman Rodney Lusk presented an overview of proposed changes in what was described as possible changes rather than new policies set into stone.
Near term considerations included improved data collection to improve accuracy, with ethnicity and a breakdown of arrest data included in documentation. Data would be released quarterly.
One of the other practices that’s come under fire nationally is the firing and immediate re-hiring of police officers across jurisdictions. One proposed change would crack down on that as part of a statewide push to make decertification easier.
“Consider and discuss implementation of state legislation related to the decertification of law enforcement officers who have been terminated or resigned for misconduct and the request and disclosure of information for prospective law-enforcement hires,” the input matrix said.
While many of the items items being considered focused on more transparency and restrictions on police, another item being considered was a review of how to boost morale in the police department, which Lusk said was at an all time low.
The committee also considered some mid-term options, like reviewing regulations around school resource officers and a review of Fairfax County Police Department use of force policies. with more data about the racial distribution of arrests, another mid-term goal was reviewing racial disparities in use of force and arrests.
“These are public suggestions… not approved by the board,” said Fairfax County Board chair Jeff McKay. “This is a parking lot of ideas that have come through your office and now must be adjudicated by this board based on data and conversations… Some of these will go off to other committees.”
Image via Fairfax County
Update at 1:55 p.m. — The Fairfax County Police Department says that Lawyers Road is now closed due to flooding at Hunter Mill Road. Old Courthouse Road remains shut down.
Update at 12:30 p.m. — The National Weather Service has now upgraded central Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax from a flood watch to a flood warning, which will remain in effect until 4 p.m.
Old Courthouse Road closed at the Besley Road intersection in Wolf Trap at 10:45 a.m. due to ongoing flooding from Wolftrap Creek, and a NWS map shows that Rocky Run near Tysons also has a a 90% or higher chance of flash flooding.
As of 12:03 p.m., between one and two inches of rain have fallen in the county, and an additional one to two inches of rain could potentially fall in the area covered by the flood warning. Locations in the Tysons area that may be at risk of flooding include Tysons, Vienna, Wolf Trap, Great Falls, Merrifield, and Dunn Loring.
Earlier — A Flood Watch is in effect for most of the region until 10 p.m. today, according to the National Weather Service.
Remnants of Hurricane Zeta are expected to dump two to three inches of rain on the area.
NWS warns that heavy rain could lead to flooding of small streams, creeks, and urban areas. Clogged drains due to leaf buildup might also cause flooding issues.
Here’s more from the alert:
Do not enter or cross flowing water or water of unknown depth. Stay away or be swept away. River banks and culverts can becom unstable and unsafe.
A Flood Watch means there is a potential for flooding based on current forecasts. You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible flood warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.
The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is advising drivers to plan alternate routes so they can avoid roads that tend to flood, noting that cars trapped on flooded roadways creates “needless danger” for drivers, passengers, and emergency responders.
“Our firefighters and paramedics do not want to meet you by (a preventable) ‘accident’!” FCFRD said.
In addition, the Fairfax County Park Authority is asking community members to call before visiting any golf courses, since some venues may be closed if there is indeed heavy rain.
Grab your umbrella ☔️ Rain 🌧️ from #Zeta is going to cause a wet commute for drivers today.
When driving in the rain remember
💡 headlights & wipers on
🚘 increase following distance
🐢 slow down
💧 #TurnAroundDontDrown
👁️ be alert for pedestrians & other road users pic.twitter.com/krPQMJhevB— VDOT (@VaDOT) October 29, 2020
Door-to-door greeting and candy distribution is a classic staple of Halloween night, but Fairfax County and health officials warn it might be one of the worst activities to do amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
There are alternative activities available, like a parade going to residential areas around Vienna and a Trunk or Treat activity in McLean. For those that do plan to trick or treat this year, there are several precautions the CDC recommended taking, including:
- Avoid direct contact with trick-or-treaters.
- Give out treats outdoors, if possible.
- Set up a station with individually bagged treats for kids to take.
- Wash hands before handling treats.
- Wear a mask.
Photo courtesy Anne B.
(Updated at 8:05 p.m.) The tennis courts at Glyndon Park, a wooded expanse separated from bustling Maple Avenue by a bend in the road, have a new look.
The cracks and other signs of age are gone, erased by the Town of Vienna’s resurfacing efforts, but perhaps the boldest change is the grid of yellow lines that reconfigures Glyndon Park’s two tennis courts into four pickleball courts.
Joined by members of the Vienna Pickleball Club and representatives from the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), the Town of Vienna hosted an opening ceremony for the new Glyndon tennis and pickleball courts on Oct. 27.
COVID-19 social distancing rules limited attendance at the ceremony to 24 players, but their enthusiasm for the new courts and the sport of pickleball was evident not just in the speeches and ribbon-cutting, but also the games that followed.
“In normal times, these four courts may support a community of 30, 40 people coming out to play pickleball together with enjoyment, satisfaction in exercise, the challenge of growing their skills, friendly competition, and a welcoming social community,” Vienna Pickleball Club founder Sally Unger said.
Unger first encountered pickleball, which loosely resembles tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, when looking for sports that she could play while traveling, something she regularly did in pre-COVID times to visit her children in Los Angeles and Chicago.
With rules that would be familiar to anyone who has played tennis and games that can be played in 20 minutes, pickleball has been gaining popularity nationwide since emerging in Washington state in 1965 as an improvised form of badminton.
However, because it is still relatively niche, facilities dedicated to pickleball are difficult to find.
When they learned that the Town of Vienna was planning to update the tennis courts at Glyndon Park, Unger and other local pickleball players saw an opportunity to advocate for their sport to be better incorporated into the renovated facility.
“We have a lot of residents in town who love to play pickleball,” Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert said. “…We want our citizens to be happy with our parks and keep them up in good shape. So, it was a need that they helped us identify.” Read More
Fairfax County teenagers are vaping less than their peers nationwide, a county survey of middle and high school students found.
15.1% of the 48,915 students who responded to the 2019-2020 Fairfax County Youth Survey reported vaping within the past 30 days, compared to 22.5% of teenagers in the U.S. overall. The survey results were released on Oct. 20.
Nicotine remains the drug most frequently used for vaping, which involves the inhalation of an aerosol through a battery-powered device, but its usage declined from 16.7% in 2018 to under 12% in 2019.
About half as many students reported using flavoring in this year’s survey (5.5%) as they did in the previous year’s (10.3%), but the use of marijuana rose from 8% in 2018 to 9% in 2019.
The number of Fairfax County teens who say they have vaped within their lifetime dropped from 28% in 2018 to 25% in 2019, according to the survey, which is given annually to Fairfax County Public Schools students in sixth, eighth, 10th, and 12th grades.
Fairfax County did not add questions about vaping to its annual youth survey until 2018, making it hard to determine whether the decline in reported vaping is a real trend, but county officials are encouraged by the results.
“The rates for vaping among Fairfax County youth went down considerably from 2018 despite the upward national trend,” Fairfax County Office of Strategy Management for Health and Human Services public information officer Shweta Adyanthaya said. “This is a promising sign that our youth are heeding the concerns regarding vaping in general.”
County officials say they remain concerned about the health effects of vaping, especially during a pandemic caused by a coronavirus that attacks people’s lungs.
Research on how COVID-19 affects people who have used e-cigarettes is limited, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked a contaminant found in e-cigarettes to an outbreak of e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injuries (EVALI) that had killed or hospitalized 2,807 people in the U.S. as of Feb. 18.
Though it is a potential benefit, the CDC says the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as an aid for helping adults quit smoking is unknown. The agency warns against vaping for youth, young adults, pregnant adults, and adults who do not currently use tobacco products.
“We know that the brains of adolescents continue to develop until about the age [of] 25 and that nicotine can have harmful effects,” Fairfax County Health Director Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu said. “Now, with evidence that vaping may be linked with worse outcomes of COVID-19 infection, it’s more important than ever that we offer solutions to help young people.” Read More
The Virginia Department of Transportation will provide updates on the construction work that it has been doing on Interstate 66 at two virtual community meetings as October draws to a close.
The first meeting will take place tonight (Wednesday) from 7-8:30 p.m. and will focus on activities between Bull Run and Waples Mill Road, including the Route 28 corridor. A second meeting scheduled for the same time tomorrow (Thursday) will cover activities between Jermantown Road in Fairfax and the Interstate 495 interchange outside of Vienna.
Information for joining the meetings can be found on VDOT’s Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project website at outside.transform66.org/events. Questions can be submitted in writing through the WebEx chat or by calling 703-662-3892.
The meetings will be streamed live on VDOT’s YouTube Channel and will be posted to the Transform 66 Outside the Beltway website the following day.
The Transform 66 project will expand I-66 with new express lanes along a 22.5-mile stretch. VDOT also plans to enhance the corridor outside the Capital Beltway by adding more than 4,000 park-and-ride spaces, 11 miles of new bicycle and pedestrian trails, interchange improvements, and improved bus service and transit routes.
Construction on I-66 outside the Beltway has been ongoing since 2017, commencing shortly after new express lanes opened on I-66 inside the Beltway on Dec. 4 of that year. The outside-the-Beltway portion of the express lanes are not expected to be completed until late 2022.
Photo courtesy Virginia Department of Transportation
Many local businesses around the region are struggling, but Conte’s Bike Shop is taking advantage of a curious windfall for local bike stores to open a new Falls Church location on Friday (Oct. 30).
The new 3,800 square-foot shop at 1118 West Broad Street will include a bike fitting studio and performance testing.
“The store’s expansion comes at a time when bike shops across the country are experiencing an increase in demand for products due to the pandemic,” a spokesperson said in a press release. “Conte’s larger space will be better equipped to meet the needs of the community.”
The shop will offer bicycles from the Cannondale, Specialized, BMC, and Pinarello brands
“We are very excited to be in our new location,” says David Conte, co-owner of the company. “Our Conte’s Bike Shop team is ready to welcome back new and familiar faces. Along with being in a much more robust shopping center, our new space will neighbor Road Runner Sports. Having the two stores next door to each other will bring excellent symmetry for anyone who is outdoor-minded. We can’t wait to continue serving the Falls Church community in our expanded location.”
Photo via Conte’s Bike Shop/Facebook
(Updated at 2:25 p.m.) Fairfax County is considering adopting an ordinance banning the use of plastic bags for yard waste and instead encouraging residents to transition toward greener alternatives.
Presented to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors during its environmental committee meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 27), the proposed ordinance states:
Yard waste shall be set out in paper yard waste bags, reusable containers, other storage devices as approved by the Director, or bundled with string as instructed by the collection provider and shall not weigh more than fifty pounds. Yard waste shall not be placed in plastic bags.
The Board of Supervisors voted on Feb. 25 to begin phasing out the use of plastic bags by both customers of private companies contracted to collect yard waste and residents in the county’s solid waste collection areas.
County staff with the Solid Waste Management Program worked with community and private haulers to encourage customers to use compostable paper bags or reusable containers instead for this year’s yard waste season, which began in March and ends in December.
A survey of more than 5,500 homes in Fairfax County found that plastic bags were still utilized in 51% of yard waste set outs in the evaluated Census tracts. 31% of set outs were done with reusable containers, 11% with paper bags, 6% as an uncontained yard pile, and 1% with compostable plastic bags.
“It’s been a transition yard waste season, essentially, to help homeowners, and people that are generating yard waste that have properties get used to not being able to use plastic,” Fairfax County director of engineering and environmental compliance Eric Forbes said. “We didn’t have a ban. This yard waste season is really a transition year.”
Seven other jurisdictions in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area already discourage or prohibit the use of plastic bags for yard waste collection. Loudoun County, for example, has required paper bags or reusable containers since 2002.
Fairfax County’s current ordinance regulating yard waste collection only dictates that it be “set out in bags, reusable containers, or in piles as instructed by the company which will be collecting them.”
Fairfax County staff anticipate formally requesting a public hearing on the proposal to amend and readopt the ordinance in January 2021, with an actual hearing expected to take place in February. If everything goes according to schedule, the new ordinance will be implemented in March in time for the next yard waste season.
“In March of 2021, as long as the ordinance change is adopted, implementation of the new ordinance will begin, basically banning plastic bags from the yard waste recycling stream,” Forbes said.
Forbes says homeowners should prepare their yard waste first by grasscycling, then composting if they have enough space, and finally compiling the waste in a reusable container or paper bag for curbside collection.
“Grasscycling is actually cutting the grass back into the lawn or mulching your leaves back in the lawn,” Forbes said. “And then backyard composting would be the next best alternative for those residents that have the space.”
If neither grasscycling or composting is an option, yard waste can be placed in reusable containers or paper yard waste bags for curbside collection, which are available at the big box stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s or Walmart, he said.
Additional information on yard waste management can be found on Fairfax County’s Public Works and Environmental Services website.
Photo via Fairfax County government
Fairfax Extends Early Voting Hours — During this last week of early voting, we have added two extra hours to vote early on both Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29 and 30. [Fairfax County]
Fairfax Connector Ridership Plummets — The Fairfax Connector bus network saw more of a fall-off in ridership during the initial phase of the COVID crisis than some of the region’s other bus systems, but less of a decline than Metrobus ridership across Northern Virginia. [Inside Nova]
Student Driver Crashes Into Town Official — Both vehicles then proceeded into the intersection and collided, Vienna police said. The student driver’s vehicle went up on the curb and struck a light post, causing minor damage, police said. [Inside Nova]
ArtsFairfax Gets Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Capital One Center — “Behind the scenes views from our hard hat tour with @capitalonecenter and @fairfaxcounty visiting @capitalonehall and The Perch.” [ArtsFairfax/Instagram]
