If you’ve been getting more in touch with your artistic side over quarantine and would like a little feedback, a free artist workshop in Falls Church is meeting virtually to offer feedback.
On Monday, Oct. 5, and the first Monday of every month after, Falls Church Arts is hosting a virtual “cafe” via Zoom to critique and discuss art at all levels of skill or experience.
“It is a free event, an artist cafe and critique group,” said Ruth Altheim, a member of the Falls Church Arts Board of Directors. “We email a picture of the artwork to the facilitator, Pamela Huffman, the day before and when we’re on zoom, Pamela shares the images from her computer screen so all participates can easily see and comment on the artworks.”
The cafe runs from noon to 2 p.m. and invites can be received by emailing [email protected].
“Show a piece of art you’d like feedback on — something new or old, something in progress or complete –and our community of artists will share their thoughts,” Falls Church Arts said in a press release. “The meeting is open to all so invite your artist friends. Feel free to participate even if you don’t have a piece to share this time.”
The Washington Nationals are headed to Tysons Corner Center for their third and final blood drive of the year.
The blood drive will be hosted by appointment or people can show up and donate the dya of the event.
“All blood donors will receive a free Washington Nationals/Inova Blood Donor Services t-shirt and reusable water bottle,” the event organizers said on Facebook. “Snacks and other treats will be provided by mall eateries.”
The program is scheduled to run from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. at the former Lord and Taylor. Photo ID and masks are required, though a mask will be provided if needed. The Inova website noted that one hour should generally be set aside for the appointment.
School Staff Say Only 48 Hours Given to Decide Whether to Stay or Quit — “According to the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT), FCPS emailed some staff members two days ago asking them to decide on whether to accept an in-person position. The FCFT said the email from the school system gave staff members until Oct. 2 at 4:30 p.m. to make a decision.” [wusa9]
Mary Riley Styles Public Library Reopens Book Drop — “The moment you’ve been waiting for …. Our outside book drop is finally OPEN!” [Twitter]
Developer Association Launches $175 Virtual Bus Tour — “The 2020 NAIOP Northern Virginia Bus Tour is going virtual. The bus tour will be presented in three 45-minute online tours.” [NAIOP]
Fairfax County Discourages Traditional Trick or Treating — “To keep the number of new COVID-19 cases low, we must all do our part to stop the spread of the virus. This includes finding new and socially distant ways to celebrate the upcoming Halloween holiday.” [Fairfax County Emergency Information]
Staff photo by Jay Westcott
It’s been a long and bumpy road, but the 26-story mixed-use building replacing J.R.’s Stockyards Inn finally has its long-sought Board of Supervisors approval.
Attorney John McGranahan acknowledged the new development had been a challenge to push forward.
“This was a challenging case,” McGranahan said. “The big issue was consolidation.
The project had faced pushback after staff argued earlier iterations of the project didn’t meet goals for promoting the Tysons street grid or public park space, but ultimately the plan was altered and a street grid implemented to staff’s satisfaction.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting earlier this week, both the applicant and supervisors expressed optimism about what the new development could bring to the area.
“The idea is that this would be that building would be the first redeveloped site in sub-area 5 of Tysons and would spark other neighbors to come in with their own development proposals,” McGranahan said. “We saw this as the first piece of a puzzle.”
Supervisor Walter Alcorn, representing the Hunter Mill District, expressed similar hopes.
“This is a really interesting step in Tysons in terms of how, potentially, smaller properties can come forward and help achieve the broader goals,” Alcorn said. “I want to compliment both the applicant and staff, this looks pretty good.”
Palchik called it a keystone development that will act as a catalyst for future development in the area near the Tysons Corner Center.
“It is nice to see, while we’re losing a nostalgic landmark for a lot of us, it is nice to see the evolution in Tysons and some of the original owners who have seen a lot of the changes around them happen [are] able to participate in that,” Chair Jeff McKay said.
Image via KGD Architecture
Officially, there is no Oktoberfest in Vienna this year.
Unofficially, Caboose Tavern in Vienna (520 Mill Road NE) is preparing to launch a weekend of German food and Caboose beers starting tomorrow (Friday).
“Vienna Oktoberfest may be cancelled this year, but you can still enjoy some German inspired food and some Caboose beers all weekend long!” Caboose Tavern said in an event listing. “Join us October 2-4 at Caboose Tavern!”
The event is scheduled to run daily from 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.
Among the beer selection is Oktoberfest Marzen, described as a malty German amber lager.
The celebration comes after a summer of hardship and fundraising for Caboose, which ran a food donation program to help local families.
Image via Caboose Tavern/Facebook
In the series of Q&A discussions, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) discussed plans to extend the 495 express lanes to the American Legion Bridge. Concerns from local residents about the project ranged from impact on the road to impact on surrounding communities.
While VDOT mostly maintained that the project will help travel times on I-495 and reduce impact on nearby neighborhood traffic, there were other areas where VDOT said the I-495 expansion may not live up to some hopes.
Implementation of dedicated transit, for instance, may not be in the cards without a public subsidy.
“Currently our number one goal is no public subsidies or funding to have this improvement on the Beltway,” said Susan Shaw, director of mega-projects for VDOT. “There’s not been any decision made about whether there would be additional revenue available for any type of transit, and there hasn’t been that kind of commitment, but we’re in discussions with Transurban. First and foremost goal is to complete the project without any public subsidy.”
In response to concerns about 118 acres of tree loss associated with the project, Shaw also said equal reforestation could be tricky.
“When we do reforestation, it needs to be within VDOT write of way,” Shaw said. “We’re often challenged to find space in right of way to do reforestation. Right now, we don’t have a specific budget. That will be something we work through as part of our work as we move into the final design.”
Shaw said the 118 acres projection would be maximum tree loss and VDOT is still working to minimize that.
The project is intended to add more capacity to I-495 to take some of the cut-through traffic off nearby McLean streets, though there are concerns without expansion of the American Legion Bridge and expansion on the Maryland side, the express lanes will only push the bottleneck further north.
Photo via Google Maps
A new task force dedicated to holding onto Fairfax’s limited affordable housing is scheduled to start meeting later today.
Tysons is trying to become a city, but one of the largest hurdles remains trying to create and preserve a range of affordable housing options. The new Affordable Housing Preservation Task Force is focused on drafting policies to keep the county’s limited affordable housing stock around as areas like Tysons start to develop.
According to the task force website:
Key issues to be addressed will include:
- Definitions for the types of preservation that can occur in communities
- Typology of properties at risk and characteristics to guide prioritizing properties or neighborhoods in need of action sooner
- A comprehensive set of preservation strategies the includes recommended policies and tools to achieve the goal of no net loss of affordability
The first meeting today is scheduled to focus on foundational work like setting the mission in stone and establishing a timeline for new policies and initiatives.
Most of the discussion around affordable housing in Tysons comes with new units added as part of development deals with the County, though some of those plans have stumbled and other redevelopment has pushed out previously affordable housing stock.
If you’ve been to absentee in-person voting and the lines have seemed particularly long, you’re not alone.
Fairfax voters have been lining up at 12000 Government Center Parkway to cast their ballots early and avoid election day crowds, only to find themselves in long lines with other early voters turning up in record numbers.
Some said the numbers seemed to swell yesterday after the debate, but Public Information Officer Brian Worthy said the numbers have been pretty consistent.
“At least to me, it doesn’t seem like the lines are any longer, and I’ve been here at the Government Center for every day of early voting since it began,” Worthy said.
Last night's debate leading to even longer lines in Fairfax County- with still no extra rooms opened to allow people to vote faster. Limit of 5 voters to voting room, where they have to fill out paperwork, get checked in then fill out ballot. Complete debacle.
— Ben Tribbett (@notlarrysabato) September 30, 2020
Worthy said COVID-19 precautions have made wait times longer than usual.
“Since the start of early voting on Friday, Sept. 18, we have had two polling places open in the Government Center, and… we’re limiting the number of people in at any one time for the safety of both voters and poll workers,” Worthy said. “Similarly, we’re keep the line outside because it’s safer for voters to wait there rather than inside the building. As result of COVID, voting is taking longer.”
A county employee at the location said despite the long lines, it was a fraction of what the line was like on previous days.
Two voters, Karen and James Shaver, said they watched the debate the previous night. They described it as “loud” but said it didn’t sway their vote.
In addition to the long lines, voters have endured harassment and attempts to keep people out of the building from supporters of President Donald Trump.
As you can see here they are blocking the entrance to the voting site. #EarlyVoting #VA #FairFax pic.twitter.com/KJ6fbLdP3G
— Anthony Tilghman (@AnthonyTilghman) September 19, 2020
Worthy said the lines should be alleviated by plans to open up satellite facilities for voting later this month.
“We’re opening additional early voting sites on Oct. 14,” Worthy said. “We’ll have 14 additional locations open that day (including the Government Center) with a total of 15 starting on Saturday, Oct. 17.”
Voting facilities in the Tysons area include:
- McLean Governmental Center (1437 Balls Hill Road)
- Providence Community Center (3001 Vaden Drive)
- Tysons Pimmit Library (7584 Leesburg Pike)
- Thomas Jefferson Library (7415 Arlington Blvd.)
Jay Westcott contributed to this story
The arrival of October usually means the beginning of a month full of fall and Halloween festivities. However, in pandemic times, the seasonal celebration might look a little bit different — trick-or-treating in particular.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a list of guidelines to take when planning for fall and winter holidays, including Halloween at the end of this month. Festivities were ranked low-risk to high-risk, allowing people to gauge what level of risk they are comfortable taking when participating in the holiday.
Some low-risk Halloween ideas include carving pumpkins with family, having a virtual costume contest or holding a trick-or-treat style scavenger hunt around your home.
One-way trick-or-treating with pre-wrapped goodie bags was recommended by the CDC as a moderate-risk activity. Traditional trick-or-treating, however, was listed as a higher-risk activity.
Considering recommendations regarding pandemic trick-or-treating and the likelihood of children hunting for candy, will you be handing out goodies this year? Will you be doing so traditionally, modifying the candy giveaway, or skipping the activity altogether?
Photo by NeONBRAND/Unsplash
Businesses and local governments alike are sorting out how best to continue local restaurant and retail operations as winter starts to make outdoor options less viable.
The Board of Supervisors announced plans yesterday to start loosening restrictions on outdoor tents, and the Town of Vienna is planning a virtual talk early next month to discuss winterization options and plans for local restaurants and entertainment businesses.
“Join the Town of Vienna Economic Development Department for our kickoff event on a two-part series on business winterization during COVID-19,” Vienna’s Economic Development Office said in an event listing. “We will address the ‘new normal’ for restaurant and entertainment businesses brought about by economic and social changes of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The first discussion, planned for Thursday, Oct. 8, will focus on stimulating and sustaining dining and entertainment as the temperature drops. According to the event page:
We will examine:
- If outdoor dining and entertainment can help increase restaurant and retail sales throughout the health crisis
- How restaurants can stimulate and sustain dining and entertainment as we move into colder weather
- Locating funding and technical assistance to help with the expansion of outdoor and entertainment areas
- Mastering and streamlining takeout and delivery procedures
The round table discussion is scheduled to include several local business owners and regional restauranteurs. The event is scheduled to run from 10-11:30 a.m. and accessible via Zoom link provided after registering.
