At a press conference yesterday, Gov. Ralph Northam said that he is increasing enforcement of public health and safety regulations to prevent a statewide surge in COVID-19 cases.
“If you own a restaurant or a business and you’re not following the regulations, your license will be on the line and we will not hesitate to take action if needed,” Northam said.
Northam said he’s created teams to conduct unannounced visits to establishments. Members will include people from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Virginia ABC, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and other licensing agencies. The VDH is deploying 100 employees to help with increased enforcement, he said.
Businesses have the right to refuse service to customers who are not following the rules. “Remember that you don’t have to serve a patron who is not wearing a face covering. You can tell them to leave,” Northam said.
Additionally, Virginia’s health commissioner sent letters to health district officials to remind them of their authority to enforce physical distancing and face-covering rules in restaurants and public places, Northam said.
“I want to make it clear that these enforcement actions are to stop the people who are clearly flouting the rules: You are being selfish and you are hurting everyone who is doing the right thing to help us all beat this virus,” Northam said.
The new measures stem from a large bump in cases in the state’s eastern region, mainly in the Tidewater region, Northam said, attributing to the surge mainly to young people socializing without masks.
“We’re seeing some troubling numbers,” Northam said, pointing to the Hampton Roads area.
The northwest region is “holding steady,” while the southwest and central areas have seen either small increases, Northam said. Northern Virginia, which has two-thirds of the state’s population, has seen a dip in COVID-19 cases.
Until a vaccine is widely available, Northam said that he is considering other actions, like reducing the cap on gatherings. Northam said has told the Virginia ABC to develop a plan for an earlier cutoff for alcohol sales at restaurants and will announce more on that soon.
Image via Facebook Live
Return to School — “As the school year approaches, new information is being revealed about how Falls Church City Public Schools will reopen. For the school district’s two elementary schools, there will be space to accommodate all students with social distancing, Superintendent Peter Noonan says.” [Falls Church Patch]
Donations Needed — “Homestretch, a nonprofit organization that helps families achieve self-sufficiency and permanent housing, put out a wish list of items that it is asking for in the form of community donations to support its clients during the Covid-19 pandemic.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Police Reform — “Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to review the county’s 9-1-1 dispatch and response systems. The aim is to enhance Diversion First strategies so that unarmed medical, human services, and mental health professionals are dispatched in response to calls where mental and behavioral health issues are involved.” [Vienna Patch]
Mexican restaurant El Sol is currently under construction after recently opening in Vienna.
El Sol has two locations, one in D.C. and one in Vienna’s Cedar Park Shopping Center. The restaurant is working on renovations and — as of a few months ago — was aiming to finish construction by the end of the summer or early fall of this year, according to Natalie Monkou, Vienna’s economic development director.
The parking lot construction and construction on the Cedar Lane Bridge, a central line to the shopping center, is making business tricky for businesses in the shopping center and other nearby businesses, according to Peggy James, the executive director of the Vienna Business Association.
“I have been in three locally-owned restaurants over there, and it is really bad for all,” said James, emphasizing the importance of supporting El Sol during the construction.
The Cedar Lane Bridge construction is scheduled to last from May through November, according to James.
El Sol has been serving Mexican cuisine since 2014. Chef Alfredo Solis and his sister Jessica opened up the restaurant together and serve Mexico City staples such as huaraches, tortas, and tacos, according to the restaurant’s website.
Another restaurant in the shopping center that is experiencing business trouble due to the construction is Crepes & Karak Cafe. The restaurant sells crepes, salads, coffee, smoothies and more.
“They have a nice social distance going on between their tables,” said James on the Vienna VA Business News Facebook group.
James encouraged Vienna residents to continue to support these businesses during the pandemic and the construction.
Photo via Lydia Russo on Vienna VA Foodies/Facebook
Dittmar wants to have a temporary “reading park” occupy a site along Leesburg Pike until work on a new hotel starts in a few years.
In 2014, Fairfax County officials approved plans for a hotel on the site, which is on the northbound side of Leesburg Pike at the intersection with Westpark Drive.
Now, Elizabeth Baker, a senior land use planner for Walsh Colucci, told Tysons Reporter that Dittmar plans to temporarily use the site for commercial parking, vehicle storage and the public park before starting work on the hotel.
Baker said that Dittmar expects work to start on the hotel in about five years because the residential development company is currently focused on a project in Rosslyn that will take several years to complete.
The Tysons site previously had a hotel, which has been torn down. Parking from that hotel is still available at the site, Baker said, adding that, until recently, the Meridian Group was using the site for construction staging and parking while The Boro development was underway.
Baker said that Dittmar is paying significant taxes on the site because of the future development. The company wants to make use of the site “so it doesn’t sit in its current state, which is not the most attractive for Tysons,” she said.
Currently, Dittmar has the right to offer commercial off-street parking, which they plan to pursue, Baker said. The developer is seeking the county’s permission to allow vehicle storage and create the pop-up park. The vehicle storage would benefit nearby dealerships who are losing storage due to new developments, Baker said.
“At the same time, [Dittmar is] looking to make some type of gesture toward the future with place-making activity,” Baker said. That’s where the park comes in.
The rectangular park would be located along the western portion of the property.
Baker said that she’s been working with Dittmar and Tysons Partnership on the interim park to serve as an “outdoor reading room” — a nod to the future community library proffered in Tysons.
Sol Glasner, Tysons Partnership’s president and CEO, told Tysons Reporter last week that public parks are one of the key components that the organization is looking into as the area continues to urbanize.
“It is definitely a topic that is a very, very significant topic for Tysons and other urban centers,” he said.
Designed for all ages, the park would have lounging chairs for people who want to read, an outdoor library and food trucks, Baker said.
“It’s a different theme on a pop-up park,” Baker said. “I think it’s kind of fun.”
Baker said that newly accepted application does not yet have a proposed timeline from Fairfax County staff, but she’s hopeful it will take four to five months to progress through the county’s approval process.
Images via Walsh Colucci
Caffe Amouri is holding an outdoor birthday party today with ice cream, e-bikes, books and, of course, coffee.
The coffee shop opened in the Town of Vienna 10 years ago.
“On the morning of July 14, 2010, I was standing inside an entirely new business… A coffeehouse opening in the midst of the worst economic downturn in a generation and within three blocks of two Starbucks,” a Facebook post said.
Owner Michael Amouri told Tysons Reporter that all of the proceeds from today’s event at 107 Church Street NE will go to Neighborhood Health, which provides primary care in Alexandria and Arlington and Fairfax counties.
Bards Alley is offering a pop-up bookstore, Bikes@Vienna has a “sustainable transportation” demo with e-bikes and Caffe Amouri is doing hand-pour demos and providing coffee samplings, Amouri said. Caffe Amouri is also serving affogato — espresso over Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
Flyer for @caffeamouri's birthday party today in @TownofViennaVA pic.twitter.com/Evmcu9DQzs
— Catherine Douglas Moran (@c_douglasmoran) July 14, 2020
Photo via Caffe Amouri/Facebook
Tesla competitor Lucid Motors is planning on opening a studio in Tysons Corner Center.
The company announced plans on Wednesday, July 8, to open 20 studios and service centers in North America by the end of 2021.
Of the new studios, the Tysons one is listed among nine locations, including several in California and Florida, the company plans to focus on immediately debuting.
More from Lucid:
All Studios feature a California-inspired aesthetic where you can explore the Lucid Air’s advanced technology in a warm atmosphere of natural, sustainable materials. Lucid Studios are engaging spaces, designed to start conversations and provide education about the performance and efficiency benchmarks possible in an electric vehicle.
The Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that Lucid plans to employ 40 people at each of the new studios. “The company currently employs more than 1,000 and plans to add 700 more by the end of the year when production at its new factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, ramps up,” WBJ noted.
The Lucid studio will join Tesla in Tysons. Tesla currently has a store at Tysons Corner Center and showroom at 8500 Tyco Road.
The company plans to reveal its new luxury electric vehicle, Lucid Air, on Sept. 9. In addition to the unveiling, Lucid said it will roll out a new website that will allow people to customize their cars.
Photo courtesy Lucid
An online petition created by two Fairfax County Public Schools graduates is calling on the school system to improve its Black history curricula.
Tyler Hensen and Rachel Murphy, who are both graduates from 2012, launched the Change.org petition, which states that the school system’s curricula are insufficient to address systemic racism.
Here’s more from the petition, which has gained more than 800 signatures so far:
FCPS has played an important role in providing a safe and encouraging place for us to grow as students and world citizens. We have each had our lives positively impacted by the care of hardworking teachers and staff who opened our minds to a range of issues, fields, and passions. In a school system that is home to students who speak over 200 languages, FCPS prides itself on the racial and cultural diversity of its students and staff. However, there is a deficiency in our classrooms regarding education on issues of structural, institutional, individual, and systemic racism. Thus, we are calling for action to be made in the existing curricula and culture, for this action to be overseen by a committee that is responsible and responsive to all stakeholders in the County, and a public statement released by the FCPS School Board committing to lasting change.
We know that this proposal is the beginning of an ongoing conversation between our administration, community, and student body. The basis of justice, equity, and change begins with a properly educated and informed generation. We propose a list of tangible actions which are available to be read here.
In a recent statement, FCPS said teachers are working hard to improve the social studies curriculum:
A group of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) teachers have been collaborating with colleagues from five other Virginia school districts to create a social studies curriculum that presents diverse perspectives and challenges students to critically examine materials, events, and institutions for bias, identity, and multiple perspectives. The new curriculum will be available to students in grades 3, 4, 6, 7, and 11 as soon as this fall.
Beginning in 2018 under the umbrella of the Virginia Inquiry Collaborative, FCPS teachers worked with colleagues from Albemarle County, Virginia Beach City, and Charlottesville, and later Madison County and Powhatan County Schools, to collaborate aroundcurriculum development designed for use across Virginia, beginning with a focus on fourth grade Virginia Studies.
According to a WUSA 9 report, the students said they believe their understanding of slavery and racism represents a “tremendous deficiency in the understanding that we are then released into the world as young adults with this really deficient understanding of how we are perpetuating a problem.”
They want the new curricula to emphasize the historical impact of Black leaders, writers, artists, and thinkers.
The petition also calls on FCPS to create a committee that oversees the implementation of “anti-racism” into the curricula and culture.
Photo via Sam Balye/Unsplash
Keeping Coronavirus Out of Classrooms — “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday students will not be able to return to classrooms in the fall if the state is unable to stay within phase three of its Covid-19 reopening plan.” [Washington Business Journal]
Food Donations in Falls Church — “On the Fourth of July, over 1,700 families received food and household goods during the second onsite distribution hosted at The Falls Church Anglican.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Police Plaza Proposals — “The Vienna Town Council on July 6 tentatively selected a design option for the new Vienna Police Headquarters’ community plaza, but left open the potential for building in more green space at the site.” [Inside NoVa]
Town Hall Tonight — School Board members Karl Frisch and Rachna Sizemore Heizer will host a virtual town hall tonight from 7:30-8:30 p.m. to discuss the Return to School plans. People can participate via Zoom or Facebook Live. [Facebook]
The Boro in Tysons plans to keep some outdoor space set aside for pedestrians.
Currently, a portion of the Tysons development has been set aside for pedestrians, live entertainment and outdoor seating for its restaurants. The Boro announced the changes when it unveiled its drive-in movies.
Now, The Boro plans to maintain the section for pedestrians after the drive-in movies stop, according to recent social media posts.
People can head to The Boro on Fridays for live entertainment, the tweet said.
The McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) is debuting its first online exhibit this week.
Called “SHIFT,” the exhibit will open on Wednesday, July 15, with an online reception from 7-8 p.m. The exhibit will explore concepts of change or exchange in the paradigm, position, dreams, environment, perspective and more.
“So much has changed in our world in the last few months, in ways both personal, political and global,” Nancy Sausser, MPA’s director of exhibitions, said.
The exhibit, juried by Henry Thaggert and Sarah Tanguy, will feature 48 artists from the mid-Atlantic region, according to a statement from the group. The works displayed in the exhibit were chosen from more than 250 submissions, according to Sausser.
Artists were asked to answer the question, “How has your world been affected by this ‘SHIFT’ in our lives?”
The exhibition will be available from July 15-Aug. 27.
Photo courtesy McLean Project for the Arts
