A food hall that opened in D.C.’s Chinatown this summer already has its eye on Tysons for a second location.
Restauranteur Zong Chen, one of the operators of Luna Hall DC (625 H Street NW), has leased 6,800 square feet on the ground floor of 8201 Greensboro Drive, a 12-story office building near Tysons Galleria, the Washington Business Journal reported yesterday.
The space previously belonged to Sapphire Tysons, an Indian restaurant that has now closed.
It’s unclear what eateries will occupy the new food hall and when it might open. Luna Hall didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
However, Chen told the WBJ that the Chinatown location has drawn customers from Northern Virginia and Maryland, inspiring the plan to expand into D.C.’s suburbs.
“We have people driving from Arlington and Tysons saying this is the best dumpling you can get locally,” Chen said to the WBJ. “People come to us because we make delicious food, so I want to do this deal.”
Luna Hall had a soft opening in D.C. on June 7, initially introducing Kung Fu Tea and TKK Fried Chicken franchises before adding new concepts: Dumpling District (not to be confused with District Dumplings in the Mosaic District) and Pollo Aria, a Peruvian chicken eatery.
According to the WBJ, Chen is also planning to add food halls at Pike Center in Rockville and in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Metro Silver Line Extension Is One Year Old — “One year ago, we opened phase two of the Silver Line Extension! [On Nov. 15], we’re celebrating 3.5 MILLION trips at the 6 new stations. Take a look back at the big day that started it all and see all the excitement!” [WMATA/Twitter]
Virginia Representatives Continue Call for Review of FBI HQ Decision — “Both U.S. senators from Virginia and nine U.S. House members called for an investigation Wednesday into how Greenbelt, Maryland, was chosen as the future site of the FBI headquarters. A letter…to the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General cites a ‘fatally flawed procurement that demands further investigation.'” [NBC4]
Fairfax Lawmaker Chosen to Lead Senate Democrats — “In separate, closed-door gatherings in Northern Virginia, Democrats elected Sen. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) majority leader while Republicans made Sen. Ryan T. McDougle (R-Hanover) minority leader.” Surovell won over Sen. Mamie Locke from Hampton “in a hard-fought internal party battle that turned on issues of race, gender and regional power.” [Washington Post]
Solution Sought for Trash on Annandale Road — “More than 50 people removed trash, furniture, and construction debris from American Drive in Annandale on Veterans Day, reports Amy Gould, who has been organizing cleanup events along that roadway for years…Much of the construction debris was left by building contractors who don’t have reasonable alternatives for dumping it somewhere else, Gould says.” [Annandale Today]
Alcorn Gets Answers to Casino Questions — “While there is no active proposal at this time, I continue to oppose the placement of a casino in the Hunter Mill District. My hope (and bet) is that the best way for the community, my colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, and our General Assembly delegation to get to this same conclusion is to maximum transparency of the process and have a thorough community vetting of the relevant facts.” [Hunter Mill District News]
Ways to Fight Hunger and Homelessness — “The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger designate the week prior to Thanksgiving as National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Food insecurity impacts more than 60,000 people in Fairfax County, according to Feeding America.” This year’s point-in-time count found 1,310 unhoused people in the county. [Fairfax County Government]
State Grant Will Help Stabilize Pohick Creek — “The Commonwealth’s grant for Fairfax County will support an overall $510,000 project to evaluate and design the stabilization of a portion of Pohick Creek near the Noman M. Cole Jr. Pollution Control Plant in Lorton. County officials are concerned that future flooding and erosion might damage process facilities at the plant, impacting wastewater treatment service for Fort Belvoir and potentially resulting in the release of untreated sewage.” [On the MoVe]
Vienna Plans Lottery to Choose Holiday Displays — The Town of Vienna is inviting residents to “create their own festive holiday display” that will accompany a decorated, evergreen tree outside the Freeman Store. “Up to three displays will be selected through a lottery process, and the deadline to submit proposals is 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17.” [Town of Vienna]
It’s Thursday — Expect a sunny day with a high temperature near 66 degrees and a light variable wind that will shift to the south at around 6 mph during the morning. For Thursday night, the sky will be mostly clear as the temperature drops to around 45 degrees. [Weather.gov]
The Dunn Loring Metro station’s new “beerstro” is set to pour its first official brew tomorrow (Thursday).
The Casual Pint, a pub specializing in craft beer, will throw a grand opening celebration for its Dunn Loring franchise (2676 Avenir Place, Unit F), starting with a first toast at noon, according to a media advisory.
Festivities are planned throughout the day, and supervisors Dalia Palchik (Providence) and John Foust (Dranesville) are expected to attend.
Franchise owners Jenn Longmeyer-Wood and Derek Adams previously told FFXnow that they hope to create a casual, family-friendly gathering spot where local residents can “hang out and just keep it easy.”
Residents of McLean, the pair worked at The Casual Pint in Seven Corners — the Tennessee-based company’s only other location in Northern Virginia so far — before deciding to open their own franchise.
In Dunn Loring, the 1,753-square-foot pub can seat 42 people indoors, including 10 at the bar. Outdoor seating is also available in The Shops at Avenir Place’s courtyard, which Adams and Longmeyer-Wood hope will host musical performances and other events in the future.
Here’s more from The Casual Pint on its food and drink offerings:
CASUAL PINT BEERS & BEVERAGES:
Casual Pint of Dunn Loring’s expertly curated selection of beers includes options from a 22-tap draft beer system, as well as single beer cans and bottles available for purchase to drink on-site or take home along with crowlers and growlers available to-go. According to Adams, their craft beer selection will always include IPAs, Pilsner and a dark brew or two on tap, as well as at least one cider and seasonal offerings. The restaurant also serves a curated range of wines, ciders, non-alcoholic beers, and various soft drinks for a diverse beverage experience.
CASUAL PINT MENU:
Casual Pint of Dunn Loring features a small menu of all-star classic fare, including 12-inch handmade German pretzels from woman-owned Prop and Peller, served with house made beer cheese. Additionally, customers can enjoy brats, burgers, flatbread pizzas, wings, salads and wraps. Eventually, the team will begin adding seasonal items and regional specialties, incorporating ingredients and items from local butchers, locally grown vegetables, and locally owned/small-business specialty items.
Diners can also take the full Casual Pint experience home with food and craft beer to go, including Growler Fills, Mix-A-Six Packs out of our bottle & can cooler or packaged beer off the dry shelves. Kegs are also available for any occasion with advance orders.
The Casual Pint of Dunn Loring will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
(Updated at 10 a.m. on 11/16/2023) A week after polls closed, the next mayors and councils for the towns of Vienna and Clifton have been decided.
The Fairfax County Electoral Board certified the local race results for this year’s general election yesterday (Tuesday), including for a Vienna Town Council contest where write-in votes exceeded votes for two of the seven candidates on the ballot.
However, none of the submitted candidates received enough votes to shift the outcome of the race, according to the Fairfax County Office of Elections. Vienna Transportation Safety Commission chair Beth Eachus, who began campaigning as a write-in candidate in September, received 1,803 of the 2,073 write-in votes, county election officials said.
The names and vote totals of the other write-ins weren’t identified.
Instead, budget analyst and former Fairfax County School Board candidate Sandra Allen has secured the last of six council seats with 2,053 votes — just seven more than the 2,046 that went to Shelley Mountjoy, a former community college professor and creator of the Vienna Votes outreach project.
Allen will join Vienna Planning Commissioner Jessica Ramakis and Board of Architectural Review Chair Roy Baldwin as newcomers to the council. All three incumbents — Howard Springsteen, Chuck Anderson and Ray Brill — won reelection.
A total of 5,981 ballots were cast in the town council race — a 48.5% turnout rate for the town’s 12,323 registered voters, according to the county elections office.
With voters allowed to choose up to six candidates, the 22,463 votes cast broke down as follows:
- Howard J. Springsteen — 3,535
- Jessica Ramakis — 3,465
- Charles “Chuck” Anderson — 3,418
- Ray Brill, Jr. — 2,951
- Roy J. Baldwin — 2,922
- Sandra Allen — 2,053
- Shelley Mountjoy — 2,046
- Write-in votes — 2,073
Mayor Linda Colbert also won a second term after running unopposed.
This was the Town of Vienna’s first November election since the Virginia General Assembly adopted a law in 2021 requiring all municipal elections still held in May to move.
Clifton mayor defeated by write-in votes
While Vienna didn’t see a successful write-in campaign, Clifton Mayor William Hollaway has been unseated after receiving 62 votes — five fewer than write-in candidate Thomas Peterson, according to the Virginia Department of Election results. A total of 131 votes were cast.
A lawyer, Holloway hasn’t faced any official opponents since 2010, when he was first elected as mayor.
His successor will be a familiar face for the town’s 330 residents. Peterson previously served as mayor of Clifton in 2006 to 2010, and his family runs the popular Peterson’s Ice Cream Depot.
Peterson told NBC4 that his wife had encouraged him to run after the candidate filing deadline had passed. His campaign consisted of just 10 yard signs, but Clifton voters “were excited to actually have a choice for the first time in 12 years,” NBC4 reported.
The Clifton Town Council race, which featured five official candidates vying for five seats, also saw a write-in victor in Mary Hess, who received 71 of the 471 total votes cast — more than incumbents Stephen Effros (65) and Darrell Poe (48).
Fairfax County’s overall voter turnout for the 2023 general election ended at 41.1%, a slight drop from the last time local races were on the ballot in 2019, according to the county elections office. The 323,816 ballots tallied include 3,900 provisional ballots and 9,476 mail-in ballots received after Election Day on Nov. 7.
New Study Shows Climate Change Risks in D.C. Area — “The latest National Climate Assessment shows the D.C. region is especially at risk of extreme weather, flooding, and sea level rise as the earth warms. The congressionally mandated assessment, released [Tuesday], also shows uneven progress in the region responding to a hotter planet.” [DCist]
FCPS Seeks to Address Chronic Absenteeism — At a school board meeting last Thursday (Nov. 9), Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid reported that the percentage of students missing 10% or more of the school year has climbed from 5.1% in 2021 to 17.1% this year. The school system “is looking at a multitiered approach to improve attendance.” [WJLA]
Lorton Nonprofit Launches Health Services Initiative — The Lorton Community Action Center’s new “All Can Be Healthy” initiative “is designed to provide expanded nutritional assistance, more accessible health services and educational programs to around 1,300 community members, according to a Nov. 9 LCAC press release.” [On the MoVe]
Virginia Expands Native Tree Pilot Program — The Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) will expand its Throwing Shade VA program, which offers discounts on native trees and shrubs, to 10 retail nurseries next spring. The program launched earlier this year with a two-month pilot that included three participants, including Burke Nursery & Garden Center. [Gazette Leader]
Herndon Satellite Company Reports Growth — “BlackSky, whose small imaging satellites collect high-resolution images for government and commercial customers, saw a 26% year-over-year gain in quarterly revenue, driven by growing demand by intelligence agencies globally for its detailed imagery. The company also reported its first quarterly profit since going public.” [WTOP]
Vienna Awards Halloween Parade Floats — “The James Madison High School Crew Team emerged as the big winner in the 2023 Vienna Halloween Parade. The team’s pirate ship float took the highest honor for Best in Parade for its overall performance and costumes that tied in with this year’s theme, ‘Cartoons and Comics.'” [Town of Vienna]
Herndon Band Still Fundraising for Hawaii Trip — “The Herndon High School Band, known as ‘The Pride,’ has been selected as Virginia’s representative to the 2023 Pearl Harbor Memorial Day Parade in Hawaii. Students will have the opportunity to play at the USS Missouri and during the parade.” The band remains $5,000 short of its fundraising goal to cover equipment shipping and traveling expenses. [Patch]
Painted Benches Auctioned to Support Vienna Art — “The Vienna Arts Society’s ‘Take a Seat Vienna’ bench auction, held Nov. 11 at the Vienna Community Center, showcased the creativity of its members and raised a still-being-tabulated amount of money for the organization. Hundreds of people crowded into the community center’s new gymnasium, where all 40 benches painted by VAS members were arrayed for viewing and hoped-for purchase.” [Gazette Leader]
It’s Wednesday — Expect mostly sunny skies with temperatures reaching a high of around 57 degrees. Winds will be light and variable before shifting south at 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Night will be partly cloudy, with a low of 38 degrees. [Weather.gov]
The two-year period before the arrival of Gov. Glenn Youngkin was the first time in decades that Democrats controlled both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly. Come January, they’ll be back in charge.
That sets up a policymaking dynamic that hasn’t been seen in Virginia since the 1990s: A Republican governor working with a fully Democratic legislature.
Because Youngkin will still be able to veto anything the slim Democratic majorities send to his desk, it won’t be anything like the burst of legislative breakthroughs on big topics that Democrats pushed through in 2020 and 2021. With a 21-19 majority in the state Senate and a 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates, Democrats lack the supermajorities needed to override vetoes and enact new laws over Youngkin’s opposition.
After a redistricting-fueled retirement boom earlier this year, more than a third of the candidates elected to General Assembly seats last week will be new to the body, adding a new element of unpredictability to how votes might shake out.
It’s unclear what might top the state’s legislative agenda once the new legislature is seated, but here’s a look at what last Tuesday’s results could mean for a few big policy issues.
A new push for abortion rights
It wasn’t a sure bet Republicans would have had the votes to pass Youngkin’s 15-week abortion ban even if they won majorities. But new limits on abortion are now a nonstarter after Democrats won on promises to stop them.
Winning both chambers gives Democrats the chance to play offense on abortion rights, and they don’t need the governor to do it.
At a post-election news conference last week, abortion rights advocates said they want the new Democratic majorities to begin the multi-year process of amending Virginia’s constitution to protect abortion access.
“Our victory on Tuesday allows us to work with these majorities to advance a constitutional amendment that will be on Virginia’s ballot in 2026 when we keep an abortion-rights majority in 2025,” said Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.
Under Virginia’s system, constitutional amendments have to pass the General Assembly two years in a row, with an election in between. That means the General Assembly would have to pass an abortion rights amendment in the 2025 and 2026 sessions, with voters having the final say in the fall of 2026.
Though the Democratic-controlled Senate already passed an abortion rights amendment earlier this year that failed in the Republican-led House of Delegates, Lockhart indicated the amendment’s specifics could change now that Democrats have the ability to give it initial passage.
A similar abortion rights constitutional amendment that passed in Ohio this week included clear language allowing abortion limits past the point of fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks. The initial amendment proposed in Virginia didn’t mention fetal viability as a valid reason to restrict abortion access, leading critics to argue it could override Virginia’s existing law banning abortion in the third trimester. During the campaign season, many Democratic candidates said they wanted to keep Virginia’s abortion laws unchanged.
A shift on education?
Youngkin has portrayed himself as being at the vanguard of a parents’ rights movement by restoring a preeminent role for parents in K-12 schools that he says have been derailed by left-wing leaders. Democrats have attacked him as an enemy of public education and accused him of stoking culture war fights over critical race theory, sexual content in books and accommodations for transgender students.
Those fights could very well continue, but the election results showed there’s a limit to the conservative pushback over the direction of public schools. Democrats can try to repeal or roll back some of Youngkin’s education policies, but the governor can still wield the veto and his appointees will continue to control the Virginia Board of Education. A stalemate on more controversial school-related issues could precede a pivot toward the more nuts-and-bolts elements of education, such as funding levels, teacher pay, testing reform and student performance.
After campaigning on more school funding and better pay for educators, Democrats and their allies hailed Tuesday’s results as a clear victory for public education.
“This means that our communities want to fully fund our public schools,” House Minority Leader Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, said at an election party late Tuesday night when it became clear Democrats had won enough seats to make him the state’s first Black House speaker. “This means that our communities said, ‘don’t turn teachers against parents and [have] students snitching on teachers for teaching about our history.’ They said ‘no we don’t want that. Don’t ban books. We don’t want that.’”
Youngkin also stressed education as an ongoing priority at his post-election news conference, without dropping hints about specific areas of focus.
“Educational excellence, and making sure that our children have an opportunity to not just go to school but receive an extraordinary education, continues to be hugely important,” the governor said.
Youngkin has had mixed success pushing for more alternatives to traditional public schools, but those efforts are also likely to stall in a less-friendly legislature.
New hope for weed dispensaries
Bipartisan efforts to legalize retail sales of marijuana have failed in the last two sessions largely because the Youngkin administration’s quiet opposition has prevented the legislation from reaching his desk.
A fully Democratic General Assembly might not be as inclined to let the governor avoid the issue.
Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Fairfax, who has sponsored retail sales bills in the past, said he intends to keep pushing forward on the issue.
“It will still be an accomplishment if we can all agree on a bill,” Ebbin said in an interview.. “Whether or not we can agree on something that the governor will live with remains to be ascertained.”
Democrats legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2021 and allowed adults to grow up to four marijuana plants at home;Democratic victories last week closed the door on the possibility of Republicans rolling back those laws. The state also has a small medical marijuana industry.
Authorizing recreational sales has been a tougher puzzle to solve because of differing viewpoints on how that industry should be structured and who should be allowed to profit from it.
Democrats and some Republicans have argued that moving forward with regulated retail dispensaries is the best way to rein in the booming unregulated market for cannabis products.
JM Pedini, executive director of pro-legalization group Virginia NORML, said the election result “clears a path” for something to get to Youngkin’s desk.
“However, without the supermajority of votes required to overturn a veto, any serious adult-use retail legislation must be both pragmatic and palatable in order to succeed,” Pedini said. “The bill should be easy to read, narrow in scope, and will absolutely require bipartisan support.
Budget and tax cuts
Youngkin has gotten billions in tax relief passed in his first two years with bipartisan support, including the $200 per person rebate payments that went out just before the elections. But his more aspirational calls to cut the corporate tax rate and lower the top income tax rate are most likely dead under Democratic control.
Because the budget begins with the Youngkin administration, it will remain one of the most direct ways for the governor to lay out his priorities and make new proposals. However, any new tax-cutting plans he sends down are likely to face an even tougher reception now that Democrats are in charge of both General Assembly money committees.
Some bipartisan tax ideas — such as overhauling the state’s outdated income tax structure in which the highest bracket starts at $17,000 in income — were left on the table in the last round of budget negotiations.
There are also signs the relatively flush years for the state budget coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic are coming to an end as federal relief dollars disappear. Earlier this month, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported next year’s budget is expected to be much tighter, and that Youngkin is proposing spending cuts for some state agencies.
One of the governor’s main budgetary priorities has been overhauling the state’s struggling mental health system, a relatively apolitical issue that’s likely to continue to be a focus moving forward.
The governor is scheduled to introduce his budget proposal next month.
More gun-control bills
Though Youngkin ran as a gun-rights supporter, he hasn’t fully embraced the absolutist rhetoric of groups like the National Rifle Association.
His views might be tested in the new legislature, with Democrats promising to push forward with enhancements to the state’s red flag law and toughening laws requiring gun owners to keep firearms locked up away from children.
“The first bill I will submit in the Senate is the safe storage legislation I’ve carried in the House. We can and must do more to keep our kids safe from gun violence,” Sen.-elect Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico said on X after defeating Republican Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant. “The Governor should sign it when it passes the House and Senate.”
After a 6-year-old student shot a teacher at a Newport News Elementary School early this year, VanValkenburg introduced a bill that would’ve created criminal penalties for gun owners if their firearms are taken by minors and used to commit a crime or violence. Opponents argued the state’s existing laws already criminalized that behavior in other ways. The mother of the Newport News shooter pleaded guilty to felony child neglect in August, but her charge of endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm was set aside in court.
The recent mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine has also led Virginia Democrats to call for reinvigorating the red flag law their party passed in 2020 as part of a landmark gun-control package.
Democrats also could re-up their push to restrict the sales of assault-style weapons, but that could be a more difficult task, given their small majorities and the party’s inability to agree on the issue the last time it had control.
After realizing the legislature will not have pro-gun majorities, the gun-rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League said it’s planning to fight against gun control on multiple fronts.
“We will be using the courts to invalidate bad gun laws that we probably can’t repeal in the General Assembly as it is now configured,” VCDL President Philip Van Cleave said in a message to the group’s members.
Photo via Virginia House of Delegates/Flickr. This article was reported and written by Virginia Mercury, and has been reprinted with permission.
Martinis will be shaken and stirred across the D.C. area in the week following Thanksgiving.
That’s when more than 85 restaurants and bars around the region will celebrate D.C. Cocktail Week, an annual promotion organized by Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) that will begin on Nov. 28 and end on Dec. 5 — the 90th anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal.
“Enjoy cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages paired with food bites, cocktail classes, tasting dinners, happy hours, and other happenings at restaurants throughout the region,” RAMW said in a press release.
While the festivities are mostly focused on the District, the line-up of participants includes two based in Tysons: Jiwa Singapura in Tysons Galleria (1702u Galleria at Tysons II) and Wren in Watermark Hotel (1825 Capital One Drive) at Capital One Center.
Opened in September 2021 as part of the hotel, Wren serves Japanese cuisine and hosts a full bar with wine, beer and cocktails. For D.C. Cocktail Week, the restaurant will pair tuskune — a grilled chicken thigh meatball skewer with housemade tare and poached egg on the side for dipping — with “It’s been oolong time” — a roku gin cocktail mixed with smoked oolong tea, strawberry cocchi rosa and lemon oil, according to the campaign website.
Jiwa Singapura is participating in the seven-day promotion for the first time since it opened at Tysons Galleria on Feb. 15. The Singaporean restaurant from chef Pepe Moncayo hasn’t revealed its featured pairing yet.
To try other newcomers, Fairfax County residents can hop across the Arlington border for Clarendon eatery Bar Ivy and Sabores Tapas Bar in Penrose, or across the Potomac River for AIR Restaurant & Lounge, Casta’s Rum Bar, Code Red, DC Capitol Square Bar & Grill and more in D.C.
“Special events and in-house happenings will take place throughout the week including special happy hours and cocktail making classes being added daily,” RAMW says, though the calendar currently only lists D.C. events.
Instituted on Jan. 17, 1920 after the ratification of the 18th Amendment, Prohibition banned alcohol sales ostensibly in an attempt to reduce domestic violence, poverty and other social issues, though rampant anti-immigrant sentiments were also a driving force.
The move instead fueled more drinking and dragged down the hospitality and entertainment industries, giving rise to a black market of bootleggers and organized crime. Deemed a failure, Prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933, though its legacy as a period of expansion for U.S. policing continues to have consequences.
Not even a last-minute scramble to replace stolen jerseys could derail McLean High School’s boys’ volleyball team from its path to a championship.
The 10-player team won the Northern Virginia High School Boys Volleyball League playoffs with two 25-point sets on Oct. 28, beating a Lake Braddock Secondary School team to cap off a perfect 17-0 season.
John Tamashiro, head coach for the McLean team, attributes its success to a combination of luck, skill, team chemistry and sheer perseverance, as players battled through tough competitors, injuries and other obstacles, including the theft of required jerseys the night before a match.
“I personally have been playing the sport a long time, and you can always have that cocky guy on the team that brings down the team,” Tamashiro told FFXnow. “We didn’t have any of that this year, and I think that was the main thing that all these boys had good personalities and were very talented, and so I think we need that combination to do what we did.”
Even as the McLean team celebrates its championship, the Northern Virginia High School Boys Volleyball League (NVHSVL) has its sights set on an even bigger prize: inclusion in Fairfax County Public Schools as an official varsity sport.
Though the Virginia High School League supports varsity boys’ volleyball, FCPS dropped the sport as a student activity in the early 2000s, according to NVHSBVL organizers.
“Fairfax County Public Schools started an eight-team, club-level program [around 2004], hoping that it would grow in popularity and become a varsity sport,” Michael Markovic said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t grow and the club-level league was canceled by FCPS.”
Supporters instead launched the Northern Virginia High School Boys’ Volleyball League, which offer programs for high school and middle and elementary school students in Fairfax County, Arlington, Loudoun and Alexandria.
The teams are coached by volunteers and take the names of specific schools, though not all players have to attend that school. The McLean team, for example, includes a private school student and two players from the Springfield area, along with several McLean High School students, according to Tamashiro.
The league had tried to regain club status for boys’ volleyball in Northern Virginia about 10 years ago, but the region’s student activities directors failed to get enough high schools to sign on, NVHSBVL director Rob Baily says.
A decade later, momentum for volleyball — which is already available in FCPS for girls — has grown nationwide to the point where league leaders believe that official, school-sanctioned teams for boys would now be successful.
The number of male students participating in high school volleyball has grown by 40% since 2017, making it the fastest growing high school sport in the U.S., according to USA Volleyball CEO Jamie Davis.
Interest has grown locally as well, according to the NVHSBVL, which says participation has more than doubled since 2012. The league’s 2023 fall season involved a record 49 teams totaling more than 500 players, compared to just 12 teams when Markovic joined in 2012.
“Forty-nine teams is a lot of schools that would potentially have volleyball programs now that they don’t have right now,” Tamashiro said. “So, basically…this league is really the equivalent of the high school boys volleyball league in school sports.”
Gaining varsity status would give players consistent access to school gyms and equipment, including poles and nets, Baily says. The league currently reserves space through FCPS’ community use program, which lets outside groups use school facilities when they’re available.
He says a school-sanctioned program would also boost participation by “less advantaged boys,” since they won’t face as many out-of-pocket fees or need to arrange their own transportation to matches.
“It provides a great non-contact alternative to football and as a varsity sport it will create more student-athletes with better time management and healthier lifestyles,” Baily said.
FCPS didn’t comment by press time, but according to Baily, Superintendent Michelle Reid has asked to see data showing current registration and future interest by the end of November so varsity boys’ volleyball could be considered for her next budget proposal, which will be released on Jan. 25.
Regardless of what happens with the sport’s status in FCPS, Tamashiro anticipates 2024 will be another strong season for the McLean High team, which only had two seniors who will graduate this school year.
“It was a crazy, crazy season,” Tamashiro said. “But again, we got a lot of talented boys. A lot of them are going to play at the next level. A lot of them will end up playing in college.”
Woodson High School Officially Renamed — “The Fairfax County School Board unanimously voted to rename W.T. Woodson High School during their meeting November 9. Starting in school year 2024-25, the school will be known as Carter G. Woodson High School. The vote comes after two months of public engagement.” [FCPS]
Residents Torn Over Fort Hunt Road Safety Proposals — “Officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) held an Oct. 30 meeting with community members on proposed safety improvements at the intersection of Fort Hunt Road and Rollins Drive; however, many area residents voiced concerns or disagreement with aspects of the recommendations.” [On the MoVe]
American Legion Bridge Usability Ending — “The heavily used American Legion Bridge has about six years or so of useful life left, before it has to be replaced or completely overhauled, according to Maryland transportation leaders. The stark warning concerns the bridge known as one of the worst traffic chokepoints in the D.C. area.” [NBC4]
FCPS Cafeteria Menus Face Student Taste Test — “More than 200 Fairfax County Public School students gathered in a Westfields Marriott ballroom Monday morning, tasting and rating new food items that could appear in school cafeterias next year. For the first time, Virginia’s largest school system hosted a Future of FCPS Student Food show, which it said is part of its plan to add healthier and more diverse foods to its breakfast and lunch cafeteria menus.” [WTOP]
Lincolnia Gas Stations Robbed on Sunday — “Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau are investigating a series of robberies from several gas stations. Detectives believe the four robberies are connected. In each robbery, two suspects entered the stores, went behind the counter and stole money and merchandise. No weapons were seen in the robberies.” [FCPD]
Singer From McLean Competes on “The Voice” — “In 2015, Claudia B. visited WTOP to perform in the Glass Enclosed Nerve Center just before competing in Bachapalooza at Jammin’ Java in Vienna…On Monday night, the 24-year-old Virginia native makes her hometown proud by competing on the NBC singing competition ‘The Voice,’ where she’s already advanced several rounds.” [WTOP]
Park Authority Extends Farmers Market Season — “Enjoy the extended season at the Reston, Burke and McCutcheon/Mt. Vernon farmers markets. Starting Nov. 25, each market will welcome a handful of new vendors in addition to the ones you know and love. Expect new products, such as bagels, hot biscuits, pho, fresh cheese and more!” [FCPA]
New Cooling Towers Approved for FCPS HQ — “Fairfax County Public Schools’ Gatehouse Administrative Center will have its cooling towers replaced, following action Oct. 26 by the School Board. Board members approved an item on their consent agenda that awarded a $761,000 contract to Service Mechanical Inc. to perform the work at the administrative center.” [Gazette Leader]
It’s Tuesday — Expect sunny conditions with highs around 58 degrees and northwest winds at 10-13 mph, gusting up to 22 mph. Tuesday night, skies will be mostly clear with lows near 35 degrees. North winds will be around 6 mph and become calm after midnight. [Weather.gov]
(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) Virginia’s elected leaders may not agree on issues like abortion access or education, but they remain united by the conviction that the Commonwealth would be a better host than Maryland for the FBI.
After coming together to pitch a Springfield warehouse as the best site for the law enforcement agency’s new headquarters, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin joined Democratic senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Virginia’s bipartisan House delegation last Thursday (Nov. 9) to blast the federal government for awarding the facility to Prince George’s County instead.
“It was outrageous,” Warner said in a press call earlier that day. “I mean, Virginia clearly was the better case. Virginia clearly was winning the first set of criteria. The fact that political pressure was put on to try to change the criteria really stunned me.”
Their outrage was echoed by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay, who has called Springfield a “no-brainer” choice for the FBI’s new headquarters.
“This is profoundly disappointing and defies common sense,” McKay said in a statement to FFXnow. “The FBI headquarters should be strategically located near the training academy in Quantico, a short VRE ride from the Springfield site. This decision will not serve the long-term needs of the FBI or its employees nearly as well as the Virginia site would.”
The General Services Administration (GSA) announced Thursday that it has selected a 61-acre site near the Greenbelt Metro station in Maryland to serve as the FBI’s new headquarters campus, confirming an initial report by the Washington Post that came out a day earlier.
“The site was the lowest cost to taxpayers, provided the greatest transportation access to FBI employees and visitors, and gave the government the most certainty on project delivery schedule,” the agency said in a press release. “It also provided the highest potential to advance sustainability and equity.”
The decision appears to have concluded a years-long effort to replace the FBI’s aging hub at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in D.C. that dragged on through four presidential administrations.
However, a previously confidential report released by the GSA showed that a site selection panel convened this summer had recommended the Springfield site — currently known as the GSA Franconia Warehouse Complex at 6808 Loisdale Road — as the one “most advantageous to the Government.”
The panel, which consisted of two GSA employees and one FBI employee, noted that the site had the advantage of already being owned by the federal government and had more capacity for an expansion than the Greenbelt site, which ranked the lowest of the three options on that criteria.
The Greenbelt site came out ahead of the former Landover Mall, also in Prince George’s, but it was the “least advantageous” when it came to the top criterion: proximity to other facilities critical to the FBI, including its training academy in Quantico and federal agencies in D.C. like the Justice Department.
Further raising eyebrows in Virginia, FBI Director Christopher Wray rejected the proposed relocation to Greenbelt in an Oct. 12 letter first reported by the Washington Post, stating that former GSA Commissioner of Public Buildings Nina Albert’s previous job with Metro created “unresolved” conflict-of-interest and transparency issues. Read More
