Next week, people will be able to get more information about a proposal that would add an arts and education center at Clemyjontri Park in McLean.
Located in the Langley neighborhood, the park (6317 Georgetown Pike) features a playground, swing set, carousel and trackless train, with opportunities for kids who use wheelchairs or who have sensory or developmental disabilities. The park also has a picnic pavilion.
“The name CLEMYJONTRI is derived from the donor’s four children: Carolyn (CL), Emily (EMY), John (Jon), and Petrina (Tri),” according to Fairfax County’s website, adding that the Fairfax County Park Authority owns and operates the park.
Now, the county and the McLean Project for the Arts want to build a gallery exhibition space and arts education classroom facilities at the park, according to the county.
More from the county on the idea:
MPA envisions an all-inclusive art center which provides a creative respite for the community that is integrated into, yet distinct from, Clemyjontri Park. The center could potentially exhibit the work of contemporary artists; offer arts instruction and classroom space; and include public artwork in the park.
This new facility would build upon the existing visual arts programming currently provided by MPA through a public/private partnership with Fairfax County at the McLean Community Center (MCC).
MPA will continue its award-winning exhibitions in the Emerson Gallery and maintain its robust visual arts instruction and DuVal Studio, both at the MCC.
The Fairfax County Park Authority and the McLean Project for the Arts plan to hold an open house to discuss the proposal on Monday (Feb. 24).
The meeting is set to start at 6:30 p.m. with a presentation at 7 p.m. at MPA’s Emerson Gallery at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue).
Staff from both the county and the McLean Project for the Arts plan to attend the meeting to answer questions.
Photo via The Pushy Lawyer/Facebook
Come March 15, some or all of the parking options will be closed at three Metro stations in the Falls Church and Vienna area.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced on Friday that pre-construction ahead of summer work will impact parking at three Orange Line stations.
While the summer work on the Vienna, Dunn Loring, West Falls Church and East Falls Church stations doesn’t start until May, the parking changes are set to start on March 15.
“Due to the stations’ location and extreme space limitations, construction crews will need to utilize surface parking lots to stage heavy equipment and tons of material,” according to a press release from WMATA.
Here are the planned changes:
- surface parking lots at the East Falls Church, West Falls Church and Vienna stations will be closed for seven to nine months
- parking at the Dunn Loring station will not be impacted
- Kiss & Ride lot will remain open for pick-up and drop-off only at East Falls Church station
- West Falls Church station parking garage will remain open
- Vienna station Parking Lot 1 will be temporarily closed beginning March 15
- Vienna station’s parking garages and Parking Lot 3 will remain open.
The changes mean that parking won’t be available at the East Falls Church station.
Metro expects that the parking will fill up at the West Falls Church station before 7 a.m., according to the press release.
“Vehicles parked in closed lots after 12:01 a.m. on March 15, 2020, may be subject to towing,” the press release says.
https://twitter.com/FCNP_Jody/status/1228414025182171136?s=20
Welcome back from the long weekend! Here are the latest stories about the Tysons area that the Tysons Reporter team has been reading:
Vienna Officials Grapple With Mishaps — “The Vienna Town Council and town staffers devoted the first half of a Feb. 10 work session to discussing why some recent missteps occurred, and what can be done to prevent them in the future.” [Inside NoVa]
Fairfax County Reconsidering Mother-in-Law Suites — “Fairfax County could soon substantially loosen its regulations governing accessory dwelling units, perhaps following the lead of D.C. and other local jurisdictions looking to expand available housing options for renters.” [Washington Business Journal]
Leaders Say Merrifield Needs More Community — “Greater Merrifield Business Association leaders want to foster a community atmosphere in Merrifield, but know they’re at a disadvantage compared with long-established communities such as Vienna, Fairfax or Falls Church.” [Inside NoVa]
Sneak Peek: Later this week, expect Tysons Reporter to provide an update on e-scooters in Vienna and a profile on Fava Pot in Falls Church.
Updated 3/13/2020 — Adds Great Wall Supermarket and H Mart in Merrifield.
Tysons may not have the liveliest nightlife at the moment, but that could soon change as more late-night restaurants and places to hang out open. “Tysons After Dark” will highlight a different spot every week.
For people who want to grab food late at night, several grocery stores are open late in the Tysons area.
Both the Whole Foods stores in Tysons (1635 Boro Place) and the Falls Church area (7511 Leesburg Pike) are open until 10 p.m. daily. The Trader Joe’s at Tysons Station (7514 Leesburg Turnpike) is also open until 10 p.m. daily.
The Giant stores in Vienna (359 Maple Avenue E.) and Falls Church (1230 W. Broad Street) are open until midnight Monday-Saturday and until 11 p.m. on Sundays.
Meanwhile, the Harris Teeter stores in Tysons (8200 Crestwood Heights Drive), Merrifield (2675 Avenir Place) and Falls Church (301 West Broad Street) are open until midnight.
The local Safeway stores in downtown McLean (1330 Chain Bridge Road), McLean by Kirby Road (6244 Old Dominion Drive) and the Falls Church area (7397 Lee Hwy) are open until midnight, according to their websites.
In Merrifield, the Great Wall Supermarket (2982 Gallows Road) and H Mart (8103 Lee Hwy) are open until 11 p.m. daily.
Hungry after midnight?
Two grocery stores are open 24 hours in the Tysons area, according to their websites: the Giant in McLean (1454 Chain Bridge Road) and the Safeway in Tysons (1688 Anderson Road).
While it sells more than just groceries, Walmart in Tysons (1500 B Cornerside Blvd) is open 24 hours as well.
Within the last weeks, there have been several changes at the Mosaic District.
After Neiman Marcus closed in the Mosaic District, home goods store Great Gatherings decided to take over the vacant spot at 2905 District Ave.
The store’s new location opened a couple of weeks ago, according to the manager, who added that the business decided to switch spots because it is a slightly smaller space and more visible to traffic.
Employees were in the process of putting finishing touches on the store when Tysons Reporter stopped by yesterday (Feb. 13).
Down the street at the former spot of Brine (2985 District Ave, Suite 120), it appears that crews are doing work at the location. It is unclear what will move into the unoccupied space.
Nearby, Black Dog Beer Shop (2672 Avenir Place, Suite M) opened for business today (Feb. 14).
The location offers a variety of brews for consumption off-site and will be open from 9:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., according to the website.
Customers can purchase specialty brews not found anywhere else except the breweries themselves, Jeff Kirkland, the store manager, told Tysons Reporter, adding that there are almost 300 varieties of beer at the shop.
Three months into her job as Vienna’s new economic development manager, Natalie Monkou has an abundance of ideas for how to boost business in the town.
Monkou, an Annadale resident, previously worked in Arlington County as a liaison between the county and three business improvement districts (BIDs): Rosslyn, Ballston and Crystal City. Before that, she worked as the special assistant to Prince George’s County’s deputy chief of economic development.
Currently, Monkou has been on a “listening tour” around the town and holding public forums to receive input.
So far, the tour has been “really good,” Monkou told Tysons Reporter at Caffe Amouri earlier this week. “I’m trying to meet everybody.”
“Everybody” includes local businesses, commercial real estate brokers, local organizations that work with businesses and the Vienna Business Association.
While Monkou said she hasn’t heard anything surprising yet — mostly issues about high rents, property owners, vacancies and traffic — she said the people she has met with have different opinions on what economic development is and how it should work.
In an hour-long conversation with Tysons Reporter, Monkou shared a variety of ideas she’d like to look into for boosting Vienna businesses, like offering a walking tour with the mayor, improving the website for tourists and looking into how to turn the industrial area — what she calls a “sleeper hit” — into more of a destination.
But she said her main goal for this year is to get more data before she starts to make big changes. “I’ve heard lots of stories,” she said. Now she wants the data.
Currently, she said she’s working on a proposal for a market study that will look into Vienna’s competitiveness in the D.C. market, along with collecting demographic information and a SWOT analysis.
Using the study’s data, she wants to create an economic development strategy. Both the study and strategy could take anywhere from six months to a year, she said.
Her other top priorities for this year include a focus on the town’s budget and also figuring out how to market local businesses better outside of the town.
“I think there are opportunities to do more marketing and promotion of business here,” she said, adding that Vienna already supports local businesses well. “Why would I come here? Why would I shop here when I don’t live here?”
How to make Vienna a destination for nonresidents is on Monkou’s mind, as are controversial topics like the moratorium on new development guidelines for Maple Avenue — known as the “MAC” — and Tysons’ potential impact on Vienna.
“I want to be a part of MAC convos,” she said, adding that businesses have brought it up in discussions with her.
Monkou is clear that whatever happens with the MAC, which has been put on hold until June so the town can redo its guidelines, won’t slow her down and that there are plenty of areas around Vienna — like near Caboose Tavern — that she can focus on.
As for Tysons, Monkou said business owners can look to the growing community for potential customers.
A part of that involves making it easier for people to get to Vienna, which will require a look at traffic congestion and parking problems, she said. (For cycling enthusiasts, Monkou said she’s aware of how “special” the W&OD Trail is to the town and she said she wants to promote it more.)
As she dives more into these areas, Monkou expects lots of conversations with several town departments, like parks and recreation staff, as she works to merge traditional economic development with a “BID-like overlay” that includes online ads and events.
At the end of the day, Monkou said it’s all about “unique ways to promote the town’s assets.”
Vienna police said a kid is now without his bicycle after it was swiped.
A kid reported that someone stole the bicycle he locked in a pallet in the parking lot outside CrossFit (434 Mill Street NE), police said.
The incident happened between 4-5 p.m. on Tuesday (Feb. 11).
If anyone is missing a key, a woman turned in a key she found in the parking lot in the 100 block of Maple Avenue on Tuesday.
Photo via Facebook
(Updated 11 a.m.) Presidents’ Day is almost here and there will be closures around the area.
All Fairfax County government offices, public schools and public libraries will be closed, according to the county website.
Trash and recycling will be collected on a regular schedule if community members are customers of Fairfax County, the website said, which added that people with a private company should contact the company directly.
The Fairfax Connector will be running on a Holiday Weekend Schedule on Monday.
The Metro will be running on a Saturday schedule from 5 a.m. until 11:30 p.m., according to the WMATA website.
The Mary Riley Styles Library in Falls Church (120 N. Virginia Ave) will be closed, according to the website, along with all city offices.
Since waste collection falls on a Wednesday in Falls Church, it will not be affected by the holiday.
In the Town of Vienna, all government offices will be closed but waste collection will run on a regular schedule, according to the website.
The McLean Community Center will be closed on Monday.
Tysons Reporter will also have the day off on Monday.
Photo by Lucas Sankey via Unsplash
Happy Friday! Here are the latest stories about the Tysons area that the Tysons Reporter team has been reading:
Falls Church Home Prices Spike — “The city of Falls Church zoomed past the District of Columbia to be the local jurisdiction where home-buyers spent more, per square foot, than anywhere else in January… The median per-square-foot cost of $453 for Falls Church property for the month was up 13 percent from a year before.” [Inside NoVa]
Furry Convention Leaving Tysons — The Mid-Atlantic region convention called “Fur the More” is moving from Tysons to Crystal City this year. [ARLnow]
Falls Church Theater Nabs Nominations — “Falls Church’s rapidly-emerging regional theater powerhouse, the Creative Cauldron, scored an astonishing nine Helen Hayes Award nominations for the past season.” [Falls Church News-Press]
McLean Board Seeking Candidates — “Local residents who are looking for ways to make a difference in the community should consider running for a seat on the McLean Community Center’s (MCC) 2020-2021 Governing Board.” [Falls Church News-Press]
I-66 Corridor commuters, in response to commuters request to get a slug pickup station at the Pentagon, Congressman @GerryConnolly @EleanorNorton @DonBeyerVA and @JenniferWexton send a request to the Pentagon #vatraffic pic.twitter.com/MeOOVVJnY8
— Sluglines (@sluglines) February 12, 2020
Sneak Peek: Later today, look for an article on Vienna’s new economic development manager and her plans for how to spark business in the town. Next week, look for a profile of Fava Pot in Falls Church.
Weekend Send Off: Let Tysons Reporter know what your plans are for the long weekend.
The Hunter Mill District Supervisor is planning on coming to the Town of Vienna in a few weeks to hear from local residents.
Walter Alcorn announced on Twitter that he will hold a town hall on Wednesday, Feb. 26. The event is set to take place from 7-9 p.m. at lecture hall 25000 at James Madison High School (2500 James Madison Drive).
People interested in attending can RSVP to [email protected].
Alcorn hosted his first town hall since joining the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Reston earlier this month.
