Little City Incumbents Celebrate Reelection — “All four incumbents won handily in Tuesday’s City of Falls Church City Council and School Board elections and their success was touted as a ‘vote of confidence.'” [Falls Church News-Press]
Tysons Building Off The Market — Rubenstein Partners and Griffith Properties “completed the sale of Centerstone at Tysons, a six-story office building located at 1550 Westbranch Drive… The sale follows the announcement earlier in 2019 that Centerstone at Tysons was brought to full occupancy through a single 150,000-square-foot lease at the property.” [Cision]
French Cuisine Coming to Mosaic Soon — “Parc de Ville, a French bistro set to feature classic cuisine for brunch, lunch and dinner… is set to open for dinner service on Monday, Nov. 18.” [Northern Virginia Magazine]
Women-Owned Businesses Booming in Falls Church — “Across the Washington metropolitan area, the highest rates of business ownership for are in Falls Church City, and Prince George’s County, as 12 percent of establishments. In Falls Church City, 12 percent of workers work at business establishments owned by women.” [DC Policy Center]
Vienna IT Firm Working With Defense Department — “Vienna IT consulting firm Rightstar Inc. secured a spot on a $820.45 million blanket purchase agreement (BPA) Friday [Nov. 1] to supply the Department of Defense with commercial-off-the-shelf software.” [Washington Business Journal]
Former Falls Church City Attorney Dies — “Paul Terrence ‘Terry’ O’Grady, age 81, formerly of Falls Church, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Soaking Up The Sun in Vienna — “Vienna’s zip code is the top place for solar energy system installations in Northern Virginia, according to numbers from the Solarize NOVA program.” [Patch]
Tysons Reporter is back with its new monthly crime map showing where the incidents occurred in Fairfax County Police Department’s McLean District Station.
We went ahead and pulled together all of the incidents noted for the McLean District Station in FCPD crime recaps from Oct. 1-31, weeded out the ones that are not in the Tysons Reporter coverage area and plotted them in the interactive map above.
The McLean District Station covers crime in Merrifield, Dunn Loring, Falls Church, McLean, Tysons and Great Falls.
The map only includes information from FCPD and does not include reports to the police departments in the Town of Vienna or the City of Falls Church.
Use the icon in the top left corner of the map to toggle between the various types of crimes displayed.
Fairfax County’s weekday police recaps are not comprehensive lists of every incident and the addresses are approximate. FCPD also notes that information in the recaps “is generally based on initial reports made to the police department.”
Anyone with information about any of these crimes should call 703-691-2131 or 1-866-411-TIPS(8477).
The Vienna Market is moving forward in the Town of Vienna after a long back-and-forth over the project’s designs.
The project plans to replace the Marco Polo building and other surrounding properties with 44 condominiums and 8,200 square feet of retail space — along with an underground parking garage — to 245 W. Maple Avenue. Vienna’s Board of Architectural Review approved the project in chunks, with the final approval on Sept. 19.
But in October, Residents Charles and Laura Anderson sought to appeal the BAR’s approval of the rear architectural designs and plans for the Vienna Market, claiming that the approved plans — especially the rear facades — violated the Maple Avenue general design criteria and the Town Code.
At that meeting, the developers, NV Homes and Northfield, proposed a compromise — wrapping brick from the front onto the rear of townhomes — to make the rear facades consistent with the front and side facades.
The Town Council approved a motion to modify the BAR’s decisions on Sept. 19 and Aug. 15 regarding the four rear facades of the townhomes.
After the BAR’s work session last Friday (Nov. 1), the Town Council approved the architectural changes on Monday (Nov. 4).
“This decision establishes that the term ‘public view’ applies to all facades of commercial buildings visible from a public street,” Councilmember Pasha Majdi said.
Councilmember Nisha Patel lauded the developer and community working together to reach a compromise.
“I think it’s a great win-win,” Patel said.
“I think this makes for a better project,” Mayor Laurie DiRocco said.
Image via Town of Vienna
A garage fire broke out today (Friday) in a residential area near Langley Oaks Park in McLean.
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue tweeted at 12:22 p.m. that crews are working to extinguish the fire.
The fire is in the 900 block of Douglass Drive, which is near Dead Run.
Map via Google Maps
(Updated at 12:55 p.m.) A man was shot last night (Thursday) in a residential area off Lee Hwy in the Falls Church area, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
The incident occurred around 7:45 p.m. in the 2800 block of Pine Spring Road, which is near Pine Spring Park, the Trinity School at Meadow View and Pine Spring Elementary School. The area is surrounded by homes.
The man was shot outside and was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Sgt. Greg Bedor, a police spokesperson, told Tysons Reporter.
“A male reported he was outside of his home when he was approached by someone who shot him,” according to the daily crime recap. “The suspect fled; no additional description was provided.”
Bedor said that there was no threat to the public. “We think this was not a random incident,” he said.
Despite some confusion on Twitter, the incident is not related to the hit and run that killed a pedestrian in Fairfax, Bedor said.
Image via Google Maps
Monday is Veterans Day — a chance to celebrate the servicemen and women who currently or previously served in the United States Armed Forces.
Certain businesses or offices are altering hours in remembrance or even offering perks for veterans.
The City of Falls Church is hosting a Veterans Day Ceremony at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Community Center (223 Little Falls Street) beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday. A wreath will be laid for those missing in action and attendees can listen to a performance by the Falls Church Concert Band.
Founding Farmers (1800 Tysons Blvd) is offering a 50% discount on brunch, lunch and dinner for those who bring along a military ID or wear their uniform. The Department of Veterans Affairs compiled a list of other chain locations offering discounts or free things for servicewomen and men.
The Fairfax County government offices and Fairfax County Public Libraries will be closed in remembrance.
Fairfax County Public Schools will be open and teachers are encouraged to lead students in Veterans Day oriented activities.
Across the county, all of the neighborhood and community service centers will be closed.
In Falls Church, the senior center and Mary Riley Styles Public Library will be closed, while the community center will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 10 p.m.
The Vienna Community Center will have reduced hours from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Over in McLean, the McLean Community Center and the Old Firehouse Center will be closed on Monday.
Trash collection from the county will run on a normal schedule, although the offices will be closed, according to the website. Locals are advised to put their trash and recycling out by 6 a.m. for timely collection.
Fairfax County animal shelters are closed on Mondays, the website said.
Some Fairfax Connector routes will operate regular weekday service, while others won’t run at all. For Metro, buses and trains will run on a Saturday schedule on Monday.
As the January deadline looms, the Falls Church City Council discussed proposals for e-scooters before state laws take effect and the city loses its chance to create regulations.
Concerns arose at both the Oct. 21 and Oct. 28 City Council meetings, including potential funding issues, underage use, parking and the upcoming pilot program. The pilot program would be limited to two scooter vendors, leaving companies to compete for a one-year trial period, Councilmember Ross Litkenhous said.
If implemented, the program would allow 14 scooters per 1,000 people into city limits. On average, the scooters would cost users $1 to unlock and a $0.25 per-minute fee, according to statistics gathered from Arlington and Alexandria.
On average 20% of e-scooter users ride them for social or entertainment purposes, while roughly 20% use them for shopping and errands. Another 20% use them to commute to the metro. Scooters could help to solve the first-to-last mile commuter problem, an expert brought in by the City Council and Councilmember Phil Duncan said.
There was some talk at the Oct. 21 meeting about using scooters to raise revenue for the city, by adding on taxes and unlocking fees. The city would charge each vendor an $8,000 permitting fee, regardless of fleet size, according to city documents. But no one seemed to have a concrete answer to the total profits.
“It would be interesting to see how much we can get out of it without impacting the demand,” Litkenhous said.
Councilmember Dave Snyder took another perspective, saying that it might cost the city more money. He said that police would be distracted by monitoring people, ensuring they are following laws and guidelines while riding the scooters.
Parking was yet another major focus of the conversations.
Several people suggested corrals, while others said that they encourage people to lean them against polls that are out of the way of pedestrians and cars. All of the councilmembers agreed that measures should be taken to ensure that they are not being left in the way of traffic or parked illegally in yards.
“Parking is going to be one of the major sources of complaints we will get, so we should prepare for that,” Councilmember Letty Hardi said.
Going forward, the Falls Church City Council will continue to discuss potential implementation plans before they make a final decision. At the next City Council meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 12), councilmembers are expected to discuss a first reading of the new ordinance regarding motorized scooters and shared mobility devices.
“I really think the success of this pilot is going to hinge on good communication,” Hardi said. “Lowering the bar to explain this won’t be perfect, [but] is important.”
Several companies in Tysons made job site Monster’s list of the best places for veterans to work, ahead of Veterans Day (Nov. 11).
Monster recently published the list in collaboration with Military.com, ranking 10 companies across the United States as the “2019 Best Companies for Veterans.”
DynCorp International, a global government services provider for flight operations support, training and mentoring, topped the list. DynCorp is headquarters at 1700 Old Meadow Road near the McLean Metro station.
“The company recognizes the leadership and life experiences that veterans bring to the workforce; therefore, they accept military training for civilian credentials and acknowledge the importance these skills bring to the success of their business model,” the ranking says.
Logistics Management Institute — or LMI — nabbed the fifth spot on the list. The consulting firm is dedicated to improving government management and has a location at 7940 Jones Branch Drive in the Tysons Central neighborhood.
Falls Church-based IntelliDyne got the ninth spot. IntelliDyne focuses on information technology consulting services and moved to its current spot at 3110 Fairview Park Drive in June 2018 to expand.
Outside of the Tysons area, several companies in Northern Virginia made the list as well, including CACI in Arlington and Intelligent Waves, LLC in Reston.
Monster and Military.com worked with a panel of veteran hiring experts to identify the list, describing the employers as “demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to veteran hiring and retention,” according to a press release.
After celebrating its 10-year anniversary, a cybersecurity and technology company decided to move its headquarters in Tysons to fit expansion needs.
Founded in 2009, OBXtek specializes in six different areas including cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and IT engineering, according to the company website.
They moved to the new location at 2000 Corporate Ridge Road in late October to “support the rapid growth of the business,” according to a press release.
The new location will have roughly 17,000 square feet of space, which is larger than the previous office space at 8300 Boone Blvd, Dale Spencer, the company’s president, told Tysons Reporter.
Currently, the company employs around 500 people and was recently ranked as one of the most veteran-friendly companies by American Veterans because of its efforts to boost community involvement for veterans.
OBXtek actively tries to hire veterans and participates in the Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program, the press release said.
“OBXtek’s relocation provides us with the opportunity to consolidate our headquarters staff in a modern and efficient facility and helps to accommodate our continued growth,” Spencer said in the press release.
Photo via Facebook/OBXtek
Fairfax County police say that an intoxicated woman kicked and tried to bite police late last night (Wednesday) after being arrested at Tysons Corner Center.
The incident occurred around 11 p.m. “Mall Security called [the] police to report two people engaged in suspicious activity,” according to a police report.
Police arrested a 43-year-old woman from Leesburg for being drunk in public. While the woman was getting into the police car, she “kicked two officers and attempted to bite a third,” the report said.
Police also charged her with three counts of assault on law enforcement.
