Ahead of the new school year starting next week, Fairfax County Public Schools debuted a new partnership with an app that will help parents track when the school bus will arrive.

After a pilot program, the FCPS Office of Transportation Services announced FCPS will offer the “Here Comes the Bus” app for the 2019-2020 school year yesterday (Monday).

“[The app] uses HTTPS like a bank or online store, making all communications between a device and the site are encrypted and secure,” according to FCPS, adding that the app uses GPS to track the locations of the buses.

Started in 2001 by a pair of graduates, the app has nearly 1.5 million registered users and is used in school districts across the country, spanning Orlando to San Antonio.

Since the app tracks the bus routes instead of individuals students, FCPS wants people to remember that bus substitutions can affect the accuracy of the app and that app shouldn’t replace communication with students about their whereabouts.

The app is free for parents and guardians and provides real-time bus locations through text or email alerts, according to FCPS. The app will be available to use starting next Monday (Aug. 26) for FCPS families.

After severe thunderstorms hit the area last night, around 100 people are left without electricity in Vienna.

Over by Maple Avenue and Lawyers Road NW, 56 customers are without power, while 57 people are left in the dark east of Wildwood Park. Both outages are due to power line damage, according to Dominion Energy.

Dominion Energy expects power to be restored between 10 a.m.-1 p.m. today (Aug. 20) for both spots.

Maps via Dominion Energy

The Vienna Police Department may soon crack the three indecent exposure cases reported last week along the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.

Deputy Chief of Police Dan Janickey told the Vienna Town Council last night (Monday) that the police have “promising leads” for the three separate incidents with “what appears to be the same individual.”

A woman told the police that she saw a man masturbating in the woods between Park Street and Branch Road SE shortly before 8 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 12. The next day (Tuesday), another report from a woman said a man was masturbating in the woods near Park Street and Dominion Road SE.

Two days later on Thursday (Aug. 15), a woman told police that “she was walking near the W&OD Trail when a man came out from a wooded area and approached her with his pants down, exposing himself to her” around 7:30 a.m. near Park Terrace Court SE, according to a police report.

Janickey said that surveillance and patrols have increased along the trail and that the police department expects to close the case in the next couple of days.

Photo via Facebook

The Tysons area, including McLean, Vienna and Falls Church, is under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning as an intense storm rolls through the area.

More from the National Weather Service:

…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1130 PM EDT FOR THE WEST CENTRAL DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA…SOUTH CENTRAL MONTGOMERY…NORTHWESTERN ARLINGTON AND NORTHEASTERN FAIRFAX COUNTIES…THE SOUTHEASTERN CITY OF FAIRFAX AND THE CITY OF FALLS CHURCH… AT 1108 PM EDT, A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER MERRIFIELD, OR OVER MANTUA, MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH. HAZARD…60 MPH WIND GUSTS AND QUARTER SIZE HAIL. SOURCE…RADAR INDICATED. IMPACT…DAMAGING WINDS WILL CAUSE SOME TREES AND LARGE BRANCHES TO FALL. THIS COULD INJURE THOSE OUTDOORS, AS WELL AS DAMAGE HOMES AND VEHICLES. ROADWAYS MAY BECOME BLOCKED BY DOWNED TREES. LOCALIZED POWER OUTAGES ARE POSSIBLE. UNSECURED LIGHT OBJECTS MAY BECOME PROJECTILES. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE… ARLINGTON, BETHESDA, ANNANDALE, VIENNA, FALLS CHURCH, MANTUA, PIMMIT HILLS, AMERICAN LEGION BRIDGE, MCLEAN, POTOMAC, NORTH BETHESDA, TYSONS CORNER, MERRIFIELD, LAKE BARCROFT, CHEVY CHASE, SOUTH KENSINGTON, FOREST GLEN, NORTH CHEVY CHASE, I66 AND I495 INTERCHANGE AND FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A BUILDING. && HAIL…1.00IN WIND…60MPH

Severe Thunderstorm Warning continues for Bethesda MD, McLean VA, Annandale VA until 11:30 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/qKE7AWaPqd

— NWS Severe Tstorm (@NWSSevereTstorm) August 20, 2019

Tysons-based Curbside Kitchen imagines a food truck-friendly world where companies can easily coordinate with food trucks to cater events or just switch up lunch-time options.

Amy Katz, the CEO of Curbside Kitchen, founded the company around 2017 after talking to her husband Brian about his struggles in real estate and difficulty coordinating food trucks for events.

To solve the problem, she decided to create a technological platform that allows managers to schedule food truck arrivals for their business or building.

Katz described the company as “Uber for a food truck — with a ton of heart” and said that her company helps buildings maintain tenants by building a sense of community and diversity based on a shared love for food.

“Each truck has its own DNA,” Katz said.

When first starting out, the main obstacle was finding a way to coordinate with hundreds of food trucks with unreliable hours and various management types, she said.

“The biggest struggle is bringing the food truck owners up to the same standard,” Katz said, adding that there are many “unforeseen” circumstances around food trucks, including maintenance issues or poor weather.

But, despite the challenges, Katz is optimistic about the company’s growth. “I am so passionate about it that every day we learn something new,” she said.

Today, the company has around 300 food truck partners on call in three cities, but Katz said they plan to keep growing thanks to the Virginia Founders Fund from the Center for Innovative Technology, which recently granted Curbside Kitchen money to expand their venture.

Katz said she did not feel comfortable revealing the grant amount, but she did say that she plans to hire a few more employees and build an app.

The app will tell food truck patrons when their favorite trucks are nearby, allow trucks and managers to schedule gigs and remind trucks to show up at certain times. She said the app should be available for download within six months.

Though they are not the only company that works with food trucks, Katz said that Curbside Kitchen isn’t worried about competition.

“There isn’t really anybody out there with the technology and integration we have,” she said.

As Curbside Kitchen expands, they plan to keep their headquarters in Tysons — where the community is incredibly supportive of the food truck culture.

“I believe people have a close eye on what we are doing,” Katz said.

Photo courtesy Amy Katz

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (Aug. 20)

• Tysons Comedy Regional Showcase — 7-9 p.m. at Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) — This free event brings local comedians to the stage for an evening of laughter. There will be happy hour specials until 9 p.m.

Wednesday (Aug. 21)

• Quarterly Fit Club: Powerwave by Crunch Fitness — 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Tysons Corner Center (The Plaza) — This free workout invites everyone to try a bodyweight and rope exercise class. Equipment is provided.
• Charity Guest Bartender Event — 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) — All tips and a portion of the sales will be donated to Second Story — Tysons Partnership’s charity partner for the Tysons Tailgate. The goal is to raise $1,000. Some of the guest bartenders will include Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust and Borzou from The Falcon Lab.

Thursday (Aug. 22)

• Big Screen on the Green: Disney’s “Moana” — 7:30 p.m. at Town Green (144 E. Maple Avenue) — The Town of Vienna will host a free movie for the community along with popcorn. They invite attendees to bring lawn chairs or blankets.
• Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals — 7:30 p.m. at Wolf Trap (1551 Trap Road) — Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals combine blues, soul, reggae and rock while Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will bring funky jazz rhythms. Tickets are $35.

Saturday (Aug. 24)

• Maggiano’s Back To School Little Chef’s Cooking Class — 8:30 a.m. at Maggiano’s Little Italy (2001 International Drive) —  This event invites families to learn how to make back to school snacks, including an Italian grilled cheese, while interacting with chiefs from the restaurant. Tickets are $25, but free for parents with their kids.
• All ’80s All Night — 7:30 p.m. at The Palladium (1524 Spring Hill Road, Suite LM) — This free event will feature an ’80s themed DJ dance party. Prizes will be given to attendees with the best ’80s outfit.

Sunday (Aug. 25)

• AIR at Tysons Biergarten — 8 p.m. at Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) — Tysons Biergarten will host an outdoor DJ and dance party featuring current hits from across the world. There will be drinks, food and hookah. Tickets are $5 beforehand or $10 at the door.

Friends, family and colleagues will soon have the chance to commemorate Paul Bolon, who was in the race for the Board of Supervisors’ Providence District seat before he died.

Bolon, 69, died from a heart attack at the Inova Fairfax Hospital after meeting voters on Sunday (Aug. 11), the Washington Post reported. A retired economist and manager from the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Bolon was running as the Republican candidate against Democrat Dalia Palchik.

Palchik posted on Facebook:

I was extremely saddened to learn overnight about the passing of my opponent, Paul Bolon. Paul and I did not know each other well, but we were both looking forward to honestly debating important issues, at a time of such bickering and division. All of my thoughts are with his wife and children today, I’m so very sorry for your loss.

His colleagues took to Twitter to remember him as a “great man.”

“I was very saddened to learn of Paul’s untimely passing — he truly was a great man,” Srilekha Palle, the Republican candidate for the Sully District, tweeted.

Joe Galdo, the Republican candidate for the Board of Supervisors’ chair, tweeted, “We lost a good candidate and a great man.”

Tim Hannigan, the chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee, said Bolon was a “personable, unfailingly civil, generous and always kind” person.

“Paul Bolon was a great candidate. A professional economist, he brought a clear-eyed, analytical perspective to issues facing our county,” Hannigan said. “As our committee’s Providence District Chairman, he served with distinction as a very effective grassroots leader and a tireless advocate for Republican values and Republican candidates.”

The memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, at the Fellowship Baptist Church (11032 Oakton Road), followed by a reception at the Bolon residence.

Photo via Fairfax County Republican Committee

Town of Vienna officials are denying the allegation that the Town Council discriminated against seniors and people with disabilities when rejecting an assisted living facility.

On July 17, Sunrise filed a lawsuit in Fairfax County Circuit Court against the Town Council after it denied Sunrise’s rezoning application for a proposed 82-unit facility downtown.

Sunrise is arguing that the Town Council’s rejection violated the Virginia Fair Housing Law and Sunrise was treated differently from other developers seeking rezoning under the Maple Avenue Commercial Zone.

In the lawsuit, Sunrise also claims that the rezoning application was consistent with the town’s Comprehensive Plan and that some council members’ concerns about parking “were not grounded in empirical evidence, and thus were necessarily arbitrary and capricious.”

Last Wednesday (Aug. 14), the Town Council responded to Sunrise’s allegations, saying “the Virginia Fair Housing Law is inapplicable given the facts asserted in the complaint.”

The Town Council wants Sunrise to file the complete legislative record, which includes the rezoning affidavit, staff reports and audio and minutes from Vienna meetings, hearings and work sessions.

“In order to evaluate Sunrise’s claims, the court necessarily must review and evaluate the legislative record which Council considered, said record being central to the claims brought by Sunrise,” according to the response.

While Sunrise is seeking a jury trial and wants the Town Council to reconsider the rezoning denial and pay Sunrise $30 million in damages, the Town Council asked the court to permanently dismiss the case.

Steven Briglia, the town’s attorney, told Tysons Reporter that the town does not comment on pending on litigation. Briglia said that no date has been set yet for the court to rule on the demurrer from the Town Council and motion.

Image via Town of Vienna

A new photo experience prepares to get people into the Halloween spirit at Tysons Corner Center.

American Scream, a self-described “selfie museum,” will allow guests to take spooky photos with a variety of props and interactive displays.

Patrons can visit the pop-up after Sep. 13 near the Lord and Taylor on the first level of the mall, according to a press release. General admission is $18.

Open until Nov. 3, this temporary museum will let participants experience horror themes such as morgues, clowns and haunted dolls.

“The American Scream Selfie Museum will feature unique, interactive exhibits that will make you both laugh and scream and the star of eye-popping selfies,” the press release said. “Visitors of this seasonal pop-up activation can be the star of their own horror movie.”

Photo courtesy of American Scream 

As the Town of Vienna awaits Fairfax County’s renovation of the Patrick Henry Library, the Town Council continues to drive forward a proposed public parking garage.

The Town Council is set to hear a presentation tonight (Monday) from Grimm and Parker about several ideas that could incorporate public parking in the project.

Opened in 1971, Patrick Henry Library (101 E. Maple Avenue) is set to be rebuilt as part of a $91 million bond referendum to upgrade the county’s aging libraries. Mayor Laurie DiRocco previously said that the library got moved up in the county’s renovation schedule from 2026 to 2022.

Ultimately, the town wants cost-effective public parking that will create a synergy between the library and the surrounding commercial area, according to a report from Grimm and Parker.

“Parking is critical to the success of the Patrick Henry Library. The current parking supply often does not meet the demand,” the report said. “Additionally, the Town of Vienna is experiencing a parking shortfall for the Maple Avenue Corridor.”

According to the report, the three designs concepts for the library and parking are:

• a stand-alone, two-story building with surface parking for 90 cars;
• a single-level library with an integrated parking garage with 125 spots for the library and 84 for the town;
• or a single-level library with an integrated parking garage with 125 spaces for the library and 188 for the town

Prior to the meeting, the Town Council will hold a work session about the final phase of the scope of work for the multimodal transportation study of the Maple Avenue Corridor that is being done by Kimley-Horn.

“Based on the future land use scenario results, Kimley-Horn will present potential multimodal transportation improvements for discussion with Town citizens in a workshop format,” according to the town’s website.

The final community workshop for the study will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m.