An upcoming meeting this week will help select improvements for the intersection of Lewinsville and Spring Hill roads in McLean.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) has two options for revamping the intersection.
The first alternative was chosen from alternatives discussed at a public meeting last May, while the second was developed after further review and considering community feedback, according to FCDOT.
FCDOT identified the intersection’s need for improvements during the Tysons Neighborhood Study.
“The intersection has a significant skew and experiences peak hour congestion, significant cut-through traffic, long queues and has a documented crash history,” according to FCDOT, adding that the intersection’s proximity to Spring Hill Elementary School also contributes to the recurring congestion.
A community meeting on Wednesday (June 5) will inform the community of the study background and status, along with seeking feedback on the two preferred alternative concepts.
The meeting will take start at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of Spring Hill Elementary School (8201 Lewinsville Road).
Image via Google Maps
Candidates’ Cycling Stances — The Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling sent questions to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors candidates about where they stand on cycling issues. [FABB]
Stream Restoration Celebration — A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday (June 1) celebrated the completion of the Dead Run Stream Restoration in McLean Central Park, which included work on about 3,200 linear feet of stream. [Fairfax County]
McLean Start-Up Bought For Millions — “Just five years after opening up shop, McLean, Va.-based Verodin is giving its early investors a healthy return. California-based cybersecurity software provider FireEye has acquired the cybersecurity startup for $250 million, the companies announced Wednesday.” [American Inno]
Marshall HS Students Designed Violin Bow Prosthetic — “Marshall High’s International Baccalaureate (IB) Design and Technology students designed a violin bow prosthetic for a fourth-grade student at Centre Ridge Elementary… Some parts of the robotic arm were created using a 3D printer. Remarkably, the project team was able to work on the prosthesis virtually and has not met the Centre Ridge student, but hopes to do so soon.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]
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.
City Works Eatery and Pour House, a sleek sports and beer bar with American fare, opened earlier this week.
Large groups, couples and even a few people by themselves at the bar showed up on a Thursday evening to the restaurant, which has ample indoor and outdoor seating totaling 12,000 square feet.
Sports fans can watch games on most of the more than a dozen TVs, while the remaining ones play music videos for current pop songs, like Shawn Mendes’ “If I Can’t Have You.”
Focused on typical American cuisine, the menu includes tacos, fish, burgers, smoked chicken wings and duck nachos, along with a wide selection of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, like mushroom flatbread, beet salad and cauliflower steak.
For lighter fare, City Works has bar bites, which include pretzels with gouda cheese dip, Nashville Hot or Southern Fried popcorn chicken and firecracker rolls with marinated spicy Cajun chicken, vegetables and avocado cream.
City Works boasts 90 craft beers on tap — “We’re beer geeks, not beer snobs,” the website says. Roughly 30 percent of the draft selection comes from Virginia-area breweries, including Parkway Brewing Co., Devil’s Backbone Brewing Co., Midnight Brewery and Union Craft Brewing.
Located at 1640 N. Capital One Drive, City Works has a prime spot at the Capital One headquarters by the McLean Metro station.
City Works is open 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. on Sunday.
Fairfax County Police arrested a convicted sex offender from Vienna after he tried to attend to enter an elementary school in the Falls Church area.
The incident occurred yesterday (Thursday) around 3 p.m. at Shrevewood Elementary School (7525 Shreve Road).
“While trying to attend a school event with an acquaintance, a man attempted to check into the school using the automated visitor management system, the man’s name was flagged as being on the sex offender registry,” the police report said. “School staff denied him entry into the school and called police.”
Cornejo was arrested and charged with “entering school property after a violent sex offense,” according to police. He is being held at the Adult Detention Center without bond.
According to Virginia’s sex offender registry, a man named Alonso Bruno Cornejo, who lives in Vienna, was convicted in 2011 for sex trafficking of a juvenile.
An FBI press release from 2011 said that Alonso Bruno Cornejo Ormeno was sentenced to 292 months — roughly 24 years — in prison for “sex trafficking runaway females as part of his juvenile prostitution business that serviced clients throughout northern Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C., and Maryland.”
Photo via Fairfax County Police Department
The Fairfax County Police Department is looking to keep pace with Tysons’ rapid urbanization with completely different service from the rest of the county.
Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. talked to Tysons Reporter about the new, urban-style police station and service model he hopes to bring to Tysons in the future.
“It’s going to be different from all of the other stations,” he said. “In Fairfax right now it’s isolated. It’s got gates. It’s got cars.”
Roessler said that the station will be “very small” and that the officers will be trained for flexible policing styles that include: rail, retail, nightlife, vertical in high risers, bike and foot patrol.
“I envision it as that old school, early 1900s police station where it’s just part of the environment,” he said. “You see a small police station — it’s part of the fabric of the community.”
While the police department considered Segways for Tysons earlier this year, Roessler said that the pilot program showed they were “too clunky to work right now.”
Roessler started thinking about adding a Tysons station back in 2003 when he was a patrol major working with the county’s zoning staff on a strategic staffing plan.
He said that he helped to put together a team that traveled to Boston, Chicago, New York City and San Diego to find out how their police stations handled rapid urbanization in the 1890s-1920s. The takeaway: police departments need to plan ahead of time to make sure they have the personnel and equipment in order to avoid making quick changes to respond to a tragedy.
Working with the county’s zoning staff is a “really crucial piece” as the process for a Tysons station continues, he said.
For the last few years, Roessler said that he’s been working with different county agencies to get a land purchase or proffer for a Tysons police station — even if it’s just two floors in a mixed-use development.
“We’ve come close several times to getting a proffer in a mixed-use facility to have that urban station, but we continue to work on finding an area that would be conducive to a police station there,” he said.
Currently, nine full-time officers are assigned to the Tysons urban community — a number Roessler said he’d like to boost in the five-year staffing plan, which would also hopefully address the police department’s understaffing issue.
Tysons, Reston and Merrifield are the urban centers where Roessler plans to switch from “this 1940s-style of one person per patrol car” to a range of policing styles.
“We have to patrol like in Tysons, Reston in pairs because we have to go up 30 plus floors and it’s not fair for the community for one patrol officer ti come and wait for the other one,” he said. “It expands the response time.”
A new Lorton station within the next two years is part of larger redistricting effort that will shrink police district stations’ response areas countywide.
With tighter boundaries and the same amount of personnel, Roessler said that policing will become more efficient and engage in the community within smaller geographic areas, which will lead to detecting more crime. The police department will then need more support personnel for more cases, he said.
After the Lorton facility opens, Fairfax County Police Department will hold community meetings across the county about redistricting each district station to ensure a continuity of service, he said.
“I hope within five years we’re going to have a date inked in where we can have another station,” he said.
Grab a bag and stuff it full of books — the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library’s quarterly sale is this weekend.
The book sale will take place today (Friday) from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at 7584 Leesburg Pike. The sale will also run tomorrow (Saturday) from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday (June 2) from 1-4 p.m.
Throughout most of the weekend sale, non-fiction hardcovers are $3 and paperbacks are $2. Fiction hardcovers are $2 and paperbacks are $1. For mass-market, people can buy five smaller paperbacks for $1.
On Sunday, it’s $10 for however many books you can fill a bag with or half off other products.
Janella Blanchard, the president of the Friends of Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, previously told Tysons Reporter the book enthusiasts usually show up on the first day for the widest selection, while the sale hunters come on Sunday.
If you’re looking to get some books out of the house, donations are also accepted. Volunteers are also needed to help manage the sale.
Photo via Fairfax County
Metro recently closed several stations on the Blue and Yellow lines south of Ronald Reagan National Airport for platform reconstruction that will last until September.
The temporary shutdown is a part of Metro’s plan to reconstruct its 20 outdoor concrete platforms.
Ahead of the closures, Metro got the word out about Metrobuses, free shuttles and other bus options — like the Fairfax Connector — for affected riders. (The 494 Fairfax Connector runs from Lorton to Tysons, passing through Springfield.)
Tysons Partnership has information about carpools and vanpools, which travel for free in express lanes.
From social media and news reports, the transition has caused commuting headaches for some people — from getting stuck in traffic to bus drivers getting lost to stranded riders. Others have reported few or no issues with alternative transportation.
Let us know below if the Metro shutdown will affect you during the summer.
Stuff the Bus, a charity drive where donors try to fill a bus with food for local pantries, is coming to multiple locations throughout the Tysons area in June.
The event helps to refill the stocks of a diverse range of local charities with canned goods and other non-perishable supplies.
Saturday (June 1)
- Falls Church Giant — 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at 1230 W. Broad Street, Falls Church — The drive will benefit the Falls Church Community Service Council, a coalition of churches and human service organizations in Falls Church assisting low-income individuals and families in short-term or emergency needs.
Saturday (June 15)
- McLean Giant — 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at 1454 Chain Bridge Road, McLean — The drive will benefit Share, Inc., a nonprofit in McLean that provides financial assistance, distribution of food, used clothing, recycled furniture and transportation services for seniors. The organization is all volunteer run.
Saturday (June 22)
- Vienna Giant — 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at 359 Maple Avenue East, Vienna — The drive will benefit Committee for Helping Others, an all-volunteer organization that provides clothing, furniture, meals on wheels, transportation and emergency food aid or financial assistance.
Saturday (June 29)
- Safeway at Pan Am — 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at 3043 Nutley Street, Fairfax — The drive will benefit Food for Others, a regional emergency food distribution service.
Photo via Fairfax County
A Vienna high school student is hosting a fashion show in Tysons Corner Center tomorrow (Friday) night to fundraise for a local nonprofit.
Kaela G., a freshman at James Madison High School, is the event coordinator for the fashion show at Lord and Taylor (7950 Tyson’s Corner Center).
Here is the fashion show’s event description:
Wondering what the hot summer vacation trends are? Can’t decide what to wear for that perfect date? Come see the Madison HS basketball players model the latest fashions and hear what a local nonprofit, Second Story, is doing in our community for at-risk teens.
The night will include models, DJ Squirrel, Raffles, Refreshments, and a private shopping event. All purchases made the night of the event will receive 15% off Cosmetics, and 30% off all other merchandise.
General admission is $20 and VIP admission, which includes preferred seating and automatic entry into a raffle for a skincare and cosmetic gift basket worth $200, is $40.
All ticket sales will get donated to the Second Story, a local nonprofit that provides safe havens for kids and their families.
People who can’t attend the event but still want to donate can purchase a donation ticket.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The fashion show runs from 7-9 p.m.
Updated at 2:50 p.m. — NWS has a Severe Thunderstorm Warning in effect for Fairfax County until 3:15 p.m.
More from NWS:
…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 315 PM EDT FOR SOUTHEASTERN LOUDOUN…FAIRFAX…NORTH CENTRAL FAUQUIER…AND NORTHWESTERN PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTIES…THE CITY OF FAIRFAX…THE CITY OF MANASSAS PARK AND THE NORTHEASTERN CITY OF ANASSAS…
At 244 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Haymarket, or near South Riding, moving east at 40 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.
Earlier: A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for Fairfax County.
The watch is in effect until 9 p.m. today (Thursday) and also covers several surrounding localities across Northern Virginia, D.C. and Maryland.
NWS tweeted out the watch at 1:58 p.m., saying that a tornado is possible, along with isolated, ping-pong sized hail and scattered winds up to 65 miles per hour.
MT @NWS_BaltWash: Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Centreville VA, Reston VA, Burke VA until 3:15 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/FwqBfQf3MH
— Fairfax County Government 🇺🇸 (@fairfaxcounty) May 30, 2019
2:13 pm: Severe thunderstorm watch is up for the area until 9 pm. Storms gathering strength west, moving into and through western suburbs in the hour or two ahead. https://t.co/veX4ig5glw pic.twitter.com/VT0zC0DDDF
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) May 30, 2019
Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 9pm for the majority of the DC Metro. Damaging winds are most likely in storms this afternoon and evening, isolated hail is possible along with an isolated tornado. pic.twitter.com/Ki28tgmOYR
— Alex Liggitt (@AlexLiggittWX) May 30, 2019
File photo
