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Fairfax County Sees ‘Steady Flow’ of Voters as Polls Near Closure

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Updated at 4:25 p.m. — As of 4:23 p.m., county-wide turnout is at 25.1% for in-person voters, Fairfax County tweeted.

With just a few hours left before the polls close this evening, Tysons-area voter turnout has steadily increased throughout the day.

Contested races are underway for the Providence and Dranesville District seats and the chair on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

As of 1 p.m., voter turnout was at 15.9% in the Providence District, 18.2% in the Hunter Mill District and 18.4% in the Dranesville District, Fairfax County tweeted.

Around 2 p.m., Tysons Reporter spotted a full parking lot outside George Marshall High School (7731 Leesburg Pike). As of 1:57 p.m., 991 people had voted at the high school.

A polling official at Marshall told Tysons Reporter that it’s been a “great steady flow” all day.

The Chief Election Official at Langley High School in McLean told Tysons Reporter earlier today that most voters tend to come between 5 p.m. and when the polls close at 7 p.m.

Registered voters can find their polling locations with the My Neighborhood Map or through the portal on the Virginia Department of Elections website.

Tysons Reporter interviewed the candidates running for the Providence and Dranesville District seats on the Board of Supervisors: Dalia Palchik, Eric Anthony Jones, John Foust and Ed Martin.

Additionally, we have a guide about who is running in the local races for the Tysons area.

Kalina Newman and Catherine Douglas Moran contributed to this story.

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Poll: Are You Voting in the Fairfax County Election?

Today is the last chance for Fairfax County voters to head to the polls.

More than half of the seats are contested on both the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and School Board.

While many of the Board of Supervisors candidates are incumbents — like John Foust, Penny Gross and Pat Herrity — some new faces are also vying for seats due to officials retiring, like Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth.

Voters will also decide the fate of a $360 million bond referendum for Fairfax County Public Schools.

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‘Slow But Steady:’ Voting Underway Around Tysons

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(Updated at 11:45 a.m.) Election day is here and Fairfax County voters are out at the polls.

At Langley High School (6520 Georgetown Pike), two women sitting in the back of the large room where the voting is taking place have been volunteering together for elections for the last 10 years.

Chief Election Officer Amanda Bridges and Assistant Chief Election Officer Virginia Norton said that there has been a “good turnout” so far with 198 voters as of 8:50 a.m. at the McLean school.

“It’s slow but steady,” Norton said.

They expect most voters to come between 5-7 p.m. No issues have been reported at the polling location, they said.

Bridges said that she loves the process of voting, while Norton said that volunteering is “giving back to the community.”

As of 10:30 a.m., the number ticked up to more than 300 voters.

Over at George Marshall High School (7731 Leesburg Pike), more than 600 people have voted so far this morning as of 10:30 a.m., according to Jenne Faubell, the Chief Election Officer at the location.

Outside the Falls Church area high school, Kim Mislock, a canvasser for the Republican Party, told Tysons Reporter that she feels like parents’ voices aren’t being heard when it comes to the Fairfax County School Board.

“I care deeply about the transparency on the School Board,” she said.

“I feel like people are definitely informed [voters],” Dalia Palchik, a current School Board member and candidate for the Providence District seat on the Board of Supervisors, told Tysons Reporter. “Here at Marshall, there has been a steady stream of people.”

The estimated turnout across Fairfax County was 8.4% around 10 a.m., according to the county.

Voters can find their polling locations with the My Neighborhood Map or through the portal on the Virginia Department of Elections website.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Tysons Reporter interviewed the candidates running for the Providence and Dranesville District seats on the Board of Supervisors: Dalia Palchik, Eric Anthony Jones, John Foust and Ed Martin.

Additionally, we have a guide about who is running in the local races for the Tysons area.

Catherine Douglas Moran and Ashley Hopko contributed to this story.

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Monday Morning Notes

Absentee Ballots Rushed to Voters — “Roughly 1,300 new ballots were sent out Oct. 16 and 17 to accommodate the new Republican candidate, Eric Anthony Jones, on the ballot, Fairfax County’s general registrar Gary Scott told the News-Press.” [Falls Church News-Press]

Advisory Firm Moves to Tysons — Capstone Strategic, Inc. announced Friday that it has moved to 8521 Leesburg Pike, Suite 230. [Benzinga]

Facebook Considered Tysons For New Spot — “Social media giant Facebook Inc. has reached a deal to take a large block of office space in Reston Town Center after weighing other potential locations, including Tysons.” [Washington Business Journal]

Calling All Volunteers — “The City Council is looking for seven volunteers to join the newly-created Stormwater Task Force, which will update the list of stormwater improvement projects in the City’s Watershed Management Plan.” [City of Falls Church]

New Glass Recycling Container in Vienna — “We worked with Fairfax County to get our very own exclusively glass purple recycling container that is hungry and waiting at its location on Mill Street NE in the gravel shoulder next to Capitol Building Supply.” [Town of Vienna]

Car Crash Closed McLean Road — The 1800 block of Great Falls Street in McLean was closed due to a car crash on Sunday. The road has now reopened. [Fairfax County Police Department]

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Here’s a Look at Board of Supervisors Candidates’ Top Donors

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To prepare for the upcoming election, Tysons Reporter looked into how Board of Supervisor candidates in Fairfax County are funding their campaigns. 

Both Democrats in the races for the Providence and Dranesville District Supervisor seats have much larger war chests than their Republican opponents by thousands of dollars.

Tysons Reporter took a look at where the donations to the four candidates’ campaigns are coming from.

Providence District Supervisor Race 

Democrat Dalia Palchik has raised just roughly $110,000 in monetary campaign contributions. 

Major donors include the Jefferson Village Association LP — real estate developers in Bethesda, Md. who have donated $25,000 — and Alison Georgelas, a managing consultant at IBM, with $5,000.

Palchik also received smaller amounts from individuals or organizations like the Fairfax County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics — IAFF Local 2068, who donated $1,500 and openly endorsed her. 

Karl Frisch, who is running for the Providence District seat on the Fairfax County School Board, assisted Palchik with in-kind donations including campaign buttons costing $260.

According to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), around $34,000 of Palchik’s campaign funds came from construction or real estate groups. 

Besides political consulting, one of Palchik’s largest expenses was a $1,700 food tab at Inca Social for a fundraiser.

Republican Eric Jones only reported one $200 donation to his campaign from Andrew Finlayson, a retired veteran and member of the Republican Party in North Carolina. Jones told Tysons Reporter that he paid for the rest of his campaign expenses out of his own pocket.

So far, he spent $7,880 of the roughly $9,700 going towards his campaign.

Jones did not report any in-kind contributions and reportedly spent money on a P.O. box in Merrifield, political consulting and signage, among similar things.

Dranesville District Supervisor Race

This year, Democrat John Foust received $81,000 in monetary campaign contributions, according to campaign finance reports.

About $20,000 came from lawyers, according to VPAP.

Foust’s biggest donors so far include Fairfax County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics, who donated $5,500, and several McLean couples.

One couple has donated $9,500 — Sophia Lynn, the head of Crow’s Nest Research Center, gave $4,500, while appellate attorney David Frederick donated $5,000.

Wedding designer and decorator Prabha Bhambri, while Inder Jit Bhambri donated $4,000.

Karen DuVal, who owned a McLean property connected to the War of 1812 and the Civil War, donated $3,500.

He also received $3,000 from Felipe Rodriquez, the CEO of Sterling-based Aeronautical Systems.

Back in September, Foust spent about $1,200 on photoshoot expenses and about $2,300 on the production and design of walk cards.

Meanwhile, Republican Ed Martin — who has missed campaign finance deadlines — told Tysons Reporter that he’s raised about $3,000.

Two campaign finance reports covering April to the end of August say he didn’t raise or spend anything. A new campaign finance report, which was filed yesterday, says that he received $50 in September.

Martin provided Tysons Reporter photos of checks showing the Virginia Republican Victory Fund gave him $500 and the Patriot Republican Women’s Club gave him $50.

The election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Catherine Douglas Moran contributed to this story.

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Q&A: Providence District Candidate Dalia Palchik Talks Climate Change

Editor’s Note — Tysons Reporter is running Q&As with the candidates running for the Dranesville and Providence District seats on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week. The stories have been lightly condensed and edited for clarity. 

Featured here is Democrat Dalia Palchik, who is running against Republican Eric Jones for the Providence District seat. 

Dalia Palchik currently serves as the Providence District Representative on the Fairfax County School Board. But next week, she’s hoping voters will choose her to represent the district on the Board of Supervisors.

Palchik grew up in the area after immigrating with her family to the United States at an early age from Argentina. She was elected to the school board in 2015 and currently chairs the Public Engagement Committee and is a liaison to the Planning Commission Schools Committee and the Minority Student Achievement Oversight Committee.

Just days after current Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth announced in December that she wouldn’t seek election, Palchik jumped into the race.

She won the Democratic nomination back in June, promising “progressive leadership” for the entire community.

Tysons Reporter sat down with Palchik at Caboose Commons to speak with her about her priorities if she is elected.

Tysons Reporter: What would you do to tackle affordable housing?

Dalia Palchik: This is key. To me, this is the number one challenge we have here especially in the Tysons area.

We are at the point where it is not just non-profits and the government that want to tackle it, but the private sector knows that people like us can’t move here and afford to live here. Our workforce is having a hard time living close as well as those who are hoping to retire in place.

So yes, we are hoping to continue and grow the good work that is happening in the county. The county is starting to do affordable housing and we need to increase that. I really want us to have a master plan the way Arlington has a master plan to tackle that. But more specifically I think we really need to figure out how to work together with the government, the private sector and the non-profits to really expand.

We are not going to get the units we need in the region, we need over 300,000 units in our area. We absolutely have to work together. You are not going to get all those to unite just through public funding and government programs.

For me, it’s really listening and bringing different stakeholders to the table. I would form a working group or task force to tackle the issue from different aspects.

TR: What are the three ways you’re hoping to tackle climate change? 

Palchik: Number one, we are starting with this joint environmental taskforce. I sit on that committee now and that’s really looking to lead by example. This task force is looking at what the schools in the county can do.

The big area is looking at how we help incentivize and remove barriers on the private side for homeowners and businesses. One of those is C-PACE. C-PACE is a program that helps incentivize privately owned buildings to get some upfront funding to help increase their efficiency and the emissions that are going to be produced by their buildings.

Virginia, unfortunately, requires some changes at the General Assembly level. So that’s going to be the other thing, helping to get some of these bills through.

TR: What are your transportation project priorities?

Palchik: We need to figure out the last mile challenge, how do we help people of different abilities, income levels, have access to getting to public transit. I was just talking to a friend last night she said, “I am one mile to the Metro one way and a mile to the Metro another way and I don’t feel safe enough to bike.”

Number two is continuing to support and establish the Metro system that’s there, the expansions, working with WMATA to make sure our systems funded and that we increase ridership.

Tysons has been doing really well with the Silver Line and we want to see that across the board. I used to take it every day. Finally, figuring out that balance. Just the other day I was at a meeting for Route 50. You wanna make sure that people have alternative solutions.

TR: What is your plan for the budget? 

Palchik: Schools are number one. We need to continue to support and fund our schools. I also think we need to find ways to, first of all, fill some of our empty office space, diversify our economy, support small local businesses.

We need to make sure we are a county that supports and attracts larger businesses but also homegrown ones to increase our tax base. In the next couple of years, the Providence District is going to be more commercial than residential real-estate.

Number one beyond that is making sure we are leaders that our employees are paid well enough that they are able to live here, that they are supported and that we are not growing programs at the expense of those who work for us.

TR: The county is currently looking at adding a new school to Tysons. Is that enough to address capacity issues? What should be done for all the incoming students?

Palchik:  You bring up the word boundary changes, and it becomes a very contested and political challenge. I’ve had people ask me to redo a boundary around their home.

As a community, we need to make the best dest decision about what’s best for the kids. One of the challenges we’ve had, in the county we can no longer afford to buy new land to build schools.

We have to address capacity. As a supervisor, and Supervisor [John] Foust has done this, I would be dedicated to knowing where we need more capacity for schools.

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Q&A: Providence District Candidate Eric Anthony Jones Talks Transit Goals

Editor’s Note — Tysons Reporter is running Q&As with the candidates running for the Dranesville and Providence District seats on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week. The stories have been condensed and edited for clarity. 

Featured here is Republican Eric Anthony Jones, who is running against Democrat Dalia Palchik for the Providence District Board of Supervisors seat, which represents Tysons, Merrifield, Oakton and parts of Falls Church.

After the previous Republican candidate for the Providence Supervisor seat died, Eric Anthony Jones decided to run to give voters a stark choice between him and his competitor, Dalia Palchik.

He previously served as a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State, with a focus on cybersecurity and energy policy, according to his website. His work took him around the world, letting him live in India, China, Russia, Bulgaria and Afghanistan.

Jones said at a recent candidate debate that he does not believe in sanctuary cities because they harm immigrants who became citizens or legal permanent residents through governmental processes. During his time as a U.S. Consular Officer in China, he interviewed more than 20,000 people and approved half of them to come to the United Staes, he told Tysons Reporter.

Jones also formerly taught as a college professor and now has two daughters in college and a son in high-school. If elected, Jones said education will be one of his top priorities.

Now retired, Jones has lived in Fairfax County for the last 27 years. Earlier this month, he jumped into the race for the Providence District seat and faces Democrat Dalia Palchik in the general election next week. (Current Supervisor Linda Smyth is retiring.)

Tysons Reporter met up with Jones to learn more about how he would want to improve capacity issues at schools and manage the county’s budget, along with other topics, if elected.

Tysons Reporter: How do you plan on tackling affordable housing in Fairfax County? 

Jones: I am in favor of affordable housing. I’m in favor of market-based but non-subsidized measures for housing. One of the things we have to face is that we live in Fairfax County, 400 square miles, 1.1 million people, 3,000 people per square mile. The fact of the matter, the reality is that the land here, the ground is very expensive.

I’m not for subsidized housing here, using tax money for that. I do believe, for example, that if there is an impoverished family of four that it’s better given a certain amount of money to help them in terms of welfare for the truly needy. I think it is better to — with the given amount of money — to be able to support three families instead of one family. That’s done by living in areas that are not so expensive.

What’s happening is that a lot of areas are getting new buildup, such as here in Mosaic, there was basically an open, unused lot or areas where they had large older styles malls. Those can be transformed into units. 

I think a creative way mentioned by several people is that there are many elderly residents that are living in the houses where their children grew up in. Elderly residents are a large population who want to stay in Fairfax County. They have relatively large houses and I think the county can help facilitate ways in which elderly people with room in their houses can work out rentals. Elderly people can find reliable renters that they feel safe with. They want someone around, someone to call in case they fall on the floor.

TR: The county is currently looking at adding a new school to Tysons. Is that enough to address capacity issues? What should be done for all the incoming students?

Jones: We have to look at the facts of increased population and demand for schools. I am for expanded school facilities. Overcrowding has resulted in a lot of trailers.

I’m fully in support of salaries and benefits, expansions for teachers and also supporting teachers in terms of discipline regulation that are favorable to teachers, students and maintaining a proper learning atmosphere.

In addition, I believe we should look at charter schools, which offer students and parents a choice. Charter schools are not an attack on teachers or anything like that. I see it as a creative way of giving parents and students public choice while also helping to relieve the burden of overcrowding.

I support teachers and their potential to attract and maintain quality. I think we need to address the issues of pensions.

Pensions are a ticking time bomb anywhere. Expanded school facilities of both existing schools and new school construction to help alleviate overcrowding. I want to reduce the use of trailers and the solution to that is more school construction.

TR: What are your top three priorities when it comes to transportation?

Jones: One is the expansion and improvement of roads, large and small. There is a certain reality we bump up against that the terrain is such in a lot of these places that you can’t expand the roads, you’d wipe out a lot of, not just the trees, but the way the terrain goes.

We have these watersheds, we have these beautiful parks as a result and deer in an urban setting. We need to protect those. It’s a constraint on how we can expand our roads.

Number two is providing expansions for public transportation, reliable public transportation so people can get to work and back. The density of the area helps us there because it means you don’t have to worry about going as long of a distance and connectors for people go farther out.

I think there is some potential for expansion, for example, working with Maryland and Virginia, to figure out the modern era. We need to have another way of crossing the Potomac [River]. That will relieve a lot of the congestion you get.

TR: What are your top three plans to tackle climate change?

Jones: There is a stark choice between me, Dalia Palchik and the current Board of Supervisors. I am for energy policy here. It should be consumer-oriented, based on cost-benefit analysis and be affordable energy, reliable energy and clean energy.

I see the Green New Deal policies as unrealistic, coercive [and] expensive. Those proposals would be job-killing, net-job killing and bet against economic prosperity.

I have a fundamentally different way of looking at it.  There is not a good analysis and convincing evidence of how much role is being played by natural forces and fluctuations and the factor of CO2 concentration increases as a result of fossil fuels.

I’m against the Green New Deal and the fundamental things behind it. People should realize electricity does not start with a wall socket.

TR: How will you manage the budget? 

Jones: The budget is $8 million per year. The budget itself needs continued scrutiny. I think we should have more competitive bidding and more transparency. It’s important to keep our budget under control. 

If you look at the last 20 years, our taxes paid per capita have gone up three times faster than the inflation rate and three times faster than the earnings rate and salary rate. 

Transparency of all transactions, more public input on transactions, more competitive bidding and much more scrutiny for our budgets.

On the flip side, I think its priorities should go especially to the school system and teachers and maintaining and improving the quality of education.

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Dranesville Supervisor Candidate Misses Multiple Campaign Finance Deadlines

Updated 11/1/19 — Martin filed the campaign finance report that was due on Oct. 15 on Thursday (Oct. 31), which leaves him missing one report.

Earlier: The general election is less than a week away, and the Republican candidate for the Dranesville District Supervisor race hasn’t filed two campaign finance reports.

Ed Martin, who is running against Democrat John Foust, faces thousands of dollars of civil penalties after missing the reporting deadlines earlier this summer and as recently as Monday.

Martin is running on a platform to cut taxes, improve traffic problems and increase transparency in local government.

Martin’s campaign committee, Friends of Ed Martin, filed its first report, which covers April to the end of June, on July 15.

Martin then missed three deadlines — Sept. 16 , Oct. 15 and Oct. 28, the Virginia Department of Elections confirmed to Tysons Reporter earlier this week.

Friends of Ed Martin filed a campaign finance report covering July and August — which was due on Sept. 16 — yesterday (Wednesday), according to Virginia Department of Elections records that Martin emailed to Tysons Reporter.

Both reports say that Martin hasn’t raised or spent anything.

But an emailed statement from Martin claims that he has raised some money.

“When I filed to run in June, I registered and subsequently filed my first report. Due to a clerical error, my most recent report was delayed and will be filed by the end of this month,” the statement said. “Unlike my opponent who raises money all year round, my campaign is grassroots and is less than $5,000.”

Martin provided photos of checks showing the Virginia Republican Victory Fund gave him $500 and the Patriot Republican Women’s Club gave him $50.

For candidates who have filed campaign finances reports late – or not at all — the State Board of Elections sends a letter with a civil penalty to the candidate.

If it is not paid within a set amount of time, enforcement then becomes the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s responsibility, Patricia Ferguson with the Virginia Department of Elections, told Tysons Reporter.

Election officials and staff cannot waive or reduce the penalties, according to State Code.

“These penalties are automatically imposed if a report isn’t filed,” Brian Worthy, a spokesperson for Fairfax County, told Tysons Reporter.

“Martin’s campaign was fined $100 for failing to file the campaign finance report that was due on Sept. 16,” Worthy said, adding that the campaign is also subject to a $1,000 penalty for failing to file the Oct. 15 report.

“Another $1,000 civil penalty is applicable if we don’t receive [the Oct. 28 report],” Worthy said.

Martin seemed surprised when Tysons Reporter asked about the fines.

“I got a letter saying that we’re not in compliance,” Martin said. “I don’t think we got a fine. If we have, I haven’t seen it.”

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Q&A: Dranesville Candidate Ed Martin Talks School Overcrowding, Transit Goals

Editor’s Note — Tysons Reporter is running Q&As with the candidates running for the Dranesville and Providence District seats on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week. The stories have been lightly condensed and edited for clarity. 

Featured here is Ed Martin, who is running as a Republican against Democrat John Foust for the Dranesville District seat, which represents McLean, Great Falls, Herndon and portions of Vienna and Falls Church.

Ed Martin is a radio host, president of a conservative think tank and Great Falls resident. Now, he wants to become the Dranesville District Supervisor.

Originally from New Jersey, Martin has worked as a lawyer and headed up the Human Rights Office for the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 1998-2001, he told Tysons Reporter.

Fascinated by President Donald Trump’s tweets, Martin wanted to write a book about them and ended up teaming up with an artist to create three Trump coloring books featuring the president’s tweets.

He now runs Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a conservative group named after the controversial social leader known for opposing the Equal Rights Amendment. Martin moved to Great Falls shortly after the 2016 election, he said.

Tysons Reporter met up with Martin to talk about how he would want to help seniors age in place and address capacity issues at public schools in the county if elected to the Board of Supervisors.

Tysons Reporter: What are your top three goals to help people age in place?

Ed Martin: My wife is a geriatrics physician so her specialty is seniors, so for 15 years I’ve been hearing from her the details of what they call the “grey tsunami” — it’s the number of people who are in the Baby Boomer generation that will age out.

One observation, broadly, is there is a growing — especially in government — distrust in what’s happening. More transparency in what is going on is more important than ever. The second thing, the taxes have gone up, up, up. I think the taxes are too high. I think we need to lower the cost of taxes.

The top one I would describe now is the cost of living here. It’s not just for seniors by the way. If you talk to the cops — and the cops endorsed me, one of the PBAs endorsed — those guys and gals are telling you they can’t live here. They can’t afford to live in Fairfax County. That’s a big one, I would say the taxes.

What’s the vision for development here? How do you put together the pieces that let people move? I think we have a wonderful community [in] Fairfax County, especially in Dranesville District, has some incredible strengths and volunteers and pockets of communities, churches and synagogues that want to do things — how do you build that together?

In Great Falls there’s a center that has come together to support seniors. That’s got to happen more. We need creative solutions. I think that’s going to include the possibility of ride-sharing so that more people can stay.

TR: How would you address affordable housing in the county?

Martin: The biggest thing I think helps with affordability is lowering taxes and the costs. That would be the number one thing. I would say the number one thing is to lower the cost of living here, whether that’s for a cop and his family or an individual. And that’s the best way I know how to do that is to cut taxes, lower cuts, cut regulatory costs and the schools are what draw people here.

They are willing to tolerate some of the high real estate prices because the schools are so good in the Dranesville District, so I think that’s the biggest concern people have now. How can I trust to move there if we’re having something that looks like boundary changes — what does that mean? Confidence in the school system is going to be really important.

TR: What do you think about developers setting aside units for workforce housing and contributing to the county’s housing fund?

Martin: I’m a little bit cynical of set-asides. I would like to see how well they work. I don’t believe they work as well as we’re told. They tend to be window dressing for everyone to feel good.

TR: More broadly — not just about McLean High School — how would you want to address capacity issues here in Fairfax County both before it’s an issue and once a school is over capacity?

Martin: The Board of Supervisors gives an extraordinary amount of money to the School Board. Which means we should have — I know it’s possible to have [because] I’ve talked to Tom Davis, the former congressman who was a Fairfax County Supervisors and I’ve talked to Pat Herrity about it — the Board of Supervisors can have a lot more influence than  currently is perceived on what the School Board does.

It’s how you spend money that makes a difference. So if you look at spending priorities and you say, “Why hasn’t McLean High School had whatever could be done to eliminate the many trailers?” — whether it means a building project, whether it means expanding the existing school — we should have been doing that instead of spending money on everything else.

Fairfax County is not broke. I think we’re misspending our money.

TR: Would you want to build a new school? Would you want to try to look at renovations or additions to existing schools?

Martin: I think the preference should be on the students who are in a school being able to stay in their school. If you have room for trailers, you have room for some buildings. Maybe it’s not one-for-one, but I think McLean [High School] could creatively expand their school.

TR: What do you think of the electric school bus idea?

Martin: I don’t know enough about the cost of it. I’m not against electric cars or electric buses if they work. I know sometimes the cost of something can be deceptively cheaper on the front end — it looks like it’s going to save you — I don’t think I know enough. I like the idea of electric cars. The good old fashioned buses work pretty well.

TR: Do you have any plans to encourage wind and solar power use among constituents and if so, how?

Martin: I think wind and solar [power are] fine. I would not be in favor of incentivizing with either taxes or anything like that. Dominion gets a bad rap for not succeeding in a variety of ways, but they have to be a partner going forward. I think that’s a different question.

Over time you need to find partnerships where things can be creatively done and I think Dominion could make some things more likely in terms of renewables. I think it’s fine to encourage people.

TR: What are your top three transit infrastructure priorities?

Martin: The number one is to get a grasp on what’s happening in Tysons because it’s impacting Dranesville.

I think the Leesburg Pike has to be addressed more significantly. If I could those two together, you hear people complain about the Georgetown Pike and some of it’s a windy road and will be forever, but some of it around the Great Falls Park is because in the summer the park is full up.

I think the third issue is what is the future going to be? I mean we have a problem that’s a wonderful blessing with these businesses moving in and the people moving in, but I don’t think we really understand the scope of the problem. I think we have to be creative. It might mean there’s more ride-sharing — I’m a sort of fan of watching the market disrupt through Uber and Lyft and all — but coming up with how to alleviate traffic congestion in the district.

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Q&A: Dranesville Candidate John Foust Talks Solar Power, Affordable Housing

Editor’s Note — Tysons Reporter is running Q&As with the candidates running for the Dranesville and Providence District seats on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week. The stories have been lightly condensed and edited for clarity. 

Featured here is Democrat John Foust, who is running against Republican Ed Martin for the Dranesville District seat, which represents McLean, Great Falls, Herndon and portions of Vienna and Falls Church.

John Foust is hoping that the upcoming election will land him another term representing people in McLean on the Board of Supervisors.

First elected to the board in 2007, Foust currently serves as the chairman of the county’s transportation and information technology committees, along with chairing the Fairfax County Economic Advisory Commission.

Originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Foust has been living in Northern Virginia since 1981 and in McLean since 1987, according to his county bio. He’s worked in steel mills and practiced construction law in Northern Virginia.

During a recent candidate debate in McLean, Foust pointed to his experience on the county board — pointing to the expansion of Balls Hill Road at Georgetown Pike to address traffic and the widening of Leesburg Pike (Route 7).

Tysons Reporter met up with Foust in his office to ask about how he would tackle affordable housing and capacity issues at public schools and what his top infrastructure priorities are if he is re-elected for another four-year term.

Tysons Reporter: Do you any plans to encourage the use of wind and solar polar among constituents. If so, how?

John Foust: Definitely. We are particularly with solar we at the county level have 130 or so buildings that we are looking at putting solar on, but with the constituents we are going out to the community with the CECAP — a community-wide energy and climate action planning process — and part of that is going to be looking at the possibility of solar on residential and commercial buildings in Fairfax County.

TR: As people come into the area, what do you say are your top priorities to stay and age in place?

Foust: At the county level, we have a 50+ Committee that has developed a lot of programs and services to address the senior population and to help them stay in their homes. Locally, I have established three different groups — one in McLean, one in Great Falls and one in Herndon — to help seniors and people with disabilities stay in their homes and stay in the community.

Each one has taken is set up to be run by volunteers and community leaders, and each one has taken on a slightly different angle on how they are going to do that based on what they think the most immediate needs are in their particular community.

For example in Herndon, it’s almost exclusively designed around transportation and getting seniors rides to their doctors and to wherever they need to go. It’s the most common complaint we hear from seniors is that they don’t have transportation.

So then we have in Great Falls, which is a semi-rural community and people don’t see each other on a regular basis all of the time, they focus more on a social environment. In McLean, it has been very active. We’re focusing a lot on education and resources.

TR: Anything you haven’t done yet that you would want to do to help people age in place?

Foust: The most important thing we can do for some people is to get the economy going to the point where they have a strong economy that can provide tax relief. That’s a very expensive proposition but it’s also something that is contributing to the difficulties seniors have staying in their homes.

We — Fairfax County and all counties in Virginia — our primary funding source is property taxes and so there are programs available to provide relief to seniors but they are not very generous and they can’t be until we have other revenue sources to subsidize that relief.

TR: What about home-sharing?

Foust: We’ve talked about it on numerous occasions. There are obviously issues having strangers come into your home and being responsible for some of your care. So there are issues but there are nonprofits that I think take the issues on and make that happen. And it would be a very positive development if we had that. It would provide another choice.

TR: How do you want to approach affordable housing? What do you think the county can do to make sure there are enough units for young professionals coming in? 

Foust: The market pretty much delivers the housing we need for the people earning 120% or more of the AMI — the area median income. We use inclusionary zoning to try to create a significant inventory of what we would call workforce housing, which is in the 80-120% of AMI in and around the Metro stations. But then for 80% or 60% of AMI or lower, it’s a huge challenge and that’s the affordable housing market that we as a government have to be more involved in, whether it’s creating incentives or financial participation.

At the Board of Supervisors, we dedicate half of a penny a year — this is a new development — on the real estate tax, which is about $12 million, to support nonprofits and others who are trying to preserve the affordable housing that we do have. And then we added an additional penny, which is about $25 million a year — to support nonprofits and others who are trying to expand to the number of affordable housing units that we have in the county.

We, as a board, we have made a commitment to have delivered 5,000 units of affordable housing for people earning 60% or lower of the AMI over the next 15 years.

TR: Do you think the county needs to do more for affordable housing? Or is the track you’re on right now —

Foust: — No, the track we’re on right now isn’t — it’s a much better track, but it’s not going to lead to fully satisfying the demand. So that’s why we have other tools that we use. And we have Phase 1 of the Strategic Plan identified 25 different things that we could be doing. For example, big things like working with nonprofits [and] making government-owned land available.

TR: What are your top three transit infrastructure priorities?

Foust: Completing the Silver Line is absolutely critical. Creating and expanding a bus rapid transit network between activity centers in the county. And expanding the general bus service feeding the Metro stations on the Silver Line.

TR: Overall, how do you think the county can better approach capacity issues at the public schools?

Foust: You have to look at adjacent school districts and see if there are dramatic capacity differences and if so, whether there is are adjacents that can be made with community support to utilize the capacity at schools that are underutilized and relieve the pressure on schools that are over capacity.

You also have the Capital Improvement [Program], which require significant funding. So we made significant increases in capital improvements for schools currently at $180 million a year under bonding authority. In all probability, that number should be higher and we need to continue to look at that and try to get more projects done.

And generally, other outside funding via bonding in other areas to deliver more annual funding streams to focus on capital improvements and renovating the schools and increasing capacity.

TR: I’m assuming it’s different trying to address it before it becomes an issue than have to go back and try to fix it.

Foust: Yeah. We just have to bite some bullets and build some new schools. Eventually, we have built very few new schools in the county in the past decade and [the] population continues to grow.

My sense is that the School Board feels that buying the land is not the best bang for the buck because they already have schools with the land and it makes more sense to expand those schools. And from an operating standpoint — budgetary —  it makes more sense to renovate and expand the schools you have rather than to build new schools.

But that gets you so far and at some point, you’re going to need to get some new schools. The one in Tysons is very high on my priority for the elementary school, especially. They have the land proffered to us, given to us by a developer. And it just needs to be incorporated into the school’s CIP and built.

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