The Vienna Police Department got involved in a civil dispute between a local bakery and its landlord.

Last Friday (June 14), the property manager Glyndon Plaza reported to the police that the owners of Silva’s Patisserie had broken their lease by moving out of the rented space at 167 Glyndon Street SE.

“In the process, the owners took several items that the manager advised belonged to the shopping center,” according to the police report.

Police said the property manager intends to pursue civil action in the matter.

This past week, local crimes include a resident in the 400 block of Old Courthouse Road NE who reported to the police that someone had been continuously leaving tacks under her vehicle tires early in the morning throughout May and early June.

In a separate incident, police said that a woman went to CVS (337P E. Maple Avenue) and came back to find a note left on her car from a stranger, “who stated that he found her attractive and wanted to get to know her.”

That incident occurred around 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday (June 19).

The Town of Vienna’s free monthly block parties this summer will start on Friday (June 21).

Featuring live music, food trucks and activities, the summer block parties are called “Chillin’ on Church” because they take place on Church Street between Dominion and Mill roads.

Here is the live music line-up:

• June 21: The Deja Gruv Band, playing R&B, funk and soul
• July 19: Mudlark, a classic rock and blues group
• Aug. 16: Big Bad JuJu, a rock and dance cover band
• Sept. 20: Hard Swimmin’ Fish, a jazz and funk ensemble

The summer block parties are from 6:30-9:30 p.m. every third Friday this summer.

The food truck list for this Friday has nearly a dozen vendors, including:

• Ben and Jerry’s
• Blue City Food  — Indian street food
• Chix N Stix — wings, chicken tenders, hot dogs and fries
• Crepe Love Truck
• DC Korean BBQ Taco Box
• DC Slices — thin-crust pizza and tater tots
• Kona Ice of North Fairfax County — shaved ice
• N.C. Ribs on Wheels — barbecue, ribs, turkey legs and more
• Stay Cheesy Food Truck
• Tapas Truck DC
• Urban Bumpkin BBQ

While blankets and lawn chairs are welcome, alcohol not purchased at the party and pets are not.

Photo courtesy Town of Vienna

After an earlier work session decried the building design as boring, designers of the Vienna Market mixed-use project came back with a slightly more spiced-up project.

Criticisms of the original designs included notes that the building did not offer interesting or unique street faces on every side of the project. The new redesign of the project was presented at the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) Work Session on Friday, June 14.

Most of the distinctions are fairly subtle, but enough to excite architecture wonks on the BAR. Members of the Board praised the new bay windows — glass spaces that project forward from the main room — as a new visually distinctive feature of the project.

The proposed project is planned to replace the Marco Polo building that was destroyed in a fire last year. The project would add 44 condominiums and 8,200 square feet of retail space to 245 W. Maple Avenue.

Representatives of Northfield, the site developer, said at the meeting that a focus of the work between the last work session and this one was rustication, giving the building a more rough-hewn look as compared to the more clean-cut original design.

The building still has a ways to go before approval. Another work session is planned for next Friday (June 28), prompting one BAR member to remark that his wife was getting suspicious of the number of “work sessions” he was attending for the project.

A boy reported to Vienna Police that another kid smeared berries on his bicycle.

The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Friday, June 7, in the 500 block of S. Center Street, according to the police report.

Other local crimes include stolen and recovered beer from the Giant Food (359 E. Maple Avenue) that same Friday.

Shortly after 11 a.m., an employee reported to the police that five kids took a case of beer and ran out of the store, according to the police report.

“The employee was able to recover the beer,” the police report said. “However, the juveniles fled the area.”

Later that day, between 7-8 p.m., police said two kids attempted to steal a 30-pack of beer, but a loss prevention officer confronted the kids.

“The juveniles ran away from the officer leaving behind the beer,” the report said.

Photo via Facebook

Along with other legislative items, Vienna is working to kill a statewide requirement to advertise in local newspapers.

Virginia code currently requires local Planning Commissions to publish notice of plan, ordinances and amendments in “some newspaper published or having general circulation in the locality” before those plans are approved.

The idea of the ordinance is to require localities to give the public time to see what’s planned and the opportunity to speak to their representatives about it, if necessary.

But Vienna staff argued that many localities no longer have local newspapers to advertise in and those that do are seeing it as an unnecessary cost.

“A lot of newspapers distribute their news online,” said Town Attorney Steven Briglia. “I think these provisions for legal advertising requirements, they’re expensive. Any time you have a hearing it has to be advertised by the clerk and it adds up… it becomes a question of: is that the best way to get the news out?  Newspaper associations fight it, it’s advertising money for them, and I don’t think it’s that the town is against newspapers, but we’re losing options.”

This isn’t the first time localities have tried to have the ordinance overturned, but the proposed amendments have been consistently defeated.

“We have the Sun-Gazette, we’re fortunate, but a lot of localities don’t have that,” Briglia said. “There’s a lot of newspapers going under, and [localities] are having to turn to regional papers where people aren’t going for local news.”

Other legislative items proposed in the docket include a push to get the town a voting seat on the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.

“We have a good relationship [with the NVTA] but we don’t have a single vote,” Briglia said. “The City of Falls Church has a vote, but a smaller population than many towns. I’m not sure we’re ready to throw tea into Boston Harbor over it yet.”

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!

Wednesday (June 19)

• Kiki’s Delivery Service at Angelika Film Center — 7 p.m. at Angelika Film Center (2911 District Avenue) — As part of their Studio Ghibli summer festival, Angelika Film Center will be screening Kiki’s Delivery Service — the anime classic about a young witch striking out on her own — on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and Thursday at 11 a.m. Tickets are $14.50.

 Thursday (June 20)

• The Boro Summer Kick Off — 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at The Boro — Boro Tysons is hosting a summer kick off event with food trucks, music, lawn games and “puppy therapy.”
• Summer Reading Party — 7-8 p.m. at Bards Alley (110 Church Street NW) — The Bards Alley bookstore in Vienna is hosting a summer book party with finger foods and lemonade available. Booksellers will be in attendance sharing their favorite summer reads.
• Vienna Stories Book Talk — 7:30 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE) — Marie Kisner, a former public information officer for the Town of Vienna, collected newspaper stories about Vienna into a new book called “Vienna Stories 1950-2000.” Kisner is also planning a book signing at the Freeman Store on Saturday, June 22, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Friday (June 21)

• Echosmith at Tysons Corner Center — 3:30-9:30 p.m. at Tysons Corner Center (1961 Chain Bridge Road) — HOT 99.5 and Tysons Corner Center are hosting a free concert with the band Echosmith. The show is scheduled to start for 6:30 p.m. but attendees are encouraged early to grab a seat.

Saturday (June 22)

• Daylily Walking Tour — 10:15-11:15 a.m. at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens (9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court) — The Northern Virginia Daylily Society President Janice Kennedy will lead a walking tour through the gardens showing the daylily collection including a few award-winning varieties. The tour is free and those participating in the tour will have free admission.
• Georgia Peach Truck — 12 p.m. at Merrifield Garden Center (8132 Lee Highway) — The Georgia Peach Truck is planning to roll into Merrifield at noon on Saturday with beaches brought up from Georgia available to be purchased by the box. One 23-25 pound box is $45.

Sunday (June 23)

• Providence Democrats Unity and Summer Solstice Celebration — 4-7 p.m. at Nouvelle Apartments (7911 Westpark Drive) — Following a crowded Democratic primary that saw Dalia Palchik voted as the Democratic nominee for the vacant Providence District Board of Supervisors seat, Providence District Democrats are hosting a buffet and silent auction fundraiser with the nominees and the other candidates. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP early.

Photo via Meadowlark Botanical Gardens/Facebook

Laura Schwartz is a licensed Realtor in VA, D.C. and MD with McEnearney Associates in McLean. Reach the office at 703-790-9090.

You may walk by Wine Outlet everyday when you’re on Church Street and assume the prices are outrageous, so you never go in. However, each store located at 114 Church Street NW Vienna, 1137 Walker Road Great Falls, and 6727 Curran Street McLean, you’ll find a small, friendly wine and beer store that features reasonably priced wines, cheese, breads, desserts and a small selection of meats paired nicely with a friendly staff!

I didn’t know they have a cheese counter or that on Friday’s and Saturday’s they have fresh baked goods delivered.

Here’s some more useful info:

• Wines as cheap as $6 per bottle
• Beer on tap
• A large selection of USA Wines, along with imported bottles as well
• Great selection of craft beers
• Tastings: Friday from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday 1-4 p.m.
• Free delivery within 5 miles, or delivery outside of 5 miles for a small fee
• They make gift baskets
• They will price match!

Police Investigating “Apparent Drowning” in McLean — “Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau are responding to assume the investigation of an apparent drowning in the 1100 block of Pine Hill Rd in McLean.” [Fairfax County Police/Twitter]

Fire in Vienna Restaurant Saturday — Firefighters responded to a kitchen fire in a restaurant in the 200 block of E. Maple Avenue Saturday night with  “smoke showing upon arrival in [the] middle unit of [the] strip shopping center.” [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue/Twitter]

Tegna Acquires Broadcast Companies — “For $535 million in cash, the Tysons-based media company will gain control of NBC Indianapolis affiliate WTHR-TV and CBS Columbus affiliate WBNS-TV… Tegna will also acquire WBNS-FM, a popular sports station in Central Ohio.” [Washington Business Journal]

New Trails Coming to Tysons — “As a major road is widened in Northern Virginia, cyclists say their efforts to get transportation improvements are also being heard. Fourteen miles of new trails are coming along with new lanes along busy Route 7 in the Tysons area.” [Adam Tuss/Twitter]

Police Investigating Falls Church Man’s Drowning — “Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau are investigating after the body of 55-year-old Lee Bowersett, of Falls Church, was recovered from Lake Barcroft [Wednesday] morning… Preliminarily, there are no signs of foul play.” [Fairfax County Police Department]

Man Pleads Guilty to Fitting Rooms Filmings — “Of the charges to which 39-year-old Mumtaz Rauf pleaded guilty, one was a felony and three were misdemeanors… Rauf was arrested last December after a teenage girl at Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax told store employees that she saw a camera in a Forever 21 changing room.” [WTOP]

School’s Out, But Free Meals Are Still Around — From June 17 to Aug, 23, the Free Summer Meals for Kids Program provides meals to kids ages 5 to 18 during the summer. [Fairfax County]

A new book recounts tales about the Town of Vienna from the 1950s to early 2000s.

Marie Kisner, a former public information officer for the Town of Vienna, collected and compiled newspaper stories about Vienna for her newly released book, “Vienna Stories 1950-2000.”

“It basically fell in my lap,” Kisner told Tysons Reporter. In the early 200os, the Town’s clerk office decided to give dozens of boxes of news article clippings to Kisner, who sorted through the clippings.

“I didn’t have to go back and try to find a lot of old timers and pick their brains and see if they could remember these things,” Kisner said.

Originally, Kisner said that she sorted the articles chronologically, but then decided to organize the book by recurring themes, like animals, beautification, businesses, civil rights and politics.

Many of the issues Kisner recounts Vienna residents tackling decades ago — traffic, Tysons Corner’s growing presence and development — are still relevant to locals today.

“People need to know they can’t sit back and hope — hope — that Vienna will stay Vienna,” Kisner said. “I think development has always been like issue #1.”

Kisner said that she not only wrote the book to preserve its history from the news articles, but also to remind current residents of the struggles the town has gone through to maintain its unique character.

“One of the reasons I wrote the book is so people who live in Vienna now who think, ‘Oh what a wonderful town we’ve got,’ they will realize it didn’t happen by accident,” Kisner said. “It took a lot of hard work by a lot of people to make and keep Vienna the way it is, and those same issues keep coming up.”

While Kisner does not cite throughout the book, “Acknowledgements” section includes a list of the news publications that the articles came from:

• “The Washington Post”
• “Washington Evening Star”
• “Washington Business Journal”
• “Fairfax Globe”
• “Fairfax Journal”
• “Northern Virginia Sun”
• “Sentinel”
• “Sound of Vienna”
• “Sun-Gazette”
• “Vienna Viewpoint”
• “Vienna Connection”
• “Vienna Times”
• “Vienna Advertiser”

“My thought was if I cited every single newspaper reference, the book would probably be twice as thick and it would break up the narrative too much,” she said.

Since the book is based on the articles, Kisner decided to refer to herself in the third person, saying “Right now I’m just part of the cast of characters in this book.”

Kisner, who now lives in Texas, is set to come back to Vienna for a book talk and signing next Thursday (June 20) at 7:30 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE).

She will also sign books during the Antiques and Collectibles Evaluation event at the Freeman Store (131 Church Street NE) next Saturday (June 22) from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Book lovers and history buffs can buy the book for $12.99 at the Freeman Store. All of the proceeds from the book will go to the town’s historical society.

A few months after Open Art Studio moved across town and rebranded as New York School of Arts, the school is holding a ribbon-cutting celebration.

The school programs range from art programs for children to portfolio reviews for students applying to arts programs. Founded 10 years ago, the studio was previously located at 225 Mill Street NE.

The event is scheduled for tonight (Thursday) at 6 p.m. at 320 E. Maple Avenue.

Vienna Mayor Laurie DiRocco is set to attend, and the event will be followed by the program’s first “artist talk” event with Katherine Mann, a professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Hors d’oeuvres and wine are on tonight’s menu.

Photo via OpenArt Studio/Facebook