The Weekly Planner is a roundup of the most 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 (March 26)

• Dining for Dollars at Chipotle — 5-9 p.m. at Chipotle Mexican Grill in Vienna (213 Maple Ave E) — Dining at Chipotle tomorrow can help raise money for the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department. Showing the cashier a flyer for the event — or just mentioning the fundraiser — will send 33 percent of the meal’s proceeds to the department.

Thursday (March 28)

• Black Politics: Beyond Northam — 7-9 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Vienna (450 Orchard Street) — The Fairfax County NAACP is hosting a meeting to discuss the state of the Democratic Party and how it handled the concerns of the African American community in Virginia in the wake of Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal. Tickets are free but RSVP is required.

Friday (March 29)

• LUSH Cosmetics 30-Year Birthday — 10 a.m. at LUSH Cosmetics in Tysons Corner Center — To celebrate the company’s 30th birthday, the Tysons location is hosting a weekend of activities starting with a raffle and bath-bomb giveaway on Friday.
• MAC Community Workshops — 6 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry St) — The Town of Vienna is offering the public two opportunities this weekend to get a hands-on feel for the changes to the town’s controversial Maple Avenue Commercial zoning. The first workshop will be on Friday, with a second workshop on Saturday (March 30) at 11 a.m.

Saturday (March 30)

• DC Bulldog Playdate — 11 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Vienna Dog Park (700 Courthouse Road) — A regional bulldog meetup will be held in Vienna this weekend, giving dogs and humans a chance to play and mingle. The event listing notes that the bulldogs typically tire after 45 minutes, so those looking for the “full bulldog experience” should arrive right around 11 a.m. The meetup is free but RSVP is requested.
• Rise Against Hunger Food Packing — 1-3 p.m. at Andrew Chapel United Methodist Church (1301 Trap Road) — The Andrew Chapel United Methodist Church in Vienna is hosting a meal packing event to put together nutritious meals for school feeding programs and crisis relief. The packaged meals transport quickly and has a shelf-life of two years.

Sunday (March 31)

• Tysons Galleria Fur Protest — 12 p.m. at Tysons Galleria (2001 International Drive) — A local group called the Help Our Animals and Planet Foundation is hosting a protest outside Tysons Galleria to advocate for banning the sale of fur in Fairfax County.
• Discussion with Local Thriller Writers — 2-3 p.m. at Bards Alley (110 Church Street SW) — Alma Katsu, author of The Hunter, and Greer Macallister, author of Woman 99, will be in Vienna’s Bards Alley bookstore this Sunday for a discussion and Q&A about their books, followed by signings by the authors. The event is free to attend, but RSVP is requested.
• Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” — 2-4:30 p.m. at the Alden Theatre (1234 Ingleside Ave.) — The Alden Theatre in McLean will host a performance of Shakespearian tragicomedy The Winter’s Tale by the American Shakespeare Center. Tickets are $110 or $80 for McLean residents.

Photo via Facebook

If last week’s surprise rainstorm was any indication, the Tysons area is in for a wet spring and some extensive flooding.

Last year was the rainiest on record for the region, which has not only taken a toll on local roads but also hit the area with flooding that has frequently closed streets.

A map put together by the Federal Emergency Management Agency showed the regional flood hazard areas, which unsurprisingly mostly follow local creeks.

Most of the flood hazards around Tysons itself are on the periphery. Old Courthouse Spring Branch just west of the Spring Hill Metro station is vulnerable to flooding, as is Scott’s Run, which runs through Tysons East.

In Vienna, the main flooding hazard is Wolftrap Creek, which runs along the Tysons-Vienna border. There are several low roads through the area, like Old Courthouse Road, which are subject to being washed out during flooding. The area north of Vienna along Piney Branch is also susceptible to flooding.

A 2016 study found that the sewer system along Maple Avenue in Vienna would be unable to handle significant rainfall, but sewer renovations remain unfunded.

In McLean, Dead Run Stream and Pimmit Run are both flood hazard areas, though Dead Run Stream has recently completed a series of revitalization projects whose aim was partially reducing the amount of flooding in the park.

Vienna police arrested a Herndon resident after they say he was caught placing posters for a white nationalist group around the town, our sister site Reston Now first reported.

Last Saturday afternoon, a caller told police that two men were placing posters on light posts at a shopping center at 180 Maple Avenue, according to Vienna police.

Officers responded and reportedly observed one of the men placing a Patriot Front poster on a Town of Vienna utility box in the area of Nutley Street and Maple Avenue.

Patriot Front is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as a “white nationalist hate group.” It was described as a “political activist organization” in Vienna’s weekly crime report; an inquiry from Reston Now confirmed that Patriot Front was the group behind the posts.

Police issued a summons to a 21-year-old man from Longleaf Lane in Herndon for destruction of property, and the man was released on his signature, the report says. The Vienna Police Department does not release the names of criminal suspects in its crime report.

Earlier this year, Patriot Front tweeted that its “activists” put up the posters around Herndon and Reston in January and then in Reston again in February and March. Posters were also recently placed around Vienna and Arlington, according to the group’s social media account.

The posters include slogans like “reclaim America” and “better dead than red.” According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Patriot Front broke off from the alt-right group Vanguard America in the aftermath of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va.

Photo via Facebook

A string of residential burglaries first reported in December has continued, with 10 additional burglaries that are believed to be related to the initial 13, according to police.

Fairfax County Police say the home burglaries “are committed by a group of professional individuals, mainly targeting victims of Asian or Middle Eastern descent.” They’re asking for the public’s help in solving the crimes.

More from an FCPD press release from late last week (burglaries in the Tysons Reporter coverage area are highlighted in bold.):

Detectives continue to ask for the public’s help in solving numerous residential burglaries in the McLean, Reston, and Fair Oaks police districts. In addition to the 13 addresses we released in December, detectives are also looking at ten other cases that may be related.  Below is a list of the additional cases being investigated:

• 8400 block of Reflection Lane, Vienna
• 8200 block of Falstaff Road, McLean
• 4800 block of Muddler Way, Fairfax
• 12500 block of Cerromar Place, Fairfax
• 1300 block of Earnestine Street, McLean
• 1400 block of Woodhurst Boulevard, McLean
• 7800 block of Loughran Road, McLean
• 9700 block of Middleton Ridge Road, Vienna
• 10000 block of Park Royal Drive, Great Falls
• 1600 block of Admirals Hill Court, Vienna

After the initial burglaries were reported near the end of 2018, officers and detectives increased proactive patrols, met with community members, and continue to remain vigilant in identifying the suspects involved. It is believed that the crimes are committed by a group of professional individuals, mainly targeting victims of Asian or Middle Eastern descent. In many of the cases, detectives found entry was made through the rear door of the victims’ homes. The burglaries occurred primarily in the late afternoon and evening hours. Total losses are in excess of a million dollars.

Anyone with information regarding this recent string of incidents is asked to call the McLean District Station at 703-556-7750, the Reston District Station at 703-478-0904, or the Fair Oaks District Station at 703-591-0966. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by visiting http://www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org, or calling 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). They can also be sent in via text by texting “TIP187” plus the message to CRIMES (274637). Text STOP to 274637 to cancel, or HELP to 274637 for help. Message and data rates may apply. Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards of $100 to $1000 if their information leads to an arrest.

For ongoing updates, please read our blog and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @FairfaxCountyPD.

Police were called to the Vienna’s Freeman House a few days ago after human feces was found in a closet.

The defecation happened at some point this past Friday or Saturday, according to Vienna police.

“An employee reported that an unknown person took a bucket into a closet in the store and defecated in it,” according to today’s Vienna crime report. No additional information was immediately available.

The Freeman House Store and Museum at 131 Church Street NE is described as “a historic country store that gives visitors an opportunity to step back in time to experience what general stores in Virginia once looked like.”

Photo via Historic Vienna Inc.

After a moratorium on new applications and a long series of discussions, the Town of Vienna is ready for the public debut of the new Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning changes at two workshops next week.

The community workshops will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, March 29, and from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, March 30 at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE).

The workshops will demonstrate how the community feedback has been translated into changes in the design guidelines, according to the Town of Vienna newsletter.

Some of the first changes proposed addressed the scaling of buildings, one of the biggest topics of controversy in last year’s MAC debates. Further changes have been added over the last month of workshops between the Town Council, Planning Commission and Board of Architectural Review.

The workshops are scheduled to be “open house” style, meaning residents can drop in and leave at any point. No formal presentations are planned.

Image via Town of Vienna

The New York School of Arts — formerly Open Art Studio — has a new home in Vienna at 320 Maple Ave E.

The school, founded ten years ago, is focused on individual-based education in art and design with faculty from programs like Brown and Columbia universities.

The studio had previously been located at 225 Mill St NE.

The school programs range from art programs for children to portfolio reviews for students applying to arts programs.

Registration is currently open for the art foundation summer camp, aimed at students in grades 6 through 8. Classes range from $245 for children under two years old to $760 for older students.

Photo via Facebook

South American chicken chain Pollos Keiko has opened its first American location — “Keiko Charcoal Chicken” — this week at 235 Maple Ave E. in Vienna.

The restaurant offers a variety of chicken options, from quarter-portions for $5.49 to whole chickens and three sides for $24.99, as well as salads, sandwiches, and sides like rice and plantains.

Nelson Barrios, one of the partners opening the restaurant, repeated the old real estate axiom for opening in Vienna: “location, location, location.” Barrios said he didn’t see anything quite like Keiko available in Vienna. (Don Pollo, a Peruvian chicken chain that opened a few blocks south in January, said the same thing).

Barrios said, for the most part, it was easy to get started in Vienna, though some of the administrative issues along the way were stressful.

“But once that’s done, you get to the fun part,” Barrios said. “It’s the reason someone wants to open a restaurant in the first place.”

Barrios encouraged Vienna residents to come in and try the chicken. Among the sides, Barrios said one of the more unique was “Tallarin Saltado” — a Peruvian stir fry noodle dish with green peppers and onions.

Five months after it was destroyed in a fire, the ruined husk of the Marco Polo restaurant building in Vienna has finally been completely demolished.

It’s unclear when demolition began, but by March 19 most of the rubble had been removed from the site.

The restaurant was originally built in 1954. In 2015, local developer Doug D’Alexander applied to have the lot redeveloped as Vienna Market, but the application failed. A more scaled-down version was presented in 2017 and was approved.

The development plans were complicated an alleged intentionally-set fire that gutted the building. Two teenagers were later arrested and charged with setting the fire as part of a vandalism spree.

The charred remains were left as a visible blight along Maple Avenue, though Vienna staff said plans for development are still in the works.

In January, Cindy Petkac, director of planning and zoning for the Town of Vienna, said the building was expected to be demolished within the month.

Vienna residents remembered the building, a longtime local prom-date spot, fondly.

Marco Polo… Vienna will always remember you fondly…. I think we all have had first dates, and prom dates, and meeting here over the years… Thank you for your service!

— Vienna Business Association (@vba_vienna) March 17, 2019

Dockless electronic scooters are coming to Fairfax County.

Lime scooters will soon be released on the streets of Vienna, Merrifield and Falls Church, according to a press release.

“We’re thrilled to expand our footprint in the DMV area and to begin serving Fairfax, providing accessible, affordable mobility options to riders across the city,” Sean Arroyo, Lime’s regional general manager, said in a press release. “We couldn’t be more excited to integrate ourselves into the community and to begin working with local leaders to help achieve their sustainability and accessibility goals.”

Users can use the Lime app to locate the nearest scooter, then scan the QR code on the handlebars or baseboard to use it. Users are encouraged to ride in bike lanes and wear helmets.

Scooters cost $1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute to ride. Rides are finished in the app to be parked at a street curb or bike rack. Riders must be 18 years or older.

E-scooters are popular in major cities D.C., and are already ubiquitous in close-in suburbs like Arlington, but the hoards of abandoned scooters left haphazardly strewn across the streets has also drawn some criticism or even dramatic acts of vandalism.

In addition to Vienna, Falls Church and Merrifield, Lime says it is also bringing scooters to George Mason University and the City of Fairfax.

Photo via Facebook