August 1 — 7, 2019
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d e d 1991 • V ol. XXIX No. 24
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Florist Gifts Bouquets To Congresswomen
A Falls Church florist delivered some botanical aid to the four Democratic congresswomen who were the subject of one of President Donald Trump’s Twitter tirades earlier this month. See page 5
The Best Of Finalists are here! Who made the cut? See p. 12–13
Rt. 50 at 7 Corners Closed This Weekend
Some streets around the 7 Corners intersection, including Route 50, Route 7 and Wilson Boulevard, will be closed starting this Friday night until early Monday morning while VDOT works to safely demolish the Wilson Boulevard bridge deck over Route 50 and install a replacement. See News Briefs, page 8
F.C. Author’s Novel 10 Years in the Making Eleanor Cripps’ debut novel was a decade in the making, but the Falls Church resident and Austrian-born author persevered through lengthy historical research and language barriers to transform her draft into hard copy. See page 17
F.C. Treasurer: Expanded Senior Tax Relief Will Benefit All City Taxpayers Acosta, Wisemiller Present Briefing Following Approval of New Rules
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Measures to better enable older Falls Church residents to “age in place” rather than move out of their homes that were approved by the F.C. City Council last month will benefit all City taxpayers, F.C. Treasurer Jody Acosta explained at the first forum held in the wake of the new policies this Tuesday at the Community Center. All Falls Church residents who qualify under the new rules on the basis of age, infirmity, veteran status and income will have to apply for the program by Sept. 15, even if they’ve already been in the
Falls Church News-Press
Editorial................6 Letters..................6 News & Notes.10, 11 Comment.... 14,15 Calendar..... 18,19 Classified Ads... 20
Comics, Sudoku & Crossword........ 21 Crime Report.... 22 Critter Corner.... 22 Business News.23
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FALLS CHURCH’S Deputy Treasurer Niki Wisemiller (left) and Treasurer Jody Acosta (right) held a public forum Tuesday to explain the new rules involving expanding the City’s existing tax relief and deferral programs for qualifying elderly, infirm and veteran City residents. (Photo: News-Press)
F.C. Legend Lou Olom Dies; Won IB for City’s Schools by Nicholas F. Benton
Index
previous version of it. Following an extensive effort by neighboring Arlington County to update its tax relief and deferral programs that included the retention of nationally-known consultants on the subject, the Falls Church City Council moved a year ago to review and revise its own program. Last month, the Council voted unanimously to adopt the recommendations of a task force that was established last September to evaluate the matter. The task force’s Council liaison was Vice Mayor Marybeth Connelly.
Louis T. (Lou) Olom, a venerable founding father of the City of Falls Church and especially its world-renowned school system, died July 25 at age 102. Over 200 of the City’s most formidable citizens, most of whom shared in Olom’s relentless efforts at improving his community since moving to the City in 1953, joined Olom family members and other friends to celebrate his life at the Temple Rodef Shalom, of which he was a founding member, yesterday afternoon. Olom is credited with introduc-
ing the International Baccalaureate curriculum into the school system in the 1980s when it was a genuinely novel program and virtually non-existent in U.S. public schools. Now, the system has a full K-12 IB program and is routinely ranked as one of the most outstanding in the region and even the nation. Two years ago, on his 100th birthday on July 10, 2017, the Falls Church community celebrated Olom’s birthday with a formal proclamation declaring the day as “Lou Olom Day,” and a community party was held in his honor at the Mustang Cafe of George Mason High School. A News-Press article at the time
reported, “Though he only briefly served in an official capacity in the city with a term on the school board, Olom has been responsible for much of Falls Church’s historic preservation and beautification efforts since moving here in 1953. These accomplishments include his inaugural chairmanship of Historic Falls Church, Inc. preserving historic buildings in the City along with his co-organizing of the Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society in 1965.” Olom led the effort to win the All-America City Award for Falls Church in 1962 and to create the city’s first arborist position along
LOUIS “LOU” OLOM. with the creation of two public gardens. He also was one of the leaders co-founding Citizens for a Better City. He was a strong advocate of historic preservation, appropriate architectural design and great landscaping in Falls Church organizing charettes here led by national known experts.
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