January 22 - 28, 2015
Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free
Founded 1991 • V o l . X XI V N o . 48
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Eden Center Explosion Causes $1M in Damage An accidental explosion at a jewelry store in Falls Church’s Eden Center last week resulted in more than $1 million in damages, City officals report. See News Briefs, page 9
F.C. City Resident Killed In Vehicle Crash
Lee Lawson, 61, of Falls Church died the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 15, after his van ran into a tree on Loisdale Road in the Springfield area.
F.C. Council Mulls Sorely-Needed Quick Fixes for Rt. 7 and 29 Hub A T ough B reak
Half-Million Could Integrate & Make Area Walkable by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
to report crimes to police is mainly experienced at the University of Virginia. “It seems to be the biggest problem at the University of Virginia,” he said. “William and Mary doesn’t have this problem. They’ve called in the police. But at U.Va., it has been 10 years and no sexual assaults have been reported from there to police. Their policy is to try to get the
By utilizing a tiny fraction of the $20 million the City of Falls Church received as the cash component of the sale of its water system to Fairfax County last year, a significant sprucing up of the area around the intersection of Routes 7 (Broad St.) and 29 (Washington Street) may be coming in the next months, if the City Council follows the guidance of City Manager Wyatt Shields. For an estimated $533,417, the project would focus on one block of N. Washington St., between W. Broad and Park Avenue, and two blocks of W. Broad St., between N. Washington and Little Falls St. City officials met with business operators and owners from that area on Jan. 9 to get feedback on the proposals. On N. Washington, improvements would involve upgrades to existing lighting, new brick sidewalks to replace the existing concrete, new accessible curb ramps, curb extensions and a marked crossing at Park Place, and an additional marked crossing at Park Avenue. On W. Broad, upgrades would include upgrades to existing lighting (by converting to LED lights and refurbishing poles), new sidewalk brick pavers as needed, replanted tree pits, refreshed crosswalks with thermoplastic markings, a new conduit for electric and fiber optics in the utility strip, sidewalk weed removal and pressure washing. Three of the signal mast arms at Washington and Broad will be replaced, as the
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See News Briefs, page 9
Maureen Dowd: Not Just a Movie
I went Friday morning to see “Selma” and found myself watching it in a theater full of black teenagers. Thanks to donations, D.C. public school kids got free tickets to the first Hollywood movie about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday weekend. See page 13
Press Pass with Gerald Albright
Jazz musician Gerald Albright spoke to the News-Press two days after he got off the week-long Smooth Jazz Cruise, where he and the late George Duke were inducted into the Sirius XM Watercolors Hall of Fame. See page 21
A WATER MAIN BREAK early Wednesday morning shut down traffic in both directions on East Broad Street from Washington St. to Cherry St. in the City of Falls Church until well after evening rush hour. Crews from Fairfax Water, which took over the City’s water system last January, were on the scene all day working to repair the break. Late Wednesday, it was reported by City officials that eight Fairfax Water customers were without water. (Photo: Gordon Theisz)
Saslaw Still Passionate, Pushing Hard for Anti-Campus Rape Bill by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters................6, 8 News & Notes.10-11 Comment........12-15 Calendar.........16-17 Food & Dining ......18
Press Pass..........21 Sports .................22 Classified Ads .....24 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........25 Critter Corner.......26
State Sen. Dick Saslaw, the veteran Senate Democratic leader in Richmond, brought the same fiery rhetoric against campus rape, and what he called the “cover up” policy at the University of Virginia, back to Falls Church Saturday after similar remarks in the wake of the first release of the Rolling Stone magazine article on
the subject to the Falls Church City Council last month. Saslaw, who has served in the state legislature since 1975, said he hopes for passage of his bill, SB 734, making it a crime for any university official who is informed of an alleged felony to fail to report it to police within 24 hours. The crime would bring with it up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Saslaw underscored his conviction that the “problem” of failing