January 24 – 30, 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 • Vol. XXVIII No. 49
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week F.C. Man Killed in Rt. 50 Hit & Run
Police are on the hunt for the driver of a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run crash on Rt. 50 last Friday evening that resulted in the death of 93-year-old Pericles Apostolou of Falls Church. See News Briefs, page 9
F.C. School Admin Offices to Relocate
Work on 4.3-Acre Founders Row Now Begun, Bracing for 3 Years of Building
Plan Developed to Limit Disruptions at Huge Mixed Use Site
by Nicholas F. Benton
The Falls Church City Public Schools announced last Friday that its central administrative offices will move to 150 S. Washington Street beginning June 30 this year.
Falls Church News-Press
See News Briefs, page 9
Area Students Embark On Humanitarian Trip Two high school students from the McLean Bible Church embarked on a whirlwind trip to Ethiopia and returned with an inspired eye to portray the country’s abandoned children crisis. See News Briefs, page 9
Mason Girls Rally to Top Clarke County
The Mustang girls basketball team overcame a soft opening against Clarke County last Friday night to top their district rivals, 54-40. See Sports, page 16
FALLS CHURCH CITY OFFICIALS, activists and residents braved the cold Monday for the third annual Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation march in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The half-mile hike began at the Tinner Hill monument and continued down S. Washington St. to The Falls Church Episcopal Church. (Photo: J. Michael Whalen)
MLK Day in F.C. Featured March, Sermons, Talks at Historic Church
by Matt Delaney
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Editorial................ 6 Letters............6, 14 News & Notes.10–11 Comment...... 12–13 Sports................ 16 Calendar...... 18–19
Classified Ads.... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword......... 21 Crime Report..... 22 Critter Corner..... 22 Business News.. 23
Over 170 locals braved a frosty day Monday to participate in the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation’s annual march and commemoration ceremony in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now in its third year running, Tinner Hill has played a part in
the growing movement to turn what is conventionally used as a relaxing day off from work and school into a “day on” in the form of community service or civic activism. It’s a ritual commonly associated with King’s holiday, and one that pays homage to him and his life’s deeds in an appropriate manner. “I don’t think that we celebrate as heroes those who just
go off to war to protect us,” Edwin Henderson said in his opening remarks at the commemoration following the march held inside the Falls Church Episcopal Church. “But those people who fought here in this country for civil rights and social justice should be recognized as heroes.”
Continued on Page 4
The beginnings of what the next 36 to 40 months on the west side of the City of Falls Church will be like can be seen by anyone driving around the busy intersection of W. Broad and N. West Streets now. A wire fence has gone up around the perimeter of the site, and demolition work has begun on its 4.3 acres, including the now long-gone 7-Eleven, Ken Currle’s Sunoco (relocated to Pimmit Hills), Shreve Plumbing and more, from now on known as Founders Row. When it’s all done, the project, a long time in the planning and approving by the F.C. City Council, will include, according to City planner Jeff Hollern, “significant community benefits, such as providing a vibrant, mixed-use development that includes a dine-in movie theater, 59,493 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space, a market square, 4,946 square feet of office space, 322 general housing units and 72 senior housing units, including affordable housing, streetscape improvements, transportation facility improvements, school capital cost contributions, and recreational park and W&OD Park and Trail improvements.” Although even bigger plans are afoot for the west end school campus site, Founders Row will be the biggest project ever to occur within the 2.2 square miles of the City of Falls Church, the latest significant advance in the last two decades of mixed-use developments here.
Continued on Page 5