October 13 - 19, 2016
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d ed 1991 • Vol. X X V I No. 34
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Whitfield Named New F.C. Public Works Chief After an extensive search, F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields announced at the F.C. City Council meeting Tuesday, the City of Falls Church has selected Mike Whitfield as Director of Public Works. See News Briefs, page 9
Armed Robbery at F.C. Papa John’s Monday
Two men, at least one armed with a gun, robbed a person in the parking lot of the Papa John’s on West Broad and then proceeded to hold up the pizza store before fleeing the scene Monday night in the City of Falls Church.
F.C. Council Gives Preliminary OK To Boosting Office Tax Abatement Major Incentive to Spur New Office Builds & Revamps
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
See News Briefs, page 9
David Brooks: Trump’s Sad, Lonely Life
The point of town hall debates is that regular voters get to ask questions. In every town hall I’ve seen, the candidate turns to the voter, listens attentively and directs the answer at least partially back to that person. See page 12
La Caraqueña Intros New Street Food Menu
La Caraqueña, the Venezuelan restaurant in the Stratford Motor Lodge, has overhauled its menu adding empanadas, cachapas, pepitos, churros and more to its already acclaimed lineup of arepas. See page 23
KATE KARSTENS, as a senior at Falls Church’s George Mason High School, the editor of the student newspaper, The Lasso, delivered her strong statement in defense of changes to the Falls Church School Board’s policy on censorship of student articles at a School Board work session Tuesday night, backed by a large contingent of student and community supporters. (Photo: News-Press)
GMHS School Newspaper Editor Takes Free Press Bid to Board by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.10-11 Comment......... 12-15 Sports..................18 Calendar.........20-21
Business News....22 Food & Dining......23 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........29 Critter Corner.......30
Kate Karstens, a senior at Falls Church’s George Mason High School and editor of its student newspaper The Lasso, backed by a strong contingent of fellow students and other members of the community, took a seat at the microphone during the petition period of Tuesday
night’s Falls Church School Board work session and read a strong written statement urging a change to the board’s policy 9.46 that, she said, “condones and encourages censorship.” While the board offered no immediate response following the presentation, the board’s vice chair John Lawrence (in charge of the Tuesday meeting in the absence of chair Justin Castillo,
who listened in by phone) issued a statement to the News-Press yesterday that stated, “I can only speak for myself, but I’d say it’s safe to say that everyone on the board is happy to see students taking an active interest in not only their schools, but school policies as well. We haven’t had a discussion as a full board about
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The Falls Church City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to make a major revision to its tax abatement policy for development or renovation of office spaces in the City. In a regional market that is currently heavily overbuilt, there is still a place for office spaces in the City of Falls Church that are right-sized, and not too big. That is the view of one of the City’s most active developers, Robert Young of the Young Group, who has two all-office buildings in the City now that are fully occupied. Young is best known for his famous “Flower Building” at 800 W. Broad that is home to the U.S. Post Office, the Falls Church School Board and his own operation, among other things. He also did a combined renovation and add-on construction of the 444 W. Broad building that has Panera Bread on its ground floor. He has also built his own home on Poplar Drive, built the Read Building at 410 W. Broad, built out the “Tulip Building” at W. Annandale and S. Washington (the Smash Burger strip) and is completing another Art Nouveau-styled facade on the Southgate Shopping Center on E. Fairfax that he leased from the next-door historic Falls Church Episcopal Church. Now he is a vocal member of the City’s Economic Development Authority, and was at the City Council meeting Tuesday night to speak out in favor of the revision to tax abatement components of the City code. “We have no guarantees that in this regional market, changes in
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