November 16 – 22, 2017
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. XXVI I NO. 39
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After the New Year, work toward construction of a new George Mason High School will commence immediately, kicking off a 16-month design process for the school and a 16-month marketing process for the development of 10 acres set aside on the campus land for commercial development. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
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F.C. Council Votes Preliminary OK To E. Broad-N. Washington Project H������� O�� V���
After 2 Years, By 5-2
Margin; Final OK Set For Vote Next April
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
afflicted by the white supremacists’ riot, it is clear to him that the events of that day constituted “domestic terrorism.” He said that the city of Charlottesville is continuing a criminal investigation into the events and has filed a lawsuit against six of the alleged paramilitary groups that were involved on grounds that such groups are illegal under Virginia state law.
By a 5-2 vote, the Broad and Washington large scale mixed-use project finally won a preliminary approval from the Falls Church City Council Monday night. The plan, for 295 apartments and 66,000 square feet of Class A office space, has been before the City government for two years, finally breaking out with a favorable vote after extended efforts to appease the concerns of residential neighbors behind the site. Only three of those neighbors, residents of Lawton Street, showed up to express their opposition Monday night, even following extensive efforts by the site’s developers, the Insight Group, to modify plans by lowering elevations and adding pocket park spaces at the Lawton Street end of the plan. The 2.63-acre plan, which would replace the Robertson Building now at the northeast corner of the City’s central intersection of Rt. 7 and Rt. 29, and the Applebee’s restaurant behind it, would devote 5,000 square feet for a permanent home for the popular Creative Cauldron theater troupe and add over 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail that would include restaurants and other businesses attracted by the presence of the Creative Cauldron space, in particular. Even after two years and lots of modifications, the plan was opposed by two members on the Council — David Snyder and Phil Duncan — on grounds that it does not yet include nailed-down, signed lease commitments from major retailers for its ground floor retail portion.
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At 2 a.m. last Sunday morning, a man suffered life-threatening injuries after he was shot at the Palenque Restaurant on Columbia Pike in Falls Church. The suspect is still at large during the ongoing investigation. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
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Last week Danica Roem made history, winning election to Virginia’s House of Delegates as an openly transgender woman. She’ll be the only openly transgender person in a state legislature anywhere in America. SEE PAGE 14
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Aftera teen’s death at the hospital where he worked in Bhutan, Falls Church native Charlie Mize and two trauma nurses resolved to improve efforts to save people who are injured in hard to reach places of the South Asian country. SEE PAGE 8
INDEX Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes10–11 Comment ....... 12–14 Sports .................16 Calendar .......18–19
Classified Ads .....20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........21 Critter Corner......22 Business News ...23
U.S. REP. DONALD S. BEYER JR., (right) who represents the 8th District of Virginia that includes the City of Falls Church, addresses the annual Veterans Day ceremony at the Veterans Monument in front of the F.C. Community Center last Saturday. The event’s Master of Ceremonies, Harry Shovlin, (left) looks on. (P����: K���� K�����/���������G���)
Charlottesville Mayor in F.C. to Assail White Supremacy Riot BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
For the second time in three weeks in Falls Church, last August’s violent white supremacist demonstration and riot in Charlottesville was the central focus of a major public event. On Oct. 29, four local religious leaders spearheaded an event at the Dulin United Methodist Church keying off an eyewitness account of the deadly riot by a pastor of the Rock
Springs United Church of Christ. This Sunday night, Northern Virginia native Michael Signer, now the mayor of Charlottesville, spoke to a capacity crowd at the Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church about the Aug. 12 incident and his reflections on it. Signer, also former senior policy advisor at the Center for American Progress and deputy counsel to Virginia Senator Mark Warner, stated bluntly Sunday night that as mayor of the city