February 2 – 8, 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. X X V I No. 50
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week 3rd Report of Gunfire Near Jackson St. The News-Press has learned of a third case of suspected gunfire in the same residential area of Falls Church as two other reported incidents that occurred in the past week. See News Briefs, page 9
McAuliffe, Beyer, Connolly Join Protesters Speaking at Dulles Airport last Saturday, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe condemned President Donald Trump’s Executive Order barring refugees and travelers from certain Muslim countries from entering the United States. On Sunday, U.S. Reps. Don Beyer and Gerry Connolly also joined protesters there.
Town Hall Meeting on High School Campus Project is This Saturday Citizen Input Sought At Key Stage of
School Planning
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
“is a company town” unduly dependent on the federal government for its economic stability. However, where federal government employment accounted for 32 percent of all the jobs in the region a half-century ago, it now accounts for only 11.5 percent today. It is how the regional economy has been handling the key “knowledge economy” facets of its private sector growth that causes most of his concern, Fuller said.
Seen by the combined forces of the Falls Church City Council and School Board as a key threshold moment in deliberations on how to proceed with the considerable needs of the City’s George Mason High School, significant publicity has gone into the summoning of Falls Church citizens to a town hall meeting this Saturday morning at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School. The meeting is slated to go from 9 a.m. to noon in the school’s cafetorium, and its organizers are hoping to come away with a better sense of how well the public understands, and what the public wants to do about the school. It will be an important inflection point as plans for the school are moving toward a public bond referendum in November. A joint meeting of the City Council and School Board at City Hall Tuesday night was for the purpose of preparing for the Saturday town hall, including how to best present the menu of options the two bodies are considering after months of fact and forecast gathering and deliberations. Whittling down over a dozen options to three, with variables, for the sake of clarity was discussed. The three overarching approaches are: • Renovation Only: a minimalist patchwork of repairs only to the existing building, including a new roof and boiler, and the low-cost construction of trailers for classrooms at $20 million. A second version coming in at about $60 million adds a 103,000 square foot annex to the existing building, instead of
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See News Briefs, page 9
David Brooks: The Republican Fausts
If the last 10 days have made anything clear, it’s this: The Republican Fausts are in an untenable position. The deal they’ve struck with the devil comes at too high a price. It really will cost them their soul. See page 12
Mustang Boys Take Down Madison Co.
George Mason High School’s boys basketball team knocked off Conference 35 leader Madison Co., 51-47, handing the Moutaineers their second loss on the year. See Sports, page 16
MEMBERS OF THE FALLS CHURCH City Council, shown here, sat across from their School Board counterparts in City Hall Tuesday night to discuss plans to bring the options for development of the George Mason High School to the public at a town hall meeting this Saturday from 9 a.m – noon. (Photo: News-Press)
Regional Economic Forecast Not Too Rosy, Fuller Explains
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.10–11 Comment........ 12–14 Food & Dining......15 Sports..................16
Calendar........18–19 Classified Ads......20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........21 Business News....22 Critter Corner.......22
In an environment defined by significant uncertainty as President Trump takes office, economic forecasting becomes an especially dicey proposition, but that did not stop Dr. Steven Fuller, the region’s best known prognosticator of trends for the Washington, D.C. metro area, from dishing his thoughts to a large gathering of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce at Falls Church’s Fairview Marriott yesterday.
Fuller, a tweedy professor at George Mason University and director of a regional economic forecasting institute there now named for him, replicated a posture he’s taken so many times in the last decade and more, which was to dampen the optimism expressed by others, including Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, at the conference. “I am not as optimistic as the government, and am attuned to threats to the economy here,” Fuller said, reminding the 500 in attendance that the D.C. area