February 20 — 26, 2020
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Foun d ed 1991 • V ol. XXX No. 1
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Neighboring Businesses Bemoan Project Impact Broad-Washington Proposal Nixing Parking Will Harm Many, Restaurants Say
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
“Katherine and I borrowed a significant amount of money to open this restaurant. A labor of love. This is our dream and we made it come true. We promised our investors 110% payback before we see a penny of any profits from our restaurant. Needless to say, to find out that all of our parking will virtually disappear for over a year when our business is still so young is frightening. We don’t think our business will survive this. We have no other source of income. Also, we have convinced friends to move to Virginia to work for us and become a part of our restaurant family as salaried employees.” — Gabe Thompson, co-owner, Thompson Italian. The above written comment was provided to the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce’s executive director Sally Cole by the co-owner of the City of Falls Church’s newest, and popular regionwide, restaurant, Thompson Italian, located at the site of the former Argia’s two doors down from the State Theatre.
He is one of a number of small business owners in the immediate block who expect to be severely impacted by the Insight Property Group’s latest plan for its property on that block. Late last year, the group announced that Whole Foods supermarket signed a lease for a 50,000 square foot store at the intersection of Broad and Washington, and the project will include 350 residential units above, and involves the acquisition of the City-owned parking lot behind Thompson Italian and Clare and Don’s Beach Shack. Thompson’s response came in reply to a meeting of the Chamber’s Legislative Affairs committee with Insight’s Maury Stern last week, where Stern laid out the same proposal that he came with to the City Council last November. Yesterday, in response to that meeting, Stern said in comments to the News-Press, “We are very aware of the concerns that have been raised and we are working on solutions now.” He said a new submission to City Hall is now likely to come sometime next week. While there is no plan to add a commercial office space component to the project, he said, the issue of parking and good relations with business as well as residential neighbors to the site is a primary concern. Stern said that while “in the past, we’ve
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5 OF THE 6 members of the F.C. School Board shown here were part of the unanimous vote to adopt their proposed FY21 budget forwarded to the City Council Tuesday night. (Photo: News-Press)
F.C. School Board Copacetic in Adoption of New FY21 Budget
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
On Tuesday night, the Falls Church School Board unanimously approved its advertised budget for the 2020-2021 school year. Reflecting an investment in students, staff, and schools, the budget includes a step increase for eligible employees and a 1 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for all FCCPS
staff members. The budget is identical to Superintendent Peter Noonan’s proposed budget that he announced a month earlier. The $54.6 million budget, which now heads to the Falls Church City Council for approval, falls within the 3.1 percent budget guidance (for the second year in a row) and seeking a City appropriation of $44.6 million. The approved budget motion also includes the addition of 50
percent of any additional general government tax revenue above last December’s projections in accordance with an informal revenue sharing understanding with the City. According to F.C. City Manager Wyatt Shields, the increase over projections from December nets 0.4 percent, from the 3.1 projection to a 3.5 percent actual.
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Inside This Week Amended Legislation Excludes High School Journalists
Surface Parking at Local Metro Stations Closing
Mason Girls Roll Over Central on Senior Night
See Story, page 8
See News Briefs, page 9
See Sports, page 16
Legislation addressing free speech rights for young journalists in the state general assembly will shuffle its feet toward the finish line if it passes by allowing college students, but not their high school counterparts, the same uninhibited speech as professional publications.
Starting next month, the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority plans to make significant cuts to parking at Falls Church metro stations for nearly the rest of the year. This, just a week after it was announced three stations were closing for the summer.
George Mason High School’s girls basketball team had a successful senior night this week with a convincing 45-24 win over the visiting Central High School Tuesday.
Index
Editorial........................................................ 6 Letters.......................................................... 6 News & Notes.....................................10–11 Comment........................................7,12–13 Business News..........................................15 Sports........................................................16 Calendar.............................................18–19 Classified Ads............................................20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword..................21 Crime Report.............................................22 Critter Corner.............................................22