February 5 - 11, 2015
Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free
Founded 1991 • V o l . X XI V N o . 50
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Students Refurbish Computers for Families
The brainchild of two sophomores at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Reboot for Youth restores computers for area families who don’t have the financial means to buy a computer for their children to use for school work. See page 21
$64k Will Make F.C. Salaries Competitive
Downtown ‘Crossroads’ Land Sale Portends Huge New Development
F.C.’s Core Rt. 7/29 Intersection Site Has Aggressive Buyer by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
A study shows that an additional $23,237 in the current fiscal year and $64,712 in the upcoming year will bring all City employee positions fully comparable with those of surrounding jurisdictions.. See News Briefs, page 8
David Brooks: Building Better Secularists
Over the past few years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of people who are atheist, agnostic or without religious affiliation. See page 12
Press Pass with Drew Gibson
Drew Gibson wasn’t thinking about making a new album after his father Edmund Gibson died on July 4, 2012 – songwriting was only there to help him find balance. See page 22
LEADERS OF THE Falls Church Chamber of Commerce made a rare appearance before the Falls Church City Council at a Council work session Monday night to present results of a survey of Chamber members and friends in the greater Falls Church area concerning proposals for $600,000 of short-term improvements and fix-ups in the downtown “crossroads” intersection of Broad and Washington Streets (Rts. 7 and 29). Left to right: former Chamber chair Gary LaPorta, executive director Sally Cole and current chair Joe Wetzel. Among others also present were Barbara Cram and Bob Young. (Photo: News-Press)
F.C. Chamber Reps Affirm Need For Doable Downtown Upgrades
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.10-11 Comment........12-15 Calendar.........16-17 Food & Dining ......18
Sports .................19 Press Pass..........22 Classified Ads .....24 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........25 Critter Corner.......26
Five leaders of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce appeared before a work session of the Falls Church City Council Monday, coming at the Council’s request to comment on a plan to utilize $533,417 of the $20 million in cash proceeds
from the City’s sale of its water system for some sprucing up and quick fixes at or near the City’s “crossroads” intersection of Routes 7 and 29 (Broad and Washington Streets). The Chamber members, led by current Chamber board chair Joe Wetzel and executive director Sally Cole, reported on 73 responses to a survey the
Chamber sent out to members, including leaders and members, of the Chamber and their friends and heard back from in five days. Thirty percent of those came from businesses right in the targeted area. In addition to Cole and Wetzel, past president Gary
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Proclaiming, “We are believers in downtown Falls Church,” Todd Hitt, the principal developer behind the 2.5 acre Rushmark/ Harris Teeter mixed use project in the 300 block of W. Broad Street in Falls Church, announced late last week that he’s now acquired 2.68 acres just a couple blocks away right on the Route 7 and 29 (Broad and Washington) “crossroads” intersection in the heart of the Little City. In the blockbuster announcement last Thursday, a development team spearheaded by Hitt notified the public that it has acquired for $13.6 million a threeparcel consolidated site, including the current Applebee’s and Robertson Building at the southeast corner of Routes 7 and 29, the center of the City of Falls Church. The properties encompass 100 N. Washington, 107 E. Broad, Applebee’s and 131 E. Broad St. In a press statement, the Arlington, Virginia based Insight Property Group LLC and the Reston, Virginia based Kiddar Metz group announced the acquisition, with the seller of the sites being their long-time owner, Robertson Properties, Inc. The City of Falls Church’s Economic Development Office played an instrumental role in putting the two groups together a couple of years back when the Robertson family indicated a desire to sell, Rick Goff from that office told the News-Press. Hitt, who grew up in nearby McLean, is the CEO of Kiddar
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