March 15 – 21, 2018
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOU N D E D 1991 • VOL. XXVIII N O. 4
F���� C����� • T����� C����� • M��������� • M�L��� • N���� A�������� • B�����’� C���������
I����� T��� W���
F.C. R��������� W��� S������� I�����
The sixth annual Falls Church Restaurant Week kicks off Monday with 20 of F.C.’s best restaurants serving up lunch and dinner deals for seven days. All the week’s details are inside this special issue along with features on fried chicken, St. Patrick’s Day and the upcoming Northside Social.
Shields Calls for 5.5-Cent Tax Rate Hike for FY19 & All New Projects Less Than School Bond Referendum Forecast Last Fall
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
SEE SPECIAL SECTION, PAGES 13-24
F����� F.C. C��������� I�� K����� D��� Former Falls Church City Councilman Ira Kaylin, who served one term from 2010–13, passed away Monday after a lengthy illness. SEE PAGE 5
F���� B����: W�� P���� �� ��� A����� �� T����
On a recent visit to Rome, I had pasta alla gricia on the first night, then pasta alla gricia on the second night, then pasta alla gricia on the third and fourth. SEE PAGE 26
2 K�� P����� O������ �� C��� H��� M����� F����� The offices of the Treasurer and Commissioner of the Revenue for the City of Falls Church will move Friday to new, temporary digs as the City Hall undergoes its year-long renovation. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 8
INDEX Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes10–11 Comment ..12, 25-26 Business News ...29
Calendar .......30–31 Classified Ads .....32 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........33 Critter Corner......34
GEORGE MASON HIGH School students poured out onto the football �ield at 10 a.m. Wednesday in solidarity with high school students from across the U.S. to mark the onemonth anniversary of the massacre at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida when 17 high school students were killed by a lone gunman with a military-style ri�le. (P����: N���-P����)
Student Walkout in F.C. Tosses Light on Security Concerns Here
BY MATT DELANEY
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
The brief walkout demonstration by over 300 George Mason High School students and more from Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School Wednesday, in solidarity with thousands of fellow students nationwide on the one-month anniversary of the killings at Parkland, Florida, underscored the student security issues in Falls Church reflective of concerns in the entire U.S. School security has come under national scrutiny in light
of the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland that left 17 students and staff dead, wounding 16 others. Falls Church City Public Schools are no exception, especially after George Mason High School experienced its second scare in four months when a student was arrested on March 5 following the discovery of a note that detailed a plan to harm people at the school. From administrators to students to the City of Falls Church police, everyone is assessing ways to improve protective measures. Mason students, whose
presumption of safety is the bedrock of their education, hold varying views on how their wellbeing is ensured following the atrocity in Florida. “Specifically at [Mason], I do feel safe,” said Nathan Holmes, student representative to Falls Church City School Board, before junior class treasurer Rebecca Hagigh added. “Obviously after shootings such as Parkland I might be slightly on-edge, but day-to-day I don’t feel unsafe being at school.”
Continued on Page 4
At Monday’s Falls Church City Council Meeting, City Manager Wyatt Shields formally launched this year’s annual budget cycle by proposing a Fiscal Year 2019 budget of $93.9 million, up 7.6 percent over the previous fiscal year. His recommendation calls for a 5.5-cent increase in the real estate tax rate, from $1.33 currently to $1.385 per $100 of assessed valuation to balance the budget, an increase of $372 for the average homeowner in the City, and when added to the average 3.4 percent increase in real estate assessments announced last month, amounts to an overall increase in the average tax bill of $634. The proposed budget provides for a 1.7 percent ($630,940) increase in general government operating expenditures and a 2.8 percent ($1,171,046) increase in local funding for public schools, as requested by the School Board. Debt service in the FY2019 budget, which covers the fiscal year commencing this July 1, will increase by 49 percent due to financing for the new George Mason High School, and renovations at City Hall and the Mary Riley Styles Public Library. This increase was projected at six cents, a half-cent more, on the tax rate when the FY2018 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) was adopted in July 2017 and formed the basis for presentations in advance of the school bond referendum that passed by 64 to 36 percent last November. In Shields’ plan, the operating
Continued on Page 34