March 29 – April 4, 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. 6
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The population of the City of Falls Church grew 5.2 percent between July 1, 2016, and July 1, 2017, the data showed, more than any U.S. county with at least 10,000 residents. SEE STORY, PAGE 5
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Falls Church, ‘You’re the Top!’ Ranked #1 In America in Health, Growth, Liveability
U.S. News Announces City is ‘Healthiest Community’ in U.S.
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Falls Church native son Bob Burnett will be premiering his short film, “Edward Hopper and the Marshall House” at the 4th Annual Northern Virginia International Film Festival on Monday at the Angelika Film Center and Café at Mosaic District. SEE STORY, PAGE 25
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In 2015 Don Blankenship was sent to prison for conspiring to violate mine safety standards. In 2018, Blankenship appears to have a real chance at becoming the Republican candidate for senator from West Virginia. SEE PAGE 17
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Flowers are nearing bloom just as George Mason High School athletes are returning to the field, pitch, diamond and track for the 2018 spring sports season. SEE SPORTS, PAGE 18
INDEX Editorial.................6 Letters...............6, 9 News & Notes12–13 Comment ........ 14-17 Business News ...22
Calendar .......26–27 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner......30
BEING ‘LOCAL GOVERNMENT Education Week,” as proclaimed by the F.C. City Council at its meeting Monday night, all members of the City’s local government in the room posed for a photo in honor of the occasion. (P���� ��������: K���� E������)
F.C. City Council Gives Preliminary OK, 7-0, to Tax Hike of 5.5 Cents
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
With surprising apparent concord, the Falls Church City Council approved, with a series of three unanimous 7-0 votes, a “first reading” preliminary approval of the Fiscal Year 2019 budget for the City, the schools and the ambitious schedule for construction of a new high school and renovated City Hall and public library. The preliminary budget abides with the recommendation of City Manager Wyatt Shields with a 5.5 cent (per $100 of assessed valuation) real estate tax increase, but the so-called heavy lifting toward final budget
figures awaits another month of deliberations before the decisive vote is taken April 23. There was no debate at all, in fact, over the size of the School Board’s request for a 2.8 percent budget increase. School Superintendent Peter Noonan sat silently in the audience throughout, prepared to weigh in if necessary, but that occasion never arose. It doesn’t mean that the issue won’t be engaged again soon, however. Almost the entirety of the Council’s deliberations Monday night centered on questions about other aspects of the budget, with the biggest indeterminate factor being what the City may have to chip in to the effort
to bring WMATA’s ailing Metro Rail system back up to speed. What was included in the prospective new budget, amounting to $1.1 million in new City money worth 2.5 cents on the tax rate, was described by Shields as a “worst case scenario,” and the City will likely not know what its obligation will actually be until mid-April at the earliest. But it was noted that funding for affordable housing, rent relief for seniors and traffic calming, plus mindfulness concerning the national inflation rate as Councilman Phil Duncan cautioned, and “looming recession,” as Council member Letty
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The national profile of the modest and petite City of Falls Church, Virginia, has shot up from practically non-existent to the heady leader of the pack in no less than three relevant quality-of-life categories in just the last two months. We’re talking first place in the whole U.S., top of the list, king of the hill, or to wax poetic with the lyrics of Cole Porter: Falls Church, ‘You’re the top, You’re the Colosseum, You’re the top, You’re the Louvre Museum!,” and so on. This all began with the designation by the 24/7 Wall St. website for Best Places to Live in the U.S. that the City of Falls Church was ranked first in the entire U.S., reported in the Feb. 7, 2018 edition of the News-Press. Then, last week came the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual update which showed that the City of Falls Church tops the list of ‘Fastest Growing Jurisdictions in the U.S.” (see story, page 5). Then this Monday, U.S. News and World Report broke the story that it, in conjunction with the Aetna Foundation, found the City of Falls Church to be the No. 1 jurisdiction in the country in its inaugural Healthiest Communities rankings. And, in a let-down, a ranking by SmartAsset placed the City of Falls Church second (second, humph!) among the best places to retire in Virginia based on factors such as doctor offices, recreation centers and retirement centers per 1,000 people. Assuming there wasn’t some sort of mistake, the City of Fairfax edged out the City in the rankings.
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