April 16 - 22, 2015
Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free
Founded 1991 • Vol. XXV No. 8
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week F.C. Schools’ Byrd, Hoff Honored by Post
George Mason High School principal Tyrone Byrd was honored as one of the area’s top principals and Mount Daniel Elementary’s Nanette Hoff was named the City of Falls Church’s most outstanding teacher of the year by the Washington Post last Friday. See News Briefs, page 9
Beyer Hails F.C. In Local Speech
F.C. Schools Find $400k in Savings, Hope for No Tax Rate Hike Grows Council Looking for Spare Change as Deadline Looms by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
vote was decisive for the project to move forward, given the financing needs of the developers. Some observed that the vote resembled the one taken the night that the Rushmark-Harris Teeter approval hung the the balance, and the developer expressed a willingness to walk away from the whole idea, which it had been working on with the City for the better part
The clock is ticking, and for the Falls Church City Council, its date with destiny for committing to the next fiscal year’s budget is fast approaching. But in the midst of this nerve-wracking countdown, the Falls Church School Board has sprung with some good news that eases the strain slightly, but now burdens the Council with an even greater task to reduce its plans for a tax rate increase all the way down to zero. The good news coming from the Schools’ administrative offices by way of Chief Financial Officer Hunter Kimball is that deft moves to find an alternative health care provider for the school system has produced a far better option that will provide the same level of insurance while costing almost $300,000 less. When the Schools’ current provider, United Health Care, announced it was jacking up its premiums by yet another 10 percent, its third such increase in as many years, Kimball leaped into action, went shopping around and found the Blue Cross-Blue Shield affiliated Virginia’s Local Choice health plan that offered almost identical coverage with lower premiums. The move was made last week after United Health Care announced its latest premium hike, so that not only did the system avert the sudden burden of a 10 percent rate hike, it was able to come in with a lower rate that is equal, in citizen taxpayer terms, to almost a full penny on the real estate tax rate. In a second effort to take pres-
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In his first formal appearance in the City of Falls Church since taking office in the U.S. Congress earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. hailed the electoral activism of the Little City in an address to the annual JeffersonJackson Potluck Dinner at the Community Center. See News Briefs, page 9
Maureen Dowd: Grandmama Mia!
When my brother Michael was a Senate page, he delivered mail to John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, who had offices across the hall from each other. See page 13
Press Pass With Footwerk
Kyle Higginbotham, rapper and one half of the frontline of the locally-based pop fusion group Footwerk, said the band came together in response to an ad he placed on Craigslist. See page 21
THERE WAS A SPARSE TURNOUT at last Saturday’s town hall on the budget at the Falls Church Community Center that was dominated by strong statements on the difficulties of absorbing new tax increases. (Photo: News-Press)
Latest ‘Mason Row’ Proposal Wins Another City Council OK by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 News & Notes.10-11 Comment........12-13 Calendar.........16-17 Food & Dining ......18
Sports .................19 Classified Ads .....24 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........25 Critter Corner.......26
By a 4-2 vote, the Falls Church City Council, working deep into the night Monday with concerns about the 4.3 acre mixed use project the Spectrum Group has planned for the intersection of W. Broad and N. West Street, wound up approving a new first reading for the plan at 12:20 a.m. The no votes came from Nader
Baroukh and Mayor David Tarter, who were holding out their concerns for elements of the project, including its parking deck and massing, but once Council member Karen Oliver called for a vote on her original motion, it swiftly passed 4-2 with Dan Sze, Phil Duncan and Marybeth Connolly joining Oliver with yes votes. Although it was not verbalized in such exact terms, it might have proven the case that the Monday