April 23 – 29, 2020
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 • V ol. X XX No. 10
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Plans in Works for F.C. Fabric Flocking Small Business Grants $2K Micro Loan Program Presented to Council
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
While contemplating City of Falls Church fiscal unknowns in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, the F.C. City Council will begin to move on a revised budget going forward at its meeting next Monday. At its work session this Monday, it learned of aggressive efforts locally to help the most vulnerable citizens and smallest businesses for which even a $2,000 micro grant can make a huge difference for keeping their doors open. The Council will begin to act on making $2.3 million in cuts in the coming fiscal year budget next Monday, scrapping the version proposed before the pandemic hit last month, but that will be based on a “moderate,” not “worse” forecast that will be better evaluated in the fall. It includes a $500,000 cut in the City’s transfer to the Falls Church City School system for the current fiscal year. In the meantime, as Housing and Human Services division head Nancy Vincent reported Monday night, a mobilization is well underway to meet the needs of senior and other vulnerable citizens with an expansion of services including the delivery of three months of non-perishable food from the Capital Area Food
Bank to residents of the Winter Hill Senior Apartments, expanded hotel vouchers for the City’s homeless, free Covid-19 testing at a facility in Merrifield and emergency dental care. City Manager Wyatt Shields has sent a letter to apartment building owners urging leniency in rent payments, and three grocery stores in the City have been contacted about providing special hours for seniors to shop. A team of three addressed the Council, once again convening online for health security reasons, about a plan devised to offer $2,000 micro-grants in an initial amount totalling $100,000 that are being crafted to provide swift if modest assistance to small businesses in the City with less than $500,000 annually in gross receipts. The City’s Economic Development Office chief, Becky Witsman, presented the plan, accompanied by Bob Young, chair of the Economic Development Authority and Sally Cole, director of the F.C. Chamber of Commerce. “The business community needs to know that Falls Church cares,” Cole said, “and this is more important now than ever.” She said that even small grants can make a make-or-break difference for small businesses.
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THE LINE AT JOANN FABRIC stretches down the sidewalk outside of the store as shoppers seek out material for masks following Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Centers for Disease Control recommendations to wear face coverings when out in public earlier this month. Customers said they waited in lines for more than two hours to enter the Falls Church store. Similar lines have also been forming at the shopping center’s nearby Michael’s craft store. (Photo: J. Michael Whalen)
F.C. Schools Maintain Virtual Balance As Fairfax Stumbles by Nicholas F. Benton & Matt Delaney
Falls Church News-Press
The woes piled up for Fairfax County’s public school system after its distance learning program was shut down for the second
time in two weeks as it shifted to online schooling during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the county’s school system says it will move away from using its online learning platform, Blackboard, to deliver daily classes. Fairfax’s misfortune serves as
a reminder of some of the advantages built into its smaller neighbor, the Falls Church City Public Schools, which has maneuvered the virtual workload brought on by the crisis with minimal drama so far. The state’s largest school system with 189,000 students, Fairfax County had its Blackboard Learn 24/7 web platform shut down after one day of operation last week and
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Inside This Week Falls Church Senior Athletes Lament a Lost Last Season
At Least 25 Covid-19 Cases, 1 Death in City of F.C.
Employee Tests Positive for Virus at Goodwin House
See story, page 8
See News Briefs, page 9
See News Briefs, page 9
On March 23, the Virginia High School League made official what all the state’s high school athletes had feared since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic: their remaining sports seasons, for many their last, would be lost.
This week’s coronavirus cases in Falls Church are the first reported in the City by health officials in almost a month, since the last confirmed positive case, a resident at The Kensington senior living home, was reported on March 22.
A staff member at Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads has tested positive for Covid-19, the first infection reported at the Falls Church area senior care center. No residents have tested positive for the coronavirus disease to date at the facility, a spokesperson said.
Index
Editorial........................................................ 6 Letters.......................................................... 6 News Briefs................................................. 9 News & Notes.....................................10–11 Comment........................................7,12–13 Calendar....................................................14 Classified Ads............................................16 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword..................17 Critter Corner.............................................18 Crime Report.............................................18 Business News..........................................19