May 1 9 - 2 5, 2 0 1 6
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d ed 1991 • Vol. X X V I No. 13
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week After 66 Years, F.C. Florist to Close
At the end of next month, Mike and Diane Flood are closing their family-owned flower business they first opened in The Little City 66 years ago. See page 11
Wells Fargo Suspected Robber Arrested A man suspected of robbing the Wells Fargo bank in the City of Falls Church last week, along with two other banks in Alexandria, has been arrested.
1.8-Acre Site By Jefferson Elementary Slated to Be Sub-Divided for 7 Homes Fellows Tract Had Special Delivery Been Eyed for School Expansion
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Williams, Falls Church residents who founded Viget as a digital agency in 1999 and operate out of their growing company’s headquarters above the Ireland’s Four Provinces restaurant in downtown Falls Church, came up with this novel idea after chatting with NBC Sports representatives at the annual South By Southwest technology conference in Austin, Texas, earlier this year.
The Falls Church Planning Commission was within its power to grant final approval for the subdivision of 1.8 acres known as the Fellows Tract at 604 S. Oak Street adjacent the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School into seven lots for residential development Monday night, but instead stopped short. Instead, it granted only a preliminary approval pending further conversation with neighbors to the site about a myriad of issues ranging from traffic, parking, storm water run off, sidewalk widths and more. The proposal to sub-divide the land into seven separate residential components would represent one of the biggest such moves in the City of Falls Church’s history, but that is not the main reason the plot is a matter of such concern to many in the City. Although the issue did not come up as such in the Planning Commission meeting, on another floor of City Hall it did come up in the work session of the Falls Church City Council Monday night when City Manager Wyatt Shields was asked the status of the City’s efforts to acquire the Fellows property, possibly for the expansion of Thomas Jefferson Elementary across the street. At the risk of revealing some propriety closed-door information, Shields told the Council that the Fellows Living Trust (which controls the property on which the elderly Ms. Fellows has continued to reside since her youth) “remains adamant that Ms. Fellows does not want to sell to the City.”
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See News Briefs, page 8
David Brooks: One Community At a Time
Gaps have opened up among partisan tribes, economic classes and races. There has been a loss of social capital, especially for communities down the income scale. See page 14
Press Pass with Peter Wolf
At the age of 70, rhythm and blues, soul and rock and roll musician Peter Wolf brings us his thesis on music’s therapeutic power, A Cure for Loneliness, released in April with Concord Records. See page 25
A UNITED STATES MAIL TRUCK got stuck in a City of Falls Church backyard, making for an interesting scene on E. Broad Street this week. The U.S. Postal Service vehicle was attempting turn around in a resident’s driveway on Tuesday before getting stuck in the home’s wet and muddy backyard. Full story in News Briefs on page 8. (Photo: Bill McGinnies)
Neigh, Neigh! Magical Brooch at Kentucky Derby Designed in F.C. by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Editorial..................6 Letters..............6, 30 News & Notes.12-13 Comment......... 14-17 Business News....19 Sports..................21
Food & Dining......23 Calendar.........26-27 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........29 Critter Corner.......30
The one who won the actual race at the Kentucky Derby last weekend was not the horse who caused the biggest Internet stir. That horse has his roots in Falls Church, a digital brooch named Lawrence that colorful NBC Sports “fashion and lifestyle reporter” Johnny Weir wore on his lapel during the lengthy TV event. The brainchild and product of
the Falls Church-based Viget, a digital agency, Lawrence was devised as the first-ever Twitter-powered brooch that glowed as Lawrence galloped on live TV whenever any viewer would send a Twitter message including the “hashtag” of #WatchMeNeighNeigh. Over 4,000 such “tweets” activated Lawrence during the telecast, including 155 per minute at peak times when Lawrence galloped the fastest as a result. Andy Rankin and Brian