May 28 – June 3, 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. 15
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‘Phase 1’ Openings Set for F.C. Restaurants on Friday Barbers, Salons Also Open With Social Distancing BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
As the City of Falls Church prepares to enter into Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s cautious Phase 1 reopening this Friday in the face of the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, the Falls Church City Council approved a scaled-back operating budget for the coming fiscal year Tuesday, applauded the success of the City’s innovative micro grant program benefiting 83 local businesses who got their $2,000 checks right away and mulled new ways of augmenting services to the ailing local economy with the help of its share of federal stimulus funds. Friday’s Phase 1 opening will permit restaurants that have or can create outdoor dining space to
serve customers, restricted retail sales and for salons and barber shops to open to carefully limited numbers, with facial masks mandated for all, while vulnerable populations will continue to be urged to stay home. As F.C.’s State Senator Dick Saslaw said in a memo this week, the move to Phase 1 is with a “yellow and not a green light.” Extreme caution is the watchword, he said. The delay in Northern Virginia’s entry into Phase 1 by two weeks following openings in most other parts of the state was due to relatively high instances of infections of the virus in this area (the City of Falls Church’s 14,300 residents suffered 49 total cases,
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AN HOURS-LONG LINE was endured by the public at Bailey’s Elementary School on Sunday for the free coronavirus testing event. The testing site was at capacity less than two hours after its 10 a.m. opening. Fairfax County chose Bailey’s Elementary and Annandale High School — the site of Saturday’s event — because of their proximity to those affected most by Covid-19 and had residents who were likely either uninsured or underinsured. (P����: J. M������ W�����)
Council Hails ‘Barbara Cram Apprecia�on Day’ BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Today — Thursday, May 28 — is Barbara Cram Day in the City of Falls Church. The F.C. City Council set aside a heavy agenda of business items Tuesday night to attend first to the matter of adopting a proclamation declaring today “Barbara Cram
Appreciation Day” in honor of the long-time City resident and extraordinary civic icon and “urging all residents to observe the day and recognize Barb Cram as a model citizen serving her family, church and community in an exemplary way.” The entire Council was in complete concord affirming and highlighting her many achievements
here since moving to the Falls Church area in 1978 and into the City in 1986, when she “brought her generosity, resourcefulness, and high energy to preserve and promote the character of the City and to make it the hometown that we all love.” The last three years she’s been saddled with a persisting illness. The Council took turns
Tuesday reading from sections of the lengthy proclamation. Perhaps her biggest official honors were to be named the Falls Church City Council’s “Pillar of the Community” and the Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society’s “Spirit of Falls Church” award winner. Concerning her tireless volunteerism and relentless good cheer, “Everything she touches gets better,” said long-time City Councilman David Snyder in sup-
porting the proclamation. The proclamation states that “she brought her business, Greenscape, to the City and demonstrated that creativity and quality mattered in all things, and was a stalwart for the business community, serving on the Public Private Partnership, the City’s Tricentennial Committee, and working tirelessly for the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce.”
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SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
SEE STORY, PAGE 4
At the temporary digs of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library in trailers at the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, the library staff is beginning to catch up to the unusually high volume of requests from citizens for books and other products.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused enormous upheaval around the world in terms of sickness, deaths, job losses, and shattered economies. The performing arts and its many venues are no exception to this.
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Northern Virginia’s own “Rockin’ the Suburbs” podcast from Falls Church’s Patrick Foster and Ashburn resident Jim Lenahan will take their show to Jammin’ Java’s stage next Wednesday. SEE PRESS PASS, PAGE 14
INDEX Editorial............................................... 6 Letters................................................. 6 News & Notes............................10–11 Comment ............................... 7,12–13 Crime Report .................................... 12 Calendar ........................................... 14 Business News ................................. 15 Classified Ads ................................... 16 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ......... 17 Critter Corner.................................... 18
