June 20 – 26, 2019
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. XXIX No. 18
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week F.C. Traffic Signal Fix Coming Next Year
More than a year after a traffic light pole crashed down in high winds at the corner of Annandale Road and Hillwood Avenue, the intersection’s signal is still waiting for its permanent replacement which City officials now say won’t be in place until 2020. See page 5
Renovated F.C. City Hall Cornerstone, & New Council Digs Feted Monday Ceremonies Follow Groundbreaking for New High School
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Noonan Apologizes for Yearbook Oversight
required to address what many policy makers are now identifying as a regional housing shortage crisis. With only 244 housing units defined as “affordable” in the City now, Hardi noted that 40 percent of that total (96 units) are in The Fields, an apartment complex that currently holds its rental rates low thanks to a tax subsidy from the City. However, that subsidy agreement is due to run out in just a few years, and no one has yet proposed a plan for extending it.
June 2019 marks an historic month in the City of Falls Church even if only as marked by events of pomp and ceremony. The events signify very big and good things for the City and its residents going forward. This Monday, a major contribution to this legacy will occur when the cornerstone of the newly renovated and expanded City Hall will be dedicated at a 6 p.m. public ceremony, and then at 7:30 when the new Council chambers in the City Hall will be unveiled and open for business for the first time. That will mark the completion of an extended, year-and-ahalf, cheerful tedium for the City Council and other major governing bodies in the City who had to hold their meetings in temporary locations, usually in the Senior Center room at the Community Center. The occasion is the latest this month of other important milestone events that included the groundbreaking for the new George Mason High School, the signing of a comprehensive agreement for the economic development of 9.45 acres adjacent the new high school, and the opening of a new downtown pocket park in the 100 block of West Broad. Yes, the Council will be back in its proper digs, notwithstanding two changes. The first involves the notable lack of colorless portraits on the walls of the Council chamber of humorless “Founding Fathers,” all white males. This is
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A paid advertisement appearing in George Mason High School’s yearbook from Michael Gardner, a former F.C. resident serving a 20-year prison sentence for molesting four girls, one of whom graduated from Mason this month, was reported to police and the school superintendent. See News Briefs, page 9
Therapists’ Role in The LGBTQ Movement
There’s been a massive change in how the world views gender and sexual expression over the past century. Most of the credit goes to the LGBTQ individuals, but gender therapists are unsung heroes in this community. See page 8
F.C. Man Running Marathon in Kenya
Running a marathon isn’t considered the feat it once was, however, running one alongside Olympic-caliber runners in the middle of a Kenyan wildlife reserve sure is. See page 13
Index
Editorial................6 Letters.......... 6, 22 News & Notes.10, 11 Comment...14, 15 Business News.16 Calendar....18, 19
Classified Ads... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword........ 21 Crime Report.... 22 Critter Corner.... 22
DIGGING THE IDEA of a brand new, state of the art George Mason High School, this was one phalanx of the local celebrities that took turns at breaking ground in last Friday’s ceremony. (Photo: FCCPS/Carol Sly)
F.C. Council Slams Housing Draft In Proposed Comp Plan Update
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Housing policy updates to the City of Falls Church’s Comprehensive Plan still need serious work by the City’s planning staff, at least three members of the Falls Church City Council insisted at the Council’s work session this Monday. Any thoughts that the Council might simply rubber stamp the document were drowned out by what, in polite language, came across as serious and insistent comments from Vice Mayor
Marybeth Connelly and Council members Phil Duncan and Letty Hardi, even as their emphases were on different aspects of the draft. Original plans to have the Council sign off on the update and pass their OK off to the Planning Commission for final adoption next month now appear unlikely. Among the objections that arose were lack of specific proposals for maintaining or expanding the City’s woefully diminishing stock of affordable housing, including no recommendations for funding, much less at levels