July 1 4 - 2 0 , 2016
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. XXVI NO. 21
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I����� T��� W��� H��� �� N�� P�������� A� G����� M���� H��� The Falls Church School Board appointed George Mason High School assistant principal Matt Hills as the next principal of the City’s high school, effective immediately. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
Vote Today at BestOfFC.com! For details, see page 8
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Campus Development Plans Slow to Materialize After Decoupling Decision F.C. Council, Schools C������� �� ��� P��� Joint Meet Stalled by Summer Distractions
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
been his practice of taking out large loans, drawing in investors, developing real estate and then declaring bankruptcy, walking away with enormous sums for himself while leaving other investors and construction contractors, and their workers, holding the bag. Trump, for his part, visited Virginia Beach this Monday to deliver a speech on veterans reforms in which he declared him-
It’s been a month since the decision was made to decouple the school and economic development components of the 36-acre West End Campus Redevelopment Project. But with the clock ticking for needed action on a new or renovated high school and the necessity of a public referendum to OK it, there has been no substantial action taken by either the F.C. City Council or School Board, and these two main players cannot yet figure out how to meet together until well into next month. At its meeting this Monday night, the Council and City Manager Wyatt Shields agreed that the first step of the new decoupled process will need to be a joint meeting of the Council and School Board, but in now the dog days of summer, available dates are slim. Shields announced that the School Board will not be available for a meeting between July 23 and August 7, and with its important meeting with the Fairfax Planning Commission on the fate of the Mt. Daniel School renovation coming on July 21, it was, he said, unlikely they could meet until after August 7. The School Board had nothing new to suggest at its meeting Tuesday, and the date of a joint meeting still has yet to be set. But as Council member David Snyder pointed out Monday, “until there can be some serious economic development rain-making that we’ve not been able to get so far, we’re not going to have an idea of what we can get out of the property to offset the cost of a new or renovated school.”
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A Falls Church man, seeking to provide a safer, more reliable solution for day laborers in the city, has proposed a new, nonprofit center for W. Broad St. SEE PAGE 11
D���� B�����: I� ��� U.S. �� � P��� �� R���? I never really understood how fascism could have come to Europe, but I think I understand better now. SEE PAGE 14
P���� P��� ���� J��� � A����� P����� Amanda Palmer and her father, Jack, have spent more than a year working on an album called You Got Me Singing, set to be released this Friday. A day later, the Palmer father-daughter duo are playing their first show in a run of performances to support the album at the 9:30 Club. SEE PAGE 25
PERFECT SUMMER WEATHER has graced the Falls Church Concerts in the Park so far this season, a summer tradition hosted by Dr. Gordon Theisz on behalf of the Village Preservation and Improvement Society. Last week’s concert featured the Andrew Acosta band. (P����: N���-P����)
Rep. Beyer Contrasts His Family’s Falls Church Business to Trump Way BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
INDEX Editorial.................6 Letters.............6, 18 News & Notes 12-13 Comment ........ 14-17 Business News ...19 Calendar ........20-21
Food & Dining.....23 Classified Ads ....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner......30
Citing his family’s Falls Church-based automotive business as his prime example, U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr., a Democrat representing the 8th District of Virginia that includes Falls Church, last week assailed the bankruptcy and lawsuit-driven business practices of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in a telephone press confer-
ence for journalists from throughout Virginia. His comments followed on the remarks of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton the day before in front of bankrupted Trump casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Clinton is bringing her campaign to Northern Virginia today with a rally at the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College. Clinton hammered Trump for what she claimed has