August 22 — 28, 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. 27
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week City Harris Teeter No Longer 24 Hours
Touting its 24-hour service when it opened three years ago in the middle of downtown Falls Church, the Little City’s Harris Teeter is no longer open for allhour grocery shopping. See News Briefs, page 9
Dominion Camera Celebrates 50 Years
Dominion Camera’s 50th anniversary is a celebration as much as it is a testament to its graceful swim upstream in the face of a rapidly changing industry.
F.C. Schools’ Stellar SOL Results Precede Start of New School Year Teachers Readied, Classes Slated to Begin on Sept. 3
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
See page 8
Cash Withdraws from F.C. Council Race
First-time candidate Thomas Cash announced his withdrawl from the race for three contested Falls Church City Council seats in this upcoming November’s election. See News Briefs, page 9
Press Pass with ‘Italian Bred’
Comedian Candice Guardino aims to show hilarity with her own family experience with a onewoman show/musical, “Italian Bred” playing for one night at the State Theatre this Saturday. See page 17
22 NEW TEACHERS joining Falls Church Public Schools with the start of the school year this fall dined at the City’s Liberty Barbecue as part of their orientation this Monday. (Photo: News-Press)
Repaving Done of 63 City Parking Slots in Downtown Falls Church
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Editorial................6 Letters..................6 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
The long-awaited repaving and restriping has finally occurred this week of the City of Falls Church’s 63 free public parking spaces behind street-fronted businesses and the newly-refurbished pocket park along the east side of the 100 block of W. Broad St. in the City’s downtown. The work by City Public Works crews results in, among other things, the addition of eight spaces, including two new acces-
sible parking spaces. Coming soon will be special markings to help make clear to drivers which spaces are free to park in for two hours as City-owned spots, and which are privately owned by retailers, where vehicles might be in jeopardy of being towed if not used solely for the purpose of patronizing those businesses. Confusion and painful towing practices in the area have reigned in the block for many years. Council member Letty Hardi, a key instigator in getting the project done, told the News-Press the
project was one of the key recommendations from the City’s parking working group that she heads. “I’m personally thrilled to see it happen,” she said. In addition to the resurfacing and restriping, Hardi said the next step will be to paint the City’s public spaces bright green along with lettering to denote the spaces’ two-hour limit. Hardi said the new colored signage should make it easier for visitors to find the public spaces and should be com-
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As Falls Church’s vice mayor, whose day job is the Falls Church public schools outreach director, said in an interview Monday, when it comes to Standards of Learning testing assessments, outcomes represent “a metric but not a goal.” That said, the Falls Church City Public Schools’ results announced last week were top or among the very top in the state. For the first time in four years, the City schools reached a 90 percent pass rate or better in SOL assessments across all content areas, according to the Virginia Department of Education. Based on data released last week, FCCPS students were tops in all Virginia in both Writing and History and Social Sciences, tied for third in Reading and Science, and tied for sixth in Math. The news precedes the moves, now in earnest, toward the beginning of the new school year, marked this time by the fact that construction of the new George Mason High School, with some deep digs onto former sports fields at the campus site is well along already. The new school is going up adjacent the existing high school buildings and is scheduled for completion by the end of next year. With some fall sports team practices already underway, the first phase of the new year began with the orientation of 22 new teachers this week, commencing with a lunch at the City’s popular Liberty Barbecue on Monday.
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