August 3 – 9, 2017
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 I NO. 24
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Finalists in more than 50 categories selected by readers in the 2017 Best of Falls Church have been announced. Now, readers will vote on the winners to be featured in a special Best Of edition of the NewsPress publishing August 31.
Historic Decision to Change Name of J.E.B. Stuart High Spurs New Dialogue A Year to Pick New Name, Rift Persists, Will There Be More?
BY MATT DELANEY
SEE PAGES 12–13
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mates the City would earn potentially $43 million from a long-term lease or sale of 10 acres on the existing campus. In addition, City staff estimate net tax revenue from the site could exceed $3 million per year once fully developed. The payments related to the land lease/ sale would be expected to begin in 2022; tax yield would be expected to accrue in 2025 as development is completed in phases. To bridge the financing gap, the City would rely on a combination of capital reserves (current balance is $10 million) as
Last week’s decision by the Fairfax County School Board to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart High School by a vote of 7-2 with two abstentions represented the county’s subscription to a growing national attitude that Confederate emblems are not fit to adorn public spaces. The process in which that vote was achieved, however, was marred by inconsistency and opaqueness, and leaves an already fractured community at risk of a prolonged road to recovery. “Whenever students are uncomfortable with some aspect of their educational environment, the School Board needs to take their concerns seriously,” at-large Board member Ryan McElveen told the News-Press in an e-mail interview. “However, this was the first time a school name change has ever been considered by [this] Board, and it was a learning experience.” The next steps in the process are an open public meeting at Stuart on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. to gather new names for consideration. A vote will be held the following Saturday, Sept. 16 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. where community members can choose from the top three choices. Cost-wise, the renaming will run from $600,000 – $900,000, or more specifically, in the ad hoc committee’s report $678,000 is projected to be covered by the county with an additional $255,916 projected to be covered by the private citizens, totaling $933,916. Last Thursday’s meeting began with citizen speakers from both
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Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields announced this week the appointment of Jenny Carroll as Director of the award-winning Mary Riley Styles Public Library. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 8
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The Trump administration is certainly giving us an education in the varieties of wannabe manliness. SEE PAGE 16
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Paula Boggs, leading woman of the aptly named “Soulgrass” group the Paula Boggs band, talks about how reconnecting with her musical roots gave her a purpose few other things could match.
SUPPORTERS OF A NAME CHANGE for J.E.B. Stuart High School �illed the auditorium of Luther Jackson Middle School last Thursday for the Faifax County School Board’s vote on renaming the school named for the confederate general. At the end of the night, the Board voted 7-2 in favor of a name change. (P����: R���� A�������/���������G���.���)
1st New School Bond Fact Sheet Stresses Site’s Economic Offsets
SEE PAGE 17
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes10–11 Comment ....... 14–16 Calendar .......18–19
Last-minute changes made to a one-page information sheet issued yesterday by Falls Church City Schools on the November school bond referendum put added emphasis on the potential cost offsets of the proposed new $120 million high school. The combination of the sale or long-term lease of 10 acres on the George Mason High School property site for commercial development and the annual tax yields from that development will play a major role in the City’s
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
INDEX Classified Ads .....20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........21 Critter Corner......22 Business News ...22
ability to absorb the $120 million cost without a blow-out impact on City taxpayers. The first draft of the information sheet did not make that point. But before a final version was signed off on by Schools Superintendent Peter Noonan, information provided by City Manager Wyatt Shields and his finance office was added. The paragraph of the fact sheet titled, “Sale of Lease of 10 Acres of GMHS Campus to Help Offset the Cost of the School,” now reads, “An economic feasibility study by the firm of Alvarez and Marsal esti-