September 24 - 30, 2015
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. XXV No. 31
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week Make a Lava Lamp at Va. Tech Makers Festival Saturday
This Saturday, Virginia Tech’s Falls Church campus is hosting the Makers Festival, a free event where attendees can write with soy ink, make a lava lamp, get licensed to drive a robot and more. See page 10
Taco Bamba Wins 2015 Taste of Falls Church
Hot on the heels of its being listed in Business Insider’s “Best Tacos in America” list, Taco Bamba was named the winner of the 2015 Taste of Falls Church last Saturday.
LaCondre: Closing Numbers for FY15 Show F.C. ‘Moving in Right Direction’ Major Contributions R elease of the M onarchs Came From New Mixed-Use Projects by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
and his hand-picked member of the Planning Commission, John Ulfelder, to its much-publicized opposition to the Mt. Daniel expansion plan. The association issued a paper this summer claiming that the 8.73 acre site located three blocks outside the City of Falls Church in Fairfax County would simply be too crowded with the planned improvements. The plans involve increasing the site’s student capacity from 436 to 534 students.
There was no doubt that the financial picture presented by the City of Falls Church’s Chief Financial Officer Richard A. LaCondre to the F.C. City Council on Monday and the F.C. School Board on Tuesday was rosy and upbeat. A diligent fiscal conservative, LaCondre would be reluctant to confirm either descriptive term, always mindful of potential land mines in the future, but everyone seemed pretty encouraged by his numbers, the City general fund’s unaudited actual performance against the budget for the 2015 fiscal year. These numbers will be carried into the Fiscal Year 2017 budget process, which begins with a joint Council-School Board meeting next month, even as there continues a veritable flurry of budgetrelated activity ranging from prospective approval of new large scale development projects to major capital improvement issues facing the City schools and governmental buildings. By LaCondre’s numbers, the City has made a steady and almost complete rebound from the impacts of the last decade’s Great Recession and of the costs of litigating and losing access to transferable funds from the City water system. A general rebound in the wider economy, robust residential real estate value growth, and yields from major new mixed use development projects built since 2003 are combining to strengthen the City ability to press ahead with
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See page 22
David Brooks: Pope Francis’ Lessons
One of Pope Francis’ favorite novels is The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni. It is about two lovers whose longing to marry is thwarted by a cowardly and morally mediocre priest and a grasping nobleman. See page 14
Press Pass with Devon Allman Band
Devon Allman said that his live show, which he’s bringing to Gypsy Sally’s in Washington, D.C. next Wednesday, follows the arc of his career. See page 25
TENNLEY JACKSON HOLDS a monarch butterfly in her hand during a release of the butterflies by the Monarch Teacher Network at Cherry Hill Farmhouse last Saturday. The monarchs are currently migrating to Mexico for the winter but are in need of waystations. (Photo: Drew Costley)
Fairfax Co. Planners OK Delay on Mt. Daniel Expansion to November by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index Editorial..................6 Letters................6, 8 Sports..................27 News & Notes.10-11 Comment........14-17 Food & Dining......22
Calendar.........20-21 Business News....26 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........29 Critter Corner.......30
A major win for the Falls Church City Schools was achieved at the Fairfax Planning Commission meeting last week when a deferral was granted by the commission on its decision concerning the Mt. Daniel School renovation and expansion. Not only was the deferral granted to permit more time for the City Schools to answer questions from commission members and
the public, but the deferral was set back to after this upcoming November 3 election, which could be considered the most important success for the F.C. Schools. It means, in short, that politics as a factor influencing any decision by the commission has been neutralized. Fairfax County’s Dranesville Supervisor John Foust is engaged in a rough re-election battle this fall against challenger Jennifer Chronis. In this context, the McLean Citizens Association has been demanding the allegiance of Foust