Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va. 11th) celebrated the wearing o’ the green with more than 1,000 elected officials and local supporters at his 21st annual St. Patrick’s Day Fete on Tuesday.
A highlight of the event at the Kena Temple Ballroom in Fairfax was Democratic Presidential Candidate Straw Poll.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took 48 percent of the vote. She was followed by former Virginia Senator Jim Webb (15 percent); Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (10 percent), Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (7 percent), and Vice President Joe Biden and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, (6 percent each). Write-ins for a variety of other names accounted for 8 percent of the straw poll vote. Straw polls are a tradition at the annual event.
Connolly was joined by Lt. Governor Ralph Northam, Rep. Don Beyer, Del, Ken Plum (Reston), Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair, as well as dozens of other state and local officeholders from across Northern Virginia.
The annual St. Patrick’s Day fete started as a small gathering at Connolly’s Fairfax home in 1995 when he was first elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Capt. Ron Manzo has taken over as the top cop at Fairfax County Police’s Reston District Station.
The entire department moved into its new $18 million building last month. The new police station and North County Government Center is at 1801 Cameron Glen Dr., directly next door to the old building. The old building will be torn down soon and will become parking for the new headquarters.
Manzo comes to Reston most recently as FCPD’s Commander of the Planning Research Bureau.
Prior to that, he was Assistant Commander of the West Springfield District Station. He is joined by Lt. Lance Schaible, who will be second in command.
During his time at West Springfield, Manzo was on the scene of the shooting of John Geer, a 46-year-old man who was shot by an FCPD officer after a domestic dispute and then a standoff at his home in summer 2013.
Capt. Manzo did not shoot Geer, but according to Geer’s family and attorney Michael Lieberman, who have filed a wrongful death lawsuit, the FCPD was negligent and failed to supervise the patrol officer who fired.
The lawsuit also questions police’s failure to summon a trained negotiator to deal with Geer. Family members also say Geer’s body was left in the home unattended by police for many hours.
Adam Torres, the officer who fired the shot from 17 feet away, has said in testimony he thought he saw Geer reach for a weapon. The other four other police officials, including Manzo, watching from a distance said they saw no such thing, The Washington Post reported.
The other officers at the scene agreed Geer had his hands above his shoulders, did not move them to his waist and was unarmed when he was shot, according to county documents in the case.
Fairfax County did not release information on the investigation until a judge ordered them to do so in December. The county then released 11,000 pages of information.
Meanwhile, Fairfax County Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova has created a 34-member ad hoc police commission to review police procedures. The commission will meet for the first time March 23 and is expected to issue a report in the fall.
Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins says she supports establishing a citizen police practice review commission, but objects “to the manner in which the Board of Supervisor is establishing the commission.”
“I have urged that the Board discuss this matter in open session to review the current policy, to set benchmarks on what we wish to accomplish and to create a process of citizen engagement,” Hudgins said in an email to residents of her district last week.
The dead man found in the woods near Herndon on Monday has been identified as William Adolfo Rivas Leiva, 22, of Herndon, Fairfax County Police said.
Police preliminarily concluded that this death is a homicide.
Police did not say how Leiva was killed or how long his body had been in the wooded area at Folly Lick Stream.
Leiva’s body was found in the 1500 block of Hiddenbrook Drive on Monday about 12:27 p.m., police said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers electronically by visiting www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text-a-tip by texting “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES(274637)** or by calling 1-866-411-TIPS(8477).
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Weekend Traffic Alert — Hunter Mill Road westbound exit off the Dulles Toll Road will be EZPass only from 9:30 a.m. Friday to 5:30 a.m. Monday. The cash lane will be closed for equipment repairs.
Passengers Restrain Man on Flight From Dulles — A United flight headed from Washington to Denver had to return to Dulles International Airport Monday after a pilot told air traffic controllers a passenger had become violent, ran toward the cockpit and had to be restrained. [WTOP]
Chorale Concert Takes You To France — Join The Reston Chorale Sunday at 4 p.m. for Chorale Splendor: Music of France. The program includes Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle for two organs and mixed chorus, as well as works by Duruflé, Faure, Franck and Willcocks. [Reston Chorale]
Future Fields — A Reston man has begun a petition asking Fairfax County to ban crumb rubber, the surface used in synthetic turf fields. [Change.org]
Active Family Chiropractic in Reston’s Home Depot Shopping Center has closed its doors.
Dr. Nicole and Dr. Alexandre “Mick” Sicre have joined Recharge Wellness in Herndon.
A new tenant has already been signed for the space at 11790 J Reston Parkway. Bento House Japanese Restaurant will open in the late spring, says owner Eric Zhou.
Bento House will be a locally owned, counter service Japanese spot.
Meanwhile, the future of the Home Depot Center — considered a “convenience center” by the Reston Master Plan — is still being determined though it looks like it will remain a retail destination.
The 22-acre retail area at Baron Cameron Avenue and Reston Parkway was originally planned to be part of Reston Town Center, but was never developed to the same scale or design as town center or the nearby Spectrum.
However, with the Spectrum slated for a massive mixed-use overhaul, the Master Plan Phase 2 is addressing the future of the center, which has a variety of stores, many of them locally owned.
“This area continues to serve as an important location for community serving retail and is
planned for retail uses to maintain its existing character,” the working draft states. That density number is the same as the other village centers.
“Opportunities should be sought to improve pedestrian connectivity within the retail center and improve connectivity more broadly to the surrounding neighborhoods and neighboring commercial areas for all modes of transport including pedestrian, bicycle, transit and vehicles.
In addition, if existing buildings are redeveloped with new retail buildings, the planning and design of the redeveloped sites should provide for environmental sustainability, green technology, and an appropriate transition to the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Singh Thai restaurant will reopen Tuesday at 1633 Washington Plaza.
The locally owned restaurant had been operating at 11424 Washington Plaza for five years.
Singh Thai owner Chai Lerlertkitsakun announced in December the business would be moving across the plaza where Jasmine Cafe had been located for more than 20 years.
Jasmine Cafe abruptly closed in April of 2014 when restaurant owner Eduardo Faubert got into a dispute with the property owner over back rent.
It’s March 17, so go out and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
While pretty much anywhere in or around Reston that features a draft beer or a glass of Irish Whiskey will do, here are some places offering St. Patrick’s Day specials Tuesday.
Kalypso’s Sports Tavern, Lake Anne Plaza
Kalypso’s will offer drink specials and Irish food, including corned beef, Guinness stew, and reuben sliders. There will be a 50/50 raffle benefiting the American Cancer Society. Acoustic rock musician Pete Lapp performs at 8:30pm.
Ned Devine’s, 2465 Centreville Road, Herndon
Ned Devine’s Irish bar will have live acoustic musicians from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Irish dancers will perform at 4, 6 and 8 p.m. Live band My Hero Zero performs at 9 p.m. Traditional Irish food, Guinness, and green beer will be available all day.
The Old Brogue, 760C Walker Road, Great Falls
The Old Brogue’s St. Patrick’s Day Pub Bash, featuring live music, begins at 10 a.m. and goes on all day.
Clyde’s of Reston, Reston Town Center
Clyde’s will be offering a special Irish menu in addition to its regular menu all day Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Washington Regional Alcohol Program is offering SoberRide, which will get you home safely with a free cab ride (within a $30 trip) from 4 p.m. Tuesday to 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Know of any other parties around town? Tell us in the comments.
Reston Association unveiled a new website design over the weekend.
The site features modern new features and easy-to-read design, making it more consumer friendly for RA members to do such things as search for RA information, pay assessments, buy pool passes, and sign up for camp. It also links to many other community resources, which will make it hub for newcomers to Reston.
RA spokeswoman Kirsten Carr said the new site is “the culmination of a year-long process that included both outside design consultation and internal staff planning.”
RA hired Reingold, a communications and marketing firm, in 2013 to assist RA with an overall communications strategic plan design, which included a website renovation, said Carr.
The board approved $100,000 in the 2014 budget to redesign to meet the findings of the strategic plan process and community interviews, she said.
Fannie Mae Signs Big Reston Lease — Fannie Mae has inked a deal to lease an entire building at 12000 Sunrise Valley Drive. It sought out the space in part to support a commercialization platform it is developing in collaboration with Freddie Mac and to bring more of its workers closer together in Reston. [Washington Business Journal]
Save The Date For Empty Bowls Fundraiser — Reston’s Giving Circle of Hope will hold its Empty Bowls fundraiser on April 10. Eat a delicious dinner, go home with a handmade bowl and help the nonprofit. [Giving Circle of Hope]
RA Open House Thursday — Reston Association is hosting an open house on Thursday, March 19. This is a good chance to learn more RA services, amenities and programs. There will also be an opportunity to vote for Board members in the current election.Light refreshments will be available and door prizes will be awarded. [Reston Association]
Loudoun Picks Metro Station Names — Loudoun County staff says it would name its Silver Line Phase 2 stations called Ashburn and Loudoun Gateway. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will vote on the recommendations Wednesday. [Washington Business Journal]
Photo: Runners in the Lucky Leprechaun 5K at Reston Town Center Saturday/Credit: PRRacing
A pronounced bump in the road on Soapstone Drive and a similar one on South Lakes Drive have been deemed safe to the Reston Association underpasses below, Reston Association says.
Reston Now first brought this issue to readers’ attention last week. It appeared shortly after the snowstorm in Reston the first week of March, when about 8 inches of snow and freezing rain fell here.
A concerned resident called Virginia Department of Transportation, which is investigating the road issue.
But the resident was also concerned that the two south Reston road issues were directly over RA underpasses on the association’s 55 miles of pedestrian and bike trails.
RA says in a statement on its newly designed website that it has consulted with “VDOT and has determined that the tunnel under Soapstone Drive is safe despite a weather-related bump in the road above the RA pathway.”
From RA:
The pronounced nature of the bump in the road is more noticeable in winter months. The road condition is caused by settlement of the back fill on either side of the box culvert (pathway underpass) and the expansion of the soil above the underpass due to freezing.
This thinner layer of soil between the box culvert and the road surface freezes more quickly over the underpass because it is not insulated by full-depth soil. Many of the underpasses in Reston and elsewhere are impacted in a similar manner during the winter.
Because of extreme temperatures and above-average amounts of snow and ice this year, the situation on Soapstone appears worse than it has during milder winters.
Typical underpasses throughout Reston are constructed as 12-inch thick concrete boxes, designed to handle the Virginia climate as well as the traffic loads on the roads above.
A dead body was found in unincorporated Herndon on Monday.
Police said officers were called at 12:27 p.m. to a wooded area at Folly Lick Stream, located in the 1500 block of Hiddenbrook Drive, for the report of a body found in the woods.
Detectives believe the deceased to be an adult male with trauma to the upper body. The Office of the Medical Examiner will determine cause and manner of death, police said.
Police have not yet identified the man. They are investigating the death as suspicious.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers electronically by visiting www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text-a-tip by texting “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES(274637)** or by calling 1-866-411-TIPS(8477).
**Text STOP to 274637 to cancel. Text HELP to 274637 for help.
Fairfax County Public Schools are looking into the waiver in Virginia state law that could allow school to begin here prior to Labor Day.
But don’t cut your summer vacation short just yet.
FCPS officials said that if the system has one more day of school cancelled this year due to inclement weather or an emergency situation — the 11th of the year — the district could apply to the state for a waiver, allowing FCPS to begin school the week prior to Labor Day.
The school system has applied for the waiver in the past to no avail.
FCPS has drafted an alternative calendar in order to give parents and community members an idea of what the calendar would look like if school began on Monday, August 31, and end on Thursday, June 16, 2016.
The alternative calendar is not currently under consideration by the Fairfax County School Board. Any change in the proposed 2015-16 calendar that the School Board will consider at its business meeting on Thursday, March 26, would require further School Board approval, school officials said.
FCPS does not currently qualify for a waiver. In order to apply for a waiver, a school district needs to average eight full days of school lost due to inclement weather, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations in five of the previous 10 years.
The school system said FCPS students missed four days during the 2006-07 school year; 10 days during the 2009-10 school year; four days during the 2010-11 school year; 11 days during the 2013-14 school year; and 10 days during the current school year.
To qualify for the waiver, FCPS must be closed a total of 11 full days during the current school year.
Last year, the board eliminated early release Mondays for elementary school students, which added instructional time and allowed the system to build-in up to 13 allowable snow days.
FCPS follows the Virginia “Kings Dominion” law, a 1986 Virginia statute that mandates school start in September. When the law was passed, it was helped along by the tourism industry, which said it needed students as staffers (and families to keep on vacationing) through Labor Day. Thus, the amusement park moniker.
In almost every Virginia General Assembly session, bills are introduced asking for local school districts to be allowed exemptions from the rule to make their own calendar. In the 2014 session, a Virginia Senate committee passed over a bill that would have allowed local school boards to open for classes before Labor Day. The bill, sponsored by Del. Tag Greason (R-Loudoun), passed easily in the House. In 2015, a bill to repeal the law also failed.
After the 2013-14 school year, which saw 11 snow days and extra days added the end of the school year, the school board voted not to pursue a waiver.
A man walking in the Lake Anne area early on Saturday was assaulted by two other men, Fairfax County Police said.
The victim told police he was walking on North Shore Drive near Waterview Cluster about 12:15 a.m. on Saturday when two men approached him. Both suspects assaulted the victim, police said.
The victim resisted and both suspects fled on foot. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspects were described as males wearing dark clothing, police said.
Last week, a man was assaulted during an armed robbery on North Shore near Clubhouse Drive as he cleared snow off his car late at night.
In other crime weekend crime news reported by Fairfax County Police’s Reston District Station:
- 2200 block of Castle Rock Square, license plates from vehicle
- 2000 block of Chadds Ford Drive, driver’s license, credit cards and money from vehicle
- 11700 block of Dry River Court, items from vehicle
- 10900 block of Harpers Square Court, purse from vehicle
- 900 block of Locust Street, wallet from school
- 2300 block of Southgate Square, electronic device from residence
- 2000 block of Swans Neck Way, driver’s license, credit cards and money from vehicle
Raise for Fairfax County School Board? — The FCPS school board will vote in April on raising board member salaries from $20,000 to $35,000. The county Board of Supervisors also recently voted to increase their pay from $75,000 to $90,000 annually. [Washington Post]
Sculptor on CBS — Sculptor Patrick Dougherty, also known as “The Stickman,” was featured on CBS This Morning on Sunday. Dougherty has been commissioned to build an installation next month at Reston Town Center. [CBS]
Reston Native Starts Baseball Mag — Herndon High grad and local baseball coach Joey Kamide has started NOVA Baseball Magazine to serve local players and fans. [Modern Reston]
New Rules For St. Pat’s Pub Crawls — There are new rules in place in Arlington for St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawls next weekend, partly due to last year’s events, which included a Reston woman getting arrested after stripping naked and walking into the county jail. [Washington Post]
The Second Annual Northern Virginia Restaurant Week returns to Reston March 23-30.
The events is a collaboration of Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce collaborates and Virginia Hospitality & Travel Association, who have organized a wide variety of participating restaurants.
Restaurants will be providing special menus, with lunches from $18.15 to $22.15 and dinners from $30.15 to $33.15.
Among the participating Reston-area restaurants:
- American Tap Room
- McCormick & Schmick’s
- Mon Ami Gabi
- Morton’s
- The Melting Pot
- Mellow Mushroom – Herndon
- Tavern 64
- Il Fornaio
- Europa – Herndon
- Big Bowl
- Naked Pizza
- M & S Grill
There are also several Tysons Corner-area and other Northern Virginia restaurants participating. To see the entire list and to make reservations, visit Open Table.
This year’s Northern Virginia Restaurant Week is also working with Reston Limousine to provide a 10-percent discount to diners showing a receipt indicating they visited a participating Northern Virginia Restaurant.
