J.C. Comfort Shoes, located at Plaza America, will close its doors in the next few weeks, the owners said.
After 12 years at Plaza America, the owners are retiring.
The store is currently holding a big sale, with 20 to 50 percent off on all shoes in order to clear out merchandise. When the stock is gone, the store will close.
J.C. Comfort sells footwear from brands such as Dansko, Ecco, Mephisto and other comfort lines.
This leaves Reston with few shoe stores. Allen Edmonds, a men’s shoe store at Reston Town Center, and Payless at Northpoint are Reston’s other shoe stores.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation is working on a new Comprehensive Transit Plan (CTP), a 10-year aspirational plan for Fairfax Connector and Metrobus service within the County. The CTP builds on the County’s 2009 Transit Development Plan (TDP) and will extend its 10-year plan’s horizon year from 2020 to 2025.
The county hopes to have the next draft organized in 2015, but is reaching out to the community now to get input on bus service.
From the county:
This plan will be supported by information collected through an extensive outreach effort, Connections 2015. We want you to help us develop the next 10-year plan through participation in Connections 2015. Your ideas and suggestions will help us develop bus service recommendations and an implementation plan.
We will be collecting feedback from County residents, workers, and visitors from Sept. 9 through Oct. 14. We will use your input to help us develop draft recommendations that will be released to the public for comment in the spring of 2015. Your input is an important element in crafting the recommendations for improving bus service so that the plan can better reflect your needs.
There will also be a community workshop in Reston on Monday, Sept. 22. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Southgate Community Center, 2125 Pinecrest Rd.
For more info on the Connections 2015 project:
Reston Community Center is bringing all things Shakespeare — with a comedic twist — to Reston.
As a continuing part of Reston’s 50th anniversary celebration, RCC is holding a 10-day Reduced Shakespeare Company Extravaganza beginning Friday.
The festival will include eight performances by The Reduced Shakespeare Company, as well as a comedy boot camp and several opportunities to meet members of the well-known comedy ensemble.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company is a three-man comedy troupe that takes long subjects and reduces them to short, sharp comedies. The trio’s annual visit to RCC’s CenterStage has made them a favorite with Reston audiences, says RCC Executive Director Leila Gordon.
The “Bad Boys of Abridgement” have created nine stage shows, two television specials and many radio shows that have reached worldwide audiences.
“The Reduced Shakespeare Company has been part of the RCC arts family for more than two decades,” said RCC Executive Director Leila Gordon. “We can’t imagine any significant anniversary year in Reston that wouldn’t include sharing the hilarity they bring to the CenterStage and our community. In this extraordinary year, bringing back these shows and many original cast members is the ‘least’ we could do for their fans and fully in the spirit of ‘reducing’ us to helpless laughter.”
Schedule of Festival Events:
Complete History of Comedy (abridged)
Reston Premiere plus Opening Night Party, Friday, Sept. 12 at 8:00 p.m. ($30 Reston/$60 Non-Reston)
Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised]
In honor of the Sesquiquadricentennial of Shakespeare’s Birth, Saturday, Sept. 13 at 8:00 p.m. ($25 Reston/$50 Non-Reston)
Complete History of America (abridged)
Sunday, September 14 at 3:00 p.m. ($25 Reston/$50 Non-Reston)
Selected readings from the Lost Works (abridged)
Including (but not limited to) The Ultimate Christmas Show (abridged) & The Complete Millennium Musical (abridged), songs/verses cut from other shows, readings from RSC books and radio shows – recorded live for future podcast. Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 8:00 p.m. ($15 Reston/$30 Non-Reston)
Complete World of Sports (abridged)
Thursday, Sept. 18 at 8:00 p.m. ($25 Reston/$50 Non-Reston)
Bible: Complete Word of God (abridged)
Plus post-show Q&A session. Friday, Sept. 19 at 8:00 p.m. ($25 Reston/$50 Non-Reston)
All The Great Books (abridged)
Saturday, Sept. 20 at 8:00 p.m. ($25 Reston/$50 Non-Reston)
Completely Hollywood (abridged)
Plus farewell toast. Sunday, Sept. 21 at 3:00 p.m. ($30 Reston/$60 Non-Reston)
All performances are at the CenterStage, located at Reston Community Center Hunters Woods. Tickets are available online, by phone or in person.
Box Office Business Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.; Two hours prior to curtain time for each performance.
Photo courtesy of Reduced Shakespeare Company
Flags in Virginia, as well as D.C. and Maryland, will fly at half staff today at the nation remembers Sept. 11, 2001.
It has been 13 years since the terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in New York City, at the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania, where an passengers brought down a hijacked airliner headed back to Washington.
Area commemorations began early this morning, with the unfurling of an American flag down the side of the Pentagon. The tradition began when firefighters did the same from the building’s roof on Sept. 12, 2001. The draped flag on the damaged building became a sign of America’s resolve.
There is not a formal remembrance here in Reston, but the Freedom Grove at Brown’s Chapel Park is always open for reflection.
Two Reston residents, Leonard Taylor and Norma Cruz Kahn, were passengers on American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11.
The Reston community felt there was great need for a public space to remember, respect, and memorialize Taylor, Kahn, and the thousands of other victims of the 9/11 attacks. The Reston Association commissioned the project, and chose artist Kathy Walden Kaplan’s bronze sculptural relief as a marker for the spot.
Kaplan’s 8 x 11 inch sculpture is attached to a boulder at the park. It was dedicated in 2002.
Photo: Freedom Grove marker at Brown’s Chapel Park/file photo
New Land For Park Authority — The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has transferred 11.7 acres of land near Dulles Station Boulevard to the Fairfax County Park Authority. The property in Herndon will be known as Dulles Rock Hill Park. A community park will be established through a developer proffer agreement in the near future. The park facilities were proffered as part of a nearby rezoning case for a 411-unit multifamily project that could not accommodate on-site recreational facilities. The applicant has agreed to spend $1.5 million to create a park on the property and maintain it in perpetuity.
Kudos To Scholars — Several local high school seniors have been named National Merit Semifinalists. Isabel Garvey, Allison Johnson, and Sahana Thirumazhusai of South Lakes High School and Robert Moore and Charlie Shen from Herndon High School are among the 205 Fairfax County Public Schools students named to the prestigious list. [FCPS]
Silver Line Executive Departs — Sam Carnaggio, one of the top executives responsible for overseeing construction of the first phase of the Silver Line rail project, is retiring. [Washington Post]
Waiting List For FCPS Renovations — Of Fairfax County’s 196 schools, 63 sit on an ordered list of schools waiting for upgrades. One reason the line moves slowly is lack of funding. [Fairfax Times]
Fit to be Tan, an airbrush tanning studio with locations in Arlington and D.C. will open a Reston salon later this month.
Fit to be Tan says it will open at 12359 Sunrise Valley Dr., Suite 140, on Sept. 18. The salon expects to be open limited hours until early 2015, according to its website.
Fit to be Tan offers spray tans, which are a safer alternative to tanning beds, which can damage skin.
A certified technician sprays the client from head to toe with solution. The session takes about 10 to 20 minutes and the results last about a week.
Prices for a full-body session start at $59. Upper- or lower-body sprays can be purchased for $35. Packages and gift cards are available.
For more information and to book appointments online visit Fit to Be Tan’s Reston page.
Photo: Fit to be Tan U Street/Credit: Prince of Petworth
The Reston of the future may or may not change that much, but Fairfax County planners want to make sure language is in place to guide redevelopment around the community’s village centers and in residential neighborhoods.
The county has posted the first strawman draft for Phase II of the Reston Master Plan. Phase I, approved by the Board of Supervisors last winter, guides development around the Metro stations.
Fairfax County officials say the the current comprehensive plan, last updated in 1989, requires revision because Reston no longer has a master developer to update the plan for Reston; the plan for Reston has outdated elements; and with population expected to grow with the arrival of Metro later this year, Reston is evolving as a community.
The community is invited to weigh in on the draft at a meeting on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at Reston Association headquarters, 12011 Sunrise Valley Drive.
Read the entire 71-page document here.
Some of the draft highlights:
Village Centers must meet criteria. Redevelopment in the Village Centers may occur in the commercial core area but the residential areas within the Village Centers are planned to remain as they currently exist. In order to establish clear expectations for all residents, landowners and businesses, any proposal for redevelopment of the commercial core areas of Reston’s Village Centers should meet the following guidelines:
- Demonstrate how the proposal achieves the general vision established for Reston’s Village Centers.
- Involve residents and businesses of the Village Center, the residents surrounding the Village Center, as well as the larger Reston community in determining the views and desires of all stakeholders.
- Design charrettes or other intensive activities designed to gather stakeholder input and build support for the redevelopment proposal are.
- Conduct a market analysis to provide information on the existing and proposed development and the viability of the mix of uses proposed. .
- Conduct transportation analysis on existing and proposed development.
Convenience centers should remain. The Sunrise Valley, Lake Newport, Soapstone, and Fairways Convenience Centers should continue to serve as small commercial centers providing goods and services for their surrounding neighborhoods. Connectivity to the surrounding neighborhoods should be preserved, particularly for pedestrians and bicycles.
Clusters and neighborhoods should be protected from pressure to redevelop. However, from time to time, circumstances may arise that merit consideration of the redevelopment of an existing cluster or neighborhood, such as if a cluster should become blighted. Under such circumstances, the Board of Supervisors may consider proposals to amend the Comprehensive Plan to allow for the consolidation and redevelopment of such clusters or neighborhoods. Such proposals should be in accordance with the Policy Plan’s Guidelines for Neighborhood Redevelopment and the following criteria: Read More
Last Chance For Outdoor Movies — Lake Anne Plaza closes out its 2014 Summer Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 14 with Skyfall. The free movie starts at 7 p.m. Bring chairs, blankets, snacks and have a movie night on the waterfront one last time this summer.
Metro To Test Tech Entry — You soon may be able to use your smartphone or other tech gadgets as your Metro farecard. Metro says it is starting a pilot program to test the technology at 10 stations, as well as several bus depots and parking lots, beginning in January. If the program is successful, Metro envisions changing every station over by 2017. [Metro]
TJ Back On Top — Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology returns to the top of Newsweek’s Top U.S. High School’s rankings. [Newsweek]
Reston “Today” — Check out the latest from Reston Association — including the Reston Kids Triathlon and the Pony Barn replanning –in the September video. [YouTube]
Photo: Freshly painted senior wall at South Lakes High School
A herd of hired goats won’t be working for Reston Association any time soon.
The RA Board voted at its planning meeting on Monday not to explore the option of using goats for invasive plant removal.
Hunters Woods/Dogwood Director Lucinda Shannon approached RA CEO Cate Fulkerson and RA Environmental Resources Manager Claudia Thompson-Deahl earlier this summer, pointing out that Tree Pittsburgh, an environmental nonprofit, recently used goats from Eco-Goats, a company in Maryland, to restore vegetation on a hill in the city.
Goats were also used last year to manage invasive plants at Congressional Cemetery in D.C.
For other projects, Eco-Goats trucked in several dozen goats to the site. A temporary fence was installed, and goats grazed for a few days on the offending plants. Meanwhile, goat droppings make great fertilizer for the return of the native plants, Eco-Goats said. It is not known what the goats would have cost RA, as the board did not get that far in exploring the idea.
Goats are able to eat plants that are poisonous to other animals and their mouth structure destroys the seeds of the invasives.
Invasive plants such as Purple Loosestrife, Winged Burning Bush and English Ivy, among others — are an issue on both Reston Association and privately owned land in Reston. They damage the native plants and affect wildlife.
Meanwhile, the Reston deed prohibits livestock so that would have been an obstacle for the RA board.
Photo: Eco-Goats goats get to work/Credit: Eco-Goats
Candidates for the Reston Community Center’s Board of Governors talked about the future of RCC Monday night — its 2,000 annual programs in general and the plans to build a 50-meter indoor pool and recreation center, specifically.
Four candidates running for three openings in the annual preference poll took part in the 2014 Candidates Forum at RCC Hunters Woods. Two, William Penniman and Vicky Wingert, are incumbents.
The other two candidates are longtime Reston resident Linda Singer, who has served in a variety of local organizations, and William Keefe, a former RCC board member who was not re-elected in 2013.
As Reston, which has a new master plan and the first of its Silver Line Metro stations, prepares for growth, it is important that RCC grow with it, all candidates said.
“RCC is unique,” said Penniman, who has served on the board for eight years. “There is nothing like it in Virginia. No other community center has this kind of energy — it is important we preserve it. It is important we continue to strengthen and rise to meet needs that will grow.”
RCC will probably have to do that in the face of tough economics. The candidates said they do not want to have to raise the special tax that residents of Small Tax District 5 (Reston) already pay. RCC has studied building the new pool at Baron Cameron Park on land donated by the Fairfax County Park Authority, the county is also facing a cash crunch.
Residents of Small Tax District 5 are currently taxed 4.7 cents per hundred dollars of assessed home value. RCC officials say the expectation for future growth is that the tax base will grow with the population, not by raising rates.
“It is difficult [to predict] given the financial situation,” said Keefe. “It will take some time to assess what capital needs and revenue sources will be. We would like to diversify funding, proffers from developers and a series of other things to get to where we need to go to improve facilities for all people in Reston.”
Added Singer: “The county does not have the money either. There is space at Baron Cameron Park where we can build something, but I don’t believe the park authority will pay for it. All residents of Fairfax will not be happy if their taxes had to go up to pay for it.”
The board has been examining the proposed new pool since early 2013. Consultants from Brailsford & Dunlavy, hired for a feasibility study, say the new facility will cost about $30 million. The community has had mixed reaction to the expansion, and many of the detractors have said it is not a financial sound idea.
Before the idea can move forward, it will face a voter referendum, and RCC executive director Leila Gordon said that won’t happen in 2014.
“Our job as the Board of Governors is to find the best possible solution and deal that we can find,” said Wingert. “I think we are pursuing all the options possibly available. We [candidates] are all taxpayers too. It is ultimately up to community to decide what priorities are going to be and up to us to come up with best possible package.”
Residents of Small Tax District 5 should have received RCC ballots in the mail. Voting opens Sept. 12 by mail, online or in person.
The Fairfax County Public Schools board has chosen an amended version of Option 3 as the preferred way to proceed with changing high school start times.
The board will vote Oct. 23 on a bell schedule that has high schoolers starting the day between 8 and 8:10 a.m. Middle schools will begin at 7:30 a.m. Elementary schools will remain largely unchanged, with starting bells from 8 to 9:20 a.m. Secondary Schools will follow the high school bell schedule.
Superintendent Karen Garza will submit this option for the School Board’s formal consideration as a new business item at its regular business meeting on Sept. 18. The School Board is scheduled to vote on it on Oct. 23.
Changes will go into effect for the 2015-16 school year.
Even though the start time issue is geared at letting teenagers get crucial sleep, the youngest teens will still have to be at school a half hour earlier than the current 8 a.m. start time.
“The proposed middle school time does not differ much from what it is currently,” said FCPS Board at-large member Ryan McElveen. “And since it is only two years as opposed to the four high school years, that means that 10-11 of a student’s 13 years in FCPS will have a start time after 8 a.m.”
The FCPS board has been talking about changing the high school start times for several years, and made a formal proposal in 2012 to move the high school start time from 7:20 a.m. to after 8 a.m.
The school board worked with sleep experts at Children’s National Medical Center, who said teenagers were chronically sleep deprived. Pushing high school start times past 8 a.m. would have an impact on everything from behavior to grades to driving records and sports injuries, the CNMC experts say.
The board held a series of community meetings last spring to gain public feedback on four options for changes.
The original Option 3 had high schools beginning from 8 to 8:10 a.m. and ending between 2:30 and 2:40 p.m. Elementaries would start between 8 and 9:20 a.m., which is essentially the current schedule. Middle schools would see a big change with a 7:20 a.m. start and a 2 p.m. dismissal.
The board says that in the future, “our goal will be to continue to seek improvements for even later start times so that middle schools will move towards 8 and high schools will move towards 8:30.”
The revised plan will cost less than anticipated, according to FCPS documents. The original Option 3 was estimated to cost $5.5 million, mostly to cover 46 new buses.
The revised plan will use fewer buses, and the purchase of 20 new buses has already been allocated in the FY 2015 school board budget, bringing costs to an estimated $1.5 million to $4.9 million.
“The preferred option that the board decided to support has been narrowed over several board meetings from four initial options, on which the board received significant input from community meetings,” McElveen said. “The board determined that this preferred option, which includes the same 8 a.m. start time for all students at secondary schools and high schools, was the best solution after hearing input from secondary principals who expressed concern with starting their middle and high school students at different times.
“Although the plan is not perfect, it is the best feasible hybrid of multiple plans. Over the coming years the board will continue to support pushing the middle school start time closer to 8 a.m. through small efficiencies that are realized annually.”
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is back from its summer recess. For one of its first tasks in September, the board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday on how to spend $11 million left over from Fiscal Year 2014, which ended in June.
County Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova calls the carryover a “relatively modest” balance when considering the county’s $3.7 billion budget.
The carryover is “mostly the result of savings efficiencies,” Bulova said in a county video previewing the Sept. 9 supervisors’ meeting.
Some of the Reston-area projects that came out spending less than usual: Plaza America pedestrian improvements ($99,000) and the new Reston District Police Station ($800,000). To see an itemized list of projects, their costs/savings and the entire carryover presentation, visit Fairfax County’s website.
“We are still not out of the woods yet,” said Bulova. “Both the county and the state are affected by sequestration and federal cutbacks, which has impacted our public sector. Fairfax County Public Schools also have a positive balance of $23 million after absorbing the cost of all-day Mondays for the elementary schools.”
The school board voted last spring to eliminate elementary schools’ early release Mondays, which had been the schedule for decades. This allows for additional class time and built-in instructional time to absorb snow days, but also will cost the school system millions in extra costs. There has been internal criticism that the board acted without having the financial impact analyzed.
Bulova said the supervisors plan to make a transfer of $7.6 million to schools as “guidance for FY2016 in order to accommodate the recurring cost of the program.”
Overall, most of the money is likely to remain in reserves in order to pay for items in FY2016, which begins in July 2015, says Bulova.
“I plan to recommend that the balance of the 2014 budget be held in reserve in order to assist with the upcoming fiscal year,” Bulova said.
File photo of Fairfax County Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova
Governor’s Plan Helps Give 25K Healthcare — Gov. Terry McAuliffe has announced a new plan, “A Healthy Virginia,” which will expand health care to about 25,000 Virginians. McAuliffe had vowed on the campaign trail to expand Medicaid to about 400,000 eligible low-income adults, but that was blocked this year by the Republican-controlled General Assembly. [Office of Virginia Governor]
‘Lockup’ Fairfax’s Debut — The first episode of MSNBC’s Lockup: Extended Stay Fairfax aired Saturday night. The candid reality show portrays what life is like behind bars spent weeks at the Fairfax County Jail last fall. There will be six episodes total, airing 10 p.m. on Saturdays. [Washington Post]
Truland Truck Auction Raises Cash — Reston-based Truland Group held an online truck auction as part of its bankruptcy. The sale of nearly three dozen vehicles raised more than $200,000 that will go toward paying creditors. [WTOP]
Warner And Gillespie Spar in Reston — Sen. Mark Warner (D) and Republican challenger Ed Gillespie talked technology at a forum in Reston sponsored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council on Monday. The two will make a similar appearance Sept. 19 in an event sponsored by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce. [The Hill]
Fairfax County Police said Monday that American flag patches were never banned from uniforms and that “the Chief of Police has always endorsed the wearing of the American flag on the uniform shirt and has extended this to include the exterior vest.”
FCPD made this clarification in response to a story in The Washington Post that said Chief Edwin Roessler was “rescinding a policy banning the American flag and other patches on the outer ballistic vests of officers.”
Roessler said a subordinate commander had written the directive to create uniformity in the officers’ appearances late last month, but the policy was not approved by him before it was disbursed, the Post reported. The Post also reported that that directive angered rank-and-file police officers.
Joseph Woloszyn, president of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association, said in the first article, published Friday, that “banning American flag patches is just un- American.”
FCPD says the misunderstanding came about when the internal message sent to officers “addressed an issue that officers were wearing unapproved items on uniforms prior to the establishment of a formal agency policy on the matter. Unfortunately, this created an unintentional perception that American flags have been banned from our uniforms.”
Says FCPD:
We have clarified to officers that the American flag has not been banned from our uniforms, and in fact, the Chief of Police has always endorsed the wearing of the American flag on the uniform shirt and has extended this to include the exterior vest. Officers who choose to display an American flag on their uniform or exterior vest are encouraged to do so as long as they comply with all agency standard uniform protocols.
The Chief also directed that the Uniform Advisory Panel (UAP) will convene and will provide considerations and recommendations regarding the consistency of displaying items on the external vest. The UAP is comprised of employees from a wide variety of agency units and represents all uniforms, ensuring input from all impacted units agency-wide.
Nathan Rickman of Fairfax and Robin Witlin of Oak Hill were the men’s and women’s division winners of Sunday’s 31st Annual Reston Triathlon.
Rickman, 35, finished the race in 2:08:45. Witlin, 41, finished in 2:23:50.
Many Restonians earned honors in the age group and specialized categories. Among them: Lisa Seacrest-Earhardt (second in Athena category); Will Sickenberger (third overall; first in men’s 20-24 age group); Claire Wright (first in women’s 25-29); Amy Bruton (first in women’s 30-34); and Deedee Loughran (first in women’s 50-55).
For all results, visit the Reston Triathlon website or the Amazing Race Timing database.
