Faulty Metro Inspections — Metro track inspectors and supervisors failed to accurately describe the severity of a deteriorating track condition that caused the derailment of a Silver Line train on July 29 near East Falls Church. [WAMU]
Book Drop To Help Kids — The Assistance League of Northern Virginia is participating in Make A Difference Day 2016, the nation’s largest day of community service, by holding a Children’s Book Drive. Bring new or gently-used books, suitable for elementary school age children, to drop-boxes located at Giant at Fox Mill, 2551 John Milton Drr., through Saturday, October 15. The donated books will be distributed to children who may not have a book to call their own.
Save The Date: RA Open House — Reston Association is holding an open house for new members as well as longtime residents. Learn more about RA and community programs and services. Open House is Thursday, October 20, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Reston Association, 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr.
Photo: Lake Anne on a fall morning/Credit: John Melnick
Who is ready to ride?
Capital Bikeshare will launch its first Fairfax County operation next week, bringing 29 stations to Reston and Tysons.
You may have seen the bikeshare stations being installed at locations such as Reston Station, Reston Town Center and the Reston Regional Library.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the $1.7 million program for Reston and Tyson last January. In late 2015, the supervisors OKed the county’s application for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s FY 2017 Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) Grant Application, which gives $400,000 as seed money for bike share program. That money will go to pay for needed equipment such as bicycles and station hardware.
There will be 132 bicycles in Reston at 15 stations located between the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station and Reston Town Center; and 80 bicycles available in Tysons at 11 stations located east of Route 7, north of Route 123, and south of the Dulles Toll Road.
There will be a ribbon cutting at Wiehle-Reston East on Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. with Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova, Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and Fairfax County Bicycle Program Manager Adam Lind.
Here is where Reston’s bikshare stations will be located:
- Wiehle-Reston East Metro Plaza (two locations)
- Old Reston Avenue / W&OD
- North Shore Drive and Temporary Road
- Sunset Hills Road
- Reston Town Center Transit Station
- Reston Executive Center
- Market Street and Town Center Parkway
- Reston Town Center Ice Rink
- Reston Town Center Town Square
- Reston Hospital
- Reston Regional Library
- New Dominion Parkway
- Spectrum Center
- Lake Anne Elementary
- Lake Anne Village Center
Read more about how to join or use Capital Bikeshare on the company’s website.
The Fairfax County Office of Elections says new sample ballots are being mailed to 11th District voters.
Last week, voters in five Reston precincts that are part of the VA 11th received sample ballots that had 8th District information in the race for U.S House of Representative.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D), who is running unopposed, represents the 11th.
“In an effort to prepare Fairfax County voters for a lengthy ballot this November, the Office Elections prepared a sample ballot mailing for every registered voter in the county,” Fairfax County General Registrar Cameron Sasnett said in an email.
“During the printing of a batch of the sample ballots, the print vendor incorrectly included the 8th Congressional Sample Ballot for a number of voters in the 11th Congressional District. The print vendor has already printed corrected mailers and is expected to have them in the mail to voters by the end of the week.”
The Office of Elections says voters who received the yellow sample ballot mailer should refer to the front of their mailing for their correct Congressional District. If they have a question about your sample ballot, call the Office of Elections at 703-222-0776 (TTY 711) or go to the Office of Elections website.
Fairfax County Police said two men were allegedly assaulted by a large group of people on South Lakes Drive on Sunday afternoon.
Police said the attack took place about 4:45 p.m. in the 11800 block of South Lakes, near the South Lakes Drive Park.
Police responded and the suspects fled the area. Both victims received non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
In other weekend crime news from the FCPD’s Reston District Station:
LARCENIES
11800 block of Baron Cameron Avenue, beer from business
11000 block of Becontree Lake Drive, property from vehicle
2400 block of Centreville Road, bag from business
12000 block of Grey Wing Square, wallet and credit cards from vehicle
2600 block of Litchfield Drive, gun from vehicle
12600 block of Terry Mill Drive, cash and credit cards from vehicle
12000 block of North Shore Drive, cell phone from vehicle
11600 block of Plaza America Drive, cell phone from business
2300 block of Rolling Fork Circle, groceries from business
11100 block of South Lakes Drive, champagne from business
12100 block of Sunset Hills Road, property from business
STOLEN VEHICLES
Fountain Drive/Freedom Drive, 2012 Mazda 3
SOBRIETY CHECKPOINT
Officers in the Reston District conducted a sobriety checkpoint Friday evening at the intersection of the Fairfax County Parkway and North Walnut Branch road.
They screened 536 cars, made two DWI arrests, and issued four summonses.
Update, 11:15 a.m. — Fairfax County Police took three suspects into custody at an apartment off of Sycamore Valley Drive. No arrests have been made yet, police said.
Original Story: Fairfax County Police are searching for a suspect in a bank robbery at Reston Town Center Wednesday.
FCPD spokesman Don Gotthardt said a man entered the Wells Fargo Bank at 11911 Freedom Dr. at 9:09 a.m. and demanded money.
“The man implied he had a gun,” said Gotthardt. “He left with an undisclosed amount of money. There were no injuries.”
As of 9:50 a.m., police had set up a perimeter in the streets around town center and were looking for the suspect by air, ground and with K9 units, said Gotthardt.
The suspect was described by witnesses at the bank as a Hispanic male, about 5-foot-7, in his 20s with a goatee. He was wearing a black skullcap and black clothing, witnesses said.
Home Tour Saturday — There are still some tickets available for this weekend’s Reston Home Tour. Here is the Washington Post’s take on some of this year’s selected homes. [Washington Post]
Coffee With A Cop — Fairfax County Police have a new outreach tool. [NBC4 Washington]
FCPS College Fair Is Sunday — The annual Fairfax County Public Schools College Fair is Sunday, Oct. 16 at Fair Oaks Mall from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Representatives from dozens of colleges and universities nationwide will be at the mall to discuss opportunities with prospective students. Free. [FCPS]
SLHS Golfer Earns Second In State — South Lakes High Golfer Kurtis Grant shot a 147 (rounds of 76 and 71) in the two-day Virginia 6A Boys Golf Championship to take second place on Tuesday. Grant finished two strokes behind winner John Hatcher Ferguson of Franklin County High School.
A South Lakes High School Spanish teacher has been suspended from her job by Fairfax County Public Schools after she was arrested on several charges Monday.
Fabiana Alicia Ciammaichella, 30, and Adelmo Ernesto Arias Guillen, an 18-year-old SLHS sophomore, are facing a number of drug, alcohol and larceny charges, police said.
Ciammaichella has been charged with two counts of possessing a Schedule 1 or 2 Narcotic, believed to be cocaine and/or LSD, said FCPD Officer Don Gotthardt. She was also charged with possession of marijuana, he said.
Guillen was charged with petty larceny, purchasing alcohol while under 21, possession of marijuana and a misdemeanor failure to appear from a previous charge.
Officers from the Reston District Station were called to the Exxon Station at 11808 Baron Cameron Avenue on Monday about 11 p.m.
Video footage shows a woman distracting a cashier while a male who came in the store with her steals a case of beer and then leaves. The female then left the store and picked the man up outside and drove away.
Soon after, following an investigation, officers went to Ciammaichella’s home and found her with Guillen, as well as the stolen beer and a variety of illegal narcotics.
Both suspects were transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.
“This is now an ongoing police investigation, as well as a personnel issue, and I’m not at liberty to discuss this in any detail beyond what [the police statement says],” SLHS Principal Kim Retzer said in a statement to the school community.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Crime Solvers electronically by visitingwww.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text-a-tip by texting “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES(274637) or by calling 1-866-411-TIPS(8477), or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.
Photos: Fabiana Alicia Ciammaichella, left, and Adelmo Ernesto Arias Guillen/FCPD
Correction: an earlier version of this post said Katie attended Lake Anne ES. She attends Aldrin.
After a fourth grader at Aldrin Elementary School was diagnosed with leukemia in August, the Aldrin students, parents and teachers have been rallying the community in support.
Young Katie (whose last name is not being used for privacy reasons) has been in the hospital since her diagnosis. During that time, her father lost his job, which has caused a great financial strain on the family, an Aldrin parent said.
“We miss Katie very much at Aldrin,” said Aldrin Principal Shane Wolfe. “She is a fighter, and with the support of our amazing Reston/ Herndon family, she will pull through this battle. We are asking for positive thoughts, prayers and for any monetary donations, small or large, to help her family during their time of need.”
A GoFundMe page started friend has a goal of raising $22,000 to help the family. It is almost at $10,000 as of Tuesday.
A group of fourth grade parents will be collecting funds to benefit Katie at the Family Fun Dance on Friday, Oct. 14. The third graders will also be having a bake sale on election day to benefit Katie and her family.
To learn more, please visit Katie’s GoFundMe site.
Photo of Katie courtesy GoFundMe
If you are a registered voter in south Reston, there is a good chance a sample ballot sent to you by the Fairfax County Office of Elections is incorrect.
Voters on Friday received official election mail from the county in advance of the Nov. 8 general election. The information for president, the meals tax, and on Virginia constitutional amendments and bonds is correct.
The ballot for the U.S. House of Representatives is wrong.
Voters in five precincts in the South Lakes-Hughes-Hunters Woods area received sample ballots with information for Virginia’s 8th District, where Rep. Don Beyer (D) is seeking re-election against Charles Hernick (R) and Julio Gracia (I).
Those precincts are in Virginia’s 11th District, where Rep. Gerry Connolly (D), is running unopposed for re-election to the House.
Reston was a member of the 8th District for 20 years, returning to the 11th in Virginia’s 2011 redistricting.
Anyway, consult a correct sample ballot on Fairfax County’s website.
After several years of on-again, off-again plans for redevelopment, Lake Anne Fellowship House has a signed agreement to build a new affordable senior housing complex.
The Fellowship Square Foundation (FSF), which operates the Lake Anne buildings, the facility at Hunters Woods Village Center, and several others in the Washington, DC area, says it has a signed deal with the Community Preservation and Development Corporation (CPDC) for a new building to replace the aging structures at 11480-11450 North Shore Drive in Reston.
The new construction project will replace all 240 apartment units, built in the early 1970s,with “a new, state of the art facility,” according to a release.
CPDC is a non-profit developer of affordable housing.
“We look forward to pursuing this project with CPDC to make this vision a reality for the Lake Anne community,” said Renee Jakobs, president of Fellowship Square Foundation.
Similar plans for Lake Anne Fellowship House have been made — and fallen apart — in the last few years.
In 2013, the foundation had an agreement with Cafritz Interests and Novus Development for new housing on the site. John Thillman, a developer and former Fairfax County Planning Commissioner who was at the time on the Fellowship Square Board of Directors, said then that 114 of the units are subsidized. The rest are market rate, but the buildings have a 20-percent vacancy rate and lose about $10,000 month, he said.
No. 19 South Lakes (6-0) and No. 8 James Madison (6-0) meet Friday at SLHS in a battle of two of the region’s best football teams.
The game is one of three candidates to be WTOP’s “DMV Game of the Week,” and it is depending on reader/listener votes to earn the honor.
WTOP will cover one of three games live Friday — and post interviews, photos, video from the game. the choices are South Lakes-Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt -Wise or top-ranked DeMatha vs. Gonzaga.
Read more about the games and cast your vote on WTOP’s website.
The deadline for voting is 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
Photo: football/Credit: eteamz.com
Metro’s Not The Worst — New study shows the DC-area transportation system is middle of the pack nationally. [Washington Post]
Seahawks Move Up — The South Lakes Football team is 6-0 and now ranked No. 18 in the Washington Post High School football rankings. That’s up one place since last week. [Washington Post]
New Face At Lake Anne Church — Washington Plaza Baptist Church has a new pastor with an interesting journey to the pulpit. [Fairfax Times]
New Reston Initiative From Cornerstones — Nonprofit Cornerstones has a new program RestON, in which Reston-area residents, nonprofits, schools, county programs, businesses, and faith communities will coordinate resources to ensure local children and families are reaching their fullest potential. There is a kick-off event at South Lakes High School on Oct. 26. [Cornerstones]
Comstock is in the final stages of purchasing the Sunset Hills Professional Park to add to its mixed-use square footage near Wiehle-Reston East.
Sunset Hills Professional Park is a one-story office condo complex at Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue. The complex was built in 1981 and is mostly home to doctors, dentists and other medical services.
Construction is not expected to begin for three to four years as the project moves through the Fairfax County approval process. The tenants will be able to rent back during that time, a Comstock spokeswoman said.
The professional park is adjacent to both Comstock’s Reston Station mixed-use development as well as the under-construction Aperture Apartments from Bozzuto.
“This will enable us to further develop our grid of streets and pedestrian pathways to Reston Station,” said Comstock’s Maggie Parker.
The plans, now in the design phase, will include ground floor retail, a wide boulevard with trees, residential and office, she said.
“This is the beginning of the real consolidation of the Reston Station neighborhood, which will go from Plaza America to Michael Faraday Drive,” said Parker.
Metro has put out a Request For Proposals (RFP) to have a private company take over operations and maintenance of all of its parking facilities, including garages and parking meters on its property.
In exchange for a giant upfront payment equal to 50 years of parking fees, the concessionaire would have to operate and maintain almost 60,000 parking spaces. It’d also get to collect all the parking fees.
Metro has lots or garages at 48 stations in DC, Maryland and Virginia. That’s more than 59,000 parking spaces and 3,445 meters, Metro says.
Despite Wiehle-Reston East being listed on the original RFP, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has since amended that entry.
The Wiehle-Reston East garage, which has about 3,000 spaces and is the only station on the Silver Line with a parking garage, is owned by Fairfax County, so it is unclear what will happen at that garage.
“Metro wants to get back to its core base, which is operating running a safe rail system,” said Maggie Parker, spokesman for Comstock, which built the Wiehle-Reston East garage in a public-private partnership with Fairfax County. “But Wiehle-Reston East is not theirs to include [in the RFP].”
The RFP was put out in August and the deadline for submissions is Oct. 28. Metro says it will pick a contractor by the end of the year.
By giving over the parking garages to a private company, WMATA could get as much as $1 billion upfront, according to analysis by Greater Greater Washington. It also gets Metro out of the business of running parking lots so it can concentrate on running a transit system.
Under the RFP guidelines, WMATA would allow operators to change the parking garage hours and rates (subject to WMATA Board approval).
Says GGW:
WMATA and the funding jurisdictions would lose almost $50 million in current parking revenues per year, which is approximately half of the annual estimated budget shortfall WMATA has had at the beginning of the typical budget season for the past 12 years.
So in addition to the usual $100 million in budget savings, fare increases, and juridictional subsidy increases to close the typical budget gap, WMATA would have to find an additional $50 million a year to make up for the loss in parking revenue.
GGW also points out the deal could limit Metro’s freedom to boost ridership or redevelop stations. It also says bids could include proposals to charge for parking during nights and weekends.
Other caveats:
Paid weekend parking could affect overall ridership, which would affect Metro’s bottom line.
Metro could lose the ability to control prices or usage of the parking lots without financial penalties.
The Washington West Film Festival returns to Reston Oct. 19-25 with more than 50 films chosen to reflect the festival theme of “Story Can Change the World.”
It will also be bringing some high-profile Hollywood and media names.
Academy Award-winning actor, director, and writer, Robert Duvall, who lives in nearby Fauquier County, will speak at an “In Conversation with Robert Duvall” event on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 3 p.m. at Bow Tie Cinemas Reston. Tickets are $45-50 and available online.
Duvall will share multiple on-screen scenes from his career and answer audience questions after each. Scenes from The Godfather and The Apostle will be included in the sampling and conversations about his career.
The Duvall event will immediately follow the festival’s 2016 Best In Achievement Awards presentations, all beginning at 3 p.m. It will be hosted and moderated by Chris King, Director of Birthday, a 50+ award-winning and Oscar-qualified short film.
Following the Duvall talk there will be a red carpet event on Market Street outside the movie theatre. This event is free to the public.
Also at the festival:
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of All the President’s Men with a screening of the movie and a Q-and-A with The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward at Bow Tie on Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $35-40 and available online.
The ticket to the anniversary screening and panel discussion also includes the After-Party at the Reston Town Center Pavilion. Audience, filmmakers, and VIPs will celebrate the Washington West Film Festival at the Reston Town Center Pavilion on Oct. 22 (9 – 11:30 p.m.). There will be music, dancing, drinks, and food from M & S Grill.
On Oct. 23 at 2 p.m., head over to Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna (education center) for a a Film Vault Classic conversation about the making of the film classic The Sound of Music with actors Heather Menzies Urich (Louisa von Trapp) and Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich von Trapp). The discussion will be moderated by journalist Fred Bronson (Chart Beat, Billboard Magazine). Questions will be received from the audience. Tickets are $10-12 and available online.
Tickets to the other films from around the world range from free to $20. Some will be shown at Reston Community Center’s CenterStage, as well as at Reston Station and other venues. Check out the full schedule.
Photo: Robert Duvall/Credit: WW Film Festival
