Reuse, Recycle — Fairfax County’s hazardous waste program manager has brought innovative ways to reuse and recycle household materials. [Washington Post]
Nature Matinee — Here’s a great snow day activity Thursday or Friday. Walker Nature Education Center is hosting a free matinee of Disneynature’s Wings of Life at 3 p.m. both days. Free cocoa, but please bring your own snacks. [Facebook]
Rescheduled Camp Expo This Weekend — Reston Camp Expo, postponed by snow last week, will take place Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Reston Communuty Center Hunters Woods. Come and learn about dozens of summer camp opportunities. Admission is free.
Reminder: Reston Network Analysis Meeting Monday — The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) and Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins will be hosting a community meeting on the Reston Network Analysis study at Lake Anne Elementary School, 11510 North Shore Dr., on Monday at 7 p.m. Residents will be able to learn more about the study, which seeks to evaluate the conceptual grids of streets and road elements in the areas surrounding the Reston Metrorail Stations.
Poll Help Needed March 1 — There is still a critical shortage of election day poll workers for Reston/Herndon. [Fairfax County]
Photo: Reston trails after snow/Credit: Laura Noll
We told you on Sunday about a giant snowman that a resident of The Avant rolled into place shortly after the blizzard stopped.
We asked for reader opinions on what to name him. Most people answered on Reston Now’s Facebook page. Here are some of the top suggestions:
- The Avantinable Snowman
- WOB-bles (because the snowman was built for World of Beer — this is the favorite of “Big Mike,” the resident who built the guy)
- Jabba the Snowhutt
- Snotorius B.I.G.
- Jonas
- Robert E. Snowman
- Snowmanzilla
- Snowmangeddon
- WoBlizzard
- Flubber
- Wide Load
- Frosty
- Stay Pufft (from Ghostbusters)
- Cookie Monster
- Oprah
- Leonarsnow DiCaprio
- Blobby
- Buster Blizzard
Photo: World of Beer Snowman/Credit: Paul Ruiz via Facebook
You know the drill.
Fairfax County Public Schools will be closed for the rest of the week so crews can continue to clean up from the three-foot snowfall that pummeled the area over the weekend.
FCPS students have not had school since last Wednesday. By the end of the week, there will have been seven snow days used this schools year.
The closing is condition 5, which means school offices will be open.
The following activities in schools and on school grounds are canceled:
- extracurricular activities
- interscholastic contests
- team practices
- field trips
- middle school after-school programs
- professional learning and training courses
- adult and community education classes
- recreation programs and community use by outside groups not affiliated with FCPS
- School age child care (SACC) centers are closed
While FCPS is responsible for the area immediately around school grounds, it is not responsible for clearing sidewalks for the entire route to school.
The school system sent an email to families earlier this week urging them to help shovel the sidewalks nearby in order to aid in snow-removal efforts.
Photo: Terraset Elementary School/Credit: Leslie Sogandares
After several days hunkered down at home, you may be ready to get out.
Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week started Monday and may have just what you need.
Participating Reston-area restaurants include:
- McCormick & Schmick’s, Reston Town Center
- The Melting Pot, Plaza America
- Morton’s, The Steakhouse, Reston Town Center
- M&S Grill, Reston Town Center
- Neyla, Reston Town Center
- PassionFish, Reston Town Center
- Europa, Herndon
- Stone’s Cove Kitbar, Herndon
Participating restaurants are offering $22 lunch menus and $35 dinner menus.
Visit the Restaurant Week website to make reservations and see the entire list of participating restaurants in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Restaurant Week, a project of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, has been extended through Feb. 3 due to the weather.
The Fairfax County School Board voted on Thursday to approve the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) FY 2017-21 Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
Among the improvements planned for that time frame: new schools, capacity enhancements and renovations at a five-year cost of $777 million, or roughly $155 million per year.
Included in this CIP are plans for four new elementary schools and one high school to relieve overcrowding in existing FCPS schools.
See the full CIP on FCPS’ website.
Funds approved in the 2015 School Bond Referendum and previous referenda will address approximately $429 million of the five-year requirement, leaving a balance of $347 million that still needs to be funded.
“This CIP addresses some of our critical needs and will help relieve crowding in some of our existing schools,” said FCPS School Board Chair Pat Hynes. “We are particularly challenged by growth in certain areas of the county and higher growth rates among middle and high school students, requiring us to examine a variety of solutions, including temporary classrooms, modular additions, and boundary adjustments. Any boundary adjustments would be discussed and decided with considerable input from the community.”
This is a separate issue from FCPS’ 2017 planned $2.7 billion budget. The school system is seeking a 4.8-percent increase over 2016 from county and state funding in order to keep programs intact, provide salary increases and keep class sizes from rising above 30 students at the elementary level, said Garza. That budget will be voted on by the school board in May. Read More
The Reston branch of the U.S. Post Office has finally been plowed and will be open for business Wednesday.
Reston residents should expect home mail delivery Wednesday.
The branch had been closed since Saturday, when a blizzard dumped nearly three feet of snow on Reston. There has been no residential delivery Friday as delivery trucks were snowbound in the parking lot.
A private contractor is responsible for plowing the lot of the building on Sunset Hills Road.
Rep. Gerry Connolly’s office was alerted by a Reston resident to the plow’s no-show. Connolly’s office got involved, and the parking lot was plowed.
Herndon Teen Saves His Family From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning — Snow blocked gas dryer vent sickened a family of seven. [WUSA9]
Leidos and Lockheed Martin Make A Deal — After months of speculation. Reston-based Leidos announced it will take over $5 billion in government IT contracts from Lockheed Martin [Washington Business Journal]
Reston’s Tops For Tech Grads — The website Datafox ranks Reston No.1 on its list of “Ten Cities That Are Secretly Great For Tech Grads.” The list is based on such factors as networking prospects, housing costs and affordability. [Datafox]
Remember Reston’s Snowpile of 2015? — This mound at Plaza America lived on until spring. Let’s pick a new one to watch for 2016. [Washington Post]
Photo: Sunrise at Lake Anne/Credit: John Melnick
Metro officials said they have successfully cleared snow and ice from train rails, which means the Silver Line will be back in service Wednesday morning.
Trains began running at 5 a.m. All other rail lines are open as well.
Metro officials had announced late Tuesday afternoon that they were still unsure about the Silver Line’s status for Wednesday.
Trains will operate every 8 minutes between Wiehle-Reston East and Largo Town Center stations. In the downtown core of the system where stations are served by multiple lines, trains will serve stations about every 4 minutes.
Metro says that the Red, Orange, Blue, Green and Yellow lines will all open for regular service at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
The Silver Line? They still don’t know.
“It is not yet known whether service can be restored on the Silver Line in time for morning rush hour due to ongoing ice and snow clearing efforts,” Metro said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
If the Silver Line is not running, free shuttle buses will be provided starting at 5 a.m. between all Silver Line stations and West Falls Church, where connections can be made to the Orange Line, says Metro.
Metrorail service will operate on a modified weekday service with trains running every 8 minutes on each line. Stations that are served by multiple lines will see more frequent service.
The system has slowly been getting back to regular service since shutting down late Friday night through Saturday and Sunday as the blizzard raged through the area.
Progress has been slow to recover at the above-ground stations, where ice and snow have accumulated on the tracks following the storm that dumped nearly three feet of snow here.
All five of Fairfax County’s Silver Line stations, including Wiehle-Reston East, are above ground.
For complete Metro info, visit Metro’s website.
Fairfax County Public Schools has announced it will be closed on Wednesday, Jan. 27. This will be the fifth snow day of the 2015-16 school year.
Many school driveways — as well as residential neighborhoods — in Fairfax County have not yet been plowed, making school access unsafe.
Said FCPS in a statement:
While road conditions are improving, they vary greatly across the County, with some roads not yet clear. In order to open safely as soon as road conditions permit, FCPS crews are working around-the-clock to clear access to schools and offices.
FCPS will continue to monitor the situation daily and another update will be provided tomorrow afternoon. Changes to the end of the semester dates are under evaluation and any changes will be communicated when possible.”
Cancellation also includes all activities on school grounds:
- extracurricular activities
- interscholastic contests
- team practices
- field trips
- middle school after-school programs
- professional learning and training courses
- adult and community education classes
- recreation programs and community use by outside groups not affiliated with FCPS
- School age child care (SACC) centers are closed
Photo: Snow at Terraset ES/Credit: Leslie Sogandares
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) says its goal is to make one lane of all Northern Virginia subdivisions passable by Wednesday at 6 a.m., but the daunting amount of snow is one of many factors that has impeded speedy snow removal.
The agency, which is responsible for most of Virginia’s primary and secondary roads, said in a statement that “crews are making significant progress on 16,000 subdivision streets across Northern Virginia. If residents do not have one passable lane by 6 a.m. tomorrow, they can contact VDOT at 1-800-FOR-ROAD or [email protected].
VDOT says passable is defined as the ability for a rear wheel drive vehicle to operate safely. This means that roads will not be cleared down to bare pavement and will not be cleared curb to curb.
“VDOT has approximately almost four times the amount of equipment available in previous years,” VDOT said. “The type of equipment needed for this phase of the response is of a much larger scale and complexity. The smaller plows that VDOT typically uses in subdivision are effective up to 10 inches of snow. Some neighborhoods of Northern Virginia received upwards of 40 inches of snow and require heavier equipment.”
The blizzard that dumped about three feet of snow in this area over the weekend was “historic,” VDOT officials said. As with previous large storms, (i.e. in 2003 and 2010), they are urging residents to be patient.
The old saying about the U.S. Post office is “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
It’s even inscribed on the general post office in New York City.
Not so much in Northern Virginia, though. One lingering casualty of the weekend blizzard: mail delivery and U.S. Post Office services in Reston.
The parking lot of the Reston branch of the post office, located at 11110 Sunset Hill Rd., remains unplowed as of Tuesday at 11 a.m.
The government building is supposed to be plowed by a private contractor who has not been there since the storm began Friday, a source said.
The post office remains closed until the lot is plowed. There will also be no mail delivery in Reston until that happens as the mail trucks are staged from that area, a post office employee said.
If you need to mail or buy something at a post office, the Herndon branch at 590 Grove St. is operating.
The weekend blizzard and lack of resident mobility the last several days has severely impacted the local blood supply, say officials at Inova Blood Services.
They are asking Northern Virginia residents, if they are able, to donate blood at one of Inova’s fixed site blood donor centers as soon as possible.
Donors may schedule an appointment, or find a donor center by visiting www.inova.org/donateblood or calling 1-866-BLOODSAVES (866-256-6372).
The closest fixed donation site to Reston is on Nokes Boulevard near Dulles Town Center. See all area sites, get directions and make an appointment on Inova’s website.
Terri Craddock, Director of Inova Blood Services, says Inova shut down collection operations for 2 1/2 days. That’s the first time in 50 years such a thing has happened, she said.
“The inventory of blood at Inova has been severely impacted by Winter Storm Jonas as we were unable to collect these lifesaving products for our patients over the last 2 ½ days,” Craddock said in a release.
“During the height of the storm, we had heavy usage of blood products at some of our hospitals. With this increase in usage and decrease in collections, we need blood donors to answer our call. Without reaching our daily collections goal of 250 units a day, our shelves are running empty. This insufficient inventory leaves local hospitals vulnerable in response to emergency patients as well as provides challenges in meeting in or out-patient procedures requiring the use of blood and blood products.”
Also impacting the shortage: Inova’s mobile drives — which are responsible for more than 70 percent of collections — will be canceled this week as they usualally take place in office parking lots.
“Mobile Blood Drives are cancelling, participation at business blood drives are down because employees have the option to telework and quite honestly, with all the snow, we can’t park our bloodmobile in an area safe enough for the donors to give,” said Carolyn Bayless, Mobile Operations Manager.
All blood types are needed. To give blood, donors must be feeling generally well on the day of their donation, be at least 16 years old (with parental consent), weigh at least 110 pounds and not have donated blood in the past eight weeks (56 days) for whole blood or 112 days for double red cells. Platelet donors should not take aspirin or aspirin-based products within 48 hours prior to donation.
Inova Bloodmobile/file photo
The blizzard stopped more than 48 hours ago, but some Reston residents still can’t get started.
There is increasing frustration Tuesday among residents whose streets have not seen a single plow pass.
@VaDOTNOVA @VaDOT Bennington Hollow Lane in Reston STILL has not had a single pass done, all surrounding roads complete. can we get help?
— Greg Garrison (@vtggarriso) January 26, 2016
@VaDOTNOVA Autumnwood drive, Reston waiting for a plow. They turn around b4 any progress. streets around us plowed pic.twitter.com/E661jU9DDy — Jackie Laurenzi (@jlaurenzi1114) January 26, 2016
@RestonNow The outlet from our street (Pinoak La) to Lawyers Rd. All nearby streets plowed except ours. Send halp! pic.twitter.com/RDmhOlyJZk
— Douglas H. Errett (@MrErrett) January 25, 2016
@VaDOTNOVA Haven’t seen a plow since Friday. Just want to see one make one pass on Buckthorn Lane in Reston. Neighborhood #5. — NHL_Observer (@NHL_Observer) January 26, 2016
No plows, so the cul-de-sacs in Golf Course Square dug themselves out yesterday in a huge group effort. @RestonNow pic.twitter.com/vBYNQUj0iU
— Bill Burton (@burtonwc) January 26, 2016
At least these residents were Tweeting to the responsible party — and in many cases VDOT answered. One frustrated resident was bringing the plight of her unplowed street to Newschannel8, Reston Association and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, among others.
The frustration, and, in some cases, confusion is nothing new after a snowfall like the nearly three feet that fell here over the weekend. While many streets in Reston are plowed by private contractors, some are VDOT streets. VDOT has priority system, with the most-traveled roads getting highest priority. Residential subdivisions, especially cul-de-sacs, are the lower priority.
VDOT says its goal after a storm is to clear all roads within 48 hours. VDOT’s interactive sites VirginiaPlows and 511iVrginia can show you when plows are in your area. Here is how to know who is responsible for your street in Reston:
Reston Association is not responsible. RA’s territory is RA property, such as the parking lots of Walker Nature Education Center and the pools. The association also plows the 55 miles of bike paths in Reston. Fairfax County is also not responsible for plowing.
Most Reston neighborhoods are part of cluster or homeowners’ associations. If this is you, you likely pay quarterly or monthly dues in addition to your annual Reston Association assessment. This is the case with most apartment and condo complexes, townhouse neighborhood and a number of single-family home subdivisions.
Part of your cluster dues go for snow removal with a private contractor. If you are concerned that the street has not been plowed, contact your cluster president. You should receive regular communication from the cluster via e-mail or flyer. Not sure which cluster you belong to or who is on the board? Start with RA’s neighborhood list.
If you are not in a cluster, then your street is likely plowed by VDOT
Visit VDOTPlows.org to see a real-time map of when your street will see a plow.
Photo: Autumnwood Drive in Reston Monday/Credit: Jackie Laurenzi via Twitter
Amazing Abby — Former South Lakes High School girls basketball player Abby Rendle set basketball history at William & Mary Friday with the women’s team’s first triple double in school history. Rendle had 24 points, 10 blocks and 15 rebounds in a 77-65 win over UNC-Wilmington.
Who Has Cabin Fever? — It’s a real thing. And many Reston streets are still not plowed. [Washington Post]
We’ve Impressed Chicago — Herndon’s snowfall got a shout-out in Chicago, where they know about the white stuff. [WGN.com]
Kudos, HHS Band — Herndon High had 15 band members chosen for All-Districts. [Patch]
Some Great Post-Blizzard Pictures — Modern Reston captures Lake Anne and its residents in the snow. [Modern Reston]
Photo: Sign on Sugarberry Court in Reston on Jan. 25, 2016/Credit: Jennifer Heffner, Vita Images
