For four decades, there was a small post office — really, a counter — located inside Lakeside Pharmacy at Lake Anne Plaza.
Lakeside Pharmacy, the last of the plaza’s original stores, closed in 2014, and so did the postal operation. But even with the post office gone, is that an absolute neighborhood necessity in an Amazon.com and email world in 2016?
A current Lake Anne merchant thinks so and has started a fundraising campaign to bring it back.
Doris Tyler, the owner of Chesapeake Chocolates who also took over Lake Anne Florist in 2015, has started an effort to bring a post office across the plaza to her store space at 11426 Washington Plaza West.
The U.S. Post Office recently awarded Tyler the license for a Contract Postal Unit (CPU), a retail postal facility located inside a retail establishment. CPUs are operated by the retailer’s employees and offer the same basic services available at a regular Post Office, according to a Go Fund Me page started for the project.
She would like to name the space the Bob Simon Lake Anne Post Office after Reston’s late founder, who died in September. Read More
W&OD Fixes — Crews will be working maintenance on the W&OD Trail near Reston the next 7 to 10 weeks. [Patch]
‘Middletown’ In the Next Town Over — Herndon’s NextStop Theatre opens Middletown on Thursday. Middletown is a 2010 play by Will Eno that explores the intertwined lives of community members of a small town. The play runs through Feb. 7. [Fairfax Times]
Tress Who? — Redskins punter Tress Way hit Reston Town Center on Friday to see if anyone recognized him. He got his answer on video: Not so much. [Comcast Sports]
Photo by Ryan Goff
Ben & Jerry’s, which closed at Reston Town Center in September, is making plans to reopen a few doors closer to Fountain Square.
The store has filed Fairfax County permits to start renovations at 11916 Market St., next to Chico’s. The ice cream shop had formerly been located at 11928 Market St.
When it closed in September, the store management said it was just temporary.
The move is part of a retail shakeup on that part of Market Street since Gap and Gapkids closed in early 2015.
That stretch was reconfigured, and Kendra Scott jewelry and cosmetics store/spa bluemercury have recently opened in the subdivided space. A Madewell store will take over the former Ben & Jerry’s spot.
Photo: Former Ben & Jerry’s space at Reston Town Center
Michael Wayne Edwards Jr., the Centreville man charged with filming women without their consent in the South Lakes Safeway, was found guilty by a Fairfax County District Court judge on several of the charges Friday.
Edwards, who was employed as a trainer at a nearby Reston gym at the time of his arrest, was charged in August and September for two incidents here.
The first incident was July 24, where the victim said she was in the South Lakes Safeway and felt someone someone bump her and then touch her underneath clothing while she was in the store.
The other incident was Aug. 5. In that incident, a woman said Edwards followed her as she shopped at Safeway, and then followed her down Sunrise Valley Drive as she returned to work. He also exposed himself, the woman said.
In the two cases, Edwards was charged with stalking, indecent exposure, filming a person without their consent (three charges) and simulated masturbation. He was released on $2,500 bond last summer.
In court Friday, Judge Ian O’Flaherty dismissed three of the charges and found him guilty of two of the filming charges and the simulated masturbation charge.
O’Flaherty sentenced Edwards to one-year supervised probation and six months in jail.
However, Edwards’ attorney, Jennifer Raimo, immediately appealed the sentence. When that happens, the defendant can remain free on bond while the case is revisited in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
Raimo had no comment on the case.
This is not the first time Edwards has been accused of a sexually related crime. In 2010, he was charged with several accounts of second-degree assault after he squirted semen from a bottle on women as they exited a Giant and Michael’s craft stores in Gaithersburg, Md.
Edwards pled guilty to one of those charges (the rest were dropped as part of the plea deal). He was fined $500 and given a three-year suspended jail sentence, Montgomery County records show. His probation period ended in June 2014.
Photo: Michael Wayne Edwards, Sept. 6 booking photo/FCPD
Priscilla Ames, a resident of Reston since the mid-1960s who was involved in many community organizations, died on Friday after a long illness. She was 81.
Ames was a fixture during Reston’s formative years, working at Lake Anne Hall — the plaza’s original community center — as well as on political campaigns for Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and General Assembly members Janet Howell and Ken Plum.
In 2011, Ames was honored at the Best of Reston gala with the Robert E. Simon Lifetime Achievement Award.
“She knew everybody,” said longtime Reston resident Lynn Lillienthal. “But more than that, she was such a champion for the underdog.” Read More
Lake Anne Nursery Kindergarten (LANK), Reston’s first preschool, proudly announces our 2016 Open House dates.
During these sessions, you will tour the play-based preschool and full-day kindergarten, observe our programs, and meet the directors and staff. There will be time for you to ask questions and you will receive all pertinent enrollment materials.
If you would like to attend one of the Open Houses listed below, please call our office to register (703) 437-0035, or email [email protected]. We are located at 12021 North Shore Drive, Reston 20190.
- Friday, 1/8/16 9:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, 1/12/16 Kindergarten Information Session 10:00 a.m.
- Friday, 1/15/16 9:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, 1/20/16 9:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
- Saturday, 1/23/16 Open House 10:00 a.m. to noon
- Tuesday, 1/26/16 9:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
*Children are welcome to attend the open house, but due to state regulations, they will not be able to participate in our regular programming during that time.
For more information visit us at www.lankschool.com or www.facebook.com/lankreston.
The preceding post was written and sponsored by LANK.
Fairfax County Department of Transportation crews are working on a sidewalk project that will better connect the W&OD Trail with the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
Construction workers are building sidewalks on the north side of Sunset Hills Road from the trail to Michael Faraday Court. At Michael Faraday, the south side of the street’s sidewalk begins. It takes pedestrians to the crosswalk and light near Reston Station Boulevard and Metro/Reston Station access.
The work has affected the center turning lane, which has been blocked off this week as the concrete was poured.
The sidewalk is one of more than a dozen county and state transportation departments, as well as developers, are undertaking to improve pedestrian and bicycle access to Metro. In December, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors also approved nearly $11 million for 18 more projects to boost bike and foot access to nearby Metro stations.
Several development applications have been filed to turn office areas off of Sunset Hills into residential developments, which means more people from the areas west of the Metro station will likely be walking along Sunset Hills.
No-Show Snow — The DC area has broken the record for the latest date with no measurable snow. [Capital Weather Gang]
School Calendar Set for 2016-17 — Fairfax County Public Schools have set the calendar for next school year. School begins in Sept. 6 and will have a two-week winter break. [FCPS]
Big Deal For Reston Video Company — Reston-based VideoBlocks, a subscription-based provider of stock video and images, has signed a deal to bring the Discovery Channel to its online marketplace. The deal includes more than 30,000 clips from the Maryland based channel, which will be available for purchase. [Washington Business Journal]
What Fairfax Read — Here were the most-checked-out books of 2015 at Fairfax County Public Libraries. [Fairfax County]
“Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry” visit Lake Anne Elementary School students
Fairfax County Police have started using the Nextdoor.com network as a means of communicating with Reston citizens.
Reston District Station Public Safety officer Katy Defoe said Thursday was the soft launch of Nextdoor for Public Agencies. FCPD will make a more formal announcement on the department-wide launch next month, she added.
Nextdoor is a free social network based on neighborhoods. You log into the app or nextdoor.com, and if there is community near you (there are several for Reston based on cluster, streets or other locators), you are invited to join.
Neighbors use it as a private network to sell things, warn about break-ins, report lost dogs and other hyperlocal goings-on.
Nextdoor.com says it has more than 77,000 communities online.
The network said last spring it was launching Nextdoor for Public Agencies as a way to help connect law enforcement with neighborhoods. With the app, FCPD can share crime updates, organize disaster plans, and coordinate events, among other uses.
Nextdoor says public safety agencies can only see their own posts and replies to these posts and will not be able to able to access or view any information on Nextdoor websites.
Defoe said in a note on some Reston communities that connecting with neighbors on Nextdoor will help “to make Fairfax County ever safer and stronger.”
She reiterated that FCPD will not be able to “access or view any information that neighbors have shared in your neighborhood.”
Defoe also said that Nextdoor is not the appropriate way to request emergency services, police services, report criminal or suspicious activity or file reports.
“If you require emergency services, please call 911. I will not be monitoring Nextdoor 24/7,” she wrote.
There was no big winner in Wednesday’s Powerball lottery. That means the jackpot will increase to $675 million, making it the biggest jackpot in Powerball history.
Wednesday’s numbers were 2, 11, 47, 62 and 63, and the Powerball was 17.
Virginia Lotttery tickets said there were two $50,000 winners in Wednesday night’s drawing — one in Herndon (7-Eleven, 701 Van Buren St.) and one in Ashburn (Ashbrook Shell, 20065 Ashbrook Commons Plaza).
The next drawing is Saturday.
Powerball is played in 44 states, including Virginia, as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. More than 191,000 tickets were sold in Virginia in advance of Wednesday’s drawing, Virginia Lottery officials said.
Your chances of winning? One in 292.2 million, according to lottery officials. That means you are more likely to get struck by lightning or bitten by a shark than win the lottery.
On average, the chances of being struck by lightning are 1 in 3,000 during an average lifetime. And the chances of being bitten by a shark are less than 1 in 264.1 million.
Nonetheless, Virginia Lottery officials said they expect to sell about 2.7 million Powerball tickets in the Commonwealth on Saturday alone. At peak times on Saturday, Virginia Lottery expects to sell 5,400 Powerball tickets per minute across the commonwealth.
Saying “a quality education is not a luxury, it is an absolute necessity,” Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza introduced her planned $2.7 billion 2017 budget as one that makes investments in a teachers and staff while also making no cuts to staffing or programs.
“This is a very important time for our school system,’ Garza said before a packed house of educators, FCPS staff, school board members and the media at West Potomac High School on Thursday. “There are decisions to be made in the coming months that will have a long-lasting effect on our school system.” Read More
Road crews have been busy for weeks along Soapstone Drive from Glade to South Lakes Drive.
They are working on a Fairfax County project that will add sidewalks to one side of Soapstone.
It’s an addition that has been discussed for years as that stretch of road is fairly busy and is in a densely populated area but has no place for pedestrians. There is parking all along the westbound shoulder of the road. The sidewalk will run on the east shoulder.
The project, funded by the county several years ago, adds approximately 3,000 linear feet of 5-foot wide concrete sidewalk.
Crews are also adding related construction items such as asphalt pavement, drainage improvement, curb and gutter, excavation, and minor traffic signal work, handrail installation, and pavement markings.
The project is expected to be completed in February, Fairfax County says.
This is project separate from the one planned to eventually build a Soapstone Drive extension for autos and pedestrians over the Dulles Toll Road.
Rallies to Support, Protest President — The Virginia Gun Violence Prevention Coalition is sponsoring a rally to thank President Obama for the gun control measures he took through Executive Action earlier this week. The rally will be held prior to Obama’s CNN Town Hall at George Mason University tonight starting at 5 p.m. College Republicans will hold a counter protest on campus beginning at 7 p.m. [SignUp Genius, TownHall.com]
Pre-Richmond Public Hearing Tonight — Sen. Janet Howell and Del. Ken Plum have their pre-legislative public hearing at RCC-Lake Anne tonight at 7:30 p.m. [Reston Now]
Reston Hospital Center Mark of Excellence — Reston Hospital Center was recently named an Accredited Chest Pain Center. [Reston Connection]
Kudos, HHS Students — The Herndon High Business Management Virtual Enterprise (BMVE) class won first place in a statewide virtual enterprise business plan competition, similar to the television show Shark Tank, held in Virginia Beach in December. The class will represent Virginia in the international competition in New York City on April 18-21. The BMVE students created a company, ScholarME, to identify and tackle one of the biggest concerns of high school and college students and their parents: a company that matches students with scholarships.
Photo by Ryan Goff
Fairfax County needs poll workers to help at Reston precincts on March 1 — the “Super Tuesday” primaries.
Any registered Virginia voter who isn’t an elected official or an employee of an elected official is eligible to work the polls. You must be available all day — from about 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. or later.
Elections officers will receive training prior to Election Day, and will do such jobs as
set up voting equipment; check photo IDs and check names on the electronic poll book;
provide assistance and instructions in using the voting machines; tabulate the results at the close of the polls.
Election officers are paid $175 for working a full Election Day. Election officers must work at least one general election before being considered for an assistant chief election officer ($200) or chief election officer ($250). You can also volunteer your time instead of being paid.
For more information, Email [email protected] with your name, political party affiliation, home address, date of birth, telephone number and email address, or call 703-324-4735 (TTY 711), or fill out this online interest form.
For complete details visit the Fairfax County Government website.
Fairfax County Police are looking for information on a suspect in a bank break-in at Sonabank, 11527 Sunrise Valley Dr.
On Saturday, Dec. 12, shortly before 6 a.m., a man forced his way into the bank through a window. The suspect walked through the building, rummaged through several drawers and left without taking anything.
The suspect was described as black, wearing a dark-colored jacket, a red shirt, and a knit cap.
Anyone with information about this crime 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), or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.
That same bank was also the site of an armed robbery in October. In that incident, a man matching a different description handed a note to a teller and left with cash. The suspect fled on foot. No arrest has been made in the October robbery.
Photos courtesy of Fairfax County Police
