(Updated at 3:25 p.m.) After going virtual in 2020 and facing a budget battle this spring, Friday Night Live! supporters will have to wait one more week to get their live music fix.
The organizing committee behind the annual Herndon summer concert series announced in an email sent to supporters at 2:14 p.m. that tonight’s Under the Covers concert, which was scheduled to kick off Friday Night Live’s 27th season, has been canceled.
In an email sent out just before noon today (Friday), the committee says it was recently made aware that the scheduled concert would be taking place at the same time as a memorial service for the three individuals who were murdered at the Parkridge Gardens apartment complex on June 19.
“Out of respect for the grieving family and their memorial service, we are going to lower and carefully monitor our music volume and speaker positioning this evening,” the committee said in the earlier email. “In addition, we have decided that all tips collected tonight will be directed to the family and survivors.”
However, the Town of Herndon informed the committee “just minutes ago” that the Friday Night Live concert will not go forward as planned.
Here is the full statement from the FNL committee:
We are very sad to share that the Town of Herndon informed us just minutes ago that we cannot hold tonight’s event. We worked very hard over the past 48 hours to find a solution where both events could occur and included a plan to help raise funds for the victim’s family.
We apologize to all our partners (band, sound company, beer supplier, and restaurants) who have worked hard to prepare for tonight including hiring staff, loading trucks, and preparing food. Also to our fans who have made plans to be together with us tonight. Hopefully many of you will instead go to some of our downtown restaurants.
We will work hard to try to make sure that next week’s show featuring Turtle Recall goes on as planned.
We hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend.
FNL! Organizing Committee
The Town of Herndon says in a statement that it decided to cancel the Friday Night Live concert due to limited parking and public safety resources:
The Town of Herndon has made the difficult decision to cancel Friday Night Live for tonight, July 2, 2021. This was not an easy decision to make, however, a funeral for three of our beloved community members who lost their lives through a horrific tragedy is being held in the downtown area at the same time. Due to tremendous community interest and support for the family while they grieve and heal, many resources downtown could become overextended, to include available parking and public safety resources. Please understand that this decision was made with the best interest and safety of our community in mind.
Friday Night Live! will instead kick off on July 9 with Turtle Recall. The concert series will run through Sept. 24.
The Fourth of July is coming up this weekend, and with Monday (July 5) as a designated federal holiday, many public facilities and services will be shaking up their schedules.
The Fairfax County Health Department announced today (Friday) that all of its COVID-19 vaccination clinics will be closed on Independence Day, but walk-in services will be available at the Fairfax County Government Center and the former Safeway at Mount Vernon Square in Alexandria on Saturday.
A vaccine site at Springfield Town Center will also be open for walk-ins on Monday.
Here are some other closures that county residents should keep in mind this holiday weekend:
Fairfax County Government
- County government offices will be closed on July 5th
Fairfax County Courts
- The Fairfax Circuit, General District, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District courts will be closed all day on July 5.
County Libraries, Recreation Centers, Parks
- All Fairfax County library branches will be closed.
- All Fairfax County RECenters will operate at their regular hours.
- Colvin Run Mill, Sully Historic Site, Hidden Oaks, Hidden Pond, E.C. Lawrence and Huntley Meadows nature centers will be closed.
- The Riverbend Park visitor center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Green Spring Garden’s horticultural center and historic house will be closed.
Public Transit
- Fairfax Connector buses will operate on a Saturday service schedule on Monday. Check the link for details on specific routes.
- WMATA Metrorail service will operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday. Details on routes and closed stations can be found on the Metro website.
- WMATA Metrobus will operate on a Saturday service schedule on Monday.
County Trash and Recycling
- There will be no change in the county’s trash and recycling collection.
- The recycling and disposal centers at the I-66 Transfer Station and I-95 Landfill Complex will be closed.
Reston
- The Reston Community Center Hunters Woods will open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m on Sunday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday.
- Reston Community Center Lake Anne will be closed all day Sunday and Monday.
- All Reston Association offices, including the central services facility and the Walker Nature Center’s Nature House, will be closed on July 5.
Herndon
- Town offices and the Herndon Community Center will be closed on Sunday and Monday.
- Recycling will be collected on Monday as normal.
- The farm at Frying Pan Park and the indoor arena will be open, but the visitor center will be closed.
Fairfax County is continuing its efforts to transition to renewable energy with the installation of solar panels on county government and public school buildings, but it will now do so with a different vendor.
The county ended its contract with the company Sigora Solar yesterday (July 1), about 18 months ahead of schedule.
Sigora Solar is one of three vendors awarded contracts to install, manage, and maintain solar energy infrastructure for county government and school buildings in December 2019, when Fairfax County announced what it said was the largest solar power purchase agreement initiative by a Virginia locality to date.
The original contracts with Sigora, Sun Tribe Solar, and Ipsun Power were set to run through Dec. 31, 2022.
However, the county amended its contract with Sigora on June 10 to state that it would be “terminated for convenience” effective July 1. Sigora was designated as the primary contractor for roof-mounted solar panel projects.
Moving forward, the county will now work with Sun Tribe Solar, the secondary contractor for roof-mounted panels and the primary contractor for carport or canopy-mounted panels.
“Under the terms of the agreement, the county leases space on its buildings for the companies to install solar panels that those vendors will own, and the county buys the energy generated by the panels at a fixed price,” Brian Worthy, a public information officer with Fairfax County’s Office of Public Affairs, said.
“However, these companies have the right to decide whether or not to install panels at any buildings identified by the county,” Worthy said. “During the past year and a half, the county selected 30 buildings for solar panels, and we are eager to move forward with these projects.”
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has approved leasing necessary roof space at two batches of county-owned properties so far. The first round of eight sites came on Oct. 20, 2020, and another 22 sites were added on March 9.
The sites approved for solar panel installations in Reston are:
- Reston Fire Station (1820 Wiehle Avenue, Reston)
- The North County Government Center (1801 Cameron Glen Dr., Reston)
- Reston Community Center Hunter Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road, Reston)
- Great Falls Volunteer Fire Station (9916 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls)
Under the solar power purchase agreements, the installed solar panels will be owned, operated and maintained by the contracted vendors, rather than the county. The county will simply purchase electricity produced by these panels over time.
When the contracts were announced in 2019, the county estimated that the initiative could potentially yield over $60 million in electricity cost avoidance over the terms of the contracts. Additionally, it was projected that approximately 1.73 million megawatt hours of renewable energy could be generated at the county’s facilities.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) will not meet its Labor Day deadline for substantial completion of Silver Line Phase 2, likely pushing back the opening of the long-delayed $2.8 billion project yet again.
The announcement came in the final minutes of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ transportation committee meeting earlier this week.
The delay is related to the work done this past weekend (June 26-27) to tie together the Silver Line’s second phase with the operating first phase at Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, forcing the station to close.
“We were made aware that the tie-in between Phase 1 and Phase 2, which was partially done this weekend, will actually need an additional weekend,” Martha Elena Coello, special projects division chief for the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, told the committee.
She noted that this was different information than what was in the presentation that had been prepared for the meeting.
“That will impact the substantial completion day of Labor Day and the magnitude of that impact has not been determined yet,” she said. “We expect to have that information within two weeks.”
An MWAA spokesperson confirmed that this is the case.
While MWAA told Reston Now last week that an additional weekend and a second shutdown of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station will be needed to complete the work, it wasn’t clear how it would affect the timeline of the entire project.
Now, it’s clear that MWAA will not be handing over the project to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) by Labor Day weekend, which is only eight weeks from now. At this point, it is unknown when completion and hand-off could take place.
Metro needs about six months from substantial completion to complete testing and open the system, according to the presentation to the county board’s transportation committee.
With a Labor Day hand-off, Silver Line Phase 2 could reasonably be assumed to open in early March 2022. Now, the operating date could be pushed further into spring or even later.
When asked what work was completed last weekend and what still needs to be done, MWAA spokesperson Marcia McAllister told Reston Now by email that it was mostly electrical tasks:
This past weekend, the connection of the Traction Power system between Phase 2 of the Silver Line and the existing Metrorail system was successfully completed at the Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail Station. In addition, work was done to connect the Automatic Train Control System (ATC).The work was done by crews from Capital Rail Construction (CRC) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) working closely together. The Airports Authority is now reviewing the work that remains to be done at the ATC tie-in prior to completion of the rail line and is assessing any schedule impacts.
She added in a follow-up that additional work still needs to be done, but a date has not been set for the next outage and shutdown of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
Overall, Phase 2 is 99% completed, but even beyond the tie-in, there remains work still to be done around third-rail insulators, station platform pavings, and more.
However, Coello noted at the meeting that a majority of this work needs to be completed by revenue service and can be done after MWAA’s handoff to WMATA.
This is far from the first delay to beset the Silver Line’s second phase, which was initially set to be completed in 2018. The project will extend Metro from Reston into Loudoun County with six new stations.
The timeline has been prolonged by contractor issues, design changes, flawed materials, defective panels, and bad concrete, testing the patience and viability of a number of local Reston and Herndon businesses that intentionally set up shop near the stations.
Now, businesses, residents, and the region are going to have to wait at least a little bit longer for Silver Line Phase 2 to finally open.
For 14-year-old Akshita Balaji, a combination of hard work and passion spelled success.
A Herndon resident, Akshita tied for 21st place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee semifinals, which was held virtually and aired on ESPN on Sunday (June 27) after the nationwide competition was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She spent around 12 hours per day preparing for the last six months and studied around 6,000 words per day.
“It was definitely a little hard at first but I kind of got used to it,” she said. “When I was studying, it didn’t feel like I was doing work, you know? Because one word led to another.”
When she saw a word, she wanted to know its relation to another or why it’s spelled that way, she explained.
Her Scripps placement marked the first time in at least a decade that a Fairfax County Public Schools student has advanced that far, according to FCPS via the Fairfax County Council of Parent Teacher Associations.
Since the event, she’s been taking it easy. Her family held a party the following day, and friends visited and brought her gifts, and family sent her flowers, gifts, and cake.
“Everybody posted a lot of messages for her on Facebook and, you know, different forums,” her mother, Sumitra Sampath, said. “We created a little scrapbook for her with all those messages…[and] pictures from different bees.”
A graduate of Herndon’s Rachel Carson Middle School, Akshita will attend ninth grade at Westfield High School in the fall and wants to become a surgeon one day.
Her vocabulary could come in handy for medical school. She notes that Romance languages like Spanish, which she studied last year, and French, which she plans to learn, have Latin roots that could help with the learning curve. She also knows Tamil and Hindi.
“Because of spelling, the Latin word, when it goes into French, you can tell what Latin word it came from,” she said. “That helps you really understand the language because you can…understand the roots and actually where it came from and not just memorize what it means.”
Sampath noted that her daughter, who won her first spelling bee when she was in first grade, watched the Scripps bees on TV as a kid, looked up to prestigious spellers in elementary school, and wondered how cool it would be to win.
Akshita hoped to reach the finals, which will take place in person at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort on July 8, but she says she’s interested in competing in other spelling bees this year.
Scripps semifinalists receive a commemorative medal and $500 gift card. The overall winner gets $50,000 and other prizes. The contest is limited to those who are in the eighth grade or below.
While Akshita has now aged out of the Scripps competition, her mother also notes that her daughter is interested in coaching younger students.
Akshita gained some experience during the pandemic, leading classes on various topics a few times each week on Zoom with young children of friends’ families in the area when schools shut down.
“She wants to…pursue coaching now,” Sampath said. “I think she will be a pretty good coach because she works really well with the kids and she has that knack.”
Two Charged in Herndon Man’s Death — “Fairfax County Police charged two Sterling men already in police custody Thursday in connection with the May 7 fatal shooting of 26-year-old Brian Constanza-Campos of Herndon…In the first six months of 2021, Fairfax County has already had 10 homicides.” [Patch]
Hook Road Tennis Court Renovations Delayed — “Due to availability and delivery issues of materials, as well as difficulties scheduling exterior work, Reston Association is anticipating a 3-to-4-week delay on completion of the Hook Road tennis renovation project. We now expect substantial work to be finished by Aug. 13.” [RA/Twitter]
Park Authority Board Resumes In-Person Meetings — After a 15-month shift to virtual meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fairfax County Park Authority Board will meet in person once again starting with its scheduled 7:30 p.m. meeting on July 14 at the Herrity Building. The board will also resume opening meetings with a public comment period. [FCPA]
Virginia Federal Prosecutors Increase Support for Civil Rights Cases — “Acting U.S. Attorney For the Eastern District of Virginia Raj Parekh announced Thursday the creation of a civil rights team within the office’s criminal division. Prosecutors will investigate hate crimes, bias-related incidents, and alleged law enforcement misconduct, among other crimes.” [WTOP]
(Updated 4:30 p.m.) A contentious meeting over acceptance of transgender students in Loudoun County Public Schools has Fairfax County officials eyeing their own policy and pushing for more equitable regulations to support transgender and gender non-conforming students.
The Loudoun meeting, which discussed a new policy that requires trans students be treated respectfully and allowed to use restrooms and play in sports that align with their gender, comes months after Fairfax County Public Schools adopted similar new regulations in October.
A spokesperson for FCPS said the regulations adopted in October are still undergoing review to ensure they align with state guidelines. An FCPS spokesperson said all regulations are reviewed annually to ensure they are in compliance with new state legislation.
The new regulations grant transgender students access to various facilities consistent with their gender identity and effectively prohibit dead-naming students — using pronouns or names in records that don’t reflect the student’s gender identity.
“They’ve been mulling about it for a few months,” said Robert Rigby, a Latin language teacher at West Potomac High School and co-president of FCPS Pride. “Many students were thrilled. There was a blast of happy messages with multiple exclamation points. They were ecstatic after years of being dead-named in online platforms and in grading and by substitutes. Suddenly, they could just talk to their counselor and get it changed.”
Rigby said there was an “enormous relief” among students. Staff training started in March to prepare and educate teachers about the new regulations.
FCPS had previously added gender identity to the school system’s non-discrimination policy in 2015. Rigby said several factors over the last year helped push FCPS into codifying protections for transgender and gender non-conforming students, crediting:
- Gavin Grimm’s recent victory when the Supreme Court rejected a Gloucester County school district appeal of a lower court decision that found the schools had violated Grimm’s rights
- State legislation requiring local school districts to have policies adhering to how individuals identify their gender and requiring access to bathrooms and locker rooms associated with their gender
- The election of the first openly gay school board member Karl Frisch
“These protections are long overdue,” said Frisch. “If we are truly committed to fostering a caring and inclusive culture, gender-expansive and transgender students must be treated with the same dignity and respect as everyone else. They must be made to feel safe and accepted.”
Others in Fairfax County leadership, including Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay, rebuked the comments made during the Loudoun school board meeting.
My statement regarding hateful rhetoric against members of northern Virginia’s LGBTQIA+ community. pic.twitter.com/8sX7Uc7Ujz
— Jeff McKay (@JeffreyCMcKay) June 25, 2021
Rigby, who has taught at West Potomac High School since 1999, said faculty and parents, along with some students who felt welcome, have helped advocate for the changes, but student advocacy can be sometimes hindered by concerns about subjecting students to humiliations like those on display at the Loudoun meeting.
“Students advocate to us, but quite frankly it’s not incredibly safe and can be very alarming for young LGBTQIA to speak openly at School Board meetings,” Rigby said. “There have been dreadful things said and doxxing, so we caution children and their parents: when you speak publicly, this might happen.”
Rigby said the Loudoun was one of the worst he’s seen.
“We’ve had some dreadful meetings in Fairfax over the years, the worst being May 7, 2015 when they updated the non-discrimination policy,” Rigby said. “It also happened in 2002 when we were talking about a harassment policy. We’ve seen this happen in our county, but Loudoun was worse than anything I’ve ever seen.”
Still, Rigby said overall there’s been remarkable progress in the attitudes of many in the school system over his last two-decades of advocacy.
“I’ve seen attitudes in teachers, parents, and students take a big change,” Rigby said. “It’s changed dramatically. It’s a change beyond my wildest imaginings. It’s relieving and frustrating. I was discussing with a friend last night, another advocate who is a school psychologist, just how far we’ve come and how wonderful it is. It’s taken a long time. There’s an awful lot of work left to do.”
Rigby said FCPS Pride and other organizations are trying to focus now on offering more rounded care for students who may not receive support at home.
“We’re turning our eyes now to children who are housing-vulnerable, who aren’t welcome in families,” Rigby said. “Fairfax is definitely setting up structures to help families and children come to agreement… The school system is putting together these structures to help kids at school and at home.”
Photo via Sharon McCutcheon/Unsplash
The design process for renovations at Lake Fairfax Park isn’t set to start until at least 2025, meaning changes could be years away.
Almost a year ago, Fairfax County began to consider renovations and additions to the county park, including a multi-purpose center, an off-leash dog area, an “inclusive” playground, and an adventure park.
All of these changes were approved by the Park Authority Board and are now in the park’s master plan. They were set to be financed by the $112 million bond referendum approved by county residents in November.
However, the project is hung up due to cashflow, Fairfax County Park Authority Public Information Officer Judith Pedersen told Reston Now in an email.
“We do have cashflow constraints associated with the Park Bond,” Pedersen wrote. “So, this project is scheduled to start the design process in mid-[Fiscal Year] 25 — that’s around January 2025. The scope of the improvements will be developed during the design process.”
According to Pedersen, Fairfax County generally limits the amount of cash it transfers each year so that it can maintain its AAA bond rating.
“Even though the bond has been approved, we face constraints both in terms of project timing and in terms of allowable cash flow,” she said. “…The annual [cash flow] projections currently allow for approximately $25 million in Park Authority bonds each year to fund our projects.”
If the design process doesn’t happen until early 2025, it could be a number of years before the renovations are actually completed.
To further the timeline even more, each change and new feature or facility needs to undergo county site plan review and permitting processes prior to construction.
Lake Fairfax Park is a 476-acre park encompassing a lake located just east of Reston. First designated as a county park in 1966, it currently has campgrounds, athletic fields, a skate park, a pump track, biking and hiking trails. It’s also home to the popular county water park Water Mine Family Swimmin’ Hole.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission approved a substantial number of renovations, additions, and improvements last July, including a multi-purpose event pavilion along Hunter Mill Road that could accommodate large classes and events.
Other approved changes include a gazebo in the park’s center that would be available for events and an additional playground that would allow for “inclusive play” for all ages and physical and mental abilities.
The planned renovations will also add an off-leash dog park, an interpretive overlook, a ropes adventure course, and rental cabins in the camping area.
The project also entails improvements to the pump track and cricket field that would add lighting and have it meet regulation size.
Updated at 3:45 p.m. — A Flash Flood Warning has been issued for Fairfax County until 6:30 p.m.
Updated at 2:45 p.m. — The Severe Thunderstorm Warning has now been extended to 3:30 p.m. for Fairfax County, including Reston.
Earlier: A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for Fairfax County and the rest of the D.C. area, joining a Flash Flood Watch that will take effect at 2 p.m. today (Thursday).
The thunderstorm watch took effect at 12:40 p.m. and will remain in place until 8 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has also been issued for the northeastern part of the county, including Reston and Herndon. That will be in effect until 1:45 p.m.
The Severe Thunderstorm Warning from the NWS says:
* At 103 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Ashburn, or near Broadlands, moving east at 25 mph.
HAZARD…60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE…Radar indicated.
IMPACT…Damaging winds will cause some trees and large branches to fall. This could injure those outdoors, as well as damage homes and vehicles. Roadways may become blocked by downed trees. Localized power outages are possible. Unsecured light objects may become projectiles.
* Locations impacted include…
Rockville, Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Reston, Olney, Herndon, Broadlands, Lansdowne, Lowes Island, Brambleton, American Legion Bridge, Aspen Hill, Potomac, North Bethesda, Ashburn, Sterling, North Potomac, Redland, Wolf Trap and Great Falls.
“For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building,” the NWS advises.
[7/1 at 1:10 PM] A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued until 1:45 PM. Seek shelter if you are outside.📍Impacted locations include: Reston, Herndon, Wolf Trap, and Great Falls. #VaWx https://t.co/IRoso825rm
— Ready Fairfax (@ReadyFairfax) July 1, 2021
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for parts of DE, DC, MD, NJ, PA, VA until 8 PM EDT. #MDwx #VAwx #DCwx pic.twitter.com/2sf7WdTrtE
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) July 1, 2021
Fairfax County is seeking public feedback about people’s parking habits and priorities in Reston and Tysons with a survey available now in English and Spanish until the end of July.
County staff are using the online survey to help establish a managed parking program in the Reston Transit Station Areas and Tysons Urban Center, which they hope will address issues ranging from limited parking options to avoiding vehicles reportedly remaining in spaces for weeks at a time.
In addition to asking about people’s current parking habits, the survey tells respondents to prioritize five factors that affect when and where they decide to park:
- Lowest price or free
- Proximity of parking to desired location
- Flexible payment options (credit cards, smartphone apps)
- Ability to pay with cash
- Overnight parking is allowed for free
The county is looking to get input from both commuters and residents. In addition to filling out the survey, community members can submit comments through an online feedback form, by mail to the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, and by calling 703-877-5600.
The survey will build on the results of a two-year study that FCDOT conducted to look at the availability of on-street parking on state-owned roads in Tysons and Reston.
In Reston, the study found just 211 on-street spaces along 15 miles of public curbs, amounting to a 6% coverage. Recommendations included implementing timed or paid parking near Metro stations to encourage turnover and addressing issues with commercial vehicles parking in front of businesses.
The county is looking to support businesses with “shorter duration parking and parking space turnover,” according to a page about the survey.
“Ultimately, the goal is to provide parking that supports the mixed-use development in these increasingly-urban areas of the County,” FCDOT said in a news release.
County staff is slated to use the information from the survey to propose policy and ordinance changes to the Board of Supervisors later this year. FCDOT says the managed parking plans will mostly not take effect until new grids of streets are built in Tysons and Reston and accepted by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
With a federal moratorium on evictions set to expire at the end of July, Fairfax County officials are preparing for a surge in evictions and accompanying demand for rental assistance and other social services.
Even with various federal and state protections in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, 599 writs of eviction and 1,411 unlawful detainers were issued to Fairfax County residents between June 2020 and 2021, according to an Eviction Data Dashboard created by county staff.
Presented to the Board of Supervisors during its health and human services committee meeting on Tuesday (June 29), the dashboard map indicates that the residents at risk of being evicted tend to be concentrated in neighborhoods of color and ones that have been hit hard by the novel coronavirus, Fairfax County Housing and Community Development Deputy Director Tom Barnett told the board.
As of June 14, residents of the 22306 zip code in Alexandria have been issued 54 writs of eviction — court notices directing the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office to remove a tenant’s belongings from the property — the most of any zip code in the county.
That zip code has also recorded 3,641 COVID-19 cases, which translates to 11,263 cases per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the county. Within that zip code, eviction notices have been clustered south of Groveton and around Woodley Hills, census tracts with relatively high Black and Hispanic/Latino populations.
The Alexandria area in general has been particularly affected by housing instability during the pandemic with 159 writs of eviction issued, more than twice as many as any other part of the county. Falls Church comes in second with 73 writs issued.
Alexandria and Falls Church have also seen the most unlawful detainers, which are issued when a landlord seeks court assistance in removing a tenant from their property.
There are some exceptions to the overall correlation of eviction notices and COVID-19 cases. The 20171 zip code, which encompasses Herndon south of the Dulles Toll Road, has seen 35 writs of eviction issued — the third most in the county — but it has also reported a relatively low rate of 5,304.3 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.
Fairfax County Health and Human Services staff put together the dashboard using real-time information obtained from the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office and General District Court, thanks to a partnership that the agencies formed last summer in response to the pandemic.
“We’re using this data and other data that is available to the county to target our outreach and our rental assistance,” Barnett said. Read More
New Laws Take Effect in Virginia — A host of new laws passed by the General Assembly take effect today (Thursday), including the legalization of simple marijuana possession, the abolition of the death penalty, and a requirement that drivers change lanes when passing bicyclists. The fine for littering is now $500, up from $250, and it is now illegal to intentionally release a balloon outside. [Patch]
Police Community Forum Tonight — The Fairfax County Police Department’s Reston District Station will hold a virtual community information forum at 7 p.m. today that will include discussion of trends, upcoming events, and officer and case highlights from the past month. Send questions to [email protected]. [RA/Twitter]
Republican Challenger to Ken Plum Will Be on Ballot — Veteran Matt Lang will officially appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot as the Republican candidate for the 36th House District, which includes Reston and is currently represented by Del. Ken Plum. The State Board of Elections approved his candidacy upon appeal yesterday (Wednesday) after his application was initially blocked by a late filing certification. [Virginia Public Access Project]
Changes to Permitted Agritourism Activities Approved — “Fairfax County supervisors, despite objections from some local residents and environmental groups, on June 22 approved new ‘agritourism’ rules that will allow certain by-right commercial operations in agricultural settings…Allowable activities include farm tours, harvest-your-own activities, seasonal festivals and attractions, events, hiking, horseback riding and other activities, historical and cultural endeavors.” [Sun Gazette/Inside NoVA]
A police use-of-force study commissioned by Fairfax County revealed that officers use force too often and more than should be expected against both Black and white civilians.
Findings and recommendations of the study conducted by researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio were presented at the county’s Board of Supervisors public safety committee meeting yesterday (June 29).
The study dove into the 1,360 use-of-force cases involving the Fairfax County Police Department over a three-year period from January 2016 to December 2018.
About 42% of cases were directed at those who are Black, 38% to those who are white. Hispanic and Asian civilians comprised 16% and 3% of such cases, respectively.
Additionally, Black civilians were 1.8 times more likely to have a weapon, such as a taser or firearm, pointed at them by police.
Some of the findings surprised the researchers. For example, there was a higher level of use of force cases directed at those who are white than perhaps expected, and generally, police used force against Hispanic civilians less frequently than they predicted..
“It’s a little bit unusual to findings like that, in my experience,” said University of Texas professor Michael R. Smith, one of the researchers presenting the study. “But those are what they were here in Fairfax County.”
For Black people, who make up about 10.6% of Fairfax County’s population, force rates did exceed proportional rates in most categories — disparities that Smith noted were expected.
Some of the disparities can be tracked to specific district stations as well.
Force used against Black civilians happened at higher rates in the Mount Vernon District as well as in Franconia, McLean, and West Springfield.
Also, worth noting is that while use of force rates against Asian civilians, who now compose 20% of the county’s population, was overall lower across the county than other racial groups, it exceeded proportional benchmarks in Reston, Fair Oaks, West Springfield, and Mount Vernon.
Men are also much more likely to have more severe force used against them than women, which the researchers said was not uncommon.
A data point that roiled some county board members was if pointing a weapon (firearm or taser) constituted a Level 1 or more severe Level 3 use of force.
For the purposes of the study and after consulting with FCPD, researchers admitted they knocked down the severity of pointing a weapon, which altered the data.
“After some preliminary discussions with senior leadership of the police department, we re-coded the pointing of a weapon — typically a taser or a firearm — to a level one,” Smith said. “This showed…the disparity in force against African-Americans was largely [having to do with] the pointing of the weapon.”
The data revealed that Black civilians were close to nearly two times more likely to have a weapon pointed at them than white civilians.
“These coding decisions matter. It’s a conceptual question,” said Smith. “Police departments around the country and their communities are wrestling with this right now…How serious is it to point a weapon at someone?” Read More
The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for the D.C. area, including Fairfax County.
The alert will take effect at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) and last through 8 a.m. on Friday (June 2). Thunderstorms could bring up to four inches of rain in some locations.
Here is more from the alert:
* From Thursday afternoon through Friday morning.
* Several rounds of thunderstorms are expected Thursday afternoon through early Friday morning with localized rainfall rates of up to 1-2 inches per hour possible. Total rainfall amounts of 1-3 inches, with locally higher amounts up to 4 inches are possible.
* Heavy rain in short periods of time will cause the potential for streams and creeks to quickly rise out of their banks as well as the potential for flash flooding in urban areas.
“You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should Flash Flood Warnings be issued,” the NWS says.
According to the NWS forecast for Reston, the storms are expected to bring the area’s temperatures from the 90s back to the 60-70 degree range for the weekend, setting the stage for a mostly clear, sunny Independence Day.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is working its way toward letting public workers collectively bargain in the wake of a statewide change in 2020 to lift a decades-old restriction.
A board’s personnel committee met yesterday (Tuesday) to discuss a draft ordinance that would let Fairfax County workers make union contracts with the county government, giving them the power to negotiate pay and other benefits.
“I think we’re moving in a good direction,” Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said after sharing concerns that the proposed ordinance might exempt too many employees from collective bargaining.
While managers, supervisors, volunteers, and other workers are slated to be excluded under the draft ordinance, the board is looking at where temporary workers such as summer lifeguards and seasonal park workers as well as non-merit employees should fall.
The proposed ordinance would serve as the framework for what can and can’t be done through collective bargaining. Once approved, it would allow workers to vote to form a bargaining unit, and employees who don’t want to be involved wouldn’t have to pay dues but could still receive the benefits of the change, Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross said.
The draft discussed Tuesday calls for collective bargaining agreements that would last three years or longer, with separate units for general government employees, police, and fire and emergency services. It also bans strikes and spells out numerous other issues.
The county’s ordinance would be separate from Fairfax County Public Schools, which has over 24,000 employees.
Gross, who chairs the personnel and reorganization committee that’s overseeing the development of the draft, said she expects the board will pass an ordinance, which could happen this year.
SEIU Virginia 512, a union that already includes over 2,000 members in Fairfax County from dues-paying maintenance workers and nurses to librarians and social workers, welcomed the board’s overall support.
But union president David Broder says the ordinance still falls short in several areas. Namely, he says it “artificially narrows” the scope of bargaining, excludes working conditions among the topics that can be negotiated, and could potentially leave thousands of workers out of the collective bargaining process.
“We’ve learned during the pandemic…that being able to bargain over working conditions is critical,” Broder said, noting the importance of safe and clean work sites, personal protective equipment availability, and scheduling.
Lee District Supervisor Rodney Lusk shared concerns about working conditions for public works and sanitation workers, expressing support for change.
Collective bargaining agreements could involve some 10,000 workers, Gross told Reston Now, and the board is gathering more information on non-merit employees to help with its determinations.
“We have one opportunity to get this right, which is why we’re taking a little extra time to work on the ordinance,” Gross said.
In 1977, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that public-sector collective bargaining agreements weren’t permitted and existing ones were invalid, noting the state legislature could change that.
The General Assembly and governor approved legislation last year that gave localities the authority to develop ordinances for recognizing labor unions and permitting collective bargaining. That measure took effect on May 1.
The personnel committee will meet again on July 20, and the board expects to have a public hearing in October.
via Machvee/Flickr
