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May 19, 2010

On Monday evening the Falls Church Planning Commission voted 6-1  to approve the site plan for the the Wilden Apartments affordable housing project at 350 South Washington Street.  Commission chairman John Lawrence cast the lone dissenting vote.

The site plan as approved includes an adjacent office and retail building at 360 South Washington, which will provide parking for tenants of the Wilden.  The commercial building will be named the McKeever in honor of the late Dan Mckeever who served as Falls Church city manager from 2000 to 2006.  The plan also includes the recently added intermodal transportation center at Hillwood Avenue and South Washington, described by planning director Sue Cotellessa as a 7,500 square foot island which will, in part, serve as a pedestrian refuge and gateway to the City.

Although several commissioners lauded the developers’ willingness to accept their recommendations, some expressed serious reservations about the final site plan and the planning process.

Commissioner Michael Kearney stated he was very pleased to vote for the project, but called it ” a shotgun marriage.”  “If it weren’t for affordable housing I’d never consider a site plan that looks like this.  I think that the City needs to do and I guess we [need to] do a better job of planning for development in our commercial corridors .  .  .  The process is not where it should be.  I think the City, since it doesn’t have a good planning document out there,  needs to do a better job on letting people know what we want before we get into a situation where we have to [go and] get what we need.”

Commissioner Rob Meeks also was critical of the planning process.  “I haven’t thought this has been a really great process; the last 18 months have been sort of difficult  I hope all of my concerns [about the project] are wrong  and I hope that all of the ways I think this process was a mess don’t happen again.  This has been frustrating at best.”

Chairman Lawrence felt the design was contrary to the City’s comprehensive plan.  “It sticks a purely residential building in a purely business district, which I think is a long term mistake.  I also think it’s frankly contrary to our long term affordable housing policy.  We’re going to dump every cent we have into this seniors only [project] and  we’re not going to have any money for affordable housing for 10 years at least.  We’re not going to be able to build a thing.”   He added that the City would be unable to include affordable dwelling units (ADU} at the Gateway project near East Falls Church metro, which would be the optimal location for ADUs.

Mr. Lawrence felt that the Planning Commission lacked the authority to make parking reductions in the site plan.  “Technically we do not have the authority .  .  . I find it odd we’re voting for something that isn’t actually legal.”    He also expressed reservations, as an appointee rather than as an elected official, about personally signing a four-party agreement integral to the plan .

Commissioner Lindy Hockenberry enthusiastically endorsed the site plan.  “I’m very, very proud of what has happened here and the City will be proud of it.  This is a very good project, a real standout when it comes to fruition.”

No Falls Church residents spoke either in favor of or against the project, but three statements were read by Ms. Cotellessa.

Thomas Sawner, owner of 360 South Washington, expressed strong support, calling the project “an excellent design [which] fills a critical need, [is] properly funded  and comes at a time when the City and our economy could certainly use a boost.”   Christopher Fay, executive director of Homestretch, concurred with Mr. Sawner.

However, councilman-elect Ira Kaylin dissented, stating that the documentation provided to the Planning Commission appeared to have been  prepared without adequate diligence and that the project was not ready for approval.  He expressed safety concerns and questioned whether adequate bonds were in place to assure that the City would not be subject to unquantified financial risk.  Ms. Cotellessa subsequently advised that each property would have a separate bond in place when construction began.

In response to a question from Mr. Lawrence, a developer’s representative stated that tenants are actively being sought for the McKeever building and that a floor and a half have been “spoken for” in one form or another.

The Wilden will provide 66 senior affordable apartments, 1,800 square feet of commercial office space, and one level of below grade parking.  The Wilden is a joint venture of the Falls Church Housing Corporation and its partner, The Community Builders (TCB).  The McKeever is a project of Jefferson One and The Young Group, developers of the “Flower Building” at 800 West Broad Street.

May 13, 2010

The Falls Church City schools currently use Styrofoam lunch trays, which are inexpensive but not recyclable. They are considering a switch to cardboard, which is more expensive. Click “Read more” to watch this video report.

Video of Tuesday’s City Council candidate forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Falls Church and the Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society, is now available here.

Our second video clip of last Saturday’s Town Hall budget meeting features local businessman Steven Wertime, who told the gathering that he faced a double whammy: higher City taxes and lower business receipts.

Wertime said he learned from his parents after they lived through the Depression: “If you can’t afford it, do without.”

He asked City Manager Wyatt Shields, “At what point does a tax increase become onerous and unfair . . . Are we getting to the point where we’re no longer financially viable?”

Watch the 3-minute video below.

The video is now available of last Saturday’s Town Hall budget meeting, and one snippet worth seeing is the interaction between City Councilman Dan Maller (shown at right) and City Manager Wyatt Shields.  Maller stated that “at least 10 cents of the tax increase is not to provide services but to restore the fund balance.” Whether now is the right time to impose that cost on taxpayers is something that needs to be discussed, he said. Shields countered that in fact only 2 cents of the tax increase would go to the fund balance. “Those numbers don’t add up,” Maller responded, blaming the confusion on the fact that the upcoming tax bills due in June will charge the FY 2011 rate, but be counted in FY 2010.

Watch the 4-minute video segment below.

The video is now available of Joel Block’s February 23 appeal to the Falls Church City School Board. A math teacher at George Mason High School, Block won the “Super Teacher” Award last year, selected from 1,200 teachers nominated from the region. In the video, Block asks the School Board why his salary may be cut, when his fellow teachers in Arlington, Alexandria, and Loudon will receive pay increases and teachers in Fairfax County will have a pay freeze.

From Page 1, click “Read More” to watch the 4-minute video.

See also the May 11, 2009 report in the Falls Church Times on Block’s Super Teacher award.

Last month the Falls Church Times reported that a local U12 girls soccer team had won an international dance competition and an all-expense-paid trip to tour South Africa and see the World Cup. The story continues to be read and generate comments from soccer fans all over the world.

Now Fox 5 television has filmed a nice interview with the team, viewable below. However, Fox didn’t have time to show the full award-winning dance video as performed by the girls of Premier AC’s 97 Fusion. But we do! Click here to see our original story and the fantastic video.

Congratulations again to the girls of Premier AC’s 97 Fusion!

The second major storm of the 2009-2010 winter season changed life in Falls Church CIty, albeit temporarily. People spent their weekend shoveling snow, left their cars at home, and instead took to major routes on foot or ski. Click the video box to watch.

By CHRISTINE KILGORE AND MINA NOWROOZI
Special to the Falls Church Times

This past soccer season was a season unlike any other for a group of Falls Church-area girls—one in which teamwork took on almost unimaginable meaning.

The girls of Premier AC’s 97 Fusion, a U-12 travel soccer team, not only played soccer — they spent hours each week after soccer practices learning the “Diski” dance — a special dance created for the FIFA 2010 World Cup to be held this summer in South Africa. The dance captures both the culture of South Africa and the moves and rhythm of the game.

Their filmed interpretation of the “Diski” won them 1^st place in a Diski Dancing video competition sponsored by South African Tourism –and an 8-day tour of the World Cup’s host nation. The 14 girls will take their trip in late March.

“At the beginning I thought, ‘we won’t win,’ said 11-year-old Rebecca Davis of Falls Church City. The dance moves also “seemed a bit odd at first,” she said. “But as we practiced we got to the point we could even do it without the music.”

When she learned through a text message that her team had won, she screamed. “I then called a teammate,” Davis recalled, “and my teammate was so happy she started crying.”

Stacey King, the team’s coach, learned of the competition in mid-October while perusing the U.S. Youth Soccer Association web site. The contest criteria (to submit about one minute of video, for instance, and to use a specific soundtrack) were simple, and the challenge of working creatively with the dance’s five main moves was enticing.

King’s mind raced.  She envisioned ways of tying together the dance moves to simulate the flow of an international soccer game.  She solicited initial reaction from the girls and their families by email, and then called the team to the Falls Church Community Center to present her ideas in detail.

Together, she and the girls and their parents watched a brief South African video demonstration of the Diski’s five main dance moves, and discussed the hours of teamwork and energy that would be required if they were to stand a chance of winning the competition.

The girls and their families promised their commitment and gave King input about moves and scenes to include and not include in the video.

From then on, through early December, the team practiced for two hours every week, immediately after their team training sessions.  They also practiced for several hours between the games of a fall tournament, in a nearby gym that a parent had arranged to use.

And when it came time to film, they met four times in various locations, including during the snowfall on December 5 and in Washington, D.C., in front of the Lincoln Memorial and in the shadows of the Washington Monument.

“Everybody made it work,” said King. “The parents helped with arranging locations to practice, with filming and editing and other ideas, and with grabbing coats and supplies, and the girls never complained — they were always excited.

“It was a complete and total team effort,” she said.

Evelyn Loeb, Rebecca’s mother and the parent manager of the team, said the girls were so committed to the project that when King came down with the flu before one of the last scheduled soccer/Diski dance practices, “the girls carried it through on their own, directing and going through everything themselves.”

The team’s goal, said King, was for the progression of scenes in the video to represent “the flow and feel” of an international soccer game.

“And I wanted to make sure we represented the feel and culture of South Africa as best we could,” she said.

Viewers hear the South African national anthem at the beginning and see a team photo mimicking the typical “starting 11” photo taken at major games as well as a kick-off.  One scene simulates the often underappreciated role of the goalkeeper, King notes, and almost everything in the dance is done as if each girl has or is about to make contact with a ball.

The video includes a photo of a red “vuvuzela,” a stadium horn commonly blown by fans at South African matches, and shots of the girls sporting the colors of the South African national team (as well as the pattern of the South African flag on their faces).

Almost all of the girls on ’97 Fusion have played together under King’s direction for 2 ½ years.  In addition to Davis, three of the players — Clara Frost, Ella Howard and Annie Washa — are students at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School in Falls Church City. The other girls attend schools in the greater Falls Church area and nearby areas.

“We’re all from different schools, so [by spending all the extra time together] we all felt so close,” said Caroline Stricker, an 11-year-old Falls Church City resident.

Stricker said she’s looking forward to going on the safari that is part of their South African itinerary, as well as trying new foods and seeing other sights.

She and her teammates, who have continued to meet for indoor training this winter, are learning about South Africa by studying different topics each week, from South Africa’s geography and ethnic makeup to its political history and variety of languages.  They are also working on collecting soccer supplies to distribute to young players who need them.

The girls will visit Cape Town and Johannesburg (including Soweto township, where they will visit a school), and will play a game against a South African youth soccer team. As part of their prize, each girl will be accompanied by one parent.  In several cases, King said, entire families have decided to come along.

South African Tourism partnered for the competition with the U.S. Youth Soccer Association, South African Airways, and Coca-Cola, a World Cup sponsor. The competition garnered entries from all over the United States.

Perhaps ironically for the winning girls, the nickname of the South African national soccer team —“Bafana, Bafana,” which the girls printed on their shirt backs for filming — means “the boys, the boys.”

Indeed, the FIFA 2010 World Cup features only men’s soccer. But the world’s best female soccer players will soon shine in the 6th Women’s World Cup to be played in 2011 in Germany. And in the meantime, the girls of 97 Fusion will travel to South Africa with exposure to and experience in soccer that not too long ago was hard to come by for girls.

Watch the winning video! It is wonderful!