Churches, County Organize Blanket Drive to Aid Syrian Refugees
Blankets collected in Northern Virginia’s Blanket Drive for Syrian Refugees will soon be arriving in Turkey, where a local relief agency will distribute them to Syrian refugee families in the Adana refugee camp. More than 18,000 blankets were collected. These blankets were donated by residents of Northern Virginia through grass-roots efforts organized by local elected officials in conjunction with the Fairfax County Interfaith Council. Residents were asked to drop off clean and folded blankets at locations throughout Northern Virginia. In Fairfax County, seven meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) served as donation collection points, as well as two Islamic Centers, and offices of several members of the county Board of Supervisors. Chairman Sharon Bulova joined volunteers at one LDS meetinghouse and publicly thanked the church for its efforts in supporting the effort.
City of Fairfax News
News in the Fairfax area.
Into the Budget Fray
Bulova highlights accomplishments, challenges in annual address.
Despite the lingering impact of an anemic economy, and the regional ripple effects of federal sequestration, Fairfax County residents will see some concrete signs of progress this year.
Brooke Hardin to Lead Development and Planning Department
The City of Fairfax announces the appointment of Brooke Hardin as the city’s director of the Community Development and Planning Department. Hardin, who has served as the city’s Planning Division chief since 2011, will begin his role immediately.
Fairfax County Launches Sex Trafficking Prevention Campaign
Sex trafficking education materials also added to school curriculum.
In order to raise awareness to the fact that sex trafficking can happen anywhere, even in Fairfax County, a new prevention campaign and website raising awareness of this issue launched on Jan. 13.
Garza Proposes $2.5 Billion Budget for FY 2015
Proposed Fairfax County public schools budget would cut 731 positions, increase class size.
At the Jan. 9 School Board Meeting, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza released the proposed budget of $2.5 billion for FY 2015. The budget proposal requires an additional $98.1 million, or 5.7 percent increase compared to FY 2014, from Fairfax County, which the school system says is due to uncontrollable factors such as enrollment growth, retirement rate increases and the structural deficit. The FY 2015 proposed budget is an increase of $59.4 million from last year’s approved budget.
Virginia Supreme Court Opens Access to Audio Recordings of Oral Arguments
Policy change overturns blackout instituted in 2008.
Members of the Virginia Supreme Court have a New Year’s Resolution — become more transparent.
Let Sun Shine on Virginia’s Financial Disclosure Laws
State legislators turn attention to ethics in wake of McDonnell gift scandal.
As members of the Virginia General Assembly convene for the first time since last February, legislators are stampeding to introduce ethics legislation in response to the gift scandal which engulfed then Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R). The revelations last spring about numerous undisclosed gifts and purported loans from businessman Jonnie Williams to McDonnell — including a $6,500 Rolex watch engraved to the "71st Governor of Virginia" and $35,000 in gifts and catering for his daughters’ weddings — shined a spotlight on Virginia’s porous financial disclosure laws.
Fairfax Water to Supply City of Fairfax Residents
The City of Fairfax completed the sale of its water utility to Fairfax Water, beginning the process of merging these two water systems.
Legislators Head to Richmond, Address Upcoming Session
Proposed bills and priorities include ethics reform and ABC Transformation.
As the General Assembly convenes on Jan. 8, several delegates from Fairfax County have written bills that tackle some of the issues they believe are important to Virginians. Del. Dave Albo (R-42) proposed a bill that would get rid of the Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s three person board and would replace them with five citizens with business experience who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state legislature. Members of the current three-person board make six-digit salaries and are appointed by the governor. Albo’s plan would make the position part time and would pay 50 dollars per day.
Debate Over Residential Studio Units Continues
Housing advocates, Fairfax County supervisors, area residents address affordable housing.
Fairfax County residents have yet to agree on the specifics of residential studio units and are continuing the debate on several aspects of the proposed amendment. As of Jan. 6, the Planning Commission proposed amendment defines residential studios as efficiency units that make up a multiple-family residential building, or part of a building, in which 80 percent of the units must be for those who do not make more than 60 percent of the median income of the area. In the Washington, D.C. area, that is $45,000.
Field Trip Grant Program Exposes Children to Nature
Grant brings local elementary and middle schools to Hemlock Overlook Regional Park in Clifton.
The Dominion Foundation’s grant of $10,000 to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority will allow for children from local elementary and middle schools to attend field trips at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park in Clifton as part of the Field Trip Grant Program.
What More Could FBI Want?
Virginia leaders tout merits of Springfield site for FBI HQ relocation.
A high-ranking delegation of Virginia politicians gathered in Springfield Tuesday morning in a renewed effort to convince the Federal Bureau of Investigation to relocate its headquarters to a warehouse site in Springfield. The move in the high-stakes, highly competitive regional competition comes after site selection guidelines eliminated almost all other Northern Virginia locations.
A Year in a Fast Lane
2013 was a big year for transportation projects in Northern Virginia.
Construction dominated the scenery on I-95/395 between Garrisonville Road (Route 610) in Stafford County and Turkeycock Park near Edsall Road in the north as the 95 Express Lanes project crews advanced work in the 29-mile construction corridor keeping the project on-track to open to traffic in early 2015.
Food Assistance Cuts Affecting Locals
Cuts to the food stamp program are hitting local beneficiaries and food banks.
Melinda Anderson, 50, of Alexandria is feeling the extra pinch to her federally-subsidized food budget. "I have had to eat less and hit up more food banks in the area just to survive," she said while collecting her monthly food allotment from the Fairfax-based food-bank Food for Others. "I’m visiting three [food banks] a month now."