Cell Tower Proposed At Longfellow School

MCLEAN, VA -The Fairfax County public schools and a Reston company that builds cell phone towers wants to construct a cell phone tower in the back of Longfellow Middle School on Westmoreland St.

The Planning and Zoning Committee of the McLean Citizens Association listened Tuesday night to the proposal that combines the increasing need for high-speed data services for cell phones and money to the schools.

We’ll start with the cell tower and why it’s needed.  Then we’ll explain who gets the money.

You can read this story at our new expanded site: http://themcleanear.com/

Women’s Club Cleans Up Its Adopted Street

Dear Readers,

The McLean Ear is slowly migrating to its new expanded website. The new site includes not only news from our community but the new site also puts all information about McLean in one a central place.  You’ll find the story about the New Dominion Women’s Club clean up there.

Please follow our construction and let us know your thoughts. We’re continue to bring you the news. We’ll also bring you updates as we add additional information.

http://themcleanear.com/

Last Night for Magarity Road Closing

MCLEAN, VA – Just a reminder: This is the last night that Magarity Road  closes  between Olney Road and Great Falls Streets at 9 pm.  It will reopen 6 am. Saturday morning.

The closing is necessary while steel is erected on a new bridge that will carry the Silver Line Metro tracks for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project in the median of the Dulles Connector Road across Magarity Road.

Magarity Road runs north/south parallel to Route 123 from Great Falls Street to Route 7. All side streets south of the Connector Road along Magarity will be open. Magarity Road from Olney Road south toward Route 7 will not be affected.

Residents of Pimmit Hills, the Commons and other residential areas along Magarity seeking to travel northbound on Magarity Road toward Great Falls Street in McLean will be detoured to make a left turn on to Anderson Road, to a right on Chain Bridge Road to return to Great Falls Street at the first traffic signal.

Drivers from the McLean area who use Magarity Road to access Route 7, Pimmit Hills and commercial developments off Anderson Road can use Route 123 south to a left turn at Anderson Road to return to Magarity beyond the work zone or use Chain Bridge Road to a left turn on Anderson Road to a right on Magarity.  Drivers northbound along Magarity toward McLean will be rerouted to Anderson Road to Chain Bridge Road or Route 123.

Motorists should exercise caution and be alert to signs and detours in these areas.  Police will be on site to help ensure safety.

For all work performed during overnight hours, construction crews operate under a Noise Variance from Fairfax County.  There may be intermittent periods of construction noise associated with equipment movement and placing and securing the steel girders.  For construction-related emergencies including noise, please use the project HOTLINE at 877-585-6789.

For further information about the project, please visit the project website at http://www.dullesmetro.com or call 703-572-0506

Magarity Closes Again at 9 pm Tonight, Reopens 6 am. Friday

MCLEAN, VA – Just a reminder: Magarity Road  closes tonight  between Olney Road and Great Falls Streets at 9 pm. and reopens 6 am. Friday morning. Then the same thing happens Thursday and Friday nights.

The closing is necessary while steel is erected on a new bridge that will carry the Silver Line Metro tracks for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project in the median of the Dulles Connector Road across Magarity Road.

Magarity Road runs north/south parallel to Route 123 from Great Falls Street to Route 7. All side streets south of the Connector Road along Magarity will be open. Magarity Road from Olney Road south toward Route 7 will not be affected.

Residents of Pimmit Hills, the Commons and other residential areas along Magarity seeking to travel northbound on Magarity Road toward Great Falls Street in McLean will be detoured to make a left turn on to Anderson Road, to a right on Chain Bridge Road to return to Great Falls Street at the first traffic signal.

Drivers from the McLean area who use Magarity Road to access Route 7, Pimmit Hills and commercial developments off Anderson Road can use Route 123 south to a left turn at Anderson Road to return to Magarity beyond the work zone or use Chain Bridge Road to a left turn on Anderson Road to a right on Magarity.  Drivers northbound along Magarity toward McLean will be rerouted to Anderson Road to Chain Bridge Road or Route 123.

Motorists should exercise caution and be alert to signs and detours in these areas.  Police will be on site to help ensure safety.

For all work performed during overnight hours, construction crews operate under a Noise Variance from Fairfax County.  There may be intermittent periods of construction noise associated with equipment movement and placing and securing the steel girders.  For construction-related emergencies including noise, please use the project HOTLINE at 877-585-6789.

For further information about the project, please visit the project website at http://www.dullesmetro.com or call 703-572-0506

McLean Board Meets Behind Closed Doors

By Bobbi Bowman, The McLean Ear

MCLEAN, VA –  A committee of the McLean Community Center board met behind closed doors Tuesday night to discuss their decades-long partnership with the McLean Project for the Arts whose gallery and studio are located in the Community Center.

MPA runs the Center’s Visual Arts program and pays a yearly fee of about $20,000  for 2000 square feet of space, under their 21-year-old agreement.

McLean Day This Week in McLean

Tuesday May 11, Noon, McLean Rotary, Jan Scruggs, father of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
1545 Chain Bridge Road Fellowship Hall.

7 pm. McLean Project for the Arts, Spring  fundraiser . Gov. Robert McDonnell, guest of honor. Contact: streanor@mpaart.org or call 703-790-1953.

7 pm. Kent Gardens PTA Meeting, Media Center.

7 pm. McLean Community Players Auditions for Little Women, The Musical, McLean Committee Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave.

7:30pm. Chesterbrook Elementary School PTA Meeting.

Wednesday May 12, 7:30 am. Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce, Breakfast Series, Converting to a green business.

7:30 pm. McLean Community Center Program Committee, McLean Committee Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave.

7 p.m. Old Firehouse Teen Center, Open House for Rising 7th-Graders

Thursday, May 13, Churchill Rd. Elementary PTA, Exploratory Arts Room.

Friday, May 14, 7:30 pm, Spring Hill Elementary, Family Astronomy Night, Turner Farm.

Saturday, May 15, McLean Day, Lewinsville Park, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents will elect four adults and two students members to the McLean Community Center board that oversees the center’s $17.4 million in funds and its operations.  Lewinsville Park, 1659 Chain Bridge Rd.

Youth candidates, one from the McLean High School boundary area and one from the Langley High School boundary area. Youth candidates do not have to attend these schools to serve on the board. Absentee ballots  through Wednesday, May 12. Residents may pick up an absentee ballot package at the Center’s reception desk, or may call the Center at 703-790-0123, TTY: 711, or send a request by E-mail, to have the package mailed to their homes. Completed ballots must be received by the Center by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 12.

11 am. Claude Moore Colonial Farm, Market Fair. Continues thru Sunday.

Sunday May 16, 3 pm. Doug Berky presents Gems: The World’s Wisdom Stories, McLean Committee Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave.

Monday, May 17, 7:30 pm. McLean High PTSA.

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Put a Smile on Someone’s Face – Maybe Even Your Own

Help make Vinson Hall Retirement Community’s “Fun Fest 2010” a success by volunteering your time.
The Fun Fest is June 5th from 10am to 4pm at Vinson Hall, which is located at 6251 Old Dominion Dr.
Vinson Hall is looking for people willing to work two-hour shifts running a game booth, selling tickets, or staffing one of the stands selling tasty treats.
In addition to games and food, there will be plenty of entertainment including the Fairfax Youth Symphonic Orchestra, Bach to Rock, the McLean Presbyterian Choir, and the Vinson Hall Vixens Dance Ensemble.
The rain date is June 12. To volunteer, contact Phil DuBois at (703) 538-2994 or philipd@vinsonhall.org.

No Charges in School Bus Crash in McLean Neighborhood

McLean firefighters who rescued school bus driver pinned in his bus that crashed into a tree. Left to right, Lt. Joe Kratochvil, ATech Joel Fry, HTech Mark Baban, HTech Greg Bishop.

By Bobbi Bowman, The McLean Ear
MCLEAN, VA -Fairfax County school bus driver Jim Hickey, 71, may have suffered a medical emergency prior to crashing his school bus through the front yard of  Kent Gardens home and into a tree yesterday, Fairfax County police said. No children were on the bus.

Hickey was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital with non life-threatening injuries by McLean firemen, according to reports from the Fairfax police and fire departments.  No charges will be placed against the driver, Fairfax police said this morning.

Hickey, who has worked for the schools for four years, had just taken students to kindergarten Thursday and was traveling west on Kirby Road when the accident occurred about noon at the corner of Kirby Road and Barbee Street.

Four McLean firemen worked for  90 minutes to two hours yesterday afternoon  rescuing Hickey who whose legs were trapped by the smashed in front of the bus  at Barbee Street in Kent Gardens.

Capt. Mike Garcia of the McLean Fire station said his men worked with power and hand tools to rescue Hickey.

Haleh Merrikh who lives across Barbee from the accident said, “A little after 12, I saw a bus coming through the ditch, leaning to the right. It went straight, jumped over the asphalt and went straight towards the neighbor’s house.”

“It was really shocking. We were shaking,” she said.

She ran out of her house to the driver. The bus stopped when it hit a tall maple tree in the front yard of the house on the northwest corner.

“He was leaning forward as if he was trapped,” she said. The whole side of the bus was gone, she said. The driver was talking but hurt. She called her son’s school to report the accident.

Mia Greco came on the scene with her mother Francesca about 1 p.m. “They had drills and everything trying to get him out,” Mia said. They returned about 7 p.m. to inspect the scarred maple tree, the deep tracks gouged in the yard and the smashed shrubbery.

Mia and Francesca Greco in front of the tree damaged in the school bus crash.

“If the trees hadn’t been there, he would have gone into the creek,” said Francesca Greco.

Abigail and Michele Reiman inspect an wind shield wiper found at the site of a bus crash Thursday afternoon.

Other neighbors, Abigail Reiman and her mother Michele visited a few minutes later. Abigail picked up a windshield wiper and an intercom apparently from the bus.

Capt. Garcia fire units from Arlington and Tysons Corner also responded to the accident scene.

McLean Citizens Association To Vote on Tysons Corner Resolutions Tonight

The McLean Citizens Association meets tonight to vote on two resolutions centering on Fairfax County’s plans to turn our neighbor Tysons Corner into a city in about 20 years.

MCA president Rob Jackson said in an e-mail this week: “We also have two important resolutions on Tysons Corner. . .  While the Planning Commission has held its public hearing on Tysons, the record is still open and the Commission has not yet marked up the Comprehensive Plan or the Zoning Ordinance for recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.  The Comp Plan resolution is long, but this is the largest land use case in the United States.  It builds on all of our previous resolutions, but also provides positions on the specific matters to be decided by the county in the very near term.  The zoning resolution is much shorter, as the proposed ordinance amendments merely allow what is proposed in the revised Comp Plan.

The McLean Community Association is a federation of  homeowners associations in and around McLean.  The members are usually appointed by their homeowners associations. The group is totally voluntary.

The MCA has been carefully following the Tysons proposals. In April, an estimated 100 people attended the MCA meeting to hear an explanation of the Tysons’ proposals. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will ultimately adopt a plan for Tysons future growth.

“Essentially, our resolution would support the proposal made on March 17 by Planning Commissioner Walter Alcorn, with several key modifications/additions, which we believe would flesh out the plan; provide for sustainable growth at the four new rail stations in Tysons; protect the surrounding communities, including McLean, Vienna, Falls Church and Great Falls; and insist added density be accompanied by the necessary accretions to public facilities, which are paid primarily by the landowners that stand to gain huge profits from the zoning changes.  The resolution recommends the county use the same funding formula (75-25 – landowner/other sources) that has been used successfully by both Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in the Route 28 corridor,” Jackson said.

“Also key to the resolution is our insistence on an interim and lower re-planning trigger . . .  in the event the Dulles Toll Road cannot be expanded.  The linchpin to Tysons growth . . . is  an expansions of the Dulles Toll Road and (now) the possible imposition of dynamic pricing, which would be designed to reduce peak period volume on the Toll Road by 10 to 20%.  Many, including several planning commissioners, fear that much of this traffic would simply shift to neighborhood streets—a completely unacceptable result.

“Toll Road expansion would require new state legislation, approval from the Dept. of the Interior to turn over parts of Wolf Trap National Park; the likely condemnation of portions of private residential lots; invasion of multiple resource protection areas designed to protect the Chesapeake Bay; and the dismantling and rebuilding of multiple Silver Line support facilities that are just being constructed. . .   It would also require elected officials to explain why we need to spend several hundred million dollars more to expand the Toll Road after spending $5.3 billion to bring rail to Wiehle Avenue, a project originally sold to residents as a means to reduce Toll Road traffic.  Many of us simply do not believe expansion is possible.  Therefore, there needs to be a lower, interim re-planning trigger in the event the Toll Road is not expanded.”

If you want to attend:

When: 8 p.m.

Where: McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue.

Bring coffee these are usually long meetings.

Laura Bush Visits McLean Today for Book Signing

By Bobbi Bowman, The McLean Ear

MCLEAN, VA – Former First Lady Laura Bush is expected to see 300-350 people who have bought her new memoir and want her to autograph it Tuesday at the Books-a-Million store in downtown McLean.

Mrs. Bush will  sign about 600 copies of “Spoken from the Heart” between from noon to  3 pm.

To make her comfortable as she greets her fans, the store staff went shopping in McLean Monday. They purchased an ornate gold chair from Treasure Trove and a cushion for extra comfort from Squire Chase.

“We’re pleased to have Mrs. Bush in our store again,” said Kenneth Polk, assistant general manager. “We’re happy to be hosting this book signing on the release date of the book.”

A black table with the new chair and cushion now sits on a raised platform in the center of the Chain Bridge store with black drapes on three sides.

If you are going:

The store opens at 9 am. You will need a wristband (handed out Sunday and Monday) and a book to enter the store.

Each wristband has a number, but that number does not guarantee you that space in line, Polk said.

Prohibited: No photographs. No large bags, backpacks or strollers. If a customer must leave the line to put a prohibited item in their car, they will not be guaranteed a return to their place in line, Polk said.

Wheelchairs are allowed.

Yes, the Secret Service is in charge.

This is Mrs. Bush’s second visit to the McLean Books-A-Million.  She came April 24, 2008, when she was still in the White House, to sign “Read All About It” a book she wrote with her daughter Jenna, to encourage children to read.

Remembering McLean’s African-American History

Dr. Elizabeth Crowell of the Fairfax County Park Authority, Dranesville Supervisor John Foust, Dranesville Park Authority representative Kevin Fay and Park Authority Board Chair William Bouie, unveil plaque marking site of the Alfred Odrick homesite.

By Bobbi Bowman, The McLean Ear

MCLEAN, VA – Old and new Fairfax County met briefly at a small hollow square with flat stacked stones on two sides shaded by the tall trees just west of the intersection of Lewinsville and Spring Hill Roads near the entrance to the Bellmead subdivision.

These stones are a great archeological find for the history detectives of the Fairfax County Park Authority.  These are the  remains of the home of Alfred Odrick the founding father of a thriving community of freed slaves and their descendants. With the exception of Gum Springs in southern Fairfax County, no post-Civil War black archeological sites had been located in Fairfax until the discovery of the Odrick site.

Dranesville Supervisor John Foust, Dranesville representative to the Fairfax County Park Authority Board Kevin Fay and about 30 neighbors and others gathered for the unveiling of an historic marker at the site Saturday afternoon.