June 2009 Archives
June 28, 2009
Historic Preservation in Vienna: Does it Mean Anything? Comments (9)
Historic Status Sought for Vienna's Freeman Store, Town's First Library
By Brian Trompeter
June 27, 2009Historic Vienna Inc. officials soon will ask Vienna officials for permission to apply to have the Freeman Store and original Vienna Library added to the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
If the council approves, group officials will fill out a preliminary information form and evaluation, which will be reviewed over a three- to four-month period by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. If all goes well, approval could come by the end of the year, said Sarah Jane Brady of Historic Vienna Inc.
The application first would be reviewed in September by the agency’s Northern Regional Preservation Office in Stephens City. If found worthy, it will be passed on to officials at the main office in Richmond.
If the agency approves the proposal, Historic Vienna officials then must submit a larger application that will require much more investigative work and research by a historical architect, said Cathy Salgado, the town’s parks and recreation director.
While there is no charge for being added to the historic registers, the historical architect’s work would cost about $5,000, Brady said.
Historic Vienna Inc. would finance those fees through its own moneys or apply for grants to cover the expenses. Group leaders will not ask the town government, which is strapped for cash during the recession, to pay for those costs, she said.
The Freeman Store, built in 1859, was used as a Union hospital and officers’ billeting station from 1862 to 1866.
“We have a lot of diary records of women who nursed wounded Union men at the white house on Old Georgetown Road, which was renamed Church Street in the 1870s,” Brady said.
The building served as a store and an insurance agency until 1941 and then served as a private residence throughout the 1950s. The town of Vienna bought the Freeman Store in the late 1960s and refurbished it in time for the nation’s bicentennial in 1976, Brady said.
The Freeman Store is a fine example of a country store from the Victorian era, she said.
“We believe it helps people see how the common man lived and put themselves back in that time period,” Brady said.
The original Vienna Library was built in 1897 and located on Library Lane at the town’s west end. The square clapboard building, which measured 20.5 feet on each side, was moved to Maple Avenue and Center Street in 1913.
The library continued operating until 1962, when a temporary facility was built at a nearby shopping center. The building was moved to the Freeman Store site in 1970 during construction of Patrick Henry Library.
The original library has about 35 bookshelves and a collection of books dating from the 1830s to the 1950s.
The historic-register application requires at least four interior photographs of each building; exterior photos taken from north, south, east and west; and pictures of the general setting and other buildings on the sites.
Historic Vienna leaders obtained sketch site plans and U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps for each site. Sketch site plans show the historic sites under consideration, as well as outbuildings, nearby roads and highways, and potential and known archaeological sites.
Separate applications would be required for the Freeman Store and library, Brady said.
The library application may face an obstacle because it was moved from its original location.
A similar move of the 1897 Oakton Schoolhouse, which was relocated a half-mile north on Hunter Mill Road, disqualified it from being considered from the National Register of Historic Places, Fairfax County officials said.
Brady, who has worked at Gunston Hall in Mason Neck and Gadsby’s Tavern in Alexandria, said officials had said those sites “never” would be included on the national register, but eventually were.
Owners of sites listed on historic registers can apply for preservation easements, which reduce real estate taxes, and qualify for state and federal historic-rehabilitation tax credits.
Historic registers do not protect buildings on those sites from being torn down, but certain restrictions may apply in cases where easements are donated and grants or tax credits accepted.
The Vienna Town Council will decide on July 6 whether Historic Vienna should go ahead with the application process. The group’s proposal was well-received at the council’s June 8 work session.
“This is a very admirable and long-overdue thing to do,” Mayor M. Jane Seeman said at the work session.
June 13, 2009
Roy Baldwin Defeated: Machine Member Tossed Aside Comments (5)
Now that the voters have sent Roy Baldwin back to humping divorce cases -- everyone can take a deep breath that one of Vienna's biggest losers will not be our State delegate. See what happens when a machine member (Baldwin) has to run in an election outside of sham May Vienna elections? Down in defeat.
June 10, 2009
Sexual Assualt on Park Street near Cedar Lane Apartments. Comments (52)
Sexual Assault in Vienna Area
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/news-releases/2009/060906sexualassaultvienna.htm
McLean Police District – A 21-year-old woman was assaulted while walking in the 8600 block of Park Street in Vienna. On Sunday, June 7 at around 9 p.m., the victim was allegedly grabbed by a man who forced her to a near by dumpster. The suspect sexually assaulted the victim before she was able to break free. She did not require medical attention.
The victim reported the incident on June 8 and officers located a suspect in the area of the alleged incident. The suspect, Edwin Requeno-Lemus, 34, of 148 Cedar Lane #194 in Vienna was arrested and transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. He was charged with abduction and sexual battery.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477, e-mail at www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES/274637 or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.
June 09, 2009
We're Stunned, Too. Everything that Happens in Vienna is Simply Stunning. Comments (20)
Bill for Election Rankles Vienna Officials
by Brian Trompeter, June 9, 2009
Did you put an “I Voted” sticker on your lapel after casting a ballot in the May 5 Vienna Town Council election? If Fairfax County gets its way, that small expression of civic pride will cost the town a penny.
Fairfax County General Registrar Rokey Suleman on May 13 sent Vienna officials an invoice for $2,897.19, which included about $1,500 in fees that had not been charged in previous elections.
“For many years, Fairfax County has absorbed most of the expenses associated with conducting town elections,” read Suleman’s letter to the town. “Due to recent state and county budget cuts, however, the Office of Elections can no longer afford to subsidize the May town elections.”
Vienna officials used to run the town’s annual elections and select, feed and pay the election officers. But that ended after the May 2007 election, when challengers and their supporters cried foul after an election officer instructed some voters to vote for three candidates, when there actually was no such requirement.
Fairfax County last year began choosing the town’s election officers and running the Vienna spring election. After the 2008 Vienna election, the town paid only about $1,400 for the election officers. But those fees more than doubled this year because of straitened budget circumstances.
Charges the town would have covered under the earlier agreement included a $200 fee for a chief election officer, $150 for an assistant chief officer and $100 apiece for 10 election officers. There also was a $17.60 charge for election officer mileage, paid at 55 cents per mile.
But now county officials passed down absentee-voting costs to the town. These included $74.13 for the county print shop to produce 300 paper ballots, $16.52 to cover postage of 28 mailed ballots and $11.20 for certificates of mailing for those ballots.
As for in-person absentee voting on May 2, the county billed the town $183.69 for an absentee-voting supervisor, $238.80 for a pair of registration assistants.
Fairfax County did not charge the town for six hours of the general registrar’s time on election day. But the county billed Vienna $218.58 for the services of the deputy registrar, $214.08 for the election manager and $43.22 for two hours of the absentee supervisor’s time.
The county also billed the town $5.36 for eight paper rolls, $4.20 for 20 numbered security seals, $50 for voting cart/machine delivery, $10.50 for 1,000 “I Voted” stickers, $15.81 for 100 voting permit cards and $10 for manuals, pens, envelopes, labels and other miscellaneous expenses.
In his letter to the town, Suleman suggested that Vienna might save money by holding elections every two years, as do the towns of Clifton and Herndon. Doing so would allow Vienna to share Saturday in-person absentee voting expenses with those towns, the letter stated.
Vienna could obviate all its election expenses by moving the town election to November - a switch that also might result in greater voter participation, Suleman’s letter read.
Vienna Mayor M. Jane Seeman wrote a letter to Suleman protesting the charges, which “stunned” the Town Council, she said.
Town officials are happy to continue paying for election officers, as they have in years past, but as for the other items, “we feel we’ve already paid for them as Fairfax County residents and taxpayers,” Seeman said.
Council member Michael Polychrones said town officials aren’t going to lie down for many of the new charges.
“This is an opportune time for the mayors of the three towns to sit down with [Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon] Bulova and say, ‘This is how it’s going to be. Work it out,’” Polychrones said.
Even if town officials desired to alter the dates and frequency of Vienna elections, it would require town charter changes that would take years, Seeman said.
More election financial clouds may be on the horizon for local governments.
After July 1, the State Board of Elections will not print poll books or process voting credits. These expenses will be passed on to counties, which will forward them to towns.
June 05, 2009
"So Freakin' What?!" says the Mayor Comments (39)
Two Families File Suit Over '07 Fireworks Accident
Fairfax Officials Had Tried to Create Larger Safety Zone, but Vienna ResistedBy Tom Jackman
The Washington Post
Friday, June 5, 2009For several years, Fairfax County fire marshals warned Vienna officials that shooting off large fireworks in the middle of town was a bad idea and even tried to add safety regulations that would push spectators farther from the launch zone, according to town documents.
But Vienna officials successfully pushed back against new regulations and continued to stage their Fourth of July shows, the documents show. Then, in 2007, a mortar shell rocketed into a crowd surrounding the Waters Field baseball diamonds and seriously injured a group of spectators.
Two families that live just outside Vienna have sued the town and some of its officials, Fairfax County's fire marshals, the show operator, Schaefer Pyrotechnics, and the company alleged to have imported the fireworks, Huisky Trading.
"My family is still recovering from traumatic physical and psychological injuries," said Andre Hollis, whose wife and two children were injured. "For many of their wounds, there will be no full recovery."
Vienna again is fighting back. The town says it has no liability for the incident and has cross-sued Schaefer, saying it had agreed to insure the show and hold Vienna blameless. It also claims immunity as a governmental entity.
"We complied with all state, local and national standards for firing fireworks, and we would not have proceeded if that weren't true," Vienna Town Attorney Steven Briglia said. "Just because we have insurance and we feel bad somebody was hurt doesn't mean the town has an obligation."
After the 2007 incident, the Fairfax fire department, whose marshals handle inspection and permits for every fireworks show in the county, doubled the required distance between spectators and the launch site. Fire spokesman Dan Schmidt declined to discuss specific allegations in the lawsuits while they are pending but said, "Our number one priority is for the safety of the spectators."
Vienna officials staged a laser light show last year. They plan to resume fireworks this year, launching them from Southside Park, just north of Interstate 66.
The lawsuits claim that during the 2007 show, a three-inch shell skimmed just above the ground and struck Michael Ku, who was standing with his 6-year-old son, Conley. It then bounced to the ground and exploded next to Kathryn Hollis, who was sitting with her 3-year-old son, Max, in her lap and 7-year-old son, Alex, standing next to her.
According to their lawsuits, the Kus suffered severe burns, perforated eardrums and puncture wounds from the shell's debris, and the Hollises suffered disfiguring burns and traumatic brain injuries from the blast.
Vienna's fireworks show was one of six in Northern Virginia that night in which "cake boxes" of three-inch mortars exploded, launching shells at dangerous angles instead of into the sky. All the shows were run by Schaefer, of Ronks, Pa. No one was hurt at the other five shows, where spectators were much farther from the launch sites than were those in Vienna, though a shell did zip between two Schaefer employees in Fairfax City and slam into a fence, causing the rest of that show to be canceled.
Schaefer owner Kimmel Schaefer did not return a call seeking comment. The company has reported that it obtained the cake boxes, containing 25 shells each, from Huisky Trading Co. of Great Neck, N.Y.
Huisky's owner, Xin Sheng Huang, said, "We did not supply the product." He said tracking codes linked to Huisky were misused on the boxes.
One of the fire marshals named in the suits, Deputy Chief Keith Johnson, rushed into the chaos, summoned medevac helicopters and is credited by the Hollises with possibly saving Kathryn Hollis's life.
As the finger-pointing continues, Joseph Cammarata, the Kus' attorney, is angry that no one has come forward to accept responsibility and help the victims.
"If a government is responsible to its citizens," Cammarata said, "we should not have to be in a position where innocent citizens have to chase down vendors and operators. The innocent spectators should be able to be compensated without having to prove somebody did something wrong."
Vienna had hosted a fireworks show at Waters Field, just off Route 123 in the heart of the town, for more than 20 years. But starting in 2001, problems arose, sometimes because of the wind. A resident who lives near Waters Field wrote to the mayor in 2001 that "large pieces of shell cases landed on the roofs and yards," a letter produced in the lawsuits shows.
In 2002, a Fairfax fire marshal wrote that "we observed several pieces of flaming debris land on people located in this area" and that "large (4-inch) diameter shells present safety hazards for this restricted site. Shells should be restricted to three inches."
Vienna continued to use 4-inch and 3-inch shells. In 2004, Fairfax decided to increase the distance between spectators and the launch site by 30 feet per inch of shell, or 120 extra feet for a four-inch shell. The national standard is 70 feet per inch of shell.
Vienna Mayor M. Jane Seeman responded with a letter to the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, complaining that the new rule will "force the Town to significantly decrease the size and scope of the show. The Town of Vienna carries its own insurance and we feel that as long as we abide by [national fire code] standards there should not be a problem."
Fairfax backed down. Then-Fire Chief Michael P. Neuhard wrote to the board that "it was decided to leave the section Mayor Seeman referred to as it is currently written." Neuhard added that "the Town of Vienna fireworks display each Fourth of July causes the Fire Prevention Division more concern than any other site in Fairfax County," in part because of problems with "fallout (ash) raining down on the spectators."
Andre Hollis, who stayed home to help a neighbor and was not with his family members when they were hit, said: "A government has a responsibility to protect its citizens from known threats. And I stress 'known.' Because the town of Vienna's own documents show they knew of this risk for years. And when confronted with this, the mayor said, 'So what? We have insurance.' "
Briglia said the errant 3-inch shell landed about 450 feet from the launch site, more than double the national standard for 3-inch shells, but not for 4-inch shells.
"The town's position is this was a product liability issue," he said. "The fireworks that failed came from the factory sealed, and the town of Vienna cannot inspect fireworks coming in from China. . . . We're basically spectators at our own show."
June 04, 2009
Pay Raises? Comments (7)
Vienna Residents, Council Members Spar Over Pay Raises
by Brian Trompeter, June 3, 2009Everyone who spoke at the June 1 Vienna Town Council meeting, from council members to Vienna residents, agreed town employees provide excellent services.
But there was strong disagreement within both groups over whether the council should increase Vienna’s real estate tax rate to give eligible town workers pay raises.
Carole Wolfand, owner of Vienna Paint & Decorating Co., said all of the store’s employees, including her, have taken pay cuts because business has declined sharply.
Raising taxes to finance pay increases for town workers would impose unnecessarily on business owners and the public, Wolfand said.
“The pay-increase proposal should not be on the table,” she said.
Vienna Town Manager John Schoeberlein’s proposed fiscal year 2010 budget would raise the tax rate by 2.4 cents to 23.31 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The proposed budget does not include cost-of-living adjustments for town employees, but leaves in place salary-step increases based on longevity with the town. Many of the town’s 177 workers qualify for the increases, which average 3 percent.
Vienna resident David Minyard and Master Police Officer Tom Taylor, president of the Vienna Police Association, pressed the council to at least give step increases to law-enforcement personnel. Police health-insurance premiums soon will increase $35 per month, Taylor said.
But Donald Chumley, who serves on the Vienna Board of Zoning Appeals, urged council members not to give raises just to certain employee groups.
“Is it really fair to those people on the sanitation trucks that they get nothing?” Chumley asked.
Vienna resident Richard Dingman said the council should hold the line on tax increases during this recession.
“Bear in mind that the tax burden covers an awful lot of people,” Dingman said.
Vienna resident John Runyon also argued for fiscal restraint.
“The message you send as delegates is important,” Runyon told the council. “Everybody in the country is suffering, except a few who are very wealthy.”
Council member Michael Polychrones, who is serving as president of the Virginia Municipal League, provided a lengthy list of Northern Virginia jurisdictions that had frozen pay levels or laid off employees.
But Council member Maud Robinson, who did not seek re-election this year and will leave office on June 30, said the town government has managed its affairs prudently and should reward its employees as a matter of civic pride.
Vienna residents pay the town’s real estate tax in addition to the one levied by Fairfax County.
Council member Edythe Kelleher noted that because town property values did not decline as sharply as others in the county, Vienna homeowners will get stuck paying an average of $224 more under the newly increased county tax rate.
The Town Council will discuss the salary-step question at its work session on Monday, June 8 at 7 p.m. and will adopt the fiscal year 2010 budget at its June 15 meeting.
Under state law, the council may adopt a tax rate that is lower than the one advertised, but not set the rate higher than that amount.
If the council opts not to finance step increases this year, it is unlikely the town would double-up on such increases in future years to make up the difference, Schoeberlein said.
“If it’s gone this year, it would be gone forever,” he said.
