March 13, 2024
Hello everyone. After sending out the last newsletter, I received about 160 error messages form aol, Verizon, and juno email addresses. Our resident computer expert extraordinaire – Bob Havey – was able to resolve this after a lot of trial and error. Because of this, I am adding the last newsletter to the bottom of this one.
1. Safety
2. Vehicles at RVES
3. RVES Kindergarten Orientation on April 2
4. Scam alerts
5. AirBnb’s and County policy
6. College scholarship opportunity
7. Tax Relief Workshops at West Springfield Government Center March 14 and 28
8. Flood Awareness Week
9. ECHO News
10. Calendar
1 – This is a vent/rant. If you are on Barnack and at the front of the line at the light with Rolling in the morning during rush hour times, you probably know that people on Rolling run the light in both directions. I see it every 1-2 weeks. Many people (including me) wait a few seconds after the light turns green to look and make sure someone will not run into them. If you are behind someone at the front of the line and notice that they do not floor it as soon as the light changes, please do not honk. If you are running so late that waiting a few seconds is a dire emergency, set your alarm a few seconds earlier. Vent/rant over.
2 – I received a couple of emails about concerns with vehicles parked in front of Rolling Valley Elementary School (RVES) at drop-off and pick-up causing a lot of congestion be being inconsiderate. I contacted the FCPD Community liaison who forwarded me to the West Springfield Police. Officer Cosmo replied to me to say they are aware of it and are working with the Principal on a solution. If anyone wants to provide any information, you can contact him at Nicholas.Cosmo@fairfaxcounty.gov .
3 – RVES is going to have the Kindergarten Orientation at our school on April 2nd from 3:00 to 4:00 pm.
4 – Fairfax County and Police have sent out warnings about an increase in scams. The last newsletter had some information about it as well. You can go to the FCPD site for their information - https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/HowDoI/FinancialCrimes/CommonScams .
One scam I heard of is people randomly sending people money on Venmo. A little while later, they contact you saying it was an accident and asking to send it back. The money is initially sent from a stolen credit/debit card. When funds are retrieved for the stolen card, Venmo takes that money out of your account since you received it and used it. If you see unknown money sent to your account, ignore it for a while and it will most likely disappear. You can also contact Venmo about it.
5 – Last month, I was made aware that the vacant rental property across the street from me is an AirBnb. The ‘guest’ was having a party at night. After calling the police since I thought it was teenagers who broke in and were having a party, the guest came by after the police left to apologize. I then found the listing on AirBnb’s site that was started about 7 months ago. I did a little searching and found out you need a zoning permit to have a Short-Term Rental (STR) property. That is what an AirBnb is classified as. I contacted the County and was told that a permit was not acquired, so it was an illegal STR. The owner had a violation mailed to them. I contacted the FCPD Community Liaison if zoning violation warranted contacting the police.
If you have STR property, please be aware of the County’s requirements to have one. You also need to report stuff to the County every month.
6 – From the Braddock Supervisor’s newsletter:
The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD) is currently accepting college scholarship applications up until April 1.
Fairfax County high school seniors or college freshmen are eligible to receive a $1,000 Future Conservation Leaders Scholarship from NVSWCD. This scholarship supports students studying in the field of natural resource conservation and is focused on investing in the talented youth of Fairfax County.
NVSWCD’s Future Conservation Leaders Scholarship award winner will also be submitted to the VASWCD Educational Foundation committee for review and may be eligible to receive one of four $2,000 state-wide scholarships.
If you need an application sent via U.S. mail or in an alternative format, email NVSWCD or call (703) 324-1460 | TTY 711.
7 – From the Springfield Supervisor’s newsletter:
On March 14th and March 28th, join the Department of Tax Administration for Tax Relief Workshops at the West Springfield Government Center from 10:30am until 1:30pm to assist with filling out the 2024 tax relief application forms, as well as answering questions. To ensure that we are assisting individuals in a timely manner, all workshops will be utilizing appointment scheduling. For more information and to schedule an appointment please see this link: Tax Relief Workshops | Tax Administration (fairfaxcounty.gov)
8 – From Fairfax County’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services:
It’s Flood Awareness Week!
Flooding is one of Fairfax County’s most common hazards. Be prepared for flooding no matter where you live, but particularly if you are near a floodplain, a sump, or have an inadequate path for overland relief near your home. Most homeowner insurance policies do not cover damage caused by flooding and just one inch of water can cause $25,000 damage to your home.
Do you know how the water flows around your home? Have you made room for runoff? Make room for the runoff by keeping flow paths clear of fences, planting beds, sheds, and other obstructions that could block the stormwater and cause ponding or flooding.
If you live in Fairfax County, use the Flood Risk Awareness Tool to better understand your flood risk.
9 – From ECHO’s newsletter:
ECHO Yard Sale Scheduled for April 6
ECHO’s popular Spring Yard Sale is slated for Saturday, April 6, at St. Bernadette’s School Gym, 7602 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield. Proceeds from the sale benefit ECHO which makes shopping a good deed! It is fun to browse through a whole gymnasium filled with electronics, fashion accessories, holiday decorations, toys, games, home accessories, and more, to search for treasures at bargain prices. Mark your calendar now!
Food Needs Outstrip Food Donations
While ECHO is determined to combat hunger in our community, requests for food assistance continue to be at record levels. Recently, ECHO has been distributing about a thousand pounds of food more per month than the amount donated. ECHO must make up the shortfall by purchasing food. Every donation counts. Please donate food if you can. There are food drop-off boxes at the West Springfield and Braddock District Government offices as well as in four Giant Food stores in Springfield. Our most-needed items at this time are dried beans, canned fruits, boxed pasta, spaghetti sauce, shampoo, dish detergent and laundry detergent.
Hand towels, blue jeans, and pinched toes
ECHO distributes towels to those we serve by giving sets consisting of washcloth, hand towel and bath towel, tied together for convenience. The ECHO Housewares Program is out of, or very low on, hand towels and washcloths. We don’t require new or matching towels. We just need donations. We'll take care of the rest. Bathmats, shower curtains and all sizes of comforters are on our list of needs, too. Our Clothing Room needs men’s winter coats, men's sweatpants in any size and, always, men’s jeans in 30- or 32- inch waist sizes. We’re short of boys’ sneakers sizes 1 through 4, and girls’ sneakers sizes 1 through 6. If you have growing young feet at your house and can share their outgrown shoes, ECHO will be happy to find the little feet that have grown into those sizes and pass them along!
ECHO, 7205 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield, is open from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm on weekdays and from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
Volunteer Positions Open
ECHO has a few volunteer positions open. If you are looking for a great way to use your time and talent, one of these areas might appeal to you: working directly with clients to determine what they need; administrative support; food distribution; clothing assessment; grant writing; housewares assessment. If you are interested in finding out more, contact volunteercoordinator@echo-inc.org by email.
Upcoming Dates to Note
March 18-20 - Change to spring and summer clothing
March 28 - Closed in the evening
March 29 - Closed for Good Friday
April 6 - Saturday Opening
April 6 - Yard Sale, St. Bernadette’s Gym
10 – See ECHOs dates above
March 12 and 28 – Tax Relief Workshops at West Springfield Government Center
March 20 – First Day of Spring
March 23 - Purim
March 31 – Easter Sunday
April 2 – 3-4pm, RVES Kindergarten Orientation
April 9 – end of Ramadan
April 15 – Tax Day
February 20, 2024
Sorry for the delay. I thought I had sent one out a few weeks ago. There is a lot of information this time, so sit in a comfy chair.
1. Safety
2. Snow information
3. Trash Information
4. Currently looking for a VP, will soon be looking for a Treasurer
5. Transportation Projects – Rolling Rd and FFX County Parkway
6. ECHO news
7. Village West Pool news
8. Scam information
9. First announcement for Spring Community Yard Sale
10. New DMV office on Braddock Rd, Fair Oaks office has closed
11. Calendar
1 – Some information to make your life a little safer for you and others:
·A reminder that it is VA law that you must STOP for pedestrians in crosswalks.
·Please wear light or reflective clothing when walking in the dark. Better yet, walk with a flashlight. Also, please do not look at your phone when crossing the street.
·An FYI from both the police and VDOT that driving when using marijuana can get you arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). It is the same as alcohol where it is legal to use, but not before driving a vehicle where it impairs your driving.
2 – I thought we would have had another decent snowfall event by now so I would have rushed to send out a newsletter, but last week’s dud forecast prevented it. The storm last month had a few hiccups with delayed plowing and an unusual trash pickup schedule. Supervisor Herrity explained the reason for the street plowing. He said that forecasts up to 3” do not warrant plowing for residential streets. That was the forecast leading up to the storm. The forecast was upgraded, but it was too late to authorize residential street plowing to keep up with the storm.
During the next decent snow event, you can look at VDOT’s Snow Plows Map.
You can also look at Fairfax County's Guide to Snow
You can also look at VDOT’s street cameras at www.virginia511.org and download their free mobile app by searching Virginia 511.
A tip for preventing your trash bins from getting knocked over or the front of your house avoided form plows is to put your bin on the grass between the curb and the sidewalk. That way, the plow can get closer to the curb to remove more snow.
Here is some information from Dominion:
If your power goes out, please use your smartphone to go to https://dominionenergy.com and click "Report Outage or Emergency" to report your outage and see their progress on restoring service.
Please report any downed power lines through Dominion's interactive voice response system at 866-366-4357. Please stay away from downed power lines and anything touching them for your safety
3 – I only have information for Republic Services since that is who I use. You can look up their schedule at any time by going to www.republicservices.com/schedule . Slowly enter your address in the bar until you see yours pop up and select it. It will first show the next Holiday service, followed by the schedule for the current month.
I get robocalls when there is a change of service. If you do not get them, you should call the number on your latest invoice and make sure your account information is up to date.
4 – I am still looking for a Vice President. A task is to give me any community information and reminders to send out the newsletter. If you are interested, please let me know. If not, the frequency of newsletters will be as sporadic as it has been.
In a few months, we will be in need of a Treasurer. The current one did not give a specific end date, but Springtime is a good estimate. If you are interested, please let me know.
5 – I did meet with VDOT staff regarding our sign on Rolling Rd. The ball is in their court for deciding on the exact location and telling me when to submit the permit application. They gave me a few possible locations close to the current one, so you might not notice it shifting over when the construction ends. I have secured a storage place for the 2-year wait. The last I heard, they are still on schedule for a Fall start with a 2-year timeframe. You can get information from the VDOT project website
If you saw a lot of trees being removed along the Fairfax County Parkway near Popes Head Rd, that is because of an upcoming interchange project to eliminate the light at the intersection. There will be a ‘Pardon Our Dust’ meeting on February 28th at 7 pm at VDOT headquarters (4975 Alliance Drive in Fairfax). Associated with that project is a future tie-in with the extension of Shirley Gate Rd from Braddock Rd.
There is also a plan to add a lane to each side of the Parkway between Routes 29 and 123. They anticipate construction will start mid-2025.
6 – ECHO has a box to drop off food and clothes in the West Springfield Police Station (open 24 hours) They are also collecting funds from Target:
From ECHO’s newsletter:
The list of ECHO’s needs is always on our website at echo-inc.org. Our Clothing Room especially needs sneakers (new or used, in good condition) for boys, girls, men, and women. The Housewares Department currently needs towels, shower curtains, bathmats, comforters, and frying pans. The Food Pantry needs canned meats or fish, spaghetti sauce, instant coffee, bagged rice, sugar, children’s toothbrushes, laundry detergent, and toilet paper. After the January 1 holiday, ECHO, 7205 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield, will return to normal hours of operation: Monday - Friday, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, 7:00 to 9:00.
7 – From the latest West Village Pool newsletters:
Pool registration is open! Village West Pool is the place to be during the summer! We look forward to welcoming you to our newly renovated pool. For pool information and to become a member, visit our website at http://villagewestpool.com. Village West has a swim team for ages 4-18, and the swim team website is https://www.villagewestvikings.com/page/home. If you have questions or would like to tour the facility, contact the board president, Jen Guernsey, at villagewestpool@gmail.com.
Now hiring lifeguards! Village West Pool is hiring lifeguards for the 2024 summer season. Lifeguards must be at least 15 years of age and will be expected to have Red Cross lifeguard certification in hand by mid-May. Our application form for new lifeguards is available at https://forms.gle/RXCcnpmeX2w3y9mD8. We plan to begin interviewing in late February, so applications should be submitted ASAP, preferably by February 17. Note that we have historically had more applicants than available positions, so we advise applicants not to pursue lifeguard certification until they have a job offer in hand.
8 – Our webmaster extraordinaire Bob Havey asked me to pass along this information:
I don’t do this often, but I just got these Scam Alert links from Social Security, they are right on the mark, and I think they are important. The second link has a couple of videos that are worth watching.
If anyone gets an email or text that they have questions about whether it’s real or fake, I’m pretty good at evaluating them, and I’m happy to help if they forward the questionable message to me at havey@dtwod.com. This is something I routinely do for some of my customers and other friends.
Along with this, the local Supervisors have passed along this information:
The Fairfax Area Agency on Aging’s Caregiver & Supportive Services Unit is pleased to announce its 2024 Caregiver Webinar Series. The webinar series is designed to support family caregivers of older adults and/or adults with a disability.
Register for the webinar on Wednesday, February 21, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. titled Current Popular Scams - Tips for How to Protect Your Loved Ones.
In this presentation, Melissa Smarr will provide an overview of current popular scams that target loved ones of older adults and people with disabilities. Every day some victims are being financially and emotionally exploited by scammers. Learn how to protect, identify, and report these crimes to better protect yourself and your loved ones.
Melissa is a lifelong Northern Virginia resident, who has worked for Fairfax County Government for over 21 years in different capacities and at three agencies. In 2010, Melissa was promoted to branch chief, where she manages building code complaints, unlicensed contractor complaints, and conducts public outreach events. She is a facilitator of the multi-agency initiative, the Silver Shield Anti-Scam Campaign, which focuses on educating older residents about how they can protect themselves from scammers.
Register today or contact Ayiguli Saifuding with questions at Ayiguli.Saifuding@fairfaxcounty.gov or (571) 407-6961.
9 – I learned the hard way last year of rushing to get the word out for the Annual Community Yard Sale, so I am starting a lot earlier this year. For new residents, there is a Community Yard Sale where you sell things in your yard, but the whole community does it the same day. A list of addresses is given out so people know where other nearby houses are selling (or giving away) stuff. Stay tuned for the official date and rain delay date, but it is traditionally mid-late May. If you miss out, you do not have the excuse of not knowing about it early enough.
10 – A new DMV office opened on Braddock Rd directly across from Fairfax Cemetery (Fairfax Memorial Park) at 9855 Braddock Rd. There is no light at this intersection.With ths office opening, the office at Fair Oaks Mall closed.
From the Braddock Supervisor’s newsletter:
the Braddock Road Customer Service Center will be open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to noon. Both service and testing options will be available at the Braddock Road Customer Service Center. Customers may make an appointment, reserve a spot for same-day service, or stop by during operating hours. On-road skills testing and closed-course testing will be available.
This additional information may be helpful:
- DMV offers more than 50 transactions online, including decal and license renewal as well as address changes. Customers are encouraged to take advantage of those convenient services to avoid a trip to a DMV.
- Some services that require in-person visits can be started through an online pre-application. This gives customers the opportunity to begin certain applications from home or on the go. The completed application is electronically submitted; DMV finalizes the pre-filled application during the customer’s visit, reducing time spent at the office.
- Customers can choose to upgrade their credential to a REAL ID and begin the service before arriving.
As a reminder, the Braddock Road DMV Customer Service Center is a state facility built on state property, so it follows the procedures required by the state, not Fairfax County procedures. The Braddock District Office is passing this information along for the community’s awareness.
11 – Calendar
March 10 – Daylight Saving Time starts
March 17 – Saint Patrick’s Day