County To Study Bike Sharing for Reston

Reston's trail network and coming Metro could make it ideal place for Fairfax County's first bike share program

A Look Inside a Head Start Classroom -- And How Sequestration is Keeping Kids Out

The early education program helps prepare students for K-12 education, but more than 800 are waiting for services.

Lillian Hill’s Head Start classroom at Camelot Elementary School is bustling and filled with kids the Friday before Mother’s Day. Hill teaches 16 kids -- a full classroom. Head Start has 89 classrooms across 62 Fairfax County elementary schools, but it's not enough to meet the demand. The program is at capacity but a lack of funds for expansion, partly because of sequestration, means 800 children will stay on a waiting list for Head Start, leaving them less prepared than their peers to enter kindergarten and to learn. The White House estimates that because of the sequester, 70,000 children nationally who would have been served by Head Start will not have access to the program by the end of the year. On this day in Hill's classroom, she is …

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Fairfax County: Homelessness Down 12 percent

Point-in-time survey shows drop from 2012.

How Much Development at New Metro Stations?

Supervisors debate air rights for Fairfax Silver Line stops.

Deadline Extended to May 15 to Enter Celebrate Fairfax First Annual Photo Contest

Presented by Patch, the theme is 'Fairfax Is Beautiful.'

UPDATE: The deadline for the first annual Celebrate Fairfax Photo Contest has been extended to May 15. Enter today! Your photo could be on display at Celebrate Fairfax! --- Are you a natural photographer or just enjoy capturing snapshots of the world around you? Celebrate Fairfax is looking for the best photographs of the natural beauty of Fairfax County and announces their 1st annual Photo Contest! In order to enter, you must submit a photo of something beautiful you see in nature around Fairfax County. You have until May 1 to get your entry in! Let the county be your inspiration — the top 75 entries submitted will be displayed during the Celebrate Fairfax! Festival, which will be held June 7-9. Individuals will compete in one of two …

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Fairfax County Jobs Report: 1,400 New Jobs in 2013

Fairfax County Economic Development Authority officials say despite high number, sequestration will cause job growth to slow down.

The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) helped bring more than 1,400 jobs from 27 different companies during the first quarter of 2013. Salient Federal Solutions, a company that provides information techonology support to government and commercial customers, created the most opportunity countywide, adding 530 jobs in Fairfax, FCEDA officials said Friday.  “In today’s environment, any business growth is remarkable,” FCEDA President and CEO Jerry Gordon said in a statement. But the number of new jobs was still down from the first quarter of 2012, when the FCEDA worked with 46 different businesses to bring in nearly 2,000 jobs. Gordon told Patch the slowdown was caused by cold feet from business owners, who hesitated to grow…

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Officials Consider Meals Tax in Fairfax County

Officials will likely attempt to put a meals tax referendum to voters in future elections, though the proposal has had little success in the past.

The price of your dinner could go up a bit if a proposal from a Fairfax County supervisor passas.  The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is once again considering a meals tax — but the proposal has a long way to go before it is put to voters in a future election. For the eighth time during his tenure, Supervisor Gerry Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) proposed this week that a meals tax referendum appear on ballots during the election. In his resolution, Hyland estimated the tax could generate between $80 and $100 million annually. Such revenue, which Hyland calculated with a hypothetical 4 percent meals tax, might allow the Board to alleviate stress on the county’s real estate base, which just saw an increase in tax this budget cycle. “As was …

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Forbes: Fairfax County Among America's 10 Wealthiest Counties

Fairfax County's median income puts it on top 10 list nationwide; third in Virginia.

Feeling wealthy? With a median household income of more than $105,000, Fairfax County is one of the wealthiest in the United States, according to a new report from Forbes. That places Fairfax County among America’s 10 richest counties in the United States. The list is from Census median household income numbers compiled by the U. S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates from 2011, the most recent year for which is available. Are there other top lists where you'd expect to find Fairfax County? Tell us in the comments! The wealthiest county in the United States is Virginia's own Loudoun County, with a median income of close to $120,000. Other Virginia counties (or cities) on the list: Falls Church City, Arlington County and…

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Texting 911: Not in Fairfax County

Trials in other Washington area jurisdictions have residents asking: Why doesn't Fairfax County have text-911 service?

Fairfax County plans to eventually give its residents the ability to text 9-1-1 in emergencies, but it likely won’t be any time soon. In March, Frederick County, Md., launched a pilot program allowing Verizon Wireless customers to text 911 in an emergency. And recent media coverage has Fairfax County residents asking whether the same service will be available to them. During an online chat Monday, county officials said they planned to wait to start any sort of trial program until the service was available on more providers than just Verizon. “Texting to 9-1-1 is one of several new means to contact 9-1-1 that will utilize smart devices (smart phones, tablets, etc.) to communicate,” said Stephen Souder, director of the county’s department of…

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Fairfax County 1-Cent Tax Increase: Penny for Your Thoughts

County residents say they are skeptical, but not surprised about the real estate tax increase in the FY2014 budget. What do you think?

The average Fairfax County homeowner’s real estate tax bill will increase by more $200 when the Board of Supervisors approves the Fiscal Year 2014 budget next week, begging the question: How do residents feel about it? Brigitte, a Tysons resident who only provided her first name, wasn’t particularly concerned about the increase she told Patch on Thursday outside the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library.. “It doesn’t really bother me that much,” she said. She was, however, much more concerned with the increase in her real estate assessment due to the Silver Line, which is scheduled to open at the end of December 2012. Brigitte said she didn’t think the cost of the Silver Line project was worth the benefit. “As a resident here, all we get as a …

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