Serving Fairfax Areas of Burke Page 9 Follow on Twitter: @ffxconnection on Twitter: Follow Sports, Page 18 ❖ Entertainment, Page 16 ❖ Classified, Page 13 Classified, Photo by Dave Sullivan www.ConnectionNewspapers.comMay 9—15, 2013 online at www.connectionnewspapers.comFairfax Connection ❖ May 9-15, 2013 ❖ 1 2 ❖ Fairfax Connection ❖ May 9-15, 2013 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Fairfax Connection Editor Kemal Kurspahic News 703-778-9414 or [email protected] Photo by Photo Victoria Ross Victoria /The Connection Photo provided by Governor McDonnell’s of by Governor provided Photo The General Services Administration warehouse site, which Fairfax County is proposing for the relocation of the new FBI headquarters, is located in Springfield, near four million square feet of office space and bordering the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station. “In short, the GSA Warehouse property is a natural solution to satisfy the December 2011 Senate resolution and meets the fice organizational goals of the FBI as stated An aerial view of the GSA warehouse property in Springfield. The site is 14 miles from in a recent congressional hearing.” the J.Edgar Hoover Building in Washington and sits on 57 acres. —Governor Bob McDonnell Governor Endorses Springfield for FBI Headquarters 1975 and in deteriorating condi- In letter to FBI director, McDonnell tion. says Fairfax County site will McKay said the benefits to the federal government of relocating advance “national security mission.” to Springfield “would be substan- tial.” By Victoria Ross property is a natural solution to “The FBI needs 2 million square The Connection satisfy the December 2011 Senate feet of office space, located within resolution and meets the organi- two miles of a Metro station and irginia Gov. Bob zational goals of the FBI as stated within 2.5 miles of the beltway McDonnell publicly in a recent congressional hearing,” according to the GAO. Redevel- endorsed the Spring- McDonnell wrote. oping existing sites in DC would V of FBI courtesy Photo field warehouse site McDonnell invited Mueller and be extremely expensive, especially for the new FBI building head- Tangherlini to accept his personal given the post-9/11 security fea- quarters, supporting Fairfax invitation to visit the site “at your tures that are now required. … It County in its bid for the new head- convenience to discuss its unique is adjacent to the Franconia/ quarters. The move is expected to attributes with community leaders Springfield Metro Station, VRE, bring at least 12,000 jobs and a and state officials.” AMTRAK, bus service, and every $1.2 billion complex to Northern McDonnell outlined many of highway except Route 66.” He Virginia. those attributes in the letter, in- pointed out that airport access will In an April 30 letter to FBI Di- cluding the intelligence The FBI is currently headquartered in the J. Edgar Hoover soon be served by two Metro sta- rector Robert Mueller and Dan community’s “considerable foot- building. tions once Rail to Dulles is com- Tangherlini, the acting administra- print in the commonwealth.” He plete. tor of the U.S. General Services also noted the Springfield location transportation bill this session, a Fairfax County board members Fairfax County would also benefit. Administration (GSA), McDonnell would allow collaboration with bill, McDonnell wrote, “that will have been lobbying FBI and GSA “In addition to the high paying said the federally-owned ware- Fairfax County’s nine federally- provide for billions more in new officials for more than a year. jobs that would come to the area, house 57-acre site is the best funded research and development funding for Northern Virginia redevelopment of this site could choice for a number of reasons. centers and 10 laboratory consor- alone in the next five years.” IN JANUARY 2012, Fairfax spur construction of other office tium partners. “The governor’s support is con- County joined Prince George’s projects nearby and expand our THE GSA ALREADY OWNS the “We are confident collaborations sistent with the unanimous en- County and the district in placing commercial tax base,” he said. Springfield warehouse property, with these and other partners will dorsement of the site by the Fairfax its marker on the table in the high- “You just can’t pick a better spot which will save the government result in the development of new County Board of Supervisors,” stakes competition soon after the than Springfield,” McKay said. more than $44 million per year in technologies for law enforcement Supervisor Jeff McKay (D-Lee) Senate passed a resolution autho- According to Fairfax County of- lease payments and make the and intelligence gathering, thus said Friday. “I thank Gov. rizing the GSA and FBI to seek new ficials, the GSA has received 35 transaction “both clean and easy,” greatly advancing the FBI’s na- McDonnell for recognizing all the headquarters in December 2011. responses to its request for infor- McDonnell wrote in the four-page tional security mission,” reasons why this should be an easy The new headquarters would con- mation by its March 4 deadline, letter. The site also satisfies the McDonnell wrote. decision for the federal govern- solidate more than 21 separate and is continuing to study those FBI’s stringent post 9/11 security McDonnell also took the oppor- ment, and for further highlighting locations and relocate the FBI from requests. The GSA is expected to guidelines. tunity to tout the General the reasons why Springfield makes the J.Edgar Hoover Building at begin accepting formal requests “In short, the GSA Warehouse Assembly’s historic bi-partisan the most sense for the FBI.” 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, built in for proposals this summer. www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Fairfax Connection ❖ May 9-15, 2013 ❖ 3 News ‘Saturday Night in the Suburbs’ Lake Braddock seniors Connection Peterson/The by Tim Photo discuss sex, drugs and social media. By Tim Peterson The Connection hat really happens in the suburbs on Saturday Wnights? At an open forum at Lake Braddock Secondary School on Wednesday, May 1, community parents had the opportunity to have their Unified Prevention Coalition of fears and concerns over this question con- Fairfax County Executive Director firmed, assuaged, and in some cases, post- Diane Eckert moderated an open poned. forum discussion of high school Special guests for the night were five high transgressive social culture at Lake school seniors who had volunteered to dis- Braddock Secondary School. cuss a range of topics—including illegal al- cohol and marijuana use, depression and social media use—and field cross-examina- Viewpoints tion from concerned parents. What were some of the The event followed another of its kind that took place at West Springfield High most important concepts School on April 24. Titled “Saturday Night discussed tonight? in the Suburbs,” the concept was developed by the Unified Prevention Coalition of Judy Dioquino, Lake Braddock PTSA presi- Fairfax County dent and Burke (unifiedpreventioncoalition.org) and spon- resident sored by the respective PTSAs. “I was impressed that it seemed as though THOUGH THE ETHNICALLY DIVERSE [drug] use was down. five-member panel comprised all seniors In the past, parents, (three female, two male), the vast majority we’ve seen supplying of the 70-odd parent audience admitted to them and taking the keys. It’s also tough to get seniors to talk. A having one or more middle school students lot won’t come forward. And parents don’t at home. Grade representation quickly have a grasp that kids are aware of more dropped as the level of attendees increased; parties. Now there are specifically more par- ties between high schools. Parents are just only one or two parents of high school se- way behind.” niors were present. Their peers, apparently, have all been there, done that. Diane Eckert, execu- tive director of UPC of At first, it would appear those with sev- Fairfax County and enth and eighth-graders were acting pre- Vienna resident maturely. What could they gain from attend- ing a question-and-answer-style event fo- “The large number of middle school par- cused on teasing out the present-day high ents who are here school culture of sex, drug use and elec- tonight. It’s wonderful. tronic social interaction? And we have to pat According to the results of the most re- ourselves on the back: while 36 percent of seniors surveyed are cent Fairfax County Youth Survey, their fact- drinking regularly, 10 years ago it was up in and truth-seeking involvement was right on 50 percent for 12th graders. As parents, time. these are things your school, your resources During her introduction, Executive Direc- here, are readily available to help you with. You have really good people.” tor of the Fairfax County Unified Preven- tion Coalition Diane Eckert shared that from — Tim Peterson 45,000 eighth, 10th and 12th grade stu- dents surveyed, 6.6 percent of eighth grad- ers responded that they regularly drink al- Lose The Most” in Fairfax County. cohol and had done so within the last 30 days. And 2 percent of that group admitted PARENTS PROVIDING ALCOHOL TO to binge drinking (for males, having 5 or MINORS fell under the category of “ac- more drinks in a two-hour period, 4 or more cess.” According to the survey, 16 percent for females). of 10th graders and 36.5 percent of seniors “You should be here,” Eckert addressed reported they had had a drink in the last the audience. “Now is the time to hear from month and were drinking regularly. The these young people and think about how panel confirmed the understanding that you want to handle these issues with your parents’ liquor cabinets (both allowed and young people.” stolen) and older siblings or friends are the The forum’s timing was appropriate for primary access points.