Today around Tysons Corner;
The Washington Examiner has been extra uppity of late about scapegoating Tysons Corner and the Silver Line for all of your problems and the County’s related, but only marginally, deficit for transportation funding. Instead of questioning why all of a sudden a county which has never had budget problems is now facing a shortfall of hundreds of millions per year they point to Tysons Corner and say THERE IT IS! But then again that person would be oblivious to the actual numbers involved. Tysons infrastructure is going to take up approximately $50-75 million per year not the $300 million in deficit we are in. The real cause is, and will continue to be, the lack of State funding, disproportionately being siphoned out of NOVA and sent to GOP strong holds by Richmond. The percentage continues to shrink between what we send to Richmond ($11 billion) and what we receive back ($2 billion) and is currently at 19 cents on the dollar. On top of that the percentage of spending that we receive as a ratio of total state budget also continues to shrink from what used to be well over 10% to now closer to 4%. This equates to FAR more of an impact than what the Washington Examiner would lead you to believe with their shallow headlines, but then again the Washington Examiner has about as much credibility as Fox News.
Story 1 – Headline: Tax Hike Will Hit Property Owners, Developers
Story 2 – Headline: Tysons Developers May Face $500m In New Taxes
Story 3 – Headline: Tysons Corner Plan Should Scare Fairfax Taxpayers
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Today is national walk to school day and in our own backyard there has been a big proponent of better and safer walking routes for kids, JJ Madden. She spoke candidly about her discussions with Fairfax County this past weekend on a walking tour of Tysons and told the group that it is a top priority for her to continue to educate and advocate for this program. Read about the importance of safe walking routes to schools in the Patch (Tysons Patch)
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Tysons Corner’s own Dogtopia is looking to expand their reach from 25 stores to 400 stores nationally and has secured a financial partnership with Thomas Franchise Solutions Ltd to do so. This is just another example of a local company which has ambitious plans in the future based out of Tysons Corner. (Washington Business Journal)
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You may have noticed some crews working on the facade along Nordstroms at Tysons Mall today. Over the past month of stormy weather the original flower decorated wall began to wear and many of the plantings were washed away in heavy rain. Hopefully the crews working on it today will find a way to make the vertical planter wall more weather tolerant as the green facade was clearly an upgrade from the dated monolithic stucco previously seen from Route 123.
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Vienna and Tysons Chambers of Commerce part ways over rebranding. (Connection)
Urbanism Concept of the Day
Vertical planter walls may be seen as an architectural fad but they have relevance especially when dealing with a city like Tysons Corner. Much of the architecture in Tysons was designed decades ago and used cheap materials and brutalist design as guidance. Now owners of those profitable but aging buildings are considering concepts such as brick/stone cladding or in the worst case demolition all together, when they could implement a far simpler and cost effective solution as seen to the left. The differing plants give designers hundreds of combinations and possibilities that can be designed for cold/warm and dry/wet months and once established properly can last several seasons with very little maintenance. The Tysons Comprehensive plan already suggests that pedestal style parking garages incorporate some of these design techniques, but we think existing buildings could have the most benefit from a makeover.