On March 2nd the McLean Citizens Association(MCA) held their winter meeting.  The primary agenda item was "a presentation and discussion about the final plan for Tysons Corner that is being considered by the Fairfax County Planning Commission for recommendation to the Board of Supervisors," according to a letter by MCA President Rob Jackson.  The presentors at the meeting were Dranesville Planning Commissioner Jay Donahue and At-Large Planning Commissioner Walter Alcorn.

With its proximity to Tysons Corner, McLean will be impacted by expansion plans, and is already experiencing disruptions and traffic congestion due to the construction underway for the Silver Line.  I can personally atte...

The recently inaugurated commuter bus line between Woodbridge and Tysons Corner appears to be slow in catching on.  According to InsideNova.com, four "commuter buses from Woodbridge bound for Tysons Corner are running less than half full, leaving transportation officials hoping more people will ditch their cars for the bus."

The $3 million state-funded service offers commuters wi-fi and other amenities but the buses are "only 14 percent capacity, carrying an average of 66 passengers per day, an average of 17 riders per trip."  The service is still in its first year, so maybe it will take time to catch on.  In the meantime, officials are looking for ways to entice rides, including reduce ...

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), a senior congressional leader and poweful advocate for transportation issues in Northern Virginia, said that all systems are go for the Silver Line Metro extension through Tysons Corner.  Appearing on WTOP radio, Wolf noted that the project is "now moving ahead at a good pace now" and is set for a 2013 completion.

Wolf also added that he doesn't like the potential high tolls for the High Occupancy Toll lanes.  "I've never been a supporter of the HOT lanes...They're actually talking about people spending $20 to use them."

Wolf's district covers a large Northern Virginia area extending from McLean in the east, Winchester in the west, and Manassas in the sout...

Fairfax County is massive and it has a budget to match.  The proposed Fiscal Year 2011 County budget, which begins on July 1, is nearly $3.3 billion.  There are several states that don't have a budget this enormous.

The largest expenditure by far is the school system, which is budgeted to receive $1.7 billion or nearly 54% of the entire pie.  Fairfax County schools are some of the country's best, which in part helps make this a very strong real estate market.  The next closest budget item is public safety at a proposed $406 million or 12.3%.  Below is a chart of proposed Fiscal Year 2011 expenditures.

The County is not immune from the overall economic downturn of the last several years,...

More condos sold in McLean (12) than any of the previous five Februaries.  Also, the median days on the market in February was the least since February 2006, at the height of the market.  Both indicators that the market has returned to normal here in McLean.  The numbers may have even been better if it wasn't for the record snowfall in early February.

February 2010's median list price of $236,500 and the median sold price of $227,000 were the lowest of any of the previous five Februaries.  The height was February 2007, when the median list was $349,950 and the median sold price was $335,000.

Please see the table below for further information.  Information was gleaned from MRIS.

Despite four snow storms in a row that essentially closed everything in the Metropolitan D.C-area down for nearly two weeks, real estate sales still occurred.  In February, 14 single family homes in McLean traded hands, which was identical to 2008, and less than 2009 (21), 2007 (17), and 2006 (22).

Another good sign for this market is that the 84 Med. days on the market for February 2010 was the 2nd lowest for the previous five Februaries, with only February 2006's median DOMP moving quicker at 48 days.  Also, the February 2010 Median List price of $912,375 and Median Sold of $860,000 remains strong, a good sign for the continued recovery of the market.

It is likely that the snow did ha...

The Washington Post's Dr. G's latest blog has a few road closings and other traffic changes due to the Silver Line Metro project in Tysons Corner.  The first is this Friday starting at 8:00 p.m. and running through Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. when "all northbound lanes of Route 123 near the Dulles Connector Road (Route 267) [will be shut] between McLean and Tysons Corner."  Traffic will be detoured as follows: "Northbound through traffic will be detoured: a right turn on Anderson Road, left on Chain Bridge Road, left on Great Falls Street, then right on northbound Route 123."

The next will occur on Monday, March 8th and will detour traffic for approximately 3 months due to "constructi...

The four storms that hit the Washington, D.C.-area earlier this month certainly wreaked havoc on the area and disrupted nearly everything.  At a recent update meeting on the status of the Tysons Corner Metro Extension project, planners indicated that the heavy snow while disrupting work for a bit won't have any real impact on the budget or timing of the project. 

The meeting was covered by the Vienna Connection, which also provided other update on the project, including the fact that "that roughly 85 percent of the design work for the 23-mile rail and its 11 stations had been completed."  Construction still continues on the various elements of Phase I, which extends the Metro from the Or...

At least two news stories earlier this week indicate that this current housing slump is not showing signs of subsiding just yet.  Firstly, the government reported that January saw the lowest new-home sales on record, according to wire reports as covered in the Austin Statesman.  "The U.S. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday that new-home sales dropped 11.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 309,000 units, the lowest level on records going back nearly a half-century."

In the same Statesman business round-up, they covered the bad news out of Freddie Mac.  The mortgage giant "lost almost $26 billion last year," and "has lost a total of almost $80 billion ...

As the Commissioner of McLean's youth football program, I have been invited to attend planning meetings by Fairfax County for the creation of another park our town.  Named Salona, the area is located off of Dolley Madison Blvd. on the left hand side as you head from the GW Parkway, past the CIA, towards McLean Center.

According to the County's webpage dedicated to the new park, the piece of land "is a privately owned 51-acre historic property with significant natural and cultural features."  (See the photograph on the left courtesy of Fairfax County).  The County has a "perpetual easement" on 41-acres for park use, a right it was granted in 2005.  The future park "will seek to provide a ...

I ran across an interesting tidbit from the Dallas Morning News about Kay Bailey Hutchinson, the senior senator from Texas who is currently running for Governor of that state this fall. 

Coming in at Number 18 in their article, "50 things you need to know about Kay Bailey Hutchinson,"  is the following: "She and her husband, Ray, sold their house in McLean, Va., in October for $1.4 million. That's $170,000 less than they bought it for in 2006."  The home is pictured to the left (photo courtesy of MRIS).

When you've got to sell, you've got to sell I guess, particularly when you're running for office back home again.  The problem for Senator Hutchinson is that she bought at the height of ...

Since Fairfax County released it's revised 40 year plan for the development of Tysons Corner, people have been poring through the document and raising objections to what it contains.  According to the Washington Business Journal, parking, and potentially lack there of, is the latest concern.

At a public meeting to discuss the plan, held on Thursday night at the Fairfax County Government Center, planners had to address concerns about parking availability.  According to the Journal, under "the new plan, non-transit-oriented developments in Tysons will be defined as any residential or commercial development beyond a half-mile from any of the four incoming Metro stations. Office developments...

It's hard to imagine with all this snow on the ground that summer will ever come.  However, the summer's just around the corner and registration is now open for several of the McLean Community Center's camps.  These are very popular, particular Camp McLean, so if you're interested jump on them soon.

Here's the list of camps with links per the MCC website:

MCC's Summer' Sensational Day Camps:
Before you know it, it'll be summer again!  Here's a sneak peak at some of the 2010 camp programs we plan to offer.

Camp McLean

Summer Theatre Camp

Camp Shakespeare

McLean Project for the Arts' Art Camps

Camp Abrakadoodle

Old Firehouse Teen Center Camps (11-14 years)

Summer Specialty Weeks

Summer Camp Regi...

As the Metropolitan, D.C.-area continues to dig out from the historic snow fall of the past few weeks (literally, there is a front-end loader widening my street as I type), children are finally making their way back to school.  Problem is they missed nearly 10 school days this month and this doesn't count the days they were out as a result of the pre-Christmas blizzard.

According to WJLA, the great debate has begun about how to make up the days.  By law, Virginia and Maryland, like many other states, require 180 days of "instruction."  There is the option to try to get a one-time exemption from the 180 day rule, as Montgomery County is seeking to do, according to the station.  Other opti...

One of the best indicators of where our over-leveraged economy stands is to look at credit card payments.  According to Business Week, the biggest U.S. lender, Bank of America, reported that "late payments on credit-card loans fell to 7.35 percent in January, the lowest in a year."  Last year, however, default rates for the industry were at an all time high.

According to the article, CapitalOne and Visa credit cards, however, reported that their delinquency rates rose in January.  So it seems like it's still a mixed bag.

What also needs to be factored is that many consumers settled with credit card companies for lesser amounts, and the banks have written off huge amounts of credit card ...

After getting deluge with a series of snow storms, which shut everything down for a week or so, scheduled meetings and timelines have gotten blown to pieces.  I know my children will be in school until just about July 4th this year, a concept I tried to explain to them during their 6 school day layoff.

Last month, Fairfax County released a revised 40-year plan for the development of Tysons Corner and included a timeline for a series of open meetings to discuss the blueprint and to receive public comment.  Below is the revised meeting schedule post Blizzard 2010.

If Tysons Corner is going to have its own Metro, it certainly deserves to have a theatre group as well.  Back in September 2008, 1st Stage Theatre, Tysons Corner's own theater group, opened its doors for business.

According to their website, "1st Stage was founded so that...young emerging talents could do what they were trained to do. Young professionals need to get experience, build a resume, and test their resolve to pursue this life. We want to be that 'first stage' in their careers: a place to struggle with the art, learn from their discoveries and their mistakes, and find pride in what they produce."

1st Stage Theatre is currently running, "By the Bog of Cats," through February 28t...

Fairfax County has is seeking part of a new $130 million federal grant program to help pay for the shuttle bus lines planned for when the Silver Line is completed in 2013, according to the Washington Post's The Breaking News Blog.  According to the Blog, "Fairfax applied for $11.25 million of the competitive grant, which is open to state and local governments. The money would help pay for a proposed "Tysons Link" service, consisting of five routes that would usher riders among the Silver Line stations, office complexes and shopping malls."

Most of the money ($9 million) would go for new buses.  The remaining $2.25 million would be earmarked to enhance 10-15 bus stops with such items as s...

The Wall Street Journal paints a rather bleak picture for the current U.S. mortgage crisis and the health of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in particular.  According to the piece in yesterday's paper, nearly "a year and a half after the outbreak of the global economic crisis, many of the problems that contributed to it haven't yet been tamed."

The paper also disagrees with the Obama Administration's plans for allowing defaulted homeowners to hang onto their houses.  It added that derivatives "contracts of the kind that crippled American International Group Inc. still trade in the shadows. And investors remain heavily reliant on the same credit-ratings firms that gave AAA ratings to l...

While the January 2010 single family and townhome sales activity show real positive signs for the local market, the condo sales last month didn't indicate much progress and was similar to the January 2009 numbers.

Seven condos changed hands in 2010, only one more than in January 2009.  This is significantly lower than numbers for January 2006 (17), January 2007 (13), and January 2008 (12).  The January 2010 median list ($375,000) and median sold ($355,000) were lower than January 2009 but not the lowest in the past 5 years.  Only January 2008 posted lower numbers in both median list and median sold.  January 2010's median DOM-P was back over 100 days, and only in January 2007 did condos ...