The endless lawsuit is finally at an end. The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that Vienna is allowed to reject your fence permit application if you leave half of it blank and ignore repeated requests for the required info. One can only hope the losers have to pay all the court costs. Here's the ruling:

http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1091343.pdf

The ruling also patiently explains the difference between "and" and "or".

I've noticed Historic Vienna is pretty much dead. Pity, really.

I almost--almost--miss those Historic Vienna loons. That was one interesting website, with all those frothing-at-the-mouth attacks on Vienna town officials. Whatever happened to the webmaster of that site? Did the doctor finally dial in the medication properly?

Somebody told me the Historic Vienna guy moved to California.

Hey, I'll be more than happy to take over Historic Vienna, seeing as the current owner has pretty much abandoned the site. I know the first owner moved to CA but since the lawsuit it's like they lost the will to post. But Vienna needs a nice forum.

Vienna needs a *nice* forum, indeed. Although I'll admit to being an avid reader of the site and enjoying the snarky comments, it did have an overtly hostile tone. I often wondered about the administrators (and we all know who they are) and they hole they've dug themselves into; how in the world do they handle daily interactions with their neighbors they have so publicly skewered?

I know for a fact that they encounter many of the people they have railed against in their kid's school, the grocery store and the like. Talk about imposed awkwardness!

Sad - life is too short for such vehemence. I'd love to see all that venom channeled into a cause for good, like addressing an issue all of Vienna could support.

I was raised by an openly hostile parent whose public outbursts were positively humiliating. It is hard to be a pariah by proxy and unfortunately, this group has made themselves untouchable and unapproachable. I feel sorry for younger family members who have to endure the whispers and labels.

Well, maybe not a "nice" forum, but one that approximates the traffic HV had in its heyday.

The HV folks did have a point in the seemingly uneven application of historic district rules. Teardowns, homes leaving and re-entering the district, etc., all weaken the character of a historic district, but so too do folks trying to leave the district and build townhouses *cough*.

There are a few issues we can discuss:
1. What changes, if any, need to be made to accommodate Tysons re-development. Will the 123 bypass have to become reality? Lord knows it will be devilishly expensive and folks in NW Vienna will fight it tooth and nail, so I doubt it. Odds are, though, you may see a couple of traffic lights get eliminated (I'm thinking build a bridge like Falls Church has over 7 at the trail and remove the lights at Center, one of Follin/East, and one of Branch/Beulah. Possibly you could even make 123 3 lanes north/1 south in the AM and 3 lanes south/1 north in the PM, or turn that turning lane into a real fifth lane that switches as needed.
2. More minor issues, the new building Chahel is putting up on East Maple. It seems a fair number of folks regard it as "ugly," but come on -- the south side of Maple is filled with 1960s vintage strip malls that are as ugly if not more so. On Church Street, though, you have more of an argument to be fussy regarding architecture.
3. The Vienna Park Apartments -- new hotspot of crime ignored by the powers that be, or an issue overblown by folks who don't like Hispanics to begin with?

formerhick76 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Odds
> are, though, you may see a couple of traffic
> lights get eliminated (I'm thinking build a bridge
> like Falls Church has over 7 at the trail and
> remove the lights at Center, one of Follin/East,
> and one of Branch/Beulah.

I like the idea of a bridge, and think it would help (at least safety wise if nothing else), but as you say, unless you take out an extra light or two near it, just removing the W&OD light won't help traffic THAT much.

Possibly you could even
> make 123 3 lanes north/1 south in the AM and 3
> lanes south/1 north in the PM, or turn that
> turning lane into a real fifth lane that switches
> as needed.

I'm not sure this would help things actually. Having the center lane is fairly useful both for cars turning into the shopping centers, as well as those turning out, so they can easily stop halfway. Adding one extra lane for traffic flow would be nullified by all the cars who hold up traffic while trying to turn (or who will never be able to turn out).

snowdenscold Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I like the idea of a bridge, and think it would
> help (at least safety wise if nothing else), but
> as you say, unless you take out an extra light or
> two near it, just removing the W&OD light won't
> help traffic THAT much.

Dunno how much the bridge would cost, probably a couple million. It seems to be part of the scenery in Falls Church and it's gotta be one of the busiest crossings on the trail. Given that you've got Park, Trail, and Center all within a fairly short distance, I think it'd help traffic-wise.

Center's probably less important than Park or Courthouse/Lawyers, so take that light out.

Direct traffic on Center that wants to turn left on Maple to go onto Locust and then Courthouse.

At the least you could disable some of these lights between 7-11am and 3-7pm.

> I'm not sure this would help things actually.
> Having the center lane is fairly useful both for
> cars turning into the shopping centers, as well as
> those turning out, so they can easily stop
> halfway. Adding one extra lane for traffic flow
> would be nullified by all the cars who hold up
> traffic while trying to turn (or who will never be
> able to turn out).

I don't even try making left turns from the shopping centers onto Maple. Too dangerous and it annoys the folks who're waiting for me to make the turn. But yeah, that's opening a can of worms. Disabling lights (i.e. turn them into blinkers like Rockville) is the best way to go for rush hour it seems.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2010 10:04AM by formerhick76.

Truthfully, I think Windover Avenue needs sidewalks. And although some of the houses appear historic, most of them truly do not. I was never clear on what was so historic.

I didn't like the negative tone of Historic Vienna, but it was a fun blog while it lasted. And reading their posts was a guilty pleasure.

I love that street and walnut. Nice homes and lots of rabid loons to piss off. Drive LOUD thru there just to piss them off.

Dummy will calim the last post was at "work." He can't help himself. LOL. a-)

He may even be stupid enough to claim the above one was made at work."