Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation (SFDC)

Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation

Monthly Newsletter 

In This Issue
Government Contracting
Let's Make Tracks
Video Clip
Hidden Business Series
Award Winners
Mark Your Calendar

 Business Roundtable Speaker Series

 

Session 2: Government Contracting

 

Friday, Feb. 14, 2014
8:30am - 10:00am
SpringHill Suites
6065 Richmond Highway
Alexandria, VA 22303 
SFDC Videos

 

View our videos on YouTube

 

Did You Know?

Today's Route 1 was once the Potomac Path, originally forged by Native Americans and later used by colonial settlers. Early History of Route 1

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February/2014

                     

 

Welcome to the February edition of SFDC's monthly newsletter. To learn more about the latest developments along Richmond Highway, check out "What's Happening" at www.sfdc.org.

 

Business Roundtable Speaker Series
Session 2: Government Contracting  

 

SFDC's Free Business Roundtable Speaker Series continues with Session 2: Government Contracting on February 14, 2014 at 8:30am at the SpringHill Suites, 6065 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA, 22303.

Come network and learn about government contracting on the federal, state and local levels. Coffee and light breakfast will be served.

 

Panelists will include Michael Estelle, Supplier Diversity Program Coordinator for the Fairfax County Department of Purchasing and Supply Management, Amy Sajda, Small Business Programs Director at the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and Tracey Wood, Owner and Founder of Inkwell Duck, Inc, a business/government relations and communications firm.

 

RSVP Today

 

Please click here for more information. We hope to see you there!

 

Let's Make Tracks
The Future of Public Transit for Richmond Highway
 

"It isn't the train that matters; it's the tracks," are the words of veteran transportation planner Tom Downs, as quoted in the book, The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City by Alan Ehrenhalt. Writing of the Clarendon area of Arlington County, Ehrenhalt states, "... a transit line is frequently a developmental magnet with powers of attraction far beyond its daily commuting numbers... Once the infrastructure is in place, established businesses suddenly find themselves willing to take a chance on an older neighborhood, confident that its future is based on something more permanent than speeches and architectural drawings."

 

It will be mid-year before the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) identified by the Route 1 Multimodal Transportation Study is revealed. Options from extending Metrorail to light rail to monorail to streetcars to Bus Rapid Transit to the existing express bus (Rex) are on the table. After reading this book, I hope that the LPA will have tracks.

 

At the turn of the last century, American streets were more like European cities in their function as the center of social activity in a community. Think of lower Manhattan or even San Francisco in those days, and you will get the idea. Later, the focus of streets became moving traffic.

 

However, 21st century demographics have made the street once again a social connecting point. Unlike previous generations, a proportion of aging Baby Boomers are selling their large houses and moving to well-located multi-family or mixed-use dwellings. Increasing numbers of people are remaining single. Young adults, the Millennial Generation, are seeking not the expanse and privacy of a house in the suburbs, but a smaller dwelling in the center of the action.

 

If Generation X is the "Me Generation," Millenials are the "We Generation," according to John Martin of the Southeastern Institute of Research. Martin says that the twenty-something's use of technology has created the importance of the "hive" over the individual. When they get older and start having children, will the Millenials move away from the center of activity to a quiet house in the suburbs or exurbs? Martin and Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute agree that the attitudes of this generation are ingrained and here to stay.

 

The inversion can be witnessed all over the country, from the Wall Street area to Phoenix to Chicago to Cleveland to suburban Washington, DC. People want to experience 24-hour street life, caf� sociability and making acquaintances they meet on the sidewalk every day. Young people are increasingly moving to close-in older neighborhoods like Brooklyn and Arlington because they are vibrant communities, less expensive, and offer transit. A train ride is viewed as a better-than-even trade for a lengthy commute to the exurbs.

 

The Richmond Highway corridor is poised to create those kinds of neighborhoods, if only transit with tracks would be available.

 

2014 State of the County Address
Video Clip Featuring SFDC and Richmond Hwy
 
Southeast Fairfax County is undergoing exciting changes, especially in Penn Daw and Huntington/North Gateway along Richmond Highway. SFDC's Board President, Walter Clarke, shares the latest updates in Chairman Sharon Bulova's 2014 State of the County Address. View full Address.
 
Hidden Business Series
Basement business to storefront success   
 
Hidden Gems

At the southern end of the corridor at 8407 Richmond Highway (across the street from Pema's restaurant) is a small, quaint retail strip. Although it is easy to miss the sign that reads "Dick's Trophies," visibility has improved since the business operated from a basement in the 1960s.

 

Dick's Trophies was founded by current owner Charles Riley's grandparents. Grandfather Bob Dick built the trophies and engraved the plaques, while his wife Jennie focused on sales and management. The endeavor turned into a mutigenerational family business and currently operates out of a store in South County on Richmond Highway.

 

"Most customers find us through Google, Facebook, Yelp, and word of mouth. The majority of our customers come to us for corporate awards and retirement gifts, but we create trophies, awards and plaques for all kinds of occasions," said owner Charles Riley.

 

10-20% of the current customer base still remember the days when Riley's grandparents ran the business out of their basement, and have remained loyal customers ever since.

 

 

Looking to get rid of old trophies, but don't have the heart to throw them in the dumpster? Bring your box down to Dick's Trophies at 8407 Richmond Highway where Charlie will recycle them and salvage useful parts.

 
Mary Thonen Highway Beautification Awards
Thank you for attending the Open House and Awards Presentation on January 22!  
 
~ Congratulations to the winners ~
 
Gold:
Sunoco
Mount Vernon Plaza
Red Roof Inn
 
Silver:
Boston Market
Cityside Huntington Metro
Taco Bell
Mount Vernon Square Apartments

Bronze:

Traveler's Motel

Huntington gateway Luxury Apartments

Montebello

Beacon of Groveton

Groveton Baptist Church

Cherry Arms Apartments

The Village at Gum Springs

Cooper Center

Jiffy Lube

Mount Zephyr Community

Gum Springs Glen (Honorable Mention)

 
Steve Mehr of the Mount Vernon Sunoco (Richmond Hwy and Russell Rd) receives the Mary Thonen trophy from Board President Walter Clarke and Executive Director Edythe Kelleher

 

Thank you for reading! In addition to our website and monthly newsletter, you can find SFDC on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Feel free to contact our office by calling us at (703) 360-5008 or emailing us at info@sfdc.org with any comments or questions.
  
Sincerely yours,
  
Edythe Kelleher, Executive Director