The Pimmit Hills Dispatch, the newsletter of the Pimmit Hills Citizens Association, will be sent out to all residents of the community in January. Content and advertising is due by Saturday, December 10. Use the Contact Us form to submit material. For more information about advertising in the Dispatch and prices, click here. For further information, contact Cindy Kwitchoff at 703-734-0402 or dispatch [at] pimmithills [dot] org.

From the Washington Post: Fairfax County planners and real estate developers agree that there is a market for newly built apartments in Tysons Corner. The opportunity has home builders furiously buying properties within walking distance of the area’s four coming Metro stations. But there is a growing chasm about whether the time is right for high-rise apartment buildings, soaring as tall as 30 stories. The decision about whether to build taller buildings with more units largely boils down to whether people looking to rent Tysons Corner apartments will be willing to pay extra for the quality finishes and scenic views that make the buildings financially feasible to construct.

McLean Police District – Police are investigating a report of a Good Samaritan who had her car stolen at knife-point around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, November 19. A 59-year-old Fairfax woman was approached in the Tyson’s Corner II parking lot of Neiman Marcus by a woman who claimed she was out of gas and needed a ride to a station.

The victim invited the woman into her vehicle but as she drove toward Route 123 the suspect produced a knife and told the driver to get out of the vehicle. The victim was left at the intersection of Old Courthouse Road and Route 123.

(AP) One of the key exit routes out of traffic-clogged Tysons Corner will be severely restricted for the next eight weeks. The heavy traffic in Tysons Corner is always worse during the holiday shopping season due to the presence of Tysons Corner Center and other shopping destinations. And the construction planned for the exit ramp on Leesburg Pike will only exacerbate the problem. On Tuesday night, the Virginia Department of Transportation reduced the exit ramp from eastbound Route 7 onto the southbound Capital Beltway from two lanes to one. The lane closure is expected to last for the next eight weeks. The closure is part of the construction project to add high-occupancy toll lanes to the Beltway in northern Virginia.

AP/Washington Post, November 16, 2011

From the Washington Business Journal, (11/15/11):

Nonprofit information technology contractor Mitre Corp. is apparently moving ahead with a plan first reported here in June to demolish a building adjacent to its headquarters in Tysons Corner and build anew.

Though a spokeswoman said that the company is not yet ready to discuss the project's timeline, a source with knowledge of the project confirmed that Mitre is moving ahead cautiously with the expansion of its headquarters in Tysons. It's being handled by real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle, the source said.

The Pimmit Hills Citizens Association (PHCA) conducted an online survey for the past few months and input is now closed. The survey asked questions like:

• How long have you lived in Pimmit Hills?
• What would you say are the biggest challenges facing the community?
• What PHCA community events or meetings have you attended in the last year?
• What types of speakers/events would you like to see at PHCA town meetings and/or organized?
• What do you think PHCA should do to help make the community a better place to live?
• Would you be in favor of a pedestrian foot-bridge over Pimmit Run at Redd Road?

From PHCA President Matthew Martz: Thanks to the hard work of our board and our Supervisor, John Foust, we have been granted multiple four-way stop signs for our neighborhood. This is a huge accomplishment for our community and is a major step forward keeping our families safe from speeding and cut-through drivers.

From John W. Foust, Dranesville District Supervisor: Dear Dranesville Resident, Welcome to the latest issue of the Dranesville Dispatch. Hopefully the surprise snow of this past weekend is not an early indicator of a rough winter. I am very pleased with the progress VDOT made last year with the snow removal process but I doubt that any of us are looking forward to putting them to the test again this winter.

In this issue, we report on a great deal of activity on a number of transportation improvements in Dranesville. I have provided a list of projects that were recently completed and those currently in progress. Also, I am pleased to report that VDOT’s temporary repairs to the damaged bridges on Beach Mill and Towlston Road will be completed soon.

Washington Post, October 29, 2011: McGovern Drive looked like the sanitized slice of suburbia presented on television in 1965, the year Wayne and Virginia Cole moved into a tidy brick ranch home just outside the Beltway in Montgomery County. The Coles, and everyone else who lived in the neighborhood back then, were white.

Today their Silver Spring community of Hillandale is home to people of every race and ethnicity undefined the epitome of what one sociologist calls “global neighborhoods” that are upending long-standing patterns of residential segregation.

In September WMATA proposed changes to several bus routes in Northern Virginia as part of "Service Improvements" plan. One of the routes included in the proposal is the 3T, which serves Pimmit Hills.

Metro has proposed eliminating all Saturday service on the 3T and eliminating all weekday service between Tysons Corner Mall and Tysons Westpark.

There will be a public hearing Tuesday October 11 at 6pm at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School (7130 Leesburg Pike). Information about speaking or sending written statement regarding this proposal can be found at http://www.wmata.com/community_outreach/B11-03_landing/B11-03_landing.cfm

Notificación en Español: http://www.wmata.com/community_outreach/B11-03_landing/B11-03_notice_spanish.pdf