Week In Review: Council Considers Speeding Districts, School Board Weighs Disciplinary Changes

Increasing fines for motorists who speed along certain roads in Vienna could help some of the town's traffic problems, but may also unintentionally increase car volume and speed elsewhere,

"[It's possible that] you’re going to put the problem on another street," Mayor Jane Seeman said.

The Town of Vienna first considered speeding districts in 2008, but the issue went largely untouched until the Transportation Safety Commission recently asked the council and Vienna Police to consider implementing higher speeding fines along the traffic-ridden Courthouse Road, S.W.,

Currently, motorists who get a speeding ticket in Virginia pay $5 for every mph over the speed limit, plus a $62 administrative fee. With an enhanced penalty, speeders pay the $62 administrative fee, but $7 for every mph over the speed limit as well as an additional fine up to $250.

The Council forwarded the measure to the Transportation Safety Commission for further analysis.

NEWS

As many as 10,000 bikers were expected to bike to work across the Washington, D.C. region on Friday's Bike To Work Day, and many of them passed through Vienna to get to Arlington, Downtown or Reston.

enjoying bananas, larabars and coffee from Whole Foods Market, along with cycling advice  from employees at Bikes at Vienna and Spokes, Etc. The groups set up at 6 a.m. and saw tens more cyclists fill up bike racks  in what organizers called one of their best years yet.

It was also a record-breaking year for the three Vienna elementary schools that participated in the third annual Walk/Bike challenge, to see how many of them could leave their cars at home and get to school on foot instead.

Vienna Patch tracked progress throughout the week. A total of 1,092 students were counted across the three schools at the week's end:

Friday May 20:

Thursday May 19 :

Wednesday May 18

Tuesday May 17:

Monday May 16:

Hundreds came to Thursday's "Kyllopalooza," an outdoor benefit concert to honor  the life of 18-year-old Khristin Kyllo,  The concert featured up-and-coming Vienna bands and food and drink from local Vienna businesses. Donations were accepted at tents around the Town Green in exchange for black t-shirts screened with an image of Kyllo, a 2010 Madison grad and Princeton University softball player. Those who donated also donned bright pink bracelets with the festival name on one side and "Dream Big" -- one of Kyllo's motto's -- on the other.

A bicyclist .Vienna Police say the bicyclist was approaching the W+OD crosswalk on Park Street from the Vienna Community Center side. According to witnesses, a car stopped to let a pedestrian cross the road. A short time after that, the bicyclist crossed as well, just as the car began moving again. He was then struck. Police determined the bicyclist was at fault.

In this week's Police Log:

as a result of his 11-day trip across the continent, which concluded Tuesday.

Feel bad about filling up at the pump?

SCHOOLS/SPORTS

Fairfax County School Board members and local advocacy groups – specifically in the areas of parental notification and access to audio recordings of hearings. Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Dale presented and Student Responsibilities and Rights handbook at Monday’s work session, along with and groups such and The board dedicated $500,000 for reform The school board will give their amendments to the proposed changes sometime later this month and vote during their June 1 meeting.

The fiscal 2012 approved schools budget includes full implementation of full-day kindergarten in all elementary schools starting this fall, Nearly 50 speakers appeared at the hearing, with most asking the Fairfax County School Board to implement full-day kindergarten at all schools by the start of the 2011-12 school year and to consider more ways to achieve a 2 percent pay increase with step raises for Fairfax County Public Schools employees. 

How do Vienna's high schools measure up? James Madison High School is No. 19 and George C. Marshall High School is No. 30.

As prom and graduation season gets underway, Fairfax County officials are bringing a series of programs to local high schools that warn and educate parents and students

Madison Girls Lacrosse team continued it's undefeated season this week. It posted a 19-7 On Thursday night, they beat Westfield,

After a season of many firsts, The program had its best-ever season at 10-5.

The season ended for Madison Boys Lacrosse on Tuesday,

Scoreboard

May 21:

May 19:

May 18:

COMMUNITY/ARTS

Vienna has routinely been named one of the best places to live by Money, Northern Virginia and Forbes Magazines.But it's the people who live, eat, work and play here that know exactly why. We'd like to hear the reasons why Vienna is so great, and recognize the people and places behind them. So we've teamed up with local blog  So Very Vienna to launch the first "Best of Vienna" awards, which will use reader votes to recognize the "best" businesses and places in five different categories.

On May 14, the haunting, hollow sounds of a Korean bell rang across Vienna's Meadowlark Botanical Gardens for the first time. But it wasn't just the first time such a bell rang in Vienna -- the bell is the only one of its kind in a public place in the Western Hemisphere. that included traditional costume, performance, food and dance,  and a celebration of the growing Korean community in Fairfax County and Virginia as a whole.

is a series that profiles Vienna residents on the job. Longtime resident Peter Spain has dedicated 20 years to serving the hungry, most recently with Food For Others.

Parents weighed in on the benefits and challenges that come with walking or biking to school in Fairfax County in this week's

Fairfax County Girl Scouts, including those from Vienna and Dunn Loring,