Comments on: LETTER: Concerned Citizens Trumped by Mayor’s Facebook

By: Jim Bledsoe Falls Church

Jim Bledsoe Falls Church — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:13:06 +0000

Mr. Anderson,

I apologize. I thought Mr. Shields and Mr. Tuohy’s doomsday memo to the City Council had already forecasted a $7.6M shortfall for 2011. To the degree in which City employees and representatives missed the mark on the 2010 budget, proper due diligence is in order and I would expect nothing less. Given that, I have to trust that Mr. Tuohy is somewhere in the ball park with his 2011 estimate. Notwithstanding the reason, at the end of the day, it’s all real dollars to me. At issue here isn’t whether I’m railing against the Council, it’s why.

By: Ron Peppe (FC)

Ron Peppe (FC) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:49:27 +0000

John-

The issue was raised at two school board meetings, but the board decided not to spend much time on it and did not take a position. Based on the conversation so far, I do not think the board will be taking a position.

By: Charlie Anderson, FC

Charlie Anderson, FC — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:21:03 +0000

Mr. Bledsoe:
I think you ought to wait to hear out the logic behind a tax increase before you start railing against the council. There is no way to avoid a tax increase this year. The question is how much, and how much of that will be in real dollars vs. how much is to compensate for the decline in property values. There is going to be pain everywhere – it needs to be spread to all – homeowners, businesses, operating budgets, staff salaries and benefits, and on and on. When we see where the plan is lopside, then we can complain.

By: Jim Bledsoe Falls Church

Jim Bledsoe Falls Church — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:36:34 +0000

In the words of Hal Lippman….the ‘vociferous minority’ is now fully awake and paying attention. I am anxiously waiting to see how the City Council navigates through the murky waters of our pending tax increase. Change the date, but not for the May 2010 election. Someone at City Hall has been asleep at the wheel and it’s time for change. In my opinion, there is a higher probability that 1) incumbents will not run unopposed, and 2) incumbents will not be re-elected. No one on the current City Council, including the Mayor, was elected with a mandate. As a twenty year resident who probalbly has trusted ‘the process’ too much, I’m not happy with what looks like a 25 cent tax increase. I am interested to see what happens on December 14th, maybe after that we will become a vociferous majority and vote out these folks that speak, but not in a manner the represents the citizenry as a whole.

By: Cynthia Smith

Cynthia Smith — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:44:30 +0000

I agree with Mr. Mauro’s comments but would add that it is not only citizens in neighboring jurisdictions who look on the Falls Church City Council as a laughingstock. If one talks to many of citizens of our City, they will find that they too feel the Council and, in particular, the Mayor is a laughingstock. They have good reason to think this, the latest being that the Mayor, an elected public official, thinks it is okay to elicit opinions about a legislative issue on her Facebook page and then to read them at an official City Council meeting. To me this is completely inappropriate and demonstrates either ignorance or naivete on her part. Maybe It’s time for a change in command?

By: John D. Lawrence, City of Falls Church

John D. Lawrence, City of Falls Church — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:55:50 +0000

Ron: Given that the School Board elections would be changed as well when will the SB weigh in with an opinion? Is this on the agenda for the CC-SB retreat Monday?

By: Ron Peppe

Ron Peppe — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:59:58 +0000

All good points, but I do disagree about saying the elected officials should “only” consider comments made on the record about anything. While comments made at public hearings are one means of communication, elected officials also spend a great deal of time listening to people all over the place- via email, on the street, at the schools, when we are at the grocery store or restaurants in town and, and via all sorts of online and offline social networks. We should always remember that any such information is anecdotal, and not reliable as a statistically valid sampling, but it is still useful to hear the full range of opinions wherever you can.

I have spent some time recently giving talks at conferences about differences between generations- about how gen x vs gen y vs boomers communicate and about their expectations. We are at one of those crossroads where communication among citizens and elected officials is evolving. Some people like to communicate by showing up for a hearing, some communicate other ways, but all the opinions are useful. I generally do not give as much credence to anything I receive that is anonymous, but, one nice thing about Facebook or many other social networking sites is that you do know who is submitting the comments- it is actually more secure in many ways than a letter on paper that could have been written by anyone claiming to be anyone (and yes, there are ways to hack someone’s Facebook or Twitter account, but it is usually pretty obvious when that happens and not that hard to verify).

I used to think I should only listen to people who take the time to show up at meetings, but I have learned that some people in our society are simply not able to take the time to do that, or there are cultural or other reasons why they do not.

BTW, if anyone does send comments about any agenda items to the school board, we post all such emails on BoardDocs so anyone can see the comments in connection with the meeting or topic for which they were submitted. Maybe it would be helpful if the council did likewise, then everyone can review and decide for themselves about the public comments.

Ron

By: Charlie Anderson, FC

Charlie Anderson, FC — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:39:41 +0000

Lou nails it here and should not be dismissed:

“…Council is supposed to consider information RELEVANT to a legislative proposal in the form of DOCUMENTATION OR TESTIMONY OFFICIALLY submitted ON THE RECORD by IDENTIFIABLE PERSONS OR ENTITIES. Anything else is hearsay, irrelevant and worthless…”

If a President said something like this, they would be skewered. In fact they have, and they were:
“I am the decider.”
“We work hard, everyday, even Saturdays”
“It depends on what your definition of is is”
“Read my lips, no new taxes”

By: Lou Mauro

Lou Mauro — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:02:25 +0000

What is going on here? C’mon folks, get real. The City Council is GOVERNMENT entity. It is the legislative branch of the Falls Church City Government. A legislative entity is supposed to deliberate before it acts. One form of deliberation is a public hearing, at which the Council is supposed to consider information RELEVANT to a legislative proposal in the form of DOCUMENTATION OR TESTIMONY OFFICIALLY submitted ON THE RECORD by IDENTIFIABLE PERSONS OR ENTITIES. Anything else is hearsay, irrelevant and worthless. That is why, Ron and Melissa, the question whether all of the Mayor’s Facebook friends received her invitation is utterly beside the point. Of course, if the Mayor wants to submit all of her Facebook correspondence for the record, she can. However, if she does that, so can all the other Council members and, for that matter, all of us citizens. And while we’re at it, we ought to put on the record all emails on the subject, from all of our friends and relatives. What a farce that would be. It is instances such as this, where Councilmembers offer up at official public hearings as evidence for or against a legislative proposal the Facebook comments and breakfast opinions of friends, that cause the Falls Church City Council to be viewed as a laughingstock by citizens who live in neighboring jurisdictions. It evinces a fundamental lack of understanding of the legislative process and their roles in it.

James Hennessey’s point about criticizing public officials for what they say or do in their OFFICIAL CAPACITY (there is hardly anything more official than speaking from the dais at a public hearing), as opposed to criticizing them PERSONALLY, is very important. Mr. Novotny made tongue-in-cheek fun of Ms. Gardner for what she did and said in her official capacity as a member of the City Council at a formal City Council public hearing, not for anything she did or said as a private person. Such criticism is perfectly legitimate. It is in fact a bedrock constitutional principle of our form of government. Just ask Messrs. Clinton, Bush or Obama. Unfortunately, however, it is a distinction that the four members of the majority on the Council have had great difficulty understanding during their tenures, which, hopefully, are nearing an end.

By: Melissa Teates, City of Falls Church

Melissa Teates, City of Falls Church — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:45:12 +0000

Ron,

I do have notifications turned on and received other facebook communications in my inbox during the time period. I think my stance was already known, so my comments were not needed.

Melissa