CANDIDATE Q&A: Nader Baroukh
April 18, 2012
The Falls Church Times recently invited each candidate running in the May 1 election for Falls Church City Council to respond to a seven-part questionnaire. Today we publish the responses of Nader Baroukh, who currently serves as Mayor of Falls Church City.
Background Information
I was born in Iran and moved to America as a child. I grew up in the Los Angeles area, and came to Virginia to attend law school at UVA. Currently, I work as a senior attorney at the Department of Homeland Security. My fiancée, Bernadette Fancuberta, and I moved to Falls Church in 2005. I was elected to the City Council in 2008 and have served as Mayor since 2010. On the Council, I serve on the Council/School Board Liaison Group and the Economic Development Committee. I have served on the Watershed Advisory Committee. I am a Board Member of the Winter Hill Community Association.[Baroukh's campaign website is www.naderbaroukh.com.]
1. Why do you want to be on City Council?
I want to continue the work we’ve done to stabilize the City’s financial situation.
When I ran for Council in 2008, my primary focus was the City’s approach to budgeting and real estate development. I was concerned that our actions in those areas were having a very negative effect on our finances, schools and services.
At that time, the Council’s normal budget process was year-to-year planning and forecasting, which precluded any real long-term planning and led to a number of future unanticipated budget shortfalls. I raised concerns about it, as did others. During my tenure on the City Council, we’ve moved to a multi-year budget modeling process, which provides better forecasting and thereby more stable planning. It allows us to be more proactive and review the City’s finances holistically, rather than considering expenses independently, on a year-by-year basis, and reactively. Since I became Mayor, we have provided the City Manager early budget guidance, which has allowed more time for community input and necessary modifications to the budget.
Regarding real estate development, I felt the City’s approach was not very holistic. The Council was approving virtually every proposed project in a vacuum, without considering how the individual projects collectively would change Falls Church in terms of impacting our schools, finances, and the general economy. Since then we’ve begun a process of area planning, which will create a redevelopment blueprint for the City– I’ll say more on that under Question 2.
As a City we’ve made progress in both of these areas, and I am running again to continue that work. In respect to the budget, I will continue to work to find the best possible balance for all. The schools are important, city services are important, city staff, infrastructure, our fund balance — are all important. There are lots of interests to consider, and we need to do right by all of them. It can be very tricky to assemble that puzzle, but it’s critical that we do it in a manner that weighs all of our priorities, and I am committed to doing that as we go forward.
2. Do you support the City’s current “area planning” effort and redevelopment of our commercial corridors? If not, why not? If so, what areas of the City would you focus on, and what kinds of development would you like to see there?
Yes, I am a big advocate of area planning, and I have been very supportive of our recent movement to an area planning approach. Basically, area planning is a process in which you consider the development of an entire area rather than focus on an individual project. In area planning, you step back and ask, “What do we, as a City, want to achieve in this area?” and then try to use new construction to achieve those goals. That contrasts with the project-by-project approach, which relies more on the vision of developers and what they want to achieve. As I mentioned above, we previously took the latter approach, which I think was flawed. Since I became Mayor, we have moved to an area planning approach, and a tremendous amount of work is now occurring in that regard.
I am very excited about our prospects using the area planning approach. The City of Falls Church has incredible potential, based upon our geographic location alone. When you consider that we lie within the Capital Beltway and have I-66 and two Metro Stations on our borders and are criss-crossed by several major state highways, it’s obvious that the possibilities are great. The areas around the East Falls Church Metro Station and North Washington Street are priorities, as is the commercial area of Broad Street.
As to the kinds of development that should be there, I don’t want to try to dictate the specifics. What I want is that combination of office, retail, restaurant and targeted residential that creates energy and synergy. It should be walkable, but also accessible by car, which means it must have aspects such as wide sidewalks for the pedestrians and inviting public spaces, as well as efficient and available parking garages for the drivers.
As we do all this, we must protect the things we don’twant to change. We have one of the best public school systems in the nation, but one that already is under pressure from a growing student population, so our development strategy must not overwhelm our schools. We have great places like Cherry Hill Park and the W&OD Trial which we must protect, and wonderful residential neighborhoods that should be preserved.
I think we can achieve this. In fact, I’m very confident that we will. We have a lot going for us, and we are doing the work to make it possible. I think we will have some very good area-planned developments in coming years, and I’m very excited about it.
3. What transportation improvements should the City make and why?
A smooth and efficient transportation system is an immense benefit to any community. Think of places you’ve visited with good transportation, and you typically have a favorable impression of those places and want to return. Conversely, if you think of places with poor transportation that give you a negative impression, you likely don’t want to go back. As I mentioned above, the City of Falls Church is blessed to be at the confluence of major transportation networks. What I want to do is utilize those networks to the fullest. There may be a time when we want to create new networks, and I’m not opposed to that. But first, I want to squeeze more value out of what we already have, and I want to find the most effective and least expensive way to do it.
In my view, that means two things. First, we need to improve our public parking so that it’s easy for people to visit, shop, and eat. That means ensuring accessible parking garages convenient to the major thoroughfares. Second, we need to facilitate the use of Metro to allow its users to visit our commercial areas. I think we can do that through “circulators” running between the two Metro stations. Not a George bus approach – that was too big and expensive. A couple of smaller vehicles running constantly between the Metro stops would, for example, allow auto-less DC residents to easily catch a concert at the State Theatre and help resident commuters cut their travel time. Future developments can help fund, expand and run these connector buses, which will create the needed synergy. In my view, these two improvements are the low-hanging fruit of transportation, and I would like to make them happen as soon as possible.
4. What should the City do regarding the unfunded liability of teacher pensions?
This is a very significant issue – its importance goes beyond the schools to possibly affect the financial strength of the City itself. Several years ago pension benefits were awarded without the necessary underlying funding. The State has resisted providing the necessary money to fund the liability, so City taxpayers could be on the hook. If not resolved, it could result in a tax increase or cuts in City services. Proceeds from selling the water system are a possible source, however, the amount of any proceeds remains an unknown at this point. For now, we must closely monitor the liability situation, be careful to avoid making it worse, and push the State for assistance in resolving the issue.
I think this points to the importance of closer coordination of the City and School budgets, as well as improved planning and forecasting. One improvement the Council has made is to work with the School Board to develop multi-year projection of the City’s financial situation (multi-year modeling). That change has helped stabilize the City’s overall finances. This multi-year planning and modeling will also help to facilitate long-term City and school infrastructure needs.
5. How do you propose to address recurring flooding issues experienced by some residents and improve storm water management throughout the City?
This is a long-standing problem that we’ve been working on for the last few years since I’ve been on Council. What is happening is that our stormwater system in some areas of the City can’t handle the runoff in heavy rain. Partially it’s an infrastructure issue, and partially it’s a watershed issue, but the result is that water backs up into residents’ yards and basements, and it’s a real burden. When the ground is saturated, it’s even worse. This has been happening for some time, but it’s gotten worse in some areas over the years, and now we are working to resolve it. We’ve analyzed the issue to understand the basics, like where the water drains from and to, and what can alleviate the problem area by area. While I’ve been on the Council, we’ve increased maintenance and made improvements to the stormwater system.
We also have adopted a Watershed Management Plan designed to make further improvements. That’s our roadmap for meeting watershed management needs and regulatory obligations for the next five to ten years. The goal is to reduce flooding, restore and maintain a healthy aquatic ecosystem, and cost-effectively comply with state and federal water quality and storm water management regulations. I am also supportive of finding dedicated funding to meet our challenges including establishing an enterprise fund. I’m optimistic that we will provide relief to hard-hit areas, and as we continue we will be assessing the impact to ensure we’re making headway. Those affected simply must have relief. I’m committed to helping them get it.
6. Should the City sell its water system? How should any proceeds be used?
Several years ago an earlier City Council entered into litigation against Fairfax Water over what the City viewed as an unjust encroachment on its service territory. Unfortunately, we lost the litigation and in subsequent litigation we have suffered court-imposed limitations on our ability to take a return on our investment. As a result, our water system is today a non-performing asset. I would like to see that asset converted into a benefit, and therefore I support the potential sale of the system. I think that is the best possible stewardship of the City’s assets on behalf of our taxpayers and customers.
It’s too early to decide how any proceeds would be used given that we have just recently requested bids for the purchase of the system. However, any proceeds from the sale should be used to help secure the City’s long-term finances. One option is investing the proceeds in the City pension funds, which will provide the highest return on investment, reduce the required City contribution to those pension funds, and thereby free up significant financial resources to meet the challenges faced by rising pension costs, and City and school capital needs. This course of action could mitigate expected future tax increases for City tax payers. Other options include using the proceeds to pay for capital improvement projects and school construction.
7. Are there any practices or programs you have seen in other communities – nearby or far away – that should be adopted by the City of Falls Church?
Another program we are reviewing is revenue sharing between the City and the schools. Basically, revenue sharing provides the schools a percentage of City revenue, which allows them to enjoy the benefits of economic good times on a percentage basis. The question about revenue sharing is what happens in the bad times when the formula gives the schools a big drop in their budget – or when City revenues remain fairly constant but enrollment surges, as it has this year. The difficulty is designing an agreement that works in all circumstances. Jurisdictions such as Arlington and Manassas Park have moved to revenue sharing, and we are analyzing their experience to gain insights. I am committed to providing our schools the resources they need to continue providing the excellent education to our students, and to balance those needs with City services, City employees, our legal obligations with pensions and benefits, our City fund balance and all of the other requirements we face. It is a challenge to do all of that, but I’m confident we can, and we certainly will not be shy about learning lessons from other communities anywhere we can find them. I am very optimistic about the City’s future and look forward to being a part of it.
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This is the second of seven candidate questionnaire responses published by the Falls Church Times, and we would like to thank Mr. Baroukh and all the candidates for their participation. Below are links to the responses of each candidate.
The candidates also have provided responses for the Voters Guide of the League of Women Voters and the Candidate Q&A of the Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society. We encourage all registered voters to review these materials and vote on Tuesday May 1.
By Falls Church Times Staff
April 18, 2012
I’ve been working with a candidate going through voter lists and histories that we got from the State Board of Elections. Any candidate or current elected official can get these lists. A good voting record matters and I’ve posted all the candidate voting records here (http://freepdfhosting.com/3744b0b8fb.pdf). What shocked me was that, as far as we can tell, Paul Handly has never voted in a City election. He registered in October 2004, but clearly didn’t vote (as you can see) in May 2008 or May 2010. I checked with someone who had voter lists from the 2010 race and he couldn’t find any evidence that Handly voted in 2006. So we have a candidate who’s never been involved in a City board, commission, or task force and has never thought that the City Council (or School Board) was important enough to take 10 minutes out of his day to vote for. Ever. And yet he wants us to put him on that Council that he never thought was important. What’s even stranger is that Lawrence Webb registered to vote in March 2005, but in the last four years only voted twice — in 2011. Not in May 2008 or May 2010, which is really unbelievable because he ran in May 2008. I suppose you could get so distracted with campaigning that you forget to vote, but that’s a stretch. Shouldn’t a get out the vote campaign start at home? We couldn’t find any evidence that he voted in 2006 either, just like Handly.
Everyone else had a pretty consistent record of local election voting. They all voted in May 2008 and 2010 and in most November elections and some primaries.
Sure, everyone misses a vote here and there. We’re all busy. But it looks like Handly and Webb have chosen, for whatever reason, to NOT vote in local elections. For someone running for a local office, that’s unconscionable. And, given that the information came from the State Board of Elections, I’d say it’s also indisputable.
This is a great public service — thanks for posting. If only FCT and FCNP would do this sort of reporting!
Mr. Mitchell, what made you decide to look at this information? Are you working for any of the candidates? I hope Mr. Handly and Mr. Webb are able to respond to your accusations.
FCT staff – would it be more appropriate to have Mitchell’s comment as an community comment rather than folling Mayor Baroukh’s Q and A? It is not fair to his campaign to have this potential smear piece associated with his name.
Mr. Mitchell,
Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to share my commitment to giving back to my community and taking an active role in my government. Listed below you will find my voter history from the Virginia State Board of Elections website. It outlines all elections that I have voted in since moving to the city of Falls Church.
I will have a hard copy with me this evening at the League of Women Voters and VPIS Candidate Forum tonight.
Thank you very much.
Voter History
2011 November General Full Ballot FALLS CHURCH CITY
2011 August Democratic Primary Democratic FALLS CHURCH CITY
2010 November General Full Ballot FALLS CHURCH CITY
2010 May City Elections FALLS CHURCH CITY
2009 November General Full Ballot FALLS CHURCH CITY
2009 June Democratic Primary Democratic FALLS CHURCH CITY
2008 November General Full Ballot FALLS CHURCH CITY
2008 June Democratic Primary Democratic FALLS CHURCH CITY
2008-May-City Elections FALLS CHURCH CITY
2008 February Democratic Presidential Primary Democratic FALLS CHURCH CITY
Voter History
2007 November General FALLS CHURCH CITY
11/7/2006 – NOVEMBER 7, 2006 GENERAL ELECTION FALLS CHURCH CITY
5/2/2006 – MAY MUNICIAL ELECTION – CITIES FALLS CHURCH CITY
11/8/2005 – NOVEMBER 8, 2005 GENERAL ELECTION FALLS CHURCH CITY
6/14/2005 – JUNE 14, 2005 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FALLS CHURCH CITY
Mr. Mitchell…is an apology in order or do you think Mr. Webb has fabricated the voter history? In the spirit of openness, would you care to reveal which candidate you work with? I may find it relevant at voting time.
I would love to find out how Mr. Mitchell picked up the last 4 numbers of the candidates’ SSNs since you need it to access the voting participation info on the State BOE website:
https://www.voterinfo.sbe.virginia.gov/PublicSite/Public/FT2/PublicLookup.aspx?Link=Registration
Mitchell –
I would like to see your voting record plastered on your website. How about it?
Thank you to Nader for taking the time to respond to these questions and for his work on behalf of the City. I will admit that I am not totally familiar with Nader’s voting record in the Council, although this article does provide some insights.
I do want to comment on Nader’s service on the Winter Hill Community Association Board, which he has cited above and on his campaign literature. The Board has done little to address concerns throughout the community related to common property, including flooding, poison ivy from the old Post Office, etc. There is also virtually no communication with residents — dues seem to go to a black hole. Nader and his fiancee (also a Board member) rarely communicate with the Community, outside of the Annual Meeting. This is not necessarily Nader’s fault alone but, as a Board member, he is partially accountable.
Nader also talks about stormwater management. There is a HUGE puddle that forms on Gundry Dr., right near his house, every time it rains. It breeds mosquitoes and creates a driving hazard — Winter Hill residents have pushed for the City to address this for years, with no response. Nader certainly walks past this small pond regularly, but has apparently done little to address it. The City finally re-paved last year after a threat of going to the media, but the problem persists.
I am still undecided in this election, but I think it’s worth noting what candidates are doing in their own communities when we contemplate (re)-electing them to City office.
Share the concerns of some of the other posters: who is Elliot Mitchell, for whom/with whom is he working, how did he get this information, and does he dispute Mr. Webb’s voting record (and, if not, is he prepared to apologize for the apparent misrepresention)?
Also agree that this string should be placed apart from Mayor Baroukh’s Q and A since it has nothing whatsoever to do with the original item.
The original post by Mr. Mitchell has a nasty odor associated with it.
I talked to the Mayor as he was making the rounds door-to-door last weekend. I told him that I personally think he has done a good job during some difficult times. What I like about him is that I feel he has brought some balance to the Council and as Mayor, has been working to stand up to the school board when warranted to strike a balance, and not simply cave in. I think he has viewed things and acted differently than others and offers different perspectives than would be offered by other representatives….and therefore added some balance which the City needs to maintain so we don’t revert to just CBC affiliated representatives…..and therefore is deserving of re-election.
Mr. Thomas, thanks for your suggestion that Mr. Elliott clarify campaign allegiances. I hope he will act on that suggestion. It is unclear why an Arlington resident would insert himself into a Falls Church City campaign in this manner, and why he would choose Nader Baroukh’s Q&A as a venue to challenge voting histories of other candidates. To clarify, Nader’s campaign has not researched the voting histories of other candidates and has not asked any third party to do so. We urge Falls Church City voters to consider the candidates on their merits, and we urge anyone engaging in public criticism of a candidate to identify the details of their affiliation with a campaign if it exists.
Thanks to all Falls Church City residents for their interest in this important election.
Bernadette Fancuberta
Campaign Manager/Treasurer
Friends of Nader Baroukh
I *hope* Mr. Mitchell has slithered away..back under his rock. I agree with others about removing the post from the Mayor’s Q & A. Perhaps we could come up with a new topic for it to be filed under?
My suggestions are neither family friendly nor civil so I will hold my suggestion and defer to the editors.
It would help if Mr. Elliot’s facts were straight (they appear not to be) — but this is the sort of information that the local press should be digging into and writing about. FCT and FCNP have been helpful with Q&A’s, but nobody has really looked at the candidates’ records or backgrounds. In particular, it would be nice if the local press covered the *differences* between the candidates. The vast majority say key phrases over and over: “attract commercial development,” “improve stormwater management,” “continue to support excellent schools.”
The real test is how candidates will accomplish these lofty goals given the current economic environment and without increasing already-high property taxes.
Gosh – - looking into one’s voting record crosses the line for me. Isn’t there some restriction on both accessing and disclosing such personal information …much like other information where there are penalties to pay? We may have our differences with candidates but this kind of stuff should be out of bounds and is below the belt so to speak. …..and where it was placed makes no sense. Wouldn’t one have to have personal information such as SSNs even to access such information. If this kind of tactic is permissilbe and used….. what’s next?
The Times shares readers’ concerns about Mr. Mitchell’s comment, and we are investigating. We left a voicemail message on Mr. Mitchell’s work phone late today, and hope to hear back in the morning.
While Ms. Fancuberta is right to question the placement of Mr. Elliot’s comments, it is ironic that she urges voters to consider candidates on the merits — and then ignores several comments (pro and con) about Mr. Baroukh.
The Falls Church News Press contained letters today from Former City Council Member Dan Maller and the spouse of Former Council Member Dan Sze. The comments are nothing more than an attack of Mayor Baroukh. In the past, Maller seemed to take great delight in suing the city and Dan Sze was rebuffed in his efforts to secure another term on the Council. Fortunately, Nader, Dave Tarter and other candidates have stayed on the high road in this campaign leaving the dissembling and pettiness at the curb’s edge. Here’s my posting on the FCNP Letters to the Editor comments.
“Mr Maller is actually arguing with the citizens who voted onto the Council representatives who would not rubber stamp the objectives of the Robin Gardner regime, of which Mr. Maller was a stalwart. City Center South (CCS) as proposed while Mr. Maller was on the Council deserved to disappear into oblivion. The role that Mayor Baroukh played, along with Ira Kaylin and Johannah Barry in retaining the millions of tax payer dollars that would have been flowed to the Falls Church Housing Corporation, as part of the CCS project, deserves praise. CCS would have produced hundreds of more students to compound the “condomania” of the Dan Gardner years. Now we have an opportunity on Tuesday to craft a Council that actually understands economic development and will be poised to produce true mixed use projects that will over time enhance the physical presence of Falls Church and its economic sustainability. The Sze and Maller missives are really sour grapes for a development paradigm that once understood by the citizens has been largely rejected by them. Last minute defaming letters to the editor will be seen for what they are: Sour grapes delivered by those who struggle to remain relevant. Sam Mabry”
Read more at FCNP.com: http://www.fcnp.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor/11640-letters-to-the-editor-april-26–may-2-2012.html#ixzz1tBpadqhQ
(Also posted on fcnp)
Looks like a coordinated letter-writing campaign against Mayor Baroukh in the final days before the election. Two letters in the same edition of the FCNP — just prior to Tuesday’s election — from former Council Member Dan Maller and from the wife of former Council Member Dan Sze, both attacking Nader over development issues. Interesting.
Here’s the issue. City Center was approved in February 2008, Nader didn’t join Council until six months later. When Nader got on Council he was outnumbered 6-1 by Council Members who were supporting City Center, so how exactly could he kill it? Meanwhile the Planning Commission had overwhelmingly opposed it, maybe for some good reasons.
If I recall correctly, the Council’s approval was so broad there was no guarantee we would ever get the office building, and worse there were no limits on how large the residential units could be (larger units produce more school kids). The same developer built Pearson Square with an inordinate amount of 2 BR’s and 3 BR’s…I think Pearson Square is a nice looking project but thanks to the big units it generates an awful lot of school kids. Someone, or some Council Members, missed a pretty important detail in that approval.
Regardless, what happened with City Center is the economy went bad and the developers never moved forward with the project. They never purchased the properties they were supposed to in order to actually build the project. And now City land has been tied up unnecessarily because of a poorly crafted deal struck by Council, all before Nader was even elected.
Mr. Maller and Mrs. Sze also challenge Nader’s role in bringing BJs to Falls Church. I find it also interesting that he joined the Economic Development Committee in July 2008, when the BJs negotiations were on-going on. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Nader take complete credit for bringing BJs to town, but to say he wasn’t involved when he was a member of the Committee that was working on the deal – seems off base to me. The one thing I agree with in Mr. Maller’s letter is that Dave Tarter played a big role in bringing BJ’s to the City.
By the way, I checked and found a track record on other recent developments. Nader supported the ordinance to keep an auto sales lot from being located where BJs is now, he voted for the hotel project on Broad, he voted for the Gateway project on Washington, and he also voted for a special exception giving Body Dynamics most of the first floor space at Pearson Square. Seems pro-economic development to me.
I think it’s regrettable that we have former members of the City Council and their spouses throwing stones on the eve of an election. They could have made these statements earlier but have chosen to wait until the final hour. Doesn’t seem like the spirit of Falls Church to me.