LETTER: High-Quality Schools Are Central to City’s Success

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

November 29, 2010

I have just caught up with your comments about our schools and with the comments of our local residents. If it isn’t too late I would like to submit mine.

Fifty years ago, residents of Falls Church voted to support their young public school system. The issue then, as it is today, is adequate financial support of our schools.

During these 50 years, our school system, with citizen support, during good times and bad, soared to new heights. This could not have been accomplished without dedicated school boards, supported by favorably disposed city councils.

Our public schools received substantial public support, and in recent years the local Chamber of Commerce and the business community recognized the impact of first-rate schools on business. This continues to be the case.

Let us not refuse to keep our promises to teachers (for they are the heart of our school system), to support them and show our appreciation of what they accomplish daily.

This is a time, as it was in the past, which not only tests souls but pocketbooks. Let us not separate the two, and continue to maintain the high-quality public schools that have evolved. They are central to this little city’s achievements for half a century. I hope they will continue for the next half century.

LOUIS T. OLOM
Falls Church City

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LETTER: Charge Politicians for Campaign Signs

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

November 7, 2010

After every election I am always saddened to see the festering of winning and losing political placards pasted over the medians as they slowly decay to the u-shaped metal skeletons that remain for weeks, months and years.

I have an idea for the Falls Church City Council “suggestion box”: a 25 or 50-cent fee for each sign placed in Falls Church.

The concept is borrowed from our yard waste wherein a 50-cent sticker is required for pick up. Similarly, every political sign would require a similar sticker. The sticker would be required for all political signs and act as a pre-paid disposal fee. The day or two after every election, City workers would gather up all signs and dispose of them properly.

This is a common-sense proposal to force the politicians (and their supporters) to pay for the eyesores they are eager to create but less eager to clean up.

MICHAEL SLONIM
Falls Church City Read more

LETTER: Read League Guide and Vote on November 2

October 27, 2010

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

The League of Women Voters of Falls Church is celebrating its 60^th birthday this year.  For each of those 60 years, the League has tried to provide nonpartisan, non-biased information to our citizens on issues of vital importance to good governance .The League has always been considered a reliable source of information on a variety of issues including bond issues, referenda, and proposed changes in the City charter, and about candidates in local, state, and national elections.

This election season is no exception.  Please view our Voters’ Guide on our website at www.lwvfallschurch.org for complete information on the candidates seeking election in Virginia ’s 8^th Congressional District and the three proposed amendments to the Virginia Constitution that will appear on the ballot. (Editors’ Note: click on “Read more” to access link.)

Voting is not only a right but also a privilege and a responsibility.  This year marks the 90^th anniversary of the ratification of the 19^th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.  The election is on November 2.  Don’t pass up the opportunity to exercise your right to vote and to participate in our democracy!

Ellen Salsbury, President
League of Women Voters of Falls Church

Letters to the Editor should be submitted to contact@fallschurchtimes.com. They may be on any subject relevant to our City. Writers should include their full name and city of residence. All submissions are subject to editing.

LETTER: Let City Police Ticket Private Parking Violators

August 14, 2010

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

We live in a small townhouse community with both guest and assigned parking for residents. We recently have had some issues where guests were parking in resident spaces. The board of our homeowners’ association was asked to find a resolution. I was interested to find that our only recourse is to have the offending parties towed. There is no ordinance under which an Falls Church police officer could site someone for parking in an assigned spot.

The Falls Church City Police Department and the City staffs have been exceedingly helpful in developing and implementing a towing policy and we wanted to thank them. However, it would be so much simpler to call the City and have an officer issue a ticket. There would be no issues of predatory towing, the City would receive the fines, and simply turning on the patrol car flashers at night would bring the vehicle owner running. There is already an ordinance for Resident Parking Permits that applies to on-street parking. This could be extended to communities with common, assigned parking areas such as ours. Read more

LETTER: Councilman-Elect Peppe on Choosing a Mayor

May 8, 2010

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

“Tonight the campaigning is over, and now the governing begins. “ Or so I thought.  I made that comment at a gathering after the polls closed.  I was exhausted, the final results were in, and I had just spoken with or called each member of the upcoming council.  We each said congratulations, and talked about how we were all going to work together.   Good so far, but then the emails started arriving.  Some of them were from people I know, and a few were anonymous (and from email addresses that would not even accept replies).  Apparently there is one last bit of campaigning left- the choice of a mayor and vice mayor for the council. It was nice to hear that many people thought I should try to be selected by the council to be the mayor, but it also made me think about how the process seems to take place behind the scenes, with a lot of quiet discussions away from the public eye.

The choice of mayor and vice mayor is important, but not for the reasons a lot of people think.  In my mind, the positions are less about leading the charge on specific action items or being in the spotlight and more about facilitating good governance- helping make sure that the council works as a team, that everyone can get things on the agenda, that each member can speak openly, that debates are full and fair, and that the team uses its most precious resource- its time (and staff time) efficiently to learn, deliberate, and make decisions.

How do I know this?  I have spent 11 years on school boards, including almost 7 as board chair and 2 as vice chair.  During that time, I learned (sometimes the hard way) what it takes to help a board or council work together, and how to facilitate civil meetings and discussions among very diverse teams.   I also learned that the selection process for the leadership works best when it takes place in the open, in the light, so everyone can see the choices and think about the best options.   I am hoping the other council members agree on this- especially after an election that appears to have focused very heavily on the need for transparency and thoughtful deliberations.

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LETTER: Councilman Wants to Work with New Colleagues

May 6, 2010

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

As I sit and reflect on the outcome of this week’s election I must say that our citizens have spoken and now it is time for us to put our personal issues aside and get to work to make sure that the City of Falls Church continues to be the strong and vibrant city that we all love.

This has been a challenging two years that I have served on Council with one of the largest budget shortfalls, the water lawsuits, and the election change debate.  To put it simply, I received a crash course in local government and politics.  I have been on both the popular and unpopular sides of issues since being on Council. I will tell you that every vote I have cast has been because I think it will help the people in our city in some way.  Before I make any final decision on a vote I always reach out to citizens on both sides of an issue and I read all the comments on it.

Yesterday’s results show how even more important it will be to listen to our citizens’ comments and incorporate them into our deliberations.  But I must also stress the importance of being able to work with all of my colleagues on Council in a civil way.  That is one of the problems with politics that often we would rather “one up” someone instead of working together for the best outcome for our citizens and community.

I want to congratulate my new colleagues Ron Peppe, Ira Kaylin, and Johannah Barry on their election and Dave Snyder on his re-election to Council.  I pledge to work with each of them during what continues to be tough economic times.  We may not agree on everything, but at the end of the day we all do agree that the City of Falls Church is a place that we all love and will fight to make sure that it is here for future generations to enjoy.

LAWRENCE WEBB

Letters to the Editor should be submitted to contact@fallschurchtimes.com. They may be on any subject relevant to our City. Writers should include their full name and city of residence. All submissions are subject to editing.

LETTERS
Save the Library, Save Cherry Hill Programs

April 13, 2010

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

We appreciated your coverage of the Falls Church city manager’s public hearing Saturday morning regarding the upcoming budget difficulties.  As you may have noted, the Mary Riley Styles Public Library figured in the city manager’s slide presentation.  This describes the practical results or impacts of the proposed budget reduction.

City Council is now examining alternatives to the City Manager’s proposed increase of the base property tax rate by 20 cents on the dollar, with a view to keeping the increase to only 10 or 15 cents.  City agencies, including the Library, were requested last week to factor in cuts of this magnitude.  We have done so and forwarded our findings to the City Manager, for discussion by Council.  Our findings were frightening and strike at the heart of what constitutes a library.

The cuts proposed by the City Manager to Council would require us, in total, to shrink the library’s budget by 21%.  We would drastically cut our book budget, operating hours, and manpower.

Cuts commensurate with just a 10 cent increase on the dollar–fielded solely by the City’s general government agencies and not also by the school system–would cause us to reduce operating hours by 40% per week, to 40 hours per week, down from 68 hours—requiring full closure each Sunday and Monday, as well as shortened days throughout the rest of the week.

We would seriously reduce our book purchasing budget.  Unfortunately the Library is sustaining cuts to its materials budget at both the City and state levels because state aid to libraries is being and has been reduced significantly for the last several years.  We would cut 168 magazines, journals and newspapers, as well as all electronic databases not funded by the state—although state funding may well cease, leaving the Library with no databases for the public.  Although we are one of only two libraries in Virginia to receive national awards during the past two years, we would now barely qualify as a “library” under the minimum thresholds established by the state.

These cuts would cause us to purchase 3,100 fewer books (including the reference works we used last year to answer many of the 69,000 questions we received from the public—information that is not readily available for free on the Internet), 110 fewer DVDs, and 100 fewer audio books.

Mary Riley Styles Public Library currently receives astonishing usage by Falls Church residents, almost 90% of whom used the Library in some active fashion last year.  Over a quarter million visits occurred last year, during which we circulated, or “checked out”, over 429,000 items to the public.  Our outside drive-by book-return bin, which holds 800 books, has to be emptied at least three times per day.

The Library plays an important role in helping Falls Church residents adjust to or mitigate the effects of the economic downturn.  Our books and manuals on how to find a job and prepare a résumé receive constant use, as does our free wireless network, our computer terminals, and our newspaper and current-events collections.

At this point you, through our City Council, must determine what you value and what you wish us to preserve.  The configuration of cuts associated with a 10 cent rise per dollar on the property tax, and without concurrent cuts by the schools, will require us to cut the Mary Riley Styles Public Library budget by almost one-quarter.  With state aid also continuing its decline, the cumulative effect of these City and state reductions will cause us to eliminate popular children’s programming, a significant number of popular and reference books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, audio books, all public databases, staff, and 28 hours from our weekly hours of operation, to reach a 21% budget reduction.

We wish to do our part to help the City’s finances come into balance in a permanently sustainable way.  But the Library Board suspects this particular nature of cuts may not be what you have in mind for a City service agency you appear to treasure—and use in a consistently huge way.

BRADLEY E. GERNAND
Chair, Mary Riley Styles Public Library Board of Trustees

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TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

I understand there is a proposal being considered in the City of Falls Church FY 2011 budget discussion to cut the Cherry Hill Farmhouse coordinator position in the Recreation and Parks division. This position is part-time, and the employee, Diane Morse, has served the city and the property faithfully for 20 years. Such a move would be extremely short-sighted.

Since Cherry Hill was restored during the 1975-76 bicentennial, and eventually finished and furnished in period style, it has annually served as the prime location for numerous public events and educational activities that are open to residents and visitors alike. It is also rented for private events, including weddings and receptions.

Dating to 1845 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places (one of only a few such designated historic properties in the entire city), it will take on even more pivotal importance and visibility as we prepare to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Along with its adjoining barn, it is the only such local historic structure in public ownership.

Diane serves not only as the site manager and curator for the complex, but the program planner, organizer and coordinator for volunteer, education, and related activities. It is not realistic to assume that these and related property management tasks could be picked up entirely by volunteers, and therefore the well-being of the property and our considerable public investment in it over more than 30 years would be in serious jeopardy.

For all the discussion about the value of arts, culture, and heritage to the quality of life in our “little city,” very little public investment goes into these activities. I urge the City Council and the City Manager to reject this proposal and look carefully at alternatives to such an ill-conceived action.

RON ANZALONE
Chair, Falls Church Historical Commission

Letters to the Editor should be submitted to contact@fallschurchtimes.com. They may be on any subject relevant to our City. Writers should include their full name and city of residence. All submissions are subject to editing.

LETTER: Heed Alexandria ‘Election Fiasco’ Warning

January 9, 2010

To the Editors of the Falls Church Times:

I would like to bring to the community’s attention a letter to the editor printed last month in the Washington Post from Katy Cannady, President of the Alexandria League of Women Voters.

Ms. Canady’s letter reacted to a recent Post article about the Falls Church City Council’s proposed ordinance rescheduling local elections from May to November.  The caption for Cannady’s letter read “An election fiasco in the making.” It presents a cautionary tale for those on the Falls Church City Council who are rushing helter-skelter to pass this ordinance despite unanswered questions and widespread opposition from within the city, and a clear preference for the citizens to decide the issue in a referendum election.

Echoing similar concerns to those raised before the Council by citizens and Council Member Nader Baroukh in December, Ms. Cannady described the “shocking” process undertaken by the Alexandria City Council to make a similar change.  She noted the estimate of the Alexandria voter registrar that if he had to conduct a local election concurrent with national elections using the same resources as he had in 2008, “the lines of waiting voters would be four to six hours long.”  Cannady also reported the estimate by the head of the Alexandria electoral board that it would cost $200,000 for additional voting machines, polling places, and election workers to conduct a combined election.  The Alexandria electoral board reported that even with those additional resources, it was not clear whether they could get voter waiting time down to 2 hours.

I realize that Alexandria is a larger jurisdiction than Falls Church.  However, there are parallels that make it reasonable to assume Falls Church could experience similar effects, scaled for the size of the Falls Church voter population – traditionally high voter turnout, for example.  I also realize that Alexandria has coupled local elections with national elections, whereas the Falls Church City Council has thus far backed away from even years to odd years, thus coupling local elections with state elections.  If, as the Gardner voting bloc contends, the change to November will increase voter participation, then surely there will be increased demands on the voting machinery and process.

Which brings me to the point made by Baroukh and Council Member Lawrence Webb, and ignored by the 3-member Council majority that moved ahead with their ill-conceived ordinance.  There is much we don’t know about the potential costs and effects of moving city elections to November.  There are other ways of increasing voter turnout and saving costs that the Gardner bloc has stubbornly refused to consider, in the fear, perhaps, that the alternatives might prove viable and preferably to a schedule change.  The matter ought to receive thorough study by a non-partisan organization like the League of Women Voters, as Webb proposed, and the pros and cons should be debated publicly.  Thereafter, the decision should be made by the voters of Falls Church, not by the City Council.  The continued refusal of the Gardner voting bloc to recognize the wisdom of such an approach defies logic and the demands of democratic government.

Linda Neighborgall
Falls Church City

Letters to the Editor should be submitted to contact@fallschurchtimes.com. They may be on any subject relevant to our City. Writers should include their full name and city of residence. All submissions are subject to editing.

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