LETTER: CBC ‘Favorably Disposed’ Toward Schools

TO THE EDITORS OF THE FALLS CHURCH TIMES:

November 30, 2010

Lou Olom, in his letter that you posted yesterday, is absolutely correct: “They (the schools) are central to this little city’s achievements for half a century. I hope they will continue for the next half century.”

Lou is too modest to describe his own role as a leading fighter for the high-quality public school system in Falls Church today. He personally made a lot of this happen.

He was the main activist who organized and chaired the Citizens for a Better Council that fought that fight in 1959 for the critical vote to support our young public school system.

Some years later, while serving on the school board, he almost single-handedly brought the International Baccalaureate program to Falls Church schools. That program is now the crown jewel of our schools.

Lou’s 1959 Citizens for a Better Council went on to become the Citizens for a Better City. Over the past half century that organization has held biennial nominating conventions for qualified candidates for the City Council and has campaigned for their election. Those candidates are pledged to the CBC principles — one of which is “Preservation of the independent status of our public school system and the continuing provision of a first-class education to all members of the diverse student body.”

A recent tabulation [click here to download Excel spreadsheet] shows that in the 26 elections (1959-2010) 72 of the 91 City Council seats up for election were won by CBC-nominated Council candidates. Those are the “favorably disposed city councils” referred to by Lou.

Up until 1994, school board members were appointed by those CBC-nominated Council members. In the 9 elections (1994-2010), 30 of the 32 school board seats up for election were won by CBC-nominated board candidates. Those CBC-appointed and elected individuals are the “dedicated school board members” referred to by Lou.

If Lou’s hope – a hope, I believe, shared by most of us — for high-quality schools in Falls Church “for the next half century” is to be achieved, continuation of CBC’s success in nominating and electing “favorably disposed” City Councils and “dedicated” School Board candidates is critical. CBC has led the struggle for 50 years. Good schools is CBC’s issue.

Citizens need to remember this history as next year’s School and City budget processes are now under way and later as the 2012 City elections approach.

ED STRAIT
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.

City Attains Highest Recycling Rate in Virginia

By FALLS CHURCH OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

November 30, 2010

The City of Falls Church holds the highest recycling rate in Virginia, according to the Virginia Annual Recycling Rate Report issued recently by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.  For calendar year 2009, 57.6% of the City’s total waste stream was recycled compared to the statewide rate of 38.6%.  The report compares recycling rates of 324 Virginia cities, counties, towns, and solid waste planning areas.  The 7,183 tons of materials recycled in Falls Church in 2009 included paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, metals, yard debris and leaves.

While Falls Church’s recycling rate is highest in the state, the City has a more ambitious goal.   The City’s Solid Waste Management Plan, a 20-year initiative adopted by the City Council in June 2004, sets a recycling rate goal of 65%. 

Environmental experts note there are many reasons to recycle:

-       Recycling reduces dependency on raw materials like oil, ore and wood.

-       Recycled products are generally far less energy consuming to produce than the equivalent product made from virgin materials.

-       Diverting recyclable items from the waste stream to the recycling stream saves taxpayer money by keeping disposal costs down while
preserving valuable landfill space.

For more information contact Kathy Allan, Environmental Programs Specialist, 703-248-5176 or kallan@fallschurchva.gov or visit the City website.   

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s annual recycling report is available here.

FRIDAY 12/3: Military History Forum

Richard Kirkland will speak on the topic The Flying Knights of World War II.  Mr. Kirkland flew a P-38 fighter in World War II and a MASH medivac helicopter in the Korean War.

No charge. 10 a.m. – noon, Falls Church Community Center, 221 Little Falls Street. 703-248-5020.  The Forum meets every other Friday, same time, same place.

The following lectures have been scheduled for 2010-2011:

Dec. 17  Roger Neighborgall:  Battle of Irsch Zerf

Jan. 14  Frank Cohn: From Germany and Back to the Elbe

Jan. 28   Kent Holmes:  The War in Laos – 1962 to 1975

Feb. 11  Jack Kull: POW Program (tentative) per Marge Craven

Feb. 25  Col. Charles McGee (ret.):  Tuskegee Airmen

Mar. 11  Will Hutchison: Balaclava:  So Where Was The Damned Infantry?

Mar. 25  Harry Yeide:  The Tank Killers

Apr. 8     Field Trip to Manassas Museum

Apr.  22  George Kralovek:  April 1865, The Month That Saved America

May 6     TBA

May 20  TBA

MAN ABOUT TOWN: ‘Little City’ vs. ‘Small Town’

By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Falls Church Times Columnist

November 29, 2010

The Citizens for a Better City held their annual meeting last week, and I got the impression from President Sally Ekfelt’s email to the Falls Church Times that, even though I’m not a member, I would have been welcome to attend. But I didn’t go, and now I’m kicking myself.

That’s because, according to the News-Press, the CBC membership debated a proposal to change wording in their by-laws from “small town character” to “Little City.”

This goes to the core of why I moved to Falls Church, and why I write this column. For me, it’s all about the “small town character,” a.k.a. “village atmosphere,” a.k.a. “Mayberry.”

According to the News-Press, the motion to change “small town” to “Little City” lost 20-17. That says something right there – the once powerful and mighty CBC mustered only 37 voting members at its annual meeting (which included food).

I wanted to read more about the CBC’s take on “small town character,” so I researched their website. Strangely enough, I couldn’t find a word about it in their by-laws. The closest I could come was a reference to “policies to assure that residential and business development will be compatible with the predominantly single-family residential, low-skyline character of Falls Church city.”

That line alone was almost enough to entice me to join the CBC. But according to another by-law, I’m not eligible: Members must pledge “to sustain Falls Church’s status as an independent city.” Since I’m convinced that our future as an independent city is unsustainable, I couldn’t make that pledge.

Worse, still according to the News-Press, members voted to delete the by-law language about the City’s “single-family residential, low-skyline character.”

While reading the CBC website I discovered a goldmine of information by Wayne Dexter, who charts the City’s formation from 1948, illustrating in the process that there’s nothing new under the sun. As a fairly recent émigré (eight years), I’ve been thinking that the City’s current political and financial turmoil is unprecedented. But Dexter’s history documents that it’s only par for the course – Falls Church has experienced life-threatening episodes almost since its formation in 1948.

Especially interesting is Dexter’s description of the “strip zoning of West Broad” in the early 1950s. The Planning Commission opposed strip zoning because it “effectively prevented block zoning which could have permitted creation of a more desirable central business district and more sensible traffic management.” But the City Council overrode the Planning Commission, and we got the stick-like business district of today – one mile long and one block wide. Contrast that with the charming business district grid in Old Town Alexandria, or even Leesburg – they’re both historic and highly walkable.

Dexter also tells about the proposal in the late 1960s by First Virginia Bank to build a high-rise office building at the corner of Broad and Washington. At the time, the City had a seven-story height restriction, and some residents feared that allowing the bank building could lead to a Falls Church that resembled Rosslyn. Others, however, saw the bank building as “an essential key to the long-sought creation of a central business district.” In the end, the bank withdrew its proposal, and ultimately built the twin black towers at Seven Corners, just outside City limits.

But the real story of the City, as documented by Dexter, is the schools. With the City’s 1948 formation, the first elected City Council approved what must have been a substantial bond issue to build a new high school and renovate other schools. ”Opposition was immediate, vigorous, and persistent,” Dexter writes. In the next election, opponents gained control of City Council, and the entire School Board resigned. But in 1953, supporters of the school system regained control, and construction began.

As 2011 approaches, the City is at that same old crossroad: Dare we raise taxes enough to sufficiently fund the schools? The City’s patriarch, Lou Olom, has seen it all before, and in a letter elsewhere on this page he urges taxpayers to stay the course.

What might such a course cost? During the baby boom years, Falls Church had a larger student population than it does today, but education expenses have risen exponentially over the last couple of decades. The City shouldered the cost then, but can it now?

I continue to maintain that the cost to the taxpayer to run a “boutique” city and a “boutique” school system is far higher than we are presently paying.  Last year, City Council approved a $1.24 tax rate, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Now we’re living on borrowed time, with little provision for maintenance, repairs, or improvements to the City’s infrastructure.

Perhaps you’ve read that next year’s tax increase could be as low as 4 cents. Don’t believe it. Any such action could lead to another School Board resignation en masse.

So what’s to become of us? I don’t know – but it looks to me as if 2011 will be another year for the history books. Get ready, Mr. Dexter – there’s going to be a lot to write.

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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Creative Cauldron Presents ‘Christmas Cabin of Carnaween’

By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF

Creative Cauldron will remount its critically acclaimed production of “The Christmas Cabin of Carnaween,” an Irish folktale adapted for the stage. An ensemble of professional actors and musicians along with community and student performers are featured in the cast.  Performances are weekends December 3 through 19 at ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Avenue.

“The Christmas Cabin of Carnaween” is set in the days of the great famine.  The story follows the journey of Oona Hegarty, a tinker’s child who spends her days caring for the young, the sick and the elderly in other people’s homes, but dreams of one day having a cabin of her own.  Her wish would go unfulfilled were it not for the intervention of the fairy people who come to her aid one snowy Christmas Eve.  Creative Cauldron’s 2009 production garnered praise from Michael Toscano of The Washington Post as “poignant and bracing…a reminder of the season’s rich ideals.”

The Creative Cauldron production of the Irish folktale is underscored with live music from “Tir Na Nog” (the Land of Eternal Youth otherworld in Irish mythology), the musical duo of Rosemary Gano and Keith Carr.  They perform Irish music in the “pure drop” manner, playing and singing in the style heard in pub sessions and at traditional dances and events.  They are both classically trained musicians who were drawn to Irish music, honing their skills on traditional instruments through study with Irish musical masters.  Tir Na Nog performs regularly at various Washington DC area venues.

The cast for “The Christmas Cabin of Carnaween” features Katie Culligan who has appeared Off-Broadway in Golden Fleece Ltd.’s Madame workshop; as Mrs. Fred’s Sister at Ford’s Theatre in A Christmas Carol (’07-’08) with a special performance at The White House for President George W. Bush; at Arena Stage in Legacy of Light; as Magenta in The Cumberland Theatre’s The Rocky Horror Show; with The Washington Savoyards as Leila in Iolanthe (Leila); at Imagination Stage as Lena in The Dancing Princesses; Kennedy Center Page-to-Stage Festival as Jennifer in The Essential Theatre’s Sampson and Ms. Delilah. Katie received her BA in Musical Theater from James Madison University.

Also performing in the cast will be singer/actress Maris Wicker.  Maris has presented solo cabaret shows at the Sitar Arts Center in D.C. and at Germano’s in Baltimore.  She and actor/singer Lonny Smith presented “Love Noir: The Music of Lenny (Bernstein), Kurt (Weill) and Harold (Arlen)” in the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival.

The performing ensemble of “Christmas Cabin” is rounded out with children, teens and adults who are regular participants in Creative Cauldron’s learning in the arts programs.  Margie Jervis is the scenic designer and Paul Spiegelblatt is the lighting designer.

Tickets for “Christmas Cabin of Carnaween” are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors.  Performances are Friday December 3, 10, & 17 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday December 4, 11, & 18 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Sunday, December 5 & 12 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and Sunday, December 19 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Reservations can be made online at www.creativecauldron.org or by calling 571-239-5288.  ArtSpace Falls Church is located at 410 South Maple Avenue in the Pearson Square Building.  Free parking is available in the garages at both the 400 and 410 South Maple Ave buildings.

Creative Cauldron is a not-for-profit arts organization operating in Northern Virginia since 2002 that provides opportunities for learning and participation in the performing and visual arts for children and adults.  Classes, workshops and performances in all disciplines are offered year round at ArtSpace Falls Church.  Creative Cauldron’s programs are funded in part through grants from the Arts Council of Fairfax County, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Economic Development Authority of the City of Falls Church.

CITY MEETINGS: November 29 – December 3

Click on [Read More] to access links.

Monday 11/29:  City Council Work Session.  Dogwood Room,  7:30 pm.  Agenda and documents.

Tuesday 11/30:  Electoral Board.  Dogwood Room, 8:00 am.

Public Hearing on Superintendent Search.  Thomas Jefferson School Conference Room, 1:30 pm.

Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Traffic Calming Advisory Committee.  Training Room, 7:30 pm.

Wednesday 12/1:  Recreation and Parks Advisory Board.  Falls Church Community Center, 7:00 pm.

ESC.  Dogwood Room, 7:30 pm.

Architectural Advisory Board.  Council Chamber, 7:45 pm.

Thursday 12/2: School Board Facilities Advisory Working Group.  Thomas Jefferson School Library, 7:00 pm.

Long Range Financial Working Group.  Magnolia Room, 7:30 pm.

Friday 12/3: No meetings scheduled.  Read more

SATURDAY 11/27: Civil War Thanksgiving Reenactment at Cherry Hill Farmhouse

The City of Falls Church is hosting a Civil War Thanksgiving Reenactment at Cherry Hill Farmhouse, 312 Park Ave., on Saturday, November 27. Visitors are welcome to stop by any time between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to see what an 1863 Civil War Thanksgiving was like in Falls Church.

Spectators can watch costumed re-enactors re-create an 1863 Thanksgiving. Watch as they host the holiday meal, listen to their war-time conversation, and take part in their parlor entertainment.

Admission is free; donations are appreciated. This event is sponsored by the Recreation & Parks Division and the Victorian Society of Falls Church.

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