Falls Church News-Press 1-5-2023

by Kylee Toland Falls Church News-Press

As the New Year 2023 came upon us this week, leaders in the City of Falls Church have been discussing what they want to see happen this year, and some shared their views with the News-Press

Falls Church Mayor David Tarter stated his goal for the 2023 year is to have the city “continue to be a welcoming, vibrant, fiscally sound community” that invests in its schools, locals and important services while preserving “its special small-town character and charm.”

Environmental sustainability will continue to be a top priority according to Tarter, as the city will do its part to “reduce carbon emissions community-wide.”

Through a grant facilitated by U.S.Rep. Donald Beyer, the city will convert the majority of their public works fleet to electric and hybrid vehicles.

by Lois Elfman Special to the News-Press

The reigning U.S. Men’s Silver

Medalist is from right here, within shouting distance of the City of Falls Church. Not only that, Ilia Malinin, the 18-year-old Marshall High

School senior, has already made figure skating history as the first person ever to land a “quadruple Axel” jump in competition and is now considered

a “heavy favorite” to win the senior men’s championship at the 2023 U.S.

Impact of Little City Gift Card

Over a month ago, the City of Falls Church launched the Little City Gift Card to help local businesses after the pandemic. See how it has impacted these businesses and what come in the near future

Press Pass: Pamala Stanley

FCNP’s Brian Reach interviews American disco and Hi-NRG singer Pamala Stanley about her decades-long career and how her music is still popular among people today.

Falls Church NEWS BRIEFS

F.C. Schools Seek to Appoint New Board Member

The Falls Church City School Board has announced this week its intention to appoint a member of the Falls Church community to finish the unexpired term of member Phil Reitinger who will be stepping down as of

It was announced that interested community members should send a cover letter detailing relevant experience and a resume to School Board Clerk Marty Gadell at gadellm@fccps. org no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, January 13.

Applicants are invited to attend the Tuesday, Jan. 17 School Board meeting and make an optional three-minute public comment on what they can contribute to the board. That meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the FCCPS’ Central

The Board will make a final decision on the appointment of the new member by February 1, and the new board member will be expected to be sworn in and attend the Feb. 14 School Board meeting.

The term of the newly appointed member will run from February 14 to December 31, 2023, and the position will be subject to a general election for a full four year term this November.

Watch Night Cancellation Decision Was Unanimous

The decision to cancel all the outdoor events of the Falls Church’s New Year’s Eve Watch Night last weekend was a unanimous consensus decision by all organizing participants including public safety representatives, the News-Press has learned.

The call was made after another conference with all the organizers on Friday afternoon prior to the arrival of the heavy rains on Saturday, including on Saturday night New Year’s Eve. Indoor events went on as scheduled.

F.C. Credited With 22% Greenhouse Gas Reduction

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the City of Falls Church reduced by 22 percent since 2005, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ (COG) Community-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Summaries. This achievement surpasses a goal set in the City’s 2017 Community Energy Plan.

Despite an estimated 34 percent population growth between 2005 and 2020, the City of Falls Church reduced emissions through a cleaner electrical grid and becoming more efficient on a number of fronts, including decreased vehicle miles traveled per person, decreased commercial use of natural gas per square foot, and decreased energy use per household.

NVTA Elects Palchik Chair, F.C.’s Snyder to Key Slot

Members of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTA) are slated to swear in new leadership for 2023, including the first Latina Chair Dalia Palchik, representing the Providence District on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, at their monthly meeting this Thursday.

Outgoing Chair Canek Aguirre will swear in the following officers for the 2023 term: Chair: Supervisor Dalia Palchik, Fairfax County, Vice Chair: Board Member Matt de Ferranti, Arlington County, Secretary-Treasurer: Council Member David Snyder, City of Falls Church.

In addition, the Commission will renew the appointment of Supervisor Matt Letourneau, Loudoun County, to the Metro Board of Directors for a fouryear term, and appoint Council Member Sarah Bagley, City of Alexandria, as Chair of the NVTC Program Advisory Committee.

F.C. City Council to Tour Renovated Library Monday

Prior to its first meeting of the New Year this Monday, Jan. 9, the F.C. City Council will be given a tour of the newly renovated and expanded Mary Riley Styles Public Library. The tour will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the Council’s first business meeting of the year will follow at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Va. Sen. Warner Tabbed Key Lawmaker by Bloomberg

Bloomberg Media has identified 10 lawmakers based on their legislative track records, stature in their political parties and areas of expertise as well as their ability to get things done. Some are veterans and others are rising stars. Half of them are Republican, and half Democrats — reflecting the current split in Congress. Among the elite group named is Virginia U.S. Senator Mark Warner.

According to the Bloomberg announcement, at least one is an emerging presidential contender. Another is rehabilitating her reputation after a fumble that sidelined her hopes for a top House post. And one survived a runoff that ultimately handed a decisive defeat to former President Donald Trump.

Priorities for 2023 Include a ‘Focus on the Community’

Tarter also stated the city will continue to re-examine its practices and policies to ensure equity and social justice, including the implementation of recommendations of its Police Use of Force Review Committee and the joining of the Government Alliance for Racial Equity.

Continued economic growth is a critical priority for the new year, he said, stating that growth to date has helped the city reduce the tax rate by 12 cents over the past two years and will allow for further reductions over time.

“We’re investing in ourselves and our future,” Tarter said. “I am very optimistic for the City of Falls Church.”

Vice Mayor Letty Hardi said her priorities for 2023 will primarily focus on the community and “what can be built upon from the momentum of 2022 in terms of investments that were made.”

Two big projects are underway, she noted, the 10-acre West Falls Church project and the Broad and Washington project that will be the new home of a major Whole

Foods store and the non-profit theater troupe, Creative Cauldron.

A third project “coming out of the ground” is the demolition of the former Rite Aid and carpet stores at the opposite corner of Founders Row.

The continuing and “doubling down” of street transportation and safety projects will be of importance this year, Hardi told the News-Press.

Investments in sidewalks, speed cameras near school and speed zones, and the Council approval of a move to 20 mile-per-hour speed limit in residential neighborhoods are hoped to be put in place by the spring of this year.

The conversion of the city’s streetlights into LEDs and a community energy plan to determine climate goals are priorities on Hardi’s environmental agenda.

A special event for 2023 is the marking of the 75th anniversary of the City’s incorporation. Hardi said the city is planning a yearlong celebration for the community centered around the event next August.

A priority “personally important” for Hardi is the community’s

housing policy and the investments made into affordable housing and the creation of a homeownership program where the city can buy unit-to-market rate and then resell them at a more affordable rate to people in the community.

“I think there’s a lot of good stuff that we started in 2022,” Hardi said, “that hopefully people will see it come to fruition in 2023.”

City Council member Phil Duncan stated the “biggest opportunity” for the city is economic development. He said he hopes the Broad and Washington project as well as the demolition across from Founders Row will “create momentum” to bring new amenities and help the city meet high expectations for services and education.

Duncan went on to state that he would like to see the city build its new buildings “in a way that is well inspected, safe and as little disruption as possible to the neighbors around them.”

“I think the biggest challenge is to retain our sense of a smalltown community as we move

toward becoming a full-service city,” Duncan said. “Falls Church, I would argue, was founded with pretty high aspirations.”

As for what 2023 looks like for local schools, Falls Church City Public Schools’ board chair Laura Downs and vice chair Tate Gould noted that they are entering budget season.

Recently, the schools were given a 4.2 percent increase target for the upcoming budget by the City Council, and Downs said additional money may be needed to ensure that the salaries of the school’s employees and staff fall in line with six surrounding school systems.

Gould said a big priority for the school system is navigating the process of collective bargaining for public sector staff. Downs added that the school board has been working with teachers on an agreement of how a union would work in the school system.

This will be a huge change for our school system to have a union,” Downs said. “We just want to make sure when Tate and I someday are off the school board, we’ve left the school system with a good working

agreement with the teachers.”

A discussion on school start times will occur this year, according to Downs, with a proposal for the high school starting later in the day and the elementary schools starting earlier.

Gould said he hopes the school system will see “a positive budget experience with our City Council partners, as well as a positive collective bargaining agreement.”

Updates to report cards to make them more user-friendly and having both in-person and virtual events are ways Downs said the School Board wants to incorporate both pre-pandemic and post-pandemic values going forward.. Downs and Gould affirmed they will continue to hold office hours at local restaurants every month this year for parents and guardians of students.

“A big effort by the school district is to try and bring people back together and remind them that we are a small community,” Gould said. “We want to try to keep engaged, but we can’t do that unless we’re connecting, so we’re gonna try to create as many opportunities to bring in parents, students, staff, teachers and the school board.”

Figure Skating championships Jan. 23-29 in San Jose, California.

As part of his preparation for that premier competition, Malinin spent the just-ended week between Christmas and New Year’s in California, as well, but this time in Southern California to train with a famous choreographer, Shae-Lynn Bourne.

Speaking by phone from there with this correspondent last week, he said, “We came here to make a couple of changes to the programs, to really try to get them as comfortable as possible so that when I go to my next competition, I’ll be really confident skating my programs…and hope for the best with making sure that I’m able to complete everything under pressure.”

Bourne, a renowned choreographer in the sport and three-time Olympian in ice dancing, is known for allowing skaters to slowly develop their artistry while emphasizing their individuality. Malinin described his work with Bourne as “a really fun time” and he is enjoying the learning process.

“I make a lot of connections even with the music to bring the programs to life,” said Malinin. Bourne “is flexible. If something is not working, she’s always there to try and change it. … It’s fun to work with her, but at the same time she’s always pushing me to be better. I’m always trying to be better.”

This past fall brought epic experiences for Malinin, who became the first skater in history to land the quadruple Axel jump in competition. After an impressive finish at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Malinin made his debut at the World Championships, finishing ninth, and won the gold medal at the World Junior Championships. This fall, he won two Grand Prix competitions and earned the bronze medal at the Grand Prix Final.

“These competitions…are to know how I’m looking so far,” said Malinin. “In terms of this season, it’s looking pretty well. There were some huge accomplishments that I’ve wanted, and with the coming rest of the season I think the main focus is to try and work on those weak points and hope that they’ll get better over time.”

After a week with Bourne,

Malinin has headed back to Northern Virginia, noting that he feels comfortable training at a rink in nearby Reston and being at home. It allows him to follow a familiar schedule of school and skating as he prepares to head to San Jose, California for the 2023 U.S. Championships, which will take place Jan. 23-29.

“I’ll have both of my parents coaching me, so I’ll be able to be more comfortable and prepare well for Nationals,” said Malinin.

His mother, Tatyana Malinina, and father, Roman Skorniakov, are former World and Olympic competitors who have trained him for years. He also periodically works with Rafael Arutunian, who coached Nathan Chen to Olympic gold at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Malinin, a senior at Marshall High, was born in Fairfax and has grown up in Northern Virginia. He said he’s had a lot of different, fun experiences, and has totally felt at home.

“I really enjoy making new friends there and making even more experiences,” said Malinin, who doesn’t yet have his driver’s license, but he’s working on it. “I have a lot of friends at the rink. There are also

other things to do. After I skate, I can always skateboard or ride bikes with friends. I always like to try new things.”

While it is considered that Malinin is the heavy favorite to win the senior men’s title at the 2023 U.S. Championships, he is doing his best not to focus on expectations, but rather aim for clean and well per-

confident as possible,” he said. “In the process, try to stay healthy, so that I’m really prepared for it. I hope that everything will go the best.

“I enjoy competing a lot because the audience watching feels your program and feels the mood you’re in,” he added. “I kind of like that because when the audience is very excited for me, I get a lot more energy and I

ILYA MALININ IS shown with his father happily acknowledging victory at a competition this fall. (C������� �����)

As Putin’s ‘Helter Skelter’ Flummoxes Washington N������� F. B�����

FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

As I sit writing this on Wednesday night, January 4, this week, after an unprecedented six full rounds of balloting in the House failed to deliver the majority needed by Rep. Kevin McCarthy to become the Speaker of the House, alternative scenarios for what might happen next are swirling around like frenzied phantoms on All Saints Eve (thinking “Fantasia’s” Night of Bald Mountain). Things may have simmered down by the time this gets into print, but who knows?

Right now, what seemed impossible as this process began only a couple days ago is now appearing a more reasonable outcome. That would involve McCarthy cutting a deal with Democrats for some form of shared leadership in exchange for enough votes to win.

It would be a stupendous setback for the Republicans, and there’s reason to believe it would never fly on either side, but it could develop into their only option in the face of a hardcore within the Republican party that appears resolved to prefer political gridlock to any reasonable outcome.

Yes, these are those post-reason, post-truth Republicans who played big roles in everything that led up to the barely-failed insurrection and coup attempt of two years ago. Among their masterminds is the formidable Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, whose pedigree now reads right out of a Russian spy expose.

This tight clique of pro-Moscow Republicans may be spoiling for a gridlock that could cripple the nation as much as their ally Donald Trump did his best to achieve during his four sad years in the White House.

Their game is all about “helter skelter,” not serious governing, or governing at all.

We are reminded that Sen. Paul’s aide, one Jesse Benton (no relation, I hope), was found guilty in November of laundering millions of dollars from Russia to the Trump campaign.

While the work of the House January 6 Committee was remarkable, and proved beyond any doubt Trump’s responsibility for the

events of January 6, 2021, it also did not take up some of the incredibly important deeper threads that fed into that day, and that have continued to define the greatest threat to the ongoing functioning of democracy in this land.

One critical line of inquiry they did not explore involved the way in which key intelligence and law enforcement agencies failed to be activated on that day, something that former chief of the Capitol Police, Steven A. Sund, documents in a book out this week, entitled, “Courage Under Fire, Under Siege and Outnumbered 58 to 1 on January 6.”

As stated by Washington Post reporter Carol D. Leonnig in her review of that book published Monday, “The federal government’s multi-billion dollar security network, built after 9/11 to gather intelligence that would warn of a looming attack, provided no such shield on Jan. 6, former Capitol Police chief Steven A. Sund writes in a new book.” She added that Sund warns “it could easily happen again.”

“It’s a response I will never forget for the rest of my life,” Sund writes.

Hey, if this was simply a Trump thing, then why were the Secret Service (with its days of illegally deleted text messages) and other critical agencies sitting on their hands through it all?

Equally enigmatic, of course, is failure to take into account the role of a sworn foreign enemy of the U.S., Moscow.

The Mueller Report of 2018 did a remarkable job documenting how Putin and Moscow influenced the Trump administration and its policies, aimed at weakening the U.S. But for whatever reason (we can only imagine), it was not just Trump but powerful forces around him, including Fox News and Tucker Carlson, who were effective in discrediting the Mueller Report, centering on the single incident of peeing prostitutes in Moscow contained in the Christopher Steele memo in the effort to discredit the entire Steele dossier and Mueller report.

The fingerprints of Putin are all over everything that did and continues to unfold to create “helter skelter” in Washington.

My own account of incidents leading up to it all, The January 6, 2021 Capital Sacking: Putin’s Role, remains an invaluable source for getting to the bottom of it all, and needs to be the basis for a major investigation.

Our Man in Arlington

“Once a Warrior, always a Warrior.”

That’s the slogan of the impressive Wakefield High School Education Foundation, whose autumn newsletter shows off what I believe is topsin-the-county dedication for a high school alumni group caring both for fellow graduates and current needy students.

The all-volunteer 501(C)3 just underwent a change in leadership. New president Jim Jones (Class of ’86) took over for Conchita Mitchell (’66), who ran things for 20 years in the footsteps of Peter Arnston (’56), who helped launch the foundation in 1986. Mitchell, a former school board member involved from the beginning, helped grow the program 230 percent, raising $250,000 from donors in 2022, for a total of $3.3 million over the decades. She personally aided over 500 Wakefield Warriors with higher education. Scholarships start as early as sophomore year, and students remain eligible for four years after graduation.

The foundation recently received a $1 million matching grant from Henry “Ric” Duques (’61), and his wife Dawn.

The Yorktown High School alumni, with whom I am active, have a Hall of Fame and Inspiration and run a website updating reunions and deaths. But Yorktown students seeking scholarships depend on the Arlington Community Foundation. Same for the WashingtonLee Alumni Association (it hasn’t changed its name to Washington-

Liberty), which showcases school history and compiles an excellent class-by-class database going back to the 1920s. Private Catholic high school Bishop O’Connell runs a Knight Fund for which more than 1,200 parents, alumni, faculty and friends donate yearly. There’s a sports hall of fame.

But the Wakefield alums are best at blending a focus on the past with the present. “Amazon Partners with Wakefield to Build the AWS Think Big Lab,” reads a newsletter headline. Quotations are posted from scholarship winners interviewed by president Jones. Detailed lists of donations from friends, family, parents and staff are listed on an “Honor Roll,” including donations made in memory of departed individuals. I was pleased to see my old Williamsburg Junior High gym teacher Tom Hawkins (Wakefield ’59) listed as giving building tours.

The foundation offers a digital museum, exhibits, oral histories, yearbooks, class-by-class news items, and obituaries of deceased alumni and staff. Particularly moving is a new compilation of “Wakefield’s Fallen Warriors—Vietnam” which begins with an inscription for Glenn Mann (Class of ’58), who died 11/23/65, up through William A. Fraught (’69) who died 7/25/1970.

*** Get set for more freedom to drink in Arlington parks. A proposal to allow permit-holding applicants to serve beer and wine during events at Long Bridge Park and Penrose Square was cleared for a vote coming at the Jan. 21

county board meeting.

Recommended in the 2019 Public Space Master Plan, the idea is to expand to five the parks for which event hosts can obtain a banquet license and reviews by police to serve adult libations. (Parks already “wet” include Fort C.F. Smith, Gateway Park and Clarendon Central Park.)

“During the public engagement process, concerns were raised about public health and safety, but these have not been ongoing issues,” I’m told by Parks and Recreation Department spokeswoman Martha Holland. “Each special event permit is reviewed by a county-wide committee on a case-by-case basis with consideration for any previous infractions by the organization as well as proposed mitigation measures.” Little fiscal impact is expected.

***

One of Arlington’s most highimpact developers died Jan. 1 at the age of 95. Preston Caruthers, whose kids I grew up with, made his mark in the 1960s constructing Southern Towers on Shirley Highway (I-95). He continued with other residential and commercial projects from his Caruthers Properties LLC in Ballston, where I interviewed him in 2015.

The Oklahoma-raised farm boy and self-made philanthropist was prominent in the Washington Golf and Country Club (which he helped integrate), helped fund Arlington Public Schools Outdoor Lab (as a school board member), bought Glebe House for the National Genealogical Society, and donated to Marymount University, where the Caruthers name graces a building on Yorktown Blvd.

The Stellar 2022 Summary Report

Readers are advised to study the report on Page 13 of this edition that delineates the impressive, if not stunning, long list of achievements by the City of Falls Church government over the year of 2022. Coming into the new budget season, some citizens may be focusing their attention on what they feel the City has not done for them or the fact that a reduction in the tax rate that the City Council will have to wrestle with this spring may not be to their satisfaction.

Indeed, the signals are already out there that the next budget, covering the fiscal year that begins on July 1, may not include the strong downward trend of the last two years (when the rate declined from $1.3555 per $100 of assessed real estate valuation to $1.23) due to the revenue gains from new robust mixed-use growth in the City. Combined with whatever increases in real estate assessed values may be (and as fast as the real estate market is adjusting now, it will be hard to predict), the reports on that being due from the City Assessor next month, taxpayers here may face some added pain this year.

But the 2022 summary of achievements may be appreciated as a form of balm to assuage that pain. There can be little doubt, based on that report, that citizens are getting plenty of “bang for their buck” for all the bucks they are being asked to cough up. The seven areas of results identified in the report – small town character in an urban setting, economic sustainability and vitality, safe streets for all, social equity, inclusion and affordable housing, public safety, environmental sustainability, and effective and responsive government services – constitute a formidable array of achievements.

They add up to what makes for an improving quality of life for the 15,000 residents here, including greater safety on the roads and all around, more open curated space, continued economic growth that promises to lower tax rates going forward also giving City residents greater options in retail and restaurants, and a commitment to the kind of diversity and equity that we should all be proud of, It goes without saying that all of this on the City operations side of things also supports an unrivaled, world class school system.

If there is one thing needed to lower the cost of living in Falls Church, it is the desperate need for a lot of new affordable housing. While more progress is identified in the 2022 report than we’ve seen here in years, it is not enough to allow for the kind of real economic diversity needed to allow for recent college graduates, for example, and others who work for the City to live here.

Sadly, this is where City residents do not appear to shine as well as they might, resisting modest zoning and other changes that are needed to make this possible.

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Masks and the Senior Center

Editor,

Recently retired and living alone, I know it’s important for one’s wellbeing to participate in social activities. So I decided to take part in Scrabble at the Senior Center. But the game is on hold indefinitely as all the participants are out sick with covid.

The Senior Center doesn’t require masks. This despite the fact that the majority of hospitalizations and deaths from covid are now among those 65 and older. I get that wearing a mask is uncomfortable when taking part in an exercise class. I tried one of those, in person, and decided to switch to virtual. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask to require mask wearing for sedentary activities when they involve sitting in a small, perhaps inadequately ventilated room, within a couple of feet of each other.

I know there are some who will say that masks “just” protect the wearer, and if people want to risk their own health, that’s their choice. However, I have have not one or two but FOUR friends who were infected with covid after plane rides, including one who was double masked because she’d had covid once and didn’t want to repeat the experience. They all told me that pretty much no one else was wearing a mask.

The more we allow the virus to stay in circulation, the more chances for it to mutate and escape immunity from prior infection or vaccinations.

I hear that many school districts around the country are considering re-instituting mask requirements. I respectfully ask that the Senior Center do the same. We shouldn’t have to make a choice between our emotional health and our physical

well-being when wearing a mask is a simple step we can all take to protect ourselves AND others, especially in the most vulnerable population.

Chris Raymond City of Falls Church Editor,

Thoughts on VA Bill HB 1382

I write in support of Virginia General Assembly House Bill 1382, to prohibit the mutilation, cruel, and tortuous punishment of declawing cats’ paws for an “elective” nontherapeutic, nonessential purpose, of which Delegate Kaye Kory is a Chief Co-sponsor of HB 1382.

HB 1382 only permits declawing a cat for a therapeutic purpose (for example, a severe infection, cancerous tumor, or debilitating defect). It also creates a civil penalty of $500 for the first violation, $1000 for the second violation, and $2500 for the third or any subsequent violation.

In the U.S., New York and Maryland are the only states that outlaw this inhumane, barbaric, and cruel practice. Recovery from declaw surgery is excruciatingly painful-and of absolutely no benefit--for the feline. A cat’s claws are used as an inherent, natural behavior of cats. Claws are a vital defense mechanism that also provides balance, mobility, exercise, stretching, and ability to mark territory.

Declawing is like painfully amputating the first knuckle on human hands for no reason at all. It is not a trip to the spa for a cat! Let a cat be a cat!

Dr. George Cody City of Falls Church

A Month Later, The Little City Gift Cards’ Big Impact

by Kylee Toland Falls Church News-Press

Since its launch on November 26th, the Little City Gift Card has gotten locals talking and some purchasing from their favorite local businesses.

The gift card — a digital e-gift card — was introduced right before the holiday season as a new way to “support Litty City small businesses, restaurants and non-profits.” This means both residents and nonresidents can use the gift card to purchase items at participating local businesses.

Renee Rojural, the marketing specialist in the City of Falls Church’s Economic Development office and the project manager of the gift card program, said the idea came about after the city received ARPA — American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — funds to “assist in the economic recovery” due to the pandemic as well as to assist “the incredible small business community that the city has.”

So far, Rojural said she has seen “a lot of people” purchasing the gift card, both Falls Church residents and non-residents. Rojural said the city had sold 2,443 gift cards since being launched on November 26th. She went on to state the office has received “lots of feedback” from

customers who were new to certain businesses due to the gift card, as well as how it has made shopping in the city “even more accessible.”

For some of the participating small businesses, the gift card seems to have raised more awareness for shops or restaurants which may not be well-known or not see an influx in customers. David Forbes, the owner of local specialty food store Disturbingly Delicious, said he thought it was important for his business to participate in the gift card program as a way to support “a community of local businesses.”

“I thought it’d be cool to get people to sort of explore and discover things they haven’t necessarily tried,” Forbes said.

Even though Disturbingly Delicious has been around for about four years, Forbes said he has gotten customers who he initially hadn’t seen before but now visit due to the gift card. Although he said the gift card can be a bit confusing due to the processing fees Yiftee — the eGift Card service used for the program — has when purchasing them, Forbes said he thinks the overall idea of it is “great” and has brought “people and revenue.”

Rojural stated the city did “lots of research” on various platforms but chose to move forward with Yiftee because of their no monthly fee to

Falls Church School News & Notes

MHS Robotics Team Looking for Sponsors

Ever want to build a robot? Or help pay for one? The Meridian High School Vae Victis 1418 Robotics Team is looking for sponsors and mentors for their 2023 build season (January-April).Visit https://1418. team/ for more information.

Support GIVE Day for FCCPS

Swing by the Falls Church Farmers Market (in front of the Community Center) between 9: 00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Saturday, January 7th for some baked goods and hot chocolate. The Oak Street Elementary GIVE Day Sustainable Art Club will be hosting a bake sale to raise funds for buying reus-

able tote bags to decorate on the GIVE Day MLK Day of Service at Meridian High School on Monday, January 16.

Meridian Swim Team Makes a Splash

The Meridian Swim & Dive Team is entering into the season with a record 65 team members. This is the largest Swim & Dive Team the school has ever had, including 12 divers for the first time.

The Mustangs have 4 regular season meets left. Come out and cheer on the Mustangs Swim & Dive Team.

Meridian Offers MYP Certificate to Students

The Meridian Middle Years

the City when implementing the gift card program or to the businesses. Yiftee also allows customers to be able to use the cards at more than one participating location, with businesses being able to use the sales system they already had. The City does not receive any of the processing fees that are charged when gift cards are purchased.

After its launch, $50,000 in additional funding was added to support the program. According to a December 15th article by The Patch, the extra $50,000 supports bonus gift cards given with purchases of the Little City Gift Card. This means that a $30 gift card purchase will come with a $15 bonus gift card, and so on.

Some local businesses haven’t seen the impact of the gift card, but are hoping that will change when more people become aware of the many things they can purchase with it. Laura Connors Hull, the founding artistic director of Creative Cauldron, said she joined the program due to believing it would be a “wonderful idea” to support small businesses.

So far, Hull said Creative Cauldron hasn’t seen “a lot of activity yet” with the gift card, but she and her team have been encouraging their patrons to purchase them so that people can receive a free ticket for upcoming events, such as their 2023 Passport to the World of Music

concert series.

“I think that if more local businesses were getting involved in this, it would have an even greater impact on the card,” Hull said. “I think every business that joins sheds a little bit more light on [the gift card].”

Recently, Falls Church was ranked number eight by SmartAsset as the most generous place in the U.S. The study was compiled from IRS data of the amount of money people donate as a percentage of their net income and the proportion of people who made charitable donations.

When asked about how the gift card program ties into this ranking, Rojural said it “speaks volumes” about the Little City community on

“how much they want to support local businesses and different organizations in our community.”

Looking into the future of the gift card program, Rojural stated she hopes it is a “catalyst for repeat business.” Although an end date hasn’t been determined for the bonus gift card promotion, people will still be able to purchase a gift card and use it at participating businesses even after the promotion ends.

“We hope that people will continue to come to the city and support our wonderful restaurants and the different businesses that we have in the city,” Rojural said. “Our greatest hope is that it’ll continue to encourage economic recovery.”

Programme (MYP) certificate is a new opportunity to recognize outstanding efforts and achievements by 9th and 10th-grade students. The Meridian MYP certificate will be offered for the first time to current 9th-grade students (class of 2026). The current 9th graders were introduced to the certificate during a recent Stable class.

All current 9th graders are eligible for this certificate because of the structure and support that occurs through their course completion, including Stable (advisory time) to complete the 10th-grade Personal Project and participate in some service opportunities during school. The certificate is an opportunity to engage in active and reflective work, much of what students are already doing to support and prepare for selected 11th and 12th-grade pathways. MYP Certificate participation is encouraged but not required

and does not impact participation in the 11th and 12th-grade Diploma Programme (DP) or Careers-related Programme (CP) courses.

If one has questions, please get in touch with Dr. Dippold (dippoldr@ fccps.org).

Nominate FCCPS Staff for Awards

The 2023 FCCPS Employee Awards program is open for

nominations. Everyone is invited to recognize a teacher, specialist, or support staff employee for their dedication to students and schools. There are three awards: Falls Church Education Foundation Teacher of the Year Award, Professional Specialist of the Year Award, Support Staff Employee of the Year Award. For more information, visit https://www.fccps. org/o/fccps/page/employeerecognition-awards.

THE CITY OF FALLS CHURCH launched the gift card program to help out local businesses from the financial affects of the pandemic. (Photo: Kylee Toland)

THE MERIDIAN SWIM TEAM is entering into the season with a record 65 team members. (Photo: Miles Pierre)

COMMENT

A Penny for Your Thoughts News of Greater Falls Church

By Supervisor Penny Gross

This week marks two years since the deadly assault on the Capitol Building and on our democracy. Fortunately, both the Capitol and our democracy survived that assault, albeit with scars and some trepidation. The videos from the siege burn in memories, and the televised hearings by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol brought new information and insight into the machinations of the Trump Administration that set up and supported the assault by our own citizens. Sometimes it was hard to turn away from the revelatory hearings; other times, it was difficult to imagine that officials in leadership positions could be so venal. Fortunately, there were some heroes among the witnesses. Who can forget the elections worker and her mother, from Georgia, who expressed how they were just doing their jobs, yet subjected to death threats?

Or the Republican chairman from Maricopa County, Arizona, who demonstrated an ethical approach to election integrity, at the risk of his seat? Or White House aide Cassidy Hutchison who, in multiple appearances, electrified the committee with her descriptions of White House officials’ activities during the riot?

The assault on democracy and elections continued in last November’s elections, with

wild accusations and multiple legal challenges in many states, and many victories by razorthin margins in both parties.

The ballyhooed “red wave” turned out to be a trickle, but indicated that the nation still is split, nearly down the middle.

The next 22 months leading up to the 2024 presidential election provide ample time to reiterate the reasons why our democracy was created and how to retain and maintain democratic ideals more than two centuries after the foundational documents were adopted. Some recent court decisions seem to be peculiar interpretations of those foundational documents; just because some rights were not mentioned specifically in the Constitution should not mean that millions of people are limited in their privacy or ability to choose their health care, spouse, or where to live. Rather than a red wave, we should be advocating and supporting a red, white, and blue wave. The American flag flies over us all, not just a few.

As the New Year begins, the Fairfax County Police Department has provided a new information campaign for an existing effort – the Firearm and Ammunition Safe Disposal Program. Police often are called to assist residents when they have firearms or ammunition they no longer wish to keep. Sometimes these items belong to an aging family mem -

ber, or are from military service, or simply not wanted in the house anymore. The quickest and easiest way to get rid of such items is to call the non-emergency police dispatch number – 703-691-2131 – and request an officer respond to your home. Leave the weapon and/or ammunition in a safe location, and direct the officer to it. The officer will ensure that any gun is unloaded and rendered safe before taking possession of it. Although not a preferred method, residents also may deliver a gun or ammunition to their local police station for disposal. Call the station first to notify them of your intentions, place the unloaded weapon in the trunk or rear of your vehicle, separate from any ammunition. Be sure to have identification with you. Do not bring the weapon or ammunition into the station. You should speak with the front desk staff, and then an officer will be called for assistance. Always treat every weapon as if it is loaded; keep it pointed in a safe direction, and keep your finger off the trigger. Getting rid of dangerous items from one’s household is a great New Year’s resolution!

 Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Richmond Report

We are officially into the New Year and legislators will soon return to the Virginia State Capitol for the General Assembly. There will be no shortage of issues debated, including women’s reproductive rights, workforce development, the environment, and how best to be fiscally-responsible with taxpayer money. Hot button bills will be introduced to capture the hearts and minds of voters for Virginia’s state house elections on November 7, 2023.

On December 15, the Governor addressed a joint meeting of the House and Senate money committees. Legislators are now tasked with revising the spending plan based on the most current data and forecasts to close out this fiscal year and gear up for the next. Thoughtful stewardship, due diligence, and conservative spending have been the criteria best positioning Virginia’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

In his recent remarks, Governor Youngkin told us to “buckle up” for his proposed approach to address many unmet needs and challenges facing Virginians. Simultaneously, he is proposing tax relief for wealthy individuals and successful businesses. Virginia’s balanced budget is rooted in formulas found in the Constitution, the Code of Virginia, and existing regulations. Make no mistake that Virginia’s economic well-being will not be the equivalent to a December joyride on Santa’s sleigh.

try, there is a workforce shortage. The critical question is how to train and upskill new and existing workers into their respective fields.

Public policy must be inclusive and not be mired in homophobia nor restrict access to healthcare. Hidden in the fine print of Governor Youngkin’s budget proposal is language to support his campaign’s secret support for rescinding reproductive rights as well as criminalizing the medical procedure necessary to terminate a pregnancy.

To be honest, it comes as no surprise considering he “couldn’t talk about the issue” during the 2021 campaign but now publicly states he would willingly and gleefully sign any restrictive legislation that comes to his desk.

It is good to know this Administration is looking at addressing some of the most pressing problems in our Commonwealth – access to healthcare, mental health and behavioral issues, public safety, learning loss, and the workforce pipeline to cite a few. Addiction is a lifelong battle for many Virginians if it doesn’t kill them first. Workforce development starts at the earliest ages including Pre-K learning and/or affordable childcare for working parents. Recruiting, training, and retaining law enforcement, medical practitioners and educators are priorities that will ultimately make Virginia competitive in the global economy.

Drunk in Public, W Annandale Rd, December 29, 4:08 AM, a male, 34, of the City of Falls Church, VA, was arrested for Drunk in Public.

Larceny, Wilson Blvd, between 10:49 AM, December 29 and 6:44 AM, December 30,

unknown suspect took an unattended blue Twin bicycle

Drunk in Public, W Broad St, January 1, 8:20 AM, a male, 46, of Alexandria, VA, was arrested for Drunk in Public.

Larceny, S Washington St, between 2 PM and 4 PM, December 29 unknown suspect(s) took an unattended blue Kent bicycle.

Starting January 11, the General Assembly will begin its thoughtful consideration of how best to address revenue and state spending that enhance the quality of life for Virginians. Data driven forecasts, the Commonwealth’s bond rating, its obligations, and long-existing unmet needs will all compete when we sift through the many amendments.

It is important to note that Virginia has consistently been ranked among the best places to do business. While it is a good sound bite to suggest lowering corporate income taxes, this has not been the top desire of Virginia’s business community that I encounter. Rather, they seek a trained workforce with meaningful investments from the government in public K-12 through higher education. Across this coun-

Public safety should not be compromised because first responders are compensated at levels that limit the pool of those willing to work in public service. Many medical professions are also facing vast shortages in qualified staff because programs to train the next generation of workers quickly and efficiently do not exist.

We have a lot of work to do during this short legislative session. As the Majority Leader in the Senate, I will continue to work with Senate Democrats and colleagues from across the aisle who share a longterm, responsible vision so that all Virginians have equal opportunity to learn and earn while choosing Virginia as the best place to live and raise a family.

 Senator Saslaw represents the 35th District in the Virginia State Senate. He may be emailed at district35@sen-

Senator Dick Saslaw’s

Falls Church Business News & Notes

Capital Caring Health New Affiliation

Falls Church’s Capital Caring Health intends to affiliate with Florida’s Chapters Health System. Capital Caring Health, a hospice and palliative care provider, has served the metro area for 45 years. Chapters Health System provides home health, palliative and hospice care, pharmacy services and medical equipment to Florida and Georgia patients. The affiliation, which is not a merger or acquisition, allows both nonprofits to combine resources and best practices, expanding care.

Tax Break Proposal for Small Businesses

Governor Glenn Younkin made a proposal in his budget to help small businesses like mechanics, hair stylists and coffee shop owners by creating a 10 percent deduction for business income. The Virginia Chamber Foundation reports that more than 95 percent of Virginia employers are small businesses with 50 employees or less. This tax relief targets the state’s economy not covered under the proposed corporate tax cut.

Entrepreneurship Workshop

The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) is presenting a workshop on starting a new business, Entrepreneurship 101, on January 10. Featured speaker Ashley Chen, founder and CEO of ActioNet, will be joined by a panel of experts sharing how to register a business, permit requirements, business feasibility and business plan basics, certifications, financing options and government resources. The free workshop will be in person at the FCEDA headquarters at 8300 Boone Boulevard with the opportunity to network with staff and participants. The presentation is in partnership with the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD), the Community Business Partnership (CBP), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Fairfax County Department of Economic Initiatives (DEI). For more information, visit https://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/start-abusiness-2023-join-experts-learn-how/.

DoD Awards TRICARE Contracts

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) announced the Department of Defense award of TRICARE Managed Care Support Contracts, effective 2024. The new contracts will require improved integration between military treatment facilities and the T-5 private sector care. Beneficiaries will be able to transfer specialty care referrals when moving and receive improved customer service. Once the transition has completed between current contracts to the new one, military hospitals and clinics will have real-time access to care and the ability to standardize care between civilian and military facilities

 Business News & Notes is compiled by Elise Neil Bengtson, Executive Director of the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce. She may be emailed at elise@fallschurchchamber.org.

2023

AREA EVENTS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 5

FOREIGN LANGUAGE MOVIE

The Alden's foreign language movie series is curated by Performing Arts Director Sarah Schallern Treff, with more than a little help from you, our audience members! The series has a few surprises thrown in. Showing at the Alden at McLean Community Center, (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean). 1:00 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 7

OLD FIREHOUSE ANNUAL WINTER BLOCK PARTY

Com e to McLean Community Center for their 2nd Annual Winter Block Party. There will be entertainment, amusements, and food for all ages. (1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean). 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

5TH ANNUAL RESOLUTION BUSTER

Join Settle Down Easy Brewing as they celebrate their 4th Annual Resolution BUSTER. The party will start at noon and the first 20 guests receive a free glass. The Fermented Pig will be there serving lobster rolls. (2822 Fallfax Dr., Falls Churc h)

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8

AAUW OPEN FORUM WITH DELEGATE SIMON

T he Falls Church Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will host VA Delegate Marcus Simon (53rd District) in an open forum at the Falls Church Community Center. The program is free and open to the public. 2:00 p.m.

THE DC BIG FLEA ANTIQUES MARKET

T h e DC 'Big Flea' returns for the 1st DC Big Flea of 2023. Discover one-of-a-kind jewelry, art pottery, mid-century modern furniture, vintage clothing, and much more.

Dulles Expo Center (4320 Chantilly Shopping Center, Chantilly).11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS HAPPY HOUR

Join fellow young (early and mid-career) professionals for networking and happy hour. Ballston Quarter Lower Level (4238 Wilson Blvd, Arlington). 6:00 p.m. –8:00 p.m.

RICHELLE CLAIBORNE RETURNS performing at last year's event held at McLean Community Center.

A VARIETY OF VINTAGE COUNTRY STORE FINDS on display at the DC Big Flea Antiques Market, which returns to Dulles Expo Center this Sunday. (Photo: Marthia Sides)

LIVE MUSIC THEATER & ARTS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6

A SOLDIER'S PLAY

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6

SEAN HEALY'S BIG CELTIC SHOW

Creative Cauldron.

410 S Maple Ave • 7:30 p.m. (703) 436-9948

TOO EXTRA

Dogwood Tavern

132 W. Broad St. • 9:30 p.m. (703) 237-8333

SATURDAY, JANUARY 7

MOTHERS LITTLE HELPER

JV’s Restaurant

6666 Arlington Blvd. • 8:30 p.m. (703) 241-9504

SEAN TRACY

Dogwood Tavern

132 W. Broad St. • 9:30 p.m. (703) 237-8333

GROOVEJET

Clare and Don's Beach Shack. 130 N. Washington St, 7:30 p.m. (703) 532-9283

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8

KOSTOV-SU DUO

St. Patrick's Episcopal 3241 Brush Drive • 4:00 p.m. (703) 532-5656

CHUCK PROPHET TRIO

Jammin Java 227 Maple Ave. E • 8:00 p.m. (703) 255-1566

GRIEFCAT

Creative Cauldron.

410 S Maple Ave • 7:00 p.m. (703) 436-9948

LINWOOD TAYLOR BAND

JV’s Restaurant

6666 Arlington Blvd. • 8:00 p.m. (703) 241-9504

he Pulitzer Prizewinning thriller has rocketed back into the spotlight thanks to this 2020 Tony-winning Best Revival. In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A sergeant is murdered, triggering a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America. Broadway’s leading man Norm Lewis stars in the show Variety calls “a knock-your-socks-offdrama.” Showing at the Eisenhower Theatre at the Kennedy Center. 8:00 p.m. $45 - $13 5

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8

FIESTA DE LOS REYES MAGOS

J oin GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington, D.C. for their annual Three Kings Day Celebration. This festive end to the holiday season features the timeless story of the Magi, performances by local musicians and dance troupes, a street parade, and free gifts for children. This year,

the event is capped at 220 people. Only one adult allowed for every three children. Every family will be given up to four tickets for the event. 2:00 p.m

MONDAY, JANUARY 9

MERRILY WE SING ALONG: WEST SIDE STORY

Grab a provided lyrics sheet and enjoy singing along to songs from the classic musical West Side Story with several talented performers. At Signature Theatre in Shirlington. 7:30 p.m. $15

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10

FALLS CHURCH PYRAMID ORCHESTRA CONCERT

Falls Church Orchestra, Falls Church Pyramid Concert. All concerts are free and open to the public. FCHS Spratley Auditorium. 7:00 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11

FALLS CHURCH PYRAMID HONORS CHOIR CONCERT

Falls Church Pyramid Honors

Choir Concert. Free and open to the public. Falls Church High School, 7:00

CHUCK PROPHET TRIO will be performing at Jammin' Java this Sunday, January 8th alongside singer-songwriter Mark Erelli.

(Photo courtesy: Lauren Tabak)

VA DMV Connect Coming to the American Legion Building

The Falls Church City DMV Connect visit is held twice a month, usually for 10 days, on 5 consecutive days of one week, and then 5 days of the next week (frequently it’s the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the month) at the American Legion Building, Post 130, located next to the W & OD Bike Trail, at 400 N. Oak St, Falls Church, VA 22046. The Connect’s hours are from 9:30 a.m. — 3:30 p.m. They close for lunch for 1 hour from 12:30 to 1:30. It is mostly by appointment, through the DMV’s website under “DMV2Go or DMV Connect” and then under “Falls Church American Legion,” but the DMV Connect staff can usually accommodate walk-ins, so please do come by. Walk-in opportunities can occur when there are cancellations, noshows, and overbookings.

Creative Cauldron Announces Festival Line Up

Creative Cauldron’s popular annual “Passport to the World of Music Festival” featuring some of the most talented and diverse musicians in the Metro D.C. area and beyond will launch on January 6th and run through February 4, 2023. Always billed as an opportu -

nity “to tour the world without ever leaving Falls Church,” the Festival is curated by Wammy Award-winning artists Ken Avis and Lynn Veronneau. It features musical styles and genres from folk, Latin, jazz, blues along with global musical traditions.

The “Passport to the World of Music” Festival is sponsored by Ken Trotter, JD Realtor TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.

F.C. Offers Christmas Tree Disposal Info

In the City of Falls Church, Christmas trees are collected for free on Wednesdays in January and February. Plastic bags, rope, tinsel and other decorations should be removed.

For Fairfax County collection customers outside towns like Vienna, Christmas trees will be collected from Jan. 2 to 13. Lights, decorations and stands must be removed to ensure trees will be collected. After Jan. 13, schedule a brush special collection for Christmas tree removal.

If one doesn’t receive curbside collection services from the City of Falls Church or Fairfax County, check collection policies with a private hauler. The City of Falls Church says residents of apartments and condominiums with private trash and recycling services should take Christmas trees to the I-66

Transfer Station, 4618 W. Ox Road, Fairfax, VA.

Falls Church Irish Dancers Win Top Honors

Four dancers from the McGrath Morgan Academy of Irish Dance claimed top honors, each bringing home their respective age group’s first place trophy from the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America (IDTANA) Southern Region Oireachtas, held in Orlando the first week of December.

Those dancers are: Isabella Renzi, U12 Girls Champion, two-time champion; Aisling Reynolds, U14 Girls Champion, five-time champion; Jessie Welgos, U16 Girls Champion, four-time champion; Meghann Mullarkey, U18 Girls Champion, two-time champion.

The Oireachtas (pronounced Uh-ROCK-tus) is a three-day regional championship where Irish dancers compete to qualify to participate at national and world championships.

In addition to the solo championships, the school won first and second place in the team drama competition and second place in the girls under-12 ceili competition. In addition to the four winners, eight McMa dancers qualified to compete at the world competition in Montreal

fied to compete at the national competition in Nashville i n July, including Molly Mostow, Falls Church resident and Meridian junior, who was a member of the first-place drama team.

Students Donate to F.C. Homeless Shelter

The Franconia Elementary School Student Council has donated $1,500 to the Falls Church Homeless Shelter. The presentation was made by a Student Council member during an interview for the school morning show. The fourth and fifth graders on the Student Council also operate a student store and sponsors fundraisers for local charities throughout the year.

F.C. Arts Calls for Entries for “Texture” Exhibit

Photographers are invited to explore how visual or tactile surface characteristics of objects or scenes can be enhanced or downplayed through the manipulation of light and angle. Because texture may either be real or implied, participants are also invited to take a broader look at the topic and to submit entries that convey texture through the basic or overall structure of an image.

Submissions for the exhibit are due

The exhibition will be held from March 4th to April 9th. The juror of the exhibition will be Ronald Beverly. Juror’s Choice and People’s Choice prizes will be awarded courtesy of a donation from DuBro Architects and Builders.

Keegan Theatre Announces Cast of “The Lifespan of a Fact”

The Keegan Theatre is pleased to announce the cast and creative team of the acclaimed serio-comedic play “The Lifespan of a Fact,” written by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell, making its DC Premiere at Keegan January 28 — February 25, 2023.

About the play: Jim Fingal is a fresh-out-of-Harvard fact checker for a prominent but sinking New York magazine. John D’Agata is a talented writer with a transcendent essay about the suicide of a teenage boy — an essay that could save the magazine from collapse. When Jim is assigned to fact check D’Agata’s essay, the two come head to head in a comedic yet gripping battle over facts versus truth.

The cast of “Lifespan” includes Colin Smith as John D’Agata, Sheri Herren as Emily Penrose, and Iván Carlo as Jim Fingal.

at the Ireland’s Four Provinces restaurant in downtown Falls Church Saturday night, braving the rain and the cancellation of the Watch Night festivities, was this

FOUR DANCERS FROM THE FALLS CHURCH-based McGrath Morgan Academy of Irish Dance won their respective age group’s first place spot at the regional competition in Orlando earlier this month. Pictured above is the academy’s ceili team, who placed second in the girls under-12 competition. (Photo: Marianne Weaver)

LOCAL

Shields Summarizes Remarkable F.C. Achievements of 2022

by Nicholas F. Benton Falls Church News-Press

The first day back at work at the Falls Church City Hall this week began with a conference call among division leaders that focused on the City’s monumental achievements in the last year. City Manager Wyatt Shields outlined a detailed summary of the achievements of 2022 as the City government strove to serve the needs of “government, residents and businesses working together to improve our community.”

He summarized how the City’s key values include its 1. Small Town Character in an Urban Setting, 2. Economic Sustainability and Vitality, 3. Safe Streets for All, 4.Social Equity, Inclusion, and Affordable Housing, 5. Public Safety, 6. Environmental Sustainability, 7. Effective and Responsive Government Services, and 7. Effective and Responsive Government Services: Public Meetings.

“The highlights of the review were built on the foundation of dayto-day service to the community that all City staff take pride in,” he reported.

“In that daily work lies our strongest connections with the Falls Church community. As City resident, activist, and employee Annette Mills said at her retirement party, ‘We are most effective when we are working together, residents and government working hand in hand.’ I keep her words framed on my wall as a daily reminder of this truth.

“As the year 2022 draws to a close, it is good to take stock of some of the accomplishments of a very productive year. The City Comprehensive Plan lays out a vision and key objectives for our community and this Year in Review is organized along key values identified in that plan.”

The accomplishments presented in the 2022 summary report include the following, presented in the shorthand form used in the report. The City of Falls Church: Completed Washington St. Plaza and history panels. Maintained flower baskets in the downtown commercial district.

Sponsored numerous special events including Memorial Day, Concerts in the Park, and more. Installed holiday lighting on Broad Street up to West Street.

Completed a new Wayfinding Sign program to help visitors find key attractions.Created a Park Master Plan for the two-acre “Fellows Property” adjacent to Oak Street School.

Developed an “East End Area

Plan” to set a vision for a vibrant future for the Eden Center and adjacent properties on the east side of the City.

The plan is scheduled for adoption in March 2023.

Executed a 99-year ground lease for the West Falls project to help pay for new Meridian High School.

Approved building permits for over 1 million square feet of new commercial development.

Executed an economic development agreement to bring a new movie theater to Founders Row.

Executed an agreement with Virginia Tech and Converge LLC to facilitate the development of a new Virginia Tech National Center for Smart Construction and other commercial uses on City owned land in Fairfax Co adjacent to Meridian H.S.

Issued permits for the Broad and Washington project which includes Whole Foods anchored retail, a theater for Creative Cauldron, and public parking.

Issued permits for Founders Row II, which will begin construction in 2023.

Created the new Little City Gift Card program to support shopping at local businesses.

Provided small business grants to help recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Completed traffic calming measures on Oak St. and Lee St.

Installed new sidewalk to the Tinner Hill Historic site. Installed new sidewalk on S. Maple and Tinner Hill Rd.

Developed plans for traffic calming solutions for the Greenway Downs neighborhood for review by residents. Completed Maple Ave & S. Washington St intersection safety improvements.

Completed a Bicycling and Facility study with Virginia Tech with recommendations that will be incorporated into the Bike Master Plan in 2023.

The City Council approved lowering speed limits to 20 miles per hour on smaller residential streets in the City. New 20 mph signage and enforcement will begin in spring 2023.

Developed engineering plans for pedestrian and bike safety improvements for Park Avenue from Washington Street to the Mary Riley Styles Library.

Issued a contract for reconstruction of the Oak Street bridge with enhanced sidewalks, with construction to start in the Spring of 2023.

Acquired three additional properties in Virginia Village to preserve them as affordable housing. Executed a Memorandum of Agreement with Wesley Housing to a) manage

the five quadplexes in Virginia Village as affordable housing, b) acquire additional properties, and c) redevelop these properties into modern affordable housing.

Executed an affordable homeownership program agreement with NHP Foundation to purchase and rehabilitate homes and resell them with covenants to preserve them as affordable.

Conducted an assessment of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the city government workforce and began implementing recommendations from that assessment.

The Human Services Advisory Committee hosted a community workshop on race relations in the City of Falls Church with over 150 residents participating.

Intervened on behalf of rental tenants to resolve landlord tenant problems

Created a new scholarship program to cover youth sports and summer camp fees based on participants ability to pay to assure that all in the community have access to these programs.

75 percent of uniformed Police Officers and Sheriff Deputies have completed Critical Incident Response training to help officers recognize mental health issues and intervene with safe practices for the individual, the officer, and the community.

City Police and Sheriff implemented body worn cameras for uniformed officers. City Police and Sheriff continued to implement the key recommendations of the Use of Force Review Committee. Implemented the second year of the City’s restorative justice program for non-felony youth offenders.

Office of Emergency Management conducted training with condo associations to help them plan for extreme weather, prolonged power outages, fire evacuation, and other emergencies.

Office of Emergency Management conducted training exercises with school staff, library staff, and the faith community to prepare for a gun violence emergency. City sponsored Drug Take Back Day for safe disposal of unused prescription drugs.

Purchased a flood prone property in the Tripps Run Floodway to reduce flood risk and expand the Cavalier Trail. Achieved the second highest scores in Virginia for flood risk mitigation through FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS) which results in a 20 percent reduction in flood insurance premiums for property owners in the City.

Lifted the state of emergency for

Covid-19 after over two years of public health measures to protect the community and critical services.

Achieved a Recycling Rate of 59 percent, the highest in Northern Virginia and second highest in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Recognized as an EPA Green Power Partner for purchasing at least 25 percent of electricity from renewable sources for City operations.

Continued transition to fuel efficient fleet, with two electric buses for City schools and electric vehicles for Police Command Staff and Public Safety Aides. Purchased bio diesel fuel for Public Works heavy trucks and equipment. Achieved 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions since 2005.

Launched Community Energy Planning to accelerate the City’s transition toward renewable energy sources to meet goal of 50 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2030. Issued contract for construction of the Trammel Branch Stormwater Project to reduce flooding in the Shadow Walk, W. Columbia Street area.

Completed the Laura – Poplar Stormwater connection to reduce flood risk for homes in this area. Began construction of Wren’s Branch stormwater improvements to reduce flood risk in the Van Buren / E. Columbia neighborhood. Achieved LEED Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the recently completed Mary Riley Styles Public Library renovation.

Won a $4 million state grant for Stormwater Improvements, approved by the Virginia General Assembly. Implemented a 5 cents per plastic bag tax to encourage the reduction of single use plastics that are harmful to the environment. Maintained AAA Bond ratings.

Adopted a budget that fully funded the School Board request and general government services and reduced the real estate tax rate by 9 cents, to $1.23 (12 cent reduction over two years). Maintained financial reserves at or above adopted policy of 20 percent of annual revenue to ensure resilience against emergencies or economic downturn.

Produced informative videos for the Capital Improvements Program and budget videos to explain the key services and costs in every departmental budget. Published 52 issues of the Falls Church Focus online providing timely news on City programs and events.

Mary Riley Styles Public Library named a “4 Star Library” — one of only six statewide.

The library began its strategic

planning process with a community survey and workshops. The library strategic plan will be finalized in early 2023. The library redesigned its website to make it easier for patrons to access online materials and services.

City Council adopted a two-year work plan to prioritize key goals and vision of the City Comprehensive Plan.

Completed a Compensation Study to ensure government pay is competitive relative to market, to retain and attract a high performing workforce.

40 City employees graduated from the Supervisors Academy, a three-day course on leadership and management best practices to serve the community effectively.

The City Treasurer completed a competitive bidding process for city banking services which will result in $441,000 savings per year on bank fees and better interest rates.

Executed an agreement with VDOT for a $10 million Smart Cities grant in partnership with Virginia Tech.

The School Board and City Council worked together on the Revenue Sharing Principle to allow greater planning and predictability in the annual budget process.

The City Council held 34 regular meetings and work sessions, 37 committee meetings, 34 Agenda Planning meetings, and 10 City Council “Office Hours” meetings. Council approved 20 Ordinances and 48 Resolutions, which included budget adoption, land use and community development applications, affordable housing acquisition, transportation grant applications, and a new policy on equity and human rights.

Issued 29 Proclamations reinforcing the welcoming nature of Falls Church and its respect for different identities, cultures, and ways of life; recognizing those working to ensure the safety and sense of community within the City; supporting environmental sustainability measures; and providing a platform for important public information and awareness for community issues.

City Boards and Commissions held 193 public meetings with City staff to shape new policy and programs. Responded to 179 Freedom of Information Act requests.

Maintained the ability for public participation in all public meetings both remotely and in person after the COVID Emergency Declaration was lifted. Posted video recordings of all Council and Board and Commission meetings to promote transparency and public information.

What Rain? New Year’s Eve Revelers Won’t Be Held Back

WHILE STEADY RAIN CAUSED the cancellation of all outdoor Watch Night events in Falls Church on New Year’s Eve, lots of folks found lots of ways to usher in 2023 in style. examples here including the Andrew Acosta band (top left) and Falls Church Mayor David Tarter (standing, bottom left) (P�����: G��� M�����)

How to Destroy a Brand, Musk Style

True story: When I won the Nobel Prize in 2008, Princeton quickly set up a special event on campus and reserved a parking space for me in front of Robertson Hall. But when I drove up in my 2004 Jetta, the security people frantically tried to wave me away. They clearly didn’t find it plausible that a laureate would be driving such a modest car.

I’m still driving that car today.

The point is that I’m not one of those people who cares much about what he drives. (No doubt I act out my egotism in other ways.) But many people do, in fact, use their cars to symbolize their status — indeed, their identity.

There’s no point being censorious. Conspicuous consumption is a very human thing, going back as far as civilization itself. Over time, however, the form has changed. These days, it’s relatively hard to tell how rich people are by the clothes they wear, which gives other status markers such as cars a more important role. Also, in modern times people use consumer goods to display their values as well as their wealth. A fancy pickup truck sends one kind of message; a Tesla sends another.

And yes, speaking of Tesla, today’s column is partly about Elon Musk.

As I wrote in my last column, the main reason to believe that Tesla’s huge market value doesn’t make sense has little to do with Musk’s antics at Twitter. The problem instead is that Tesla’s dominance of the electric vehicle market is already fading as we speak, so the company is unlikely to generate the kind of extraordinary long-term profits that would justify its stock price.

That said, Musk has indeed been acting very oddly — and in ways that seem almost perfectly calculated to drive away his best customers.

After all, what does it mean to buy a Tesla? It’s a luxury car, but there are other luxury cars. What’s special about a Tesla is that it’s an electric, zero-emission luxury car — one that purports to be a glitzy ride to a sustainable future.

Also, until just the other day, Musk himself was widely seen as a cool guy. And cool in a futuristic sense: His company sends rockets into outer space; he was living with a popular musician who released an album inspired by the science-fiction novel “Dune” (a book that, by the way, was recently made into a terrific movie).

So what message was someone sending by driving a Tesla? Basically — I don’t think I’m being unfair — it was: “I’m rich but I’m woke.” Mock that stance all you like, but it really did increase Tesla sales. And it means that many Tesla buyers are probably also Democrats.

I’m not just guessing here. The other day, a friend of mine who writes under the nom de

internet Invictus used New York state data to compare county-level political leanings with Tesla registrations. Sure enough, in 2020, counties that voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump — they do exist, even in New York — purchased far fewer Teslas per capita than those that voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden.

Charles Gaba, known for, among other things, his documentation of the correlation between political leanings and vaccination status, has replicated these results for several states.

There are a lot of Teslas in Westchester County, a wealthy and very Democratic New York suburb that includes Scarsdale, and hardly any in Steuben County, a very Trumpy area southeast of Buffalo.

To some extent, this may reflect the fact that people in Westchester have more income. But despite what you sometimes hear about the parties reversing class roles lately, Americans with incomes over $100,000 still vote Republican by a fairly large margin. What has reversed is the educational divide: College graduates have become a Democratic bloc, which supports the view that what we might call the Tesla divide is also linked to the culture war. And Westchester has far more college graduates than Steuben does.

Tesla, then, is a brand whose customer base largely consists of wealthy cultural liberals who were attracted in part by Musk’s perceived with-it persona. Given all that, Musk’s public embrace of MAGA conspiracy theories is an almost inconceivably bad marketing move, practically designed to alienate his main buyers. What’s going on?

To a large extent, Musk may simply be revealing who he always was — basically, a typical technology oligarch. In general, authoritarian instincts and contempt for the little people are a lot more prevalent among the Silicon Valley elite than people realized when information technology still felt cool.

Even among his class, however, Musk stands out for his lack of impulse control. This was obvious, if you paid attention, long before he bought Twitter. More than four years have passed since he called a cave rescuer who rejected Musk’s offer of a minisubmarine a “pedo guy.”

Furthermore, Musk’s behavior is becoming even more bizarre. (A favorite line of mine is that people get worse as they grow older because they become more like themselves.) Since when do captains of industry respond to random critics by mocking their imagined anatomies?

Now, as I wrote in my last column, Tesla was probably headed for a fall eventually, even if Musk had been who his fans imagined him to be; the economics of the electric vehicle business just aren’t conducive to long-term market domination. But Musk might have been able to postpone the day of reckoning, at least for a while, if he had managed to hide who he was from his best customers a little longer.

By PAUL KRUGMAN © 2022 The New York Times

Cheer Up! The World Is Better Off Than You

Think.

Enough with the doom and gloom! Our planet may be in better shape than you think.

Human beings have a cognitive bias toward bad news (keeping us alert and alive), and we journalists reflect that: We report on planes that crash, not planes that land. We highlight disasters, setbacks, threats and deaths, so 2022 has kept us busy.

But a constant gush of despairing news can be paralyzing. So here’s my effort to remedy our cognitive biases. Until the pandemic, I wrote an annual column arguing that the previous year was the “best” in human history. I can’t do that this year. But I can suggest that broadly speaking, much is going right and this may still be the best time ever to be alive.

Where 2022 excelled particularly was in technological strides.

Solar power capacity around the world is on track to roughly triple over the next five years and overtake coal as the leading source of power globally. Technical improvements are constant — such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers’ developing a way to produce thin and flexible solar panels that can turn almost any outdoor surface into a power source.

There are parallel breakthroughs in batteries. Batteries, boring? No! They’re one of the most exciting frontiers of technology, making remarkable advances crucial to storing green power. Likewise, nuclear fusion as an energy source marked a milestone in 2022. Green hydrogen is also gaining ground and could be useful for shipping and energy storage.

The upshot is that we are in the midst of a revolution of renewables that may soon leave us far better off. If things go right, we’ll be able to enjoy cheaper, more reliable and more portable power than ever before. Truly cheap energy, whether from solar or fusion, could be transformational: For example, it could run desalination plants to provide the fresh water that we’re running out of.

To be clear: Climate change remains an existential challenge. What’s new is that if you squint a little, it is now possible to see a path ahead in which we manage — barely — to avoid calamity.

Health tech has likewise made immense gains. Scientists are making significant progress on vaccines for malaria, reflecting what may be a new golden age for vaccine development. Immunotherapy is making progress against cancer. (Among other feats, it is keeping one of my friends alive.) A new gene-editing technique may be able to cure sickle cell anemia; Bill Gates argues in his annual letter that the same approach may eventually offer a cure for HIV/AIDS as well.

We haven’t even mentioned the progress in artificial intelligence, including ChatGPT. (No, it did not write this column.)

And of course, technology is not taking leaps just in research labs but is filtering down

to improve individual lives. I’m writing this on the family farm in Oregon with the help of our new Starlink internet service that is beginning to empower rural America (and has been a game-changer for Ukrainians as they humble their Russian invaders).

It’s true that what may be the most important trend in my lifetime — historic progress against global poverty — has stalled because of Covid-19, climate change and the impact of the war in Ukraine on global food prices. But it has not collapsed.

“The pandemic dip was not that bad on many outcomes,” said Esther Duflo, an MIT professor and the youngest person to have won a Nobel in economic science. “It was much less of a cataclysm for Africa than for us.”

Indeed, World Bank researchers estimate that the number of people living in extreme poverty actually declined a hair in 2022, although the figure remains higher than on the eve of the pandemic. The number is about the same as it was in 2018 — and much better than in 2017 and previous years.

Remarkably, preliminary estimates suggest that global child mortality continued to fall during the pandemic. A child is now about half as likely to die by age 5 as in the year 2000, and one-quarter as likely to die as in 1970.

I don’t minimize the global humanitarian crisis, and we must do better. Children around the world are suffering malnutrition that permanently impairs their faculties. Young girls are being married off. Displaced boys and girls are missing school.

But David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, notes that although the world is facing “a perfect storm” of calamities, the world responded with an outpouring of assistance and an international push to allow exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. These measures have held off full-blown famine at least for the time being.

“Quite frankly,” he said, “it could have been so much worse.”

You may have winced when I wrote above that “this may still be the best time ever to be alive.” That’s deeply contrary to the public gloom. But would we prefer to live at some other time when children were more likely to die?

Max Roser of the indispensable website Our World in Data puts the situation exactly right: “The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better. All three statements are true at the same time.”

So all the bad news is real, and I cover it the other 364 days of the year. But it’s also important to acknowledge the gains that our brains (and we journalists) are often oblivious to — if only to remind ourselves that progress is possible when we put our shoulder to it. Onward!

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF © 2022 The New York Times

The Shameful Open Secret Behind Southwest’s Failure Zeynep Tufekci

Computers become increasingly capable and powerful by the year, and new hardware is often the most visible cue for technological progress. However, even with the shiniest hardware, the software that plays a critical role inside many systems is too often antiquated, and in some cases decades old.

This failing appears to be a key factor in why Southwest Airlines couldn’t return to business as usual the way other airlines did after last week’s major winter storm. More than 15,000 of its flights were canceled starting Dec. 22, including more than 2,300 this past Thursday — almost a week after the storm had passed.

It’s been an open secret within Southwest for some time, and a shameful one, that the company desperately needed to modernize its scheduling systems. Software shortcomings had contributed to smaller-scale meltdowns, and Southwest unions had repeatedly warned about it. Without more government regulation and oversight, and greater accountability, we may see more fiascos like this one, which most likely stranded hundreds of thousands of Southwest passengers — perhaps more than 1 million — over Christmas week. And not just for a single company, as the problem is widespread across many industries.

This problem — relying on older or deficient software that needs updating — is known as incurring “technical debt,” meaning there is a gap between what the software needs to be and what it is. While aging code is a common cause of technical debt in older companies — such as with airlines that started automating early — it can also be found in newer systems, because software can be written in a rapid and shoddy way rather than in a more resilient manner that makes it more dependable and easier to fix or expand. As you might expect, the former is cheaper and quicker.

It’s a bit like constructing a building. If you had the option of not adhering to strict earthquake or fire codes — i.e., if there was little or no regulation or oversight — it would almost inevitably be cheaper and quicker to skip such niceties. The building might look and feel the same to its inhabitants — as long as there was no earthquake or fire. But if there were an earthquake or fire, the “debt”

would be paid by the endangered inhabitants of the building.

Which brings us back to Southwest. Throughout the past year, members of the flight attendants union picketed in front of various airports as part of contract negotiations.

One protest sign they carried? A placard declaring “Another Victim of SWA’s Outdated Technology,” with a graphic showing a stuck software progress bar. In September, they put the same sign lamenting the company’s outdated technology on the side of a truck and drove it in circles around Love Field (Southwest’s core airport) in Dallas as well as the nearby Southwest headquarters. In March, in its open letter to the company, the union even placed updating the creaking scheduling technology above its demands for increased pay.

Likewise, in October 2021, when Southwest experienced another cancellation crisis, the president of the pilots union pointed out that the antiquated crew scheduling technology was leading to cascading disruptions.

Even as then-Southwest CEO Gary Kelly objected to the pilots’ claims, saying Southwest had “wonderful technology,” he conceded that their tools could use improvement.

That improvement seems not to have occurred.

Lyn Montgomery, president of Southwest’s flight attendants union, told me that currently, when hiccups or weather events happen, the employees have to go through a burdensome, arduous process to get things sorted because Southwest hasn’t sufficiently modernized its crew scheduling systems.

For example, if members of a crew from Buffalo, New York, don’t arrive in Baltimore because their flight was canceled, the employees have to manually call in to let the company know where they are and get hotels arranged for them.

Lyn told me that employees had sent in screenshots that showed their being left on hold on the phone for three, six, seven, eight, 12 hours, and even one of 17 hours, just to let the company know their whereabouts and get hotel rooms arranged. During such waits, they could “time out” — a phrase relating to a Federal Aviation Administration safety requirement that mandates a certain amount of rest between flights. The result is that once the employees managed corporate contact, they weren’t allowed to fly — even if they were at an airport with a flight that needed them.

Online forums are full of employee accounts of such misery. Meanwhile — extending our example from above — Southwest would have to find a crew in Baltimore to replace the one that never arrived from Buffalo. But the potential candidates in Baltimore might also be on hold for hours, trying to let the company know their whereabouts.

You can see how this can easily cascade to a systemwide halt, as happened this past week.

You might be wondering how Southwest can lose track of where the crews are, and why anyone has to call in at all, since the company presumably should know exactly which flights got canceled and who flew where, based on passenger lists. Southwest did have an old system, but Montgomery says it broke down during even mild hiccups, forcing employees to have to call in.

Why can’t the crews simply notify the company of their whereabouts via an app or a website, and even get their hotel assignments that way? John Brant, vice president for product strategy at Arcos, a company that sells workforce management software to airlines and other companies, told me that that’s how it works for many other airlines. But that’s yet another layer of software that has to be written and integrated into whatever software the airline uses for scheduling personnel.

Southwest concedes that technology played a role in the fiasco, but without acknowledging past decisions contributing to why this happened now.

“Our systems were overwhelmed by the scale of the disruption,” Chris Perry, a Southwest spokesman, told me. “We had available crews and aircraft, but our technology struggled to align our resources due to the magnitude and scale of the disruptions. As a result, our crew schedulers tackled the issue manually, which is a tedious, long process that takes time and trained resources to accomplish.”

Such breakdowns resulting from technical debt are often triggered by external events like weather and can be worsened by other dynamics, such as the fact that Southwest has more “pointto-point” flights than most airlines, which use a hub-andspoke model, where passengers

are ferried to major hubs like Atlanta and Dallas from their origin and then put on planes to their final destinations. But the point-to-point flight model — which has its advantages — doesn’t fully explain how Southwest still couldn’t start flying its regular schedule until a week after the storm had passed.

So why didn’t Southwest simply update its software and systems?

Well, if you are a corporate executive whose compensation is tied to stock prices and earnings statements released every three months, there are strong incentives to address any immediate problem by essentially adding a bit of duct tape and wire to what you already have, rather than spending a large amount of money — updating software is costly and difficult — to address the root problem. Then you can cross your fingers and hope that whatever catastrophe may be in the making erupts under someone else’s future tenure. Such bets often pay off since, increasingly, the plight of a company’s customers and employees is divorced from the immediate fortunes of its current top executives.

In 2020, for instance, Kelly’s compensation was a record $9.2 million, despite the fact that the company lost more than $3 billion that year because of the pandemic, and the compensation for the median employee fell by $35,000, to about $66,000. (The company said Kelly’s compensation had been set in place before the pandemic.) In the years leading up to the pandemic, while the company’s aging scheduling technology groaned, the company spent $8.5 billion of its excess cash on purchasing its own stock — a common practice among airlines that helps increase the value of the stock, the main form of compensation for many executives. Then, when the pandemic hit, like other airlines, Southwest received billions from the government in grants and low-interest loans. Kelly, an accountant who became the CEO of Southwest in 2004, retired this year with an estimated net worth in the tens of millions of dollars, so the crisis did indeed occur under someone else’s tenure.

Ultimately, the problem is

that we haven’t built a regulatory environment where companies have incentives to address technical debt, rather than passing the burden on to customers, employees or the next management.

What would proper incentives look like? It would differ by industry. For airlines, it might mean holding them responsible for the problems their miserly approach causes to the flying public. To start with, they could be forced to compensate passengers for delays or cancellations that go beyond reasonable expectations because of weather or events outside their control. (Europe has such a rule, though the implementation has hit a lot of snags.)

Companies can also be substantively fined for major failures like this one. But if the fines are too small, companies will just see them as a cost of doing business and carry on.

For example, after the 2017 Equifax breach, which exposed sensitive information from 143 million Americans because the company failed to institute a routine security update to its software, the company agreed to pay a penalty of at least $575 million to the Federal Trade Commission. That may sound like a lot, but it was just a few dollars per affected customer and a mere 15 percent of the company’s revenue in 2018, the year after the hack. I’m sure Equifax would have much preferred not to have been fined, but it was still a cost the company could endure — especially those lucky enough to inhabit the executive suites. Equifax CEO Richard Smith did resign. But despite the failure and the fine, he also collected $18 million in pension money on his way out the door.

This is why we can’t just keep turning the operation of more and more of our infrastructure to antiquated software and self-interested executives. Technical debt is real debt. It will eventually be paid by someone. And unless we take steps to hold companies and executives accountable for preventable — and foreseeable — failures, it will be the public that keeps paying.

By Zeynep Tufekci © 2022 The New York Times

PUBLIC NOTICE

The Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) of the City of Falls Church, Virginia will hold a public hearing on January 12, 2023 at 7:30 PM in the Council Chambers, located at 300 Park Avenue, for consideration of the following items:

1. Variance application V1635-22 by Maribel and Edwin Najera, applicants and owners, for a variance to Section 48263(3) a. to allow side setbacks of 8.3 feet instead of 10 feet for the purpose of constructing a 2nd story addition at premises known as 113 West Cameron Road, RPC #52-402-055 of the Falls Church Real Property Records, zoned R-1B, Medium Density Residential.

2. Variance application V1636-22 by John Tokizawa, applicant and owner, for a variance to Section 48-238(3) a. to allow 1) front setback of 24.5 feet instead of 30 feet for the purpose of constructing a twostory front addition, and 2) side setback of 9.8 feet instead of 13 feet for the purpose of constructing a one-story rear addition at premises known as 514 Timber Lane, RPC #52-601-026 of the Falls Church Real Property Records, zoned R-1A, Low Density Residential.

Public comment and questions may be submitted to zoning@fallschurchva.gov until 4:30 pm on January 12, 2023. Agenda and application materials will be available the week prior to the scheduled hearing at: http://www.fallschurchva.gov/BZA

Information on the above application is also available for review upon request to staff at zoning@fallschurchva.gov.

CITY OF FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA FALLS CHURCH CITY SCHOOL BOARD PUBLIC HEARING

The Falls Church City School Board will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. to consider the following: The appointment of an individual to fulfill the remaining term of former School Board member Phil Reitinger.

Any member of the public who would like to comment during the Public Hearing may attend the meeting, which will be held at 150 S. Washington Street, Suite 400, Falls Church, VA 22046. Speaker slips will be available to sign up for public comment. The meeting will be streamed live on the FCCPS YouTube Channel: www.YouTube. com/fccpsorg

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE PLANNING COMMISSION

NOTICE: On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 7:30 p.m., the City of Falls Church Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and meeting. Public comments can be submitted ahead of time to jtrainor@ fallschurchva.gov and pstoddard@fallschurchva.gov. The Planning Commission will consider the following item and recommendation to City Council:

(TR22-34) RESOLUTION AMENDING SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS SE03-0136 AND SE03-0137, FOR 513 WEST BROAD STREET (THE BYRON) AND AS AMENDED THROUGH RESOLUTION 2011-25, TO ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL PERMITTED SERVICE AND OFFICE USES FOR THE

FIRST FLOOR COMMERCIAL SPACES CURRENTLY RESTRICTED UNDER THE VOLUNTARY CONCESSIONS, COMMUNITY BENEFITS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS (VCs)

The Planning Commission will consider action on an application to amend the previously submitted and accepted Voluntary Concessions for The Byron building (513 West Broad Street). The scope of the amendments applies only to the ground floor commercial spaces and parking spaces. The Applicant is proposing to relax the commercial use restrictions to allow all by-right uses allowed in the B-1 Limited Business District except those listed in the Applicant’s Proposed Revisions to Approved Voluntary Concessions, dated November 3, 2022 (available at the Planning Commission’s December 21, 2022 meeting agenda online). The proposed expanded uses would apply only to the western most ground floor spaces (closest to Howard E Herman Stream Valley Park), while maintaining restaurant and/or retail sales uses in the eastern most spaces, currently occupied by Harvey’s and Penzeys Spices.

Meeting agenda and materials will be available prior to the public meeting on the Planning Commission webpage: http:// www.fallschurchva.gov/PC. More information about the proposed amendments to The Byron’s Voluntary Concessions, Community Benefits, Terms and Conditions are available within the Planning Commission’s December 21, 2022 meeting agenda, also accessible on the Planning Commission webpage.

This location is fully accessible to persons with physical disabilities and special services or assistance may be requested in advance. (TTY 711)

Volunteers who live in the City of Falls Church are needed to serve on the boards and commissions listed below. Contact the City Clerk’s Office (703-248-5014, cityclerk@ fallschurchva.gov, or www.fallschurchva.gov/ BC) for an application form or more information.

Positions advertised for more than one month may be filled during each subsequent month.

Architectural Advisory Board

Arts & Humanities Council of Falls Church Board of Equalization Board of Zoning Appeals (Alternate) Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Transportation

City Employee Review Board

Economic Development Authority Environmental Sustainability Council Historical Commission

Human Services Advisory Council

Recreation and Parks Advisory Board

Urban Forestry Commission

Regional Boards/Commissions

Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia Long Term Care Coordinating Council

Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Commission

Virginia Career Works Northern Region

Ad Hoc Committee

Sold Waste Management Plan Advisory Committee: This Committee will advise the City Council in the development of the City’s 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan.

ABC NOTICE

Musicbox Entertainment LLC. Trading as Musicbox Karaoke Lounge, 2980 Gallows Rd., Falls Church, VA 22042. The above establishment is applying to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Authority for a Mixed beverage Restaurant, Retail business on and off premises Wine and Beer. Tianhui Wang , Authorized Signatory Musicbox Entertainment LLC. NOTE: Objections to the issuance of this license must be submitted to ABC no later than 30

days from the publishing date of the first of two required newspaper legal notices. Objections should be registered at www. abc.virginia.gov or 800-552-3200

HELP WANTED

Seeking Caregiver Part-Time. Need experience babysitting or caregiving. Be responsible, patient, have people skills. Bultrfamv@gmail.com for more info..

AUCTIONS

ATTN. AUCTIONEERS: Advertise your upcoming auctions statewide and in other states. Affordable Print and Digital Solutions reaching your target audiences. Call this paper or Landon Clark at Virginia Press Services 804-521-7576, landonc@vpa.net

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We are pledged to the letter and spirit of Virginia’s policy for achieving equal housing opportunity throughout the Commonwealth. We encourage and support advertising and marketing programs in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap. All real estate advertised herein is subject to Virginia’s fair housing law which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, familial status or handicap or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.” This newspaper will not knowingly accept advertising for real estate that violates the fair housing law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. For more information or to file a housing complaint call the Virginia Fair Housing Office at (804) 367-8530. Toll free call (888) 551-3247. For the hearing impaired call (804) 367-9753.

Falls Church News-Press Vol. VII, No. 42 • January 01, 1998

Greeting ‘98 in The City: Restaurants Open for Celebrants

For Falls Church City residents, there are a number of options for celebrating New Year’s Eve close to home. The biggest “bash” will be the Department of Recreation and Parks’ annual all-night party.

Falls Church News-Press Vol. XXII, No. 45 • January 3, 2013

‘Kearney Plan’ to Move Mt. Daniel & City Hall Will Air at Jan. 17 Meeting

The “cat’s out of the bag” about one of the more creative options for the future of new capital projects for the City of Falls Church and its school system.

LITO was found abandoned in a box next to railroad tracks in Croatia with his sister. We picked him from a shelter that at time had nearly 100 dogs for adoption. Now, he is a popular friend with many in the Falls Church community.

by Brian Reach Falls Church News-Press

Talking to Pamala Stanley, you wouldn’t believe she’s been getting people on the dance floor for over forty years.

“If you want to get a party started, I don’t care what age you are, 80’s dance music is the best,” Stanley proudly proclaims, “and I’m the luckiest person in the world because I’ve got the best of it!”

With regularly sold out shows and an ever-expanding catalogue of music (including, but not limited to Broadway, pop, disco, and cocktail jazz) spanning five decades, she would know.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1952, Stanley moved to New York City in the late 70’s with dreams of becoming a Broadway star. She started working at a gay piano bar, Brothers and Sisters, where her voice caught the attention of a German producer, who flew her to Europe to make an album. Her career quickly took off when “This is Hot,” her first single, reached #16 on the Billboard Dance chart in 1979.

Stanley eventually made her way to Virginia Beach, VA, where she married her husband Chris Kettner ten years ago. With regular bookings in Rehoboth, Stanley and Kettner (who is also Stanley’s manager and

with

Pamala Stanley

lighting/effects operator) ultimately decided to move “across the bridge” to Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where they are currently renovating an old farmhouse near the water. This made frequent drives up and down the Delmarva Peninsula in a tour bus much easier, especially traveling with lights and effects that take six hours to set up and two to tear down.

An indefatigable force of nature, with powerful vocal chords, the warmth of a grandmother of two, and a commanding and springy stage presence, Stanley has amassed an impressive and diverse fan base –with a particularly fierce following in the DMV’s LGBTQ+ community.

“She packs the house,” said Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, VA and Rehoboth, DE, “she’s amazing, she knocks it out of the park, and she’s always sold out.”

Stanley has been performing at Lutz’s Arlington location for many years, most recently a sold-out Christmas show; she performs at the Rehoboth location every few weeks, having rung in the New Year there earlier this week.

Bill Horten, a long-time Alexandria resident and local LGBTQ+ activist, describes Stanley as a staple for the region’s LGBTQ+ community.

Horten, who was one of the producers of Gay Fairfax (a public-access television show that aired in Falls Church and Fairfax in the 1990s), described Stanley as a “global pop diva,” adding that a significant part of her career has been defined, at least in part, by “her adoration by and long support of the gay community.”

After 50 years of song and dance, Stanley has no plans on stopping. “She’s… she’s FULL of energy,” Lutz laughed, “like, more than the Energizer Bunny!” This is believable, as Stanley seems to be in perpetual motion, taking interviews while on the road headed to shows. “We don’t believe in retiring,” she said of her and Kettner, who plan continuing their performance schedule in perpetuity, “as long as I sing well and look fabulous, I’ll keep going.” When asked what her secret is, Stanley simply observes, “my grandkids keep me young.”

In addition to her tour schedule, Stanley’s recording career is getting busy again, with an album in production in England and several other projects around the country.

Stanley’s next local performance will be at Freddie’s Beach BarArlington this spring.

STANLEY RINGS IN THE NEW YEAR last weekend at Freddie’s Beach Bar - Rehoboth. (Photo: Peter Garneau)

STANLEY POSES outside Freddie’s Beach Bar - Rehoboth with Bill Horten (left) and owner Freddie Lutz (right) (Photo: Peter Garneau)

Meet the Volvo

We have a well-qualified family looking to purchase a home in the Falls Hill Neighborhood, would prefer a home that needs some updating. Please call Karin if you think your home would meet their needs, 703-636-3257.

no