October 22 – 28, 2015
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d ed 1991 • Vol. XXV No. 35
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week F.C. Council Candidates Answer FCNP Questions The News-Press offered candidates running for the Falls Church City Council an opportunity to respond to a series of questions centered on visions for the future direction of our Little City. See pages 16 - 17
Spree of Car Break-Ins Hits Falls Church At least 16 cars were broken into or tampered with over the weekend in the City of Falls Church causing City police to issue an alert urging residents to take precautionary measures to keep their cars and property safe.
F.C. Council Hopefuls to Chamber: Choose Moratorium or Momentum 5 Candidates Split On Major Issue of Economic Growth
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
officer was on the scene as a precaution. In that meeting, a motion and a second by a board member to call for a vote seeking the resignation of Smerdon was disallowed by Smerdon. Bronwen Rankin, who made a statement at that meeting supporting the call for Smerdon’s resignation, appeared before the School Board Tuesday night to report that “since my statement yesterday, I have received an unsolicited email from a close supporter of
The five candidates seeking three seats being contested in the upcoming Nov. 3 election in the City of Falls Church faced off in front of a large turnout at the monthly luncheon of the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, and with the focus on economic development, the characterization of campaigns by one candidate seemed apropos: it is a choice between two “M’s,” moratorium versus momentum. Incumbent Councilman Phil Duncan, seeking a second term on the Council, coined that phrase, and put himself solidly on the side of “momentum.” He, newcomer Letty Hardi and incumbent Mayor David Tarter all fall on that prodevelopment side of the divide, while Sam Mabry and Johannah Barry, both former Council members seeking another crack at the job, made no bones about their preference for a “moratorium” on mixed-use development, that form of economic development that has dominated the commerciallyzoned areas of the City since 2002. In addition to opening and closing remarks, the five candidates all responded to the same four questions — all centered on economic development issues — a refreshing change from other forum formats where they were each asked to respond to different questions, making it more difficult for both them and their audiences to delineate differences among them. This time it was far easier. Mabry and Barry questioned whether mixed-use projects have been a net plus for the City, despite
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See News Briefs, page 9
David Brooks: Enter the Age of Outsiders
As every schoolchild knows, the gravitational pull of the sun helps hold the planets in their orbits. Gravity from the center lends coherence to the whole solar system. See page 14
Press Pass with Daniel Bennett Group
Daniel Bennett and his bandmates Nat Janoff, Eddy Khaimovich and Matthew Feick are dedicated to passing along an appreciation for music. That’s one of the chief reasons they’ll be playing a jazz clinic at George Mason High School next Thursday.
THE FIVE CANDIDATES for the Falls Church City Council faced off before the F.C. Chamber of Commerce today. Left to right: Letty Hardi, Phil Duncan, David Tarter, Johannah Barry and Sam Mabry. (Photo: News-Press)
F.C. School Board Chair Cites Threat, Calls for Civility in Race
See page 33
by Nicholas F. Benton
Editorial..................6 Letters.............. 6, 11 News & Notes.12-13 Comment.14-15, 24-25 Business News....18 Sports..................29
At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Falls Church School Board, chair Justin Castillo made an appeal for civility in the heated discourse that has developed in the recent period. His appeal comes in in the wake of a report that another School Board candidate filed a petition against the School Board in the weeks prior to the upcoming Nov. 3 election. Candidate Becky Smerdon, the chair of the School Board’s Special Education Advisory
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Food & Dining......31 Calendar.........34-35 Classified Ads .....36 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........37 Critter Corner.......38
Committee has filed a petition against the School Board in the Arlington Circuit Court, and a ton of online and often angry comments have developed, mostly in defense of her action. Castillo condemned “vituperative, angry and hostile” comments, nothing that he, himself, was told by a citizen he’d “be better off dead” after a candidate’s forum last week. “People are becoming fearful and security measures are being required,” he said. Monday night, at a meeting of the Special Education Advisory Committee, or SPEAC, a Falls Church police