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Dear Friends,

Weekly updates are back from a summer vacation! I hope you’ve had a hot girl summer and are ready for a new season. Your City Council is also back from our summer recess, and we resume our meetings next Tuesday night.

For those who have interest in walkability and transportation, the CACT (our citizens board on transportation) will be joining us in work session to discuss ways to continue advancing our pedestrian and bike-friendly efforts. I had strongly advocated and secured $100K in this year’s budget to keep deploying small, but meaningful, spot improvements like completing “missing link” sidewalks, refreshing crosswalks, etc. Also – the long awaited discussion on motorized scooters is planned for Tuesday. You likely have seem them in action in Arlington, DC, and other urban areas. I’d like to hear your scooter experiences and recommendations before they’re deployed in Falls Church.

Finally, the end of summer also marks the unofficial start of election season. As I start up my re-election campaign, read on for a few ways you can help me. Between now and November 5th, I’m committed to keeping these updates mostly about City business – which is what you have come to expect – but there will be a few campaign tidbits sprinkled in to keep you updated about upcoming debates and voting deadlines.

Thank you all for your support.

Best,
Letty

PS – Below are my fall office hours, including weekday and weekend options, if you’d like to catch me in person.

Letty’s Campaign Update:

Here’s how you can help my re-election campaign

(1) Yard signs – if you’d like one to show your support, please reply with your address. We’ll make deliveries after Labor Day.

(2) Help me meet your neighbors – invite me to your block parties, book clubs, condo board meetings, bus stops, boy scout meetings… those are some of the easiest ways for me to meet and hear from residents.

Dear Friends,

It’s a scorcher out there! As this heat wave intensifies, it’s always a good reminder to check on your elderly neighbors and keep yourself and pets well hydrated (and off the hot sidewalks!) The first half of our work session was also focused on the severe weather that led to last week’s historical flooding, including a discussion on future mitigation.

The most weighty topic was our joint session with the Planning Commission on housing affordability. For those who have been concerned about affordability (and the ensuing impacts to the diversity of our community), you should check out the newest draft of the housing chapter or at least my takeaways below. The data speaks for itself – and it should be a loud call to action for us. Not only are we facing a regional housing shortage, we need to get serious about prioritizing, staffing, and funding projects to stem our affordability crisis. I share my thoughts below on what I think should be our top priorities.

City Council will be on summer recess until our next meeting on August 12.​ Come see me in person at my office hours on Monday, July 29 at 9 am at the downtown park. Share your thoughts about affordability, economic development, capital projects, traffic calming – I want to hear from you before I kick off my re-election campaign!

Stay cool,
Letty

​PS – ​​my weekly blog posts will be on hiatus until after Labor Day – which will be my longest break ever! ​This is a long post, so add this to your summer reading list and get informed. I will continue to be accessible via email.

What Happened This Week

(1) Flooding Aftermath

Recovery Efforts:

There is still much clean up and recovery happening across the city. Note that if you scheduled a bulk trash pick up for your flood damaged items, it might be collected into next week due to the high volume. As you can see, homes outside the current flood plain (shaded blue area) were impacted which points to the severity and historic nature of the flooding.

Beyond the emergency declaration we made, the City has been partnering with our neighboring localities on eligibility for public assistance. Unfortunately because the flooding was limited to the immediate region, while the City met the damage threshold limit, Virginia will not meet its threshold which means we are ineligible for FEMA assistance. State funding may be available at the discretion of the Governor that staff is assessing. More details on eligibility here.

Safety inspections have been happening in flood-damaged areas. Good news about the prominent closure at the S. Oak St. bridge: the bridge can be reopened after the damaged asphalt is repaved.

Future Mitigation:

Most of our mitigation discussion centered on stormwater projects (page 16+). The watershed management plan was last adopted in 2012, which is funded with bonds and proceeds from stormwater fees. Recognizing that no project could have entirely mitigated the impact of storms like last week’s “100+ year storm”, we still recognize that flooding and severe weather is increasing in frequency. As such, we asked that staff look at reprioritizing and accelerating the stormwater projects, which means we may need to consider additional revenue (grants, increased bonding, higher stormwater fees) to fund the work.

Beyond actions at the broadest city level, enforcing code compliance for construction – such as requiring on site water detention for residential redevelopment (vs allowing off site credits or allowing the run off to flow into the city system) and individual homeowners taking action can help. Reducing impervious surfaces like driveways, grading away from houses, installing rain gardens and rain barrels – every little bit counts! (And it may reduce your stormwater fee if your improvements qualify for credits.)

(2) Housing & Affordability

The Housing Chapter of the Comp Plan (the strategic plan guiding the future of the city) has been significantly overhauled since our last discussion as you can tell by the volume of changes in redline. My thanks to staff who has incorporated feedback from rounds of community and board and commission input, resulting in this latest draft.

I’m a big fan of sharing facts and in this case, a few especially noteworthy new pieces of data tell the story very clearly:

• It’s expensive to live here! We all know that it’s expensive to live in Falls Church. (In fact, my ideas to address affordability was the subject of one of my first blog posts in 2015!) Did you know that we have the highest median home prices and the largest increase in prices? Great for existing homeowners’ property values if you are selling, but not so great for anyone trying to establish roots in our community.

• The Missing Middle: We have added much needed housing stock in the city, primarily in the form of multifamily condos and apartments. This was a deliberate strategy 15+ years ago when the city recognized the need to diversify our tax base. What has not been added is middle housing. We are not alone with the “missing middle” issue (this Bloomberg article does a good job explaining why). In addition, the “affordable” single family home is becoming more and more elusive. When teardowns and starter homes start at $700K, Falls Church is increasingly inaccessible for the two ends of the lifecycle spectrum (recent graduates and retirees) and the traditional middle class. Teachers, city hall workers, waitstaff, etc may have full-time jobs but have to live an hour+ away because we have no housing stock for their income levels. In turn, local businesses have a harder time attracting employees and their commutes add to the region’s congestion issues.

• Affordable Housing Stock is Disappearing: For those of you new to the affordable housing discussion, we have 3 kinds of affordable housing, none of which are what you think of as “Section 8 housing” or “public housing” slums. We have 1) market rate affordable rentals, ie housing that is naturally affordable because it is older stock or has less amenities; 2) committed affordable rentals, ie rental housing that is negotiated with the city to be affordable – usually the new developments designate 6% of their total units as affordable; and 3) committed ownership units, ie condos that were negotiated with an affordable sales price for a new homebuyer. The majority of these three kinds of housing is for people with incomes between 60-80% of Area Median Income (which is about $100K for the DC region).

As you can see below, the total stock of affordable housing has dropped significantly, driven primarily by the decrease in market rate units, in which the city has little control.

The Fields falls in the 2nd category, committed affordable housing, with an affordability provision that expires in 2026. One of the most striking new pieces of data I’ve asked for is the expiration dates for the rest of our affordable housing stock, in the chart below. 65% of our committed affordable rental units will also expire in the next 10-15 years. The Fields, at 96 housing units, is currently the most discussed and represents the largest segment – but losing the rest in the years that immediately follow needs to be a wake up call. (The ownership units, not shown below, also have expirations.)

There is some decent news. We’ve negotiated that all the new developments we approved the past three years adhere to our newly adopted policy that committed affordable units will never expire. Between Founders Row, Broad & Washington, and the West Falls Church projects, we expect to gain new units  (6% of all units, or approximately 80 units) that won’t expire and have the option to convert to some or all to a cash equivalent that can be used for affordable housing needs elsewhere .

Letty’s thoughts – so what are we going to do about this? On pages 18-22 of the Housing Chapter are proposed strategies and a good mix of aspirational and practical projects. There is no shortage of ideas and work we could do, with some luckily underway like the expansion of senior tax relief we recently passed. That said, in my 3 years on Council – we’ve talked about affordability a lot, but with our attention on the big capital projects, we haven’t had a majority willing to take action. 

We need to rally around a handful of impactful, yet concrete and realistic, priorities – let’s start somewhere. So out of the 20+ ideas proposed, what would be my priorities? It’s clear to me that not only do we need to preserve the affordable housing we’ve got – we have to add more. More housing diversity, more housing supply, more options for people to be able to live and stay here.

1) Many of the ideas need money. We need a sustainable funding source to replenish the affordable housing fund that was depleted 10 years ago. While we’ve been investing in many catch-up capital projects, we need to decide whether we’re ready to turn our attention to housing and support our “welcoming and inclusive” community values with a dedicated revenue stream to fund these ideas. Our property taxes are already high – and this doesn’t have to come from a property tax increase, which could exacerbate affordability issues. We can carve it out of the existing operating budget or create a new revenue source like an increase in the meals tax, increase in the transit occupancy tax, convert upcoming units to cash, or some combination.

2) We need a creative plan to preserve The Fields. We cannot afford to lose 1/3 of our affordable housing stock in one fell swoop. Beyond partnering with the existing owners, I’d like us to consider redevelopment and density options that would enable us to preserve and/or renovate the existing units and add mixed income, workforce housing.

3) Zoning – there is a lot we can do here. I’ll preface by agreeing with the skeptics that zoning changes can have far-reaching impacts and need to be carefully considered. At the minimum, let’s consider zoning tools to incent renovations vs teardowns while respecting individual property rights. Regionally, accessory dwelling units (aka granny flats) are gaining steam – enabling additional density in residential neighborhoods could add affordable housing stock. And nationally – we could learn from bold moves like Minneapolis and Oregon’s elimination of single family zoning that will create more affordability and racial and economic equity. And finally, continuing mixed use development – which not only adds to our tax base and keeps taxes from rising as much as it otherwise would – it also adds more diverse housing and helps our progression from car-centric suburb to a sustainable, walkable community.

The Housing Chapter is scheduled to be approved in our August meeting. Following that, my request to staff is to propose the next level action plan – preferably well before the next budget and work plan cycles start in early 2020 so we can vote on a realistic set of priorities and support it with resources.

In the meantime, I want to hear from you!

(3) CIP Review

As we do every quarter, we reviewed a snapshot of the key CIP (capital improvements program) projects across the city. As capital projects have been our largest focus in recent years, typically this would merit its own, long post – but I’ll keep it short this time.

My quick takeaway:

As you can see from the status report, we have a lot of projects in progress, especially in the area of transportation where bike-friendly, walkability, and ped safety projects have gotten top billing, reflecting this City Council’s focus. An ongoing risk I share is that many projects are coming in above budget (partly due to rising construction costs) and we’re short on resources, which is never a good combination. I will continue to push that we’re deliberate on which big projects we take on so we deliver them well.

What’s Coming Up

• Monday, July 29 – Letty’s Office Hours (9 am, Downtown Park)
• Monday, August 12 – City Council Regular Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)
• Tuesday, September 3 – City Council Regular Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)

Dear Friends,

It’s was a terrifying week for the city and our neighbors. Seeing my own street turn into a river and and photos and videos from across the city, I know Monday’s flooding event hit us hard. And many of you are still cleaning up basements and have more work and expenses ahead. The City retroactively declared a local emergency in response to the flash flooding – which is one step in determining our eligibility for state and federal disaster recovery assistance. Read on for a few other ways the city is providing assistance, including waiving the fee for special bulk trash collection for water damaged items (deadline to request a collection is next Tuesday, July 16 at noon). We also had a broader discussion on stormwater issues in our City Council meeting. Next to traffic calming, we hear about residential stormwater issues from citizens with increasing frequency, so we know it’s a big concern.

Aside from the historic flooding that occurred, we also made history in other ways this week: we approved the conceptual plan for the 9 acre West Falls Church project adjacent to the high school and we passed an overhaul of the senior tax relief program. These are both important achievements and investments in the city, reflecting our values of education, financial sustainability, and diversity in our community.

Finally, next week is our last meeting of July and we have one August meeting. Don’t forget – you can come still see me at my office hours on Monday, July 29 at 9 am at the new downtown park (which may get a new name soon – read on).

Best,
Letty

What Happened This Week:

(1) Historic Flooding

In the aftermath of the flooding, here are a few steps the city is taking to aid citizens:

• The fee for special bulk trash collection is waived next week. More information here, including how to request a special pick up by next Tuesday at noon.  http://www.fallschurchva.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=885
• Building permit fees will be waived for homeowners who need to make repairs for flood damage.
• And finally, the City Manager reported that if finished basements are flooded and unusable for a duration of time until they’re repaired, homeowners can contact the Real Estate Assessors office so that the value of the basement, during the time period the basement is unusable, can be deducted from the annual real estate taxes.

City Council discussed stormwater management in the city, including potential ways to accelerate stormwater system upgrades and zoning requirements for residential redevelopment. I expect we’ll continue the discussion at our meeting next week, which includes a regular quarterly update on capital projects (for new readers: capital projects cost $150,000+  and have a useful life of 10+ years – like the new high school, parks, and road improvements). Stormwater issues are becoming more common, especially as climate change leads to more severe weather events like Monday’s, so I believe cities have a role in preparing for greater resilience.

(2) West Falls Church Economic Development Project

Following a final work session last week and revisions since the approval of the comprehensive agreement in May, we approved the entitlement and conceptual plan for the 9.45 acre development adjacent to the new high school. The financial terms, committed uses, green space, and overall densities have remained the same, but a series of changes were made in response to feedback we heard last winter and spring – reorienting buildings, pulling height and massing away from the schools, and continued work on the voluntary concessions. Besides reducing the acreage by nearly an acre, the key plan changes include:

• No garage adjacent to the middle school (instead parking will be distributed in several underground and one above ground garages, including surge parking for school and community events)
• Retail (planned to be an anchor grocer) was brought more prominently out to the Haycock/Leesburg Pike corner
• Senior housing building, which is planned to be the tallest building, was moved away from the schools
• Street grid changed slightly, including the addition of a small “woonerf”
• Phase 2 buildings are split in two locations – with the second office building to be built adjacent to the Phase 1 office building

Finally, the fiscal model analysis (the tool we use to assess the *net* costs of a new development which are revenues generated minus expected service costs at full build out) increased from $4.7M in Phase 1 to $5.1M, with Phase 2 generating an additional $1.8M per year (see page 18 of staff report for fiscal analysis).

The WFC project will be transformative: besides being the biggest development project *ever* in Falls Church and the land payments enabling us to finance the new high school – the fiscal projections, environmental benefits, number of affordable housing units and microhousing, public art commitment… represent the largest and best we’ve secured to date. We’ve come a long way with the realization of a new high school now underway and a development project now approved – both which seemed nearly impossible 3.5 years ago when I joined City Council. Much more work to come.

So what’s next?

After the project teams get a breather, the next of plans for approvals, the SESP (Special Exception Site Plan), are due next January. The approval we gave this week sets out the land entitlements for the developer and governs the conceptual development program – more details will come in the SESP before this development can break ground in Fall 2021, after the new high school is complete and the old one is demolished.

(3) Senior Tax Relief

We passed at second reading the changes to senior tax relief program we’ve been discussing the past 6 months. Ordinance changes require two votes. Now that the changes are official, expect more communication from the Treasurer on how to qualify and apply for the program.

(4) Downtown Park – Name Recommendation

From nearly 130 suggestions we received for the new downtown park, the overwhelming majority favored a name related to Brown’s Hardware. The subcommittee recommended to City Council the name “Mr. Brown’s Park” which would honor all three generations of Browns who owned the business. The name was referred out to boards and commissions for their feedback, with a vote targeted in early fall for a final name unveiling.

Also – check out the events happening at the park in July:

What’s Coming Up:

• Monday, July 15 – City Council Work Session – Joint with Planning Commission (730 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, July 29 – Letty’s Office Hours (9 am, Downtown Park)
• Monday, August 12 – City Council Regular Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)
• Tuesday, September 3 – City Council Regular Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)

Dear Friends,

We’re back in City Hall! This week’s meeting marked our return to a renovated and expanded City Hall after 18 months. Thank you for your patience during construction and supporting a safer, greener, and more accessible building.

I thought this week’s topics were a fitting way to kick off our first meeting in the new heart of your local government: we passed our first law – updating the exotic animal ordinance in response to long citizen feedback; we celebrated city employees with impressive years of dedicated public service; we heard from the grassroots efforts of Welcoming Falls Church; we reflected on the LGBTQ celebration and panel discussion over the weekend; and we passed an expansion of senior tax relief at first reading – all truing back to being open, responsive representatives and living our community’s core values.

The next two weeks’ of meetings will be focused on the West Falls Church project’s revised conceptual plan – check out the project webpage for the latest and you can continue to email us with your comments. With the holiday next week, I’ll take a brief hiatus from weekly posts and resume week of July 8th. Note that the Sunday Series Town Halls and the monthly Campus Coordinating Committee meetings are also on summer vacation and will resume in September.

Best,
Letty

PS – Save the date: my kids will be in camp, which means my office hours can resume! The next one will be on Monday, July 29 at 9 am at the Downtown Park. Grab some breakfast/coffee and come chat with me. (Your kids are of course welcome!) I’d love to hear from you as I reflect on priorities for my re-election campaign.

What Happened This Week:

(1) City Hall Cornerstone Unveiling & Chambers Dedication – check out my Facebook post for the photos. Like or follow my page if you haven’t already!

(2) Exotic Animals Ordinance – by a 5-2 vote, we passed an update to the exotic animals ordinance, which stipulates the animals that can be kept as pets. The passage of this ordinance means that now turtles, tortoises, hermit crabs, hedgehogs, and chinchillas are legal pets in Falls Church. As I wrote about after our first few work sessions and first reading vote, I supported this update as I believe it was important to modernize our ordinance, be responsive to citizen requests, and learn from the thorough research by our student activist and experience of neighboring, much larger jurisdictions which indicated very low risk and impact after they expanded their ordinances. I appreciated hearing from both perspectives of the issue especially our own staff who recommended not updating the ordinance. Ultimately I supported the change as I viewed it to be a mainstream, middle of the road proposal.

(3) Senior Tax Relief – after many months of discussion, we passed at first reading 7-0 the expansion of the senior tax relief program for our low income seniors. For my thoughts on the changes, please see my previous posts. It will need a 2nd reading/final vote on July 8 before it’s official and the new application process will begin.

What’s Coming Up:

• Monday, July 1 – City Council Work Session (730 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, July 8 – City Council Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, July 15 – City Council Work Session (730 pm, City Hall)

Dear Friends,

After 18 months, we unceremoniously wrapped up our last meeting in our temporary digs at the Community Center and return to a renovated City Hall next Monday. Join us as we formally re-open City Hall and dedicate the new Council Chambers and Court Room next Monday night at 6 pm, followed by our regular meeting at 730 pm.

It’s hard to top last week with hedgehogs, signings, groundbreakings, and rainbow flags. This week’s work session was all about senior tax relief and continued updates to the Comprehensive Plan. If you’re feeling deja vu – it’s not just you. These are both topics we’ve previously discussed and I wrote about extensively in older blog posts (did you remember what demographers think the Amazon HQ2 impact will be in Falls Church?) So I’m going to keep it short and sweet – I’ll provide links, call out new substantive updates, and note my new considerations.

Best,
Letty

PS – Last call for ideas for the name of the new downtown park!

What Happened This Week:

(1) Senior Tax Relief

• As you recall, we approved $390K total in the upcoming FY20 budget for the senior tax relief program, which is an increase of $108K to allow for an expansion of the program. The details of the expansion did not need to be finalized at budget adoption, so the recommendations were discussed this week again.
• The working group’s recommendations remained the same: a pretty extensive overhaul of the program to encourage more deferrals by removing the interest rate and bringing the income brackets, relief amounts, and asset limits in closer alignment to our neighbors’ programs. It also adds a provision for the “house rich, cash poor” situation – ie, if a senior owns a house greater than 125% of the median home value, then the senior would only qualify for tax deferral instead of abatement. This is a good summary of the changes to the program.
• We are scheduled to vote on the program changes in our next two regular meetings, so the changes can go into effect this coming fiscal year (July 1, 2019).
• Letty’s thoughts – as I wrote in the spring, I feel strongly that for moral, social, and fiscal reasons, expanding senior tax relief is the right thing for us to do. I encourage you to read my previous post if you would like to better understand my position. That said, one risk of the program changes – because so many dimensions of the program are changing – is not knowing exactly what the new participation rate will be, despite our best estimations based on past applications. My hope is that we are able to help more of the most vulnerable senior population in our community – some who may not have previously applied at all because they wouldn’t have qualified or the relief amount wasn’t worth the effort. However, that uncertainty on who will apply opens up some risk to the annual budget. Because we can’t legally cap the program’s expenses at $390K, I support close monitoring and evaluation after the changes are rolled out.

(2) Comprehensive Plan Update

• For the latest Comprehensive Plan draft chapters under revision: demographics and housing
• I last wrote about our demography trends and projections last November and March, which included some surprising trends like a decrease in the number of households with children and a projected population of 20K in 2045, with Amazon HQ2 contributing a net increase of 160 households or so.
• Income inequality in Falls Church: not surprising, households with high incomes surged in the last 15 years. In the most recent draft chapter, we learned that the $200K+ income bracket has grown the most dramatically. Between 2000 and 2017, most household growth in the City occurred with households that have an annual income exceeding $200K. During this same time period the City generally lost households with income levels below $75k. As a result, about 4 out of every 10 households in the City has an annual income of $150K+

• Pages 15-18 of the updated Housing Chapter contain a lot of policy ideas and actions we could take on the topic of housing – everything from enabling  granny flats and duplexes to providing more workforce housing to an increase in the meals tax to fund more affordable housing to starting first time homebuyer programs. In my opinion, this is the most important part of the Comp Plan – what initiatives or policy changes should we take on to support our vision of “housing for all”? (The actual, revised vision: create and maintain a diverse supply of housing that supports an inclusive and close-knit community… ensure affordable housing is available for a range of incomes, household sizes, generations, and needs.) While the survey for these housing ideas has closed, if you are passionate about the topic – take a look at those charts of ideas and tell me what you believe should be the most important.

What’s Coming Up:

• Monday, June 24 – City Hall Grand Re-Opening (6 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, June 24 – City Council Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, July 1 – City Council Work Session (730 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, July 8 – City Council Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)

Dear Friends,

Today is a big day! Besides being the last day of school for FCCPS students, today, at 2 pm, is also the groundbreaking for our new high school. In fact, it’s been a big week: the comprehensive agreement for the West Falls Church project was signed, the new downtown park officially opened, the rainbow pride flag was raised outside of City Hall for the first time, and some new pets could soon be legal in Falls Church homes.

This was one of the most fun blog posts to write (and I hope you’ll find it an informative and feel-good post to read as well) because while seemingly disparate topics – this week’s news represents long journeys that have culminated in awesome accomplishments, some with more miles to go. Nonetheless, those successes are all the sweeter when you see the many years of hard work and perseverance start paying off.

Happy summer,
Letty

What Happened This Week:

(1) West Falls Church Project – Comprehensive Agreement Signed

After authorizing the City Manager to sign the agreement in May, the legal contract for the WFC Development Project and land transaction was officially signed this week. As you recall, a signed economic development deal is a key milestone before proceeding with debt issuance and construction of the high school as the land payments are a core part of the financing plan we outlined out before the 2017 referendum. The project has come a long way since the referendum, just over 18 months ago – notwithstanding the long nights and deliberations in getting to a solid option and financing plan to bring to referendum that started even before my term on City Council.

The business terms have largely remained the same as when we selected the EYA/PN Hoffman/Regency team last year – including a 99-year ground lease beginning in 2021 and a two phase development project on 9.4 acres with total payments of $34.5M to the city in Phase 1 and then a Phase 2 payment of $10M or appraised value, whichever is higher – for a total of $44.5M. The project will include a mix of commercial uses, including a grocery store, restaurants, retail, office space, residences, a hotel, civic spaces, and a center green space called “The Commons.” See more details in this week’s press release.

What’s next? 

With the CA now signed, we’ve turned our attention back to the project conceptual plan, or the Special Exception Entitlement (SEE) application which establishes building heights, permitted uses, plan layouts, and other project details. We had deferred the vote on the SEE approval until 7/8, anticipating that there would be some revisions we wanted further staff, board and commission, and community review. This week, there were two public meeting opportunities for discussion of the SEE in the monthly Sunday Series town hall and a community meeting with boards and commissions. City Council is planned to discuss the project at our 7/1 work session before the 7/8 vote. You can continue to email questions and comments to us and/or come to our regular meetings and speak during public comment period.

(2) Downtown Park Opens

A large crowd joined us to officially open the new downtown park this week. Much kudos to the Economic Development Authority for championing the idea for many years and funding the creation of the pocket park in the heart of downtown Falls Church. As the liaison to the EDA, it has been really rewarding to contribute ideas and see the park come to life that is already drawing visitors. A few more improvements are still to come, but in the meantime – don’t forget to submit your park name nominations before 6/21 and check out the free events in June.

(3) Pride Flag Raised at City Hall

In recognition of LGBTQ Pride Month in June and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, I was proud to have advocated and secured a unanimous vote to fly the rainbow pride flag in front of City Hall for the first time. The pride flag will fly for the duration of June and every June going forward. Our support for LGBTQ equality is not new, but I believe our gesture to fly the flag in the heart of the city is an important and visible affirmation of our values as a welcoming and inclusive community.

(Thank you to the 5th graders who interviewed me last month for their Exhibition project on LGBTQ equality, which prompted me to think about how we can do more as allies!)

(4) Lions, Tigers, and Bears – Oh My!  Hedgehogs, Chinchillas, and Hermit Crabs

The final bit news this week was also the culmination of a lot of grit and hard work, this time by a GMHS student activist. After many months (years?) of discussion, we unanimously voted on an updated exotic animal ordinance at first reading to allow new animals to be kept as pets in Falls Church, such as hedgehogs, chinchillas, hermit crabs, turtles, tortoises which have been technically illegal. This GMHS student showed an amazing command of the topic, researched and followed the changes in Fairfax and Arlington, lobbied the City Council for a change with strong arguments, and built a coalition of other supporters (with custom t-shirts!) who rallied for the ordinance update.

Despite staff’s recommendation against updating the ordinance, I found the argument to expand the allowable pets very compelling. The fact that our larger neighbors – Arlington, at 15 times, and Fairfax, at 80 times, our size – had already thoroughly researched and updated their ordinances, having consistent animal ordinances felt like a low risk decision and appropriate to be responsive to our constituents’ long-standing request.

Don’t go out and add that hermit crab to your family just yet! A second reading/final vote is planned on 6/24 before the ordinance change becomes law.

What’s Coming Up:

• TODAY – Friday, June 14 – GMHS Groundbreaking (2 pm, GMHS)
• Monday, June 17 – City Council Work Session (730 pm, Community Center)
• Monday, June 24 – City Hall Grand Re-Opening (6 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, June 24 – City Council Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, July 1 – City Council Work Session (730 pm, City Hall)
• Monday, July 8 – City Council Meeting (730 pm, City Hall)

Dear Friends,

We have a packed and historic week coming up. If you, too, have school-age kids and are drowning in end of year picnics, field days, recitals, teacher gifts, spring sports that just won’t end … I see you (and offer you a stress reliever below*). And even if you are above water, I hope you find this a useful guide to what’s coming up.

Can’t attend? If you’re a Democrat, your bare minimum civic duty is to vote in the primaries on Tuesday. Also take two easy surveys to provide us your input about the future of the city for the Comp Plan changes I wrote about a few weeks ago. Survey links are below.

Finally, today is Wear Orange Day for Gun Violence Awareness, especially meaningful for fellow public servants this year in the wake of the Virginia Beach tragedy. Following every mass shooting, our sense of security is shaken, we grieve, and then we demand action … and nothing. Will this time be different? I applaud the special session the Virginia General Assembly will convene in July and hope we will see progress. In the meantime, your City Council will continue advocating Richmond for commonsense gun legislation, increased funding for mental health services, and local authority so we can create gun policies that make sense for our community.

Best,
Letty

*Need some zen? Check out the new downtown park with free yoga class taught by Karma Yoga, starting this Sunday June 9th at 9 am. Bring a yoga mat and meet at the park in the 100 block of W. Broad (between Hunan Cafe and Hot n’ Juicy). Also come to the grand opening party on Monday night at 6 pm. Walk, bike, bikeshare to the park, or you can park in any public spaces or in the George Mason Square garage right across the street on weeknights and weekends.

What’s Coming Up:

(1) Community Comprehensive Plan Meeting – Tomorrow, June 8th @ 9 am (Columbia Baptist Church). How do you want to see the City of Falls Church grow? Share your ideas about the future of The Little City with us at this community meeting. You can also provide your input on population change and growth and housing needs in these two surveys.

(2) Tinner Hill Music Festival – Tomorrow, June 8th @ 11 am – 9 pm (Cherry Hill Park). Re-branded music festival right in the Little City, with all proceeds benefiting the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation.

(3) What’s the latest on the new GMHS or the WFC Project? Last Summer Sunday Series Town Hall on Sunday, June 9th @ 2 pm (Community Center) or Community Meeting on Wednesday, June 12th @ 7 pm (Mary Ellen Henderson Cafetorium) – learn the latest on the revised economic development plan and offer your input before City Council votes in July.

(4) Downtown Park Grand Opening Party – Monday, June 10th @ 6 pm (100 block of W. Broad). Come celebrate the newest park with free refreshments, live music, and help name the park!

(5) City Council Meeting – Monday, June 10th @ 730 pm (Community Center). Agenda is posted, including our proclamation for LGBTQ Pride Month and updates to the exotic animal ordinance.

(6) Democratic Primary Voting Day – Tuesday, June 11th @ 6 am – 7 pm. Registered voters waiting in line to vote at 7 pm will be allowed to vote. New to the city and need to find your polling location?

(7) Founders Row Community Meeting – Wednesday, June 12th @ 5 pm (FR Construction Trailer)

(8) New GMHS Groundbreaking – Friday, June 14th @ 2 pm (new GMHS site) It’s been a long time since we’ve built a new high school in Falls Church. RSVP here for this historic event.

Dear Friends,

Thank you for the overwhelming and enthusiastic response to my announcement to run for re-election. I was flattered to be asked so many times to run again, and I have truly appreciated the outpouring of support. In less than a week – we’re nearly done with the required signatures already. The campaign won’t ramp up for awhile, so stay tuned about yard signs, fundraising, canvassing, and other ways to help. In the meantime, pay attention to the upcoming primaries (in person absentee voting open until June 8) and I’ll keep doing what I’m doing: working hard and making good stuff happen in Falls Church.

Speaking of good stuff – this week’s post is all about exciting things happening across town and a change in the financing plan for the new GMHS, with its groundbreaking exactly 2 weeks away. The latter didn’t get much coverage and it’s not as fun to write about, but in the spirit of transparency, I believe it’s important for everyone to understand the changes as we take on the largest debt in the city’s history. Among the exciting things is a whole lot of construction and road work, which I know can be a real headache. Once these projects are done, we’ll have intersection improvements, a new sidewalk, clear running water, a new park, and more (#ChristmasInJune). And yes, that includes the downtown park, where we hold the holiday tree lighting – now open for use. Save the date for a grand opening party on June 10 and a calendar of events coming soon. Read on, and send me your feedback and ideas for the park!

Best,
Letty

PS – City Council is taking a week off and we’ll be back to business on June 10. Before then, note lots of events, parties, and community meetings coming up below. It’s a race to the finish line before summer starts!

What Happened This Week:

(1) GMHS Bond Issuance Update

On Monday, we voted 6-0 to authorize the issuance of the next round of financing for the new GMHS, the purchase of the Fellows property, and other items in the CIP. The financing plan that has been discussed to date is a set of 3 bond tranches – the first $22.5M issued last summer to cover design costs for GMHS, City Hall, and design for the library project; the second tranche of $76M planned for this summer,; and the third tranche of $51M planned for next year. For a recap of the financing strategy, including how we’ve prepared for the extraordinary debt, see the archived materials here and my recap of the history of the project in the past 4 years.

However, as a result of the revised development plan that’s been deferred for a vote until July 8 and payment in an escrow account I wrote about a few weeks ago, staff proposed a revised plan in order to only finance the cash flow needed for school construction and Fellows and not take out more debt until we need it. The revised plan we approved includes a 2 step process. Instead of issuing bonds for $76M at once, the recommended plan is to take out $20M “line of credit” to bridge finance the school construction costs through Oct 2019 ($15.3M) and acquisition of the Fellows property ($4.7M). Then upon the developer’s first payment coming out of the escrow account, the full $76M tranche of bonds would be issued and the $20M line of credit would be paid off in Fall 2019.

(2) Construction Activity Everywhere!

Besides the storm clean up, Founders Row construction at Broad and West, and seasonal pothole repair – yes, there is a lot of other construction activity happening everywhere. I realize there is a lot of headache and traffic congestion issues caused by this work, but when we’re on the other side of it, these are all investments that will improve everyone’s quality of life. Here’s a quick snapshot of what I know about and what’s coming:

• Among many projects are several Fairfax Water ones, including a new water main on S. Oak and S. Lee St, which should help remediate the brown, murky water my neighbors have dealt with for years.
• E. Broad and Cherry – this intersection construction has been messy for awhile, and I know it’s been challenging for pedestrians first-hand. S. Cherry will be closed altogether this weekend, but the end is in sight – the project is expected to wrap up soon, with better signal timing, ped crossings, and more.
• Great Falls and N. West – improving this intersection has been long discussed in collaboration with Fairfax County and work is finally starting, beginning with utility undergrounding.
• New stop sign on Park and Lee – the intersection of Park and N. Lee is the only one without a four-way stop or traffic signal, which has been a long-standing personal grievance. I’ve observed many close calls as it’s confusing for drivers and pedestrians who may be expecting a four way stop. New stop signs have been installed but not yet unveiled. Be on the lookout!
• New sidewalk on Park and Virginia – this one dates back to our kids’ stroller days when we would walk to storytime at the library and get stuck on the orphaned sidewalk on the north side of Park Ave. The sidewalk ends at the 400 block of Park Ave, leaving all the residents living on Pennsylvania and N. Virginia or pedestrians who happen to be walking on the north side of Park Ave, with no safe way to proceed or cross. A new sidewalk extending to Cherry Hill Park is underway now!
• Downtown park – the downtown park, an initiative funded by the Economic Development Authority, is now in soft opening mode. It’s been a furious month of construction activity. Right before the long weekend, the turf was installed, landscaping was planted, furniture was moved in place, and the park opened for business. There remains a handful of items to be done before the grand opening party on June 10, but for now – go enjoy the park to meet up with friends, picnic on the turf, or savor post-dinner ice cream on the new benches and sitting walls. We’re working on programming the park in collaboration with our business community so it can truly be a fun, vibrant gathering place in our downtown. Stay tuned for a park naming contest and a calendar of events – I’d love to hear your ideas for the park.

What’s Coming Up:

• Saturday, June 8 – Comp Plan Community Meeting (9 am, Columbia Baptist Church)
• Saturday, June 8 – Tinner Hill Music Festival (11 am – 9 pm, Cherry Hill Park)
• Sunday, June 9 – Sunday Series Town Hall (2 pm, Community Center)
• Monday, June 10 – Downtown Park Opening Party (6 pm, 100 block of W. Broad)
• Monday, June 10 – City Council Meeting (730 pm, Community Center)
• Wednesday, June 12 – Founders Row Community Meeting (5 pm, FR Construction Trailer)
• Friday, June 14 – GMHS Groundbreaking (2 pm, GMHS)
• Monday, June 24 – City Hall Grand Re-Opening & Open House