F.C. Can Be More Welcoming With Signage

Editor,

One way in which the City of Falls Church could be more welcoming to outsiders is to enhance the street signage on Broad and Washington Streets- the streets most frequented by outsiders.

There is nothing more frustrating than driving in a strange place and not knowing where you are. It can lead to accidents. I have two suggestions to remedy this:

One, acquire street signs with larger, more legible fonts and suspend them on the overhead structures that supports traffic lights at intersections.

The stranger trying to find out where he is should not be required to search for eyelevel signs on street corners and pay attention to traffic lights above at the same time. A single gaze at the overhead should give the complete information. Other city’s do it (Alexandria’s King Street is an example). Falls Church should do it also.

Two, a few yards back from major intersections, post signs informing motorists about the names of the upcoming cross streets.

Properly done as at many places in Fairfax County, this allows drivers to maneuver into the correct turn lane preparatory to turning onto the cross street, left or right,.and not be caught in the wrong lane too late to get over to the correct one. Being in the wrong lane usually means drivers are trapped and must go through the intersection or make an unintended turn and try at the next intersection to find a way back onto his correct route – a waste of time and gasoline, and unnecessarily cluttering City streets.

Poor signage contributes to the anxiety of being in a strange place. Fixing the signs would make Falls Church a more welcoming city.

While these suggestions would aid strangers in finding their way around, they would also be of help to residents as well.

Ed Strait

Falls Church

Says FCNP Stifles Health Care Debate

Editor,

The News-Press happily and often prints letters critical of itself. Why, then, does the News-Press help White House-orchestrated efforts to shut down dissent on national health care?

It is unworthy of the News-Press. While the ostensible goals of national health care are worthy, there are fatal problems: the figure of 46 million uninsured turns out to be largely bogus; the trillion-dollar price tag is unaffordable; government can’t run Amtrak profitably; nor Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac (which helped spark this recession), bankruptcy looms for Social Security & Medicare – why would we want to turn over our health care to government? So it will be as efficient as the Veterans Administration?

And why calculated deceptions, such as using the “stimulus bill” (of all things) to slip through legal authorities for the Federal Government to keep a medical file on each of us and to determine what medical treatments are cost-effective? And to give the President legal authority to ask Inspectors General to “refrain from investigating” particular areas of waste, fraud, and abuse? Why doesn’t the News Press do some investigative journalism on these issues?

Why doesn’t the News-Press ask Senators Webb and Warner and Congressman Moran if they will put themselves and their families on national health care – for life?

Ron Parson

Falls Church

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