F.C. Village ‘Still a Village That I Like’

Editor,

This is in regard to the letter in the May 23rd edition from Adriane Hart concerning the looks of Falls Church and the new shopping area Mosiac. I disagree in some respects with her as I love the building decorated with the red, green and purple flowers. I don’t know if the building is commercial and residential, but I love it. I think it adds a great deal to the main street of Falls Church. The village still looks like a village which I like. Mosiac is another shopping opportunity mall with residences. I walked around Mosiac recently, not sure where to head, and found most everything too boutique. Nice, but not much different than a lot of other shopping areas. Yes, Falls Church main street could add some more dressing up, but I do not see it as “a hot mess” as mentioned by Ms. Hart.

Sheila Faulkner

Falls Church

Quotes Chesterton on the Closing of Anthony’s

Editor,

Following my last meal at Anthony’s, a quote from G.K. Chesterton came to mind: “It is true that I am of an older fashion; much of what I love has been destroyed or sent into exile.”

Steve Moellering

Falls Church

Grocery Store Won’t Turn F.C. Around

Editor,

I know you don’t intend to be funny, but this passage in your article about Anthony’s passing is the funniest writing I’ve ever read: “All of this developers hope will become the center of a vibrant, new downtown that attracts young, well-heeled professionals to the City. With this new town center, Falls Church stands ready to not only draw a line in the sand to nearby developers in Merrifield and Tysons, but to finally prove to beltway cynics that the Little City isn’t such a pip-squeak after all.”

You expect Falls Church to become the Park Slope of Northern Virginia because there’s a grocery store downstairs?

Let’s see, there’s no street life, the subway is a mile away, the town’s main selling point is schools, and you expect Harris Teeter to make The Little City a hipster magnet? For this we lost a real town center?

This may be funnier than the News-Press puffing a few years ago about how some developer sticking some flower cut-outs on an otherwise-drab office building would make Falls Church an international haven for architecture students. How’d that work out?

Falls Church has proven something to the “Beltway cynics” — something they actually knew 20 years ago: the Little City is so desperate for anyone to pour concrete that it can’t say “no” to any developer proposal, no matter how much of the real Little City gets destroyed in the process.

Leon Reed

Falls Church

Traditional Sign of Respect on Memorial Day

Editor,

As participants in the leading Color Guard of the American Legion Post 130, we were most proud of the number of citizens who stood up, removed their hats, and saluted the flag during the Falls Church Memorial Day parade.

In past years, this tradition of respect has fallen by the wayside yet, those that honored the tradition during this year’s parade made us so proud of this traditional sign of respect and of OUR members of this community.

Bob Simpson

Commander, American Legion Post 130

Ike Wasn’t Total Pacifist As President

Editor,

I am writing to set the historical record straight concerning Nicholas Benton’s column on Syria in last week’s edition.

He said President Eisenhower refused to use U.S. military might in any way during his eight years in office. What about the Lebanon intervention in the summer of 1958?

U.S. Marine battalion landing teams were deployed from the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea and the situation was soon well in hand.

The Eisenhower administration used the “massive retaliation” defense policy. The Kennedy administration switched to the “flexible response” defense policy which lead us deeper into Vietnam.

Gregory G. Paspatis

Alexandria

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