It’s crunch time for the City of Falls Church. For anyone paying attention, it has to appear just about as daunting as it actually is for the City Hall and School System staffs, elected City Council and School Board members, and the scores of caring citizens who volunteer on the abundant boards and commissions in town.
Even as the 4.3 acre area near the center of the Little City looks like a Mad Max set or a moonscape now (resulting from the massive demolition effort underway by developers of the Founders Row), City and School officials are working overtime now making sure all the proverbial i’s are dotted and t’s crossed to ensure the interests of the City and its citizens are fully enfranchised and protected by the legal documents soon to be signed for the construction of a new high school and the dense economic development of the City’s West End.
In the midst of that, with timetables for sign-offs and groundbreakings looming by mid-June, the City Council and City Hall staff are also working through the nuts and bolts of the City’s annual $99 million operating budget that includes the $43 million transfer to the Schools, its capital improvement plans, and short and long term impacts of it all.
Yes, for all the Looney Tunes going on at the federal government level right across the Potomac, here in little old Falls Church, as in all comparable jurisdictions at the local level, the wheels of good governance are being maintained and important things are getting done. Even as President Trump in Washington continues to lash out, among so many other things, at “fake news,” we at the News-Press are happy to continue joining the devoted efforts of our local engine of government to fulfil our role in this democracy of keeping our citizens informed, engaged and alerted. We’re entering our 29th year of consecutive weekly publication and distribution to every citizen in this highly conscientious community, one that regularly is among the leaders of the nation in voter turnout at elections and the quality of its schools, and take heart in our role moving this community forward over that time frame.
We’ve learned that leaders from surrounding communities have been paying attention, and have come to Falls Church to learn how this City has done so well. We hope that the wisdom imparted to them has included the role of a good community newspaper. Surrounding jurisdictions, we are not happy to report, have over the last 29 years lost almost all, if not all, their community papers. It is not difficult to document how no website can match, by a longshot, the depth of exposure to a community, that a newspaper with a “total market coverage” can, and as we have done.
And as we’ve spotlighted the need for economic development relentlessly from our day one in March 1991, we’re delighted by these days.
