The Falls Church Insider All About the City of Falls Church, Virginia, For & By The Folks Who Live & Work There

From the CBC:

CBC to Hold Nominating Convention for May Election Candidates

Citizens for a Better City (CBC) will hold its biennial Candidates Nominating Convention from 2:00 – 5:00 pm on Saturday, February 20, 2010,  in the George Mason High School Auditorium.  At the Convention, CBC will nominate up to four candidates for the City Council and up to four candidates for the School Board, for elections to be held May 4, 2010.

CBC invites full participation from all eligible voters in the City of Falls Church.  CBC Membership is not required to attend and vote.

For other related information, access the CBC website www.fallschurchcbc.net.

The following is Ron Peppe’s announcement regarding his candidacy.

School Board Chair, Ron Peppe First to Formally Announce Candidacy for City Council!

Although the snow is falling as I write this, and the spring election seems far away, it is time for the CBC nominating convention, and the kickoff of the city election season. Four years ago at this time, I had the privilege of being chosen as a CBC candidate for the School Board and then being elected to the office. Now it is decision time for again for all of us- candidates have to decide about running, and all of you as voters get to decide whom to elect.

I am writing today to share my personal decision about the upcoming election, and to ask for your consideration when you make up your own minds. I have enjoyed my four years on the School Board, and I want to stay very involved in the community.

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When I started this blog in 2008, I planned to blog about my experiences getting to know the way Falls Church operates.  Pretty soon, I invited my brother / business partner, Andy Rankin, to also blog here.  Like me, Andy lives and works in the City of Falls Church.  Like me, Andy volunteers on a board (I’m on the cable access board while Andy’s on the much-more-relevant EDA board.)  Here we’ve shared our thoughts on where the City is headed, when we’ve had time — which hasn’t been often, unfortunately.

There have always been other sources online for information about Falls Church, and a few things have happened since we launched:

1. The Falls Church News Press has expanded their online presence, which updates more often.  It’s a great resource with a deep history in the City, but since it covers the broader Falls Church area (not just the City) I’m less inclined to join the online discussions there.  While I appreciate the FCNP, it just hasn’t seem to gain much traction in terms of online discussions.
2. Blueweeds, the blog written by our mayor’s husband, has been posting far less frequently than it had been (like us!).  As a result, discussions on Blueweeds have fallen off considerably.  It’s too bad — I enjoy Mike’s posts (even when I don’t agree with his approach) as they often spark good debate among residents.
3. The Falls Church Times launched and has done an impressive job with their volunteer staff of both posting a high volume of quality content, but also inspiring a wide range of view points to be shared in the comments.  This is where Andy and I tend to share most of our thoughts these days (rather than on this blog).  The FCT also covers a lot of the “daily news” about FC that I had thought about covering here, but frankly time is hard to come by.
4. We configured the Falls Church Twitter account to tweet as these sources post content (so you can follow them all in one place) and we occasionally tweet extra info as well.

I’m glad that there are a number of places where online discussions are happening among residents of the City and surrounding areas.  An active and engaged citizenry is vital to our future, and it’s also a great way to get more out of the experience of living / working in a small City.

If you know of any other blogs / sites where discussions are happening, let me know.  Also. if you haven’t jumped into any of the discussions that are happening, please do!

As I mentioned the other day the City Council is considering an ordinance that would move the City elections from May to November.  It seems like the main reason to make this change is because more people would vote.  Many more people in the City vote in November elections than in May elections.  Most people naturally say that having more people vote in an election is better than having fewer people vote - and that’s probably true most of the time.  I don’t think it’s true in this situation.

When considering this issue the first thing I pondered was - why don’t more people vote in May?  I haven’t done any research but these are the reasons I came up with:

1. No decisions to make - apparently there haven’t been that many candidates on the ballots in recent years.  If there are generally 5 people running for 4 slots or 4 people running for 4 slots then people might not feel compelled to come out and vote.
2. People don’t know about the election - this one I find hard to believe.  I haven’t lived in the City during a May election but I’m guessing the Falls Church News Press and various online forums cover it heavily.  Maybe there are flyers, signs, and some banners up around town?
3. People don’t care - don’t take this the wrong way!  I think in a place like Falls Church a lot of the residents are very educated and knowledgeable about government.  The strong voter turnout in November (the City regularly ranks very high in overall voter participation rates for November elections) indicates that people care about national and state politics.  I just think many people don’t pay too much attention to the local stuff.  I never really did when I was living in Fairfax County.  Now, I personally pay more attention to the local stuff than the national stuff - but I’m not saying the other approach is bad, just different.
4. People are lazy - I don’t think this one is true either.  I don’t think that the effort of going to the polls one extra day every other year is keeping people from voting.  I really, really hope that’s not what’s going on.
5. People feel uninformed - again, I’m not really buying this one.  I don’t think it would be hard for people to become informed about the candidates and issues so if people aren’t voting because they don’t think they know enough to vote… well see #3 above.

Okay, but what would happen if the election was moved from May to November?  We know a lot more people would be going through the voting booths.  How many of those people would even realize that there was a local election (see #2 above)?  They would get into the booth and see a slate of people to choose for City Council and School Board and at that point would obviously realize that it’s also a local election - but how would they choose who to vote for?

I think some of our educated voters would actually skip the local section, realizing that they didn’t have the info needed to make an informed decision.  Many would probably go ahead and pick some names.  Some of those folks would pick names that they have heard before (incumbents, people with a lot of yard signs, etc.).  Others might use even less logical methods (randomly, in the order they appear on the ballot, people with names they like, etc.).  It seems possible to me that in a November election you could actually have more votes cast by people randomly then the total number of votes you get in May.  This suggest that the candidates could be elected at random.

I’m pretty confident that the people who vote in May are at least familiar with the local issues (otherwise, why would they vote?).  Because there are fewer voters in May it seems like the election could be susceptible to small groups of people banding together to vote in their preferred candidates.  But isn’t that the point?  Isn’t it better to have a small group of informed voters select our City Council and School Board rather than a larger number of uninformed (or at least under-informed) voters randomly selecting people?

I’ve suggested this scenario before and people have accused me of not giving our voters enough credit - that they would learn about the candidates and issues ahead of time and make informed votes.  If that’s the case, then why aren’t these people voting in May?

I don’t know, maybe it’s embarrassing that we have such low voter turnout in May?  Maybe we just look better if more votes are cast - whether or not those votes lead to electing the best candidates.  Personally, I’d rather have a small number of people who know and care about the City vote and select our leaders.

The City of Falls Church holds local elections every other May.  During these elections half of the City Council and School Board members are elected to 4 year terms.  The next election is currently scheduled for May, 2010.  Apparently it has been this way for a long, long time (I think the elections used to be in June instead of May - but they’ve always been in the spring).  I moved into the City in June, 2008, so I haven’t yet experienced a May election - and there’s a chance I never will.

About 10 years ago the state legislature passed a law that allows the Cities of Virginia to change their elections from May to November.  There are two ways to make this switch: either a majority vote by the City Council, or a ballot referendum voted on by the citizens.  Shortly after the law was passed the League of Women Voters of Falls Church put out a report on the issue.  It is an extremely well balanced look at the pros and cons of changing when the election happens.  You can read it here.  The City Council is now considering an ordinance that would move the elections, starting next year, from May to November.  In order to change the 2010 election the ordinance would need to be passed before January 1, 2010.  The other option, putting a referendum on the ballot, would need to be in place by that date also - which is basically impossible - so the soonest a referendum could be on the ballot is the 2012 election.

I’m hoping the City Council doesn’t rush this issue.  If there’s enough support for a change to pull together the petition needed to trigger a referendum then that’s what we should do.  It would take years before the election day could change - but at least we’d know or sure that the citizens want the change.  Also, if the City Council makes the switch to November it is much harder to change back to May (it would require the lawmakers in Richmond to get involved).

If four members of the City Council support this ordinance then it will take effect.  This would result in the City Council members unilaterally extending their terms in office by 6 months.  Something about that just doesn’t seem right.  Even if they adjust the ordinance to have the election change happen in 2012 it will still be extending the terms of four members.  I think the appropriate thing to do is let the voters decide this issue.

I strongly suggest reading the LWV’s report on the issue, it covers all the bases.  From the discussions I have heard there seem to be two main reasons to support moving the election.  The first reason is that it would save the City money.  The latest estimate from the City is a savings of $18,000 per year (it’s not clear to me if that’s per election year (i.e. every other year) or an actual per year savings).  That’s not a trivial amount (although it’s pretty small compared to the City’s overall budget) but I think most people eventually agree that the cost savings isn’t a big factor.

The second reason is that we would see better voter turnout in November.  I think that’s almost certainly true - but is that a good thing?  I’ll touch on that in my next post.

18k/year

Have you ever been on a business trip, sitting in your hotel watching ESPN and found yourself thinking “I really wish I could watch Falls Church City TV right now.”  Me too.  Now, you can.

We recently relaunched the FCCTV web site, which now includes a live video stream — so you can watch from anywhere.

There are more plans for the web site, so keep an eye out.  Also, follow FCCTV on Twitter.  We don’t use it much yet, but that will change as well.

Note: another note from our friends at CBC … They’re coming up with more content than Andy & I are anyway …

CBC to Celebrate 50th Anniversary

Falls Church, VA – November 3, 2009 CBC - 50 years strong, an advocate for good city government, responsive to the needs and interests of the residents of Falls Church City.  Citizens for a Better City will celebrate its 50th anniversary at the CBC annual meeting and dinner 5:00-9:00 pm on Sunday, November 22, 2009, at the Falls Church Community Center.

The celebration will include a business meeting at 5:00 pm, followed by cocktails, dinner, recognitions, and awards.

The gala event is open to the public.  One does not need to be a member of CBC to attend.  Tickets will be sold at the door, $20 for adults, $6 for children.  Please join CBC in celebration - All are welcome.

Note: our friends at the CBC asked us to share this information & spread the word about this event …

CBC to Hold City Council and School Board Candidate Forum

Falls Church, VA —  October 28, 2009 – Citizens for a Better City (CBC) will hold a public forum to provide information to anyone interested in becoming a candidate for the Falls Church City Council or School Board.  The CBC Executive Committee has scheduled a “Candidate Forum” for 7:30 PM, Thursday, November 19, 2009 at the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School.  “I want to emphasize that this Forum will focus only on the logistics of running for office in Falls Church.  It is not a Forum for discussion of issues.  That will come later,” emphasized CBC Executive Committee member Sally Ekfelt.

CBC President Deb Gardner will emcee the event.  She will answer questions and provide handouts to prospective candidates regarding 1) candidate eligibility requirements, 2) information on candidacy registration and campaign guidelines, and 3) the general expectations of those elected.  In addition, a Forum panel comprised of Sara Hassan, former School Board member, Craig Cheney, former School Board chair, David Chavern, former City Councilman and Jane Scully, former School Board chair and former City Councilman, will share their experiences of seeking election and later serving in their respective City offices.

“Given these tough times, effective leadership has never been more needed,“ said Gardner.  “The survival of our independent city and our independent school system is at stake.  For anyone who ever thought about giving back to our great City, now is the time to step forward.  CBC invites you to come to the Forum and find out how to take the first steps to seeking election to one of our City’s leadership positions.”

CBC’s mission is to encourage proven community leaders to seek local public office.  The CBC Candidate Forum is open to all members of the Falls Church Community.  Membership in CBC is not required for entry or participation in the Forum.  CBC is not affiliated with any national political party.

Contact:

Deb Gardner
dgardner77@verizon.net

Sally Ekfelt
ekfelt@gmail.com

The City of Falls Church has a great Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning - 52 weeks a year! My kids and I stop by almost every week (and probably spend more money than I should). During the summer the crowds get fairly big but it’s never overwhelming.

This weekend I recorded some audio while walking through the market and took a few pictures. Here is a short slideshow.

City of Falls Church Farmer’s Market from Falls Church Insider on Vimeo.

A few photos from the Farmer’s Market this week - accompanied with audio captured while walking through the market.