What Should The City of Falls Church Be?
Last night, I stopped by City Hall to sit in on the Economic Development Authority meeting (check out the agenda, in PDF format). It was another chance for me to learn more about how the City operates. My brother / business partner Andy suggested the meeting. He also recently moved in the City, but he’s gotten to know more of the local government folks that I have, mostly due to his work with the City during our office move last year. He pointed out that it’s often the same faces at these meetings.
the first time) hiring professional firms to establish a unified brand for the City and then promote that brand through both paid and earned media. Matt Smith, of SmithGifford, presented on the branding portion with a great talk encouraging us to decide “what our sunset should be.” His point was that if you ask City residents what Falls Church is all about — what our brand identity is — you’ll get a different answer every time. The role of a branding exercise will be to define that identity so that it can be shared and promoted effectively. He used examples like Berkeley and Aspen as towns with a clear “brand.”
It got me thinking — which was the point — what should we be?
- We could go green, and stake a claim as the greenest city in the DC region. Lucinda Crabtree, of local marketing firm Crabtree + Co., recommended a green strategy which is hard to argue against. I would think this would have implications for building codes (both business and residential), recycling / composting programs, public transit, etc. Could be a lot of work, but well worth it and an effort we could all take great pride in.
- We could go artsy, and work to attract a vibrant creative/artistic community. There’s some kind of City-mandated art gallery going in at Pearson Square, which could be a hub for this activity. This seems like a loose strategy — how do you really encourage growth in this direction? I like the concept, and I hope it happens, it just seems harder to make it happen.
- We could go hip/tech, and work to attract small, entrepreneurial tech companies to the area. This could happen by sponsoring events (but where?) and reaching out directly to the kinds of businesses that fit this description. On the residential front, city-wide wireless internet access would be a good idea, but what’s the cost involved?
Matt was nice enough to compliment the work we do at Viget, which resulted in my unexpected participation in part of the discussion. I tried to make the point that the web will play a key role in the branding success of Falls Church, and that it had to come from the core reality, which, pleasantly enough, is very positive. The City of Falls Church is a great place to live, raise a family, build a business. I grew up in Reston, VA, a place that somehow had enough of a “marketing” budget to take out full-page ads in Time Magazine, but just never felt “real” to me. It never had the authenticity and history of Falls Church.
The concept of really branding the City is still fresh in my mind — I’m not sure what it should be. Whatever we (residents and business owners) decide, though, I hope we keep that authenticity as we grow and prosper. There’s grit in Falls Church. It’s not always pretty, but it’s real, and it should be part of the “sunset” we define ourselves by.
As Brian mentioned, I was at the meeting too and it also got me thinking. First I thought about why I moved my business and family into the City. I can’t deny that the primary reason for moving my family in was the school system. I think that’s a pretty common theme and it seems that housing in the City comes at a premium primarily because of the schools.
But it was more than that (Arlington and parts of Fairfax County also have very good public schools). Looking at the bigger picture, I think the location of the City can’t be beat. We’re close to DC but not too close. We have easy access to 66, 50, 7, and the beltway - so while traffic might be bad it’s never hard to get anywhere. We have employees at Viget that live out in Ashburn and over in Greenbelt. It’s a great central location.
Looking at the smaller picture, there’s just something cool about living in a small, tight community. On my walk to work I pass the Community Center, City Hall, two parks, a Starbucks, the post office. It’s like living in a small town.
One example I use is the bad weather we had a month or so ago. The tropical storm was blowing through and branches were falling and the power was going out. I noticed a couple of times a City police car drive slowly up and down our street. Just checking on things to make sure everything was okay. I used to live in Fairfax County, which has a great police department, but they could never proactively check each street during a storm - but that’s what the do in the City of Falls Church.
[...] interested in how the city works. The other night I stopped by the Economic Development Authority meeting that Brian mentions over on the Falls Church Insider blog. It is interesting to see how things actually work around [...]