Patrick Riccards to Run for Falls Church City School Board

Local Businessman Seeks to Bring “New Educational Leadership for a New Era,” Will Seek CBC Endorsement

FALLS CHURCH – Local businessman Patrick R. Riccards today announced his candidacy for the Falls Church City School Board.  A nationally recognized education policy expert, Riccards will also seek CBC endorsement on February 20.

“Just last week, The Washington Post announced that Falls Church City Schools stood as the top school system in the DC region,” Riccards said.  “In these challenging economic times, we must ensure we continue to make the necessary investments in our schools, our teachers, and our children. I am entering this race to ensure all Falls Church families continue to have access to the very best public education possible.”

Riccards is currently CEO of Exemplar Strategic Communications, a Falls Church-based education policy consultancy.  Working with leading non-profits, government agencies, and advocacy groups, Exemplar focuses its work on topics of educational research, student achievement, and instructional improvement.

He has been a leader in education consulting for the last decade, serving in senior positions for two of Washington, DC’s top public affairs agencies serving the educator sector.  He has also helped build a number of education start-up companies.  Riccards began his career on Capitol Hill, serving in senior positions for U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (WV), U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ), and U.S. Rep. John W. Olver (MA).

“I want to join the Falls Church City School Board because I believe our school system can have a positive impact on the challenges Falls Church faces today,” Riccards said.  “Our community remains strong when our schools are strong.  The future success of the City rests with our public schools.”

As part of his campaign, Riccards pledges to work to:

• Guarantee that all Falls Church City families have access to a high-quality, globally competitive public K-12 education;
• Equip all Falls Church City students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in both postsecondary education and careers;
• Provide all Falls Church City children with high-quality teachers equipped with the education, knowledge, and support necessary to ensure the highest levels of student performance; and
• Ensure that, in these difficult budget times, our education dollars are being spent on those priorities that are proven effective in boosting student learning and achievement.

In 2008, the Falls Church City Council appointed Riccards as the City’s representative on the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia, a regional board that ensures healthcare quality and access across the region.  Previously, he served as chair of the Arlington County School Board’s Early Childhood Education Advisory Committee, committee chair for Inova’s Year of the Child, and board member for the SER Child Development Center.

Riccards is a nationally recognized education policy strategist and regularly speaks to organizations about strategic, policy, and communications development in the education sector.  Pat’s blog, http://blog.eduflack.com, is regularly recognized as one of the top education blogs in the nation.  And last fall, PRWeek magazine named Riccards one of the top communications professionals in the nation, the first time an individual from the education sector has ever received the honor.

“In the coming weeks and months, I look forward to speaking with as many City residents as possible to hear their thoughts and ideas regarding the future of our school system,” Riccards said.  “If elected, I pledge to work closely with the community to listen to everyone’s concerns and priorities and ensure those issues are thoroughly heard and considered by the elected school board.”

The son of educators and a graduate of a public high school in West Virginia, Riccards is a proud alumnus of the University of Virginia.  He and his wife, Jennifer, have lived in Falls Church since 2006, when they adopted their son Michael (almost age 4) from Guatemala.  Michael’s sister Anna (2 ½) joined the family in the fall of 2008.

“I am running for School Board because I want to make a difference for families across the City.  I ask for your support.  I ask for your ideas.  And I ask for your vote in May,” Riccards said.  “We all benefit from stronger schools.”

For more information on Patrick Riccards and his campaign for Falls Church City School Board, please visit www.riccards.com or contact Pat at patrick@riccards.com.

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From Barry:

As a resident of the City of Falls Church for more than 44 years, I have had the privilege of not only growing up in our community, but also serving as a volunteer in many capacities.  Now, I would now like to continue my service to the community as a Member of City Council with the endorsement of the Citizens for a Better City.  Therefore, I am now declaring my candidacy for City Council and ask for your support at the CBC convention on February 20th.

Currently I serve as Treasurer for the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) and have served on the board for 20 years;  Secretary for the Falls Church Scout Building Association, member of the GEORGE Task Force, and a twice past President of the Falls Church Lions Club.

Previous volunteer efforts include:

• Chairman of the Advisory Board to Recreation and Parks
• Chairman of the Open Space Committee
• Economic Development Authority(EDA) (2 terms)
• Vice-Chairman of the Community Center Renovation Ad Hoc Committee.
• President of the Village Preservation and Improvement Society (VPIS)
• Cub Scout Leader for Pack 681
• PTA member
• Founder, Friends of the W&OD Trail Association

In 1999, the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce awarded me with the Caroll V. Shreve Award for Community Service, and the Falls Church Lions Club has named me as Lion of the Year three times.

For the last 25 years I have been employed as a technical assistant contractor for TRW and Northrop Grumman, which division was recently sold to TASC, Inc.  I currently support the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a Project Management Consultant.  My education consists of 12 years in the City of Falls Church public schools, a B.A degree in Economics from Virginia Tech, and a Graduate Certificate in Contracts Management from the University of Virginia.

My live has been enriched by having a Falls Church childhood, a wonderful family, and the opportunity to work with past and present icons of Falls Church — including Don Frady, Edna Frady, Walter Mess, Lou Olom, Ric Terman, Hap Day, and Barbara Cram along with the late Mr. Shreve and his sons. . I am a sports enthusiast and enjoy watching our GMHS sports, hiking and biking along the W&OD Trail, and nature photography.

I believe our wonderful and unique small businesses must be allowed to continue in this dynamic and redeveloping region.  While we need big business we must not forget the character of our city.  Appropriate land management and economic development are the tools we will need to meet this challenge.  Business retention and expansion are critical to our community.  Additionally, I believe it is important to rebuild our volunteer base for city Boards and Commissions.

At this critical time in our economic history it is imperative that we all work together to keep our Little City of Falls Church a vibrant place to work, live and play.  I ask for your vote.

Barry

1. There has long been a segment of residents opposed to any significant commercial or mixed-use building in the City. Lots of people in Falls Church just don’t want tall buildings (even a few stories), retail shops, or anything else that would take away from the “small town” feel.  My sense is that over the past several decades, this opposition has discouraged a variety of development projects.
2. Increasingly, some citizens are convinced that without significantly increasing the commercial tax base over the next 5-10 years, our City will fall into financial ruin and be forced to merge with either Arlington or Fairfax County.  (Others would say that a bump in taxes will cover us just fine.)
3. There is a perception that attracting significant commercial development in Falls Church is difficult, even impossible.  Historically the reasoning seemed to be that doing so required an “anchor” building and/or tenant around which others could build (which we don’t have).  More recently, the down economy seems to be the primary reason.

For the sake of this post, let’s make two big assumptions:

1. Opposition to construction (i.e., #1 above) is fading.
2. Ignoring where the buildings would actually go and factors like congestion, everyone in the City agrees that commercial tax revenue would be a great thing if we can get it — regardless of whether you consider it to be (a) critical, or (b) possible.

Commercial real estate brings in lots of tax revenue without introducing new kids into the school system (a huge - and worthwhile - expense) like residential and mixed-use projects do.  I’m not educated on the detailed numbers, but I intuitively expect that if we had a dense “business district” of significant size, it could generate enough tax revenue to allow the residents of our City to enjoy benefits unparalleled in this region (fully funded schools, services, community facilities and events, etc.) with significantly lower residential taxes.

For example, if you use Mike’s presentation as a guide:

You can get an estimate of $1.3M/year in tax revenue from the scenario he outlines on slide 12 (four six-story buildings).  Extrapolate that to a business district with 12 office buildings (averaging six stories each) and you get close to $4M/year in revenue — without a single additional student in the school system.  Assuming those buildings are full of hungry professionals and built to support ground-floor shops, you’d also have critical mass to attract high-quality restaurants and retail to Falls Church as well.

But Where?

The scenario above would require almost 10 acres of space (again, estimating based on Mike’s presentation).  Where’s it going to go?  If you look at this PDF map from the 2005 City of Falls Church Comprehensive Plan you’ll get a sense.  Here’s a very rough sketch of what you’ll see:

The areas highlighted in yellow are the only (mostly) non-residential areas in the City.  As you can see, there just aren’t many choices for where to put office buildings!  There are basically four possibilities I could see:

1. East - the area near Seven Corners could undergo a complete redevelopment at some point, but that’s a massive undertaking that’s presumably far off.
2. West - the south side of Broad St. could be heavily developed, including the City recycling center (and whatever else is back there behind the Don Beyer Volvo Dealership.  Again, this seems like a long way off.
3. North - the N. Washington area could see major development, particularly if Arlington Country proceeds with a proposal to extend the East Falls Church metro station such that passengers can enter and exit the station from N. Washington St.  As I said in my previous comments: “If that indeed happens, the entire north side of CoFC would become significantly more accessible via mass transit, and therefore would benefit from high-density commercial and residential (mixed-use) construction.”
4. South - the S. Washington corridor already has undergone some recent development with the completion of the Tax Analysts building (where I work) and Pearson Square (mixed-use).  The central section of this area, highlighted below, seems ideally suited for the kind of business district we need in our City.

With so few suitable areas in our City, and with this part of our City being such an ideal area for more strategic construction, can we afford not to consider Mike’s alternative concepts to what’s currently being planned?

We Can Do It

The comments surrounding Mike’s presentation indicate a lack of confidence in our City’s ability to attract the right kind of development.  Ultimately, that’s what I’m trying to understand.  Why can’t we?  I see significant benefits to the City of Falls Church:

1. Location - we’re inside the beltway but not too close into the DC.  We’re accessible via several major road systems.  We’re central without being overly congested like Arlington and Tysons.  Real estate is all about location, right?  If you were going to pick any 2.2 square miles in Virginia (or the DC area for that matter) it would be hard to pick a better location than ours.
2. Mass Transit - the metro is close, and a more effective and simple bus system could really tap into that value, particularly if we have dense areas to transport people to/from.  With the expansion of the metro, our value only increases.
3. Size - we’re little, which means we can be nimble, agile, flexible, and responsive.  When working with builders and businesses who agree with our vision for the City and are willing to support it, we can be quick and creative.  We should have a reputation for being great to work with.
4. Community - our City is unique.  We’re a real independent community, with residents and business people who know and support each other, elected officials and city staff who are engaged and accessible, and an authentic atmosphere that comes from a rich history.  Our independence sets us apart from anywhere else in the region, and is attractive to residents, working professionals, and business owners.

Perhaps I’m naive.  I mean no disrespect to the many, many people who for decades have been and continue to work to improve our City.  I’m simply sharing my thoughts and experiences as I become educated on how our City really works, and how individuals can have an impact on our future.

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.

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.

Like many areas, Falls Church is facing great challenges. Money is only part of the problem. We certainly need to figure out how to accomplish the things we want for our community in a way we can afford, but we also need to work better on discerning where we really want to go. Even more importantly, we need to make sure we are all working together in a positive way.

I have served on school boards for almost 11 years, spent a year as PTSA President at George Mason High School, spent years on other advisory boards, and work an awful lot of time in my paying job helping solve problems and getting things done. When I thought about running again for office in Falls Church, I thought about how to best use my knowledge of education, finance, public works, human resource issues, etc. and how to apply the skills I have gained over the years at helping groups of people achieve consensus on tough issues. (If you would like more details about my experience, take a look at www.ronpeppe.com).

Thinking about where I could best serve the community, I have decided to ask your support to become a CBC nominee for the City Council at the upcoming CBC Nominating Convention. The convention takes place at George Mason High School on Saturday February 20, 2010 at 2 pm. I am asking that you consider my experience, leadership, and vision, so that I can become part of the team working on all of these issues for Falls Church.

One of the most important lessons I have learned over the years of public service is that we each bring important ideas and often differences of opinion to the table. We need open and full debate, especially when we are spending other people’s money, but, at the end of the day, it is the group decision that counts. I am asking for your support so that I can be part of the team at city hall, and can use my experience and pragmatism to help pull the team together and surmount the challenges we face as a community.

I would love to hear what you think.

Thanks.

Ron
ron@ronpeppe.com

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!

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.

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

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.

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.