Falls Church NEWS BRIEFS

licly committed to reaching a finalized budget plan. Because the fiscal year ends on Friday, June 30th, this means that Budget Conferees — Delegates Knight, Austin, Bloxom, Brewer, Torian, and Sickles; and, Senators Howell, Barker, Saslaw, Norment, Lucas, Hanger, Locke, Newman, and Deeds — will need to reach an agreement that a majority of the Budget Conferees will sign on to in time to request the Governor call a Special Session that would grant Members of the General Assembly and the public a minimum of 48 hours to review the final budget agreement before a vote for passage may be held.

While I supported the Senate Budget and voted to accept the amendments it would make to the House Budget, I believe that we should be investing in our children and our infrastructure (roads, energy, etc.) more than is reflected in that document. Virginia has a revenue surplus right now and I believe that we should be doing more with it than to offer tax cuts to corporations. I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the Budget Conferees were not able to compromise, and instead produced this Conference Report.

Since the Governor cannot amend or veto a Conference Report, we do not need to be vigilant about ideological changes he may try to make to our stopgap fiscal measure. Admittedly, the values in each Budget are vastly different and the House Budget has a remarkable amount of “pork” for Republican Delegates. However, I remain hopeful that a budget that invests in our future and demonstrates our values, can be crafted and voted upon before the end of this fiscal year. We must return on Wednesday, April 12th to vote upon the Governor’s amendments and vetoes; perhaps we will have a budget to debate on that date as well. We have been stymied by partisan politics, and have not served our constituents well by refusing to compromise and thus, govern. Our Governor has lent his support to this partisan impasse by creating a budget that favors corporate interests over families that need our attention and support NOW. We must free ourselves from this partisan war and begin to help Virginia grow and prosper — not wallow in culture wars and encourage ugly, divisive shouting matches, “The other side of the aisle doesn’t care about..(fill in your favorite cause). The other side of the aisle cannot be trusted .......” This rhetoric only fans the flames of anger and opposition. No one benefits when we are stuck in our ‘other side’ speeches. We need politicians who can rise above, build bridges and govern.

 Delegate Kory may be emailed at DelKKory@house.virginia.gov.

F.C. Councilman Duncan Undergoing Tests in Hospital

Phil Duncan, the second term Falls Church City Councilman, has confirmed that he’s at the Fairfax Inova Hospital this week undergoing a battery of tests. In response to an inquiry from the NewsPress , he wrote this:

“I’m a patient at Inova Fairfax Hospital. I was admitted to the hospital on Friday by my pulmonologist in Inova’s Advanced Lung Disease and Transplant center. This week I’m continuing a series of tests that the IALDT team uses to determine care options.

“I’m grateful to those who helped facilitate my call-in participation in Monday’s City Council meeting, and to all who have expressed concern and support.”

Little City Gift Card Program a Big Success

At the Tuesday meeting of the Falls Church Economic Development Authority, City economic specialist Becky Witsman reported that a whopping $450,000 in purchases from Falls Church businesses were attributed to the Little City Gift Card program run through the recent holiday season.

The program utilized federal funds provided to stimulate recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown and that 3,200 cards were purchased as a result.

F.C. Presses Ahead With New Outdoor Dining Options

With the temporary measures designed amid the Covid-19 pandemic to enable local restaurants to offer outdoor dining options due to expire at the end of March, the Falls Church City Council is pressing ahead with plans to authorize new options that will have the effect of keeping the outdoor dining program in place for the 13 restaurants that have received the temporary OKs and any others that may sign up to participate.

Following a Planning Commission hearing and recommendation vote on March 15, the Council is slated to vote the new terms into existence on March 27, the same day the temporary terms are set to expire.

F.C.’s Bazaz Smith Joins Cyber Alliance Team

Falls Church resident Komal Bazaz Smith is joining the Global Cyber

Alliance as its chief business officer, it was announced this week.

Bazaz Smith will lead GCA’s efforts to strengthen communities to tackle cybersecurity issues together and drive lasting change, according to Phil Reitinger, also a F.C. resident and former School Board member who is president and CEO of GCA. “She will expand GCA’s partnerships, steer GCA’s communications, and bring in resources so that GCA can better enable a secure and trustworthy Internet for everyone.”

Bazaz Smith is currently Project Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership (DCCP) Programs, implemented by DAI Global LLC, where she has held various positions since 2015. She brings over 22 years of passion and professional expertise encouraging social innovation, tackling poverty relief, and addressing sustainability to GCA.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Areas Studies, Spanish, Markets and Management from Duke University and a Masters’ Degree in International Commerce and Finance from Georgetown University. Since 2015 she has been an adjunct professor at the American University’s Graduate School of International Service and is contributing author of “No Reward Without Risk: Addressing the Economic Impacts of Misinformation and Other Digital Harms on MSMEs.”

The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) is an international, cross-sector effort dedicated to eradicating cyber risk and improving our connected world.

3 Named to Environmental Sustainability Council

Appointments made by the F.C. City Council this week included three to the City’s Environmental Sustainability Council. Chris Behr, John Ferris and Jon Ward were all appointed by a unanimous vote of the Council, and Brendan Kelly was also appointed to the Recreation and Parks Advisory Board.

Our Elections This Year

Amid all else going on, it bears reminding Falls Church residents that this is an election year in the Little City. There are two major dates to keep in mind, the date of the Democratic primary in late June, and the general election in early November when three (out of seven total) City Council and three School Board seats will be on the ballot.

The June 20 primary is not as far off as it may now seem, including due to the fact that early voting will begin May 6. Three contested races will be of importance to Falls Church voters, one for State Senate, one for the General Assembly and one for the Arlington Circuit Court’s Commonwealth Attorney.

While voters will not know for sure who their choices will be until the candidate filing period is over on April 5 (it runs from March 20 to April 5), it appears now that this year’s choices will be sufficiently novel as to require responsible voters to pay attention. By and large, you will not be simply rubber stamping yet another well known incumbent. It’s going to take some effort on voters’ parts in Falls Church to pick the right person.

For the state senate, for example, we have a newly configured district that three people will be contesting, none of whom Falls Church voters have seen on the ballot here before. There is an entrenched incumbent, State Sen. Chap Petersen, but he’s never represented Falls Church, only areas to the west. He’s generally seen as more conservative than most Falls Church voters would prefer but the fact that he’s attracted not one but two challengers seems to most people to enhance the chances he will get elected, nonetheless. His stated opponents as of now are Salim Saddam and Erika Yalowitz, both of whom identify themselves as more progressive than Petersen but neither of whom has won a public office before. If they both stay in the race and qualify for the ballot, in our view it will make it more difficult for either to beat Petersen.

For commonwealth attorneys, it is another challenging choice, this one between the incumbent, first-term prosecutor Parisa Denghanti-Tafti and her former deputy, Josh Katcher. Both claim to stand for reform in the office, the basis by which Denghanti-Tafti won four years ago against Theo Stamos. A recall effort against Denghanti-Tafti was unsuccessful in 2021. Katcher left his position as a deputy in her office and now has announced his bid to unseat her.

In the third race this spring, incumbent State Del. Marcus Simon, in what is now the 13th delegate district, may be facing off against another Democratic delegate, Del. Kaye Kory. While Simon is definitely running, Kory seems a bit less certain. Unfriendly redistricting resulted in the two having to compete in the same district, although Simon has represented Falls Church proper and Kaye the Sleepy Hollow area to its immediate south.

P�������

1. Keep the news clean and fair

2. Play no favorites, never mix business and editorial policy

3. Do not let the news columns reflect editorial content

4. Publish the news that is public property without fear or favor of friend or foe.

5. Accept no charity and ask no favors.

6. Give ‘value received’ for every dollar you take in.

7. Make the paper show a profit if you can, but above all keep it clean, fearless and fair.

L������ �� E �����

‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’ Unregulated

Editor,

Abortion is still legal in Virginia, for now. Unfortunately there are many anti-abortion centers in northern Virginia posing as women’s health care clinics that are not medical centers at all. These ’crisis pregnancy centers’ are unregulated and not subject to the same rules and standards as medical clinics.

According to a PopSugar expose: “Nonprofit crisis pregnancy centers have been an arm of the antiabortion movement since 1967, when the first CPC opened in Hawaii, according to the Guttmacher Institute. There are now more than 2,500 CPCs in the US: they regularly rake in millions of dollars in government funding and seek to dissuade patients from obtaining abortions. And yet, these institutions often go under the radar. ‘in general, we find that knowledge and awareness about crisis pregnancy centers is extremely low,’ says Andrea Swartzendruber, MPH, PhD, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Georgia who has helped create a map of crisis pregnancy centers across the US. Multiple studies and investigative reports have shown that these facilities actively deceive and provide misinformation to their clients, but savvy marketing techniques and lack of public awareness mean unsuspecting patients continue walking through the door, often mistaking them for an abortion provider’s office.”

Options Care Center and A Woman’s Choice are two crisis pregnancy centers in the community. Their websites are very compelling, but misleading. Because they are not licensed health centers, they are not constrained by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and can disseminate unprotected personal information. An unexpected pregnancy can disrupt lives and send young women looking for medical help and guidance. As women and their families grapple with their options, it is important that timely and unbiased information about all options be available to them.

Women deserve so much more. Their lives are unique and precious, and women need to be able to make accurately informed personal decisions about their own futures.

Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights

Mission Creep: Falls Church Arts

Editor,

As a member of F.C. Arts I have appreciated the opportunity offered to me and fellow artists to show our art in our locally focussed and funded Gallery. Barbara Cram, our founder and a mover and shaker to establish the gallery and meet the mission to embrace, enhance, and elevate the Falls Church visual arts community always kept her eye on improving and expanding arts in the City. With this mission in mind why, in the current show Textures, do 37 artists take up wall space with 60 photographs? Why was the juror not directed to choose one selection per artist in order to give as many local photographers a chance to show their work to their neighbors and friends?

Why is the Falls Church Arts Gallery advertising in East City Art which covers the entire metro-DC area -far outside our mission? I hope that the current Board of Directors will reconsider their approach and come back to the Barbara Cram ideal of local art -- locally focussed.

Julie Krachman

Congrats for FCCPS FY24 Budget

Editor,

Congratulations the Falls Church School Board and Superintendent Noonan for their work in delivering the FY24 FCCPS advertised budget. In particular, they should be commended for their ongoing investment in FCCPS staff. Along with including several compensation and benefit improvements aimed at staff recruitment and retainment, the FY24 budget also includes funding for six weeks of paid leave to new parents.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the School Board and Dr. Noonan for their openness and engagement with the community during the budget process, which led to the addition of a full-time advanced academics instructional position.

As a co-chair of the FCCPS Gifted Education Advisory Committee, I strongly believe that this position will be vital to the support and success of both students and teachers next year and in the years to come.

Jess Goodwin

Explore the Outdoors with Troop 1996

Learn what scouting is all about on Monday, March 13th, 2023 at 7:30pm! We welcome all young men who are currently fifth graders and will be in the sixth grade in the fall of 2023 as well as older young men seeking a scouting experience. We are an active local troop, with monthly outings, campouts, hikes, Eagle projects, and summer camp and High Adventure crews – come find out more!

Troop 1996 meets weekly at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle school on Monday nights at 7:30pm except when FCCPS schools are closed.

www.facebook.com/ScoutsBSATroop1996 www.troop1996.com scoutmaster@troop1996.com