Blueweeds

VIDEO: 2009 Falls Church Memorial Day

Memorial Day 2009 was hot and humid in Falls Church City with attendance noticeably up from last year. 

An estimated 30,000 people attended various events held throughout the day in what amounted to a day long street party.   Food and craft vendors lined the City Hall parking lot and Little Falls Street, with various civic, political, business and religious organizations also vying for attention. 

A Memorial Day remembrance ceremony was held at the community center.  Live music blared throughout the day.  The activities were capped off with a long parade.

[Updated]

Below is video from NewsChannel8.  The remembrance ceremony was officiatedby Rev. Michael Pipkin, who is the priest in charge at the The Falls Church Episcopal Church and a former Navy Chaplin who served in Iraq.  Also, the reporter just mentioned Terry McAuliffe, but Brian Moran also participated in the parade.  Creigh Deeds was in Norfolk.  Democratic candidates for Lt. Governor Jody Wagner and Mike Signer were both there.  Delagate Jim Scott was there.  Democratic AG Steve Shannon was also in the parade.  The Republican nominee for delegate in the 38th (Danny Smith - met him, seemed like a nice guy who should lose by a respectable margin to the eventual winner of the Democratic primary) was there and had a booth.  Incumbent Democrat Bob Hull has a primary challenge from Kaye Kory - Bob was at the parade and rode in one of the FCCDC vehicles.  I am getting conflicting information on whether Kaye was at the parade - will confirm and provide an update.

The RMS Falls Church: A Budget Too Big To Sink

It was like a mill pond with not a breath of wind. 

The council members appeared on deck coiffed, poised, and well mannered.  Their substantive policy differences a parlor discussion deemed not suitable for public display in a polite society.  The constant alarms raised by city staff were mildly questioned and a measured effort at noblis oblige was extended to unfortunate city workers.  Hearty self-congratulations were made, democracy praised, and then a unanimous vote taken. 

The band played on.  Iceberg?  What iceberg? 

On Monday night all seven members of the Falls Church City Council voted to approve the FY2010 city budget.  The budget raises the city tax rate by four cents to a $1.07; fully funds the school budget which includes a half-step pay increase for every school employee; bankrolls popular community events like the Easter Egg Roll, Watch Night, and Halloween Party; funds the controversial GEORGE local bus system; and makes no appreciable cuts to city services deemed to represent the all important "community values" of Falls Church.

The council members even made another last minute effort to assure city workers slated to receive layoff notices next week that their jobs would be saved.  The council "expressed their intent" to save the city jobs and tasked our prematurely graying city manager to work harder to jiggle the final year end numbers to see if there was not a way to keep the unfortunates on the city payroll.  The city manager, slightly taken aback by the temerity of the request, responded politely through clenched teeth that he had spent nearly a year formulating a painful city budget, at council request had just finished a complete review of all contracts which could be canceled, and that the city was now simply in a zero budget position of having to make cuts to spend dollars.

In an escalating budget crisis the city council sidestepped several opportunities to prevent a greater catastrophe.  Council did not raise the effective city tax rate to lessen the burden in 2011 (with lower assessments the average city resident will pay approximately the same in property taxes next year).  Like the proverbial fat lady in the lifeboat, the school board ate through nearly $1 million dollars in its reserve fund this year and will now have less than $100,000 in reserves in 2011  - the council permitted this irresponsible behavior with nary a disapproving glance.  The council sniffed at national criticisms of our "bus to nowhere" GEORGE system and continued to fund the failed system using state transportation dollars rather than increasing our local tax rate.  The decision to fund GEORGE ignored the city manager recommendation and somehow disconnected the notion of state taxpayer dollars from an increase in the local tax rate.  Like spending state dollars on a boondoggle is okay where spending local tax dollars would be unacceptable.  Lastly, akin to a ship captain tolerating luxury passengers bringing wads of precious personal items into lifeboats at the expense of room for more people, the council made no meaningful reductions to pet "community values" events.  

Our (much beloved) mayor made passing reference to flaws in the budget process (the school budget being prepared before the scope of the overall city budget is known and the duplication of human resource and information services between the schools and city), but had no real explanation for why those flaws had not been corrected going into the budget cycle. 

For the first time in many years Team Dave Snyder was downright pleasant at the final budget vote ... having participated in less than half of the budget worksessions but in the end punching his own vapid school funding, GEORGE, and "community values" re-election card. 

Local political reality imposed itself on our friend Nader Baroukh.  A brash opposition candidate elected less than a year ago largely on a platform of fiscal reform, who during his campaign freely criticized school administration inefficiencies, incompetent city staff, and irresponsible tax increases ... but in the heat of his first real political cycle he clung desperately to the life raft of budget work done by the city staff while effusively praising the school budget process and perfectly echoing Snyder's silly "community values" budget metric.

Dan Sze made a unsupported effort to save city workers.  Lawrence Webb started to tell the truth about the school budget issues, but ultimately pulled back from the third rail in our local politics.   Dan Maller seemed to sense the damage being done to the city manager and quietly worked to repair the perception.  Hal Lippman, the only council member who has also served on the school board, expressed bewilderment at the number of city passengers who worked to save themselves rather than sacrifice for the greater good of the community. 

So now we wait.  Wait to live.  Wait to die.  Wait for absolution which may never arrive. 

Mayor Seeks More Equity In Proposed School Budget

Falls Church City Mayor Robin Gardner has asked the school board to trim $170,000 from its $30 million FY2010 proposed budget. 

The mayor made the request at a council work session last week, based on a desire to create a more equitable city budget.  The council cannot direct the school board on where to modify its budget.  It is  anticipated the school board will reduce its planned half-step teacher and staff salary increase to a quarter-step.  The savings from the school budget would allow the city to keep two staff members from losing their jobs.

School budget cuts are always controversial in a community which values its school system pretty much above everything else, but there were few reactions from school officials who were attending the 2009 Education Foundation Gala.  Some school board members originally resisted the school board plan to include any salary increase in a year where the city manager has proposed a real dollar reduction in the city operating budget, citywide salary freezes, and the elimination of seven city staff jobs.   

The other members of city council seemed amenable to the suggestion, but the budget is scheduled for additional discussion at work sessions this week.  If the city council follows the recommendation of the mayor, it would pass a budget next week which approves a transfer which is less than what was requested by the school board.

Falls Church GEORGE Bus Dunned By Media And Public

Falls Church has figured out a way to fund GEORGE for a another year without an increase in city tax rates, but the central question remains:  should the heavily taxpayer subsidized local bus system be continued?

Falls Church is now faced with withering regional and even national criticism for considering spending $600,000 in taxpayer dollars to continue the system beyond 2009. A dunning Washington Post editorial has called GEORGE a "bus to nowhere" and stated the system " ... is a luxury the city can't afford. There has to be a better way to spend $600,000 ..." 

The San Francisco Examiner has called GEORGE a "pricey bus system [that is] a bust."  The SFE article written by AP Reporter Matthew Barakat even quoted US Rep. Jim Moran (D), who sponsored the original earmark for GEORGE, as backing away from continued funding for the system ("... If we hadn't had this financial depression or recession we probably could have continued. But in tough fiscal times like this, you have to make tough choices ...").  Also included wasa quote from from aspokesperson for the Citizens Against Government Waste, saying of GEORGE, "... that little earmark is a microcosm of the problem." 

The city manager has recommending de-funding the expensive system.  The Falls Church News-Press editorialized against continuing GEORGE.  So has the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.  See also WTOP.   

Despite the near unanimity of the criticism, council member Team Dave Snyder, who had lobbied for the original earmark and continued to advocate for the system even as the technology failed, ridership stagnated, funding evaporated, and costs escalated, continues his support for spending taxpayer dollars on the GEORGE.  The so-called "biggest booster of GEORGE"  appears content to ignore the deafening public outcry and insists it is now "up to the city council" to continue the system to "ensure the earmarks are not wasted." 

Snyder has served on the nonpartisan city council since 1994.  He accepted the Republican nomination for state delegate in 2002, an election he lost nearly two to one to Delagate Jim Scott (D). 

Snyder may have a serious case of political white knight syndrome, but taxpayers (and voters) ultimately hold all the cards.  Snyder's willingness to disregard the public outcry and spend city, state, and federal taxpayer dollars on saving a local vanity bus system is wildly out of step with economic reality.  Snyder deserves credit for his original support of the initiative, and he shares blame for the failure to monitor and manage the ongoing viability of system, but his pushing of the system now is pure political arrogance. 

A Reprieve For GEORGE?

Falls Church City Council Member Dan Maller uncorked a stunner at the council meeting last night when he unveiled what appears to be a workable plan to fund the GEORGE bus system through 2010 with no tax increase. 

In a nutshell, Maller has proposed funding GEORGE using the WMATA trust fund, which is an obscure line item in the city budget.  There is apparently sufficient money in the fund to pay the city portion of the operating costs for GEORGE for a year.  If the plan works, proponents of GEORGE will have bought a year or so to figure out how to retool the system to make it a viable local transportation option. 

The politics of the situation is just too rich ...

See, Dan Maller is a very creative guy.  He is more than a bit quirky sometimes, full of unorthodox approaches and ideas, but every once in a while he absolutely nails an original concept. 

Like last night.

Dan has been poking and prodding the GEORGE issue for months.  He has peppered everyone who will listen to him with questions and concepts.  Learning.  Listening.  Leveraging his contacts with the Northern Virginia Transit Commission.  Going to every city forum and budget work session to listen to citizens who are passionate or knowledgeable or both about the GEORGE issues.  He has been realistic about the budget issues with GEORGE, but has never quite accepted that GEORGE is dead.  He has posted here on Blueweeds trying to get comments and reactions from the community. 

It has been interesting to watch Dan wrestle with the issue. 

Contrast this with Team Dave Snyder.  Snyder has reflexively attacked city staff and his colleagues on council for even suggesting GEORGE be defunded.  He started attacking five minutes after the city manager finished his budget presentation.  Snyder has offered no, I mean zero, suggestions on how to keep GEORGE ... he has just postured.  Snyder has refused to attend worksessions. Missed 80 percent of the council budget sessions.  Called the town hall public meetings a "show." Been downright hostile and free in characterizing his colleagues as "insular" "out of touch" and "crazy" for questioning the economics of GEORGE.   But he has never offered a solution.  Never thought to leverage his own contacts with the NVTC. 

So Monday night Snyder came prepared to attack his colleagues on GEORGE on a live broadcast of the meeting.  He had VPIS literature and little sticky notes with quotes and hidden math equations ... all prepared to launch into a tirade against his perceived enemies on council for their stupidity in questioning GEORGE.

Except Maller stole the Team Dave Show by offering a freaking solution.  Quirky Dan Maller just went to all the meetings, asked a lot of questions, listened to everyone who would talk to him, took a lot of abuse, and manged to string together what looks like a very viable solution. 

And low an behold, the other city council members - including the ones most critical of the economics of GEORGE - were receptive to the solution. 

Maller stayed in the game.  He has kept working and stayed passionate about solving the community problem rather than demonizing his opponents and scoring cheap political points.   

Local politics is mostly just a total grind.  But last night it was brilliant. 

Yet another perfect example of why Team Dave has stayed too long on council and should give up (or lose) his seat to someone who still cares about actually solving local problems. 

Snyder Skips Three More Budget Sessions

Falls Church City Council Member Team Dave Snyder skipped a third straight budget meeting this week, meaning he has missed nearly 80 percent of all council FY2010 budget meetings.  The last three budget meetings focused on possible solutions to GEORGE funding, the CIP strategic planning budget, and on the presentation of city operating budgets by department.   

More on Snyder's attendance here.   

Snyder showed up at a budget meeting last week at 10:00 pm.  The meeting was scheduled from 7:30 until 9:30 and was concluding when Snyder arrived.  Snyder indicated he was out of town at a funeral for the meeting on Monday evening.   

Despite his lack of actual attendance at the budget meetings, Snyder has been highly critical of the budget process.  He vowed to vote against the budget immediately after it was presented by  the city manager.  He has advocated for increasing safety services, funding GEORGE, running a raised trolley system down Broad Street, against any tax increases, but has declined to say what/where he would cut in order to balance the budget.  He has attacked colleagues who suggested he propose a specific alternative budget so city staff and council could consider any suggestions he had in the context of the entire budget. 

In past years, Snyder has notoriously "revealed" an alternative budget at the last possible moment (public hearing on final reading of the budget).  This tactic has left no opportunity for staff or other council members to actually evaluate the merits of his proposals, and created difficult relations with colleagues who felt "sandbagged" by a heavy handed political ploy.   

In a manifesto interview given last week, Snyder continued his personal and professional criticisms of city staff, housing officials, and his colleagues on council.  He stated his view the FY2010 budget did not reflect "reality" or "values" of the community, was "crazy," the town hall meetings at which hundreds of citizens have participated had no value and were only done "for show." 

Snyder gave the manifesto interview rather than attend the 2009 Greater Falls Chamber of Commerce Gala.  Snyder had previously attacked the mayor on the dais and boasted he had more support in the local business community than anyone on council.  The mayor was at the Chamber Gala and contributed to the local business fundrasing effort. 

Snyder's attendance at city council meetings has dropped noticeably since he was elected to a fourth term on council.  This has been noted previously by citizen activists.  He has reportedly missed about half of all council sessions since being elected in 2006.  On more than one occasion he has asked other members of council to read written statements he has emailed them rather than appear in person.  City politicos have pointed out "mailing in" an appearance at city council meetings does not allow Snyder an opportunity to hear citizen comments or participate in detailed policy discussions.

Snyder has criticized the public reporting of his council attendance record, including an angry televised denunciation of Blueweeds at a meeting he attended in December 2008.

Questions About GEORGE Spread In The Region

The regional debate about the financial viability and/or changes to the GEORGE local bus system escalated this past week as two key regional proponets of transportation questioned the costs of the system. 

GEORGE is operated as part of the WMATA system.  WMATA announced it will hold a series of public hearings to discuss eliminating and/or dramatically increasing the fares for GEORGE users as part of an effort to reduce the costs of so-called regional reimburseable local projects.

In effect, this means WMATA has given notice it may eliminate its support for the local GEORGE bus system - shifting the entire operational costs to Falls Church City.  Alternatively, WMATA may require a steep increase in fares.  WMATA is required to hold the public hearings after being informed by Falls Church officials the city intended to defund the system in FY2010. 

The complete WMATA announcement on the public hearings can be downloaded here:

Download Notice_of_WMATA Public_hearing

The WMATA hearings on GEORGE closest to Falls Church City will be held:

Mon, April 13, 2009
Marshall Road Elementary School
730 Marshall Rd SW
Vienna, VA

Wed, April 15, 2009
Arlington County Government
#1 Courthouse Plaza
2100 Clarendon Blvd
County Board Room, 3rd Floor
Arlington, VA

Additionally, the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, normally an advocate for regional transportation systems, sent out the following "alert" to its membership about the expense of the GEORGE system: 

By GEORGE It's Expensive The City of Falls Church has 11,200 residents in its 2.2 square miles. It also has GEORGE.   GEORGE is a city-owned bus system that began in 2002 as a grant funded demonstration project. A 50-cent per trip fare was introduced in 2005. GEORGE carried about 70,000 passengers in FY 2004. It carries about the same today. GEORGE works three routes, five days per week (Monday-Friday), 13 hours per day. GEORGE transports about 10 riders per hour. GEORGE pays the City about $18,000 per year from the farebox (after deducting various Metro transfers and discounts. Metro operates GEORGE). GEORGE costs taxpayers about $600,000 per year or $8.00 for every 50-cent fare. (The longest cab trip within the City is $6.00 - $7.00) A March 26, 2009 Northern Virginia Transportation Commission memorandum states - "(GEORGE's) ridership has not been strong... (but) "the image of Falls Church is enhanced with the presence of such a resource." Image aside, options presented by the City Manager include terminating GEORGE to help eliminate a $4.3 million budget shortfall. Other options include reduced hours of operation and a higher City property tax rate.*   The City Council Will Determine GEORGE's Value on April 27th. Source: GEORGE Service Options FY2010, presented to the Falls Church City Council on March 19, 2009. To view this presentation, click here. *The March 19th presentation does not endorse a higher tax rate. Contact Info The Alliance Alert is a free online update on regional transportation issues and public involvement opportunities provided by the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance.  For more information on regional transportation issues and NVTA, please visit our website at www.nvta.org. Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance P.O. Box 6149 McLean, Virginia  22106-6149 tel  703-883-1830 fax  703-883-1850 info@nvta.org

 

 

Feds Reject Creepy Claim Made Against Falls Church Officials

Federal housing officials found no merit to the creepy "anti-family" allegation made against the City of Falls Church officials by former vice mayor Sam Mabry and his group of political associates opposed to the City Center South initiative.

US Housing and Urban Development representatives informed the city attorney late last week they had found no basis for the allegations made by the Mabry group, and the agency would not refer the matter for further federal civil or criminal investigation. 

As reported here at Blueweeds, Mabry has been an ardent opponent of the City Center South initiative partly on the basis the project is connected with local affordable workforce housing which he has complained is a "social engineering agenda" of the majority progressive council which would bring an undesirable number of children living in apartments and condos into our local school system. 

Mabry has repeatedly complained publicly about the impact of new policies which he maintains will result in an unacceptable number of new children in our local school system ("... just how many students can our community afford to educate? ... I just think it unwise and irresponsible to undertake a “more-the-merrier” dense-pack development with blinders on to the potential for school overcrowding, a decrease in academic excellence, increased costs, and the severe limitations we would face in responding to those problems...." Source:  Mabry on SaveOurFallsChurch web site). 

Despite his stated opposition to increases in the population of children, Mabry has cynically sought to politically triangulate the majority city council and city staff by claiming they are "perverting" federal laws to discriminate against families with children and encouraging federal and state authorities to launch criminal and civil investigations against city officials.

After a super majority vote of city council in the summer of 2007 to approve the City Center South initiative, Mabry filed a complaint against city officials and staff urging HUD officials, Department of Justice prosecutors, and US Rep. Jim Moran to bring or encourage civil and/or criminal charges against city officials and staff.  City residents Lou Mauro, John W. Kennedy, Carl Anderson, George Bromley, and Pam Callison joined Mabry in making the allegations.  Mabry and Callison went in person to the US Capitol Building last summer to urge US Rep. Jim Moran to help bring charges against city officials. 

Mabry and EDA Member Ira Kaylin made similar allegations to Virginia housing officials in Richmond in an equally pathetic attempt to have state housing officials bring civil and criminal charges against Falls Church City officials.  See Blueweeds "On The Road Against Affordable Housing ...".   There is no word yet from state housing officials on whether they will attempt to take any action against the city as a result of the allegations made by Mabry. 

Mabry and his group of associates have strong political affiliations with Falls Church City Council Members Team Dave Snyder and Nader Baroukh - both of whom supported the failed Deathstar Charter Change referendum and ardently oppose the City Center South and/or Affordable Workforce Housing initiatives.

City officials have not yet indicated what the cost to city taxpayers is of defending against the latest round of allegations made Mabry. 

Falls Church Times Publishes Snyder Manifesto Against All Things

The Falls Church Times has posted the political manifesto of our hero Team Dave Snyder which, of course, needs a little naughty spice perspective from Blueweeds.

The executive summary:  Team Dave offers up a tired version of his political reality circa 1995.  He has a dramatic tirade against those who "ridicule and publicly attack" and then launches into a long screed of ridicule and very personal public attacks on his friends and perceived enemies.  It is shameless, really, and reeks of the desperate funk local politicians excrete just before they move on to yelling at little kids and endlessly sucking on nasty butterscotch hard candies.

The entire article is here:  Download Falls Church Times Team Dave Manifesto.

The Falls Church Times is a recent addition to our local online community, which styles itself as a fair and balanced online newspaper run by unpaid citizen volunteers.  They have editorial board meetings, send staff writers to events, and generally fancy themselves as faux serious journalists.  Coincidentally, a number of the folks at The Falls Church Times have ties to the Mabry - Snyder - Baroukh group of friends and their editorials lean heavily toward the mystery meat those folks grind out and serve up.   

Meh.  To each his own.  But just an observation, journalists who "interview" political figures would probably include the questions they asked the subject.  Also, the person who "interviewed" Team Dave Snyder is Falls Church Times staff writer George Bromley.  Observant readers might recall Bromley is an associate of Sam Mabry and is one of the people who drafted the complaint Mabry submitted asking the Department of Justice, US Rep. Jim Moran, and HUD officials to charge city staff and elected officials with violating federal housing laws.  Disclosing the ties Bromley has to that effort would have been more than appropriate in my not so humble opinion.

Snyder starts his manifesto with a criticism against those who ridicule and attack people who dissent on matters of public discussion.  Some would call that democracy, but point taken.  

Snyder then proceeds directly to ridiculing and publicly attacking.  

Let's just count his attacks, shall we?  He attacks the mayor, vice mayor, and the city manager for (1) "controlling" the city; (2) not having "intentions aligned with most of the city;" (3) being "ingrown" (I think he meant to say inbred); (4) being "isolated"; (5) for diverging from the values and needs of citizens; (6) for monopolizing information (I am pretty sure some of this secret hidden information to which he refers is available at the council worksessions - just saying) (7) ignoring boards and commissions (8) being "deciders" (whatever that means ... maybe a leftover slam from the Bush days? (9) being ineffective (10) failing to enter into "win - lose" negotiations (11) destroying the city water system (12) departing from the "traditional values" of the community by bringing new developments into the city (13) being hijacked by residential developers (14) killing neighbors (15) raising things from the dead (16) molesting and abusing the special exception ordinance (17) bringing too many new kids into the city (Ha!  You knew that was coming. Hater.) (18) passing a bad CIP and operational budget for FY2010 (you and I just *think* those budget discussions are still going on) (19) encouraging wrong development (20) having unrealistic financial information (21) screwing up affordable housing by moving a project forward (22) not being Basel Switzerland (23) being self-imposed from reality (24) being anti-Children Museum and (25) not being physically strong enough.  Oh yeah, then Snyder takes an odd gratuitous slap at former vice mayor Steve Rogers for politicizing affordable housing. 

The Snyder Manifesto is mostly old local polemics.  No harm, just a disgruntled elected official who is tired of the ride.  Except for one point which I do not understand.

Snyder goes into quite a lengthy criticism of the city and its position on the water system litigation with Fairfax County.  Snyder is a lawyer.  He is a member of the city council who has access to the executive sessions where the city attorney discusses and strategizes with city council about the litigation.  Snyder says in his letter that if the city loses the legal dispute it will "destroy the water system" and have a deleterious financial impact on the city.  He knows he is likely to called as a witness when the issue goes to trial.

So what in the world is Snyder doing publicly mouthing off about the city's litigation strategy? 

On The Road Against Affordable Housing

This would be funny if it were not so freaking pathetic.  Our former vice mayor and resident local political dark lord, Sam Mabry, recently took a road trip to Richmond with his friend Ira Kaylin to cudgel local affordable workforce housing. 

Ira is a volunteer member of the Falls Church Economic Development Authority.  He was appointed to the EDA by council members Dan Sze and Lawrence Webb last year.  The EDA was created to advise the city council "... on economic development issues and proposals and to perform a wide range of functions authorized by Virginia statute. The EDA provides community education programs, conducts research, purchases, leases and sells property, provides tax exempt financing, and supports projects and programs that promote business and investment in the City..."   Heady stuff for an advisory board. 

Mabry and Ira headed to Richmond to try to get state housing officials to investigate the city and derail the historic affordable workforce housing initiative which was approved by the city council by a super majority vote in December 2008.  Our heroes Team Dave Snyder and Nader Baroukh voted against local workforce housing ... but you knew that already. 

Mabry is a political advisor, campaign contributor, and friend to Snyder and Baroukh.  Among many other deeds done in the city, Mabry was behind both failed charter change referendums, strongly opposed the City Center South project, opposed the affordable workforce housing initiative, and opposed mixed use development at least partly on the basis these projects "social engineered" change in his city.  He has been behind several efforts to have city officials and employees investigated for various things; including running a coordinated campaign last summer with Baroukh's campaign manager and a few other friends to have US Rep. Jim Moran (D) help with a federal investigation Mabry was trying to get the US Deprtment of Justice and federal housing officials to launch against the city. 

Anyway.  We digress.  Let's just say there is lots and lots of nasty old man local politics between here and there.   

The good housing folks in Richmond met with Mabry and Ira.  Mind you, state housing officials are pretty used to dealing with people who feel strongly, one way or another, about workforce housing.  The state housing officials were aware the Falls Church project is now under a signed agreement with developers and aware the project is likely to have a state funding application pending before them sometime later this year. 

Call me a cynic, but my guess is that was the whole purpose of the road trip.

In any event, the meetings apparently quickly devolved into a bit of a Fellini movie.  Our local ambassadors starting weaving frothy tails of past elections lost, duped silent majorities, evil witches, and wild predictions of a population apocalypse yet to come.  There were repeated urgent pleas for state officials to take action against Falls Church City and to stop the development of local affordable housing.  

The fellers must have made quite an impression.  State housing officials were so alarmed by the behavior of Mabry and Ira they reached out to several people in our community to express concern about the vicious nature of the political dispute.

Indeed. 

But fear not dear readers.  You are always safe on the sidelines here at Blueweeds. 

Falls Church Condo Kid Myths

Psssst.  Let me tell you a secret.  That story you heard about all those nasty little condo kids moving into our city?  The one where they are agents of liberal social engineering, who don't understand our values and have no ties to our community?  The "affordable housing" kids that are going to demoralize our teachers, crowd out your kids, and bankrupt city taxpayers? 

The story you read in the anonymous flyer.  Or on the fair and balanced blog.  In the grumpy letter to the editor.  And whispered in your ear at the bus stop. 

Yeah, yeah.  That's the one.  Just so you know ... it's all a bunch of crap. 

The city had planned for a total of 78 children living in the mixed use developments through 2009.  There are only 61.  There are currently about 1940 kids in the city schools.  See school board docs.  So "condo kids" make up only about 3 percent of our school population.  Moreover, there are only seven kindergarten kids currently living in the mixed use buildings.  Seven.  Five at Pearson Square, two at the Spectrum and none at the Byron (source: city school survey).

It is true Mt. Daniel is expecting an influx of kindergartners next year.  Mt. Daniel staff are accommodating the larger class size by adding class sections and using trailers for pre-K.  What is not true, is that the kids are from the mixed use buildings.  The new kindergartners, like the all student growth across the city, is being driven by families moving into single family homes - not "affordable housing" condo kids from the mixed use developments. 

There are serious budget issues in the city.  But do not let the haters and get off my lawn folks roll you or roll our community. 

Falls Church FY2010 Budget Passes First Reading

A quick post on the first reading of the FY2010 Falls Church City budget.  I was not able to watch the meeting last night, so additional thoughts are particularly welcome.

The council hearing was well attended.  Approximately fifty city workers were in attendance as a way to express concern with layoffs in city staff and reductions in operation budgets while school requests are being fully funded. GEORGE was discussed. Representatives from VPIS advocated for continuing to fund the local bus system with some modifications to routes and schedules.

The budget passed first reading with only council member Team Dave Snyder voting "no." Despite missing nearly two-thirds of the budget meetings so far, Snyder felt comfortable criticizing city staff for producing what he views as a fundamentally flawed budget.  Snyder has advocated for increased spending on GEORGE, for a new trolley system down Broad Street, and for purchasing a new fire truck.  Snyder opposes tax increases and so far has declined to say how he would balance a budget with the additional spending and without raising taxes.  

Snyder criticized the recommendation of the city staff not to fund the purchase of a new fire truck as a risk to public safety.  Snyder was not at an earlier budget work session when the purchase of a new fire truck was discussed with fire department officials who not only agreed with the recommendation of city staff to delay purchasing a new fire truck (they apparently like the existing equipment), but who also specifically said that delaying the purchase did not present a safety risk for the city.

US Rep. Jim Moran also attended the meeting and provided an update on several federal initiates impacting the region. 

The city council will continue its budget hearing process, with a final vote to approve the FY2010 budget expected in April 2009. 

Guest Author: Maller On Possible GEORGE Solutions

Falls Church City Council Member Dan Maller represents the city on a number of regional transportation and environmental boards.  He asked to be a Blueweeds guest author to discuss the GEORGE bus system.  As most readers are aware, GEORGE is slated to be defunded, and the city council is looking for an alternative way to continue to offer the service given its budget realities.  Dan makes some interesting observations ... please welcome Dan.  - Mike at Blueweeds.  

 

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There appears to be a strong consensus that Falls Church can not afford to operate the GEORGE system in the current fashion, and that the value added for residents is far less than the cost.  My opinion is that we should be able to come up with a plan that provides the bulk of the benefit at a fraction of the cost, or we have no business in the transit business. I am actively working to come up with the outline of a plan and I would welcome any feedback on this site or by email to dmaller@fallschurchva.gov. I would hope to have at least one brainstorming session (formal or informal) including George users prior to recommending anything formally.

 

The Fiscal Equation: The details of the costs are $99 per hour for essentially all operating costs, provided by WMATA under contract. That is about $2,500 per day [vs. $100 of revenue]. You can multiply this out to get annual figures (I think it operates 260 days/year).

 

The details of revenue provided at our meeting are that Metro seems to have sticky fingers, or I guess many riders have paper transfers (which I recall are being eliminated).

 

Here are some ideas based on the desire to find a way to keep the program on life support rather than abruptly pulling the plug:

 

Other local systems in this area (albeit with a larger scale), ART, CUE and DASH, have subsidies ranging from $1.20 to $2.06 per ride. I have outlined a plan to spend $175k, and to raise property taxes by 1/2¢ to keep the proposed budget balanced. Assuming the same number of riders this would bring our subsidy in line with the other local systems.

The revenue generated by this system is grossly inadequate; typical bus systems recover around 33% of their operating costs. I think almost all riders would willingly pay $1 or more to ride George. Other local systems charge $1.25-$1.35 for smart trip/cash. Staff is working to explain the "lossy" revenue collection process but we may be limited by WMATA rules to be part of their system including transfers. We need to identify the constraints on revenue methods, and change them if possible to allow the City to realize more of the revenue directly. For instance, would riders be willing to buy an unlimited George Pass for a year for $1,000 (assuming 500 trips that would be $2 per ride)? Even by this method, though, assuming there are 100 daily riders this would only generate $100k of revenue which is probably both too much to charge and wildly optimistic.

Staff thinks ART might lower the platform cost to $90 per hour. $175k (including some small amount of proffer money) plus $100k of user fees would be $275k ÷ $90/hour = ~3,000 platform hours which ÷ 260 operating days would allow perhaps 10 hours a day of service. This translates to serving each Metro Station with about 2 hours in the morning and evening (reality check, this also means 30 riders per platform hour -√).

Fiscally and I am sure for the users of GEORGE this is a grim picture. Obviously the largest variable is the platform operating cost. Other systems operate smaller electric buses, which even assuming we find money and could not be obtained for 2 years. I think we pay $3 for a ride on that kiddie choo-choo at the fall festival, maybe that's the answer!

The next largest variable, using the term loosely, is the ridership. GEORGE ridership has been flat as a neocon worldview since inception. How can we get people out of their cars (good) or to stop walking places (not so good)? How can GEORGE boost our local businesses? What if people just stopped at their local GEORGE stop whenever they drove somewhere [I'm a GEORGE too, I guess we would have some public safety issues with this but I would certainly apply for my personal GEORGE permit if we could make this work].

What if we paid the taxi company to stop at the GEORGE stop every 15 minutes? Would we even need to pay them? We could guarantee $5 of revenue and limit their charge to $1 for each passenger within the City. Do we have sufficient authority over cab rates to do this legally? Can we contract with Enviro-Cab? Can we get some of those Tricycle Rickshaws like they have at the beach with those strapping foreign lads? Sounds like the EDA meeting should be interesting, why don't we all go!

The Vanity GEORGE Bus System

Every so often our tiny community grows a political wild hair and then just about chews its arms off trying to get at it.  The off-track betting scandal.  Expansion of the Community Center.  The Taco Bell War.  The kid peepers expected at the Broad Street hotel.  There have been some good ones. 

The GEORGE bus controversy is growing into quite a hairy issue.  The question about what to do about GEORGE took center stage at the city council budget session this week.  The two opposition minority council members, conservative Team Dave Snyder and his mini-me Nader Baroukh, have staked out their position - save GEORGE at all costs.  The majority council members, who must agree on a balanced budget, have either said "no way" or are being very quiet. 

A refresher for those just joining us:  In the late 1990s, the city was given the GEORGE buses and few years operating money under a federal grant targeted at encouraging transportation and environment-friendly policies.  US Rep. Jim Moran worked with then Mayor Snyder and VPIS to get the system funded.  The original deal was for electric buses and the thought was the buses would be self-sustaining by the time the federal support ended.  But the electric technology never worked, so the buses became "clean diesel" (whatever that means).  Then the fed dollars ran out and Falls Church quietly assumed full responsibility for managing and maintaining the system. Ridership, despite numerous schedule and route variations, has stayed remarkably low. 

The GEORGE bus will cost city taxpayers a staggering (by our budget size) $800,000 per year in FY2010.  It provides a minuscule 70,000 rides a year.  Falls Church is surrounded by WMATA, METRO, and Arlington DASH buses and a new trolley system going into Bailey's Cross Roads.  The operating cost of GEORGE equates to an astronomical $8.00 taxpayer cost for every single ride.  Plus, the city has been informed all four GEORGE buses will require engine overhauls next year.

From a purely economic standpoint, this is a no brainer.  GEORGE must go.  It has strayed from its original environmental concept, has too many competitors, is not widely used for the purposes for which it was intended, and is ungodly expensive.  GEORGE is a vanity bus system.  The city cannot afford it, and any local politician who says it can is being incredibly irresponsible with taxpayer dollars.

Case closed, no?  No.  There is a political side to the GEORGE issue.  GEORGE was a pet project of our hero Team Dave Snyder.  Back when the feds were paying the bills, Snyder got his picture in the paper riding the bus with Jim Moran.  He got invited to all the cool environmental crowd parties and VPIS lunches.  Snyder fought hard for the snazzy bus system ... even as the electric technology failed, the concept became polluted, largely abandoned by riders, discredited, and the city began to get beaten down by the other half of the loaf given us by the feds. 

The original fight for GEORGE was difficult and it bonded strange political alliances in our community.  Some players are just that - players - who are trying to judo an election trick.  But there are also people who are emotionally invested in the system who simply do not believe that if GEORGE goes away the city will ever replace it with something which is more scalable to our community.  They just do not trust city leadership.

Now Snyder and Baroukh are in the minority with no budget responsibility.  On record as saying "save GEORGE at all costs or we will damn your majority budget."  VPIS has come out with a very thoughtful proposal on how to "save" GEORGE by making just a few minor tweeks to routes and schedules.  By "save" they mean reduce the taxpayer cost to about $5 per ride (if you ignore maintenance).  The Chamber of Commerce has not come out with an official policy yet, even though their internal poll of local businesses revealed *no local business has workers who ride GEORGE* (the poll is interesting, but, to be fair, I know some local workers use GEORGE to get to work in the city - not many, but a few). 

So Snyder and Baroukh are in a great spot.  GEORGE is a perfect wedge issue for them.  No budget responsibility.  Conservatives who get to talk about environmental policy and transportation and appear to support the local businesses that just a few months ago they campaigned against as a sinister "special interest group." 

I have no idea what the majority will do.  But I do know I am going to have great fun blathering at the poor mayor and watching from the safety of my couch.  

Snyder Votes To Widen I-66 Inside The Beltway

Falls Church City Council Member Team Dave Snyder, appointed by the city council to represent the community on a regional transportation board, reversed his earlier position and voted on behalf of the city to proceed with widening I-66 inside the beltway.  The vote taken Wednesday night paves the way to widen the interstate from three lanes to four inside Falls Church between Washington Boulevard and the Dulles Access Road.  The project is funded in part by a federal earmark sponsored by Frank Wolf (R) and Tom Davis (R).   More from the Washington Post.  Tom Davis' PAC was one of the biggest contributers to Snyder's unsuccessful campaign against Del. Jim Scott (D) in 2002.   

Snyder has explained his vote as just a way to get more studies done, but politicos close to the issue see the reversal as reflecting a policy shift driven by Fairfax BOS Chair Sharon Bulova to make the interstate a more major thoroughfare in the region.  Advocates for "wiser not wider" transportation strategies have been highly critical of what they see as a power play from more SUV-centric western suburbs to expand the interstate inside the beltway in Arlington and Falls Church.

Snyder has been noticeably absent from several city council meetings, as has been covered here at Blueweeds in some detail.  He was not at the last two budget meetings this past week, but did manage to attend the regional transportation meeting Wednesday night.  At the last city council meeting he was at, the other council members asked Snyder for an update on the contentious transportation votes.  Snyder had stopped communicating with his colleagues on the issue, had not sought advice or direction from other city officials on the position of Falls Church, and had not publicly informed the community on how he had voted or intended to vote on the issue.   

After his vote to support widening the interstate, Snyder sent an email to city staff asking them to inform the other members of city council he voted on behalf of Falls Church City to widen the interstate inside the beltway, and, moreover, that he was the author of the enabling resolution adopted by the board. 

A Snapshot Status Of Falls Church Mixed Use Developments

This is the fiscal impact analysis of three existing mixed use buildings in Falls Church City (Byron, Spectrum, and Pearson Square) as of February 2009.  The Broadway is not included for some reason.  The Broadway has vastly exceeded original revenue projections with much fewer than estimated children.  

This fiscal impact analysis does not show a key aspect of the development ... how revenue from the mixed use projects compares to the revenue which the city had received for more than ten years while the lots remained vacant or occupied by dilapidated buildings.  The analysis also does not show trends ... the increased commercial component trend in mixed use or the 2004 projected number of school children versus 2009 actual (which is lower). 

Finally, the Pearson Square residential units are expected to be sold out May 2009 and commercial tenants in by June 2009.  The Spectrum is expected to be fully occupied in the Fall of 2009 - both residential and commercial (with the Mad Fox and Foster Grille tenants). 

Click on image for larger view.

VIDEO: Falls Church HHS Services

A Look At Retro Naysayers In Falls Church

Budget season in the city is a good time for a trip down memory lane.  The city leaders, or at least those showing up to the meetings, are actively engaged in a discussion about how to accurately project, and maximize, city revenues given our political realities.  

The city budget dance is rather simple.  The professional city staff are trying to provide complete and accurate financial information in a politically neutral way while demurely avoiding the intense political differences of the politicians who directly or indirectly employ them.  The city council majority are trying to execute a political strategy without risking the financial integrity of the city.  Those who oppose the majority are trying to puff up their minority political agenda and slow down (or stop) the majority strategy.

The opposition this year has either already said they will vote against the budget unless it contains unicorns and magic buses for everyone (Team Dave Snyder), or they are challenging the use of assumptions to construct the budget (Nader Baroukh).  Go ahead and read that last sentence again.  Yes, you got it right, our freshman city council member came into his first budget cycle not understanding the city budget is projected(rather than actual) revenue. 

Let us all have a quiet moment in our heads for stammering and concern ...

All better now.  So anyway, now let us look at how the opposition has done in the past on their mystery meat budget math.  Remember 2004?  The central issue was mixed use development at The Byron.  The CBC-endorsed candidates (Gardner, Hockenberry, and Chavern) kicked off their campaign in the parking lot of the vacant Red Lobster to illustrate the importance of mixed use development as a way to revitalize the city from the disastrous vacant lot strategy of Snyder, and to emphasize the symbiotic relationship of mixed use (local population) with city center (commercial and community revitalization). 

In 2004 the opposition, led by Team Dave Snyder who spoon-fed his candidates with bad data, focused on The Byron.  The argument was city staff had wildly over-estimated revenue projections from The Byron and failed to account for a tidal wave of new kids flooding into the city.  In a April 12, 2004 open letter to school parents, opposition candidate Lou Mauro warned mixed use development would require "... another $20 million plus school building to be started almost as soon as soon as [MEHS] opens its doors ..." and students who move into the city "... [will put] the quality of our schools in jeapordy" and "... cause teacher morale to deteriorate and threaten the quality of schools ..."   

Let me pause here.  Remember a few months ago my post on the effort by Mauro (and Baroukh's campaign manager, et al) to have Jim Moran, the DOJ, and other government folks launch a federal investigation against the city claiming the city was trying to discriminate against families with children?  See how they worked the triangulation?  They made a political argument against more kids moving into the city and then tried to have the feds investigate the city for allegedly discriminating against kids?  Classic evil stuff.  Well played ... repugnant ... but well played.

So time to look at how Snyder and the opposition did on their circa 2004 budget projections (source for the data below is the Falls Church City Economic Development Authority).    

In 2003 the City’s fiscal impact model predicted net revenue of $306,436 per year for the Byron at full residential and commercial occupancy.  The tax rate for real property in Falls Church in 2003 was $1.13 per $100 assessed value.  Today, using a lower real property tax rate of $1.03, the fiscal impact model produces a net revenue figure of $473,971 per year for the Byron. 

The updated calculation uses actual 2009 assessed property values, actual business, sales and meals tax information, and the very latest information from Falls Church City Public Schools on pupil enrollment for Byron residents.  It should also be noted that all 90 residential units in the Byron have been sold and 73 percent of all commercial space in the building is occupied.

The table below summarizes the analysis:

 BYRON NET FISCAL IMPACT COMPARISONS 

YEAR OF STUDY	CITY ANNUAL NET REVENUE	PUBLIC SCHOOL PUPILS	PUPILS PER UNIT	REAL PROPERTY TAX RATE
2003 Estimation	$306,436	14	0.15	$1.13/$100
2009 Actual	$473,971	11*	0.12	$1.03/$100

 *  Information provided by Falls Church City Public Schools, week of 02/02/09.

 

Do you see that?  Even with a decease in the tax rate from $1.13 to $1.03, and a huge market slow down, actual revenues realized from The Byron exceeded original projections by an astonishing 65 percent. 

 

Something to keep in mind going into the current budget cycle.  The budget is based on assumptions and projections developed by professional city staff.  The budget models developed by staff have historically proven to be conservative versus actual numbers.  As they should be.  The alternative mystery meat math, particularly that proposed by perennial opposition politicos with an ax to grind against mixed use development, workforce housing, and school kids, has proven to be remarkably inaccurate and unreliable.

 

The mixed use - city center development strategy is starting to bear fruit.  It has brought physical change to our community, some well done and some not so well done.  But there can be no serious dispute about the financial benefits realized by the strategy undertaken by a core group of political and business leaders in our community. 

 

If it had not been for the hard fought efforts of people to put in place strong city staff, empower them, and to engage in entrenched local political struggles to move the city down a visionary path of economic and physical re-vitalization ... then all of the polite debate about village atmosphere, GEORGE, step increases, reduced funding for services would not be happening.  If the city had not been able to move forward on a plan, if it had remained mired in analysis political paralysis where no one led for fear of offending and we stared transfixed at empty lots on Broad Street while fighting with city staff over projections, then we would in a painfully different place as a community.

 

Lastly, this is also the frustration with disloyal opposition.  Intense debate and critical questioning is desired by all.  But if the opposition is always political, never defers to experts, is always fear based, always lacks a cogent strategy ... and then always refuses to acknowledge the successes of the community (or in the case of Snyder refuses to even participate anymore) , then what good is it? 

Snyder Will Also Skip Key Budget Worksessions

Falls Church City Council Member Team Dave Snyder will not attend the first two scheduled budget city council worksessions.   The city council has slated two-a-week budget worksessions in order to finalize a difficult budget for FY2010.

Snyder informed his colleagues via email last night he is not available to attend the budget worksessions this Thursday or next Monday.  There is no word yet on what other budget worksessions Snyder will miss.

Snyder was outspoken in his opposition to the proposed budget on Monday night, despite his infrequent appearances at meetings leading up to the budget preparation.  The budget proposed by City Manager Wyatt Shields includes the difficult choices of a four cent increase on the real property tax rate, the elimination of seven city worker positions, a freeze in city salaries, cuts in funding for several city services, and the defunding of the local GEORGE bus system.  Shields has proposed the School Board budget, which includes a half-step salary increase, be adopted.

Snyder maintains the tax rate increase, the defunding of the local GEORGE bus system, and the cuts in safety services are unacceptable to him and and are contrary to the wishes of the voters.  Snyder has not offered any insight into how he would structure a budget which did not raise the tax rate, fully funded GEORGE, and preserves full funding for city services.  He also has not commented on how his recent proposal to have a light rail system run from Baileys Cross Roads to Tysons Corner down the middle of Broad Street would fit into his city budget plans. 

Snyder's attendance at city council meetings has dropped noticeably since he was elected to a fourth term on council.  This has been noted previously by citizen activists.  He has reportedly missed about half of all council sessions since 2006.  On more than one occasion he has asked other members of council to read written statements he has emailed them rather than appear in person.  City politicos have pointed out "mailing in" an appearance at city council meetings does not allow Snyder an opportunity to hear citizen comments or participate in detailed policy discussions.

In February 2009 Snyder missed two of the four council meetings and was late for another.  The missed sessions included a important joint worksession with the Planning Commission on commercial development plans in the city, and a worksession in which the Falls Church Housing Corporation presented its updated financial plans and construction schedule for the historic workforce housing initiative. 

Snyder has criticized the public reporting of his council attendance record, including an angry televised denunciation of Blueweeds at a meeting he attended in December 2008.

City Budget Time In Falls Church

Painful economic reality imposed itself on the Falls Church community last night. 

Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields unveiled a proposed FY2010 city budget which includes a four cent increase on the real property tax rate, the elimination of seven city worker positions, a freeze in city salaries, cuts in funding for several city services, and the defunding of the local GEORGE bus system.  Shields has proposed the School Board budget, which includes a half-step salary increase, be adopted. 

The property tax increase proposed by the city manager would raise the tax rate from $1.04 per $100 of assessed value to $1.07 (Note:  the rate increase will be advertised at $1.09 in the event the city council decides to re-fund services or positions which are now proposed to be cut).   The four cent proposed increase equates to a $77 annual real dollar increase based on the average assessed value of a home in Falls Church.

The city portion of the budget represents a real dollar 3.17% operational decrease over the 2009 city budget, and a 1.6% decrease in the 2009 school budget. 

More information on the proposed budget is available on the Falls Church City web site.  A copy of the proposed budget can be downloaded here:  Download FY2010ProposedBudget.

The city council will now engage in intense two-a-week budget sessions to review and make modifications to the proposed budget.  Final FY2010 budget approval is scheduled to happen in April 2009. 

The tensions caused by the budget presentation were immediately evident.  Moments after the city manager concluded his budget presentation, our hero council member Team Dave Snyder  announced he would not support it.  Snyder maintains the tax rate increase, the defunding of the local GEORGE bus system, and the cuts in safety services are unacceptable to him and and are contrary to the wishes of the voters.  Snyder is the former mayor, aRepublican who ran against Delagate Jim Scott (D) a few years ago and who has served on city council since 1994, who has voted against almost every city budget which has been proposed when someone else was mayor.  

Snyder did not offer any insight into how he would structure a budget which did not raise the tax rate, fully funded GEORGE, and preserved full funding for city services.  He also did not comment on how his recent proposal to have a light rail system run from Bailey's Cross Roads to Tyson's Corner down the middle of Broad Street would fit into his budget projections.  Snyder has missed approximately half of all city council meetings and work sessions since he was re-elected in 2006 and has missed more than half of all council meetings in the last several months. 

Snyder's immediate rejection of the city manager budget sparked a reaction from Mayor Gardner.  Mindful of the months of work city staff have put into developing the current proposal, and sensitive to the fact the city manager is advocating freezing city salaries and laying off seven city employees in a very difficult economy, Mayor Gardner reminded Snyder the final budget was still to be developed and ultimately was the responsibility of the city council.  Snyder awkwardly demanded a personal apology from Gardner.  The discussion on the dais quickly devolved into a heated exchange over Snyder's lukewarm support for local businesses. 

Snyder was one of the architects of the two failed city charter change referendums which would have transferred local development authority to the Virginia Assembly (which was opposed by the local business community); is an opponent of the city center south development (which was supported by the local business community); opposes the affordable workforce housing initiative (which is supported by the local business community); tried to gag the EDA education forum on development (supported by the local business community); has voted against every mix use development project proposed in the city (mixed use development has been cited as a key component of rebuilding the city commercial tax base by local business organizations); and helped run the 2008 city council campaigns of three candidates who share his political views and who openly criticized the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce, League of Women Voters, EDA, and the Falls Church Housing Corporation as sinister "special interest groups."  

Snyder boasted he enjoys the support of the local business community despite these policies and crowed he would would "stack his record up against" Mayor Gardner "anytime."

Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.  The budget issues faced by our community are real.  The prospect of laying off city employees, balancing school funding requirements, and evaluating city services in this economic climate will require the full expertise of our elected officials and financial professionals.