News-Press Editorial: We Are Family

With Stacy Moot leaving her post as executive director of the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce to launch Stacy's Coffee Parlor in the 700 block of West Broad, the Chamber's Board of Directors is reviewing its organization's most important goals and objectives as it looks for a new person to fill its executive role.

The News-Press' destiny has always been closely linked with the Chamber of Commerce here. It was a unanimous show of support by the Chamber's board for the launch of this newspaper in December 1990 that helped turn a starry-eyed editor's vision into a start-up loan. Our owner-editor has subsequently served on the Chamber's board of directors ever since, including two years as president and two times winning the Chamber's coveted "Pillar of the Community" award.

The News-Press and Chamber have "teamed up" more than once to make a difference in Falls Church, especially in 1994 when that combination surprised the City's establishment with a strong endorsement for full funding of the school budget. No City Council has dared cut, in any significant way, a school budget in Falls Church since.

The News-Press values its relationship with the Chamber because among its most important objectives is to help its advertisers, mostly small businesses in the Falls Church area, succeed. By helping our advertisers by producing a paper that people love to read, these small businesses can expand, employ more people and feed more families. This is how we view ourselves as "pro-family," even as we strongly contend that society needs to broaden its definition of family beyond the narrow so-called "nuclear" model to optimize the numbers of people that can benefit from the kind of services we seek to provide.

With regard to the small businesses we represent and seek to assist, we know that the upcoming City Center redevelopment plan now being hammered out between City Hall and Akridge Company negotiators will result in disruption and displacement of many existing businesses in downtown Falls Church. We have assurances from City Hall that everything possible will be done to mitigate the negative impacts.

But this is where the Chamber of Commerce comes in as an independent advocate of business, as does the News-Press. The Chamber's role must be to pressure City Hall to take the right approach to City Center redevelopment, with an eye to existing businesses. This means -- not only for the sake of existing businesses but also as the smartest overall approach -- the first stage must be a structured parking garage. This will not be the "path of least resistance" for the developer, but it essential for optimizing success and help to insulate existing businesses. The Chamber must fight valiantly for this priority.