February 21 – 27, 2008
CBC Nominating Convention Saturday
The Citizens for a Better City (CBC), Falls Church’s venerable non-partisan civic association dedicated to the recruitment and support of quality candidates for Falls Church’s municipal elections, will hold its biennial nominating convention this Saturday, Feb. 23, at the M. E. Henderson Middle School cafetorium at 1:30 p.m. All City of Falls Church resident are invited to attend to hear the candidates seeking CBC backing for the May 6 City Council and School Board elections. All registered voters in the City are eligible to vote for the nominees. To date, three Council and three School Board candidates have indicated their desire to win CBC backing: for the City Council, Incumbent Mayor Robin Gardner, Incumbent Vice Mayor Lindy Hockenberry and Lawrence Webb, and for the School Board, Incumbent Joan Wodiska, Incumbent Kieran Sharpe and Kim Maller.
F.C. Dem Committee Reverses Endorsement Policy
Two years after a split vote ended a decades-long non-endorsement policy for municipal elections, the Falls Church City Democratic Committee reversed itself Tuesday night. Under the new leadership of Chair Betty Coll, the committee acted prior to receiving any formal requests for its endorsements for the coming May 6 municipal election in Falls Church. The committee’s move to introduce major party partisanship into the City’s municipal elections created a firestorm of criticism two years ago, especially from the non-partisan Citizens for a Better City.
Pro, Con City Center Petitions Circulating Widely
Petitions in support of the Atlantic Realty City Center project in Falls Church, and those designed to put an anti-mixed use referendum on the May ballot in the City are both being circulated widely this week. A petition is being circulated online by the Friends of the Falls Church City Center at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/City_Center/. The petition to place a referendum on the ballot in May is available at http://saveourfallschurch.net/home. Its proponents claim that over 600 signatures have been secured to date. The drive is organized by the same citizens who put a referendum with virtually the same language that was on the Falls Church ballot in 2002. That time, citizens rejected the referendum question, and voted in favor of large-scale mixed use development, 63.5-36.5%.
F.C. BZA to Rule on Chase Bank Petition Tonight
Tonight the Falls Church Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) will consider a zoning variance sought by Chevy Chase Bank, seeking approval for a drive-through, single story bank building with surface parking at the site of the current City Sunoco station at 930 W. Broad St. Tuesday night, the Planning Commission recommended to the BZA against granting the variance.
