In yet another opportunity for the Falls Church public to weigh in on the shocking announcement of a $5.6 shortfall in the current Fiscal Year 2010 City budget of $66 million, only two persons spoke out at tonight’s Falls Church City Council meeting.

One, long-time City activist and current school board member Kieran Sharpe called attention to his warnings of the need for immediate pull back in spending made as the global financial meltdown was underway in Sept. 2008, and called for similar caution going forward. The second, citizen Johnson Taylor urged the Council not to address the shortfall by cutting the school board budget. In tough economic times, it is even more important to invest in education, he said, noting that during his travels in Asia, where competitors with U.S. youth are being educated, “They’re not cutting back budgets there.”