F.C. City Council Running Out of Water Options
Editor,
Last week, an attorney for the U.S. Corps of Engineers concluded that a sale of the city’s water system to a non-governmental entity would be illegal and, as a result, all but one of the potential bidders in Friday’s water system auction (Fairfax Water) are apparently out of the running. The Falls Church City Council is running out of options.
It could operate under the regulatory review of Fairfax County beginning July 1, which would, according to the City Manager, cause the City to lose at least $5 million a year.
It could try to create an independent water authority akin to Fairfax Water, but that would require the permission of Fairfax County, which would surely decline.
Or, it could do what is in the best interests of its customers – both City and County alike – and merge with Fairfax Water, leading to significantly lower water rates for both City and County customers and higher system reliability.
The City Council will likely just file another expensive lawsuit against Fairfax County, the Corps of Engineers, and/or Fairfax Water. After all, the City Council has nothing to lose because all of its customers – both City and County alike – pay the City Council’s legal, lobbying (yes, the City Council has its own lobbyists) and consultant fees through higher water rates.
At some point, the City Council must come to realize the futility of endless litigation and cut its losses. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen until the citizens tell the City Council that they had a good run while it lasted, but it is time to move on and work on keeping Falls Church the most livable city in America.
Kirk F. Randall
McLean
Anglican Flock Departs The Little City
Editor,
Last week, The Falls Church property was officially returned to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. We 4,000 break-aways – as your paper has referred to us – will be searching for a new home. And for the short run, at least, it won’t be in Falls Church. “Welcome to Arlington County,” said one of our young pastors to the joyful, but tearful, crowd packing the final Anglican service.
As a 28-year member of The Falls Church Anglican (TFC-A) and Vienna resident, our family will be heading to one of our church’s recent “plants” in our own community. So, as we leave our beloved building, know that many of us are departing The Little City as well. But will you notice? Largest youth group on the East coast: relocated. Long-standing program teaching English to hundreds of immigrants and refugees: stopped. Emergency food and countless bus tokens given out: over. And what of the bigger things? Illnesses healed. Marriages saved. Lives changed. Or, perhaps you’ll simply notice the loss of business.
Here’s an accounting of how just one departing family “blessed” your city – and it was a glad offering! My kids spent a small fortune on Slurpees; we regularly crowded into the Four P’s, Panera and Elevation Burger for Sunday lunches with dear friends – and then grabbed groceries and gas on the way home. We rented the lovely Cherry Hill Farmhouse for our daughter’s wedding reception and contributed to the Friends of Cherry Hill. It was a privilege to serve your city’s homeless as a board member of Homestretch, and my husband enjoyed repairing Falls Church homes as part of the church’s Christmas in April program.
The Bible calls on Christians to seek the prosperity of their towns. The people of TFC-A did this — in literally thousands of ways every week – out of their love for Jesus Christ. Other towns should be so fortunate.
Susan Gates
Vienna
‘Muslim Oil’ Umbilical Cord Now a Hook
Editor,
Mr. Whipple tosses the Middle East meltdown as though events around Israel are only a footnote…
Sadly, America motors on, owing in large part to the umbilical cord fastened to Muslim Oil, and now it has morphed into a hook. The oil hook forces the U.S. into proximity and involvement with whatever military action occurs in the oilpatch. Annual oilfield depletion negates much more than anemic growth as long as we are in the current post WWII transportation/distribution methodology.
We have read many warnings and observations on the ramifications of Peak Oil, and now ability to effect implementation of the solution set is decreasing with time. In fact, the last point in time we had sufficient time and the resources to execute the policy shifts and infrastructure engineering necessary were the galvanizing moments just after September 11. We were told to go shopping…
We hope Mr. Whipple has the good senses to talk to Middle East savants like Anthony Cordesman and Boone Pickens, see timely books such as Chet Nagle’s “The Woolsorters Plague” and from other authors such as Robert Klare and James H. Kunstler, respectively.
We have deer-in-the headlight syndrome regarding Peak Oil with the current executive, and if we knee-jerk over to the GOP candidate, we find ourselves with a man using an economic playbook best described in Frank J. Cannon’s book: “Under The Prophet In Utah”, an exposition describing what happens when an organization gets bound up with corporate interests… Sound familiar?
Gunnar Henrioulle
Colfax, Calif.
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