Letters to the Editor: January 31 – February 6, 2013

$200,000 Fence Around George Mason High School is Knee-Jerk Reaction

Editor,

The rush to spend $200,000 to erect a fence around George Mason High school is a misguided, knee-jerk reaction to the Newtown shooting.

A prudent deliberation would be aimed at cost-effective measures to reduce the risk of such an incident. Was the lack of a fence a causative factor in Newtown, Columbine, Virginia Tech or any other past incidents? To the contrary, Newtown had a sophisticated security system beyond that being considered for Mason HS, but that obviously did not stop the shooter.

Any threat to our children is an emotional topic. Those in positions of responsibility can best protect the students by a sober assessment of risk mitigation, not a “feel good” leap for the sake of taking immediate action that may not be effective.

Collin Agee

Falls Church

Fewer & Fewer Can Afford to Live in F.C.

Editor,

I love Falls Church and the “Athenian values” of the community here. But the truth of the matter is that many of those who raise families in Falls Church are leaving the City as soon as their children graduate from high school. Fewer and fewer people can afford to stay and pay the exorbitant property taxes; others find that the rampant development here—with little or no thought of the effect on the residential neighborhoods around it—have turned the City into a place that holds little long-term appeal. Soon the City will not have community servants and activists like Ed Strait, who spent 50+ years here. It will have dedicated, involved people who work to improve the community—and then leave to retire elsewhere. The development along Washington Street and Broad Street is turning the City into a place of urban canyons and traffic nightmares—exactly the things most of us moved to Falls Church to escape seven or ten or twenty years ago.

Kathleen McCleary

Falls Church 

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