The Community Issues Forum will be hosting an Falls Church City local candidates’ event on Tuesday, July 21, at 7 p.m. at American Legion Post 130 at 400 N. Oak Street. All candidates in the Falls Church City Council and the Falls Church City School Board elections this November will be invited to the event, which will start with a meet and greet at 7 p.m.

At 7:30 p.m. each candidate will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and answer questions from citizens. “Most of the forum will be devoted to questions from citizens,” said Harry Shovlin, chairman of the Community Issues Forum. “Complex and, in some cases, misunderstood issues have attracted the most candidates in recent memory. That’s good news. But it creates problems for voters trying to differentiate among the candidates.”

In addition to having an opportunity to introduce themselves to Falls Church citizens in person, each candidate is being offered an opportunity to record a video at Falls Church City Television that will be shown several times a week on the local cable channel and made available to community groups within the City.

Shovlin said that the forum “gives lesser-known and new candidates the opportunity to run for office and have a reasonable chance to get their message before the voters without breaking the family budget. Even in a small community like Falls Church City, running for office costs money.” The Community Issues Forum will sponsor another candidates’ event in September or October.