Letters to the Editor: August 8 – 14, 2019
Montgomery Co. Actions Not Relevant to City of F.C.
Editor,
To attempt to use the approval of accessory dwellings in Montgomery County, Maryland, as a courageous example to be embraced by the City of Falls Church is absurd and misguided. There can be no logical comparison between Montgomery County, which has 491 square miles of land with a population in 2018 of 1,052,567, and the City of Falls Church which has 2.2 square miles and a population of about 14,000. Montgomery County’s actions have no relevance for what should be done in our City.
In your July 24 editorial in support of these accessory dwellings, you assert that anyone who opposes such accessory dwellings is reactionary and fears “being brought to justice in the face of insurgency.” You disparage single family detached home neighborhoods and state that they have the practical effect of racial discrimination. And then, you go so far as to make reference to Jim Crow racism and assert that zoning ordinances are used to perpetuate prejudicial practices. Your words convey a shocking bigotry and hateful characterization of people who you know nothing about and who have every right to disagree with your opinion. Before championing small accessory dwellings as a means to eliminate prejudicial practices, one might want to take into consideration that historically in the south small accessory dwellings were for the enslaved.
The reason for any zoning change in our City should not be based on a biased and misguided interpretation of justice which actually shows a prejudice of its own. The City of Falls Church does need courageous decisions by our elected officials, beginning with saying “no” to accessory dwellings. Courage is shown in making decisions that are not hasty imitation but are thoughtfully researched and carefully enacted to benefit the citizens that these officials were elected to serve. Courage is recognizing that people who disagree with your own opinion should not be automatically seen as reactionary or prejudiced. And, courage is recognizing that what is done in a county of over a million residents is not a model for the “Little City” with a population of 14,000.
M. Murray
Falls Church
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