Rep. Beyer Appointed to Bipartisan AI Task Force

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, who represents the City of Falls Church in the U.S. House of Representatives, was appointed by Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Mike Johnson this week to serve on the newly formed bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence.

The task force, appointed in cooperation by the two House leaders, is composed of 12 members of each party drawn from committees of jurisdiction as well as members with particular expertise in AI. It has a mission to lead the House’s exploration of AI’s transformational opportunities and potential challenges, and “to produce a comprehensive report that will include guiding principles, forward-looking recommendations and bipartisan policy proposals.”

“While much of the work of Congress has been engulfed in chaos and dysfunction, AI has remained a bright spot of good faith cooperation between the parties, and I am determined to help keep it that way,” Beyer said..”The impacts of AI on our society, positive and negative, are profound and require forward-looking solutions. It is my hope that Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries’ AI Task Force will continue in this spirit to develop real, practicable ideas that will help our country reap the benefits of AI and put guardrails in place to safeguard against risks. We need to get this right, and we have no time to lose.”

Va. ‘Festival of the Book’ Set for Charlottesville

The Virginia Festival of the Book, a program of Virginia Humanities, has been bringing together writers and readers to promote and celebrate books, reading, literacy, and literary culture every March since 1995, making 2024 the 30th annual festival. This week, the festival – which will take place from March 20 to 24 in Charlottesville – announced the details of their 30th anniversary celebration.

“We’re pulling out all the stops when it comes to celebrating our 30th anniversary,” said festival director Kalela Williams. “We’re starting with a 90s themed rooftop party featuring Rob Harvilla, author of “60 Songs that Explain the ‘90s,” and concluding with a toast at Decipher Brewing. But the big 30th celebration everyone is talking about is Wordy Thirty.”

Wordy Thirty is a gala celebration taking place at The Bradbury and Vault Virginia on Charlottesville’s downtown mall on Saturday March 23rd. The gala includes food, drinks, dancing, and a celebration of three incredible decades of festival memories. Three different tickets each come with a different party experience.

Ecosystems Working With Homestretch in F.C.

Ecosystems, the leading software-as-a-service platform for collaborative customer value management, is working with the Falls Church non-profit Homestretch, it was announced this week.

Through AI-driven analytics and integrations like Gainsight, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and HubSpot, individual value conversations are transformed into centralized cloud assets for improved decisions throughout the organization, the company touts.

It “believes it finds its value in helping others make their value clear. It does this with Homestretch by serving others and creating a beneficial impact on their community. Ecosystems volunteers quarterly with Homestretch,” an Ecosystems statement says.. “It partnered with us to analyze and quantify the value of the Home stretch model to alleviate homelessness in our Impact Study.”

Housing Bills Move Forward in Richmond

The Virginia General Assembly is moving forward with many legislative priority housing bills that made it to the other chamber after crossover last week. Three of those bills, HB817 (protections against retaliation), HB993 (prohibits fees for maintenance) and HB1251 (tenant assertion without rent in escrow) were slated to be heard this week in the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.

Deadlines For F.C. City Business Licenses is March 1

The 2024 Falls Church City Business License Renewal Forms should have been delivered to all City businesses by now. The 2024 Business License Renewal Form (the counter version without your business’s data) is always available on the City’s website at: fallschurchva.gov/442/Business-License-Tax-Forms or it can be sent to you by e-mail, if you want to renew your business license and have not received it yet or misplaced it.

The deadline to renew all business licenses is by March 1, 2024, or postmarked by that date, to avoid a 10 percent late payment penalty. All paid 2023 business license holders are in good standing until March 1, 2024, due to the annual two month grace period for January and February.

Business licenses can be paid online at: www.fallschurchva.gov/pay by entering your business license number (this never changes) and a bill number (this changes every year), that we generate, and send to you, after receiving your gross receipts figure from 2023 first. There is a 2.95% credit card fee paid to the Treaurer’s vendor, or you can pay for free by using an e-check.

You can drop your 2024 Business License Renewal Form and check in the US Mail, or in the yellow City Hall 24/7 Drop Box located next to the West Wing Door entrance, or in person at the Commissioner of the Revenue’s Office in suite 202W of the West Wing of City Hall, located at 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046.

Any questions? Please call (703) 248-5450, or e-mail Tom Clinton, Falls Church Commissioner of the Revenue, at commissioner@fallschurchva.gov.