Mayor Hardi Greets; West End Advances

City of Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi was on hand to greet an assembly of prominent Falls Church area Vietnamese-American community leaders at the City’s elegant new restaurant, Nu, in its still unfolding Founder’s Row 1 center yesterday morning for a roundtable conference focused on the economy.

The event was organized to “highlight Vice President Kamala Harris’ New Way Forward to lower costs for Virginians, support minority-owned businesses and boost the economy,” according to a press statement.

State Del. Kathy Tran, the Virginia House of Delegates’ Democratic Caucus chair and former chair of the Virginia Asian-American and Pacific Islander Caucus, hosted the economic-themed roundtable in the award winning restaurant, which has ranked among the top in the D.C. Metro region since opening last year. State Del. Irene Shin also participated.

(Last month, Harris’ presidential campaign opponent, Donald Trump, made a brief stop at a Vietnamese-American restaurant in the City’s Eden Center.)

This Wednesday’s event, however, was not a candidate stop-over, but a substantial conference. The briefing contrasted the Harris economic plan to the “Project 2025 agenda advanced by Trump for “unprecedented, unchecked power to enact an extreme and dangerous agenda to put billionaires and major corporations ahead of small businesses, hurt our economy and raise costs by nearly $4,000 a year for Asian American and Pacific Islander families.”

Meanwhile, development in the City of Falls Church has continued apace, with Mayor Hardi and the F.C. City Council was apprised of updates at its work session this Monday.

Metro’s most popular bus, the 28A, that comes through Falls Church will see its name changed to F20, and will make a regular stop at the entrance to the new West Falls development, it was reported to the F.C. City Council at its work session Monday night. It will eventually go through the project to the West Falls Church Metro station.

Significant improvements on the new development’s main thoroughfare road will probably not be possible before the first quarter of next year due to the burdens of construction at the massive 10-acre project, however.

Mary Beth Avedesian, Hoffman senior vice president of development overseeing the West End project, said that new leases have been added to the mix already there for a Chase Bank branch and a new Thai restaurant, and the project is moving ahead to become “a vibrant and active retail environment.”

Mayor Hardi confirmed that there will be a “police landing pad,” a functional work and parking space, on the site.

The Council demonstrated a consensus to permit a one-month extension for the “outside closing date” for the 15-story senior living project, to be known as The Reserve at Falls Church, at the site by a month from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30.

The updated roster of new establishments going into the West Falls project include the Fresh Market, Home 2 Suites by Hilton, Seoul Spice, Perspire Sauna Studio, Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls, Levine Music, Hono Ramen Bar, Burger Fi, Tierra Encantada, Casabella Salon, Ice Cream Jubilee, the Oaks condominiums, the Alder apartments, the Reserve and the Wellness Center at West Falls medical offices.

At the Vietnamese-American roundtable at Nu yesterday morning, Del. Tran said, “What’s at stake in this election is so clear. There are two very different versions of America that are being put forward, and I think the one that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and Democrats up and down the ballot are really standing for is an America that is welcoming, is inclusive, is just and fair, and that recognizes, when one community succeeds, we all succeed.”

She added, “It’s an America that is hopeful, that is joyful, and that has a place for each of us around the table and our allies too.”

Del. Shin added, “I wanted to raise just a point about what [Trump’s] vision for the future looks like. And I think that for me, that blueprint was laid out pretty clearly in Project 2025, which is Trump’s plan for a second term about how to break apart the systems that we’ve built and the institutions that we trust. We have a blueprint for where [Trump] wants to take us. And on the flip side, we have a vision from Harris and Walz who have put forward ideas for more investments and policies to make sure our communities are protected.”