News of the sale of Harvey’s restaurant by its founder Thomas Harvery is particularly troubling, and not a good sign going forward for Falls Church. It should send a signal that the City has a lot more it needs to do to help make sure all the businesses opening here now will be able to make it.
We could publish a list of the restaurants, for example, that we think are in trouble, but there is no point to it. We obviously wish success to everyone, and mean that sincerely. It is evident to us, however, that more needs to be done to be sure everyone makes it. Some businesses take a much more cavalier attitude on this, but for most of our locally owned ones, it is a different story. Like Thomas Harvey, their own sweat and tears have gone into their dream and also the limits of their financial resources.
Thomas Harvey was right in telling folks at City Hall that a lot more needs to be done. He has reached the limit of his personal commitment but we still need to hear from the wider Falls Church community that there is a dedication here to turning our situation around. We grew too fast, but to us, that is not the problem. We still do not have the level of commitment to a sincere ongoing effort at promoting the Little City to the wider world. It needs a solid financial commitment to achieve that, not just an idle passing effort.
It is not money spent, but investment in the future we’re talking about. The City needs to be prepared to invest seriously in the future of its business community, otherwise, all the effort to promote her businesses will ultimately fail.
Most local businesses are somebody’s dream. Nowhere has that been clearer than in the case of Harvey’s. We can only hope that our new City Manager, Seth Hendler-Voss, can see this and act proactively to change the culture of the Little City in response.
It is not that we lack the product. We have them all in spades. Great restaurants, great entertainment venues. But what will make it all work is a new attitude at City Hall, one which puts the results of our economic bottom lines at the top of our attention spans. Not hit or miss approaches that become indifferent to outcomes.
We all need to look at the tragedy of Harvey’s as a sign. Its owner took the trouble to find a buyer who is not going to evaluate for a few months and make another tough decision. But the effort to succeed needs to follow the urge to succeed. It’s a community commitment to an outcome we’ve never really had before in Falls Church, but one the entire community needs to be committed to.
