If this Monday’s Falls Church City Council meeting is any indicator, then the best assessment of the current state of mind in government in the face of the dramatic shrinkage of the regional economy under Trump’s layoff havoc is best defined by a single word: denial, or better, by two words – massive denial.
Apart from remarks to the contrary by the News-Press’ editor in chief (whose microphone was off, by the way, making the recording of his statement by and large inaudible on the taped version posted online), the three-hour-11 minute meeting had no references to the crisis currently facing the regional economy.
The occasion for comments speaking to the dire state of things was surely there: among other things, the annual report of the Economic Development Authority represented surely a perfect opportunity to sound an alarm and to offer some suggestions for an appropriate response, but it could have come at any time during the lengthy meeting.
In the context of an overall lack of any proposed solutions, our News-Press editor indicated that this newspaper, one of the very few aside from the Bezos Post remaining around at all, based on its persistence over 36 years to date of accumulated respect and credibility throughout the region, offers itself as a resource for the Falls Church community to use as to spread widely the word about how Falls Church has built itself over the last three decades to be an ideal destination for anyone in the greater DMV.
We have the restaurants, the entertainment, the nightlife, the parks, the community resources second to none, and for those who chose to live here, the schools, the infrastructure and related amenities to make this one of the most desirable places to live anywhere. Our community’s aggressive posture toward commercial development has left it standing alone in the region capable of delivering a modicum of tax relief for all its residents, a value not shared by any other jurisdiction around that has not submitted to the likes of casinos or energy-sucking data centers.
So as Trump’s impact is increasingly felt here, so will that impact be translated into a nose-dive in revenues that will be felt by everyone who lives here. It is a time when truly creative and aggressive measures are called for to mitigate this potentially-devastating impact.
Our editor’s comments at the Council meeting Monday, reflecting the contents of our editorial in last week’s paper, suggested a collaboration requiring minimal response from the City, to make it possible for the word of Falls Church’s attractiveness to the wider region to be widely distributed for the benefit of all citizens and businesses alike in the Little City.
If this is not done, and the consequences of inaction result in unavoidable ways as the days unfold ahead, then the City leaders will be held accountable as a result. Our editor’s call for a dialogue with the Council stands. There is little time for delay.
