As expected, our last City Council meeting of 2021 was packed, our first 1 am+ meeting in recent memory. We took a number of 7-0 votes, but this is another instance where the thorough discussion and differing opinions in the 6 hours may not be apparent behind unanimous votes. So […]
It’s been a busy few weeks since Thanksgiving, so there’s a lot of ground to cover – the budget, your tax bill next year, big votes coming up, and tacos. I’ll jump right in. This week’s post will cover: Annual joint session with the School Board – next year’s revenue […]
We had a jam-packed work session this week. We have three meetings left in 2021 and expect similarly heavy agendas before we recess in mid December for the holidays. For the non-night owls, the good news is that you can always catch recordings of our meetings (or read these posts) and […]
After the election, City Council was back in the saddle this week. Congratulations to my new and returning colleagues and a big thanks to all of the candidates who selflessly stepped forward to run for office. This week’s TL;DR: We covered one of my favorite regular topics – our City […]
It’s the final weekend before Election Day, so I hope you’ve either already voted or have plans to vote today/tomorrow/Tuesday. Yes, today and tomorrow are the last two days of early voting at City Hall – no excuse needed. Everything you need to know about Election Day is here and […]
This week’s update will be heavy on dollars and cents. If you care about the city’s finances, how we fared during the COVID year, or the plans for the federal COVID relief money we’re receiving, I hope you’ll read on. Sometimes budget-speak makes eyes glaze over, so I’ve been committed […]
Given the attention on the election in a few weeks*, City Council’s work session topics likely won’t get much attention. But I hope you’ll read on as I think one of our topics – carbon emissions and what we should do about it – should rank as one of the […]
I learned a sobering statistic this week. In the US, more people have died from COVID in 2021 than in 2020. And an overwhelming majority from 2021 were likely preventable given the prevalence of vaccines this year. (Thankfully, this isn’t the case in Falls Church – our city’s vaccination rate […]
I hope everyone is enjoying the delightful fall weather. We blinked and somehow it’s October 2021, and we find ourselves still in the pandemic, albeit the “new normal” where we’re cautiously resuming community gatherings and fall traditions. This week, I was reminded of the value of seemingly ceremonial items like […]
Without much fanfare, we returned to City Hall for our first in person work session. Next week will be our first regular meeting – which are when we hold public hearings, take comments, and cast votes. The public is welcome to attend in person at City Hall (masking and distancing […]
Weekly posts are back! After writing this blog for 6 years, I took my first extended break this summer so in this week’s post, you can expect links that will recap info you may have missed – including the latest vaccination stats for our community, business we covered this week […]
This will be my last post before my blogging summer hiatus. I will continue to be available via email and you can also catch me at my cicada-free office hours next Monday 9 am at Mr. Brown’s Park – I was thrilled to have great turnout at last month’s and […]