Updates from Letty – January 20, 2016

After last week’s light agenda, our City Council work session this week was packed with several meaty topics – traffic calming, streetscape standards, Fairfax Water storage tank, and financial policies. Also, you may be hearing of plans to redevelop Merrill House, which was a high level topic in this week’s EDC meeting (Economic Development […]

Updates from Letty – January 13, 2017

We had a light City Council meeting agenda this week, but it ended up being a busy week full of other meetings with interesting topics that I’ll highlight below, including the latest from the GMHS working group. If you’re in town for the upcoming long weekend, I hope you’ll consider […]

Updates from Letty – January 6, 2017

Happy new year! I hope your 2017 is off to a good start. City Council business resumed officially this week, with most of our meeting focused on a joint work session with the School Board on GMHS. Read on for my take on where we are, the options on the […]

FAQs about the tax rate and economic development

Over the past year, I’ve fielded variations of questions around “why is my tax rate so high?” and “how does all of this development help my taxes?” So as a precursor to the upcoming budget season, I thought it would be useful to put my take on these questions into its own […]

Updates from Letty – December 16, 2016

We wrapped up the last City Council meeting of 2016 this week, so my update emails will also be on break until 2017. In between holiday parties – this is a good time to catch up if you haven’t gotten to some of the recent meaty topics yet. What can we […]

Updates from Letty – December 9, 2016

As expected, it was a packed week full of City meetings and important topics – we had a lengthy joint work session with the School Board covering a spectrum of money matters, several economic development-related meetings and updates, and another GMHS campus working group meeting. Whether you are a perennial […]

Updates from Letty – December 2, 2016

As we wrap up the calendar year, the last few weeks will be packed with city business. This week’s City Council meeting was full of interesting, important topics. Read on for my recap of a briefing VDOT gave us on the I-66 lane widening/tolling project that is happening right at our […]

Updates from Letty – November 23, 2016

With the holiday week, my update is early. We had a productive work session on Monday night, covering a number of important topics (GMHS-MEH campus planning, City Hall renovation, Visioning) so I wanted to be sure to provide you the highlights. I hope the beginning of this holiday season brings you peace and joy. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Best, Letty What Happened This Week: City Council Work Session: (1) Joint […]

Updates from Letty – November 18, 2016

Thank you for all of the positive comments in response to my note last week and the updated version that ran as a letter to the editor in the FCNP yesterday. It was uplifting to hear from so many that you’re also looking for concrete steps to productively respond to the past 10 days. I am ready to pick myself up and practice what I preach. Tomorrow, the boys and I will be delivering early […]

Want to get involved or give back?

(1) Join a Board or Commission. I’ve made the plug before, but this really is a great way to dip your toes in local government and share your passion or expertise in a low time commitment, yet impactful way. Even if there is no current vacancy in the B&C you’re interested in, all meetings are […]

Updates from Letty – Thoughts on the Week

I was planning to take the week off from blog posts with no City Council meeting. But as I have been processing the results of the most consequential national election of my lifetime, I wanted to use my weekly outreach to share what’s on my mind, how I’m choosing to […]

Updates from Letty – November 4, 2016

This week’s update will be shorter than the past few editions – part news and part PSA as we all gear up for Election Day next week. The update section will be of interest to those following the GMHS/MEH campus project. We have no regular City Council meetings scheduled next week, […]