Blog posts are the personal views of Letty Hardi and not official statements or records on behalf of the Falls Church City Council

Dear Friends,

I returned from the annual Virginia Municipal League (VML) conference in Norfolk – besides a special opportunity to chat with the Governor as a member of the VML Board, it’s always good to meet with other local electeds to connect and share learnings across the Commonwealth. I learned how tough the restaurant industry is right now (42% of restaurants report being unprofitable due to increasing fixed costs like food and labor while decreasing alcohol and food sales). And I learned about stop sign automated enforcement technology we’re eager to explore with new authority from Richmond.

We had one of our shortest City Council meetings in recent history, wrapping up after 90 minutes. So I’m using this week’s post to share topics that I know are of community-interest. Read on for Flock cameras in the city (TL;DR – we don’t have any) and what I personally think and official 2026 school enrollment counts and the big picture of why that matters.

I received a lot of input on bus rapid transit options last week (thank you) so if you missed that post, do check it out. We also are seeing high early voting turnout so far – as of Tuesday, we have 15% turnout so far, which is the highest of any election since 2020. You can continue to vote early in person on weekdays, with weekend hours starting next week. And we’ll see you at our fall Little City Sips tonight!

Take care,
Letty

PS – my October office hours are next Tuesday, Oct 20 at 630 pm, but I’m moving the location to Helena’s to accommodate later hours. Hope you can drop by.

What Happened This Week:

(1) Flock Cameras

There has been a lot of national attention on Flock cameras recently – most notably privacy concerns and misuse of the data.

To start, it’s helpful to understand that Flock is one company that makes fixed ALPRs (automated license plate readers). ALPRs are usually mounted in public spaces like utility poles, traffic signals, etc. In Falls Church – the city has not deployed stationary ALPRs and we have not contracted with Flock. Private communities like HOAs, shopping centers, etc may use fixed ALPRs for security and safety purposes, but the city does not. We’re one of the few localities in Virginia that has not used stationary ALPRs and have no plans to do so.

That said, the city does use mobile ALPR technology for specific law enforcement and tax collection purposes – the police has mobile ALPR technology inside police cruisers as part of the in-car dash cam system and the Treasurer and Commissioner of Revenue also have a car-mounted ALPR system for tax collection purposes. Both have been important tools for crime fighting and tax collection and are subject to strict retention, privacy, and data sharing laws set by Virginia. The police department has a helpful FAQ that goes into a lot more detail and answers the top questions and concerns I’ve heard in the community.

Letty’s Thoughts:

Like most policy decisions in front of us, I think there’s a lot of nuance and it’s never a simple black and white call. While I support and understand the concerns in neighboring localities to stop their contracts with Flock given the reports of abuse and invasion of privacy – I want to make sure we don’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and decide we don’t want cameras at all. Entirely separate technology from fixed ALPRs is automated photo enforcement cameras that record images for possible traffic violations. We do use those for speeding, red light running, and school bus arm violations. That data can only be used for enforcing traffic violations and is destroyed within 21 days after the citation is resolved.

Given the concerns about traffic safety in Falls Church – it’s not possible to re-design every street in Falls Church to slow cars down and it’s also not practical to have police enforcement everywhere, all the time. Plus the automated traffic enforcement reduces human bias. I remain supportive of having cameras for automated traffic enforcement provided there are strong protections for privacy.

(2) 2026 School Enrollment Data

As neighboring school districts have all reported declining enrollment (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William) due to birth rate trends, immigration policies, federal workforce changes, and the high cost of living in the DMV – so much so that some districts are canceling future school expansions and reassigning staff – Falls Church’s enrollment has held steady.

The official FCCPS September 30 enrollment numbers came out a few weeks ago – with enrollment at 2723 students across the entire district. Last year’s enrollment was 2712 so the change is more or less flat. Because of the new housing growth we’ve added the past several years, enrollment last year was supposed to be closer to 2900 students (2873 specifically) that hasn’t materialized. Later this fall/early winter, the “where students live” analysis will come out – which will help drill down into housing-specific trends, but here’s my post from last year.

Letty’s Thoughts:

School enrollment matters for many reasons – year to year, operating budgets are largely driven by enrollment for teacher staffing and class sizes and for capital planning so we know where we may run out of room (not any time soon – we have room!) and where we need to renovate or expand schools. And this dispels the boogeyman myth (one of the top FAQs I just fielded again this week!) that development is crowding our schools. We’ve added 30% more population since 2010 via mixed use buildings mostly, which has lower school-aged children than single family homes. With the new buildings that have come online the past 2 years and now nearly fully occupied, we did not see the +150 students expected. And had it not been for the new housing, I suspect our school enrollment would have declined like everyone else’s in the region.

More broadly – population growth is important, as long as it’s planned. We actually don’t want population decline as it strains economic systems, social safety nets, and has really broad-reaching implications. In the near term, the tax burden per household grows because the same amount of taxes are needed to sustain a community but there are less people around to pay the bill. There are less customers for businesses and less spending power all around, plus we’re left with infrastructure built for a larger population. In the medium to long term – if birth rates continue to drop and we see young families leave the region – the proportion of older adults grows while the younger population (children and eventual workforce) is smaller and left to support everyone else. That really turns upside down the US social safety net programs like pensions and Social Security. Plus, fewer people entering the workforce also means labor shortages and slowdown in economic competitiveness and innovation for the region as a whole. This is why housing matters!

What’s Coming Up:

Monday, October 19 – City Council Work Session*

Monday, October 26 – City Council Meeting*

*Mondays (except 5th Mondays and holidays) at 7:30 pm. You can access the agenda and livestream here, including recordings of past meetings

Letty’s Fall Office Hours:

Tuesday, October 20 – 630-8 pm (Helena’s)

Wednesday, November 18 – 630-8 pm (Lucky Thai)