Deliberation Falls Church City

Sat 6/7 GMHS Yard Sale for Myanmar Relief

A group of George Mason High School students is ambitiously organizing a fundraiser that will benefit victims of the May 3rd cyclone in Myanmar. Their goal is to raise $10,000 that will go to Save The Children.

They will be holding a Community Yard Sale on Saturday, June 7th in the GMHS Haycock Road parking lot from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

They are looking for support from the community in several ways:

• Donate items to be sold at the sale. Businesses can donate goods or services. Clean out your closets and garages! They are accepting donations through June 6th in the GMHS lobby.

• Encourage employees, clients and friends to attend the Yard Sale and find unique treasures.

The following is a message from the students, detailing their efforts. Thank you for anything you can do to help support this effort.

Please join the George Mason High School community in raising funds to support the citizens of Myanmar.  As I am sure that you have heard from the news, on May 3, 2008 tropical cyclone Nargis devastated the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar (formerly Burma).  The cyclone left an estimated 100,000 people dead and tens of thousands homeless, injured and dying.  The Irrawadday Delta was heavily damaged by the cyclone and subsequent flooding from ocean salt water.  This region accounts for most of Myanmar's rice production and its devastation has created an even more severe food shortage than the country had initially been experiencing.

The George Mason High School community has always responded quickly to aiding in the relief effort for natural disasters in the world.  Throughout the last four years, we have raised more than $60,000 in relief funds for both the victims of the 2005 tsunami in South Asia and the victims of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  We feel the crisis in Myanmar deserves no less of our efforts and attention.  Our goal is to raise a total of $10,000 to help the victims of cyclone Nargis. 

All proceeds will go to the international non-profit aid organization Save The Children.  Myanmar is ruled by a strict xenophobic military junta that has responded slowly to the crisis and has not permitted any significant level of foreign aid to enter the country.  However, Save The Children is fortunate enough to be one of the few aid organizations currently permitted to work in Myanmar.  In order to raise money for Save The Children, the students of George Mason are organizing a yard sale that will take place on June 7, 2008. 

We are accepting all donations, including money, food for the event, and any sellable items.  If you wish to make a contribution towards the relief effort at our school, please contact project sponsor Suzanne Planas at (703) 248-3039 or email her at planass@fccps.org. 

Thank you for considering this request,

Sincerely,
Will Douthitt, Class of 2008
George Mason Myanmar Relief Effort

FCLWV/VPIS City Council Candidates' Forum 4/16

The League of Women Voters of Falls Church and the Village Preservation and Improvement Society will co-sponsor a City Council Candidates' Forum to be held on Wednesday, April 16th in the City Council Chambers.  The event begins at 7:30 p.m., and all citizens are encouraged to attend.

The seven candidates vying for three positions on the City Council are expected to participate in the April 16th forum.  Questions will come from the audience and from the sponsoring organizations.

The Candidates' Forum will be carried live on local cable station FCC-TV  -- Cox Ch. 12, RCN Ch. 2, and Verizon Ch. 35.  The station plans to rebroadcast the forum during the weeks prior to the election.

Information about all candidates on the ballot in both the City Council and School Board elections will be in the LWV Voter's Guide scheduled for publication in the May 1, 2008 issue of the  Falls Church News Press.

The DFCCVA News Blog will report on the City Council Candidates' Forum.

Video highlights & survey results for fall deliberations

Ninety-seven people who live or work in Falls Church City deliberated on October 25 and 27 about the future of the City Center. They met in small groups; they engaged a panel of city leaders; and, they proposed actions that individuals, community groups and government should take with respect to information sharing, community and citizen engagement, and city policies.  In a post-event survey, two-thirds of 73 respondents called for better information via the City website on City Center developments. 

There is interest in a possible spring deliberation on the topic, What Does It Mean For Falls Church to Be An Independent City?

Video clips

Click on the hyperlinks below to view YouTube clips that highlight themes struck at the deliberations.  The YouTube clip will open and play in your web browser.

Questions, suggestions & conversation - Various deliberators (8 minutes, 29 seconds)

How we got here - Peter Holran (3:31)

What it should be and how to finance it - Steve Rogers (4:56) and Gary LaPorta (3:38)

VPIS' perspective - Keith Thurston (4:19)

Architects' perspectives - Paul Barkley (4:09) and Paul Emmons (5:18)

Ways forward - Pete Behr (4:33) and Wyatt Shields (6:25)

Survey ranks deliberators' action ideas

Deliberators suggested 32 actions that individuals, community organizations or government should take regarding the future of the City Center.  In a subsequent online survey, 73 respondents rated those suggestions.  Two of the highest rated suggestions were:

·    Keep City website on City Center up to date (84% rated this Most Important)
·    Create a website that consolidates all City Center information to give citizens current information in one place (78% rated this Most Important)

A suggestion for an "e-development newsletter" got significantly less support (48% ranked this Most Important).  The survey results resonate in the YouTube clip remarks by one deliberator that citizens should not need to attend public meetings in order to be up to speed on City Center developments.

As found by a survey after deliberations last spring, large majorities of respondents want more community organizations and individuals to engage in City affairs through voting, civic action, and other means. 

The highest-rated policy suggestion on the City Center was that sidewalks be wider than 14 feet, which 60% of respondents rated Most Important.

The complete results of the survey can be accessed in PDF form by clicking here.  The discussion guide, What is the Future for the City Center? can be accessed in PDF form by clicking here.

What deliberation can do and has done in Falls Church City

Deliberation Falls Church City offers a chance to be heard, and a reason to listen.  Over 250 people have deliberated, responded to surveys, or otherwise gotten more involved in community life through deliberation this year.

Deliberation is a tool for use in community education and, if widely desired, community problem-solving.  Deliberators sometimes change their minds based on what they hear; for a few, deliberating is a catalyst to action.  More often, deliberators gain a better understanding of differing' points of view; they come to value deliberation as a safe public space in which to speak and learn about crucial public issues.

The two sets of deliberations undertaken in 2007 in Falls Church City were educational, not problem-solving.  This was intended.  Educational deliberations aim to raise civic engagement, a goal which deliberators have endorsed.  Problem-solving deliberations are used in communities where the political process is deadlocked or a failure; deliberators have not suggested that is the case in Falls Church City.

Deliberation Falls Church City is an experimental effort to determine whether and how deliberation can play a useful role in a functioning body politic.

Some of the most appreciative deliberators have been new residents of the City.  We hope to keep extending the reach of the deliberations and diversify participation more.  Our primary means to do so is via sponsoring community organizations, and via the DFCCVA website and our email list. 

You can help. 

• Send a friend a link to this post with the suggestion they join our e-mail list by visiting www.DFCCVA.org  and entering their email address into the "Get email updates" box.

• Ask us to speak about deliberation to your neighborhood association or community organization.  Just write us at Steering@DFCCVA.org.

Spring deliberations

After the fall deliberations a group of volunteers met and discussed a possible topic for a spring deliberation: What does it mean for Falls Church to be an independent city? This topic could be an issue for deliberation prior to the upcoming City Council elections.

Thank you for taking an interest in deliberation in Falls Church City.

What Are We Becoming?

The City of Falls Church formally established itself in 1948.  It was the product of a war-time boom that by 1950 had tripled its population to 7,500.  During the 1950s and 1960s, the newly incorporated city built Virginia’s best school system, and its population increased 44% more, to 10,800.  In 2005, Falls Church had 10.600 residents.  The City officially projects an increase to 12,300 by 2010, and to 14,900 by 2025.  The City’s projections may prove conservative or they may fall short.  What is certain is the official sense that change is ahead.

What are we becoming?  People here approach that question with three more:

How can Falls Church be a more welcoming city?

Shouldn't we prioritize?

Nothing is broken, so why fix it?

 

The Need for Maintaining & Developing Affordable Housing within the City of Falls Church

From Karl Ensign:

Given immediate market forces, affordable housing is rapidly disappearing within the City of Falls Church.  As a result, our community is rapidly and substantially changing.

Should the City of Falls Church Adopt Actions to Address Global Warming?

From Jeff Peterson

The scientific community has reached consensus that the global climate is warming and that this climate change will have significant consequences for the natural environment and for people throughout the world.  A principal cause of global warming is the increased release of greenhouse gases from combustion of fossil fuels.  Global temperatures will increase in coming years simply because of past releases of greenhouse gases.  Many scientists believe, however, that within a dozen years, a "tipping point" may be reached where much more dramatic, perhaps even catastrophic, climate change will become irreversible.

Is it the tax base (stupid)?

From Bill Corbett:

What kind of community do you want to live in, why, and what does the community in the City of Falls Church need to do about it?  Is the tax base going to change in ways that will make those decisions for the community, unless the community acts first?