Clear Divide Among Council Candidates on Referendum Question

3 of the 6 Candidates for City Council do NOT support the proposed Charter Change Referendum which will be on the ballot May 6th for City voters. The CBC Candidates: Robin Gardner, Lindy Hockenberry and Lawrence Webb are clearly against the Charter Change Referendum.

Nader Baroukh, Margaret Housen and Ed Hillegass have all declared they support the Charter Change Referendum.

Gardner, Hockenberry and Webb give reasons why they don't support the Charter Change:

• "The proposed Referendum would restrict the ability of City Council to seek and approve commercial developments (which ultimately places more of a tax burden on residential homeowners)."
• "It's bad government to start changing your City's Charter of Government; it should only be done for very compelling reasons and when there are no other governmental tools available, and that is not the case here."
• "The proposed Referendum would create a hostile climate towards developers seeking to build any commercial development in our City - and would actually drive projects away. Again, without the much needed commercial tax base, the tax burden of supporting our schools and city services would fall squarely on the backs of the residential homeowners."

Nader Baroukh finally gave a clear YES answer in support of the controversial Referendum when put on the spot by Mayor Gardner at the Chamber of Commerce's Candidate Debate Tuesday night at the Falls Church Community Center. Baroukh had formerly been vague on the Yes or No question of "Do you support the Referendum?", at both the Chamber debate and the League of Women Voter's Debate last week, by sidestepping actually saying Yes, he supports the referendumb.

Margaret Housen had already declared her support for the Referendum at the LWV Debate. Ed Hillegass, the perennial No-Show Candidate (he did not show up at either the Chamber or LWV Debates), declared his support for the Referendum in flyers which he handed out around town.

Patrice Lepcyzk stated she did NOT support the Referendum, for many of the reasons cited above (bad government, too restricting, would increase taxes, etc), at the LWV Candidate Debate as well.

They just don't get it..

Nader Baroukh, supporter of the Charter Change Referendum and fierce opponent of the City Center, decided to run for Council only after the current Council's unanimous vote to approve the City Center project... and it is clearly his mission to oppose any meaningful mixed-use commercial development.

What Nader Baroukh doesn't get is that the City's current and pending mixed-use projects are actually relieving the tax burden on the homeowners. While our neighboring jurisdictions' tax rates are sky-rocketing, Falls Church is projecting a modest 3 cent increase which, when combined with this year's lower assessments, will actually lower the average Falls Church homeowner's tax bill!

Nader Baroukh has also criticized our City schools, stating "it will be very difficult" for the City to "fund new facilities and staff". Nader Baroukh also said "the City Council needs to have more oversight over the School Board". Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know where he's going with that train of thought. What Nader Baroukh doesn’t get is that our schools are the City’s crown jewel…and the reason we exist.

Supporting our schools has been Job 1 for CBC candidates for almost 50 years, since the inception of the CBC! And, sorry Nader, but nobody does it better!

Nader Baroukh also wrongly states that mixed-use development is a "direct threat to our city schools", which is just plain not true. If he checked the facts on the numbers of new students from already built mixed-use developments in the City, he would know that the Broadway was initially projected to generate 15 new students, and it had 1. And the Byron was projected to have 13.5 new students and it has 6. The anti-development crowd's argument that mixed-use buildings are going to "flood our schools" with new students has been proven wrong over and over. Check your facts, Mr. Baroukh and Mr. Hillegass....

Ed Hillegass handed out a flyer this past weekend which criticizes the schools, the CBC, the Council, the City Attorney, the City Center Plan, and mixed-use development. He also clearly aligns himself with Sam Mabry's controversial charter change referendum and asks people to visit Mabry's website, and to vote FOR the referendum, which would stop the City Council's ability to approve any mixed-use commercial development in the City. However, he gives no indications of how he would fix any of the so-called problems he lists.

Ed Hillegass ad in the News-Press this past week goes even further in his criticisms – he criticizes the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce - calling them a “special interest” group – well, um, yeah, if you consider our Falls Church businesses “special interests". Again, he utterly fails to say how he would fix any of the problems he perceives.

As for the other candidates, Margaret Housen and Patrice Lepcyzk, no one has been able to find them since they filed to run. They haven't been seen at any City events (such as the Affordable Housing seminar, FirstFriday events, etc) or Council meetings, Budget meetings, work sessions, etc - and as far as anyone knows, neither has a website and there's no way to figure out what they stand for. Maybe they will make an appearance at the League of Women Voter's Debate and we can find out more about them then.

In the meantime, check the facts about ALL the candidates. Ask them face-to-face how they would fix the problems they say our City has.

Awarness Ads In Falls Church News Press

Today is the official start of the campaign for candidates, Gardner, Hockenberry, and Webb for City council, and Maller, Hyland and Wodiska for School board. The innovative media buy illustrates the fact that we are a united group of individuals. All looking forward to a strong community, and strong schools, while being independent. This group is a can do group. Having moved the city forward after years of bickering and red tape. Robin Gardner said it best on the official campaign web site. http://www.blogger.com/http//www.votefallschurch.org%22We are a community that is moving forward. We recognize that to retain our independence – something our community fought hard for more than fifty years ago – we need to maintain strong schools, an active business community, and a strong, reliable stream of revenue. These key elements in our community allow us to enjoy the things that define who we are: the Farmers Market, the Memorial Day parade, and the Concerts in the Park, to name a few We need to incorporate the feelings of all generations in our community to sustain our “village” – the place we call home."

We can not emphasize enough. The future strength of the city is at stake in this election. Voter turnout is paramount. The results from this election will be felt by everyone in the city. If you would like to help, please go to the web site and find out more.