Candidate for Council Mary Beth Connolly is sponsoring an ad on FB.  She begins “ I’ve got a confession. I’m guilty of perpetuating the myth that the school bond referendum vote is complicated.”  We don’t know about that but what we do know is that her ad is misleading at best. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow with the vote.  However Marybeth knows the future. She is stating that she knows that even if 6 YES candidates fill 6 of 7 seats on the board, and if that bond is defeated “A NO vote means we spend upwards of $70M to renovate, add onRead More →

By
On
With 10 Comments

If the school bond referendum passes, the City’s credit rating will be crucial to the cost and even ability to issue $120 million in bonds for a new GMHS and to finance other approved CIP items. Because of the historically large debt contemplated, credit rating agencies will focus intensely on the City’s ability to meet future debt service obligations and its flexibility to manage future revenue or expenditure shocks. The strength of the City’s financial position and outlook is even more critical in light of a recent finding that Virginia is in a relatively weak position to withstand financial shocks from a national recession, whichRead More →

By
On
With 4 Comments

Read Dr. Robert Schiller’s Response Carefully: Based on a separate email conversation with Interim Superintendent Robert Schiller, his quote below makes obvious that the option was not feasible only because it does not yield 10 acres of economic development.  He made the case that a school could be built for $65 Million however it would only yield 6 acres for economic development. It was for this reason that his option was rejected. Think about that – a school for half the price that also leaves room for us to keep the land for future development or community use.  Dr. Schiller’s option provides for a newRead More →

By
On
With 12 Comments

Some of us thought the City planned to sign a deal with a developer before issuing any bonds for the construction of the new high school. We were wrong. This recent blog post from a councilperson alerted us: “Note a key dependency: the majority of the school construction bonds would not be issued until there is a master developer agreement for the 10 acres of economic development (ie, school construction wouldn’t proceed) to minimize the risk that we would be footing the entire bill ourselves.” What was that? Majority? The City is going to issue $120 million in 30 year bonds in three phases forRead More →

By
On
With 13 Comments

On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, at the most recent school board candidate forum, candidate Alison Kutchma mentioned 1000 apartments. In her remarks outlining her reasons for not supporting the $120 million bond referendum, she stated, among other reasons, that many in the community were not in favor of adding 1000 apartments to the Falls Church community on this site. One attendee was surprised to hear about this proposal which only serves to underscore the need to give the community more time to discuss not only the options for the use of this land, but all aspects of what this referendum means for our community.  ManyRead More →

By
On
With 14 Comments

This is what you get with consultants, visioning and free spending… The proposed $ 120 Million New George Mason High Ready in 4 years 1,500 Students Certified Silver LEED This is what you get with good leadership and a reasonable budget … Huguenot High School, Richmond, VA $ 64 Million Completed 2015 1,400 (flex to 1,700) students Auditorium for 1,000 Certified Gold LEED TV studio & Media Center Dining commons for 500 Three court gym for 2,500 New Stadium for 3,500 Field HouseRead More →

By
On
With 7 Comments