Biography
A graduate of Georgia Tech, I spent several years in the US Army. After my service and an MBA from Cornell, I landed in the D.C. area. Here I pioneered services at companies like MCI, Iridium, Nextel, and launched Amtrak’s first passenger app.
Website
https://agin4fallschurch.com
Email address
arthur@agin4fallschurch.com
I'm running for city council because I want to help build a better Falls Church.
After serving in the US Army and earning an MBA at Cornell, I landed in the D.C. area. It’s here that I pioneered services at companies like MCI, Iridium, and Nextel and launched Amtrak’s first passenger app.
Seven years ago, my family moved to Falls Church for its exceptional community and schools. I sought a way to be involved and for the last five years, I've served on the city's Advisory Committee on Transportation, most recently as chair. This gives me a deep understanding of our city’s streets, neighborhoods, and development.
I’m excited to bring my experience to the city, help us navigate our growth, and embrace the things we love about Falls Church.
My focus will be on improving our streets and sidewalks, ensuring growth fits the character of our city, and making good government even better. If at the end of my four years all these areas have significantly improved, I would consider my term in office a success. I would like: 1) Sidewalks that are easy to navigate, unobstructed, and lead to the right places. 2) A ‘Complete Streets’ program so any repaving or street updates are faster, consistent, and embrace mobility for everyone. 3) New development reviewed and approved so that concerns about community fit, style, city-wide transportation, and infrastructure are addressed. Beyond these issues, I intend to support our schools, improve parking, and strengthen our boards and commissions.
As the current chair of a city board which reviews development projects, I know that early and clear feedback can make an important difference.
To help balance growth in the city I believe we should strengthen the review process. Board and commission reviews provide valuable feedback to staff and developers, but they are only as strong as the support provided from the city council Reviews of architectural style are especially important since we must ensure new buildings fit the history and character of Falls Church.
We should push for reuse of existing buildings, earlier board reviews of new projects and ensuring review feedback is addressed. This will lead to future development fitting the entire city.
We need to help those personally affected by the changes and uncertainty. In addition to possible deferrals or waivers for city costs we can encourage a robust network of residents to help each other.
Financially there may be tough choices ahead, but Falls Church is positioned to weather the challenges. Our recent growth and quality city services provide us with flexibility, especially as projects start to deliver benefits. Let's take advantage of the recent lull in new development to ensure recently opened businesses succeed.
At the same time, I would explore more variety for city revenue. Too much of our city income is tied to property values and that creates a disconnect with inflationary cost pressures and economic diversity.
Biography
Marybeth Connelly is seeking her fourth term on City Council. She has lived in Falls Church for 30 years, along with her husband Michael. She has three grown children who are Falls Church "lifers".
Website
marybethconnelly.com
Email address
mbforcitycouncil@gmail.com
Telephone
7032002426
This is my fourth campaign for Council, and I am always learning. I have lived in Falls Church for 30 years, and I am also a 20-year employee of Falls Church City Public Schools. My service as a Council member and school employee reflects a lifelong commitment to taking care of people.
Leadership requires the ability to make hard decisions. Council members have to be listeners first, then speak and act. Through many challenging topics, I’ve learned that collaboration is both essential and difficult. Council members don’t always agree - and shouldn’t always agree - but it is important to assume that your colleagues are in it for the good of the community, whether you are in agreement or not. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together.
Welcoming Community: We’ve opened doors to more people, grocery stores and restaurants, and need to focus on the success of new residents and businesses. We also need to take care of long-term residents and struggling residents.
Safe Transportation: We have better streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes - but we still have work to do to ensure that pedestrians, bike riders, scooters, cars and trucks can share roads and sidewalks safely.
Fiscal Stewardship: I am committed to funding both schools and government services to serve the City’s needs. Revenue sharing between schools and general government has served us well, and should continue to evolve.
Regional Collaboration: Falls Church needs to maintain partnership with neighbors.
In the past 24 years, the game changer has been growth in population, businesses, and residences.
Old infrastructure needs maintenance, and the City is in a position to handle this because of the increase in our tax base. Some growth has contributed to the demands on the systems, but we prepared, and most has been a net positive for the City. Without new developments, businesses that have chosen to locate in Falls Church would not have come here. They would have opened outside the City, and we would have missed out on the vitality, but would be dealing with traffic and aging infrastructure with no way to pay for it.
Trees, crosswalks, sidewalks, schools, library, art, churches, neighborhoods, parks, provide small-town character.
In FY2026 budget, City Council included contingency funds to address concerns about the impact of Federal uncertainty. This includes funds to cover revenue shortfalls and to help families in need.
It is important that the General Government and Schools partner on this challenge because both are working with many of the same families. Strong collaboration in the past by dedicated staff should continue in order to serve residents.
We need business diversity. In the early 2000s Falls Church pursued more office space. When the office market collapsed in 2020, Falls Church benefitted from having less office space. With a mix of office, grocery, retail, and restaurants there are options for everyone, encouraging visitors to Falls Church.
Biography
Current FC City Council Member (Elected Nov 2024); Served on FCC School Board 2020-2023 (Chair in 2022 & 2023); Board Member, Falls Church Education Foundation; Current Mary Ellen Henderson MS PTA President; FCC Elementary PTA President (2017-2018)
Website
www.votelauradowns.com
Email address
lauratdowns4@gmail.com
Telephone
(703) 517-0257
I am a current member of the FC City Council. I sit on the CC Government Operations Cmte, where we focus on staffing city offices, process improvements, and working with the City Manager on aligning staff priorities with CC priorities. I was elected to the FCC School Board in 2019 and served as Vice Chair for one year and Chair for two years. I understand the demands of public service and how to effectively lead a publicly elected body. I also know the importance of community feedback in decision-making. I sat on the CC Budget and Finance Cmte as the SB representative, so I am well-versed in both the general government and the school system budgets. I am one of only six FCC residents to be elected to both City Council and the School Board.
I want to streamline the Neighborhood Traffic Calming process, enabling us to respond to neighborhoods more quickly with speed bumps and other measures. In addition, installing missing sidewalks, especially in areas with school bus stops, would be a top priority. I also want to have expanded tree canopy requirements for developers. I aim to develop more effective ways to communicate with the community about issues before the council, particularly now that the local newspaper is no longer delivered to homes. Ultimately, I aim to achieve a lower real estate tax rate, striking a balance that generates sufficient revenue to support the city's growing infrastructure needs. I would also like to create more tax relief programs during my term.
Every development is unique depending on size, scope, location, economic benefit, and impacts on infrastructure such as sewer capacity. The staff report is a solid guide to the effects a development might have on our city. Though new developments are more energy efficient and sustainable than the vacant concrete lots and older buildings they replaced, we need to hold developers accountable to a higher standard regarding the tree canopy and storm water management. We must focus on a balance of new restaurants, shops, and housing (some affordable) and the small town feel with remodels of older buildings. It is vital for us to keep smaller shops around and this can be achieved by tax abatement for owners who improve existing buildings.
The CC discussed the impact of Federal workforce and funding cuts, and inflation during our recent budget discussion. We discussed possible real estate tax deferrals for households that need tax assistance due to losing their federal jobs. The majority of our federal funding is for transportation projects that we would put on hold if federal funding were pulled. The school system is predominantly funded by the local government (the LCI makes even state funding small), so a withdrawal of federal funds could be absorbed. The recent flattening of meals tax and sales tax revenue is a concern, and therefore, we have established a contingency fund as a safety net. The recent development in the city will also help us weather an economic downturn.
Biography
I’ve lived in Falls Church, first as a renter and then a homeowner since 2010. I'm currently a member of the Falls Church Board of Equalization and the president of the Falls Plaza Condo Association.
Website
https://www.pen4fcc.org
Email address
brian@pen4fcc.org
Telephone
(202) 818-9200
As I mentioned in my bio, the most recent experience is my service as a member of the Board of Equalization and as the president of the Falls Plaza Condo Association. Other types of experience that I've acquired come from many different sources. I've worked in management at the world's largest retailer and at a startup that eventually was listed on NASDAQ. I've led teams of 4 and teams of 100. I've traveled to many different countries and lived in three of them for an extended time. I've learned, for the most part, not to jump to conclusions and to ask questions even when the answers seemed obvious. Most of all, I've learned that I don't have all the answers, and only by working with others can we solve the hardest problems.
Here's the four things that I would like to list as my top achievements:
1. Modernize the processes and technologies used by city staff in all departments.
2. Improve traffic safety by ensuring ensuring 150 feet of visibility before a turn at each stop sign and traffic signal, as well as enacting a "Don't block the box" traffic law.
3. Improving pedestrian safety from cars, bikes, and other motorized modes of transit that are used on our roads and sidewalks.
4. Enacting a plan for the Gordon Road triangle that includes both public and private solutions.
This is probably the hardest thing to write but I'm not sure that we are currently preservign our small-town character. In the area around City Hall, sure but look at West Falls and it's hard to say we are trying to preserve that character. If that's the case, I'd want to enact a preservation district that would limit the style and height of new buildings in that area. I grew up in a town with a town square that's what I always envision when trying to balance new buildings with a place that the citizens feel is "theirs." Also, we must acknowledge that economic grow isn't just new buildings, stores or restaurants. Falls Church needs to attract professional services firms away from Arlington and Tyson's Corner.
Even though I believe that we may need to spend money to modernize the city's enterprise systems, I also believe that we need to ensure every penny we spend has a purpose. That's hard because everyone that works for the city or school wants raises, every department has needs to perform their jobs, every group is facing budget shortfalls which will cause them to turn to the city is hopes of getting some kind of help. We'll have to look at every option available to ensure we meet the needs of our citizens during this uncertain time and position the city so that we are ready to enact our plans once the uncertainty is gone.
As to the second question, I don't know. I don't know what the city can do legally or what resources we have.
Biography
Attorney; Elected official to Falls Church City Council and regional boards; Volunteer first responder—Emergency Medical Technician; Husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather
Website
www.DavidFSnyderForCityCouncil.com
Email address
davidflemingsnyder@gmail.com
I grew up in Western Pennsylvania in a family that encouraged commitment to benefit the common good. This principle has guided my life. I began public service as a volunteer firefighter and EMT in my teens and continue to volunteer, both in this country and abroad. I have served Falls Church as a member of City Council since 1994, as Mayor from 1998-2000, and as Vice Mayor from 1996-1998 and 2010-2015, and represented the City on regional transportation, emergency preparedness, and air quality bodies. My professional life as an attorney working at all levels of government has honed my advocacy, negotiation, and leadership skills. As a result, I possess the abilities and experience needed to govern, especially in these uncertain times.
My overall goal is to respond effectively to the new needs and aspirations of our citizens while maintaining our City’s core values of inclusiveness, good government, and regional leadership. These needs vary in scope and complexity. For example, with more people living in multifamily buildings, we need more recreational facilities and so have improved our parks, adding new children’s play equipment. Meantime, large-scale development over 20 years has taxed our sewer/stormwater infrastructures in ways that remain unresolved. No matter what the need, the fundamentals that make Falls Church different—a strong commitment to the rule of law and a City Council that respects all views and seeks to represent the entire community—must not change.
As an attorney and advocate, I have developed negotiation skills that are essential to achieving a balance among economic growth, infrastructure capacity, environmental sustainability, and the preservation of our small-town character. Too often, our City has accepted less than we should have regarding some or all of these factors, acceding instead to developers’ demands. In my view, that must change.
Having served through 9/11, the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the unprecedented uncertainties faced by many of our citizens, I have learned key lessons about how best to sustain and support our community. With my support in this year’s budget, the City Council took a major step to assure the financial viability of Falls Church by setting aside a special contingency reserve. In addition, we may consider targeted support for families adversely affected by the actions of our federal government, just as we did for businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic. These are examples of the tools we have deployed and must use to maintain the viability of our City and our citizens when financial stresses become severe.
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