ED HENRY: The Future of Our Town

22 April 2013

I love the place where I live. It's more than just a place. Under the statutes of Virginia it's a real town within the borders of Fairfax County. We have a "Real Town" feel and everyone says that, if you live here or are just a casual visitor to any one of our numerous town celebrations. I like this place because a lot of people volunteer for causes and serve the community in a lot of different capacities. We have a good town government and exemplary bi-partisan leadership in the Mayor and elected Town Council members. It's election time again here in the spring of 2013 and I'm thinking about how much more exciting a community-oriented local election is, rather than some nebulous national election. The action really is on the local level - in the neighborhood where sewer problems, zoning matters, and police protection constitute an actual life-style. I'm fortunate to live in a place where we know a lot of our neighbors and we know our neighbors who are running for election - or re-election.

I decided to go to a Town Council Meeting on the 22nd. Believe me, these are not easy to sit through - most of the time. Somebody's got to do the drudge work of running a small town with a mere $7,000.000 budget. In today's world that's chump change. But this meeting was different. The planning people were unveiling the works that have been underway to improve and 'modernize' our main Maple Avenue corridor. Nothing will happen overnight. That's the good news. Many more meetings and open-forums about a 'Future Vienna' are scheduled into this summer. The meeting was hard to sit through, but what I heard between the lines was fascinating. How were we going to deal with all the changes that are coming with the re-configuration of Tysons Corner, Metro West, the opening of the Silver Line to Dulles Airport?

For me it's nothing new. I've been thinking about it ever since the Movers and Shakers north of us up in Tysons Corner came up with the bright idea that (somehow??) this concrete jungle of a shopping mall needed a face-lift. A lot of my neighbors were feeling the same thing and we talked a lot about it. It's a feeling you get deep in your gut. Maybe I better pack up and go now, before it's too late. A lot of my more active neighbors started attending meetings up there, and within the Fairfax County bureaucracy so they could keep an eye on "The Powers to Be." As one more innovation and proposal was heaped on pile after pile of proposals and innovations it became abundantly clear that something resembling downtown Dallas, Texas was going to be erected on our northern town border. They even came up with a lame slogan: "Imagine people - and not cars and Traffic." Sure. Re-direct all the traffic through Vienna, McLean, or traffic-choked Falls Church. Let them deal with it.

I don't want to pack up and leave. I have a stake in my neighborhood. My final wall of protection from "progress" is my town government and the people elected to run it. They've done a good job up to now but can't continue to do their jobs properly unless they get constant feed-back from our neighborhoods. At last night's Candidate Forum at our local community center this point was emphasized throughout the evening. Councilwoman Laurie DiRocco made it her main point for re-election: "We're lucky to have an army of people here working on commissions and committees. We have a very-involved community of volunteers." I thought it interesting that she mentioned "Vienna's Borders" three times during the Q and A. Maybe that's what we need. A uniformed Border Patrol at each end of Rt. 123/Maple Avenue to keep out the real estate tycoons, manipulators, and shopping mall speculators. If you live within the Town limits of Vienna (not just have a Vienna zipcode,) be sure and vote on May 7th at the Vienna Community Center. Every vote counts for an unencroached life-style here in our fair Town.