Mayor Hardi Holds Lively Community Outreach Session at 455 Tinner Hill Apartments

The goal is to meet the people where they live. 

City of Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi – the City’s top official since January – visited the 455 at Tinner Hill apartment complex above the Tinner Hill Civil Rights Monument the evening of July 24, for a relaxed, casual community Q&A, designed to inform residents about local government and hear their voices on issues of concern. 

Across the street from the Tinner Hill Historic District, the management of the 6-story luxury apartments at 455 S. Maple St. catered tasty appetizers and Tequila tastings – it was National Tequila Day after all – in one of the high-end social lounges, drawing in residents to meet the mayor. 

After mingling, Mayor Hardi invited the approximately 20 attendees to take a seat and relax before she gave a conversational primer on how local government functions. In the course of the 40-minute discussion, the mayor provided detailed, knowledgeable responses to the many questions posed. 

She also clearly inspired her audience toward civic engagement.

“I’m a big fan of going to the people,” Mayor Hardi told The Falls Church Independent before the event. “So, I do office hours out in the community. I feel like it’s my job to really listen and to know what the concerns – the pluses and minuses – are of living [in the City] as a resident. I feel that visiting our multi-family residences is part of that.”

“Do you have a main message you want to get across this evening, or are you mostly going to be listening to what people ask?,” we asked. “Definitely listening,” she replied. “Often when I meet people, I want to listen to them first before I share my views. But I mainly want them to be aware of how impactful the whole government is. And how easy it is – especially in a small place like Falls Church – to actually get involved. For example, the City Council meets every Monday night and we always welcome public comment, whether it’s in person or by email. And, I want them to understand that local government touches so much of their lives and for them to want to get involved in some way, big or small.”

“I was really excited to meet our new mayor,” building resident Taesha Gross told us before the mayor spoke, as residents introduced themselves to one another and the mayor. “I was just letting her know I read an article about her a few months ago when she was first selected. I just thought her background was so amazing. And when I saw she was coming, I really wanted to meet her and hear the initiatives she has for the City of Falls Church… I’m super-excited to meet her and see what she has to say…. The outreach and communication are just so important. So, I really respect the fact that she’s here for us,” Gross said. 

Mayor Hardi acknowledged Justine Underhill in the audience, a City Council member, having served on the Housing Committee, who shares many of the mayor’s views on housing and infrastructure issues.

On the Impacts of Local Government

“What does your local government do?,” the mayor began, as she explained the nuts and bolts of how the 7-member City Council operates. “I would argue that local government is probably the most impactful part of government that touches your daily life. I know right now we’re probably all paying attention to the president and what’s going to happen in November. But, everything from library books, your trash, development, traffic, housing, the environment –  all that is local government. And so, if you take nothing else away from this, I hope you take away what’s happening at the local level – and you get involved.” 

The Mayor's Background in the City Falls Church

Hardi then offered a bit about herself. “I’m coming up on 21 years [in the City]. We moved back to the City of Falls Church in 2003. My husband and I were married young professionals years away from having kids and we came back because Falls Church has been home forever. And, he’s a lifer. He went to Mount Daniel all the way through George Mason. My in-laws still live in the home they raised their kids in almost 50 years ago now. So this has been home to us for a really long time. So we have deep roots in Falls Church. We came back and we now have three kids who are in City schools.”

“I got involved in local politics, because I think at the local level it’s really like being on the PTA,” the mayor continued. “It’s a way to give back and be able to contribute and make a lot of things happen. Especially in Falls Church. You really can make a difference on a Monday night when the City Council meets.... And then you can see a decision actually come to fruition, like the new high school. That was something we debated for years. And it took many, many hours of meetings and debates and a voter referendum and now we’re a couple of years into a high school that’s opened that my kids get to go to – pretty fulfilling and amazing.”

A Primer on City Government

“Who knows where City Hall is?,” the mayor asked, sparking several responses. At 300 Park Avenue, “right across from the Library and Cherry Hill Park,” we welcome public comment all the time,” she said. Not only in-person, but via email, or since the pandemic, virtually. “You shouldn’t have to get a babysitter” to participate in local government, she emphasized.

Hardi then pivoted to an overview of the City. “So, we’re called the Little City for a reason,” she said. “We’re the smallest independent jurisdiction in Virginia and maybe even the United States. So, our school system, our police department, our local government, is essentially run like a full-fledged county except we all have to do it within the 2.2 square miles…. And we’ve got 15,000 residents in our 2.2 square miles. In terms of our housing units, we’re split about 50/50. So half of our housing units are multi-family, like the Tinner Hill building and half [reside] in single-family or town homes.” 

High Priority Issues

For Hardi, housing, transportation, infrastructure and sustainability are key priorities. And they’re all linked. For the City and the region to grow, affordable and diverse types of housing are needed to attract residents, while investments in multi-modal transportation, and sustainable infrastructure will ensure generations of residents find the area both attractive and liveable.

Touting The City's Major Developments

As they mingled, several residents had asked Mayor Hardi about the various construction and development projects around town. So, the mayor had much to tout about the City’s economic and commercial growth.

A Grocery Outlet was coming to the shuttered baby Target space downstairs. In a great example of “adaptive reuse,” Dominion Wine & Beer is working on turning the decrepit Stratford Motor Lodge into a restaurant and Beer Garden. Godfrey’s is another example of such “adaptive reuse,” as it was “a gorgeous buildout for a really nice addition” to the run-down old florist shop space. “So, we’re really proud” of these new developments in the City, the mayor said.

By Thanksgiving the Broad and Washington Project will see a new Whole Foods grocery opening and the site will be the “new home for our local community theater, Creative Cauldron,” the Hardi said. “So that’s exciting.” Also, the Founders II Development is underway and a lease has been signed “for a great new restaurant and coffee shop on the ground floor that’s supposed to be designed.” And a “really big accomplishment for the City,” will be the housing provided, where 12 percent of the development’s units will be “affordable for the life of the building.” 

But, it was obvious, the mayor said, that the City’s biggest project was the West Falls Development at the corner of West Broad St. and Haycock Rd. 

“The West Falls Development will be about 10 acres or so and will have a grocery store that’s just been announced which is The Fresh Market, a hotel that’s already open, civic space, a performing arts center that’s part of the civic space, a senior building, condos for sale, a big one-acre park in the middle," the mayor said. "It will be the first of three phases of redevelopment so when combined, the 3 projects will be about 50 acres or so which is actually the size of the Mosaic Development in Merrifield. So, our 10 acres will be the first. And then the site next door – which is the Virginia Tech site – and then the Metro site will follow. So it will be a pretty big, exciting change for that area.”

This writer asked the mayor how the City might “offset” its seeming “embarrassment of riches” with 7 grocery stores slated to be opening in the coming months. The mayor’s answer was inspiring. “Privately, there are some groups that work on [food waste issues], she said. "So, actually, I volunteer every Sunday to go pick up leftover food at Panera and take it to a couple of food pantries and things because they actually have a corporate program [that says], 'We don’t want all of our bread and pastries to go to waste.' So, I know a couple of small efforts like that.... But, that’s a good question. It would be nice to make sure that food doesn’t go to waste. Yeah, we’re adding 7 grocery stores in 2.2 miles which is quite remarkable.” 

Residents Ask Questions During the Q&A

During the Q&A, the mayor was asked all sorts of questions. “What’s happening with the spot between Harris Teeter and across from the bowling alley?,” someone asked. The mixed-use building proposal is being re-submitted, Hardi explained. “Some of us had mixed feelings about the orphaning of the Burke & Herbert building and how close it was to the 301 West Broad building.” Then, Hardi offered a tip: make sure you let the City know early on if you have issues with a proposal. “People give you lots of feedback after the fact. But one of the reasons I like to come out to buildings [such as 455 Tinner Hill] is to make sure you know what’s happening so you can give me input earlier. The later you give input, the harder it is for the developer to make changes because they’ve spent money at that point.”

Residents wanted to know what was happening with nearby retail. Just around the building the vacant spot by Pizzeria Orso will soon become a Uigher restaurant, Hardi reassured, and a massive Grill Marx steakhouse will be opening up a block away on S. Washington St. 

What about recycling in the City? There’s the Property Yard on Gordon Rd. and, “We also take compost at the City Center.”

How about sports adult leagues in the City? “The Community Center does offer a couple of adult rec leagues," the mayor responded. "I know that adult basketball happens there. And volleyball. When I walked here, pickleball was taking place at the Cavalier Trail tennis courts. So, if you look up the Rec and Parks site for sports, there might be some options there too.”

Seems like we get stuck in traffic a lot in the City, one resident commented. “I hear you,” the mayor said. “So, our [traffic light] signal system is old. The technical term is it’s a closed-loop system, so oftentimes you have to manually go out and re-set them. They’re not all smart and know how to talk to each other.... But, all that’s getting upgraded. We actually got a grant to update all of our signals to a smarter system. So you can program it. In the ideal world, you’d get a wave of green if you’re going one way… So, I hear your concerns. One light might be out and you end up stuck at every red as a result.” 

On the Significance of the Tinner Hill District

Another resident asked the mayor to reflect on the significance of the historically racially-segregated Tinner Hill Community. The mayor took a deep breath and said, “That’s a hard one. Post George Floyd, we all wanted, and the nation kind of went through a racial reckoning. That was probably the first time the City of Falls Church really started owning our City history. So, Falls Church used to be way, way bigger…. And, one of the things we started talking about is the City actually gerrymandered out a third of the City [in the late 19th century] because in the 1890s, much of the City were African-Americans. And so we did not want them to be part of Falls Church. So that history, we only started owning more fruitfully after 2020 or so.”

“If you actually go look at the history panels on S. Washington St., that starts to tell more of that history and I think that’s great,” the mayor continued. “Because oftentimes, the only way you can learn is to actually tell the story and learn how to do better, right? So that’s the first step to learn.... The second thing we’ve done is for the Tinner Hill District – which is obviously what [this] building’s named after – We passed an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to declare that we’ve made this an Historic District so we can do more things like the murals you saw across the street and do more celebrations of the history. So, whether it’s history markers or murals, there are lots of ways to tell the history and to tell it more fruitfully and thoroughly.”

New Traffic Circle Coming to Town

One resident asked whether a new walk signal was going to be installed at the tricky intersection of S. Maple Ave. and Annandale Rd. And the mayor promised something “more radical than that.” “You’re actually getting the City’s first roundabout there – which I know, people get this reaction like, “Oh my God!” But, [traffic circles] are actually shown to be much more pedestrian and bike friendly and actually help manage traffic… When I walk or run through there, I might not make it all the way through, because the crosswalk is so long,” the mayor related. “So, the roundabout should help with that.” The project has been approved and is currently receiving bids, she said, adding that over one million cars pass through the Broad and Washington intersection per month and the City has to handle the extra traffic load.

Mayor's Passion: The Issue of Affordable Housing

Another question – “What can be done about the high price of housing in the City?” – clearly tapped into one of the mayor’s policy passions. “That's perhaps the number-one issue across northern Virginia and across the U.S., “ Hardi said. “It's certainly one of my top priorities and one of the top priorities for the City Council. I could talk all day about housing. But, I could also tell you about what we do in Falls Church."

“In my mind, there are a couple of big priorities,” she continued. “One is, you have to preserve what’s already affordable. So, inside our mixed-use buildings, we’ve been negotiating inside these buildings to have some affordable units. Historically, about 6 percent of the units are affordable and when we say “affordable” it’s usually for people at about 60 percent of the median income. And that’s something we negotiate every time these buildings get built. For the past two projects, we’ve been able to boost that number to 10 percent of the units and 12 percent of the units. So that’s been important. We’ve also been able to negotiate that [the agreement] never expires.... That said, I have a whole bunch of units that were before my time that are set to expire. My first job is to not let them expire, because, frankly, once you build them it’s a lot cheaper to keep them affordable than to try to build new ones. So, that’s priority number one, the preservation of affordability." 

“The second is to add more,” she said. “We clearly need to do a lot more on both purely affordable as well as market-rate affordable so that more people can live here. Because whether you care about it for social reasons or economic development reasons, the region can’t grow if people can’t afford to live here. Or if they have to move all the way to West Virginia to come here. So, the second part is to add more affordable housing. There are lots of ways to do that. We can keep doing it through inclusionary zoning which is what we do inside these buildings, i.e., you build a building and you make sure the apartments inside the building are affordable. You can also do it by having dedicated affordable housing in a stand-alone building that’s got a mix of income ranges. We’re doing both in Falls Church.”

“The third for me is really the diversity of housing,” she said. “Remember how in the beginning I mentioned about half of our buildings are multi-family buildings and half are single-family homes. What we haven’t done in Falls Church is really build anything in the middle. So, how many of you paid attention to the Arlington and Alexandria debates about the “Missing Middle”? Or, heard the term “Missing Middle”? [Several hands are raised.] It’s frankly an issue across the region. We just haven’t built a lot of middle housing. So, what happens when you outgrow your two-bedroom apartment here? There aren’t a lot of three-bed options elsewhere, right? We haven’t built townhomes for about 20 years in Falls Church. What if you’re 70 years-old and you’re downsizing from your 4-bedroom home? There aren’t a lot of options for people like my in-laws. So, we have this Missing Middle problem."

The 'Granny Flats' – Or, ADU Issue

"And I’m a big fan of trying to solve for diversity of housing as well so you have more options for people," the mayor continued. "Whether that’s an Accessory Dwelling Unit [ADU], colloquially they’re called Granny Flats because you can often have your grandmother live in your backyard. So that creates another type of diverse housing for people. And it can also be a nice source of income. You can rent that out, which helps you pay off your mortgage. So there are a lot of different ways people are trying to solve for it. For us in Falls Church, it’s to preserve what we’ve got, add more, and tackle housing diversity by ensuring there’s more housing beyond single-family homes and just apartments.”

For the mayor, housing policy should be understood as a simple matter of economics. “It’s all a macro-issue,” she said. “Being a former economics major, I’m just a big fan of, 'You have to increase supply to bring down prices.' It’s really a supply and demand problem throughout the U.S. We really have constrained the supply of housing and don’t have enough places for people to live, so locally it just means you have to add more supply to bring the housing prices down.... I mean, if you care about the traffic level, wouldn’t it make so much more sense for people to live where there’s infrastructure and not have to live all the way out in Loudoun County and then add to all the people on the road? If you care about the environment, doesn’t it make sense to have people live here, versus cutting down forests out in Loudoun County and building houses there? ....It just makes sense to put housing where the infrastructure is.” 

Volunteering Opportunities

One questioner asked if there were good volunteering opportunities in the City. The mayor said Homestretch “does amazing work” helping the unhoused. And the City’s homeless shelter at the Gordon Road triangle was “looking for people to bring meals and supplies, etc.," when it’s open from November to March. And the Welcoming Falls Church group is a “great, new-ish nonprofit whose goal is to welcome refugee families.” They also run a “Literacy Center that operates out of Oak Street Elementary,” she said. 

But the mayor also emphasized the many opportunities of serving on the City’s Boards and Commissions. “We pretty much have a Board for everything,” she quipped. “It’s usually a once-a-month commitment for about an hour, or an hour and-a-half or so.” And the City has Boards that “span housing, the environment, transportation, historical buildings, and the library.” And often the City Council will “consult with these Boards for their opinions on things, because you’re all City residents and we want to hear from you.”

Walkability and Bikeability

Mayor Hardi asked the audience about how walkable and bikeable the City is. “How many of you don’t have a car?,” she asked. A couple of residents said they only had motorcycles. “How easy is it for you to get around?,” the mayor asked. “It’s easy,” one Easy Rider answered. “There’s a bus stop right across the street from us [at 455 Tinner Hill]. And that takes us straight to the East Falls Church Metro station.” 

Soon, the entire City will move to LED lighting, the mayor added, as it continues to improve the sustainability of its infrastructure and the City’s walkability. “That’s been underway for the last 6 or 9 months and will probably take another 6 months or so.”

On the W&OD Trail, the City will also be completing the Dual Trails project soon. “What will be coming to most of the intersections will be four-way stops… And the crossings are nearly all done.” 

“We enjoy our walkability,” in Falls Church, the mayor said. “Our walkability scores are super-high. Over the past 5 to 10 years, we made lots of investments to help people get around, hopefully without a car. People have choices in how they get around.”

Letting The City Know If There's a Problem

“How do we get in touch if there’s a traffic light or other problem?,” one resident asked. The mayor had brought cards for the City’s Request Tracker [at: https://fallschurchva.gov/requesttracker.aspx,], where residents can notify the City and create a "ticket" if something needs fixing. “You can say, ‘Oh, there’s a traffic light out,’ or, ‘Oh, there’s a pothole,’ or, 'I see some graffiti,' or whatever the issue is – that’s a good way to submit a ticket,” she explained. 

Some Crime Concerns

A few residents said they had heightened worries about local crime. After hearing the questions out empathetically and asking follow-ups, the mayor reassured, “We have one of the lowest crime rates in the region. So we’re very fortunate in that way. But there are always incidents you have here that make you more generally alert. But our police are very responsive, so I do encourage you – if you see something that makes you uncomfortable or looks suspicious – to reach out to them.” She also said that City government officials like to refer to the local police as "public safety" officers, since that's their core mission.

Some Final Plugs

Before finishing the community outreach session, the mayor made a plug for the City’s weekly online newsletter, The Focus. “It’s a good way to find out about what’s going on in Falls Church, like when there are community events happening.”

She also invited residents to follow the blog she’s been doing for 8 years at lettyhardi.org. “I think I just surpassed my 350th post,” she mused. She had started it when she first ran for office and wanted to keep her friends and neighbors updated on City happenings. 

Finally, the mayor wanted everyone to know about the civic group she started called Falls Church Forward. “We’re really trying to [attract] the next generation of people who really care about Falls Church, and who care about the things we've talked about, whether it’s housing, climate, hiking and biking, or community businesses. So, if you want to be part of Falls Church Forward, I’m happy to talk with you about that too and get you involved. We usually do a monthly social and then, once a quarter, we do a meeting. We do a service project at the end of the year. So, you can join and meet your neighbors.” 

By Christopher Jones