City of Falls Church - Green?
Oct 10th, 2008 by Andy
As a business owner and resident in the City of Falls Church I am getting interested in how the city works. The other night I stopped by the Economic Development Authority meeting that Brian mentions over on the Falls Church Insider blog. It is interesting to see how things actually work around here and it’s nice to see other people who really care about the city that they live and work in.
One of the things that came up at the meeting was whether or not Falls Church could/should try to be branded as a “green” city or maybe even “the most green city around” - which would be fine by me. It’s an interesting idea and one I think I’ll start talking about.
Over on the Blueweeds blog, Bob recently posted about a recent US Conference of Mayors report which looked at “Green Jobs” and how it’s a growing industry. This report was mentioned at the EDA meeting and it does seem like a potential opportunity for Falls Church.
The city is small - which I think works to our advantage because it might make it easier (or at least less costly) to implement green initiatives than it would be in a larger city. I haven’t done any surveys but it seems like the people who live here are the kinds of folks who might identify with an initiative like this.
My next-door neighbor developed most of the houses on our little street about 20 years ago. He tells me that in several of them he installed geothermal heat pumps and that the current residents have greatly reduced utility bills. That’s great!
I also think the city’s recent switch to single stream recycling is cutting edge and very green. I wonder if anyone has ever looked into a food waste recycling program (like they have in Berkeley)?
This push to come up with a more defined brand for the city is just getting started so I’m sure it will be a while before anything is settled - but I’m certainly into the idea of becoming the Green City of Falls Church.
