On Nov. 5, citizens across Falls Church will enter the voting booths and cast their ballot, not just for President, but also in a special election for City Council. The election is slated to replace Caroline Lian, who resigned from City Council on Aug. 8 during an investigation by the DC Board of Ethics and Government Accountability Office, that found she was working with both the DC Department of Buildings as Deputy Director and mortgage company Freddie Mac.
Laura T. Downs and John B. Murphy are both competing for the open spot on the council. The winner will serve for the remaining year of the open term.
Downs served on the Falls Church City School Board from 2020-2023 She served as Vice Chair in 2021, and Chair in 2022 and 2023.
“I have a good reputation of working well with colleagues, and I’m a respected leader in the community,” Downs said. “The kind of time that all the City Council members have put into trying to better our city is very inspirational, so I just wanted to be a part of that team.”
Murphy is an economist who has worked with the Village Preservation and Improvement Society, the Neighborhood Tree Program and the Beautification Committee, as well as having been on the Board of Directors for the Falls Church Town Builders Association.
“I’ve done a lot over the years… I’ve been a resident [of Falls Church City] for thirty-some years, I was born in the area, I know the city very well,” Murphy said. “I’ve known an awful lot of council members and planning commissioners over the years… I wanted to get involved.”
One of Downs’ main goals as a City Council member is to ensure that FCCPS is able to meet student needs.
“People come to our city for the schools, and they want small class sizes. And we have lots of buildings going up,” Downs said.
Note that only about 10% of the student population currently lives in apartments or condominium buildings. However, according to data from a School Board analysis on the number of students per dwelling unit in fiscal year 2024, the percentage of students living in mixed use development has held between 7-9% since 2015.
Another one of her major goals is to make the City more walkable and safe for pedestrians.
“That will definitely help with the environment, and getting cars off the streets, and help with emissions,” she said. “I live on the east side of town, by Dulin Methodist, and we never had a grocery store we could walk to because the Harris Teeter was just a little bit too far. But now with the Whole Foods, we can walk to Whole Foods, so that would take a car off the road.”
While Downs is focused on city development, Murphy wants to use available data to holistically improve City Council decision-making, particularly to address school overcrowding.
“Both my sons went through George Mason High School, and it had been overcrowded for years. That’s part of using data in fiscal impact modeling,” Mr. Murphy said. “When we go through, and we see that we project this many students for this new development, how are those numbers working out, and are we taking this into account.”
Note that the new Meridian High School has a capacity for 1500 students, and only currently holds 900.
He also hopes to ensure a sustainable future for Falls Church City.
“Sustainable development has to come in three categories. It has to be economically sustainable, environmentally sustainable, and socially sustainable,” Murphy said, “[We should be] looking at projects to negotiate greater green space, since we’re below our recommendations for tree canopy. Making sure that when a decision is made for new development, that we’re accounting for all the various infrastructure costs as best we can.”
Murphy hasn’t decided if he will run for re-election should he win. “I can’t give you an answer to that right now,” he said. “It’s a
unique opportunity, it’s one year to try it out. I’ll see.”
Downs, however, has. “I anticipate that I will really like it, and then I can run for a full four-year term.”
With the election closely approaching, this is bound to be a nerve-wracking sprint to the ballot box. Both candidates have less than a month remaining to differentiate themselves in the eyes of the voters and convince people they are fit for an election that may shape the future of Falls Church.
