City Council Meeting

Ann Lauerpublic commentAnn Lauer, Instructor at George Mason University, a former student there and a member of the board for the Fall for the Books, which has been a partner with Fairfax City for almost 30 years. As you may know, the city of Fairfax has been a one-third owner since 1998, and this collaboration has involved a $25,000 grant each year, 15% of our budget. It's a lifeline. It's not just funding for us. As so many other people have talked about it here, it's part of the art community that the council has been so good to support. It's just this is at a different level. There are huge economic benefits to hosting this particular fault for the books for the city writ large. economic studies that the 10,000 attendees who come every year generate between five

and seven times a return on the $25,000 that Fairfax City provides us. These benefits are seen in business for restaurants, hotels, shops, and the like. In addition, the cut that is being considered here would zero out the $25,000 amid rising And with potential national endowment for the arts cuts looming, this could end the festival and the year-round events like the author talks and youth literacy programs that we also support through Fall for the Books. I'd also like to mention that it would be 100% cuts in parks and rec while general revenue like street paving and things like that could absorb a cut like this with a lot less impact. It's not a nice to have for us. It's an essential ingredient for us to continue this festival.

Amanda Snellingspublic commentWe do not have a development director or any sort of full-time arts manager to go out and secure those big-time donations. We could not do the work that we do without the support of the city and especially the wonderful Parks and Recreation staff. We are deeply thankful for the city's commitment to the arts and we urge you to continue supporting not only our work but also the city band, Fall for the Book, Spotlight and the Arts, and all those cultural programs that make this city so vibrant. Thank you for believing in the power of the arts and for believing in the people who make them possible. We're proud to be part of what makes Fairfax such a special place to live, work, create and visit.

Alice Magelson-Greenpublic commentHello. My name is Alice Magelson-Green. I'm not a resident of the city, but I am here on behalf whom which I work with. For those of you who don't know, Fall for the Book is a local nonprofit serving the community of the city of Fairfax among others. We've been around since 1997. It really was a partnership born from the city of Fairfax, George Mason University, and the Fairfax County Public Library. Happy Library Week. Thank you so much for that. And it was founded so that we could help readers connect to the writers that they love. Our goal every year is to find a book for every reader, and a lot of the work that we end up doing is bringing our community together. We've brought some really big-name writers who our residents have been able to go and see right here at the Sherwood Center,

to bringing a local elementary strings teacher who wrote a best-selling mystery novel about the theft of a violin and you had former students of his in the audience cheering him on. So that's what Fall for the Book brings to you. Again, the $25,000 is a huge amount for us. We're a very small organization. it's less than .1% of the city's budget. I think probably one of the recurring themes you're hearing from all of my fellow colleagues in the arts is that we're doing a lot for very little. We really thank you for your support. None of this would be possible without the support of the city. And again, I think times are gonna be quite challenging in the next couple of years. Having the arts as a free opportunity

David Gellerpublic commentYes, hello. I'm David Geller at 10305 Darby Street. It was just incredible to hear everybody today. We're talking about the arts, we're talking about books, we're talking about the fire department and I understand there's some very difficult decisions that have to be made. Very difficult. I mean I'm an artist, I mean a musician, I've been to a lot of the concerts, I love Fall for the Book. I mean luckily I haven't really needed the fire department but I'm really glad they're there. But what I'm really asking and it's probably common sense and I'm sure you're all doing it now is to look at the budget really carefully. You are so I'm really just saying what I feel. It's probably not going to help.

Stacy HallI want to thank you for taking the extra time to do this and for those that are listening and watching at home I think I speak for everyone but if I don't please feel free to speak up for yourselves the 10% reduction especially for fire and police it was an exercise just like the fall for the books and all the other things it was just an exercise no one's saying slash and burn 10% here or there everywhere it's an exercise it's a conversation to get at numbers to see where we can be So hopefully that's been reiterated for those at home. We certainly, I believe, don't want to make any decisions up here that are going to impact response time, the number of police officers or firefighters that are out there doing their jobs to serve our community.