‘Saigon Blvd’ signage coming to portion of Wilson Blvd in Falls Church

Falls Church City Council members appear ready and eager to give the 6600 and 6700 blocks of Wilson Boulevard the honorary name " Saigon Blvd ."

The new name, which would not impact Postal Service addresses or public-safety responses, will pay tribute to those who came to the local area from South Vietnam after that country's fall to North Vietnamese forces in 1975.

"Feedback shows that it's something the community really wants," Council member Marybeth Connelly said at a Nov. 4 work session .

That stretch of Wilson Blvd is an area where Falls Church and Arlington and Fairfax counties come together. Arlington officials said they have no objection to the proposal, and Fairfax County Supervisor Andres Jimenez (D-Mason) wrote to city officials, lending his "enthusiastic support" to the effort.

Signage is expected to be placed in front of the Eden Center and at the intersection of Wilson Blvd and Roosevelt Blvd.

The only cost for city officials will be to create and place the signage, about $600 to $1,200 per sign. Because the signs will be placed in city right-of-way, approval by the Virginia Department of Transportation is not required — but would be if Fairfax County officials wanted to add similar signage to their side of the roadway.

Older signs have been in place noting the area's connection to the South Vietnamese capital for nearly two decades, but are not in conformance with current signage requirements. They will be removed once the new ones are in place.

After consultation with community groups and the Eden Center management, it is hoped the unveiling can be scheduled to coincide with Lunar New Year celebrations in late January or early February 2025.

After the fall of South Vietnam, a large number of refugees arrived in Northern Virginia. Many became entrepreneurs and settled in the Clarendon area of Arlington, which then offered cheap commercial rents because the corridor was being chewed up by construction of the Metro system.

When the transit work was completed, rents rose and many businesses moved to what was then known as Plaza Center Shopping Center in Falls Church.

That facility later became known as Eden Center, paying tribute to a popular shopping district in Saigon (which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City upon unification of Vietnam).

Committee Established for U.S. 250th Birthday: Falls Church City Council members have teed up creation of a local committee that will oversee local efforts marking the nation's 250th anniversary .

Board members discussed the proposal at a Monday (Nov. 4) work session and are expected to formally approve creation of the Falls Church 250 Committee on Nov. 12.

Membership of the body will include representation from the Council; a number of city advisory bodies; local business, civic and heritage organizations; and one at-large resident.

At a Nov. 4 work session, Mayor Letty Hardi and others suggested adding a School Board member to the body, along with a student or students.

"I like having some generational diversity," Hardi said.

At the same meeting, Council member Marybeth Connelly looked back to the nation's Bicentennial in 1976, when she was a young student.

"That was a huge deal," Connelly said. "This could also be the huge, uniting thing that our country needs."

No budget funding currently is associated with the body, but city leaders could opt to fund projects as they are developed. Creation of a local committee also will make Falls Church eligible for grants related to Virginia's commemoration of the nation's birthday.

On suggestion floated in October was to use grant funding, if it comes, to support improvements to the historic Cherry Hill Farmhouse . The original restoration of the property was the city's project for the nation's Bicentennial, marked in 1976.

Portraits Will Honor Two F.C. Leaders: Renderings of two Falls Church civic leaders — one from the 19th century and the other from the 20th — will be added to a pantheon of portraiture in the Falls Church City Council chambers in 2025.

Council members on Nov. 12 will select one or two artists to create portraits of Frederick Foote Jr. and Carol DeLong. Seven artists replied to a request for submission earlier this year, and were reviewed by the city's Public Art Committee.

Foote served as constable and on what was then the Town Council in the late 1800s. DeLong served as a Council member and mayor in the 1970s-80s.

Artists selected to do the work will receive $6,000 for each portrait. Artists will first sketch a final concept, which must be approved by Council members, and then will have four to five months to complete the final portrait following input from city leaders.

"Art is very subjective," Mayor Letty Hardi acknowledged at a Nov. 4 work session where the submissions were vetted .

Portraits will be funded from allocations made to celebrate the city's 75th anniversary.

The portraits are likely to be done in watercolor; four existing portraits of city leaders in the Council chambers were done in oil. The new works are likely to be the same size as the existing ones, but could have more modern frames than the more ornate ones on the existing artwork.

Funding is available for two more portraits in the coming year, city officials said. "I'm assuming we'll be adding more," Council member Marybeth Connelly said.

Naming Effort for Parklets: The Falls Church City Council on Nov. 12 is expected to inaugurate naming efforts for three " parklets " within the city's borders.

Sites include 190 South Washington Street, 410 South Washington Street and 430 South Maple Avenue.

After the Nov. 12 vote, the proposal will be sent out to various city boards, commissions and civic groups for input. The ultimate decision on names will be the Council.

At a Nov. 4 work session, Council member David Snyder suggested there be a wide swath of potential names considered.

"We ought to think pretty broadly, cast the net fairly broadly," he said.