Exclusive Interview: Falls Church City Council Member Phil Duncan, 2012-2023
Near the Community Center, at the information tent of the Citizens for a Better City (CBC), Phil Duncan – retired F.C. City Council member (serving: 2012-2023) – was only too happy to give a thoughtful interview during the bright, sunny Falls Church Fall Festival Sept. 14.
As a professional journalist before running for City Council in 2012, who’s also married to another professional journalist – Leslie DeLong, daughter of Carol DeLong, the City’s first woman mayor – Duncan’s willingness to chat with the press was not a surprise. He had also been friendly and approachable at the opening celebration of the Tinner Hill Mural Project in June.
On LinkedIn, Duncan outlines his earlier career as a journalist: He “worked for The Charlotte Observer and The Knoxville News Sentinel, then in 1979 came to Washington and joined the staff of Congressional Quarterly, Inc., the non-partisan publisher of information on legislative action and national politics. For two decades he was a politics reporter and editor at CQ; from 1989-99 he edited the authoritative book and online reference, 'Politics in America.'”
After his journalism career, Duncan founded Civicatalyst Communications which “provides public relations and outreach services to educational and civic organizations” and “promotes civic education and citizen participation to strengthen community and country.”
"Duncan has been a resident of Northern Virginia for 37 years, and he and his wife Leslie have been homeowners in Falls Church City since 1985," Duncan's LinkedIn profile continues. "Their children attended City schools K-12; daughter Meredyth graduated from Swarthmore College, and son Tyler graduated from West Virginia University."
On Facebook Duncan goes by “The Falls Church City Chronicler.” Over the last several years, he’s documented and commented on endless ribbon-cutting ceremonies to boost City projects, and parks, local restaurants and businesses, and has championed far-flung Democratic causes from affordable housing to “smart growth” development, to veterans and police causes, to civil and LGBTQ rights, to improving public schools and services, and supporting a myriad of community-enriching events in the City.
From inside City Hall and at City celebrations, he’s boosted the City by providing the latest City government information on key City initiatives, while also entertaining his followers with quirky selfies, and candid shots from inside the workings of City Hall.
Musing about Falls Church's rise in home values, Duncan told an Arlington Magazine reporter in Feb. 2022 that the 1940s Cape Cod home he and his wife Leslie purchased in the Fowler's Addition neighborhood in 1985 for "$110,000" – which was "what we could afford as a two-journalist family" – would probably "sell as a teardown for well over a million" dollars today. "A strong proponent of smart-growth development, Duncan says he loves their home's proximity to shopping and restaurants along West Broad Street, as well as the nearby" W&OD Trail, the reporter wrote.
A Touching Tribute Following Major Surgery
On June 15, last year, Duncan posted a touching tribute by a former editor of his when he was a “freshly minted Davidson College graduate working as a news reporter intern at the afternoon paper in [his] hometown of Knoxville, Tenn.” On June 11, the editor, Georgina Vines, had a column published in the News Sentinel “covering the early stage” of Duncan’s double lung transplant a few weeks earlier and his subsequent medical progress.
“Phil Duncan, 65-year-old son of retired state Criminal Court of Appeals Judge Joe Duncan, is recovering at his home in Falls Church, Virginia, from a double lung transplant on May 2,” she wrote. “During his stay at Inova’s Heart and Vascular Institute in Falls Church and then discharge, he has missed only one meeting of the local City Council, of which he is a member, he said,” according to Vines.
“He’s attended the Council meetings virtually, including one night where hospital nurses and other staff helped him participate by phone, he said,” Vines continued. “I was mostly ‘mute on,’ but did cast several votes, and made it to adjournment at 11 p.m. It was great to be back virtually with my Council colleagues, City staff, and the large crowd of citizens in attendance,' he wrote to this columnist. He posted similar comments on Facebook.”
“Duncan, who uses a walker to move around, said he suffered from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, of which there is no clear cause,” Vines reported. “He said he never smoked, nor was he exposed in the workplace to a toxin. He said it could be a bad gene or exposure to environmental 'bad stuff' just from growing up in the South.”
Not knowing any of this, I began foolishly by asking Duncan when he retired from the City Council. “Right before my surgery – that would have been in 2023,” he said with a smile.
So, “What brings you out to this tent today,” I asked. “Well, It’s a beautiful day,” he began. “Actually, the provoking incident was the observation of the City’s 75th birthday which was the ceremony we had earlier this morning. It was great to see the unveiling of the welcoming sign they’re going to put on the City Hall wall right outside Council chambers. It was nice. We had our wealth of dignitaries, our State Senator [Saddam] Salim and our State Delegate [Marcus] Simon, and former [Virginia State] Senator Dick Saslaw who was a great friend of the City when he served in Richmond.”
“It was a nice ceremony, conducted by [Community Relations and Legislative Affairs Director] Cindy Mester who’s done a great job in the past year on various observances for our 75th anniversary as an incorporated city,” Duncan said.
Retired or Not?
Is Duncan still active in City politics? “I was appointed to the Planning Commission in March, so I was thankful that the City Council gave me that opportunity,” Duncan said. “It’s a good group of people and they do things that I’m probably most interested in, development and planning for the future, so I’ve enjoyed that. It’s a three-year term, so – hopefully I can make it to the end of my term [Laughs].”
Duncan’s wry wit about his medical condition was evident in a Jan. 23, 2024, article from the Patch reporting that he claimed to have “‘flunked’ out of retirement, as the new City Council appointed him Monday to serve on the Falls Church Planning Commission.”
What are Duncan’s biggest priorities on the City Planning Commission? “Well, to try to retain our sense of being a small city, as we grow and adapt to modern times,” Duncan began. “You know, the kind of people who want to live in Falls Church, going forward, are looking for more than just a sleepy suburb. They want urban amenities. They want restaurants, they want grocery shopping, they want entertainment – they want all of these things pretty close, in walking distance. And so to try to provide all of those amenities while retaining a sense of community that you get at the Fall Festival or the Memorial Day parade or all the other things we do as a community. That’s our biggest challenge.”
In other words, it’s about managing rather than halting the growth of the City? “Yes. I would hope so,” Duncan responded. “I mean the City has grown in the more than 40 years that I’ve lived here from less than 10,000 to now more than 15,000. I think we probably could become a reasonably self-sustaining entity if we had about 20,000 people, in other words, most of what you need to do on a daily basis, grocery shopping, restaurants, physical therapy, you know – you name it – inside our city limits, if we had a population of about 20,000 to support the businesses.”
“So, it’s a matter of managing the growth and easing the concerns of people who are here. You know, they’re pretty happy here. They don’t move here unless they like it. So, making changes is always a challenge,” Duncan said.
And what are some of those concerns? “Well, density of population is a concern among folks who are looking for a more suburban kind of setting,” Duncan said. “And I acknowledge that a lot of houses, like mine, are old houses, and are getting torn down and replaced with bigger houses with less green space around them. It’s just sort of the reality of what the market wants. People don’t want backyards as big as mine because they’ve got to mow them.”
A Controversial View on Traffic
And density increases traffic as well? Not really, according to Duncan. “Actually, the good news is the density seems not to have brought – and this is controversial to say – but the truth of the matter is, the traffic counts don’t show that much of an increase in traffic for most of the day over the last 20 years,” Duncan said. “Now, rush hour is kind of a different creature. We do live in one of the great cities in the world and rush hour by definition is going to be congested. But, the work-at-home movement that sprung from the Covid times actually even cuts down a bit on the rush hour traffic. So, I’m still able to get from my house on the west end to City Hall in 7 or 8 minutes most times of the day or night. So, that’s my standard.”
About the Citizens for a Better City (CBC)
I asked if Duncan could say a word about Citizens for a Better City (CBC). After retiring from the City Council he joined the Executive Committee of the CBC. “Citizens for a Better City was established in 1958 basically to ensure the independence and quality of the school system,” Duncan said. “It’s hard to believe but as recently as 1958 it was somewhat controversial to really fully and aggressively support public education.”
“You know, Virginia did not have a tradition of support for public education equivalent to some other states back in those days. And so, CBC was formed largely to make sure that students were getting quality education, good teachers, good facilities,” Duncan continued. “Everything sort of starts there. And then more recently it’s branched into a group that encourages civic participation writ large, so voting registration and participation, being aware of the issues, and being an informed voter is the main focus.”
As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, the CBC does not promote particular political parties or platforms. The CBC says on its Falls Church Chamber of Commerce listing it was “founded to focus on community issues, supporting quality schools and city services and maintaining our independence as the Little City.” On the CBC’s website they declare: “We pledge to continue the vigilance and participation necessary to maintain quality schools and open, participatory government as we strive to make Falls Church a Better City.”
As the City’s “oldest non-partisan political organization,” the CBC focuses today on continuing to promote a high quality school system, community issues of concern, and “developing civic leadership through [their] Youth Reps Initiative,” that “matches the City’s high school students with a City Board of Commission” on which they are interested in serving. The organization also holds political candidate forums and sponsors “political candidate integrity pledges” to deter political corruption.
Duncan's Views on Falls Church's Progress and His Legacy
Duncan’s views on how the City of Falls Church should develop and progress and his legacy on the Falls Church City Council is best summarized by his former editor Georgina Vines (mentioned above.) “His top priority is for Falls Church to build a broader revenue base that will keep the City’s schools great, its municipal services and facilities top-notch, and its taxes on citizens and businesses reasonable,” she wrote.
“Duncan’s time on Council has coincided with a blossoming of business investment that is unprecedented in Falls Church’s [75] years as an independent City,” Vines continued. “Three new grocery stores, an urban-format Target, and a new hotel have opened, as have dozens of restaurants, cafes and other businesses providing an array of goods and professional services, including medical care, legal and financial services, fitness training and therapy, home improvement, child care, education, tutoring and recreation.”
“Now under construction... is a development with the City’s first movie theaters in 40 years,” Vines continued. “And currently under Council review is a proposed large-scale development adjacent to the West Falls Church Metro that promises many new opportunities for shopping, dining and entertainment.”
“New residences approved by Council in the past decade have helped the City’s population grow to nearly 15,000. Duncan also has pushed successfully for modernization of civic infrastructure, including construction of a new high school ... He strongly advocated for renovation and expansion of three elementary schools, City Hall, and the City Library, and supported additions and upgrades to the City’s park lands,” Vines said. “He has voted for improvements in stormwater management, sidewalks and bicycling amenities, and neighborhood traffic-calming measures.”
“Prior to his time on Council, Duncan served on the City’s Economic Development Authority and was chairman of the City Schools’ Business in Education Partnership. He was chairman of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Transportation, and was a founding Board member of the Falls Church Education Foundation,” Vines wrote. “He served on the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce Board, including a term as vice chairman, and in 2001 he received the Chamber’s 'Pillar of the Community' award. He was a Board member and publicity chairman for the Falls Church Kiwanis Little League, and for four years he coordinated the George Mason High School Athletic Boosters’ mulch sale fund-raiser.”
“He has been active with Citizens for a Better City, Falls Church Arts, and the City Democratic Committee, and he is a member of the Village Preservation and Improvement Society and a supporter of the Friends of the Falls Church Homeless Shelter,” Vines reported.
I asked Duncan if he wanted to “add anything more to tell our readers.” He said, touchingly, “I just thank you for your interest and involvement. I just enjoy reading the contributions you make. It’s great to be able to sit back and watch other people do all the hard work. So, keep up the good work. We need people like you who are keeping an eye on things.”
The Falls Church Independent sincerely thanks City Council member (ret.) Phil Duncan for his service and wishes the “Falls Church City Chronicler” all the very best in his recovery and retirement.
By Christopher Jones
Member discussion