City Council Candidates Forum
Four incumbents and four challengers are vying for the six spots on the Fairfax City Council in the May 1 election. City residents can learn more about them and their views on various issues facing Fairfax during a Candidates Forum. It’s set for Wednesday, April 11, at 7 p.m., at the Sherwood Center, 3740 Old Lee Hwy. in Fairfax, and is sponsored by The League of Women Voters. The candidates are: Incumbents Michael DeMarco, Janice Miller, Jennifer Passey and Jon Stehle, and challengers Joe Harmon, So Lim, Tom Ross and Sang Yi.
Fairfax City Ranked Sixth Healthiest Place in U.S.
All of those bike trails, walking and jogging paths and award-winning parks and recreation programs have had a long-lasting impact: The City of Fairfax recently was ranked sixth among 3,000 cities as the healthiest in the country, according to rankings by U.S. News & World Report.
The publication included other criteria in its overall ranking, including residents’ income, health outcomes, educational attainment, and walkability. Other factors included quality of housing, proximity to a park (91 percent of the city’s population is within a half mile of a park), public safety, and community vitality.
“It’s gratifying to have a ranking like this, because people who live here see healthy living play out in our community every day,” says Robert Sisson, city manager for the City of Fairfax. “But we’re not a community to sit on our laurels. In fact, we’ve joined the HEAL Cities and Towns Campaign (healcitiesmidatlantic.org), which works toward finding even more ways for citizens to lead healthier lives. The program also seeks partnerships with local businesses to promote health and fitness.”
Sisson says residents should watch for HEAL programs and activities from the City of Fairfax Parks and Recreation Department in the coming months.
Some takeaways from the U.S. News & World Report rankings for the City of Fairfax include:
Population Health: Life Expectancy (83.7; national, 77.9); Smoking Rate (10.7 percent; national, 17.3 percent)
Education: Population with Advanced Degree (60.4 percent; national average, 27.3 percent)
Economy: Household Median Income ($105,297; national average, $45,114); Unemployment Rate (3 percent; national average, 5 percent)
Food & Nutrition: Obesity Prevalence (21.5 percent; national average, 31 percent); Diabetes Prevalence (6.8 percent; national average, 9.3 percent):
Local Food Outlets (8.7 per 100K; national average, 4.9 per 100K)